EU blocks some California wine imports

• From the New York Times:

Europeans, who have long chafed at California wineries using geographic terms like Champagne and Chablis to describe their wines, have banned the importation of some U.S. wines using such terms as "clos" and "chateau" on wine labels.

Those French words, along with other terms like "classic," "tawny," "noble," "ruby" and "vintage," are all strictly regulated wine terms in Europe, with specific rules for who gets to use them and when.

Now, the European Union is contending that U.S. vintners must adhere to the same EU rules for wines using terms regarded as "traditional expressions" in order to avoid confusion.

The wine trade spat could affect a number of California wine brands including one of Sonoma County's signature wines, Clos du Bois.

"Their justification is that these terms are traditionally used in specific countries and that if other countries used these terms, it creates confusion on the part of consumers," said Joe Rollo, export director for the San Francisco-based trade group Wine Institute.

The EU has been trying to persuade other nations to cease using such terms since 2002, but not very aggressively. It never enforced the 2002 rules, and in 2006, when the last major trade agreement with the United States was struck, American vintners were given a three-year exemption. That waiver ended March 10. U.S. trade officials declined to comment.

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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Court case may impact Texas wine sales

• From the Dallas News:

A Dallas case to determine whether Texans can cut out the middleman and buy wine directly from out-of-state stores pits consumers' rights against the state and wholesalers that would suffer a loss of business.

Arguments before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later this month will be closely watched by wine connoisseurs, wholesalers, retailers and legislators because similar lawsuits are springing up all over the country, and the issue is likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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Wineries Unlimited trade show set

Wineries Unlimited 2009, the largest vineyard and winery trade show and conference east of the Rocky Mountains, has released its schedule for the March 10-13 event.

Two day-long programs will be running concurrently on Friday, March 13, during the event at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA, just outside Philadelphia:

• A workshop on red wine production by Dr. Christian Butzke of Purdue University
• A seminar on winery planning and design by Dr. Bruce Zoecklein of Virginia Tech

The trade show and conference is produced by Vineyard & Winery Management magazine. In addition to the concurrent events, the conference will offer sessions for industry newcomers and two days of multi-track sessions on viticulture, enology and finance/management/marketing.

The buyers' trade show on March 11-12 is for the Eastern wine industry, and will present more than 100,000 square feet of exhibitor space including an anticipated 330 exhibitor booths on two levels of the convention center.

A silent auction will benefit scholarship programs of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture’s eastern section. A live auction will be held at the "Best of the East" grand tasting and gala.

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Proctors winefest may be The Next Big Thing

William M. Dowd photos
(J Maxwell photo courtesy Fox.com)

Noted wine author Kevin Zraly speaks with a fan while autographing his books.
SCHENECTADY, NY -- We may have seen the start of a whopper of a wine festival today.

The event was the inaugural Capital Region Wine Festival at Proctors, a splashy wine and food event that drew local and national celebrities as well as 800 or so visitors to the historic Proctors theater complex in downtown. The likes of J Maxwell (left), the Clifton Park chef who has so far survived four rounds of Gordon Ramsay's bellowing on this season's Fox Network show "Hell's Kitchen," and wine expert and author Kevin Zraly were among the faces spotted making the rounds.

More than 60 wineries as well as various food merchants, restaurants and caterers doled out tasting samples to a crowd that included 650 pre-sold tickets and several hundred more walk-ups at $50 a head for the grand tasting rounds that took up two full performance and public spaces in the complex. That's not counting the crowd at a dinner gala Friday night.

In addition, a series of paid and free seminars was held in the main theater to set up the day, with a nice crowd attending the finale -- a two-man dog-and-pony show by yours truly and Fred LeBrun, a journalism and wine judging colleague.

Since the overall theme of the event was "Romancing the Grape," we stayed under that umbrella with "Grape Expectations ... and how to achieve them," a half-hour seminar on how to extract the most enjoyment from the lands and the people who produce the wines you try, how to travel well in wine country foreign and domestic, and how to create home winetasting events that expand the fun aspects of wine sampling.

As far as timing is concerned, holding such an event in February picks up the torch laid down, or dropped, by The Desmond, the Colonie, NY, convention/hotel complex that had a nationally renowned wine festival each February for years but stopped it several years ago.

The board and management of Proctors, as the cultural heart of Schenectady and one of the Capital Region's premier performing arts spaces, was smart to seize on this gap in the social schedule. Drawing both young and mid-life wine lovers to an event in such numbers bodes well for this to become an annual attraction as big as The Desmond's had been.

Even without packages created as tie-ins with local hotels and other businesses, something the Proctors staff will be looking at for next month, this was a great start.

Some glimpses from the event:

Chef Denny DeLorenzo (right), whose new Schenectady restaurant is in the works, speaks with friends outside the GE Theater, part of the Proctors complex.

That's not a grape stomper, but it is the blowup symbol of Barefoot Wine and Bubbly, the Modesto, CA, winemaker.

Charmaine Ushkow pours a sample of wine from Heron Hill in New York's Finger Lakes.

Food played a prominent role in the wine festival, as can be seen in this buffet line for Riverstone Manor, restaurant and banquet caterer in Glenville, NY.

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I'm baaack

William M. Dowd photo

Mmmm. Cheeseburger in Paradise!

I just returned last night (Wednesday) from a business trip to St. Croix, in the American Virgin Islands, thus the lack of recent posts until I set loose a flurry of them today.

Thanks to the gazillion readers (actually 1.87 gazillion by show of hands) who kept checking back in that quiet period. It was nice you were reading while I was enjoying a cheeseburger and a tropical breeze.

Since I was one hour ahead of the continental U.S. (much of the Caribbean goes by Atlantic Time), I have looked into the future for you. I can report that ...

What's that? I'm not allowed to reveal the future? OK, Sarah Connor, if you say so.

And now, we return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

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LEED winery building a NY first

New York is about to get its first LEED-certified winery building, in the Finger Lakes.

The Red Tail Ridge Winery, owned by the married team of Nancy Irelan and Mike Schnelle (right), was opened near Penn Yan in 2007 after they moved from California.

LEED is the acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a Green Building Rating System that encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. Certification is done on a third-party basis and can be achieved at various levels.

With vineyards, it can include strategically located diversion and drainage ditches that direct stormwater runoff to an irrigation pond. Red Tail Ridge is working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) to certify such green measures as:

• Locally-sourced and recycled-content building materials
• A geothermal system
• Efficient lighting
• Natural daylighting

The building was designed by Edge Architecture of Rochester, with Sustainable Performance Consulting Inc. as part of the project team. The target is for completion of the new building to be open in time for the fall harvest.

Details of various LEED rating systems are available online.

Ireland and Schnelle have planted such Finger Lakes grape staples as pinot, chardonnay and riesling, but also planted teroldego vines. As Ireland explains it on the Red Tail Ridge Web site:

"We ... believe that experimentation is an important step towards unlocking our vineyard's, and the region's, potential. For this reason, we have planted teroldego — a red Italian grape variety grown primarily in the northeastern region of Trentino-Alto — in our vineyard and are optimistic about the future of these vines. Wines produced from teroldego have been compared to zinfandel due to their deep color, brambly blackberriness, solid acidity and moderate tannin structure. We are eager to see how these vines and wines develop, and we look forward to more experimentation in the future."

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Anti-tax protest doesn't make a splash

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Presidents and master distillers from some of Kentucky's leading distilleries joined a protest Tuesday in Frankfort over a proposed retail tax on all alcohol products. However, on Wednesday the bill they were fighting received approval in one section of the state legislature.

The current liquor taxes include an 11% wholesale tax on packaged liquor, a 6% tax on drinks purchased in bars and restaurants, an 8-cent-per-gallon tax on beer, a 50-cent-per-gallon tax on wine and a $1.92-per-gallon tax on distilled spirits.

The protest was in reaction to a House committee approval for a 6% additional tax on alcoholic beverages in stores. The measure then passed the full house Wednesday and is expected to go to the full senate by the weekend, according to Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville.

More than 400 people — many of whom work in Kentucky's signature bourbon industry — attended the Tuesday rally, which culminated in the bourbon "tea party," a play on the Boston Tea Party, the most famous American colonial tax protest.

A convoy of trucks from breweries and distilleries circled the Capitol building while individuals such as Wild Turkey's iconic master distiller Jimmy Russell (shown above in cap, leading a tour group at the distillery) poured bottles of bourbon on the Capitol's front steps in protest.

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Champagne sales lose some bubbles

There doesn't seem to be much to celebrate these days, what with social unrest, economic doldrums, terrorism and civil war. So, it should come as no surprise the beverage most associated with celebrating is suffering a sales slump.

France's Champagne Vintners' Committee this week announced shipments of Champagne within the country and abroad fell 4.8% in 2008 compared to the previous year.

One consolation may be that the 322,453,852 bottles sold is slightly more than in 2006.

The industry group said in a statement that exports to European Union consumers outside France were down 6.5% per cent in bottle terms, and non-European exports were down 6.2& per cent in 2008. Shipments within France were down 3.6%.

Daniel Lorson, a spokesman for the committee, said the 2008 figures also suffer by comparison to 2007's which he termed "a record year in all senses.''

To support that view, one need only look at the 2007 figures which show France's wine and spirit industry scored record exports with an especially strong performance from Champagne, the country's leading French wine-producing region. Champagne exports were worth $3.06 billion in 2007, a 10.4% surge year-over-year.

"We have all the assets to resist the crisis over the long term," Lorson said. "The boat is solid, the sails are solid, the crew is solid. We can weather this storm."

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Super Bowl Sunday getting a little winey

It's almost Suds & Snacks Day, better known as Super Bowl Sunday. For the non-believers, SB XLIII (43) will be played this coming Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa Bay.

According to the folks at Nielsen, who measure everything from TV viewership to consumption of corn chips, mass merchandiser stores such as Wal-Mart recorded snack sales of $595 million in the two weeks leading up to last year’s game, up 5% from the previous year.

To wash down all that junk food, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the eighth-highest beer-selling day of the year, with 51.7 million cases sold last year. That's behind the No. 1 selling day, July 4th.

And where is most of the beer sold? In the city that hosts the game and in the two cities that are home to the participating teams.

Once past the beer gut .. er, glut ... wine is doing better with Super Bowl Sunday drinkers. According to Nielsen, NFL fans spent 14% more on wine in 2007 than in 2006, outpacing the U.S. wine growth overall by 14%.

Eatswise, potato chips topped the list with a sales volume of nearly $147 million, although that's a slight dropoff from the prior year while tortilla chips jumped 20% to come in No. 2 at $125.5 million.

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UK becomes world's top wine importer

It may not have the largest population, but the United Kingdom now ranks as the top wine importing nation in the world.

Imports topped 1.6 billion bottles in 2007, according to research by ther industry group Vinexpo. The top five suppliers to the UK in order of volume:

• Australia
• France
• United States
• Italy
• Spain

Wines imported from the U.S. increased by 34.5% between 2003 and 2007. France was the only country in the top five which saw a drop, Vinexpo said.

Despite the UK being a big importer, the per-capita amount of wine drunk is well behind that of France (58.8 litres), Italy (56.4 litres) and Switzerland (49.2 litres). The UK is 13th in the world.

The research also covered the sale of spirits in the UK, where vodka came out on top: 96 million bottles were sold in 2007. Consumption of vodka is expected to grow faster than any other spirit with a rise of 20% by 2012.

While overall spirit consumption rose to 336 million bottles in 2007 and is expected to grow by another 6% by 2012, the popularity of Scotch whisky dropped. Consumption fell by just over 11% from 2003 to 2007 and will continue falling by nearly 7% to 2012, the research predicted.

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Prominent LI winemaker Palmer dies

Bob Palmer died Friday at age 74 of a blood infection.

He founded Palmer Vineyards in Aquebogue, Long Island, in 1983, and built it into one of the most prominent wine labels from that sector of New York State.

Palmer, a past president of the Long Island Wine Council, had an extensive career in marketing and public relations before and after getting into the wine business.
His wife said he changed his surname from the original Prignano for business reasons because it was hard to spell.

[Click here for a full story from Newsday.com.]

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Concours Mondial de Bruxelles coming up

This year's Concours Mondial de Bruxelles will be held in Valencia, Spain, on April 25-27.

Registration now is open online, through March 2.

Since its creation in 1994, the Concours has billed itself the “wine world championship” with more than 6,000 participating products from four continents. As a whole, these samples represent 450 million marketed bottles. The jury of wine professionals is made up of people from 40 nationalities to ensure the diversity and the unique character of the event.

For a look at the results of last year's competition, held in Bordeaux, France, go here.

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Luxury list has a champagne topper

The Luxury Institute today released its annual Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) for the wine and spirits industry.

The results of the index compiled by the independent New York-based company "are utilized by consumer-centric luxury brand executives to independently monitor how target consumers truly rate their brands in terms of critical luxury metrics," according to the Institute announcement.

Rankings are derived from a survey of high net-worth consumers who rated more than 100 brands in 10 wine and spirits categories. The top-rated brands in each category are:

• Champagne and Sparkling Wine: Dom Perignon
• Cognac: Courvoisier
• Gin: Hendricks
• Liqueurs: Grand Marnier
• Rum: 10 Cane
• Scotch: Macallan
• Table Wines: Opus One
• Tequila: Patron
• Vodka: Grey Goose
• Whiskey: Woodford Reserve

A national sample of more than 1,200 wealthy American consumers was surveyed online by the Luxury Institute. The respondents had an average weighted income of $342,000 and an average weighted net-worth of $2.9 million. The LBSI asked them to rate the brands along four main "pillars" of brand stature:

1. Consistently superior quality.
2. Uniqueness and exclusivity.
3. Social status as a product consumed by people who are admired and respected.
4. Self enhancement, in that the brand makes the consumer "feel special" across all aspects of the customer experience.

In addition, the survey measures three critical "outcome" metrics, which are compared to the category LBSI:

1. Worthiness of a significant price premium.
2. Willingness to recommend brands to people they care about and why, or why not.
3. Brand preference as the brand most likely to be considered the next time a purchase is made.

"We've found that those brands committed to excellence are genuinely interested in where they stand in the mind of the high net-worth consumer," said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. "For the rest, we caution that this is not the time to 'fly blind' as the final verdict on whether, or not, you qualify as a luxury brand is that of the hard-core luxury consumer."

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California champagne cocktails for The Day

They're making it too easy for us drinks journalists.

I usually spend a lot of time searching for cocktail recipes to share with you; for example, in my monthly "What Will They Think of Next?" feature.

But with the imminent Presidential Inauguration, companies are scrambling over themselves to come up with special cocktail recipes for the occasion. I've already shared the wine lineup for an inaugural lunch menu ("California wines get presidential meal seal"), and one set of cocktails from Heaven Hill Distilleries ("Time for 'change, inaugural cocktail style".

Now, Korbel California Champagne is getting into the act with something in addition to a special inaugural bubbly it's supplying for the aforementioned luncheon. Here are a few inaugural-inspired champagne cocktails from Korbel.

STARS-AND-STRIPES

2 ounces Korbel Brut or Extra Dry
2 ounces Cranberry Juice

Pour Korbel into large champagne flute. Slowly stir in cranberry juice. Garnish with frozen cranberries.


PRESIDENTIAL PUNCH

3 ounces Korbel Brut or Extra Dry
2 ounces lemonade
1 ounce Blue Curaçao

In a tall glass, pour Korbel. Add lemonade, blue curaçao and ice.

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California wines get presidential meal seal

There are wineries in every state of the Union, but it appears only those from California will grace the table when Barack Obama, Joseph Biden and about 200 guests sit down for the traditional Inaugural Luncheon in the Capitol in Washington, DC, on Inaugural Day, Jan. 20.

The menu itself has been "designed to reflect the theme of the 2009 Inaugural ceremonies, 'A New Birth of Freedom,' which celebrates the bicentennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln," according to an announcement from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Curious that no wines were selected from the state of Lincoln's birth (Kentucky) or principal residence (Illinois).

Can't get enough? The announcement further states:

"The menu, created by Design Cuisine, a catering company based in Arlington, Virginia, draws on historic ties to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Growing up in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana, the 16th President favored simple foods including root vegetables and wild game. As his tastes matured, he became fond of stewed and scalloped oysters. For dessert or a snack, nothing pleased him more than a fresh apple or an apple cake."

The official menu:

First Course: Seafood stew, paired with Duckhorn Vineyards 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley in California.

Second Course: A Brace of American Birds (pheasant and duck), served with sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes, paired with Goldeneye 2005 Pinot Noir from the Anderson Valley in California, the same company that produces Duckhorn.

Third Course: Apple cinnamon sponge cake and sweet cream glacé, paired with Korbel Natural "Special Inaugural Cuvée" from California.

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Christian Wolffer dies in swimming accident

Christian Wolffer (right), 70, a Long Island, NY, wine pioneer and owner of Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, died New Year's Eve while swimming in Brazil.

The O Globo newspaper said Wolffer was swimming in Paraty, near Rio de Janeiro, while on vacation when a boat's propeller or propellers cut two deep wounds in his back. He was rescued by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Hilbert and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His company Web site gives this background for the German-born entrepreneur:

"The quintessential entrepreneur, Hamburg-born Christian Wölffer is a master at managing an array of international enterprises. His career encompasses investment banking, venture capital, real estate, agriculture, and entertainment parks. In the wine realm, Wölffer Estate Vineyard is a labor of love and the realization of a lifelong dream.

"Wölffer’s career began in post-war Hamburg at age 17 as a trainee at a bank and then at an import/export company. He later moved to Mexico with the German chemical company BASF to manage their sales force, followed by a position with Intergráfica in Mexico managing sales throughout South America. Moving to Canada in 1971, he established a real estate brokerage and eventually segued into real estate development. He then moved to the U.S., to found Euro Investors, Inc., a venture capital company that finances a variety of enterprises in Hawaii and Florida. He now holds investments in Argentina, as well as throughout the U.S.A.

"This accomplished businessman is most at home at his Eastern Long Island retreat in the heart of the Hamptons. He purchased the land in 1978 as a 14-acre parcel with a farmhouse surrounded by potato fields. By 1987, Christian Wölffer had founded his vineyard near this very site.

"In 1997, Wölffer completed work on his state-of-the-art winery, unquestionably the most stylish on Long Island. The rustic, Tuscan-style building, with its warm ochre walls, is set on a rise overlooking the vineyards to the east and the gently rolling Hamptons landscape to the west. The winery and vineyards were renamed Wölffer EstateVineyard and a legacy in Long Island winemaking was born.

"Now 20 years later, Wölffer’s one-time weekend getaway on the East End’s South Shore embraces more than 170 acres and includes his acclaimed 55-acre Wölffer Estate Vineyard as well as his home, stables, and grazing land for his thoroughbreds. The 100-acre Wölffer Estate Stables, an extraordinary equestrian center used for schooling, breeding, year-round boarding and instruction, is an 80-stall facility with the largest indoor riding field on the East Coast. Wölffer Estate Vineyard & Stables is also one of the sponsors of the annual Hampton Classic Horse Show, a world-class equestrian event held in nearby Bridgehampton."

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Is NY's wine industry in trouble?

The recession that has forced several New York-only wine stores to close, put a crimp in expansion plans by some wineries because of the lack of investment capital, and Gov. David Patterson's threatened cutbacks on state assistance have combined to put the nation's third-largest wine industry in jeopardy.

New York trails only California and Oregon in total wine production. However, many of the several hundred wineries are small operations and need assistance in getting to market and getting the word out to consumers.

Patterson's proposed 2009-2010 state austerity budget calls for the elimination of funding for the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the statewide trade association headquartered in Canandaigua. Its current budget is $3.8 million, but only $1 million of that comes from industry sources. The rest comes from the state.

NYSW&GF President Jim Trezise. above, ("NY's Trezise a man of integrity"), an indefatigable spokesman and activist on behlf of the state's wine industry, says, “If the governor’s proposal is adopted, the foundation’s programs and operations will cease in March, if not before.”

That would be a phenomenal blow to the industry. The NYSW&GF lobbies on behalf of the industry in Albany and Washington, DC, runs the prestigious annual New York Wine & Food Classic competition for wines produced in the state, provides advice and counseling for all areas of the industry, and prosyletizes for state wine producers worldwide.

[Go here for New York Times wine writer Howard G. Goldberg's summary of the situation.

[And, go here for the Seneca Lake Winery Association president's take on it.]

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LOOKIN' FOR ADVENTURE?

Get out on the highway. The online highway, that is. Just click here and go to the list of the latest events around the nation involving your favorite beverages.

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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