Category Archives: Wine Culture

Is the Decline of California as a Wine Region Upon Us?

18 Monday Sep 2017

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desert wineJon Bonné takes to the pages of Punch to lament the passing of the current generation of California winemakers and sees little hope for the future. Using the occasion of the increasingly corporate Duckhorn’s purchase of the storied Calera Winery, he writes:

While the financial motives all make sense, it felt like a final signpost for an important generation of pioneers, much like last year’s retirement of Ridge’s Paul Draper. And it resurfaced an uncertainty that I’ve been feeling for a while: that the initial rush of energy that defined the New California has passed. For the first time in a long time, I’m struggling to see how California wine’s next chapter will take shape.

The great California winemaking pioneers are reaching retirement age and their kids are often interested in other pursuits. The only thing that financially makes sense is to sell to Big Wine. But while you might expect these retirements to create room for new talent to emerge, Bonné isn’t seeing it. The problem of course is land prices.

This brings us, inevitably, to the most complicated of topics in California wine: owning land, which is also the most important, in that any generation of winemakers ultimately needs to control their own vines if they want to do their greatest work. In California, that dream is probably farther out of reach than ever—not only in Napa, where top vineyards are now approaching $400,000 per acre, but also in places like Mendocino’s Anderson Valley, and even in Lodi, where the ratio of land value to wine prices isn’t that appealing. (“The land values here are so disheartening,” Petroski continues. “It sucks the soul out of you as a young winemaker.”)

Young winemakers can’t afford to set up shop. Only the mega-rich looking for a new toy can buy in, and that isn’t always a prescription for good wine or innovative approaches.

Bonné sees little to cheer about, but the solution it seems to me is obvious. Go north, go south, go east. There is absolutely no reason to think we’ve already discovered the best locations to grow wine grapes. Emerging regions such as Southern Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, even the Midwest have cheap land and developing wine cultures. With climate change already transforming traditional grape-growing regions, and the burgeoning ability to breed new grape varietals or clone existing varietals adapted to local conditions, we should probably give up our fixed ideas about what grows where.

What these new wine regions need is talent and experience which the California refugees can supply.

So leave California to the dilettantes and the survivors who already have a stake. If you’re a young winemaker desert and prairie wine might be in your future.

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Smoke Gets in Your Wine

14 Thursday Sep 2017

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fires in oregonWine is interesting in part because grapes are like sponges soaking up the influence of the local soils and weather conditions that shape the flavors in the finished product. But that can have a down side. Smoke from the unusually persistent fires in the west threatens to damage the grape crop in Washington, Oregon and parts of California. Not only does smoke block the sun thus preventing grapes from ripening properly; it also permeates the grape causing what is known as “smoke taint”—an ashy aroma that when too prominent can be unpleasant.

Dealing with smoke taint is difficult because it often doesn’t emerge until well into the winemaking process and to my knowledge there is no foolproof way of getting rid of it. I’ve been in the Midwest for several weeks far from the activity surrounding harvest on the West coast. But from what I hear, attempts to deal with smoke taint will dominate the conversation about the 2017 vintage.

And get ready for a slew of wines that will remind you of barbecue—after the fire is out.

The Cold Hardy Grapes from Minnesota

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

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minnesota-1This year I’ve taken the plunge, a deep dive into non-vinifera grape varieties. The wines we are all familiar with—Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay—almost every wine you find on the shelf in the supermarket or wine shop are made from the grape species vitis vinifera. This is the grape that grows well between the 50 degree and 30 degree latitudes and accounts for most of the global wine trade. The reason vitis vinifera is hard to find outside those coordinates is because winters are too cold, or summers are too hot, or the climate is too humid to produce healthy grapes. Frigid winters are especially damaging to vinifera which will not survive in extended sub-zero temperatures. Sustained hard freezes rupture cells in the roots and trunk leaking fluid and causing the plant to die.

But people who live outside those coordinates or who live in regions that experience exceptionally cold winters would like to make grape wine as well—it seems everyone wants in on the act. And so for many years researchers, both amateur and professional, have been searching for new cultivars that can survive the harsh winters of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other states in the Upper Midwest and Northeast.

The History

Two names have been essential to the development of grape cultivars that will survive in the cold: Elmer Swenson and the University of Minnesota.

Inspired by an early grape breeder, a Texan by the name of T.V. Munsun, Elmer Swenson began experimenting with grape varieties in 1943on his family’s Wisconsin dairy farm by crossing French hybrid grapes with the local species called vitis riparia. Vitis riparia would survive the cold winters but made bad wine. By crossing the hardy riparia vines with French species known for their capacity to make drinkable wine, Swenson hoped to be able to produce reliable, high-quality fruit. In addition to the breeding program on his own farm, Swenson began caring for the fruit crops at the University of Minnesota where he was able to use their facilities to conduct his research.  His work at the University resulted in two hybrids, Edelweiss and Swenson Red, both of which he jointly released with the University. Other hybrids were independently released; Swenson was generous with his cuttings giving them to almost anyone who asked. Here’s a list of the Swenson varietals.

Swenson died in 2004 but The University of Minnesota has remained at the forefront of this search for cold-hardy varietals. Prior to 1978, the university’s program was largely dependent on Swenson’s efforts. But in 1978 they formally launched their wine-grape breeding program with a state-of-the-art enology lab coming online in 2000. Their 12 acres of vineyards are planted with about 12,000 vines with various genetic characteristics, the product of which will go through rigorous testing to discover how they will perform in the field. It takes about 15 years to bring a new variety to the market.

The Grapes

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Frontenac Gris

Thus far, this breeding program has produced these 5 varietals that can be found on tasting menus throughout the Midwest, Northeast, and Canada:

Frontenac was introduced in 1996, a hybrid of V. Riparia and an obscure French hybrid called Landot 4511. This vine survives temperatures as low as –33 degrees, produces good yields and is largely disease resistant. The University of Minnesota might not welcome my assessment, but Frontenac makes a dreadful red dry wine. It’s acidity is off the charts and should you venture to imbibe, your mouth will feel like a battleground featuring sour cherry and lemon. Talk to winemakers about Frontenac and you will get a discourse on acid-reducing techniques. But with added sugar the wine achieves some balance and it makes an truly outstanding port-style dessert wine. Hint: If you want wine lovers to leave your tasting room impressed, don’t serve dry, red Frontenac. (Although see my review of Alexis Bailey below)

Frontenac Gris was introduced in 2003. This varietal started out as a mutation of Frontenac, producing gray fruit (hence the name gris, which means gray in French) which creates a light amber-colored wine. It has all the good-making qualities of Frontenac but also happens to make a really flavorful wine with explosive tropical and peach aromas. The high acidity is a virtue creating a powerful, long, refreshing finish. This is not a subtle wine but its rich flavors and aromas make this a promising grape.

La Crescent, introduced in 2002, is probably the most popular of the cold hardy white grapes. A hybrid of two Swenson varietals (which were themselves hybrids), this is a hardy grape which produces an intensely aromatic wine reminiscent of Gewurztraminer or Riesling. It shows peach, citrus, and some tropical fruit aromas. It is usually made with some residual sugar to balance the acidity giving the wine a fleshy, medium body. I’ve found these wines to be generally interesting and refreshing.

Marquette is the most recent addition having been introduced in 2006. This is a complex hybrid from many species some of which are related to Frontenac and Pinot Noir. Wine growers love this grape because it’s easy to handle and produces great yields. Winemakers like it because of its high sugar and relatively low acidity. It has bright cherry flavors, black pepper, and spice notes and handles oak reasonably well. I wouldn’t call it a “big red” but it has some weight to it and achieves elegance when handled properly. I get the impression winemakers are still experimenting with this grape but the results are promising.

Frontenac Blanc is a mutation of Frontenac and Frontenac Gris. (This Frontenac family seems to be as genetically unstable as Pinot Noir). It has a peach and citrus nose with a dry, crisp finish. I found this wine to be austere when fermented dry but refreshing and a wine that will pair well with seafood.

The latest release from Minnesota is Itasca. Since 2017 is the first year it has been released to vineyards, I haven’t tasted wines made from it yet.

Wine made from Swenson and University of Minnesota varietals are not the only  wines found in Minnesota. Some of the French hybrids such as Marechal Foch and Leon Millot are moderately cold hardy and play a prominent role on tasting menus.

The Wineries

Our stay in Minnesota was brief and we had time to visit only 5 wineries in the Minneapolis area, two of which deserve mention.

Alexis Bailey Vineyard

Alexis Bailey’s family planted the first vineyard in Minnesota in 1973 and were the first to produce wines made of 100% Minnesota grapes. Their strategy today is to guarantee that in each wine 51% of the grapes are Minnesota grown. They create many interesting blends using California, New York, and Minnesota grapes but their 100% Minnesota wines, which were our focus, were also outstanding. I noted above that Frontenac seldom makes a good dry red. But this one actually had some finesse despite the high acidity, showing an attractive lifted midpalate and some grain on the tannins to stand up to the acidity. Their Voyager, a blend of Marachal Foch, Leon Millot, and Frontenac had prominent berry and vanilla notes, a soft, round midpalate and an electric finish with refined tannins. With 1 year in New American oak, this is the best wine we tasted in Minnesota. Their hybrids survive the winter because they lay the vines down on the frozen turf and cover them with straw to preserve heat.

Winehaven Winery and Vineyard

Winehaven was founded in 1995 but the Peterson family has been growing fruit for 4 generations. Winehaven occupies a favorable microclimate on a hillside surrounded by three lakes keeping some heat in the vineyard. They can actually grow Riesling here although it’s risky and takes lots of care. I was especially impressed with their Frontenac Gris and La Crescent—each with explosive aromas and a richly textured mouthfeel. Among the reds, the Marquette Reserve was intense and complex, full bodied yet refined. But the show stopper was a grape unique to Winehaven. Called Nokomis, it was developed and patented by the Petersons. The black cherry, spice and elegant medium body was reminiscent of Pinot Noir—very well made Pinot Noir. I certainly want to find out more about this grape and watch it’s development.

With the resources of the University pumping out new varietals adapted to the climate here, Minnesota is edging its way onto the wine map although it will take years to figure out the best methods of growing grapes and making wine from these varietals. As of now, quality is spotty but these two wineries give us a glimpse of what is possible.

Can Wine Writing Avoid Fruits and Flowers?

07 Thursday Sep 2017

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friut descriptorsJay McInerney, author of novels such as Bright Lights, Big City, is also a wine writer, with a current gig at Town and Country Magazine. In an Eater interview, part of which Eater’s editors helpfully paraphrased, McInerney gets to the heart of something I’ve thought about quite a bit.

Being relatable is key to making a wine column interesting, according to McInerney. Wine writing often falls into two traps: describing the technical — focusing on malolactic fermentation and the like — or describing the horticultural. “It was all about wine smelling like certain flowers, and I knew nothing about horticulture,” McInerney says of the wine writing that inspired him to do better. “I thought it was more instructive to compare wine to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ or a Ferrari than to a certain kind of rose or gardenia.”

McInerney’s experience as a novelist also helps in this respect: “One of the best ways to describe the aesthetic experience of wine is with metaphors and similes,” he adds.

I think this is exactly right. Since the 1980’s when the UC Davis oenology department went all in on finding allegedly objective descriptions for wine via Anne Noble’s aroma wheel, wine writing has been preoccupied with accuracy. Wines are to be described using only descriptors that can be plausibly traced back to chemical compounds in the wine that cause us to smell blackberry, vanilla or earth. That’s all well and good—wine does exhibit aromas best described as resembling other edible or aromatic plants.

But we don’t drink wine to smell blackberries just as we don’t view paintings to experience a shade of blue. A wine leaves an overall aesthetic impression, it evokes feelings, moves us, stimulates the imagination, invokes memories, even makes us think. And different wines have different ways of doing so. If wine writing is to reach a higher level it must capture a broader aesthetic experience.

For me, and apparently for McInerney, music helps capture this broader aesthetic experience that wine makes possible.

The problem is that we, not just wine writers but our audience, get set in our ways and resist change. But more importantly, we are afraid that if metaphor, musical or otherwise, becomes a prominent means of communication we will stumble into a sea of subjectivity losing our grip on the goal of accuracy that the technicians have persuaded us to strive for.

We pay lip service to the idea of wine as bottled poetry but can’t escape the idea of wine as bottled chemistry.

Chemistry is important but if it throttles experience what has been gained?

Give It Up Guys

31 Thursday Aug 2017

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female winemakerThere is a mountain of evidence suggesting that women have a better sense of smell than men. Julie Case takes us through a summary of the data.

Then, in the 1980s, Richard L. Doty, a professor of otorhinolaryngology and the director of the Smell and Taste Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and a team of researchers designed the Smell Identification Test, which asks subjects to identify 40 odors. When the test was later used in a study on sex differences and the ability to identify odors—the results were published in 1985 in the journal Neuropsychologia—women consistently outperformed men. The test has since been commercialized and used in a myriad of ways, including the study of air pollution and olfactory dysfunction and the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Beyond merely identifying odors, however, Doty says women also seem to perform better than men in detecting odors at the lowest levels of concentration, and in tests of odor discrimination and memory. In the late ’90s, a research study used MRIs to examine the volume of the brain activated when men and women were subjected to olfactory stimulants The MRI activation maps for the women’s group showed up to eight times more activated voxels (by analogy with “pixels,” “voxels” are an element of three-dimensional space) than the men’s group in specific regions of the brain.

And so on. More studies leading to the same conclusion. But then at the end of this informative article she does what women too often do when male egos are at stake—she defers:

Does having more neurons and glial cells, and being better at detecting aromas, make one a superior winemaker or somm? Not necessarily. For some, all of the extra details and minute aromas are distractions.

Well yes but you can learn to manage the distractions. If you lack the ability to detect aromas there is nothing you can do. Is it better to have lots of money that must be managed or too little money with no recourse?

Unfortunately, we get more of the same lame excuses’:

Just as the fastest person in the world doesn’t make the best soccer player, or the strongest person in the world doesn’t make the best wrestler, [wine] tasting is so much more than just being able to taste the compounds,” says Rob Ord, prestige manager for Treasury Wine Estates in California and a former diploma instructor for the International Sommelier Guild. “It’s being able to put everything together in the puzzle.

Right. But is there any evidence that women are less adept at puzzle-solving?

Moreover, says Ord, it’s impossible to be able to smell something—or at least to identify a smell—unless it’s been described, defined, or imprinted in memory with a label attached. “It’s very difficult,” he says, “to be able to pick out those compounds and say, ‘Oh yeah, this smells like peach,’ unless you’ve actually spent time smelling peach and really defining that in your palate.” Even people with the most sensitive olfactory bulbs won’t be able to break down an incredibly aromatic wine if they can’t name or define what they’re smelling.

So is there evidence that woman lack the discipline to practice labeling smells? Of course not.

Obviously, a good sense of smell is not sufficient to make you a good winemaker or somm but without it you’re at a real disadvantage.

Give it up guys—they’re probably better than we are at the most important skill in the wine business.

Missoula, Montana: Meat, Mead and Mountain Wine

28 Monday Aug 2017

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The vineyards at Ten Spoon Vineyard and Winery

Can they grow wine grapes in Montana? There are some hardy souls who try. Excessive cold, meaning sustained temperatures below –10 degrees, will damage the wood on all vitis vinifera varietals, the species of grape that includes the familiar varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. For some varietals such as Merlot or Syrah 5 degrees above zero is risky territory. There are a few growers who persist with vinifera in Montana’s unforgiving winter climate but the consensus is it’s a losing proposition. So most growers are planting the cold hardy grapes—French-American hybrids and native varietals that are bred to survive deep freezes. Most wine drinkers have never heard of these grapes; many probably never will. The quality level of wines made from these grapes is, shall we say, improving. But you have to go to war with the grapes you have, and the allure of winemaking is so strong, many are willing to endure years when severe crop losses effect even the cold-hardy varietals.

Andy Sponseller, co-owner of Ten Spoon Winery in Missoula, went so far as to bring in helicopters twice in one season to blow frost off his vineyards, an expensive proposition for a marginal business. He started growing Pinot Noir in 2003 but has since abandoned it using fruit from Oregon to satisfy Pinot lovers and planting the cold hardy grapes for those seeking local flavors. It was actually cherry wine that got Andy and his wife Connie through the lean years; now since 2014 he is showing a profit making a satisfying St. Pepin (a aromatic white wine with a plump palate) and a field blend of 5 cold-hardy grapes called Range Rider that features a big, spicy nose and full body. And that Flathead Cherry wine? It’s delicious. Making wine in Montana is not for the feint of heart but with the right grapes and some non-grape wine to fill in the gaps it can be done successfully.

Ken Schultz of Hidden Legend Winery had a different solution. He was an amateur winemaker when he moved to Montana from Ohio in 1979, long before the more recently developed cold hardy grapes were available. But one thing Montana has in abundance—bees. And so Ken started to make honey wine, aka mead. You might think mead would be sweet and heavy, like honey. But not in the hands of a master mead maker. After all, mead is wine, you can ferment it dry where it becomes light and refreshing, age it in oak so it picks up caramel and coffee notes, ferment it with elderberry or chokecherry to add complexity, add carbonation for sparkling mead, or blend it with maple syrup which can be warmed and served for breakfast. He makes a line of traditional, i.e. sweeter, meads from clover honey and a line of contemporary meads, lighter and drier, from wildflower honey.

Like wine grapes, mead’s flavor will depend on local characteristics, not the soil obviously, but the type of flower that the bees are pollinating. I lack the experience with mead that would enable me to distinguish Missoula mead from any other, but tasting through Hidden Legend’s lineup was eye-opening with regard to the savory complexity and multiple expressions of this ancient beverage.

Ken has not forsaken grape wine. He makes several Montana-grown, cold hardy varietals such as a scintillating St. Pepin, as well as Marquette and Marechal Foch. But the most surprising taste sensation was his crisp, light-bodied dandelion wine showing delicate herbal notes.  In a blind tasting I probably would have guessed Pinot Grigio.

There are only a handful of wineries in Montana but their definition of “wine” is as expansive as their Big Sky.

What does grow well in Montana is bison, elk and other game, which can often be found on local menus. Buffalo burgers have become a staple of some menus in the U.S. But what you’re actually eating is bison.  Buffalo as in “water buffalo” or “African buffalo” are native to Africa and Asia and are part of the same bovine subfamily as bison but are a different species. Early explorers in America called bison “buffalo” because of their resemblance and the name stuck.

Although “buffalo burgers” are reasonably common, I seldom see bison steaks on menus but in Montana it’s relatively easy to find. I found a bison tenderloin at The Red Bird, Missoula’s fine dining restaurant.   It’s leaner than beef with a milder flavor and a dense, yet delicate texture, but the accompanying shell filled with molten roquefort cheese to be lavished over the tenderloin was a bit much conquering the subtleties of the meat.

Another dish that Montana can claim as its own are elk meatballs, especially when served with a sauce made of huckleberries, a fruit grown in abundance here. Blue Canyon’s elk meatballs were slightly gamy, reminding me of ground lamb, but with a softly crumby texture like good sausage. The huckleberry sauce was perfectly balanced, slightly tangy with bright berry flavor.

montana-1And finally, Montana’s traditional comfort food is a dish they share with the rest of the upper midwest—a meat pie called a pasty (rhymes with nasty, although it’s not). Legend has it that pasties came to the U.S. via Cornish immigrant miners who needed a portable, hand-held lunch. They consist of cubed or ground beef, potatoes, and sometimes onion (in Wisconsin they add rutabaga) wrapped in a shortcrust and baked. Montanans, at least at Lisa’s Pastry Pantry, serve them with brown gravy. I’m sure if you grew up eating pasties it’s the bee’s knees but I find them a bit dry and uninteresting, a good vehicle for gravy but not something I would voluntarily seek out. However, I will be in the upper Midwest for the next several weeks and I feel duty bound to investigate pasties further.

Of course, when visiting Montana, even the most finely-honed food and wine obsession will be subordinate by the unsurpassed natural beauty of this place. My quest for the perfect Pinot seems trivial.montana-4

Thought of the Day

24 Thursday Aug 2017

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winemaker at work 2Italian wine blogger Alfonso Cevola writes:

Red wine. White wine. Rosé wine. Orange wine. Sparkling wine. Dessert wine. There comes a point, when looking at all of this from the sky box of the Hindenburg, when one can see that every one of these wines matter. French wine. Italian wine. German wine. California wine. Texas wine. Virginia wine. Even the ones you don’t prefer.

I’m not sure that all wine matters. Some wine is just a commodity, a means to make money. It might as well be soy beans or corn. Yet, although the bulk wine market is huge it is dominated by a few firms. For the vast majority of wineries in the world every vine has to be carefully tended, every fermentation nurtured like a new born child, every barrel probed and contemplated until it yields some semblance of beauty.

Those wines, all of them, matter because they mattered to someone.

Hoist By His Own Petard

23 Wednesday Aug 2017

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conventional wisdomHippie punching has been one of the mainstream media’s favorite pastimes since, well, since there have been hippies. Now there is a  new subgenre of this tired work horse—hipster punching.

In an article entitled “The Perils of Wine Groupthink” Robert Joseph writing in Meininger’s Wine Business International seems to have lost his irony detector:

Despite many people’s belief to the contrary, the plural of anecdote is not data; it’s anecdata, a term that’s as helpfully meaningless as the kind of information it describes.

The fact that a vociferous group of people with hipster beards in New York restaurants are to be seen drinking natural wine does not indicate a fast-growing national trend for the style across the US.

When a specialist wine retailer says, “more and more of my customers are asking for wines with less alcohol” it does not mean that the average strength of the billions of bottles on supermarket shelves is visibly falling.

The tendency to extrapolate from one’s own personal observations – and more especially one’s own tastes and opinions – is widely recognised by statisticians and researchers, who’ve even given it a name: confirmation bias…. What has started out out as a partisan view now evolves into Groupthink. ‘What we believe and observe must be true of the wider population’.

It’s not at all clear how a belief that a trend which is clearly observable within one’s cohort might catch on with the wider population constitutes group think. Group think occurs when bad decisions are made because pressures to conform prevent the objective assessment of evidence. It’s hard to see how promoting unconventional wines or enclosures would count as groupthink since the aim is clearly to identity trends that currently fall outside the mainstream.

Apparently what Joseph would have trendsetters in the wine business do is look at aggregate data from supermarket purchases to find potential new trends. Good luck with that. By the time the trend is discovered it will be on its way out. That is the very definition of groupthink. Conventional wisdom isn’t always wrong but it is always conventional.

The underlying mistake that Joseph makes is failing to see that the wine business is actually two distinct industries. In the U.S., the top 30 wine companies account for 74% or all the wine sold. Those are the wines you find in the supermarket, essentially a homogeneous product differentiated by marketing and branding. That’s one kind of industry. By some estimates that leaves about 7500 wineries fighting over the rest. That’s a distinctly different industry. The wineries in this second industry won’t succeed by doing what the big guys do.  Why buy their wines if they’re identical to what I can get at the supermarket? Participants in this second industry succeed by selling to those “hipster beards” and others who exist on the long tail, the niches, or in other words, the anecdotes.

It’s Joseph who is guilty of groupthink by crediting only what has been normalized as real.

Idaho Wine: Will Work for Grapes

16 Wednesday Aug 2017

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The Snake River Valley

Idaho is probably not the first state that comes to mind when the topic of U.S. wine comes up. But if you’ve been paying attention to the wine press lately, Idaho, especially the Snake River Valley AVA near Boise, is beginning to get some attention. And for good reason. They make good wine here. After all, the Snake River AVA crosses the Washington border and Eastern Washington is, of course, a prime wine grape region. In fact, you can think of Idaho as Washington’s adolescent off-spring, still dependent on mom and dad but quickly gaining autonomy.

Idaho, like Eastern Washington, has a continental climate (6-8 inches of rain per year) with hot, dry summers producing concentrated fruit flavor and cold winters allowing vines to go dormant and killing off diseases that threaten the vines. Both occupy a northern latitude so they have summertime daylight well into the late evening, and both have strong diurnal temperature shifts with nighttime temperatures dropping into the 50’s for much of the summer helping to keep acidity in the grapes. The differences are primarily in the general soil types and elevation. Idaho has soils formed from volcanic ash; Washington does too but with a higher percentage of glacial deposits. Perhaps more importantly, Idaho vineyards  are generally much higher in elevation, reaching as high as 3000 feet above sea level which explains one of their biggest challenges—getting their vineyards to survive winter kill and early autumn frost.

Case in point—2017. While Washington vineyards suffered some crop losses from this unusually cold winter and as of this writing yields are uncertain, Idaho vineyards were devastated. The Boise area typically gets only 4-6 inches of snow per year.  The winter of 2017 dumped 37 inches of snow on the region with unusual cold snaps that extended for days on end. Extended cold weather destroys the fruit buds that had formed the previous summer sharply reducing yields. Only the vineyards with good air flow draining off the cold air will get much yield this year. Happily, since most of the vines are own-rooted and have no grafts exposed to the elements, the vine trunks and root systems survived and vineyards should be back to normal in a year or two. There will be plenty of grapes to make wine in 2017 but they will have to rely on fruit from Washington State where many Idaho producers have long term relationships and contracts.

There are now over 50 wineries in Idaho (up from 11 in 2002) and most are located in the southwestern portion of the Snake River Valley with a few scattered though the eastern part of the valley. The Snake River AVA became official in 2007 and now includes, as a sub-region, the Eagle Foothills AVA just north of Boise. The Lewis-Clark Valley AVA was added in 2016 and occupies the border of Idaho and Washington in the northern part of the state where the Snake River intersects with the Clearwater River. All of this activity is testimony to the enormous potential of this region. Although Idaho has about 1200 acres under vine, a recent survey concluded that theoretically there is the potential for about 50,000 acres.

The main difficulty is securing enough local fruit for the burgeoning wine business in Boise. As noted, most of the wineries here have a tradition of getting some fruit from Washington. Many wineries would like to make wine exclusively from Idaho grapes and they do so when possible. But the need for more vineyards was a constant plea we heard in talking to people in the Idaho wine business. As Moya Dolsby, Executive Director of the Idaho Wine Commission told us, “If we’re going to reach our potential, we need to get more vines in the ground.” Furthermore, when I asked one prominent winemaker if the growers here were grape growers or wine grape growers, he smiled and said “no comment”. The demand for quality grapes is outstripping supply even when the weather cooperates.

In Idaho, winemaking is a bit more advanced than the viticulture in part because lots of winemaking talent from Washington and California migrated here seeking the less crowded, less expensive, slower paced, yet nevertheless urban lifestyle offered by Boise. That probably also explains one of the really unique facts about Idaho—the high percentage of female winemakers. I don’t have comprehensive stats but, according to one count , 22% of the winemakers in Idaho are women including several of the top ten Snake River wineries. Melanie Krause, winemaker and co-owner of Cinder Winery, told me that she returned to her home in Idaho after working for Washington State’s Chateau Ste. Michelle because it was a better atmosphere for raising her family. Many women in Idaho’s wine industry have made a similar decision.

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Vineyard workers at Koenig Vineyards

Warm to hot, daytime, summer temperatures allow most varietals to ripen in Idaho despite the short growing season. Bud break is typically around the 2nd week of April and harvest is usually finished by Halloween. Riesling, Chardonnay and the Bordeaux grapes, especially Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, have been the primary varietals but there is a lot of excitement about Viognier, Syrah, Tempranillo, Malbec, and even Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah, although plantings of the latter two are miniscule at the moment. My own personal opinion: It’s a bit hot for Riesling here. The Riesling we tasted  was acceptable but not special, although Cinder’s off-dry Riesling was an exception. The Chardonnay was mostly clunky with too much oak. Viognier, although a difficult grape,  is more promising and we tasted several brilliant examples that had the aromatic intensity and generous mouthfeel expected of that grape.  As for reds, the playing field is wide open although Cabernet Sauvignon gets sufficiently ripe only in the best vintages. I asked Earl Sullivan of Telaya if there was a distinctive flavor profile that distinguished Idaho from other regions and, he replied, “not yet”. “We’re still trying to figure out what Idaho wine is”. Melanie Krause of Cinder thinks Idaho reds tend to be more elegant with softer tannins than comparable wines from Washington. I agree with her observation but whether that has to do with the soil, the climate, or stylistic choices among winemakers, it’s hard to say. There are too many microclimates and soil types and only a few examples of some varietals being grown here to make generalizations at this point. Diversity may be their strength here.

With Boise’s rapid growth, a population increasingly interested in wine, available land, and its position as a gateway to markets in the the Mountain West, there is great potential here and I  suspect we will continue to hear good things about Idaho wines.

The largest winery in the state has long been Ste. Chapelle (est. 1975) which produces 125,000 cases per year. But they use mostly Washington fruit and have not as yet made a commitment to developing Idaho as a region. Moya Dolsby said most wineries produce between 3000 and 7000 cases per year so this is a region where artisan production reigns, and it is those small producers that we focused on in our tasting.

Here are the wineries we found to be most impressive:

Cinder Winery

All the wines from this urban winery near Boise hit my sweet spot. Winemaker Melanie Krause achieves an elegant, graceful style picking grapes at around 21-22 degrees brix to achieve great balance and freshness. Each wine in their lineup has finesse, pure fruit expression, and complexity. The Chardonnays (2015 and 2016) were head and shoulders above others in Snake River, largely because of Melanie’s deft hand with new oak. A gorgeous Viognier (their flagship wine), an intriguing blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc called Laissez Faire, and an off dry Riesling that was the best of this varietal we tasted rounds out the whites. The Laissez Faire red (Sangiovese and Mourvedre) makes a fine table wine, but the 2014 Tempranillo, 2014 Bordeaux-style blend, and the 2015 Syrah were outstanding. See my review of their “foot stomp” Syrah here. I don’t normally assign points when making winery visits but all these wines are in the 90-92 point range and can compete with comparable wines from Washington or California.

Telaya

Winemaker Earl Sullivan is a stickler for cleanliness, perhaps a holdover value from his years in the pharmaceutical industry. As far as I know, his is the only winery that seals their production room and blasts it with ozone every night to kill any critters that might be lurking. Telaya uses about 60% Idaho fruit, filling in with grapes from Washington State when the Idaho fruit doesn’t meet Earl’s exacting standards. The results of his attention to detail are wines of great clarity and precision all with the silky textures that define his style of winemaking. A tasty Viognier, and an especially vibrant, textured  Grenache Blanc were the standout whites.  A Malbec featuring bright, bing cherry aromas and a luscious mouthfeel, a blend of Syrah, Malbec and Merlot called Turus (2014) which showed intriguing smoke and meat aromas, and the outstanding 2015 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (see my review here) completed the tasting menu. Telaya is one of several urban wineries along the Boise River just north of the city. They serve food and host frequent musical performances as well giving the burgeoning Boise population a full service venue in which to indulge their wine cravings.

Split Rail Winery

Every wine region needs a maverick to keep complacency from settling in. In the Snake River Valley that person is Jed Glavin. From his use of egg-shaped, concrete fermentation vessels to his attempt to market wine in cans for the hikers and campers who need their wilderness wine fix, Jed is one of those creative types who seem to have a new idea every minute: he’s interested in natural wines, is experimenting with a pet-net (a sparkling wine made by allowing the CO2 to develop from the first fermentation in the bottle), and wants to make a sour Chardonnay by inoculating the wine with Brett (a form of yeast that induces funky flavors often considered a flaw). It’s a good thing he makes good wine. The 2016 Exploding Mirror (Roussane and Viognier) was refreshing and full of flavor as was the 2016 Dry Rosé made from Cinsault. The blend of Mourvedre and Syrah was spicy with white pepper and a Rhone-like blood and iron flavor note. But my favorite was the 2014 Petite Verdot, a grape getting some attention here, despite being in short supply, because it seems to grow well in Idaho. Split Rail’s is floral, soft on the palate with spicy tannins providing structure. (See my full review here) Split Rail is another of the urban wineries just north of Boise.

 

The following wineries are in the Sunnyslope area west of Boise near the Snake River:

Huston Vineyards

Greg and Mary Alder grew up on an Idaho farm, but a visit to Napa and the opportunity to acquire land and vines at a good price convinced them to grow grapes. Their Huston label is 100% Idaho grapes; their Chicken Dinner label is table wine sourced from all over the Pacific Northwest. Maybe it was the vintage; 2014 was an incredibly good year. But these reds are lovely. A rich, earthy, Malbec, and a juicy, lush Cabernet Sauvignon with refined tannins impressed but the star is their Private Reserve Petite Sirah (2014). Rich fig, chocolate, and berry notes supported by fine-grained yet structured tannins. There is only about 1 acre of Petite Sirah in the whole state. More of this please.

Koenig Winery

Using all local grapes, this winery does an excellent job with Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a difficult grape to get ripe in Idaho at least in some vintages. Koenig deals with this problem by making a more European style Cab—earthy, structured with high acidity. Their Hell’s Canyon 2014 Cab needs more time to settle down but it’s a serious wine. The Fraser Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is softer and more accessible. They also feature a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah blend called Cuvee Alden 2012 that was drinking well, showing berry and chocolate notes with a lush mouthfeel; and an accessible 2014 Syrah with ripe berry notes and sleek minerality. Among the white wines, the 2014 dry Riesling was impressive–delicate but textured with lovely lime and apricot on the nose. Their 2016 Viognier was fresh and crisp showing floral and tropical notes.

Fujishin Family Cellars

Sourcing almost all their grapes from within a 20 mile radius of their winery, Fujishin’s flagship Viognier from 2016 was definitely impressive. Pear and floral notes introduced the lovely, textured mouthfeel and long mineral-driven finish. (See my full review here). The Cabernet/Syrah blend was rich with berry and earth notes and offered a smooth midpalate with a long, somewhat rustic finish. But the red wine that attracted my attention was their 2013 Petite Sirah—lots of berry, smoke, cocoa and tannins under control from 2 yrs. in American oak

Fake Wine, Fake Food, Fake You

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Contemporary Food Culture, Wine Culture

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our brains are sickAs I noted in previous posts, our hi- tech overlords are busy trying to invent fake wine and fake food. Now they’ve turned their attention to inventing a fake you.

Instead of drinking lots of wine to find out what you like and using your wine knowledge and sense of adventure to expand your palate, a company called Helix will analyze your DNA via saliva samples to discover what you should like.

Silicon Valley is always trying to one up itself in helping us improve our daily lives. This time, with the launch of Helix, the tech geniuses believe they can enable us to make better choices – including better wine choices – if we have a better handle on our own DNA.

Wine Explorer by the Healdsburg, California-based Vinome, which currently costs $29.99, is currently Helix’s only wine-focused app partner….When you go to the Vinome site, there’s a basic survey that new customers can do online, discussing if they enjoy blackberries or black coffee and that results in an initial taste profile. It is reinforced by the all-powerful saliva test, which should be able to skillfully delineate which of eight flavor profiles will work for each consumer.

According to CEO Ronnie Andrews, if you like black coffee you will like big, red wines.

Swing and miss, strike one. I love coffee. I’m not crazy about big, red wines. If you like sweets you’ll like Gewurztraminer and Viognier, according to Andrews. Swing and miss again. I love a good Gewurz or Viognier. I’m not crazy about candy.

Of course, their business model is to tell you what you should like and then sell you the wines that conform to their prediction. That’s a pretty good racket. If they develop a personality test for science envy they can predict which consumers will fall for this scam.