Oregon to designate new wine region

Quiet time at the Maragas Winery

CULVER, OR -- The state is on the verge of getting another official wine region.

The Oregon Wine Board will recognize Central Oregon as such, according to the founder of Maragas Winery, the first to make wine solely from grapes grown on the climate-challenged High Desert.

Doug Maragas on Thursday told KTVZ.com that he had received confirmation of the news from Charles Humble, marketing and communications director for the Oregon Wine Board.

"It was an incredible Christmas present," Maragas said.

For a decade, Maragas had been working on getting recognition for winemaking and grape-growing in the Central Oregon area.

Soon, when people contact the Oregon Wine Board, the official state representative of the Oregon wine industry, rather than have Maragas Winery listed under the "other" category, it will be listed in its own category. The region will range from Warm Springs to Bend.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

A Facebook thread on a wine review

I found this fascinating Facebook thread, prompted by a review in the Las Vegas Review-Journal of a $7.99-a-bottle Antinori Santa Cristina Sangiovese-Merlot blend, a hoot. Only the writers' surnames have been deleted.

THE REVIEW

In the glass: Santa Cristina wine is a deep garnet-red color with a fairly dense core going out into a lightly tinged rim definition with high viscosity.

On the nose: There are indicators that the famous terroir from which this wine's fruit is sourced shines through with powerful forward stewed red fruit dominated by ripe Morello cherries and cooked sloe fruit, with underlying notes of leather, plums, earthy minerals, herbs and dried red flowers.

On the palate: It is a nicely ripe and mature mouthful of wine right off the bat with red cherries, rhubarb compote, pomegranate juice and slightly rustic undertones, but all well-balanced. The midpalate and the supple finish confirm this with soft tannins and a pleasant lingering finish. It is medium-bodied in style and highly drinkable.

THE FACEBOOK THREAD

Mike: (His "headline") This wine costs eight bucks a bottle. How can it be this complex? What do red flowers taste like?

Mike: On the palate: It is a nicely ripe and mature mouthful of wine right off the bat with red cherries, rhubarb compote, pomegranate juice and slightly rustic undertones, but all well-balanced.

Linda: It's good stuff. My husband and I have been drinking it for years.

Mike: To be honest, I will be drinking a bottle of it in an hour. I like it a lot. But Christ..."slightly rustic undertones."

Mike: I take back the "red flowers" bit. The "red flowers" are on the nose, not on the palate.

Steve: A cheeky little wine but I perceive that you're amused by its presumption.

Mike:  There you go...

Linda: It's a good wine, and very reliable from one bottle to the next, unlike most Chardonnays, which I find can vary a lot in quality.

Mike:  Agree, Linda. And I get grossed out by bad reds...anything white is drinkable if cold enough (except Foxhorn). It's a great red for the money. But where do wine reviewers come up with this bullshit? Who has the taste of "rhubarb compote" so imprinted on their tastebuds that their palate can smoke it out in a glass of wine?

Linda: Oh, the reviews are BS, totally. And there have been studies where people doing wine tastings will claim, if they're given the prices of the various wines, that the more expensive ones taste better even if it's a cheap wine in an expensive bottle. So I always just go with what I like.

Mike: Yup. Oh, BTW, one of my friends is a beverage reviewer. He will no doubt show up here and set me straight bigtime.

Mike: Linda, I must say I agree with the viscosity angle. That's pretty obvious even to this hillbilly

Linda: Few things worse than a watery red, IMO. Another good one if you're looking for recommendations is Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. That's been our go-to red for a couple of years now, again, very reliable from one bottle to the next.

Mike: great...thanks...and a decent Zin for you: Cellar 8

Linda:  Hm. I generally avoid zins because they're too fruity, but this sounds like one I'd like: "At first, the nose didn’t strike me as distinctly zinfandel. It was was mostly smoky and subtle. Given a chance to open up the zin characteristics ...

Mike: yes...not an overpowering zin. The pepper is nice...and you can't beat the farty nose

Bill (the aforementioned "beverage reviewer"): If I'm not mistaken, Farty Nose is a registered trademark.

Charlie: Can't go wrong with a pint of Guinness or a selection from Brown's in Troy.

Mike (a different one): Mike.. chill...when purchasing wine,those of us with a discriminating palate have learned to choose a box whose corners have been glued,not stapled

Christopher: Delicious is my favorite comment. Tastes good works also. Try the Sterling Meritage. Yummy. (Yummy is a good word!)

Lynn: Red flowers taste like.. Perfume.

Dan: I know what red flowers don't taste like...blue flowers.

John: best wine description I've read--noted that the wine tasted of road tar--and that was a good thing.

Mary Ellen: I like white merlot. It tastes like the stuff my Italian grandfather made in the cellar. That's a good thing.

Tim: Whatever happened to my early teenage years: "What's the word?" "Thunderbird!" "What's the price?" "Forty twice." Then my palate developing in early adulthood to the half-gallon bottle of Gallo Burgundy. Not too complex or balanced. But, Lord, what a drunk and a hangover I can still feel all these years later.

Mike (the original one): haha..had that. big thing when i was a kid: Ripple and Boones Farm. You could make ice cream floats with ripple, but they weren't very good

Tim: Oh, yes, Ripple too. Thunderbird was our white wine, Ripple our red. I'm too old for Boones Farm. I'd moved on to Lancers or Mateus.

Mike: the wine jingle i remember clearly from TV, Tim, was for something called Kings wine...had a king of diamonds on the front..."Get Kings wine...you'll be feeling real fine...." Forget all your cares and get...Kings wine." Yeah, i bet.

Dan: Well, I've forgotten all about Kings wine...it must have worked. My favorite out here was Spañada...it only came in gallon jugs.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Study: Draw one, mix one for health

We've been trying to keep up with the regular stream of studies suggesting wine has all sorts of magical, mystical medicinal properties that will lead to better health, longer life, etc. Now, brews and spirits are getting some extra support.

A two-decade study published in the January issue of The Journal of Studies On Alcohol and Drugs reports on connections between the moderate consumption of all types of alcohol and increased longevity.

It also supports the findings of prior studies that wine has more beneficial effects than any other alcoholic drinks. However, in a twist that always seems to pop up in any study, researchers said that may because the people who choose wine tend to be more naturally healthy anyway. Go figure.

The study of 802 men and women ages 55 to 65. Of that number, 281 "low wine drinkers" consumed less than one-third of their alcohol intake from wine, 176 "high wine drinkers" consumed two-thirds or more as wine, and 345 abstainers. The drinkers had one to two drinks per day, and researchers followed them for 20 years.

Among the findings: Wine drinkers lived longer than abstainers, and high-wine drinkers lived longer than low-wine drinkers.

Charles Holahan, a psychologist at the University of Texas and lead author of the article, said there may be benefits for older moderate drinkers no matter what kind of alcohol they consume. But, he cautioned, "The study does not encourage initiating wine consumption as a pathway to better health."

Ya gotta love those disclaimers.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

NJ direct-ship wine battle heats up

• From the Asbury Park Press

A trio of towheads scoot around the gnarly vineyards and country-chic tasting room of Wagonhouse Winery, giving chase to their parents, Dan and Heather Brown, as they tend to grapes on their 11 acres and customers stopping by for a bottle of pinot gris.

When Dower, Dawson and Dallas, ages 3 to 7, dash into the large structure designed for shipping and distribution, the Browns fret less: It’s more of a playroom for the boys than the busy commercial operation imagined when built earlier this year in South Harrison, Gloucester County.

Unless a much-debated, much-delayed bill allowing direct shipping of wines in and out of New Jersey is passed by the Legislature in January and signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie, the distribution center will remain an oversize playroom for the Brown boys.

The battle between boosters of direct shipping, who believe it will help fuel economic growth, and the retail alcoholic beverage industry which believes it will cut its profits, has been termed a “David vs. Goliath” fight that once again will go to the mats in the Statehouse.

[Go here for the full story.]

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Direct-ship wine possible in Massachusetts

Gov. Deval Patrick

• From the Boston Herald

BOSTON -- Christmas may have arrived early for Bay State oenophiles.

Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday may have inadvertently revived an issue that has flummoxed Bay State policymakers for years, lending support to a bill that would permit Massachusetts consumers to order direct wine shipments from out of state.

“I would sign that bill if it came,” he said during an appearance on WTKK in response to a question from a caller who identified himself as "Dan from Franklin" and said he was frustrated by restrictions on commerce.

Although in 2006 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that bar consumers from ordering wine shipments, Massachusetts is one of 12 states that have yet to comply. In fact, a Bay State effort to amend its laws in response to the decision was itself struck down in January 2010, the result of restrictions that lawmakers built into the law to protect local wineries from competition.

[Go here for the full story.]

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

California grape harvest drops again

In a California vineyard.

The California grape harvest this year was 3.3 million tons, 9% below the 2010 crop, according to a report just released by the California Department of Food & Agriculture.

That decline is attributed to a second year of a wet spring and unseasonably cool temperatures. And the 2010 harvest wasn't any great shakes compared to the 3.7 million ton harvest of 2009.

This year, many grapes were picked at lower sugar levels, so the alcohol content for wines is likely to be on the moderate side. Higher acids are predicted.

"Surprisingly enough, the quality came out pretty good," Victor Alvarez, owner of Miraflores Winery in El Dorado County, told the Sacramento Bee.

"We lost 40% to 50% of the whites, but fortunately the end of the season was very mild and there was only one rain, which didn't affect things. Everything was well matured and balanced, but the acidity is a little high. The cabernet and zinfandel is looking excellent."

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Dom Pérignon 2003 debuts via satellite

The French champagne Moët & Chandon on Thursday released its Dom Pérignon’s 2003 vintage in a ceremony linking events in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Via satellite, chef de cave Richard Geoffroy unveiled the wine in a hologram.

"It was a risk, which may be rewarded now," he said of the 2003 vintage "It's at the heart of the house's values -- we're committed to vintage Champagne. My wish is for Dom Pérignon 2003 to remain one of the greatest examples of the vintage in the history of Champagne."

Dom Pérignon 2003 will be available at abut $190.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

New wine books top the holiday gift list

I've been trying to climb out from under a deluge of wine-centric books released in time for the holiday gift-giving frenzy.

It's an annual effort, and takes a little time away from shilling my own non-wine book now on sale. (Glad you asked. It's "Barrels & Drams: The History of Whisk(e)y in Jiggers and Shots.")

Nevertheless, I've made the sacrifice to cull a trio of good books to top the list. Herewith, my capsulized views of each.

UNQUENCHABLE: A Tipsy Quest for the World's Best Bargain Wines. By Natalie MacLean. Perigee. Hardcover. $24.

First, the title. I have a strong antipathy to labeling any work about wines or spirits "tipsy" or any other euphemism for inebriation. In my view, it cheapens the effort. That said, Natalie MacLean is an excellent guide for the newbie or the experienced wine buyer.

In "Unquenchable," she mixes humor with advice, taking us on a global quest for the best. Her wordsmithing is impeccable, as seen in these examples selected from among many: "The next day, approaching Featherstone Winery, I can see a pepper storm of starlings flying over the vineyard." And, "Even though Sicilian winemaking has improved considerably over the past decade, marsala's former image still sticks to it. Poorly made wines are like a crime-ridden neighborhood, tarnising the reputation of an entire city."

Whether it be during stops in France, Italy, the Finger Lakes or anywhere else, MacLean sweeps the reader along with her on her sometimes-bumpy, always-entertaining jaunt, helping explain the why's and why not's of winemaking, marketing and drinking. She's an excellent travel companion.

THE FOOD LOVER'S GUIDE TO WINE. By Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. Little, Brown & Co. Hardcover. $35.

Sommelier interviews, encyclopedic listings of grapes and their many twisted vines of heritage, a history of key periods in wine, trivia and tried-and-true wines ... all this and a lot more goes into this latest effort by the writing team of Page and Dornenburg.

This is not the sort of book you'll curl up with in front of the fireplace, a nice Cab in hand. It is, however, a very useful book, something not always a property of a Christmas gift .

If you want to look at tried-and-true food and wine pairings, or check out a bit of wine trivia, then pop the book back on the shelf until the next time you absolutely have to find something in a hurry, this is THE book to have.

THE BIG RED WINE BOOK 2010/11. BY Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh. Hardie Grant Books. $25.

Wine has become so ubiquitous on American dinner tables and in restaurants seeking to find the next-best-thing before their competition does that the average consumer can be excused for retreating into a cloud of confusion.

So, this guide to 1,000 red wines should help clear the air while someone else probably is working on a white wine companion tome. It is the third edition of "The Big Red ... " by a pair of Australian writers who like to refer to themselves as regular blokes who like wine.

Their work concentrates on red wines because, the authors reason, they are the most popular and probably the most confusing. Also, Australia puts out a bazilllion of them, and the U.S. markets laps up many.

The book supplies tasting notes on 1,000 or so wines in all price ranges, and talks about value for money, variety of styles and notes on past vintages.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Wine Spectator makes a Pinot Noir its No. 1

The winning wine.

Wine Spectator magazine has selected a California Pinot Noir as its "Wine of the Year" for 2011.

The Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2009 was chosen from among the more than 16,000 wines reviewed in blind tastings this year.

"Part of Kosta Browne's appeal is its unique history," explains Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator. "This small Sonoma winery was founded just over a decade ago by two waiters who pooled their tips so they could make wine.

"Since 2002, Dan Kosta and Michael Browne have made 66 wines that have earned 90 points or higher -- though they don't own a single vine and make wine in a rented warehouse. In 2009, the greatest vintage yet for California Pinot, the team made 11 outstanding Pinots, including our Wine of the Year for 2011, which scored 95 points and was released at $52."

The full list of the Top 100 will be published in the December 31-January 15, 2012, issue of the magazine, available on newsstands beginning December. 6.

Meanwhile, we can reveal the top 10 selections:

1. Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2009 (95 points, $52, 5,818 cases made)

2. Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Kathryn Hall 2008 (96 points, $90, 2,450 cases made)

3. Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg Premiere Trie 2009 (96 points, $69, 760 cases made)

4. Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino 2006 (96 points, $50, 7,000 cases made)

5. Dehlinger Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2008 (95 points, $50, 1,050 cases made)

6. Baer Ursa Columbia Valley 2008 (95 points, $35, 1,095 cases made)

7. Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional Douro 2008 (95 points, $55, 2,188 cases made)

8. Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra 2006 (96 points, $90, 1,500 cases made)

9. Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2009 (94 points, $55, 650 cases made)

10. Chateau de St.-Cosme Gigondas Valbelle 2009 (94 points, $58, 1,175 cases made)

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Yao's first wine to aid 2 charities

The entrepreneur and his charity wine.

Meet the latest celebrity who hopes success in the wine business is a slam dunk.

Yao Ming, 31, the pro basketball star forced into retirement last summer because of lingering injuries, has a 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon produced by his own Yao Family Wines company.

“Basketball gave me the opportunity to live in the United States and discover many wonderful things in America. Now I look forward to bringing great wines from California back to the Chinese people,” Yao said in a statement.

There are only 1,200 bottles of this particular wine. The wine is to be auctioned this Sunday at a starting price of US$9,429 as a fundraiser for the Special Olympics and for the Shanghai Special Care Foundation, a charity for special-needs children.

Yao is a global ambassador for the Special Olympics. He also is involved in variety of philanthropic work through his Yao Ming Foundation. His winery is located in California's Napa Valley.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

NY, California lead Wine Society competition

ROCHESTER -- Twenty-one wines, two-thirds of them from New York and California producers, earned double-gold honors in the recwnt American Wine Society competition held here.

To earn double gold, a wine must be unanimously selected by the judges on the panel initially tasting it.

Double gold winners are listed on the chart below. To access the full list of winners in all levels -- gold, silver and bronze -- click here.



The American Wine Society is the oldest and largest consumer-based wine organization in the country, It is for anyone interested in wine and wants to learn more about it. Its mission is the "appreciation of wine through education" and its membership includes wine lovers from novice to expert, amateur and professional winemakers, and people in all aspects of the wine trade. It has 120 chapters with members in 41 states.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Picking THE holiday wines from memory

A lineup of sauternes wines.

When I was growing up, wine was something served in our house only on holidays. Cocktails were the order of the day, and to this moment they remain my preference. But, when it comes to mealtimes, I delight in pairing wines and foods. I find the variety available in these days of global cuisine makes it less of a chore than it had been long ago.

The first "holiday wine" I recall being poured at our dinner table was a chilled sauternes, a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of Bordeaux. I didn't know it was a blend of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea -- also known as "noble rot" -- that causes the grapes to contract and concentrate their juice to raise the flavor level. I did know it tasted great with turkey.

As I grew older, my tastes ran toward drier wines, a fairly natural progression that has led me to regularly imbibe Rieslings, the Alsatian style white that has become a huge seller in the U.S. There are several varieties of Riesling, from dry to semi-dry to sweet to ice wine. Its vintage-after-vintage improvement has helped it reach elite status at domestic and international wine competitions in a comparatively short time.

The strong consumer acceptance of Rieslings has come as Finger Lakes Rieslings have taken the lead in quality and consistency. Australia's Canberra International Riesling Challenge is arguably the top such competition in the world. Sheldrake Point, a Finger Lakes stalwart, in October saw its 2010 Riesling Ice Wine win the "USA Perpetual Trophy for Best American Riesling," just a year after its 2008 Late Harvest Riesling was named "Best Sweet Wine in the World" at the same event.

Another Finger Lakes winemaker, Dr. Konstantin Frank, took home "Best Varietal" honors in the prestigious International Eastern Wine Competition with its 2008 Riesling, Bunch Select Late Harvest.

But, lest we think Rieslings are the only good picks to go with such a mish-mash of flavors and textures for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals as turkey or ham, root vegetables or green beans, roasted yams or mashed potatoes, apple sauce or cranberry sauce, pumpkin or lemon meringue pies ... Think again.

There are several other wines that trace their heritage to the same Alsace region that over the years has belonged first to France, then to Germany, then back to France, and so on, and have become standards in U.S. vineyards, particularly in New York, Oregon, Washington, Virginia and Texas. They all share a clean bite, can range from sweet to bone dry, and work well with a variety of foods so common to our holiday tables. A few examples:

Gewurtztraminer -- Very Riesling-like, but spicier and something that will stand up to herb-infused birds, stuffing and the like.

Pinot Gris -- Especially good as a first-course wine with citrusy or even creamy salad dressings, or with cheese platters.

Zinfandel -- This is a key building block in California's wine industry and has been for more than a century and a half. It originally appeared in Croatia but has become a New World darling. It is available in every shade from pure white to golden yellow to pink to reddish hues. Goes great with virtually any kind of meat and isn't so robust it overpowers lighter side dishes.

When it comes to the after-dinner drink, here we get into the realm of individual preference. There are no wrongs or rights. Everything from a syrupy Frangelico liqueur to a less viscous port wine will work, often depending upon the ethnicity of the imbiber and what customs the household observes.

And, of course, there always is sauternes. Really? Yes, the more mature vintages that tend toward a heavier viscosity make excellent postprandial treats. Ah yes, I remember it well.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

A beer drinker's guide to holiday Champagne

From the "Dowd On Drinks" archives, updated:

Flash forward to December 26. 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. So, let's take you back in time to just before Thanksgiving 2011 -- like today, maybe. 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, although that can be strictly a matter of individual taste. The coldness 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.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

In court of public opinion, Champagne reigns

Marlene Dietrich quaffs Champagne.

The French are a people long known for their skills with food and drink. They often are observed, when anything French isn't praised highly enough for them, to fly into fits of pique. Pique, a French word by way of Latin meaning anger, annoyance, conniption, snit. All aptly descriptive.

Take Champagne, for example. The lovely bubblies made in that region of northern France have, by most laws even beyond La Belle France, been ascertained as the only true Champagne. Made anywhere else and they are mere pretenders to the throne.

Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), the influential German-born movie star (shown above in a 1959 Paris restaurant), wrote that she loved Champagne because "It gives the impression that it is Sunday and that the best days will soon be upon us.''

Today's wine world largely goes along with the legal aspects as well as that attitude toward Champagne, but it is not a recent conceit. Throughout history the world has known of the French reverence for the wine. Even an Austrian like Johann Strauss the Younger kept it as a major part of his opera "Die Fledermaus'' ("The Bat'') which he adapted from the French vaudeville production "Le Reveillon'' in 1874. In the finale, all sing in praise of Champagne, the king of all the wines.

The French Enlightenment philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, writing in 1736, noted "the sparkling froth of these fresh wines is the sparkling image of us, the French.''

The French master of fiction Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) said he always put a glass of Champagne beside his inkwell to give his pen a sparkling inspiration.

So, here we are mere days from that hideously commercialized, yet still nice to have, holiday known as Thanksgiving Day, and just beyond it we have Christmas and New Year's Eve. Days when Champagne enters into the consciousness of many who ignore it the rest of the year.

I was never impressed by the recent years' wave of anti-French sentiment that resulted in such foolishness as "Freedom fries,'' but I do advocate -- as a longtime journalist and defender of free speech in all situations -- saying that Champagne is recherche, French for excellent, delicious, discriminating, pleasing, splendid, superb. All aptly descriptive.

Tomorrow, I'll be presenting, in time for all those aforementioned holidays, my annual guide, "A beer drinker's guide to holiday champagne." See you then.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Mmmm, wine from a polluted canal area

Joseph Mariano

BROOKLYN, NY -- New vineyards and wineries keep popping up around New York State with great regularity. So, not every venture is a major news item. This one is different.

Joseph Mariano, 73, a Brooklyn resident who has been an amateur winemaker since 1994, is cultivating a 50-foot grapevine a few blocks from the Gowanus Canal, widely regarded as one of the world's most polluted waterways. Thus, the local water table is very suspect.

From it, he has produced a wine he calls Vinum Nostrum, Latin for "our wine," a product he says is totally safe to drink.

You can get more details on his project from an interview with the New York Post.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

UK inventor comes up with paper wine bottle

The recyclable paper wine bottle.

I recently reported on my Spirits Notebook blog details of a new product -- Scotch whisky in a can. Today, it's wine in a paper bottle.

No, not a paper bag, a la homeless winos. This is an actual paper bottle, called GreenBottle. It's trumpeted as the world's first such wine package.

GreenBottle is the brainchild of Suffolk, England, inventor Martin Myerscough who based it on a paper milk bottle he created and that has sold 100,000 units since it went on sale in the UK earlier this year.

The wine bottle combines a paper outer layer and a thin plastic lining. The idea is to have a recyclable container rather than fill up landfills with empty bottles.

GreenBottle is in the process of holding talks with supermarkets and wine producers with an eye toward making the paper contaienrs available to consumers as early as next year.

Myerscough told the UK Press Association, "The best thing about GreenBottle is that consumers just get it. We've found that if you offer them the choice of a paper bottle or a plastic one they'll choose paper every time. ... All you would need to do [to recycle] is rip out the plastic lining and put the paper outer-casing in the bin or on the compost heap."

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

NZ ratcheting up its U.S. market push

A vineyard in the Marlborough region.

• From The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch.com

CHRISTCHURCH -- New Zealand believes it has the 21st Century palate figured out. The New Zealand winemakers’ flagship export -- Marlborough sauvignon blanc -- has blossomed over the last two decades. Now it is pushing the fresh white to find greater favor in high-growth markets.

The industry wants to double the value of its US$877 million wine exports by 2020. Deeper penetration into North America and China are crucial to achieving that goal.

“Our No. 1 market focus is the United States,” said Philip Gregan, chief executive of New Zealand Winegrowers. “Stylistically, we are in the right place to meet expectations of what wine should taste like in a modern lifestyle.”

Gregan says Americans “love New Zealand, even if they haven’t been here.” He hopes that hook -- combined with the unique taste of Kiwi wines -- is enough tighten its grip on the world’s biggest wine consumer.

But, saddled with a high dollar, market-access barriers and uncertainty over evolving Asian wine appetites, the tiny island nation faces stiff headwinds as it seeks to expand its global presence.

[Go here for the full story.]

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

China's increasing thirst attracting foreign wine

• From The Associated Press

HONG KONG -- As growth slows in their traditional markets winemakers from around the world are eager to tap demand in China, but industry players say the increased competition and a lack of wine-drinking culture mean it won't be easy money.

Thousands of people attending a major wine and spirits trade fair here last week sipped and spat countless vintages made by producers ranging from boutique vineyards in New Zealand to famed chateaux from France's Bordeaux region. Others were in town to attend a wine conference that featured speakers including Hollywood director [and California winemaker] Francis Ford Coppola.

Many are keen to get a foothold in China's wine market, which has taken off in recent years, particularly at the high end, as newly-wealthy collectors splurge for bottles of fine French wines at auctions in Hong Kong. The southern Chinese city abolished wine import duties in 2008 in a bid to become a regional wine center and imports surged by nearly 60 percent in the first nine months of 2011 to $940 million. ...

---

• Year's biggest wine auction nets $14.5 million in Hong Kong.

---

China is the world's fastest growing market for still light wine and is forecast this year to overtake Britain as the fifth biggest market, according to a September report by UK-based International Wine and Spirit Research. The report forecast that China's wine consumption will double to 250 million 12-bottle cases by 2016, from 125 million in 2010.

[Go here for the full story.]

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Getting the lowdown on high quality sake

• From Esquire magazine

By DAVID WONDRICH

Sake is different from what we're used to drinking on an almost genetic level. That difference has to do with fermentation, the process whereby yeast eats sugars and excretes them as alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Anything that has sugar in it can be induced to ferment with no trouble at all. To get any grain to ferment, however, be it the barley used in beer and whiskey or the rice used in sake, you have to first convert that grain's starch, which yeast can't eat, to sugar. In the West, we've always done that by malting -- allowing the grain to sprout, which releases enzymes that turn starch to sugar, and then toasting the sprouts to kill them to keep that sugar from being consumed in growth. In Asia, however, they found quite a different way of doing things. A moldy way.

There is, it turns out, a strain of fungus (Aspergillus oryzae, if you want to get technical) that feeds on starch, releasing enzymes in the process that accomplish the necessary starch-to-sugar transformation. Asian brewers domesticated it millennia ago, and indeed, its use forms the basis of most Japanese, Chinese, and Korean brewing.

While very efficient at producing alcohol, particularly when turned loose on as pure a starch as polished white rice -- at 14% to 20%, sake has the highest percentage of alcohol of any fermented beverage -- it does have a strong tendency to impart a characteristic musty, funky fragrance to the finished product. Properly handled, that can be pleasing even to the untrained Western palate -- a good sake has a unique balance of refreshment and savoriness, with the sweet, clean graininess of a German lager and the palate-cleansing minerality of a good pinot noir. But finding one that fits your comfort level ain't easy.

The classification system is dazzlingly complex. Is it, like most cheap sakes, blended with alcohol, sugar, and various edible acids, or is it pure (junmai; the good stuff)? Or is it basically pure with just a little alcohol added during fermentation (honjozo; also the good stuff, pretty much)?

[Go here for the full story.]

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.

Finger Lakes winery takes label competition

The winning artwork.

The Lamoreaux Landing entry in the 2011 International Wine Label Design Contest has emerged as the grand prize winner.

The Volunteer Center of Napa Valley, CA, sponsor of the contest, announced the results today. The Finger Lakes, NY, winery's design by Veronica Martin won the Overall Award.

Entries were judged on overall originality and creativity, use of typography, and use of graphics.

Says Paul Wagner, one of the judges and co-author of "Wine Marketing & Sales" and wine marketing instructor at Napa Valley College, "The single most important interface between the winery and the customer is the label, on the shelf or in the restaurant. This competition brings attention to the people who are breaking new ground, and developing the most successful designs in the world. The winning labels were fun, dramatic, creative, and most of all, effective."

A call for entries for the next competition will go out in spring 2012. The proceeds of the competition, which are in the form of submission fees, go directly to benefit the Volunteer Center of Napa Valley.

To Dowd's Guide to American Wine Trails
To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.