Let's save Charles Smith's reputation!

 LOL. Tonight I opened 2014 El Jefe Tempranillo. 95 points Robert Parker and he nailed it, though I predicted (after tasting and before checking scores) 96 points, as Jane is my witness. This is so smooth, so big, and it's in my wheelhouse with lovely non-black-fruit flavors of purple berries and iron and bull's blood. The oak is lovely. Lots of complexity. I'm a fan! This is a $55 wine that is worth it!

Face to face: 2018 Cinder Syrah vs 2015 K Vintners "The Beautiful" Syrah

Wow. Seldom do you have a chance to compare two such different, yet fascinating, Syrahs.

1. In this corner, we have the 2015 K Vintners "The Beautiful" Syrah. 97 points and $60. 

2. In that corner, there is the 2018 Cinder Syrah (Snake River Valley). It's won several awards and is $30.

Charles Smith is easily one of the greatest success stories of Walla Walla wine. He worked his butt off and achieved amazing wine success. Sold for ?$20M? ?$200M? I forget the number. Good for him. On the one hand it was well-deserved, but on the other, I ask... really? This wine came to us during my stint on his mailing list. The wine had a 97 point nose that's for sure. Just angelic. But the palate fell to maybe 91. It was fine, but not earth-shaking. After one day, the nose (formerly purple fruits) had morphed to a GREAT black olive note, but the palate was even more pedestrian. Today, at 5 years old (which is NOT too old for a great Syrah), I'd give the wine 88 points or so. Respectable and fun, but worth $60? No. Effing. Way. We had this with La Bottega's braised pork shoulder (Covid take out). I've had many GREAT GREAT GREAT Charles Smith wines, and this was in that part of the baseball field, but it fell short.

Now, to Cinder. Their wines are fresh, new, and exciting. The winemaker/owner trained at Chat St Michelle, and is really inspired; she makes wonderful wines. The staff at the winery calls this Syrah "Silk, Smoke, and Chai." I get the silk and chai but not the smoke. This one's power is in the palate, not the bouquet. We had this with grass-fed Oregon Valley Farms' beef tenderloin, and slow-sauteed green beans, and mashed potatoes with garlic and au jus gravy. It delivers more satisfaction than Charles' wine, and certainly so in terms of QPR quality-price ratio). But both are quite good. 

We who can try such wines are fortunate. If you are one such person, thank you for taking time out to find ways to help those less fortunate. Lately, we have supported the Chinook Nation, the Clark County Food Bank, OPB (some of the best journalism in the US), and some others.

Unacceptable

 This article describes sexual harassment of women sommeliers by male sommeliers. Their organization is aware of it but has done little. No means no, and aside from that, it is a great management practice not to harass others at work. Oh, and it's also illegal.

Three diverse views of a wine:

 How can this happen? Consider the 2014 Caparzo Brunello:

It sells for about $35 retail. 

Wine Spectator scores it 92 points and sees bright cherry and raspberry, with minerals and peppery greens. Drink 2021-2032.

Wine Enthusiast scores it 88 points and sees strawberry, rose, and herb in the bouquet, and pomegranate and clove on the palate.  Drink now through 2022.

James Suckling scores it 91 points and sees dark fruit and cedar.

Wow! Those are very diverse views of the same wine. Which one should a consumer believe? It may be they're all correct, and the wine was different at different times of tasting. Or it maybe one or more of the reviews was way off.  Or maybe each reviewer was accurate according to their own palate, as palates do vary a lot among wine lovers. But either way, are you willing to risk $35 on a wine that might or might not have a flavor profile you like? 

More importantly, should you buy it if you need to drink it by next year, or can you keep it for twelve more years? 

Would be nice to not see this sort of "review disparity" among wine professionals, but I don't know how to accomplish that.

How Climate Change's Extreme Weather Events Affect Grapes and Wine:

 We (Epona) joined the Porto Protocol a year or two ago; it's a collaboration of grapegrowers and winemakers, worldwide, who are focusing on "Green" issues--sustainability; adaptation to changing climate, etc. To join, they ask you to write a short case study about what you're doing or have done, to be more "Green" (we used our solar-powered, earth-sheltered winery, and our modern varieties of grapes as our "reasons to beg into the group"). Here's a report I wrote to my winery association:

Today, the PP held a discussion of experts from around the world, on "Extreme Weather Events." The panel included Gregory Jones, a research climatologist specializing in the climatology of viticulture. He is the Director of the Evenstad Center for Wine Education, holds the Evenstad Chair in Wine Studies, and is a professor and research climatologist in the Department of Environmental Studies at Linfield University. He conducts applied research for the grape and wine industry in Oregon. I think he was on the smoke taint panel for the WSU event last week?

Major points:

1. In Australia the hotter temps are causing growers to move to the cool sides of hills (KLE: Note: This is being done in Walla Walla), and to stop all leaf removal, and to adopt new canopy styles which shade the fruit.

2. We need to get politics out of the climate change discussion.

3. A number of major insurers have stopped insuring Oregon grapegrowers, due to increased climate-related claims. They are literally leaving the state.

4. Climate extreme events are being seen in every grapegrowing region. 

5. Mendoza, Argentina sees increasing summer hail events due to climate change.

I submitted this comment: "Growers should consider earlier-ripening modern varieties, which spend fewer days on the vine and thus are a bit less exposed to extreme weather events. Such as, avoiding some of the earlier Fall rains here in the US' Pacific Northwest, because they can be harvested before some of those rains." I also told my grapebreeder friends that if smoke is going to be more common, they should consider putting the tenteurier trait (colored juice in red grapes) into their grapes, as that allows a dark red wine to be made even if we press the juice off the skins immediately after harvest, thereby reducing the risk of smoke taint. Many of these guys are/were  research professors and/or very deep into practical science, and one responded that the tenteurier trait is expressed through a single identified gene and should not be too difficult to cross into grapes. At Epona we have three red winegrapes which are tenteurier: Golubok, VB Labelle, and Delicatessen. All of them are earlier-ripening than, say, Pinot Noir.

Each of us will make her/his own decision about what to change, and when and how to change it, in response to growing environmental threats.

Kenton

Wine Country fires are horrible this year

 This article describes the huge, numerous, and threatening wildfires threatening people and grapes. Deaths are already being reported. Huge areas are under evacuation orders.

Epona Farm is presently 17 miles west of the area under an Evacuation Level 2 Order (meaning, "be ready to go if we issue a Level 3 order"), from a large set of fires burning on the west slope of Mt St Helens. The fires themselves are 25-35 miles away from us. The winds, which have brought us so much smoke for 3 days now and at times completely obscured the sun, are about to shift, and by Saturday we should see clear skies again. At times the smoke has been at the "unhealthy" level.

Smoke taint is caused by smoke phenols (from burning wood) attaching to grape skins and binding to sugars. Because the phenols are bound to sugars, they are not detectable in the grape (unless you run a lab test, but the labs are backlogged for weeks and the grapes are ripe now). But once the wine is made, the alcohol splits off the smoke phenol and it re-appears in the wine. At small levels it can add an interesting and nice complexifying element, but at high levels the wine is ruined, and there is no practicable fix for that fault.

Dick Erath, one of Oregon's wine pioneers, just advised me that the Willamette Valley saw more smoke than this, for more days, in a past year, and yet there was no smoke taint in their wines that year. We're in the middle of grape and apple harvest, and we'll find out once the wines are made, whether they have smoke taint. At this moment, I feel fairly confident they will not.

The Willamette Valley (and Napa and Sonoma) are under even denser smoke, so that is a threat to many many high-value commercial wines. The first photo is from Oregon (from the article I've linked here), and the second photo is from our farm (near Woodland WA) yesterday.

Dutch Tulip Mania story is way overhyped

 The Dutch were one of Europe's first modern nations; they had one of the best economies, and trading systems, in that continent. We all think their tulip bulb mania was a huge economic mess, but actually, it wasn't. Bubbles are to be feared, but this wasn't one!

https://theconversation.com/tulip-mania-the-classic-story-of-a-dutch-financial-bubble-is-mostly-wrong-91413

Epona Vineyard Grape Update - 2020:

 1. I told my Cab Sauv/Cab Franc grower in Yakima that I can't buy this year. Ditto the Syrah grower in Dallesport. Partly due to Covid risk and partly because my (Double Gold) wines from there just aren't selling fast enough. My market is too small for me to run at max production every year. Hoping to get into some local restaurants, but none of them are buying now.

2. It's an off year for apples thank goodness (my trees are heavily biennial); I've learned that my mix of heritage cider apples makes a great apple wine if I age it 3 years, so I'm going that route this year with my apples. If I do it right, you won't be able to tell it's not a good, dry white table wine.

3. My grapes are a bit further along than I expected:

Newer Leon vines: 19.3 Brix average, with a mix of light brown and dark brown seeds. Skin runoff color isn't there yet. Flavor is nowhere close yet. Very optimistic that these will fully ripen this year, and I haven't dropped much of it! Have also learned to never make the red wine style, if the grapes don't have a long, warm summer. If GDD are low, or if grapes don't hit 24B with great flavor, or if it rains before harvest, then 100% of it needs to go to rose (where it performs great). My 2018 Estate Red (Leon) had a too-low Brix of 20.7, and pH was 3.1 (also too low for red wine); I chalked it (Pot Carb) and got the chemistry perfect, but the wine aged to brownish red and I don't like the flavor and I'm having to pour it all out. Lesson learned.  But my 2017 Leon Red was fabulous; much hotter summer and better harvest numbers.

Older Leon vines: Averaging 19.4B. Coming along great.

Mindon: 18.7B; tart; yellow seeds; great skin color.

Jupiter: 16.5B (but it only goes to 19 or 20 tops); flavors getting there.

Monas Muscat: 13.0; ridiculously tart; and low set this year (rainy Spring)

LaBelle: Tiny berries--incredibly small. But I forgot they're tenteurier! Avg is already 20.8B and juice tasting good. This one is so early--maybe earlier than G'bok. Glad I planted more!

Delic: 13.0; tart; great skin color. Needs a long, hot summer. Probably not right for here unless we get a near-record year. And my Labelle can supplant my love of Deli's tenteurier juice.

Zero bird predation so far. Blackberries are fabulous and feeding the birds well. 

Long-range forecast  Looking great. Sunny thru at least Sept 17, with no rain. That gives enough time (probably) to get all my varieties harvested fully ripe.  With this great late heat,  I'll send half my Leon to red wine and half to rose, if the Brix and flavors warrant it, otherwise all to Rose. But I bet the Estate Red will be made, and will be quite good, this year. Smoke in the skies is starting to appear in the forecast, from OR and CA fires, but it should be minor here, this year.

Here's One Way to Make a Near-Perfect Dinner:

 Wow. We just finished a really wonderful Zoom dinner with our San Francisco younger friends Bob and Coley. What we do for Covid, but we adapt and it works well. Come on, vaccine!

Here's the entree: Pan-roasted chicken thighs with Blackberries and Thyme:

https://oregon-berries.com/recipe/pan-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-blackberries-and-thyme/

It is stunningly good. Why restaurants only serve chicken breast meat, I will never understand.  Just try it! Cast iron skillet, and everything. It's so simple. So French. So well-calculated (thanks, friend Bob) to go with these wines:

1. 2016 Reserve Comtesse de Lalande (2nd wine of Chateau Pichon Lalande): Wow! is the only word that does it justice: Decanted an hour: It opens with purple fruits carrying lofty notes of oak, cedar, sandlewood--a real wordworker's paradise. As the 2.5 hour dinner goes along (NEVER rush your dinner--it ruins the wine experience and shortens your life!!!), the wine never loses sight of its essence, but somehow its notes become purer and more angelic. This is a stupendous wine, and especially for a 2nd wine of a Super-Second Growth. 94 points, James Suckling. About $50 and well worth it! This is why we buy certain Bordeaux futures. I would grade it this way, over two hours: A- to A. What a great wine. And it's not even the chateau's best wine! This is why I collect more Pichon Lalande, for drinking, than any other Bordeaux (or any other wine in the world). I buy the First Growths for investment, but this is what I buy to drink (on special occasions)! (As you know, because I say it incessantly, you can drink GREAT wine for about $12-15 per bottle; anyone can overpay for wine--it takes no skill; the challenge is finding the many great wines out there which are less-expensive but deliver great quality.)

2. 2016 K Vintners Milbrandt Syrah (Walla Walla WA): 93 points, Jeb Dunnuck: "Dark red with ruby tones. Pungent aromas of cassis, blueberry, prosciutto, licorice, menthol, mint and minerals. Juicy and intense, conveying an exhilarating combination of sweetness and lively acidity to its red and darker berry and spice flavors. A savory element provides a further leavening influence. Finishes long, with firm but suave tannins. Lovely wine with real personality." . About $32. Wow! This opens fast and big. Opulent. Purple robe. If this is a horserace, this wine is first out of the gate. But then, over about an hour, it fades and the bouquet is gone, and there's a note of VA (volatile acidity) that ruins the experience. I'm thinking, "Damn! This blows." The Lalande was really singing, an hour in, while the Milbrandt really sucked. But then (and you live for moments like this) the Milbrandt recovered and the VA was gone, and the wine threw me for a loop with the most-wonderful olive and pickle juice notes, with just the barest hint of bracing acidity and a touch of the bare thought of menthol. I loved it! Its score went from A- to C- to A. What a wild ride! I'm sad that Charles Smith has sold out and there will be no more wines with souls like this, from his shop. Can't we engineer a society where fortunes are not made this way? Why is "a mountain of money" the goal? Sustained excellence, over generations, should be the goal. Let's move toward non-profit corporations, whose purpose is to serve customers and employees, not shareholders. Is that possible?

Just look at these two wines, for everything you need to know about America vs Europe: In the US, we're all about contriving a great experience for NOW (in corporate parlance "this quarter's earnings"), and who cares about the future? This short-changes the children's children and we are curse-worthy for our myopia and greed. In Europe (as in Asia), plans are made for the long term, and the Lalande shows this, with steady excellence throughout its tasting experience tonight. As my friend Nick likes to say, "China's working on its fourth dynasty," whereas there is real question (in my scared opinion) whether the US can survive much longer. I suggest that we find ways to mend our divisions, and quickly. Meanwhile, if you can, get these two wines (probably both still available) and compare them!

Grapegrowers in Europe suffering; harvests being destroyed due to Covid

 What a sad story. Grape growers are being paid to destroy a portion of their crops, in Spain, and elsewhere in Europe. Wine sales are down, due to Covid.

Covid hits too close to home:

Milla Handley was a wine pioneer in Anderson Valley (CA). In 1975, she was one of the first woman graduates from the famed wine program at UC Davis. She was one of the first to plant winegrapes in the Anderson Valley, once thought too cold for winegrapes. She was only 68 and just died from Covid.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/Influential-winemaker-Milla-Handley-an-early-15455227.php

Don't trust your own senses, in determining whether this is a hot summer!

Here's what I just wrote to my fellow grapegrowers in SW WA (and, first, you need to know that Growing Degree Days measure heat which is a proxy for sunshine; growers use GDDs to know how warm their growing season really is):

It's been so hot for the past few days that it seems strange to get this result, but we had a late, cool Spring, and:

I know the high-lo temps for today and tomorrow, so I can calculate GDDs (F; base 50) for Jan 1, 2020 through July 31, 2020, and the total is: 1189. That is the lowest of THE PAST SEVEN YEARS.

Next, I took the 15-day forecast and used that to project all of August, and that adds 604 GDDs, for an Aug 31 total of 1793 (but if the 2nd half of August is cooler than the first half, which is normal for us to see, that 1794 estimate will end up being a bit too high). That is the lowest of the past 3 years (but not the lowest of the past 7 years).

In recent years, September has added about 500 more GDDs (it varies a lot depending whether the rains come early--last year, Sept only added 250 GDDs). So if we get "normal rain return date" (about Sept 21), that might leave us at about 2290 GDDs by Sept 30. That is better than average for this area, if you look at the past 50 years, but due to recent climate change it would also be the second-lowest of the past 7 years.

So I am going to continue dropping fruit now, to help the remainder get fully ripe, just like last year, on all my varieties except the ones that have shown they can ripen a huge load no matter the weather (only some of my modern varieties can do that). If growers let a full crop hang, I predict they may have less-ripe flavors. It's a very difficult decision to make, of course, as each grower has to think about their own fruit quality and income needs. 

Comments welcome,

Kenton

Your Education Committee Chair

2018 Onyx Rose wine - An enthusiastic review

Wow! It's so much fun to find great wines at low prices. This 2018 Onyx Rose wine from Provence (France) is wonderful, and it's on closeout special now, as the 2019 roses are "on the boat" over here to the US.

1. "Is it past its prime?" you ask. An emphatic "no!" I had it, over the course of an hour, and it had been open for a whole day, and yet it was fresh and singing loudly.
2. Color: Pale pinkish-salmon, the typical color for Provencal roses.
3. Bouquet:  A delightful mix of summer fruits, and flowers, and lots of steel and flint. Really nice.
4. Palate: Those same fruits carried along on a great acidic frame. This is so good with food. It's a bigger and bit-fruitier wine than you expect from a French rose, so it sits in between Old World and New World stylistically.
5. Finish: A good finish, but that's not the appeal here.

This wine's made from GSM--Grenache-Syrah-Mouvedre grapes, by the famous Aix winery. I'm selling it now for just $9! Wow.

Red Currants!

It takes FOREVER to pick a currant bush. The berries are so tiny. Only huckleberries are worse. It must be done in several efforts, or else you just might go crazy ;) . I can do it for maybe 30 minutes, but then I have to quit, and come back later. Currant bushes, in this cool, wet, late Spring, are loaded this year: I've picked 3 pints from the one bush and there are still more berries out there. These I freeze, then add later to the Epona Rose wine (where, admittedly, they make only a tiny statement LOL - we're talking about maybe 1 lb of currants and hundreds of pounds of grapes). Currants are acidic and delightful.

Profound effect on us poor Bordeaux collectors: 25% tariffs imposed by our Great Leader. Remind me: Why do we hate the French, again?

Here's what one major seller of Bordeaux futures states:

On 2019 Bordeaux Futures purchases: ALL TAXES, DUTIES, AND/OR TARIFFS IMPOSED AT THE TIME OF DELIVERY OF THESE WINES TO THE UNITED STATES ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BUYER AND MUST BE REMITTED PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF THE WINE.

Ouch! It makes no sense to pay a 25% tariff on the 2019 Bordeaux futures. I don't care if the wines are great, or if the wines are a good deal because the USD is a bit higher vs the Euro now. I've checked the prices of what's available now, and they are NOT 25% better.

Why did the Trump administration impose 25% tariffs on French wine? Apparently it was because the EU gives subsidies to Airbus, which competes (unfairly, goes the argument) with Boeing. Um, but how does punishing French wineries address Airbus subsidies? Why wouldn't we just put a tariff on US carriers' purchases of Airbus planes?

And get this, for another dose of how stupid this is: If a wine's more than 14% alcohol, then there's no tariff. Why that limit? There isn't any reason. Some table wines do have 14% alcohol (particularly, warm-weather red wines). Port alcohol levels don't start until you get up to about 19% alcohol. But Bordeaux red wines are usually lower than 14%. So this stupid threshold might force French wineries to amp up their wines, to meet the 14% threshold, which could bring the wines out of balance in the mouth, and make you intoxicated quicker, which is not always a good thing. You could argue that Trump is forcing French wineries to up their alcohol levels, which could lead to more intoxicated-driving accidents. Nice job!

Next point: It was the French who GAVE US OUR COUNTRY, with their military and strategic assistance circa 1776. No US of A, without their help. I don't know about you, but I've always loved the French. And their wines and cooking and art and geography and ...   Is this the right way to deal with them?

Finally, get this: Airbus has a major manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama (see photo). That is in the United States (barely). So this is, IMO, a complex factual situation that has been addressed by idiots, for an idiotic reason, in an idiotic way, with idiotic results.

Photo credit: Airbus

Preserved lemons featured on a charcuterie board we made for friends visiting the farm/winery!

Our good friends and neighbors in Vancouver came out to see the farm in its pretty time of year. We made them a charcuterie board to go with a selection of roses and sparkling wine, and had a fun "physically distant" sort of evening. Life with the virus goes on! The board included my preserved lemons, which are great mixed with olives. Looking forward to making a Moraccan lamb tagine with them! Preserved lemons are easy to make; try some!

2018 Maryhill Rose of Sangiovese

What a charming rose! Yes, it's New World (lots of powerful fruit), but as I tell anyone who will listen: A grape is a fruit, and so a wine should taste like fruit!

Here we have strawberries and cranberries, riding on a lovely acid frame. Not too complex, but who cares? when the effect is so perfect?   It's nice that a 2018 rose can still sing like this. Sangiovese makes great roses (check out Barnard Griffin's Rose of Sangio. which wins every award you can name). Life is better with good rose, especially in Spring.

In order to fit my dinner into "Rose-land," when we were hitting Papa Murphy's tonight for an easy dinner (we usually cook in), I chose something new: Chicken, bacon, artichokes, onion, parmesan, on thin crust with a white garlic cream sauce, with jalepenos added at home, and wow! Perfect with this rose.

Maryhill makes a HUGE slate of wines, and I choose among those--not all are right for me. The Proprietor's Reserve wines are consistently good choices (and not too expensive), but here, in 2018, the "regular" Rose of Sangio is better than the Proprietor' Reserve Rose. But both are good.

If you don't live in the Pac NW, GET UP HERE! The world is changing, environmentally and governmentally, you need to be up here, if you have an open mind. Life is great here.

Two more examples why you should be VERY cautious before paying, say, $25 or more for a bottle of wine:

Jane made a fabulous veggie lasagna, with Beyond Meat crumble that is a very good faux ground beef. The sauce (both red and Bechemel) was great, and there were Ricotta, Cottage, and Parmesan cheeses to provide more mouthfeel. It was really spectacular, and makes me wonder how I can be the one with 10% Italian genes, but not her.

Anyway, I pulled first one expensive wine, and then another, and both came up short and it was embarrassing to sort of fail her wonderful dish with subpar wines. The first was Maryhill 2016 Barbera (Proprietor's Reserve)-my note says I liked it at the winery last summer and paid $33. I held it only 10 months in perfect storage, but tonight it was bad: no fruit on the palate, and maybe a bitter coffee note at the beginning of the finish. Not good.  A Barbera should be lively. Maybe the wine at 3.6 years since harvest is simply tired out (likely), but in that case I'm sorry they sold it, or maybe they should've sold it with a label "drink by Sept 2019" or whatever. (I used to add "drink by" labels on all my wines, and I'm sorry I don't still do it--it's difficult as a winemaker to know when your wine will finally head downhill. One of my customers forgot about one of my Cayuga white wines, I think from 2017, and recently found it and opened it and told me it was great. Whew. I would've said drink it within about 1.5 years.)

So, when Jane said she really didn't like that wine, I said let me grab a different one, and I came back with a Walla Walla Vintners 2016 Sangiovese, which I bought at wholesale from one of my distys. WWV has a great track record, but sometime in the past few years Gordy and Miles sold out (finally retired) and somewhere in there the winemaker changed. Not sure if that's involved here, but this wine is also disappointing: No fruit on the palate, and there's a tiny tiny bit of Brett on the palate, and when that's the only note you can discern in a wine, something is very, very wrong. This one's about $20 at retail (and I paid a bit less), but DUDES! You can find much better Sangios at the grocery store, for almost half that price.

I say again, it's easy to overpay for wine. Anyone can do it; it takes no skill at all. What is difficult is finding great wines at lower prices, and there are many to be found. And, worse, there is VERY LITTLE correlation between a wine's price and its quality. If you pay more than about $25 for a bottle of wine, the excess is just about all "excess profit" (meaning, extra profit on top of what is already a reasonable profit). Why would you buy into a system where you pay $80 for a wine that isn't better than another wine costing $20? How smart is it to buy the $80 bottle? If I were trying to impress somebody, I'd serve them a great $20 bottle, and they'd be amazed, and then I'd say, "Hey! Now I have $60 in my pocket, so what should we do with it?"

Finally, please let me say that these are both very good wineries. I am not meaning to impugne all their wines-that would be foolish. I am saying that almost no winery in the world, which charges high prices, is consistently worth those higher prices. Some are--I would never shirk an offered Latour, Lafite, DRC, Petrus, Pichon-Lalande, Margaux, Eschezaux. But if your label isn't on that list, be cautious about paying more than $25 for it.

Dogged: 2018 Epona Cider: It's all about learning, learning, learning - Look at this possibly-stupid level of effort:

"Dogged." I don't know if dogs are persistent, but I am.

My 2018 apple cider has an issue: It hardly fermented in the bottle at all (I use the French country style, where you "charge" each bottle with sugar and yeast, as you bottle it).  While "still cider" is a thing in Europe (and it's a legitimate cider style), in the US most cider lovers want those bubbles.

At first I just discounted the cider in price, sold a quarter of it, and jumped into trying to figure out what happened. Then, I got creative about how to rescue the remaining cider:

What happened originally:
a. The cider itself (disregarding the bubbles is the best I've made. It's my first using crabapples and bittersweet apples, all from Epona Farm, in addition to the wonderful array of "sweet-sharp" heritage cider apples that were already here. It's the first to have some lactose added to it (dairy allergy alert), which is "milk sugar" and is unfermentable; I added it to provide just a bit of residual sugar which I thought the acidic juice needed, and it also provides a creaminess in the mouthfeel--more body. So far, so good. The cider tastes really great.
b. I put the clear, aged cider into a tank and added yeast and priming sugar calculated at 2 volumes of CO2. That is for the low-end of "sparkling" which is called "petaillant" by the French.  So far, so good.
c. I tested the free sulfite and added just a touch, to get up to 45ppm, which was perfect for the cider's pH. This is what winemakers do, and for cider it is controversial: A few cidermakers sulfite their ciders, as it gives them more shelf-life (more microbial stability); in my defense, commercial yeasts can handle up to 50ppm sulfite, so I thought it would be OK. But most cidermakers do not sulfite before bottling. Here's why:
d. Steve Bader (owns wine/beer shop of that name; great guy and a great scholarly resource, and he runs an expertly-staffed and equipped shop) told me that the sulfite will scavenge all the O2 that's in the headspace. That was new to me and is an issue, because (as every winemaker and cidermaker should know) the yeast goes through two phases: first (the lag phase), the yeast multiply until they reach a density that satisfies them; and then (the fermentation phase) they start to convert sugar to ethyl alcohol, CO2, heat, and other byproducts (including sulfite, which is a natural component of any fermentation). If the free sulfite in the cider uses up the O2 in the headspace (under the crown cap), then the yeast can't multiply, and I'm not sure if they will then give up trying to multiply and start fermenting in tiny numbers? I think that is what happened, because when you open one of these ciders, it makes a faint hiss, and that is the CO2 escaping, and there are very faint and few bubbles rising in the liquid in your glass. I added enough priming sugar that there should be more hiss and more bubbles in the cider.
e. I waited 6 months before trying and selling the cider. Maybe if I wait longer, the few yeast in each bottle will finally make more CO2 and raise the carbonation level. BUT, apple cider has a shelf life and if it takes ?2? ?5? more years to finally get carbonated, the fruit flavor might be faded.
f. Another thing I think I did wrong is that I filled each bottle pretty full, leaving about 0.5" headspace (as we winemakers are supposed to do). I now know that some cidermakers leave 1.5" headspace, which gives more O2 to the yeast. As Steve noted, the O2 in the headspace doesn't raise spoilage issue because the yeast will use it up (during their lag phase) and then the headspace will be only CO2 after the in-bottle fermentation, which is a good preservative.

Dogged. So, for a month I've been reading about this, and thinking about what to do. Now, I'm working an experiment on my cider. This is what I just did to a 4-case test batch; I'll open a test bottle in about late July, to see if I have more carbonation  then:

1. Open the bottles up and pour into carboys, leaving 20% of the inside carboy volume empty for lots of O2 space; cover with towel to allow more O2 to enter. Then I didn't want to rinse, wash, sulfite each bottle, so I stuck the empty bottles in the winery refrigerator, at 33F, thinking that would keep them "bugless."

2. Add more charging sugar in the carboys, calculated to raise the desired CO2 volume from 2 to 3.8 (4 volumes of CO2 is about the upper limit for in-bottle carbonation in a beer bottle). I was too cautious at 2 volumes.

3. Add K1V-1116 - the "killer yeast" (I used the workhorse EC-1118 yeast last time. I also added yeast nutrient; the yeast can't function well (or at all) if they don't have enough food. Well-cleared cider doesn't provide much nutrient to yeast.

4. Stir vigorously; lots of splashing.

5. Wait 24 hours with towel over carboy neck to allow O2 entry; then put on a ferm lock and test for evidence of renewed ferm.

6. This morning, each carboy was showing slight ferm, after about 16 hours (bubbling about every 40 seconds LOL). That was progress! I think it was so slight because that's not much sugar--not like the original ferm, and also because the yeast's lag phase is slower when I use a carboy, compared to using an open primary fermentation tank. I could've used a tank but that's more work and with lots of headspace in the carboy I thought I had this issue covered.

7. Re-bottle (with 1.5" headspace) and cap. I've learned to be very cautious and slow while capping, so that I can gently press down hard and get a tight seal, but without snapping off the bottle's neck. 

If this re-done batch gives me good carb in-bottle, then I'll be pretty excited and will probably enter it in some competitions, because the taste is so good. We will know by late July maybe.  If this works, I have about 12 more cases I can do the same to. THAT is the crazy part--opening a bottled cider and doing all this to it. It's more about learning, and maybe pride, than anything. It is not common at all to do this once you've closed a bottle. But, dogged.

Taste-testing is a great benefit of winemaking: Epona 2018 Syrah-Malbec notes

...because you get to observe how a wine changes over time, even before it's released to the market.

The Syrah in this wine came from the Graves Vineyard, which is the southern-most in the state of Washington (Dallesport WA), near the Columbia River, and it's also one of the oldest. Planted by Mr. Graves, a BPA employee, a very long time ago (1970s?) and now tended by his son. The Malbec came from Noble Wolf Vineyard east of Lyle WA. Both grapes were fully ripe and in excellent shape; I picked them up in early morning and by noon was processing them on the Epona crush pad. Super-fresh treatment with high-touch winemaking all the way.

1. Youth: I'm learning why Syrahs (and Malbecs, too) need years of aging before they show their best. Some Syrahs don't come to market until they are 6-7 years old! This wine, upon opening is mostly shut down. The nose is faint and the palate is clunky, showing some nice red/blue fruits but with a sense of disjointedness and a bitter finish note.  An hour later, the nose is showing now--complex and awakening: Red/blue/purple/black fruits (yes-all of those, and I dare you to disagree), and herbs, and medicinals, in that order. On the palate, the wine is thick (good body) and acidic (good for food), with purple fruits and a coffee finish.
2. Then I put the leftover half-bottle of the wine into the fridge for four days. Sounds too long, right? But I suspected the wine was very, very early in its development, and 4 days on air provided a good test for what it might become.
3. Then, the wine was really good: The nose predicts ripe red/purple/black fruits with bolstering acidity and matching fairly high alcohol, and you can even smell the thick body too. In the mouth, it's very nice: rich, thick, but acidic too, with wonderful complex fruit and herb notes, and a nice finish.

I will definitely submit this one in competition, but not for another couple of years. Big hopes for this one! But patience is required. I plan to offer it next week, in order to get the hivemind's comments, and then either sell the rest, or hang onto it, as appropriate. One great thing about having a SUPERB wine buying club, is that you can access a wealth of great wine palates, in order to get the correct skinny on a wine and what to plan re that wine...

A really great French (Provencal) Rose: Jean-Luc Colombo 2018 "La Dame du Rouet" (Aix-en-Provence, Southern Rhone, France)

This was exceptional! A group of us circled our cars, in a lately-very-empty parking lot, and sat on quilts to eat take out from Rallys Pizza tonight, on a sunny sunsetting day in May. How to socialize in the Era of Corona. What good friends!

What a pleasure this wine was! Strawberries and watermelon, but the fruit was restrained. Minerals, but also restrained. What was more prominent was the acidity, yet it was pleasant, and it provided the frame on which to hang the various other enjoyments. Many American winemakers (like me) try to make Statement Wines, and the French sometimes do, but what they're really skilled at is making wines that know how to accompany food without getting in the way. This wine is a perfect example.

4 and a half stars on Vivino, with this comment: "Best Rosé I've ever tasted. Dry and fruity."

OK. Works for me.

There are many pretty grape(s leaves), but this one is surely high up on the list:

This is Monastery Muscat budding out. It's a white grape but you can see from the pink tinges that there is some red grape in its heritage, too.

This grape is my "beast of the vineyard--" as it has the thickest trunk, the highest yield, the best disease resistance. It is a champion and a survivor. Great Muscat bouquet in the juice.

Sort of in love with walnut slabs

I just finished sanding and staining Slab 4. See photo.

The sanding takes forever. I fill cracks and pits with epoxy, then let it dry hard and sand it down. Sometimes that must be done two or three times. Just the sanding was tough, as I bought these slabs from a guy who uses a chainsaw to make them, in the field, and thus the slabs are super-rough when I bought them. The top is as smooth as glass now.

Next is a tung oil finish, and then legs to make this a bench seat that will be at a to-be-built dining table that will reside in our to-be-remodeled barn, where we will hold wine-related events!

Oh, My! 2016 Wines of Substance 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon - Review

Oh holy smokes! Opened this with slow-smoked BBQ Pork that I made 2 days ago, and WOW! So glad I did!

It is very rich and luscious, with the expected black currant, but also blackberry, olives, and earth. Seamless.  Teriffic fruit notes. I would expect this to cost about $40-$70, not $20! So sad this is my only bottle (got it while I was a member of the wine club).


So I looked up the pro reviews on this one, and they agree. I love the line: "Just buy it and pretend you paid three times the price!"

Jeb Dunnuck 93
"The largest production cuvée, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon was vinified in tank before being pressed to barrel where it went through malo. Aged 13 months in barrels, its vibrant purple color is followed by a terrific bouquet of blueberries, cassis, scorched earth, and spice. Deep, rich, full-bodied, and beautifully balanced, this is the real deal, ladies and gentlemen, and it's a no-brainer purchase. Just pretend you paid three times the price."

Wine Advocate 90
"Amazingly, there are 125,000 cases of the value-priced 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine offers up classic aromas of crushed cassis, loamy soil and pencil lead. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, layered and flavorful, with chewy but ripe tannins and succulent balancing acids, concluding with good length. Considering the scale of this cuvée and the pittance it commands, it's a remarkable achievement."

James Suckling 92
"The is a firm and linear red with currants, blackberries and hints of chocolate. Medium to full body, firm and velvety, chewy tannins and a juicy finish. Real cabernet at a real price. Drink or enjoy."

Wine Spectator 90
"Dark and spirited, with appealing blackberry, black olive and smoked anise flavors that build toward big but polished tannins. Drink now through 2024."

Wine Enthusiast 90
"The aromas are compelling, with notes of fresh herb, black currant, black raspberry and black cherry, showing a pleasing sense of purity. The flavors are soft and pure, with sleek black-fruit notes lingering on the finish. Firm tannins back it up. It’s a fruitful expression of the variety and a superb value. "

Charles Smith sold his winery for an amount so huge you wouldn't believe it. What a wine! He deserves everything he achieved.

We are really screwing up our climate

Read the story here: Budbreak of grapes in France is occurring earlier and earlier, putting the grapes at greater risk of a killing late frost. So grapegrowers are having to implement expensive approaches to fighting frosts. And ironically, they often use smudge pots to make the heat amongst the vines, which contributes to more climate change!

The answer is to globally reduce our hydrocarbon burning, starting with the dirtiest sets of emissions: The burning of coal and oil. It can be done, but we have to do it.

Wine consumption is up. WAY up, due to so many of us staying at home

This is from an SFC article:

The Bay Area is drinking 42% more alcohol than usual while sheltering in place

You aren't the only one who's been drinking more, according to data from BACtrack, a San Francisco company that produces smartphone-connected breathalyzer devices. The idea for the study came from people's anecdotal impressions that drinking was up, said BACtrack CEO Keith Nothacker. "We said, let's go check the data. Sure enough, drinking had exploded post-shelter-in-place." Link: sfchronicle *** It makes me wonder why we drink more while at home than if we're out and about. ?? Maybe it's cheaper to drink at home than to drink out (and not just a bit cheaper--sometimes up to 4x cheaper!). And maybe we are stressed over the Pandemic, and turn to wine for comfort and relaxation (I know I do). Don't overdo, but let wine help you, in moderation, if you love to drink it!

Why oh Why do we buy expensive bottles of wine?

Another huge mistake in my wine buying. Tonight, to start the (one-year long) celebration of my wonderful spouse's 60th birthday, we opened a 2012 Talenti Brunello di Montalcino with wonderful eggplant parmesan. This wine is $70 retail and got 95 points from Spectator and Robert Parker, who said:

Riccardo Talenti and his family have crafted a bold and deeply saturated wine. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Pian di Conte shows a contemporary side with soft cherry aromas followed by sweet spice and dark chocolate. It also delivers some of those tangy balsamic and licorice-like aromas that are so specific to Sangiovese from Montalcino. You get power as well as a good dose of authenticity with this age-worthy Riserva.

Well, I'll tell you what. This wine is pretty disgusting. In desperation we opened a $12 Montepulciano as a backup, which far outshone this Brunello. The Brunello has some Brett, and its flavors are dark and bitter. Nothing to like there. Oh my, was I an idiot. My former boss from 25 years ago sung the praises of Brunellos, so I collected many of the better ones, and guess what? The emperor has no clothes. This is amazing--Brunellos are supposed to mature into things of wonder, whereas this wine must've been good when young, but now it's disgusting.

As I've said forever, "any idiot can overpay for wine. It takes no skill at all. What is difficult is buying good wines at low prices." Shame on me. Waste of money.

I urger you all to buy your good wines down in the $12-$20 price range. With careful selection, you won't be disappointed, and you will be much richer.

The Monty we opened is a very sub-par one (2016 La Villa), and yet it was far better, at all of $12. 

Think, and learn, from my many mistakes!

May I review my own wine? 2017 Epona "Rosso Misto"

Rosso Misto means "mixed red" in Italian, and I made this wine from three modern grape varieties, all grown here at the Epona Vineyard: Mindon, Regent, and Delicatessen.

This is really good!
Color: Clear; pretty red.
Bouquet: Very nice rustic, cherry nose, with flowers. I'm proud of that bouquet.
Palate: Medium body, with a touch of heft, but this is a lighter, more-elegant wine. Pleasing balance. Moderate tannins. Nice fruit notes.  I give this wine a solid "B" and it's fun to drink!

Champagne: Montaudon Grande Rose - a great bottle, but not cheap

Well, this is a really good sparkling wine. It should be, as it's not cheap (about $45 at Total Wine). What I loved about it was its smoothness, which is very unusual in most sparkling wines. Acid is present but not as much as I expected, and the red fruit flavors are sumptuous. 90 points from Wine Spectator. No yeasty/bread notes, which you see in more-expensive Champagnes. A real pleasure to drink, with fresh Dungeoness Crab. At that price, not sure I'll buy it again.

2011 Beresan Stone River

Opened this outside Death Valley at a steakhouse. Cab-Syrah. 9 years aging really showed. So smooth. Rich purple robe. Calming purple fruits. Just a pleasure to drink. At $25-ish, it's a huge bargain.
Friends, it's so true-anyone can overpay for wine...it takes no skill at all. What's challenging is finding great wines at lower prices.

Grapes of Wrath

This article reports that California saw both (1) more plantings of Cab Sauv and Pinot Noir grapes, but also (2) lower sales of those grapes, which means a surprisingly large amount of Cab Sauv and Pinot Noir went unsold and rotted on the vines.

Lessons:
1. Just because a grape's wine is popular doesn't necessarily mean that it's smart to plant more of it.
2. There are, oh, at least 300 different vinifera winegrapes; why focus on just two? Too many grapegrowers do whatever other growers are doing. Not smart.
3. There are, oh, at least 300 different non-vinifera ("Modern") grape varieties, which ripen earlier, don't need antifungal spray, hang higher yields, have much more cold- and drought-tolerance, and make great-tasting wine, so why not plant those?

Check out modern winegrapes in my book (on Amazon) titled "Modern Grapes for the Pacific Northwest."

(photo credit Purdue University)

Review of 2009 Reserve de la Comtesse: Well, that was disappointing.

Well, that was disappointing. This is a $49 wine which scored 94-96 points by Wine Enthusiast.

Ten years old, it didn't drink that well at all.  It drank like a mediocre $13 bottle. You could coax a tiny trace of black currant fruit from it, and maybe some plum. The flavors were dark and the whole wine was out of balance. This is the second wine of the famed Super-Second Growth Pichon Lalande, and we can only hope the great Pichon Lalande doesn't age so poorly at this. It's possible that the second wine shouldn't be held for ten years, but the reviews (it gets about 89-90 points on Cellar Tracker) all say it still could use some more aging. I'm not so sure--a Bordeaux should be showing you some impressive flavors by ten years out. And I left half the bottle in the fridge for five days, to watch it and see if all the air time woke it up, but only very slightly.

Bordeaux may be suffering from climate change (which drives to black fruits, whereas I prefer red and purple fruits in my red wines). Or maybe the rater just got it wrong.

I work pretty hard to weed and mulch the Epona Vineyard. So, why mulch a vineyard?

You can't make great wine from shoddy fruit. One of the benefits of owning a small, hand-tended vineyard is that you can do many things to improve fruit quality, and hopefully that shows up in the wine. Just go look at other vineyards, and you almost always see weeds/grass growing right up to the grapes' trunks. Not mine. I work hard to keep the "vinerows" weed-free and mulched. 

Heavy rains aside, I've been weeding and mulching the Epona vineyard this week. First, I weed each row by hand, then spread mulch from the trailer, by hand. The ground is so wet that even on a rare sunny day, it is making bubbling/leaking sounds, probably relating to the little passageways carved underground by the earthworms. The mulch helps the grapes in many ways: it prevents weeds that compete for nutrients; it holds moisture in the soil on hot sunny days; it keeps the soil cool on hot days, which the roots like; it eventually decomposes and adds nutrients to the soil. The mulch would last for 2-3 years if it weren't for the moles, which throw huge piles of dirt on top of the mulch (the moles are after the worms that I'm trying to grow--the worms are the big secret in an organic vineyard). I've tried metal mole-traps--they occasionally work and are a big pain to set correctly. I've not tried the shotgun-shell traps. I have tried using road flares to fill the mole tunnels with sulfur gas, which sometimes makes the moles leave for another home. 

But the best mole-trap is one invented many millions of years ago: It's this thing called a "gopher snake" ;) . I was lucky enough to see the back half of one, here, once, as it desperately fled me into a big logpile--I said, "You cannot be a rattlesnake--no way, not here." So I researched what those rattler-like splotches were, and the answer was clear: Gopher snake! They have all my best wishes and support. I am fairly sure they are active in my vineyard, even though I've never again seen one. I know this because many other nearby places have thousands more mole mounds than we have. I know  why other places don't have gopher snakes: Those other property owners are killing animals, including snakes, with inorganic fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides. Just go organic! and let Nature help you.

We also have a few black racers, but 99% of our snakes--and we have many thousands of these--are garters, which eat many bugs but alas can't control moles. 80% of the garter snakes are "yellow-stripes," and about 15% are "red stripes," and 5% are "blue stripes"--vivid teal-blue stripes and I can prove it ;)

(Photo credit of non-venomous, "scaredy-cat" gopher snake (and doesn't it look a bit like a rattlesnake?): desertusa.com)

Washington state relief map!

This is pretty cool. You can see the state's wine valleys very prominently.

Though the Columbia River cuts through it, the extreme northern end of the Wilamette Valley is where our vineyard is. We're on the south side of an East-West little mountain range that extends SW from Mt St Helens. That little mountain range plunges to the Columbia around Kalama WA.

The wonder of grapes

Are you amazed at the complexity of grapes? I am. To my knowledge there is no other fruit than can do what grapes can do: A grape can taste like hundreds of other fruits and vegetables and herbs. I've been searching for a word that decscribes this ability: The best word might be "mimicry."

Mimicry: The close external resemblance of an animal or plant (or part of one) to another animal, plant, or inanimate object.

I'm not sure that a Cab Franc grape's aroma only has a "close resemblance" to green bell pepper's aroma. I think it is the SAME aroma, made by the same chemical compounds (specifically, one of the pyrazines). This is why I'm still searching for the right word. Might have to invent one.

Getting back to the incredible complexity of grapes: This article in Nature describes how we are slowly unraveling the specific genetic basis for the vast array of grape aromas. Check this out from the article:

"The predominate compounds contributing to the aroma profile of grape berries fall into the following categories: mono- and sesquiterpenes, methoxypyrazines, furan derivatives, lipoxygenase pathway products, and phenylpropanoid pathway products... During winemaking and subsequent aging processes, volatile compounds and their precursors can undergo enzyme-catalyzed modifications and spontaneous chemical transformations. "

Each of those families of aromatic chemicals contains many specific chemicals that can be discerned by our olfactory systems (noses). 

Help me come up with this word! Join me in admiring this ability of grapes. Does this mean the grape is the most-advanced fruit on our world, given that a fruiting plant's goal is to make the best-tasting fruit, in order to induce an animal to eat the fruit and then poop out the remains of it elsewhere, thereby spreading the seeds and helping the grape survive via new offspring?

Spectacular 1985 Washington Cab!

I went to Roland Winery, in Longview WA, for my first time last night; it was owner Mark's granddaughter's 21st birthday; they have a pizza oven (and the pizza and salad were GREAT). It's a cute space; cozy; everyone knows each other; I liked the Roland Barbera. In summer the fun spills out onto their outside crush pad area. My kind host Steve is a favorite customer there, and gave me a great tour of the wines/space.

But this post is about a wonderful old wine that one friend of the winery, Jim, brought: 1985 Columbia Cabernet Sauvignon, made by David Lake.

1. Columbia was the 1983 successor to Associated Vintners, a Univ of Wa-professor-based organization that was one of the very first winemaker groups in this state. I have a bottle from about 1975, of an Ass'd Vintners wine. (Alas, I received the bottle already empty, but I kept the bottle for its historical importance. Hey! WA needs a wine museum. This bottle belongs in it.)
2. This 1985 Cab was still young and vibrant! The color indicated it, and then the nose, and finally the palate. The wine was no doubt made in a cooler year than optimal, as the dominant fruits were cranberry and red berries (whereas it should be black currants), but the flavor was fresh and clean, and the wine was well made. It even had a nice sagebrush note. Very impressive aging.
3.Best of all, I noticed the bottle carried a $2.89 price sticker, so I asked Jim if that was really the price. "Oh, yes," he said. "These bottles were sent back by a distributor, and got dumped onto a retailer, who priced them to go quickly." Wow is all I can say. Living history! A special moment.

This was Otis Vineyard, Yakima, and David Lake was a big deal-a reknowned winemaker. He was the first to plant Syrah in Washington state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lake_(winemaker)

Wine review: Persona Non Grata 2013 Lake County CA red blend

This is from just north of Napa/Sonoma. Their estate red grapes include Zin and Syrah.

I have nothing against a Syrah-Zin blend. Why not? But this wine has a limited appeal. The nose is actually pretty good-it harkons to darker fruits and a nice balance, and in a world where some winemakers don't achieve (or even care about) any aromatics at all (??? the nose discerns 10,000 aromas, and the tongue, six. Duh!), this bouquet is nice to have. But at 14.8% alcohol, the wine is too hot--it doesn't have enough flavors to stand up to all that alcohol. What flavor there is comes off as very dark fruits, and admittedly I'm not a huge fan of black fruit flavors (I tend like the red-to-purple space; for my palate, these grapes are grown in a place too hot for them). I had a filet mignon left over from our first winemaker dinner this past Saturday--so much work--we cooked an 8 lb beef tenderloin, encrusted with dijon-rosemary-cracked pepper, with barley risotto and roasted root vegetables, and served it with my Double-Gold Cab Franc (2019 Seattle Wine Awards) and this was a leftover piece.  It went well enough with this wine--the leftover beef was great, and the wine was just OK with it.

The winery markets this wine as "Persona Non Grata" (meaning, "Napa Valley gets all the attention; BS on that!"), and, as much as I support that sentiment, and as much as I'd love to support any winemaker who makes wine away from the trendy places (as I do), and suffers from the comparison, and enviously eyes Napa's overrated reputation, this wine is just not all that good.  But it's always good to try new wines!

Death of a major figure in Beaujolais: Georges DuBoeuf

A sad day. Georges DeBoeuf had a huge impact on his wine region. Beaujolais Nouveau celebrations (the first of the year's wine releases) have spread worldwide due to his efforts to drive both wine quality and wine marketing. We visited his winery/museum/wine town, and were very impressed. Tasting there, we found many high-quality wines that never make it to the US, all made from the overlooked Gamay grape.

Even in the Willamette Valley, growers tend to plant Syrah, not Gamay, as the climate warms, whereas the natural order (with increasing climate warmth, as you head south in France) is Pinot Noir, then Gamay, then Syrah.  This is unfortunate.

Coincidentally, as he was dying, we were hosting a Beaujolais Nouveau dinner party (with a great duck ragout dish), and that wine was widely perceived, around the table, as a great wine. So fascinating, that a wine could be so good after just a months after harvest.

Here is a nice short article mentioning DuBoeuf's contributions.

What a dinner! Review of J. Drouhin 2019 Beaujoais Nouveau, with duck ragout

Wow! Just finished a dinner party.

I cooked: Duck Ragout (Epicurious recipe), served over egg noodles.

I served: 2019 Joseph Drouhin Beaujolais Nouveau, from Winebow. We loved the 2018, so we happily bought the 2019 and were not disappointed. What a great wine! Enough acid to marry with the food; great cherry flavor; just a near-perfect wine. Astonished that it could be so good after just a few months from harvest. If you haven't had this at a B.Nouveau party, do it!

Later courses were baguettes with a Brittany Brie, and then Vosges Chocolates (OMG!)  from a wizardess in Chicago--highly recommend haute cuisine!--and then I made cocktails from Angeleno Amaro and Sprite and orange slices. What an evening! This is how you cement friendships.

Review of 93-point Castelli Martinozzi 2012 Brunello di Montalcino

I've been drinking and collecting fine wines for more than 40 years, and have been making wine for more than 25 years. Wine Spectator gave this wine 92 points in 2017, saying:

"Underbrush, scorched earth, dark spice and grilled herb aromas slowly take shape on this full-bodied red. The chewy, enveloping palate doles out mouthfuls of fleshy black cherry, juicy blackberry, ground pepper and clove while ripe tannins provide support. The lingering finish closes on a mocha note. Drink 2018–2026."

Wow. And we drank it tonight inside its drinking window. It was pretty bad.

It is NOT full-bodied. Way too thin. It has the right acid, but no fruit. Makes me wonder who spiked the bottle that Spectator tasted, because usually they are trustworthy.

This kind of evening makes one wonder if cellaring good wines for years, under proper conditions, is worthwhile. Seriously, you can buy $12 Sangios that deliver more fun than this (and this was $45). 

It takes no skill to overpay for wine. Any fool can do it. And we're all made fools when an expensive wine that's supposed to be good, isn't.

You can't trust all wine shops to carry wines that are all good

Total Wine is a huge retail chain of wine stores, with probably the largest variety of wines in my state.

I had a coupon for Total Wine, and used it to buy six different sparkling and Prosecco wines. Each one had a long, detailed tasting note sheet (a "shelf talker") praising the wine. Total Wine is so large that it has the resources to provide such (usually helpful) shelf talkers.

But, the first bottle was awful. A pour-out. A Prosecco, and too sweet for my taste, which I wouldn't blame Total Wine for, except their shelf talker didn't make any reference to the Prosecco's being a sweet one and it should have said so), and it was also poorly made and entirely disjointed. Very disappointing. It makes me wonder if Total Wine has a practice of over-hyping a doggy wine, in order to move it out the door. That is an unethical practice and they need to make sure they don't do it.

If you want a 100% honest wine retailer, join my email list and buy from me ;)  (photo credit: Shutterstock)