Wine

It’s a wine made by Michel Chapoutier and the Laughton’s of Jasper Hill. It’s a blend of 60 percent carignan (the maximum allowed in the reds of the region) and equal parts grenache and syrah. I tasted it as the only non-Australian wine in a session consisting of perhaps 40 Australian wines, a situation that [...]

Single vineyard wine. Talc-like fine, light soils. This release was picked the morning after a severe hailstorm, which saw 80% of the crop ruined. The remaining grapes were hand-picked and more importantly, hand-selected – then rushed to the winery to get them away from the damaged grapes as promptly as possible. It spent on extended [...]

I tasted this current-release Craiglee Chardonnay alongside a couple from the museum – namely the 2005 and 1996 releases. The 1996 – as a 17 year old, sealed under cork – was thoroughly gorgeous. Craiglee chardonnay has a proven and repeated history of “not falling over”. It’s barrel fermented but it isn’t allowed to go [...]

Craiglee is a revered name among lovers of cool climate Australian shiraz, and rightly so.

Our last post was about an outstanding cabernet sauvignon, so let’s check out another. This one, from BenMarco, comes from the Mendoza region in Argentina. Every time I taste a wine from Argentina I ponder whether to call it “Argentine” or “Argentinian.”  It turns out both are acceptable.  Argentinian tends to be used more by Europeans, which of course makes it fancier.  And while I appreciate European culture, I’m all about concision. Argentine has two fewer syllables and therefore it gets my vote.  I’ve also heard somewhere that the correct usage would be Argentine wine, made by Argentinians. But we’re not here to debate nuances of language, we’re here to taste wine.  And this is a really good one. The nose of this wine is just lovely, with powerful vanilla, dusty blackberry and black currant aromatics.  It’s quite good on the palate too, offering well-concentrated blackberry, cherry, plum and currant flavors that are harmoniously balanced.  The acidity is great too, giving the wine a vibrant liveliness.  Soft tannins add a slight texture to the mouthfeel.  This is a very tasty and extremely drinkable cabernet. Wine: BenMarco Cabernet Sauvignon Variety: 90% cabernet sauvignon, 5% cabernet franc, 5% merlot Vintage: 2010 Alcohol: 14% Rating: 90 Price: $20.00 Find BenMarco Cabernet Sauvignon with Snooth Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Paul Mitchell Bonarrigo (Photo from Messina Hof Winery) News: Paul Mitchell Bonarrigo Receives UC Davis Winemaking Certificate The credentials and winemaking accolades of Paul Mitchell Bonarrigo, son of Paul V. and Merrill Bonarrigo and heir-apparent at Messina Hof Winery, continue to grow. As reported in a recent Messina Hof Winery Newsletter, Paul Mitchell has just received a Winemaking Certificate from the University of California, Davis extension program. Paul began apprenticing under his father, Paul V. Bonarrigo, as a child and teenager, and he grew up working in all of the areas of the winery. For the past three years, Paul V. and Paul M. have been collaborating on winemaking duties here at Messina Hof all while Paul M. and their knowledge and expertise have grown that much stronger. An example of their combined winemaking ability is the recently awarded Messina Hof (Texas Appellation) Tribute to Heritage, Father and Son Cuvee, Naturally Sweet, Riesling 2012. This wine garnered a gold medal in the 2013 Dallas Morning News – Texsom Wine Competition (click here for more information) The wines of Messina Hof appear to be in good hands now and for a long time into the future! Congrats to Paul Mitchell.

Today, we’d like to remind you of two things– one is a law that will affect our friends in Sonoma County this year, and the other is a cordial invitation to an industry event in the area on May 30th! Sonoma County has seen great growth over the past few years, especially in 2012. According to our latest direct shipping report, created in conjunction with Wines & Vines, we have seen sales through direct shipping out of the area rise over 10% in the past year alone. Several regional organizations have taken note of this growth, and helped pass legislation in August of 2010 to ensure that Sonoma-based wines are properly branded and marketed. Sponsored by the Sonoma County Vintners and the Sonoma County Winegrape Commision, AB 1798 requires that any wine from an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Sonoma County must also include the words “Sonoma County” on its bottle labels. Though the legislation was passed three years ago, very little action has been required by vintners—until now. The state of California will begin enforcing this new requirement on January 1st, 2014. The possible punishment of neglecting this new rule is the revocation of one’s winery license. This marks the fourth kind of law, called “conjunctive labeling,” enacted in the Golden State. Napa Valley, Lodi, and Paso Robles have had this type of requirement enacted in the past. The rationale is twofold: According to the sponsor organizations’ market research, Sonoma County’s brand recognition is much greater than most of the individual AVA’s that make their home in Sonoma County A voluntary program to place “Sonoma County” on the region’s wine labels resulted in a 20% participation, and sponsors of the bill want to increase those numbers significantly. There is a counter-argument to this new initiative, however. Wineries have been using more detailed AVA information to better market their region, such as “Russian River Valley” and “Dry Creek Valley.” Adding Sonoma County to the label is seen by some as diluting the brand. Regardless, the legislation has long since passed. While this may have been on your radar when it was first enacted, we wanted to remind you that this would be a good time to make sure your upcoming COLA submissions to the TTB are properly ready to go. More detail on label requirements can be found at : http://www.sonomawine.com/about-sonoma-county/conjunctive-labeling As for that invitation…ShipCompliant is pleased to participate in the eWinery Solutions “State of the Industry” seminar at Sonoma State University on May 30th. We’ll be digging deeper into our recent direct shipping data, and talk about ways to use this data to your advantage! Click here to sign up!

May Showers (of Wine) Bring Happy Hours"Maison de Monaco", of course, translates to "House of Oh My God That's Delicious".It's such a lovely time of year - but not so lovely that it couldn't be made a little lovelier. Tip a glass or few of these fine wines and let their euphoric glow bring a sparkling sense of well-being to sunny and blustery days alike. Also they're super-cheap.

The latest installment of the ongoing Italian Grape Name and Appellation Pronunciation Project. One of the greatest lacunae of the Italian Grape Name and Appellation Pronunciation Project has been the appellation name Rufina, pronounced ROO-fee-nah, with stress on the first syllable. It’s a tough one for non-Italophones in part because they are accustomed to the stress falling the penultimate (as opposed to antepenultimate) syllable of most Italian words. But it’s also challenging because many confuse it with the Chianti Classico producer Ruffino (roof-FEE-noh). While there are a handful of Chianti Classico producers that I follow and collect, I believe that the greatest Chianti comes from the village of Rufina, where higher altitudes make for greater acidity and freshness in the wines. If you ever get a chance to visit the village, you’ll see how your ears pop as you drive up the winding road that leads to its center. At this year’s Vinitaly, I asked Federico Giuntini A. Masseti, a Rufina native and managing director at one of my all-time favorite producers, Selvapiana, to pronounce Rufina for my camera. Check out this excellent profile of the winery from the Dalla Terra website. And please click here to view my thread of posts devoted to this special winery, one of Italy’s gifts to the world.

When the decision was made to hold the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference in Canada, a unique opportunity presented itself, and that was to feature only wines of British Columbia during the Live Wine Blogging sessions of the conference. Thanks to a lot of coordination and support from the Wines of British Columbia, this opportunity is becoming a reality, and attendees of the conference will have a chance to taste a selection from 30 different B.C. wines during each Live Wine Blogging session! There are 5 main wine growing regions within British Columbia: Okanagan Valley, Similkameen Valley, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, and the Gulf Islands. Over 60 varietals are planted on more than 9,800 acres of land across the Province, and of the 214 total grape wine wineries licensed in British Columbia, 132 of them are members of the BCWI representing 95% of wines sold. The Wines of British Columbia website is a fantastic resources for anyone looking to learn about the regions, the varietals, planning a trip to the area, and exploring what B.C. wines are all about. The site is beautiful and expertly put together and organized. Here are some quick facts from the website based on the five main regions: Okanagan Valley 121 Licensed Wineries Top Varietals Planted: Merlot, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay 1931: 1st winery opened 8060 acres planted Similkameen Valley 12 Licensed Wineries Top Varietals Planted: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay 1984: 1st winery opened 691 acres planted Fraser Valley 22 Licensed Wineries Top Varietals Planted: Blattner Reds/Hybrids, Blattner Whites/Hybrids, Pinot Noir, Bacchus 1991: 1st Winery opened 63 acres planted Vancouver Island 35 Licensed Wineries Top Varietals Planted: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Ortega, Maréchal Foch 1992: 1st Winery opened 432 Acres Planted Gulf Islands 9 Licensed Wineries Top Varietals Planted: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Ortega, Maréchal Foch 1995: 1st Winery opened 115 acres planted As you can see, the Okanagan Valley dominates production of wine out of B.C., and representation during the Live Wine Blogging sessions will reflect these demographics. To see a list of each participating winery during Live Wine Blogging, visit our Sponsor Page or download this PDF. If you are familiar with Live Wine Blogging, you know things move fast. In one short hour, you’ll get a one-on-one introduction from a select number of B.C. wineries and their wines. It is an excellent way for bloggers to get personal introductions from wineries and for wineries to make small-group presentations to bloggers. To best prepare, we recommend spending some time ahead of the LWB sessions on the Wines of British Columbia website learning about the regions and individual wineries, engaging with wineries ahead of time (especially ones that you have a specific interest in), and coming with charged devices and a cleansed palate! To make things easy, here are two Twitter Lists for you to one-click follow to keep track of all participating wineries: LWB White Wine Session LWB Red Wine Session The post Wines of British Columbia to Host Live Wine Blogging appeared first on Wine Bloggers Conference.