Two-Buck Chuck astounds wine judges

Some people love the idea, some competitors despise it. In any scenario, Charles Shaw Winery's inexpensive wines cause ripples in the wine world.

The latest ripple came in the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition in Sacramento, where his 2005 chardonnay that is made by Bronco Wine Co. and retails for $1.99 a bottle -- thus the nickname "Two-Buck Chuck" -- was named "Best Chardonnay from California."

Chief judge G.M. Pucilowski said, “Since we judge all wines totally by variety, without different brackets for price, this double-gold achievement by the Bronco winemakers is astounding.”

Charles Shaw Winery is a brand owned by the Franzia family which has made wine in California for more than a century. Neither has any relationship to Franzia brand boxed wine.

Bronco president Fred Franzia said, “The customer has responded to our great values and now the judges to our quality. This is why we’re in business: to put the best wine possible on the customers’ tables at a reasonable price. I just wish some other retailers and restaurateurs had the courage and good sense to make these super-value wines available to more American wine consumers.”

Complete results of the competition are scheduled to be announced on July 12.

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Letters: What about us Kentucky wine buyers?

Hey Bill:

If it is now legal to ship wine to Kentucky (as of 2007), why are none of the wineries aware of it? Is the law officially changed?

Thanks for your help.

-- Lisa Will in Kentucky

Dear Lisa:

Yes, the law changed on Jan. 1 of this year. Any non-Kentucky wineries that are allowed by their own states to ship wines elsewhere can ship them to Kentucky.

If you want to direct anyone to an explanation, they can try this one.

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Is NY going too wild for wine centers?

PHOTO BY WILLIAM M. DOWD
(Double-click to enlarge image.)

One year ago, a $7.5 million wine center designed as a tourism and educational facility was opened in the Finger Lakes city of Canandaigua, NY.

Now, a mere 65 miles away in downtown Ithaca, another entity called the Finger Lakes Wine Center will be created to promote the region's wine industry, primarily to tourists, if Gov. Eliot Spitzer signs a bill passed by the Legislature. There already is $100,000 in the state budget to get it going.

It's all part of New York State's typically convoluted efforts to get something right. The New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua got $2 million in state taxpayer money to get rolling and has been drawing nice crowds for tours and events since opening last June, thanks to the tireless efforts of its staff and that of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, which is headquartered at the Center on the shore of Canandaigua Lake.

And, the Foundation recently revealed it is using a $44,500 Empire State Development Grant to explore the feasibility of building a similar, albeit smaller, wine center in the lower Hudson Valley.


Did I mention there already is something called the Finger Lakes Wine Center, and New York owns it?

It is located at Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park, just two miles from Canandaigua Lake, and is part of the state parks system. It operates from mid-May to mid-October, offering tastings, retail wine sales and special events. Its Italian Garden is seen here.

One would think three wine centers -- one of which is owned by the state, and all of which get taxpayer money -- plus all the wine trail organizations throughout the state would be sufficient if efforts were coordinated and properly channeled. Why, then, yet another wine center?

The legislation was sponsored in the Assembly by Barbara Lifton, the Democrat who represents Ithaca. Her formal language for the project reads thus:

"The bill will provide authorization for the Finger Lakes Wine Center, a not for profit corporation, to operate as a tourist oriented wine center dedicated to celebrating winemaking and the wines of the Finger Lakes and New York State. The Wine Center will serve as a resource for the regional tour information and provide educational opportunities that include winemaking demonstrations and classes. It will offer the opportunities for visitors to purchase New York state wine and serve as a venue to host events. It will also engage visitors with interactive exhibits. The Center also plans to hold classes in cooperation with participating wineries, local wine experts, members of the Cornell University community from the Cornell Hotel School and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the New York Wine and Culinary Center. The Center also plans to make the Center available for public functions and events such as wedding receptions and business meetings."

That is pretty much the same mission statement the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua already is carrying out, except that it deals more with Rochester Institute of Technology than Cornell.

The Ithaca project took Jim Trezise, president of the Wine & Grape Foundation, by surprise.

"I hadn't even heard about this Ithaca project until a few weeks ago when Alexa (Gifford, executive director of the Wine & Culinary Center) got wind of it and mentioned it to me. It has no connection at all with us or anything we're doing,'' Trezise told me.

Sen. George H. Winner Jr. (R-C, Elmira), a backer of the Senate version of the bill, explained the project in a much more parochial pronouncement, saying, "The wine industry is a mainstay of the culture and economy of the Finger Lakes. Anything we can do to further promote it and help it grow is a good investment for the future success of our region.''

Even if, apparently, it splinters the efforts.

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Wining and dining will get easier in Montana

Having a glass of wine with your restaurant meal hasn't been a snap to get in Montana. There are only 304 cabaret beer-and-wine licenses available in the entire state.

That, however, is about to change. The state legislature has created 165 new cabaret licenses. They differ from conventional all-beverage and beer and wine licenses by not allowing business owners to put in electronic gambling machines.

How great is consumer demand for such options? Mike Hampton, owner of Bullman's Wood Fired Pizza in Helena, told the Helena Independent Record, "We probably get 20 people a day that ask if we have beer. Some will leave (after learning the restaurant can’t sell beer), some, not a lot of people, will take the pizza home. Some will eat here and grumble.”

To qualify, a restaurant may not have a sit-down bar, and can serve beer and wine only to people eating meals at tables. At least 65% of the restaurant’s income must come from food, and it can be open only from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. People must apply by July 6. If a city has more restaurant applications than available licenses, a lottery will be held in late July.

If you're traveling through Montana, here's a checklist of where the additional licenses will be awarded, according to the Liquor Control Division, Montana Department of Revenue:

Billings: 21 current restaurant beer and wine licenses and will get 21 more after July 1 for a total of 42.
Bozeman: 14 current licenses, 10 new licenses after July 1 for a total of 24.
Butte: 10 current licenses, although only one is being used, 10 new licenses after July 1 for a total of 20.
Great Falls: 16 current licenses, 16 more after July 1 for a total of 32.
Helena: 10 current licenses, eight more after July 1 for a total of 18.
Kalispell: 11 current licenses, 10 more after July 1 for a total of 21.
Missoula: 17 licenses now (although it should be 14), 11 more after July 1 for a total of 28. Missoula has more licenses than it should because the allocations were based on census estimates and have been adjusted for the actual census.
Whitefish: 10 licenses now, eight more after July 1 for a total of 18.

Montana, incidentally, has four wineries: Mission Mountain, Lake Missoula, Lolo Peak and Trail Creek. Mission Mountain's Monster Red 2004 was awarded a gold medal in this year's Tasters Guild International Wine Judging.

As the winery's whimsical Web site explains the wine: "Once again we have proven that some of the best wines in the world come from our unique little winery on the west shore of Flathead Lake in Montana. Monster Red is the Flathead Lake Monster’s favorite red wine when enjoying stray cattle, wild game and buffalo."

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Floods smack Aussie wine region

The Australian wine industry has been bedviled in recent years by drought, brushfires, unseasonable rain, locusts and overabundant grape crops that have helped push down prices.

Add flooding to the list.

Last weekend, the large wine region north of Sydney known as Hunter Valley was hit by its worst flooding in 35 years.

Storms dumped about a foot of rain on New South Wales in the grape-growing region that already ranks as the wettest in the country. Nine people died in the floods.

"We had more than 200mm [8 inches] on Friday night alone," Phil Ryan, McWilliam's winemaker of 30 years, told WineSpectator.com. "I've never seen the rain gauge that full before."

The only upbeat note is, as Ken Bray, chairman of the Hunter Valley Vineyard Association viticultural committee, noted, "The vines were in dormancy, with few or no leaves, so there was not a lot of damage."

Among the worst-hit vineyards was De Bortoli's 32-acre plot of Sémillon.

"The entire vineyard was under [4 to 6 feet] of water," site manager Scott Harrington told reporters. "In one section it carved a big rut some 3 or 4 feet deep. That's quite a significant hole."

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At Hyatts, the house is on the wine

The house wine at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts now is the house wine.

Canvas, a new signature wine brand, has been developed in partnership with Folio Fine Wine Partners, a Napa Valley company owned by the Michael Mondavi family. It was unveiled this week at a tasting hosted by Mondavi at the Grand Hyatt New York.

The wine will be offered in cabernet sauvignon 2004, merlot 2005 and chardonnay 2005 styles. The varietals now are available at restaurants, bars and in-room dining at all Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Resorts in the United States. Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites properties will begin serving Canvas wines later this year.

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Aykroyd makes big splash for Niagara wines

Actor Dan Aykroyd, right, is the latest celebrity to get involved in the wine business. And, to respond to the obvious question, not in France, where his alien Conehead character claimed to be from.

The new $12 million Dan Aykroyd Winery will be located in his native Canada. It will be built in Beamsville, in the Niagara wine area, by Diamond Estates, a Toronto company that already owns four wineries -- Birchwood Estate, EastDell Estates, Lakeview Cellars and Thomas and Vaughn.

The winery will be a 45,000-square-foot facility that will include a multi-level hospitality area that will showcase some of Aykroyd's favorite memorabilia from his 30-year film and TV career. The hospitality building and production facility will be designed with a number of environmentally sustainable elements such as a geothermal heating and cooling system and solar lighting.

"This amazing facility is a symbol of my ongoing commitment to helping sustain the growth of the Canadian wine industry," Aykroyd said at the announcement ceremony in Toronto. "I am very proud to lend my name to this winery. It is a true expression of my passion for the world-class wines of the Niagara region."

Aykroyd also announced that two Dan Aykroyd Discovery Series wines, a chardonnay and a cabernet merlot blend, are now available at Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets. These wines from Niagara are the first to be released as part of the Dan Aykroyd-branded wine portfolio. More are scheduled to be released in the coming months, ranging in price from $15 to $25.

Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits also will be releasing a limited-quantity Dan Aykroyd Signature Reserve series that will range in price from $50 up. No more than 300 cases of any of the Signature Reserve wines will be made and each bottle will be numbered and signed by the winemaker. The first will be a barrel-fermented Niagara Peninsula vidal ice wine.

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Napa charity auction: We're No. 2!

The Naples Winter Wine Festival in Florida raised $18.3 million in its four-day auction event in January, maintaining its hold on the top dollar wine charity event in the nation.

However, the annual Napa Valley charity wine event isn't too shabby. It just pulled in $9.8 million for local agencies providing health care, youth services and affordable housing. The bulk of the funds were raised in the live Saturday night auction that was highlighted by a $1.1 million bid.

A Staglin Family Vineyard package of wine and a trip to Italy brought in the big bid.

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Rieseling Week returns in 4 U.S. cities

The 3rd annual Riesling Week, involving more than 60 restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Francisco, got under way today.

The event, sponsored by Wines of Germany -- formerly known as the German Wine Information Bureau, has worked with the restaurants on various promotions and specials such as food and wine pairings, tasting menus, flights and by-the-glass selections. This year, the promotion also includes in-store tastings in select wine retail stores.

"We are excited to introduce the third year of the very successful Riesling Week promotion," said Monika Reule, director of the Deutsches Weininstitut (DWI). "This promotion gives restaurant-goers unparalleled access to Germany's world-class Rieslings, allowing both wine novices and aficionados alike the luscious chance to enjoy a variety of German Rieslings at their favorite restaurants coast to coast."

Riesling is currently the fastest growing white varietal in the U.S., showing a 23% increase in sale sover the prior year. Germany grows more than 60% of all Riesling produced worldwide.

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'Solar powered' wine more than a gimmick

The Robert Keenan Winery has come up with something it labels with the phrase "Solar Powered and Sustainably Farmed."

The California operation's 2006 Napa Valley Summer Blend Chardonnay ($22) is its first release bearing the words. It's a combination of Chardonnay and small amounts of Viognier and Marsanne. When its reds are released in the fall they will carry the same phrase on the label.

Keenan can back up the claim. In a move to become more eco-friendly, it recently completed a solar power system to supply all its power needs.

The winery is located on Spring Mountain in the Mayacamas Range 1,700 feet above the Napa Valley floor. It focuses on three varietals -- Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot -- and produces nearly 10,000 cases per year.

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Cider tops beer among UK first-timers

People who have a strong impression of UK drinkers' preferences will have to reorder those thoughts after a new Nielsen report. The study lists the top at-home alcoholic beverages as:

The report shows that cider has experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in sales, jumping 29%. And, cider outstrips beer among people buying an alcoholic beverage for the first time.

1. Wine
2. Lager beer
3. Blended whiskey
4. Vodka
5. Cider
6. Ale
7. Champagne

Go here for a tasting report on American ciders made with Old Europe apples and methodology.

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