I wrote this:

Wines, much like people, are continuing expressions of the climate in which they were raised.

[photo credit: 123RF ]

We're Number One!

The U.S., that is.

And I'm not talking about our public debt.

We're #1 in wine consumption. Other countries drink more wine per capita, but we drink the most by total volume consumed. Americans consumer 13% of global wine consumption now. Foreign wines make up 35% of all sales here.

Read the article here.

[photo credit: archive.citycaucus.com ]

Why are some winegrapes blue, yet the wines are purple or red?

I couldn't have answered this for you, but Mr. Alex Fullerton, a winemaker and friend, came to the rescue. I quote him:

Anthocyanins (the main pigment in red wine, red cabbage, blueberries, and many other things) are responsible for both the blue color in the grapes' skins and the purple color of the wine. Anthocyanins have a double bond that is formed at one of two different locations of the molecule depending on which location is more favorable, resulting in the molecule having two very different shapes it can take. In high pH it is more favorable for most of the molecules to twist one way resulting in blue hues, while in low pH it is more favorable for most of the molecules to twist the other way resulting in red/pink hues. The skins on the Monastrell grapes are very alkaline resulting in the blue color while the wine is more acidic (but not extremely acidic, maybe around pH 3.8) causing a purple color (roughly half of the pigment is blue and the other half is red, red + blue = purple). A very acidic Burgundy on the other hand with pH under 3.5 will appear very red.

And, from Wiki:

Anthocyanins (from the Greek words for "flower" and "blue") can appear red, purple, or blue, depending upon the pH. In flowers and fruits, anthocyanins make the color red, blue, or purple, in order to attract pollinating insects (in the case of flowers) or predators (in the case of fruits, which need predators to eat and then disperse the seeds in the fruit).


There is nothing cooler than science.

[Photo attribution: Shutterstock.com]

Washington wine vs California wine

Summarizing from a very interesting article:

California grows about TWENTY TIMES more tons of grapes than Washington. (And yet, WA is #2 behind CA! so no other state comes even as pathetically un-close as does WA to CA.) But Washington's harvested grape prices are more than California's. That is because CA makes so much cheap (jug) wine. When we compare just Napa or Sonoma to WA, it's very interesting:  The tonnage for all of WA is about the same as for either Napa or Sonoma. But the price per harvested ton in WA is only 28% (!) of the price in Napa! This is because of Napa's stratospheric land prices, and its premium prices for top brand names.

Given all the great scores for so many WA wines, you can see why I believe that WA is making great quality wines for the cost. For the most part, CA just can't compete on QPR (quality price ratio). Many of your wine dollars need to be going towards Washington wines!

Washington Grapes

For the first time, in 2012 Washington State saw more red grapes picked than white.

The big four Washington wine grapes are:

1. Chardonnay (36,900 tons)
2. Riesling (36,700 tons)
3. Cabernet Sauvignon (35,900 tons)
4. Merlot (34,600 tons)

Nothing else comes close to those in WA, although there are enough other reds grown there (Syrah, Malbec, Cab Franc, etc.) that overall the reds edged out the whites for the first time.

Tales of three vintages, no, four

This is taken from a great article by Andy Perdue, in Wine Press NW, about the climate for recent Washington and Oregon vintages. You can read that article here.

Washington State has seen three very challenging years in a row, for the first time since the 1970s. This wouldn't be unusual for the Willamette Valley, but in the desert of WA, the climate is consistently hot and dry for winegrapes, right? Not always.

2009: A great vintage for some WA plots, but an early freeze put an end to additional ripening at many vineyards. In Oregon, a very good year, following the great year of 2008.

2010: Springtime in the Evergreen State was cold, so buds broke late and the grapes stayed behind schedule all summer. Harvest ran late, which brings special issues to manage, but it was a happy ending with a record crop. Or so we thought, until a hard freeze before Thanksgiving decimated many vineyards which hadn't time to harden off for winter. (Let's face it, folks--vinifera vines are wussies compared to native American vines). The famed Horse Heaven Hills got it particularly hard. At Champoux Vineyard--where Quilceda Creek sourced some of its cabs--whole blocks of vines died.

In Oregon, it was a plague of starving birds which hit the vineyards during preharvest in 2010. The cold summer weather prevented the normal development of the quadrillions of blackberry vines upon which the birds had become so dependent. Over 20% of Oregon's grape crop was lost, and in some vineyards it was much, much higher than that.

2011:  This vintage was worse than 2010, with an even colder Spring and later harvest.

(that incredible photo of a staggered boxer is copyrighted by Reuters)

But as we've seen so often in the past decade, WA and OR winemakers are really getting a handle on how to cope with weird weather. Wet years in the Willamette can still produce good Pinots, for example, and Oregon's whites from the cold years of '10 and '11 can be superb (some say the 2010 Pinots are, too). The application of science, in the field and the winery, can undo some of Nature's damage in the field. Washington's wines from those three trying years were still quite good, as evidenced by their professional scores.

So as 2012 approached there was not a little trepidation. And Spring was cool, with budding a bit late. But summer was grand, with heat units off the charts (OK, much higher than average) for the Willamette and a great growing season was had in both states. Record harvests strained all available tankspace. Too early to know for sure, but it appears 2012 will produce many great wines in the Pac NW.

Wieer? Bwine?

How could this not happen? Beer-wine hybrids are growing rapidly.

I think these are all instances of adding grape juice to the must before making beer. Chardonnay is a popular adder.

This might help alleviate the overplantings of grapes in some areas. It might introduce more-complex flavors than merely making beer with water.

Read about it here.

And here are Blue Moon's wine-beer hybrids:

These are: Proximity, "wheat ale brewed with the juice of Sauvignon Blanc grapes," and Impulse, "wheat ale brewed with the juice of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes."