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NY wine sector leery of governor's plan

Gov. David Patterson's proposed budget and accompanying changes in taxes and funding various parts of the economy has the state's wine producers in a tizzy.

In an interview with Channel 36, WENY-TV, Seneca Lake Winery Association Executive Director Paul Thomas (right) says the proposal is frustrating, but it's not as devastating as the governor's proposal to eliminate most of the spending for promoting the sale of wine, grapes, and apples.

Click here for the video report and accompanying text version.

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Kentucky wine shipping law overturned

Unless the state continues to wage war on its own consumers, a Christmas Eve ruling by a federal appeals court will stand, making Kentucky allow out-of-state wine shipments into the state even if the purchase was made via telephone or online.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a 2006 decision from U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III that knocked down the state law prohibiting shipments of such wine purchases from out of state.

Cherry Hill Vineyards owners Jan and Mike Sweeney (above) filed a lawsuit that allowed the three-judge panel to rule on the case. They said Kentucky's in-person purchase requirement violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and illegally gives preference to Kentucky businesses over out-of-state merchants.

Cherry Hill Vineyards is located in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The 12,000 square foot winery produces about 7,000 cases of estate-grown pinot noir each year from grapes grown on its 90 acres, as well as some pinot gris and pinot noir dry rosé.

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Wine: It's not just for heart health anymore

A Peekskill, NY, man who claims he was a licensed orthodontist in his native Ecuador has been arrested and charged with operating an illegal dentist's office in the kitchen of his home and giving patients wine from a jug to help them cope with the pain.

Carlos Flores (above) was picked up two days before Christmas when police raided his home located about 30 miles north of New York City. The word on his activities came from a man who had to be hospitalized after Flores broke one of his teeth during an extraction.

Police, who seized a dentist's chair, drugs and orthodontic equipment, said Flores is being charged with practicing dentistry without a license. They said his patients mostly were poor Hispanics.

While wine is not recommended as a painkiller, some types have long been shown to have positive effects on human health.

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Avoiding scientific disaster

What happens if you vigorously shake an unopen bottle of champagne?

I have no idea why anyone would do that, but the Swiss newspaper Le Matin reports that Friedrich Balck of Clausethal Technical University in Germany found that a vigorously shaken bottle of champagne with a pressure of 2.5 bars (a bar equals 1kg per square centimeter) expelled its cork at 40 km/h. In American, that's 24.8 mph.

If you left the bottle unshaken in the sin for a while prior to opening it -- again, I have no idea why anyone would do that, the speed of the expelled cork could reach 62 mph.

To avoid such silliness during holiday festivities, follow these guides I've previously posted but now feel the need to reiterate:

• Remove the wire cage and foil covering the cork.

• Point the bottle away from everyone, including yourself. It is under tremendous pressure, so it can be a dangerous missile.

• Put a dish towel over the top of the bottle and, with your hand under the towel, grasp the cork firmly.

• Hold the cork steady and turn the bottle. The cork will slowly disengage.

• When the cork comes out, keep the towel over the bottle opening for a moment to preserve the gas and the champagne.

• Pour into champagne flutes and enjoy.

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Great moments in governance

New York State's convoluted, outdated and otherwise embarassingly pathetic regulation of the sales of wine, beer and spirits continually serves up examples of things that need to be fixed.

The latest came in Henrietta, a suburb of Rochester, where the state says Mike Palmeri's Marketview Liquor store committed an unforgiveable, unthinkable and inhuman act.

It sold wine gift bags.

Oh, the humanity!

Palmeri is allowed, as a duly licensed vassal of the Empire State government, to sell wine. And wine glasses. And wine bottle stoppers. And wine corkscrews. But, it is prohibited from selling a gift bag to put the stuff in. If you do that, Palmeri has learned, you're in line for a $10,000 fine for running a second business! -- according to the ludicrously inept State Liquor Authority.

He could, I theorize, have given the bags away and probably tacked an additional charge on some of the other items he's allowed to sell as a way of making up the difference.

Palmeri told WSYR-TV he had no idea the law existed.

“I was incredulous, and I took everything down. I stopped doing it," says Palmeri, a standup guy who says he doesn't blame the state because "ignorance of the law is no excuse. It's like saying you didn't know what the speed limit was. I violated the statute. I think it's pretty ridiculous, but the state needs money so they're looking for every possible way of getting it."

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Mead on the rise in bucolic Vermont

Vermont is known for its gorgeous scenery, great skiing, small population and very little government involvement in residents' lives. That tends to make it the sort of place that attracts, or holds, people with a do-it-yourself attitude.

Take what some of them do with honey, for example. The Vermont Beekeepers Association estimates there are 1,200 beekeepers tending 9,000 hives that produce 700,000 pounds of honey a year. That's a lot of honey to use in cooking and as sweeteners and toppings, so there is plenty left over for other purposes. Take mead.

Yes, the favorite of the Middle Ages continues to thrive in some areas. Rather than being simply an oddity produced by the occasional winery, in Vermont it's a growing field of endeavor.

As reported by the Vermont Times-Argus newspaper:

"Before the French chemist Louis Pasteur, there were the gods, and the mysterious means of turning honey into wine was seen as a gift from the heavens. Long-ago English speakers, both enamored of and bemused by the act of fermentation, dubbed the process simply 'god is good.' ...

"In Vermont, mead makers, from amateur home brewers to small-scale commercial producers, are experimenting with the age-old elixir, adding a touch of Green Mountain flavor.

"It's part of a recent renaissance for the brew, says Todd Hardie, owner of Honey Gardens in Ferrisburgh, which produces raw honey, mead and other natural honey products. In a climate ill suited to grapes for wine and barley for beer, mead — like Vermont cider — holds a particular appeal."

[Go here for the full story.]

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KY group joins push for wine in grocery stores

With New York State on the verge of allowing wine sales in grocery stores, the spotlight is being turned up on the 14 other states that do not allow such a thing.

One of them is Kentucky, and this report from the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer tells us a movement is growing to join the majority of states:

"Kentucky ... does not allow wine sales in grocery stores, but a coalition is looking to change that soon. The Kentucky Food with Wine Coalition announced December 16 that more than 100 Kentucky supermarkets will hold a petition drive to gauge support for allowing them to sell wine. The drive will help the coalition's effort to allow wine to be sold in groceries, spokesman Luke Schmidt said.

" 'Ultimately what we want to be able to do is to demonstrate that consumers across the state want to see this law change'," Schmidt told the Messenger-Inquirer.

"But traditional liquor stores don't want Kroger, Houchens and other grocery stores jumping on their wagon. Changing the law would give grocery stores an unfair advantage, said Karen Lentz, a lobbyist for the Kentucky Liquor Retailer Coalition.

" 'It's the fact that they can already do this, as long as they comply with the current rules that are set out for anybody who sells wine', Lentz said. 'This is a heavily regulated product that should remain heavily regulated'."

"Rep. Larry Clark, a Louisville Democrat, filed a bill this year to allow for the expansion of wine sales to grocery stores. The bill made its way to the House Licensing and Occupations Committee but didn't receive a hearing.

"As Kentucky farmers make the switch from traditional crops, particularly tobacco, to grape and wine production, allowing wine sales in groceries will be a benefit to Kentucky's agriculture industry, the coalition argues.

" 'It's early, but my understanding is that it's been very positively received by shoppers,' Schmidt said."

" ... At least 40 grocery stores in Kentucky already sell liquor, but they have to abide by the same rules as liquor stores, like having the liquor and wine section accessible only through its own entrance, Lentz said."

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Drawing a conclusion

John DeRosier, the editorial cartoonist for the Times Union newspaper in Albany, NY, didn’t leave any doubt in today's cartoon about his stance on the proposal by Gov. David Patterson to allow wine sales in grocery stores.

The proposal, which the governor estimates will significantly increase state revenue through licensing and taxes, is under fire from liquor stores which have always had that niche as their exclusive province in New York State.

Thirty-five other states already allow groceries to sell wines.

Click here to see the full cartoon posted on the blog I write for that newspaper.

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A beer drinker's guide to holiday champagne

From the "Dowd On Drinks" archives, updated:

So there you sit, in your latest ugly Christmas sweater that already has a splotch of holiday gravy on the front, wondering how to avoid looking like a schlub when you uncork the champagne you've been assigned to purchase for the next family inquisition commonly known as New Year's Eve.

You like your bubbly, of course, if it says Bud Lite on the label. What do you know about that frou-frou French stuff, and who wants to spend that kind of money on something that tickles your nose and tastes sour anyway?

If you know champagne is French, you may be farther ahead than you realize. The rest is a simple matter of getting educated. Quickly. Since you're running low on shopping days to get ready to toast the arrival of 2009, sit up straight and pay attention.

True champagne comes from the Champagne region in the northeastern part of France which jealously protects the name "champagne'' worldwide. That's why the phrases "champagne style'' and "methode champenoise'' appear on a lot of non-French labels. (See how much you've learned already?)

Champagne doesn't taste sour. Crappy champagne does. However, it does have quite a range from tart to sweet.

There is something called "liqueur d'expedition'' which is used to top off bottles after the sediment has been removed. Because it contains varying amounts of sugar and some reserve wine, the sweetness of the finished product will vary and determines the style of the champagne.

The most common style is brut -- there is an extra or ultra brut, but you'll rarely see it, especially in the U.S. Brut has 0 to 15 grams of sugar per liter. Then comes extra sec with 12-20 grams, sec at 17-35, demi-sec at 35-50, doux at more than 50 and also extremely rare. You're usually dealing with brut style in this country, and it's a versatile wine for meals, desserts or just quaffing.

Champagne prices range all over the place, such as $15-$22 for a palatable low-end wine to $30-$60 for the better ones without having to sell your first-born to pay for even more expensive ones. My favorites are Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin ($39.95) and Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut ($30) among the affordable imports and Chateau Frank 2000 Blanc de Noirs from the Finger Lakes ($29.99) among the "methode champenoise'' domestics.

What should determine the price is what's in the bottle. A non-vintage wine, usually denoted by the letters NV on the label instead of a vintage year, is a blend from several different years. Vintage wines are produced from a single year.Most champagne houses will designate a vintage only if they think the grape crop from that year was special. Otherwise, they blend their product to meet a certain standard. Vintages are more expensive.

Some of the other top-tier French champagnes are Taittinger, Moet et Chandon, Bollinger, Cristal, Pol Roger and Dom Perignon. The French-owned Roederer Estate winery in California also produces some nice bubblies.

Champagnes do not have to be golden, as the movies would have you believe. There are champagnes ranging in color from nearly white to deep gold to rose or bright pink. It all depends on the manufacturing process.

There are champagnes made entirely from black grapes (blanc de noir) such as pinot noir and pinot meunier and champagnes made entirely from white grapes (blanc de blanc) such as chardonnay. The rose wines are made by allowing a little more contact with the red grape skins than usual or, in a few cases, even introducing a touch of red wine to the process.

Champagne is best served as cold as you can get it without putting it in the freezer. That helps maintain the bubbles after opening. And, speaking of opening, a bad job of doing that can ruin the whole thing. Just keep a few things in mind:

• Remove the wire cage and foil covering the cork.

• Point the bottle away from everyone, including yourself. It is under tremendous pressure, so it can be a dangerous missile.

• Put a dish towel over the top of the bottle and, with your hand under the towel, grasp the cork firmly.

• Hold the cork steady and turn the bottle. The cork will slowly disengage.

• When the cork comes out, keep the towel over the bottle opening for a moment to preserve the gas and the champagne.

• Pour into champagne flutes and enjoy.

---

A champagne haiku

Champagne bubbles rise
like tiny moths to light bulbs
here's to you my dear

---

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Aussie claims world's healthiest wine

From the UK's Times Online:

An Australian doctor has created what he claims is the world's healthiest wine which cleans your blood vessels even as you drink it, actively reducing your risk of heart attack.

Philip Norrie, a Sydney GP and former winemaker, has produced a wine with 100 times the amount of resveratrol, the antioxidant credited with giving wine its health giving properties, as normal wines.

[Go here for the full story.]

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NY raising the price of raising a glass

New York State is so strapped for cash, Gov. David Patterson is dusting off a lot of old ideas to raise money. Among his proposals for the new year, which still need to be debated and voted on by the state legislature, are numerous ones that will affect the beverage consuming habits of state residents.

Chief among them is his proposal to allow sales of wine in grocery stores, which would put New York on the same page as 35 other states that already allow it. Until now, strong lobbying by liquor store owners and their allies in state government has kept the lucrative slice of the market all to themselves. The usual posturing and debating now will ensue as the matter is debated.

Other beverage-related plans in Patterson's 2009-10 budget proposal:

• An increase in the excise tax on wine and beer from 18.9 cents a gallon for wine and 24 cents a gallon for beer to 51 cents a gallon for both.

• Increasing the tax on flavored malt liquors.

• Raising the sales tax on fruit drinks and non-diet sodas with less than 70% fruit juice by 18%.

Paterson delivered a balanced Executive Budget, more than one month prior to the State constitutional deadline, which would eliminate the largest budget deficit in state history -- a $1.7 billion current-year shortfall and a $13.7 billion 2009-10 deficit.

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A bailout for wine lovers

Now that big banks and financial firms have been promised bailouts with taxpayer money and the Big 3 of automaking is angling for the same, other entities are contemplating asking for bailouts, too.

You, as an individual, beleaguered, taxpaying citizen, can get one.

Crushpad, the California custom wine facility, has come up with Bailout Wine. It's a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon which will sell for $39 per bottle.

So, you may ask, what's the deal with the bailout?

For every 100-point drop in the Dow Jones average from the date of purchase to the projected bottling date of August 14 2009, Crushpad will take $2 off the bottle price. If the Dow rebounds, the $39 price stands.

Only 500 cases of Bailout -- which has a bull and a bear battling on the label -- will be produced. The wine will be shipped after it is bottled next summer.

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Moet buys champagne house

Moet Hennessy, LMVH's wines and spirits group, has purchased the Montaudon champagne house.

The Reims, France, company was founded in 1891. The family business recently invested in a new production site at Croix-Blandin.

Montaudon joins LVMH's portfolio of champagne brands that include Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Krug, Ruinart and Mercier.

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Napa's COPIA may be defunct

April L. Dowd photo

From the San Francisco Business News:

A U.S. bankruptcy court judge has rejected Napa (CA) food and wine center COPIA’s attempt to line up an emergency $2 million line of credit, a ruling that appears to spell the end of the Napa non-profit, which has about $80 million in debts.

The 7-year-old company, seen by many as a failed attempt to take advantage of Napa’s food and wine culture, was initially bankrolled by the late wine industry icon Robert Mondavi.

“At this time, it is highly unlikely that COPIA will continue in any form other than to orderly wind down operations,” CFO Joe Fischer said in a recent e-mail reported by the Napa Valley Register. The San Francisco Business Times was unable to reach officials for comment.

Copia shut its doors in late November, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Dec. 1.

Its bond insurer, ACA Financial Guaranty Corp., and bond trustee Bank of New York Mellon objected to the line of credit request, according to a report Wednesday in the Register, one of Copia’s unsecured creditors. As a result of Judge Alan Jaroslovsky’s ruling, the company, also known as the American Center For Wine, Food and the Arts, appears ready to go out of business.

The organization’s bankruptcy filing listed 385 creditors. It reportedly owes $78 million to financial institutions and $2 million to other entities. A bankruptcy court hearing on the matter is scheduled for Dec. 19."

[Go here for my earlier report on the situation.]

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Michigan seeks ban on direct shipment

Michigan consumers no longer will be allowed to have wine purchases shipped directly to them by retailers in any state if new legislation is passed by both houses of the state legislature..

The legislation, passed 97 to 9 by the House on Thursday and which now goes before the Senate, is in response to a federal court decision that opening up Michigan’s market to retailers from all over the country.

The legislation is supported by Michigan's Liquor Control Commission and by the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association. Both bodies have said they want to control access to alcohol.

[See related wine legislation stories here, here and here.]

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75 years since The Noble Experiment fizzled

There is something about Americans that requires special treatment of anniversaries ending in the numbers 0 and 5.

Rarely do we make a big deal about the fourth anniversary, or the ninth, or even the 24th of some event. Ah, but let us get busy when it comes to the fifth, 10th or 25th.

So, imagine all the hoopla that will be going on around the country tomorrow, Friday, December 5 -- the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Let the happy hours begin!

Officially, the prohibition on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, with a rare few licensed exceptions, was a result of the National Prohibition Act of 1919 -- commonly called the Volstead Act, after U.S. Rep. Andrew J. Volstead, R-Minnesota, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and sponsor of the bill that went into effect in 1920.

This came about in a period in our history in which religious organizations and anti-drinking societies abounded and had plenty of political clout. Chief among them were the American Temperance Society, the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, all of which had gained phenomenal political clout.

According to the National Archives, "Between 1905 and 1917, various states imposed laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages. ... In 1917, the House of Representatives wanted to make Prohibition the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Congress sent the amendment to the states for ratification, where it needed three-fourths approval. The amendment stipulated a time limit of seven years for the states to pass this amendment. In just 13 months enough states said 'yes' to the amendment that would prohibit the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic liquors.

"The amendment worked at first, liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford. Alcohol consumption dropped by 30% and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50% during Prohibition. These statistics however, do not reflect the growing disobedience toward the law and law enforcement.

"The intensity of the temperance advocates was matched only by the inventiveness of those who wanted to keep drinking. Enforcing Prohibition proved to be extremely difficult. The illegal production and distribution of liquor, or bootlegging, became rampant, and the national government did not have the means or desire to try to enforce every border, lake, river, and speakeasy in America. In fact, by 1925 in New York City alone there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.

"The demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out-winning) the demand for sobriety. People found clever ways to evade Prohibition agents. They carried hip flasks, hollowed canes, false books, and the like. While Prohibition assisted the poor factory workers who could not afford liquor, all in all, neither federal nor local authorities would commit the resources necessary to enforce the Volstead Act. For example, the state of Maryland refused to pass any enforcement issue. Prohibition made life in America more violent, with open rebellion against the law and organized crime."

Finally, the political pendulum swung far enough in favor of ridding the nation of what came to be called by some "The Noble Experiment." As many anti-Prohibition organizations popped up as had anti-drinking groups. The Democratic Party platform in the 1932 election included an anti-Prohibition plank and Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for the presidency promising repeal, which occurred on December 5, 1933.

The popular vote for repeal of prohibition was 74% in favor, 26% opposed. Thus, by a 3-to-1 margin, the American people rejected Prohibition. Only two states opposed repeal.

Crowds raised glasses and sang "Happy Days are Here Again!" and President Roosevelt, referring to what he called "The damnable affliction of Prohibition," sipped a martini at the stroke of midnight, what was widely reported as the first legal cocktail since Prohibition began.

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Massachusetts wine rules changing

Massachusetts consumers may soon be able to order wine online from anywhere in the country.

U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel ruled that the state's restrictions on direct shipments of wine purchased over the Internet discriminated against out-of-state wineries. His decision was based on a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says states cannot prohibit out-of-state Internet sales if they allow in-state wineries to ship their products directly to consumers.

The attorney general's office is deciding whether to appeal Zobel's ruling.

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Napa's COPIA center bankrupt

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The bad news: COPIA:The American Center for Wine, Food & The Arts that has been closed for several weeks, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The good news: It will reopen during the reorganization period.

The center, located in Napa, CA, said restructuring through a Chapter 11 filing will provide six months to achieve long-term sustainability. In the filing, Copia estimated its outstanding liabilities between $50 million and $100 million.

"We recently have taken intensive measures to overcome our deteriorating liquidity position," Copia CEO Garry McGuire said in a statement, referring to cost-cutting by making Copia less of a wine and food museum and more of an education institute.

Copia was the brainchild of wine pioneer Robert Mondavi, who died in May at age 94. It has been financially troubled since its 2001 opening as a facility that includes museum exhibition space, a restaurant, expansive gardens, meeting rooms and art galleries. It has been closed in recent weeks, but will reopen during the restructuring.

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All things cider, and how to taste them

• I've been getting a small but steady trickle of inquiries about ciders lately. Perhaps it's that time of year when so traditional -- at least English traditional -- a drink gets into the mind along with other autumnal things such as turkeys and cranberries and yams.

Anyway, because of this renewed interest in true ciders and how to taste them, I've taken the following 2007 story from my archives to help quench that thirst for knowledge.

---

William M. Dowd photo

There are few plants on the Earth that somewhere, some time, somehow, someone hasn't tried turning into an alcoholic beverage.

From Egyptian pharonic dynasty beer that was so thick with fibers and seeds it needed to be sipped through a reed straw to today's multiply-filtered, pasteurized craft brews. From accidentally fermented grapes and other fruits that led us to today's fine wines. From rough, raw alcoholic drinks to today's premium spirits. And from semi-sweet to extra dry fermented apple cider of the Middle Ages to -- well, to the semi-sweet to extra dry fermented apple cider of today.

Let's talk about that.

Cider is truly an ancient drink. It is neither wine nor apple juice nor what today passes for commercial cider in the United States, that overpowering stuff made from sweet dessert apples, often goosed up with bittersweet apple concentrate and loaded with high fructose corn syrup in the manner of most soft drinks. In the U.S. we tend to call the original version "hard cider" to differentiate it from the non-alcoholic version. Elswehere, it's just plain cider.

Traditional cider, higher than beer in alcohol content but lower than wine at about 6.5 to 8.5 percent -- meaning in the 13 to 17 proof range, is made in various parts of Europe from apple strains with which the average consumer is not familiar: Somerset Redstreak, Medaille d'Or, Bulmer's Norman, Kingston Black and Dabinett, for example. You won't find such popular eating apples as Macintosh, Delicious, Granny Smith, Cortland and the like in anything considered a fine cider.

There even is a pear cider, known as perry, much less popular but traditional nevertheless. It has been made for centuries in Britain, particularly in the west and in Wales, and remains popular across the English Channel in the French region of Normandy and up north in Sweden. It is made virtually the same way as apple cider, usually with an 8 percent alcohol volume, which means 16 proof. The most common UK cider pear is the Blakeney Red, not an appealing eating fruit but just right for cider.

A mutual acquaintance put me onto Farnum Hill Ciders, made at Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon, N.H., near the Vermont border. He touted it as an excellent example of traditional European cider making, "not at all sweet like the usual ciders you get in supermarkets. More like a selection of wines."

Farnum Hill, owned and operated by Stephen Wood and Louisa Spencer, has been growing what they refer to as "real cider apple trees" for the past 16 years. Their crops are heirloom variety apples that were cellar staples in colonial times or in common usage in Europe, but now rarities here. Esopus Spitzberg, Yarlington Mill and the aforementioned Kingston Black, Medaille d'Or and Dabinett allow Wood to turn out a wide variety of ciders, each with its own nuances.

I convened a four-person panel to sample and evaluate a quartet of Farnum Hill ciders -- a sparkling trio of Farmhouse, Semi-Dry and Extra-Dry and an Extra-Dry Still.

Cider makers tend to speak of their products as winemakers do of theirs, and urge them to be consumed with food. We set up our tastebuds with a light tapas assortment -- chicken satays with spicy peanut sauce or dots of wasabi, stuffed mushrooms and assorted cheeses (an eight-year-old Canadian cheddar, a raw cow's milk gruyere called L'Etivaz from Switzerland, and a raw whole sheep's milk Abbaye de Belic from the Aquitaine province in the south of France).

Wood suggests, "When you taste, it might be best to avoid interspersing our ciders with sweeter ones, either European or American. Certain juxtapositions could be cruel to some or all."

While I understood his concern about interspersing, I disagree that there should be no comparison. We had small glasses of another New England product with our tapas, a tasty, sweet sparkling "American Cider" called Johnny Mash. It's a 12-proof, oak aged beverage created in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts by Furnace Brook Winery at Hilltop Orchards near the village of Richmond. Because it is more akin in taste with commonly-found American ciders, it offered a good baseline for comparison of the dry European-style Farnum Hill ciders. And, it has performed exceedingly well in cider competitions for more than a decade.

Our tasting notes:

• Farmhouse Cider: This is a pale gold, light bodied slightly sparkling cider. It wasn't overwhelmed by the tapas and cider that came before it, but it put our panel in the right frame of mind: i.e., don't expect a big apple bang on the palate the way we've been conditioned to expect from American-style ciders. Mid-palate apple taste, but not from start to finish. Farmhouse would be nice with mild foods, but overwhelmed by anything spicy.

• Semi-Dry: A slightly more apple-y taste, but with hints of tropical fruit. Tarter than the Farmhouse, very subdued nose. If you fool with it long enough, you begin to extract more taste. Although the maker calls it "a happy companion to most foods," our panel disagreed, noting it worked best with a bit of sliced apple and the gruyere that helped coax out the flavor.

• Extra Dry: This one was a hit with all involved, possibly because of the more forward taste of apple, a fragrant nose one of our tasters said is "closer to the kind of balance you'd expect from a good wine." Here again, we disagreed with the maker's evaluation that it would be "a palate-cleansing friend to most foods, except perhaps desserts." We felt it would go well particularly with desserts because, of the four Farnum Hill ciders we tried, this one stood up best in all categories -- golden color, full nose and body, and a long, pleasant aftertaste.

• Extra-Dry Still: Not a hit with anyone. We found it pallid by comparison to its companions, too acidic and, as one put it, "it would benefit from a spritz."

Farnum Hill has seven different ciders, some of them seasonal. Because apple quality varies season to season, there will be some variations in the ciders from year to year, much like grape quality affects wine whereas other alcoholic beverages are far less beholden to the crops used in their creation.

In essence, this tasting went about the same way most do. Individual values and tastes created some division among the panelists, but the best was deemed best by all and the weakest weakest by all.

One other thing we all agreed on was that cider should be anything but a forgotten beverage of choice when it comes to food pairings, no matter the season. It deserves being returned to the esteem in which it once was held in this country, and offers a distinct alternative to the everyday drinks we consume.

[Go here, here, here and here for other cider stories.]

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Chateau Latour sets auction record

Sometimes people do get carried away in the excitement of an auction. That may be what happened on Nov. 29 at the first Christie’s International wine auction in Hong Kong in seven years.

Pre-event estimates predicted a 12-bottle lot of 1961 Chateau Latour might bring HK$650,000. Instead, it sold for a record HK$1.32 million (US$170,320).

The bottles were bought in the Nov. 29 event by an Asian private collector Christie’s didn’t identify. Another two lots of Latour 1961 were the second- and third-most expensive items at the auction. Of the 246 lots offered, 231 sold for a combined HK$31.5 million.

The Hong Kong government last February abolished duties on wine, thus cutting the costs of trading and storing bottles in Hong Kong to encourage more Asian collectors to move their wines from current trading centers such as London.

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