20110425

English sparklers an emerging treat

Hush Heath Estate, which produces Balfour wine.
From The New York Times

By Eric Asimov

It was as gently gorgeous as any wine region I’ve visited, although looking around you would never know it was a wine region at all. Verdant pastures dotted with cattle and sheep, interspersed with bursting bluebells and fields of rapeseed shimmering with yellow flowers all spoke colorfully of an economy dependent for centuries on the annual rhythms of agriculture. But the landscape said little of wine.

This was southern England, which I visited last week for a piece on English sparkling wine. Very few Americans are aware that England makes any wine at all, much less good sparkling wine, and, looking around, they won’t see much to convince them otherwise.

Unlike more historic wine regions, you are not surrounded by a monoculture of grapes in the countryside. But here and there, in hidden valleys and secluded glens, vineyards of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier on south-facing slopes offer evidence of a new optimism that England can make world-class sparkling wine.

That optimism is not at all unfounded. English sparkling wines may not yet rival very good Champagnes, but the best versions are already surprisingly good. I was especially taken with the elegant blanc de blancs from Ridgeview Estate in East Sussex and Gusbourne Estate in Kent. Hush Heath Estate’s Balfour Brut Rosé is quite good.

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20110422

Celebri-quote: Christa Miller

The cast of the TV series "Cougar Town" downs a LOT of wine in the course of its weekly comedy episodes. In an interview with the New York Post, co-star Christa Miller, who plays bitchy Ellie Torres, talks about the drinking aspects of the series.

Christa: "You can ... turn the show into a drinking game. There’s one every time we drink, you have to drink, which is insane in some episodes. It’s crazy. Someone said that every time Ellie gives a withering glare to someone, you should drink. Which I thought was funny. Then I thought I should maybe tone down the withering glare if that truly becomes part of the drinking game. I don't want to hurt anyone."
Post: "Can you safely say that 'Cougar Town' could out drink 'Mad Men?' "

Christa: I feel like we have to. I mean, Jules [the character played by Courtney Cox] is drinking out of a candle holder in Mexico because she didn’t bring Big Joe [her oversized wine glass]with her. One of them actually fits two entire bottles of wine. It’s ridiculous.

Post: Obviously you're not really drinking wine on the show, what is it?

Christa: Grape juice. But you have to sip it. You don’t want to get a scene where you’re drinking a lot. Ian [Gomez, who plays her husband, Andy] had a scene where he lost a bet and had to keep chugging glasses, take after take, and the sugar headache is worse than being drunk.

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20110421

An appreciation: Jess Jackson

• This commentary by noted wine writer Lettie Teague in remembrance of winemaker and racing entrepreneur Jess Jackson who died this week at the age of 81 was published in The Wall Street Journal.

By Lettie Teague

When I met Jess Jackson a few years ago, I traveled not to Napa or Sonoma, but to the bluegrass country of Kentucky.

Jess had stipulated that my story should take place with his Stonestreet Farms as the setting, rather than one of his many wineries.

As one who shared his love of horses as well as wine, that was perfectly fine with me. In fact, I was thrilled. It was the first time that I’ve ever written a profile of a vintner that included a tour of a breeding shed, not to mention a trip to Belmont Racetrack to watch the great Curlin win the Woodward Stakes.

During our time together we talked as much about great race horses as we did great wine (perhaps a little bit more about the former, in fact).

But Jess Jackson was a different sort of vintner in so many ways.

He was a millionaire many times over, but more importantly he was a man driven by passion: for wine (Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve is still the most recognizable Chardonnay in this country decades after its debut), for land (he bought thousands of acres of vineyards all over California, and chiefly in Sonoma, his home) and for great horses, like Curlin and Rachel Alexandra.

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When mommys attack, over wine

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Selling wine to moms is important enough to a pair of rival companies that they have taken the use of the term "mommy" to federal court.

Clos Lachance Wines, a California company, on Monday filed suit here in an attempt to get the court to rule that its "MommyJuice" does not violate the trademark of "Mommy's Time Out," which is marketed by a New Jersey distributor.

"Mommy is a generic word that they don't have a monopoly on," said KC Branch, an attorney who represents Clos Lachance. The owner of "Mommy's Time Out" declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In trademark violation cases, a brand owner must show it is likely a rival mark will create confusion in the minds of consumers.

As they say on TV, the future remains cloudy.

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20110420

Guest comment: Lower the drinking ages

• The writer is director of the Insurance Studies project at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The issues she manages include property insurance, adult beverages, gambling industry regulation, and adult entertainment regulation. This commentary first appeared in National Review Online.

By Michelle Minton

Alaska state Representative Bob Lynn (R-Anchorage) is asking the long overdue question: Why do we consider 18-year-olds old enough to join the military, to fight and die for our country, but not to have a drink with their friends before they ship out or while they’re home on leave? Lynn has introduced a bill that would allow anyone 18 years and older with a military ID to drink alcohol in Alaska.

The bill already is facing strong opposition from self-styled public-health advocates. However, the data indicate that the 21-minimum drinking age has not only done zero good, it may actually have done harm. In addition, an individual legally enjoys nearly all other rights of adulthood upon turning 18 -- including the rights to vote, get married, and sign contracts. It is time to reduce the drinking age for all Americans.

In the early 1970s, with the passage of the 26th Amendment (which lowered the voting age to 18), 29 states lowered their minimum legal drinking age to 18, 19, or 20 years old. Other states already allowed those as young as 18 to buy alcohol, such as Louisiana, New York, and Colorado. However, after some reports showed an increase in teenage traffic fatalities, some advocacy groups pushed for a higher drinking age. They eventually gained passage of the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which lets Congress withhold 10% of a state’s federal highway funds if it sets its minimum legal drinking age below 21. (Alaska reportedly would lose up to $50 million a year if Lynn’s bill passes.)

By 1988, all states had raised their drinking age to 21. In the years since, the idea of lowering the drinking age has periodically returned to the public debate, but groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have been able to fight back attempts to change the law. (Louisiana briefly lowered its age limit in back to 18 in 1996, after the state Supreme Court ruled that the 21 limit was a form of age discrimination, but the court reversed that decision a few months later.)

It’s true that America has a problem with drinking: The rates of alcoholism and teenage problem drinking are far greater here than in Europe. Yet in most European countries, the drinking age is far lower than 21. Some, such as Italy, have no drinking age at all. The likely reason for the disparity is the way in which American teens are introduced to alcohol versus their European counterparts. While French or Italian children learn to think of alcohol as part of a meal, American teens learn to drink in the unmonitored environment of a basement or the backwoods with their friends. A 2009 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Health, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded that 72% of graduating high school seniors already had consumed alcohol.

The problem is even worse on college campuses, where there is an unspoken understanding between students, administrators, local law enforcement, and parents that renders drinking-age restrictions effectively moot as students drink alcohol at frat or house parties and in their dorm rooms. The result is dangerous, secret binge drinking. This unspoken agreement and the problems it creates led a group of college chancellors and presidents from around the nation to form the Amethyst Initiative, which proposes a reconsideration of the current drinking age.

Middlebury College President Emeritus John M. McCardell, who also is a charter member of Presidents Against Drunk Driving, came out in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 years old in a 2004 New York Times opinion article. “Our latter-day prohibitionists have driven drinking behind closed doors and underground," he wrote. “Colleges should be given the chance to educate students, who in all other respects are adults, in the appropriate use of alcohol, within campus boundaries and out in the open."

The most powerful argument, at least emotionally, for leaving the drinking age at 21 is that the higher age limit has prevented alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Such fatalities indeed decreased about 33% from 1988 to 1998 -- but the trend is not restricted to the United States. In Germany, for example, where the drinking age is 16, alcohol-related fatalities decreased by 57% between 1975 and 1990. The most likely cause for the decrease in traffic fatalities is a combination of law enforcement, education, and advances in automobile-safety technologies such as airbags and roll cages.

In addition, statistics indicate that these fatalities may not even have been prevented but rather displaced by three years, and that fatalities might even have increased over the long run because of the reduced drinking age. In an award-winning study in 2010, University of Notre Dame undergraduate Dan Dirscherl found that banning the purchase of alcohol between the ages of 18 and 21 actually increased traffic fatalities of those between the ages of 18 and 24 by 3%.

Dirscherl’s findings lend credence to the "experienced drinker" hypothesis, which holds that when people begin driving at 16 and gain confidence for five years before they are legally able to drink, they are more likely to overestimate their driving ability and have less understanding of how alcohol consumption affects their ability to drive.

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20110419

Nation's top sommelier emerges

Alexander LaPratt
NEW YORK -- db Bistro Moderne has long been regarded as one of the nation's top restaurants. Now its Alexander LaPratt is the nation's top sommelier.

LaPratt won the title of “Best Sommelier in America” on Sunday night in a competition hosted by the American Sommelier Association, an organization dedicated to wine education and the sommelier industry in America. He was in competition with 30 candidates from 12 states in a two-day competition at the Jumeirah Essex House hotel.

All the competitors completed a blind tasting test and a written exam that cut the field to four finalists. The others were Christopher Bates of the Hotel Fauchere in Milford, PA, Jared Fischer of Le Bernardin in New York, and Michael Meagher of Treasury Wine Estates in Waltham, MA.

They had to complete tests in food and wine pairing, a blind spirits tasting and a cigar service test, as well as work in a mock dining room full of demanding customers.

Judges for the event included Aldo Sohm, chef sommelier of Le Bernardin and 2007's "Best Sommelier in America," Andre Compeyre, chef sommelier of Adour Alain Ducasse; Andrew F. Bell, co-founder of American Sommelier, and Rajat Parr, wine director of Mina Group.

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Got wine? Think insurance

From Reuters

There's a growing market for insuring fine wine as even people who had never thought to insure their liquid assets, or don't even have a cellar, discover they have a valuable commodity.

"There are people who have not thought of insuring and they have been collecting for years," Yannick Daucourt, fine art specialist for XL Insurance, said.

"They do it for the passion, because they like to drink the wine more than to sell it. Then, they suddenly realize that it has risen in value and they show more interest in insuring it."

Prices for wine have risen sharply. Last December a case of 12 bottles of 1982 Lafite with impeccable provenance could be bought at auction for $45,000. By mid-March the price for the Bordeaux was $60,000.

"As a collector you don't even have to have wine," Daucourt said from his office in Zurich. "You can invest in funds. And that's where we, as an insurer, have seen an increase."

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20110413

Coppola playing winery name game

From The New York Times

By ERIC ASIMOV


It’s almost enough to make you dizzy: Francis Ford Coppola announced yesterday that his Rubicon Estate, formerly known as the Niebaum-Coppola Estate, will heretofore be known as Inglenook. Say what?

Well, it actually all makes perfect sense. Inglenook, before it went to corporate brand-name heaven (or is that hell?) was the historic name of one of Napa Valley’s pioneering wineries. It was founded in 1879 by Gustave Niebaum, and produced some of the greatest cabernet sauvignons in Napa history, particularly in the mid-20th century under John Daniel Jr., a grand-nephew of Niebaum. Mr. Daniel died in 1971, and eventually the winery, vineyards and Inglenook brand were sold off.

Mr. Coppola, the movie director, purchased the old Niebaum home and part of the original Inglenook vineyard in 1975. Since then, he has been trying to reconstitute the original estate. In 1995, he bought the old Inglenook winery and the remaining Inglenook vineyard, but the brand name eluded him.

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20110408

The Donald snaps up distressed VA winery

A broad look at the Kluge property.

CHARLOTTSVILLE, VA -- The Donald now is The Owner. Although, the idea of Donald Trump owning something is pretty much an everyday thing.

In this instance, Trump was the top bidder for the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard in a foreclosure auction this week. It apparently was the latest piece of property the mogul has purchased from socialite Patricia Kluge, who he's known since they were in their 20s. She received an estimated $15 million in her divorce from late billionaire John Kluge, who at one point was the richest man in America.


The winery, located just south of here, won prizes and good reviews, but Kluge and her current husband, former IBM executive William Moses, "gained somewhat controversial reputations in the close-knit wine industry, with some vintners sniping that the two were rich self-promoters," according to The Washington Post.

"I'm really interested in good real estate, not so much in wine," Trump told The Post. "This place had a $28 million mortgage on it, and I bought it for $6.2 million. It's a Trump deal!"

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20110406

Poll: 30% drink weekly, beer preferred

Thirty percent of Americans 21 and older say they drink alcohol at least once a week, with 5% drinking daily and 10% drinking several times a week.

Those are among the findings of the just-released Harris Poll of 2,379 adults surveyed online between March 7 and 14 by Harris Interactive. Among other results:

• 22% of Americans say they never drink alcohol.
 
• Men are more frequent drinkers than women, with 38% of men saying say they drink at least once a week compared to 21% of women.

• Among those who drink at least several times a year, beer is the top choice: 63% say they drink beer and 54% drink domestic wine; 41% drink vodka; 34% drink rum; 28% drink tequila; 28% drink foreign wine; 20% drink various types of whiskies such as Irish or Canadian.

• Further down the list of preferred alcoholic beverages are champagne (17%), cordials and liqueurs (17%), bourbon (15%), gin (14%), scotch (11%), cognac (8%) and brandy/Armagnac (7%).

The survey was accompanied by variety of tables showing both general and specific categories of drinking. Double-click on them to access a large-type version.





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20110403

An investigation that withered on the vine

Doug Miles, foreground, and Scott Osborn. (TU file photo)
From the Albany Times Union’s “Followup On the News” column:

Some New York winery owners complained to then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the winter of 2009 that liquor store operators were improperly threatening to freeze them out in retaliation for their campaign for a law to allow grocery stores to sell wine.

An investigation was demanded after some of the most vocal vintners received what they said were letters and phone calls attempting to intimidate them.

Jennifer Carlson, a representative of a group of wine-makers and grape growers, said an antitrust probe seemed warranted. Cuomo’s staff did begin an inquiry, she said. But she and some of the winery owners, such as Scott Osborn of Fox Run Vineyards, never found out what was learned.

"They called us and said there wasn't enough evidence," said Doug Miles, of Miles Wine Cellars in Himrod, Yates County. "There were a lot of wineries that sent in information about strong-arming to the AG's office. We thought we had a good case."

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