Dissing on Washington Sangiovese? The Goldilocks Syndrome

I want to believe. I want to believe in Washington Sangio. I love K Vintners' wines generally, but their Guido Sangiovese is too dark in flavor for me. And tonight, we suffered through a Five Star Sangio (and I love their wines), but this one sported flavors that were way, way too dark. The acidity was great but the flavors, instead of the proper cherry notes of an Italian Sangio, were deep into dark purple fruit territory. And the wine was a bit hot at over 14% alcohol. It just doesn't work with Italian fare. And yet, many Italian Sangios are so lean, so austere, that yes even with their cherry fruit that don't marry well with Italian food either. Who wants to bathe in burning acid?

What I think we need is a WA Sangio that is grown in a cooler spot and still has the red fruits we expect. Can any of you suggest one? Or we can drink Brunellos (and Rosso di Montalcinos), which are grown in the warmest part of Tuscany (from the Sangiovese "Grosso" clone), and at their best those are just right.

Small wineries are seeing a good increase in sales of their premium wines

This is encouraging news. Small wineries are seeing good growth in sales of their premium wines.

Epona Winery is certainly a small winery, and is also seeing good sales growth of the Epona brand. We sold out of 2016 Cayuga and 2016 Muscat Rose, but there are still some Blackberry Pourts (375ml), and we just bottled a GREAT and very unique wine that brings to mind lying on a sunny tropical beach: It has strong notes of toasted coconut, butterscotch, lime, and coconut oil (as in old-style suntan lotion). Wow! And soon to be bottled are the 2017 Muscat Rose and 2017 Cayuga. The 2016 Leon Millot (big red style) is resting, as it is so great after an extra year of aging.

Thanks, Friends, for your support!

Kenton
(pictured are Epona's Monastery Muscat grapes)

Robot leaves! Way cool!

My Engineering school (Vanderbilt) has developed a solar cell using "biohybrid" technology--blackberry juice and spinach leaves! It's like robotic leaves--making artificial photosynthesis. Pretty cool. Here's the story.

Growth in wine demand is slowing as Boomers age:

Silicon Valley Bank released its State of Wine Industry report. Highlights:

1. Growth in "premium" wines (wines costing more than $10--that shows you how far up in the wine price curve you are!) is slowing dramatically, probably due to the movement of Boomers away from wines (as they develop age-related health issues, and/or die), and the relatively higher support among Millennials for hard liquor, with less demand for wine. Also, many Boomers who still drink a lot of wine are transitioning to slightly less-expensive wines, as they begin to adjust to a retired life on a fixed income.

2. Ultra-high-priced wines will have difficulty raising prices.

3. Most wine consumers are still moving up in the price curve, but this is predominantly moving up out of the $4-$7 price range, to prices barely higher than that.

Here's the article.

(photo credit to google.com; pictured are some hyper-expensive wines)

On The Myth and Mystique of Terroir

On the Myth and Mystique of Terroir: 

"Terroir" has meaning, but not the one claimed by many higher-priced wineries. There, it is more of a false marketing concept than anything else. The idea that minor differences in soil, light, wind, rain, and drainage (in short, your "terroir") make your grapes and wine fundamentally different from the grapes and wine made just across the road, is far more fancy than reality. My clay at Epona Vineyard in SW WA is sixty miles from the vineyards in the Willamette Valley, and yet it is pretty much the same clay that's at Ken Wright, or Beaux Freres, or at any other vineyard in the Willamette Valley. Sure, their clay may have more or less Manganese than mine, or mine might have more or less Magnesium, but the differences aren't enough to make our grapes taste significantly different from each other. And you can give names to the different clays in this area, such as Jory, or Willakenzie, but it's clay! And the fact that the Missoula Floods deposited some boulders from Canada ("erratics") throughout NW OR and SW WA, is very cool to study, but doesn't do much to differentiate vineyard soils in this area. The soil in SW WA is generally the same as the soil in NW OR--it's just that a giant river cuts through the middle of it, creating a boundary that we incorrectly assume means differences in the dirt on both sides. 

There can be huge differences in the wines from vineyards that are adjacent or a few hundred yards away, but that is not due to terroir; it is due to different winemakers' skill levels and practices, and different harvest timing, and a thousand other such variables.   You can call that "terroir" if you like. But it's not. If you listen to the higher-priced wineries, you would think their site is so special that you can hear angels singing there. Um, no. 

 And yet, it is true that the same grape will taste different across the world. if you want to see the differences that sites can make, in a grape, consider Sauvignon Blanc: In New Zealand it's got great (really great) lime notes, with a bit of a crushed oyster shell note. In France, it is minerality that drives, with more-subdued fruit notes. In the western US, it is less mineral and has stronger fruit notes, and it can be more grassy than lime-y.  But those are gross regional differences. And they're not always present. Most wine lovers probably couldn't pick out which Cabernet Sauvignon or which Chardonnay was from Napa, or from South Africa, or from Chile.

So my advice is to think of "terroir" as a useful term, only when talking about the soil and sun and water IN A REGION, but don't fall victim to the marketing hocus-pocus that claims "our terroir is unique and better than our neighbors'." Just about everyone in these parts has good soil and great grapegrowing conditions. Yes, at a microscopic level there are differences in the terroir of each adjacent site, but the skill level of the winemaker, and a thousand other factors, are far more important than those tiny differences in terroir.

Super-early grape budbreak in southern California

Ojai usually sees budbreak in early March. Their Viognier broke out on Jan 31! What a warm winter we've had, up in SW WA also. The article is here.

2010 Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino

Awful bottle. Little fruit evident. Predominant flavor is licorice; yuck. And it is far too hot at 15%; this isn't a port, people. When I consider the cost of this Brunello ($90 retail), it's a disaster compared to other Brunellos. Notice that only J. Suckling gave it a really good score; the other pros did not. Stay away! There are many better Brunellos out there, for less money. What a disappointment.

A fine Brunello should sing like an angel. Wow, but this is awful.