King of the Wine Frontier

• The death this week at age 85 of Fess Parker (right), the former iconic actor (Davy Crockett, Dan'l Boone) who became a major name in the California wine industry, has been lamented by legions and chronicled by many. One of the more interesting articles, however, came in a first-person article by Maureen Orth for Vanity Fair -- more of an inside peek than a standard obituary. It begins:

"Fess Parker, who died yesterday at 85, was a childhood hero of mine as the star of the TV series 'Davy Crockett.' I got to know him, however, because he was a neighbor of Michael Jackson’s.

"We first met in 1993, as the zoo animals were being evacuated from Jackson’s Neverland Ranch during a vicious wildfire. A courtly six-foot-six, Parker had retired from acting years earlier but maintained his fame by creating a successful winery and picturing himself in his trademark coonskin cap on the labels of his bottles. He was the unofficial mayor of Los Olivos, the beautiful winemaking town in the Santa Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara, and he presided over the luxurious Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa with his charming wife of 50 years, the chanteuse Marcella Rinehart.

"Fess and Marcella held community sings around the piano in the lobby of their inn on Thursday nights, and they were a few of the more memorable evenings I spent while covering Jackson’s child-molestation trial for Vanity Fair in 2005. When I was first invited to attend, I thought it was just going to be a campfire-type sing-along with a group of neighbors, but it was actually a night of carefully rehearsed performances. The hills were alive with onetime stars."

[Go here for the full article.]

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Indiana eases alcohol restrictions

Indiana has become the latest state to loosen some restrictions on its alcoholic beverage sales.

Under legislation overwhelmingly passed in the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels, the state's bars, restaurants, microbreweries and liquor stores will, as of July 1:

• Be allowed to extend Sunday drinking hours to 3 a.m.
• Sell alcohol on Election Day.
• Conduct Sunday carryout sales at microbreweries.

The legislation, known as Senate Enrolled Act 75, also requires any establishments that have carryout sales to card all customers who appear younger than 50.

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Invasive moth just one California problem

• From SFgate.com:

A huge swath of [California] Wine Country, including vineyards where some of the world's best grapes are grown, was quarantined this week after an invasive moth was discovered.

The European grapevine moth has already destroyed at least one vineyard's harvest and damaged other prime vineyards in the Napa Valley, prompting the California Department of Food and Agriculture to place under quarantine 162 square miles of land, mostly in Napa County but including parts of Sonoma and Solano counties.

"This is a serious threat to grape growing, not just in Napa County but throughout California," said Greg Clark, the assistant agricultural commissioner for Napa County. ...

The grape-gobbling pest has long been the scourge of winemakers in Europe, but the discovery of moth larvae in a Napa Valley vineyard in September marked the first time the insect had been seen in the United States.

[Go here for the full story.]

Meanwhile, Business Week's Dan Levy writes:

"That sound you hear is not the uncorking of a cabernet, it's the popping of California's wine country bubble.

"Crumbling land prices and a newfound popularity of cheaper wine may turn 2010 into a vintage year for Napa Valley foreclosures. As many as 10 premium wineries and vineyards in the area -- home to the nation's priciest grapes -- will change hands in distressed sales or foreclosures this year and next, according to an estimate by Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB). (In 2008 there were none.) Property loan defaults in January were up fourfold from a year ago. Says Bill Stevens, manager of the bank's wine division: "We have 250 vintner clients saying this downturn is the worst in 20 years."

Suffering the most are newer arrivals, some of whom made their fortunes in real estate and finance.

[Go here for the full story.]

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Chilean wine loss less than feared

• From Decanter.com

Earthquake damage to the Chilean wine industry is not nearly as bad as feared, the country's biggest producers say.

After a board meeting Wednesday at Vinos de Chile and Wines of Chile, the domestic and international operations that represent 95% of the industry, the verdict is that some 12.5% of the country's cellared wine has been lost.

That is about US$250 million worth of wine -- a figure that will not represent actual loss as the wine is insured, and moreover the country's wineries were overstocked, Rene Merino, president of Wines of Chile told decanter.com.

The meeting consisted of the heads of Concha y Toro, Errazuriz, Santa Rita, San Pedro, Undurraga, Montes, Veramonte, Casa Silva and Tamaya, as well as the country's biggest bottle manufacturer, Cristal Chile.

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Quake compromises Chile's wine industry

• Excerpted from news service

As the death toll in Chile climbs to near 800, the toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake on one of its largest exports, wine, still is being assessed.

"The impact on the infrastructure was considerable as the earthquake severely affected the heart of the Chilean wine industry: Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Maule and Bio Bio wine regions," Salvador Domenech, managing director of Santa Rita wines said. "We don't see major impact on the vineyards, so we are maintaining the enthusiasm regarding the quality of the upcoming grapes."

Viña Concha y Toro SA, the major wine producer, has halted operations for at least a week due to damage to its facilities caused by the Saturday quake.

Most of the fatalities so far have been in the wine-growing Maule region that includes the port city of Talcahuano, which also was devastated by a post-quake tsunami.

Luis Mayol, president of Chile's National Agriculture Society, told Chilean business daily Diario Financiero the industry is likely to suffer some significant losses from the earthquake, which seriously damaged the country's infrastructure, including wine storage facilities.

Antonio Larrain, general manager of the Chilean Wine Corporatin, said 70% of the country's vineyards are located in quake-hit areas.

He said the country has 900 million liters of wine in stock at the moment. A first analysis suggests that 20% of that amount might be "compromised."

The start of the harvest season was to have begun in parts of Chile last weekend.

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King Family is Virginia wine royalty

RICHMOND, VA -- The King Family Vineyards crew undoubtedly will always remember the 2010 Virginia Wine Expo.

The event, which culminated Friday night at the Richmond Convention Center, saw the King enterprise rack up a few honors:

• Governor's Cup and a category gold medal for what the judges said was the state's top wine, a 2007 Meritage. It was accepted by winemaker Matthieu Finot.

• David King (above right), head of the Crozet, VA, operation located a 15-minute drive from Charlottesville at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was named the state's "Wine Grower of the Year."

• Silver medals for King Family's 2008 Cabernet Franc and its 2007 Merlot.

More than 200 wines were entered in the competition. Virginia has 157 licensed wineries.

The Governor's Cup-winning Meritage -- which earlier won double gold in the 2009 Monticello Cup -- is a blend of 56% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot, 16% Cabernet Franc, and 8% Malbec. It was aged in French oak for 18 months, and just 615 cases were produced.

The Meritage sells for $25.95 a bottle. Go here for purchasing information.

[Go here for my tasting notes report on the Meritage.]

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Calif.'s North Coast wine industry in trouble

• From the Santa Rosa, CA, Press-Democrat:

The North Coast wine industry, home to the highest concentration of high-end wineries and vineyards in the nation, is reeling from the impacts of a recession that has made it chic to drink cheap wine.

Few are immune from the sea change sweeping the industry, from ultra-luxury brands fetching over $100 a bottle to high-volume supermarket wines struggling to keep prices above $10 amid a flood of inexpensive imports and deeply discounted domestic wines.

"This is beyond a recession. This is a complete resetting of the clock," said Sebastopol winemaker Tim Olson (left), co-owner of the boutique Olson Ogden wine brand.

Falling wine prices have affected everything from the value of vineyard land, to how much money banks will lend wineries, to how much wineries will pay for grapes. Layoffs have hit even the strongest wineries, while the very viability of others is in doubt.

[Go here for the full story.]

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