2011 Wine Predictions

      A recent email newsletter from the International Wine Guild contained some welcome news.  According to Nielsen surveys of off premise wine sales in the U.S. for the fourth quarter of 2010, Italy has regained the top spot as the number one country for U.S. wine imports.  Italy had occupied that spot for over 20 years but was edged out in 2004 by the tsunami of very affordable Australia imports.

      Regular readers know well that The Wine Guy has a definite preference for Italian wines and for wines of other countries that utilize Italian varietals and follow the Italian style.  While there are plenty of wines that I cherish and enjoy and sing the praises of from down under. It’s good to see my favorite source of wine return to his spot of dominance in the U.S. consumer’s preference for imported wines. 

     There were few surprises in the 4^th quarter data:  Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot remain the top three U.S. varietals purchased, followed by Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and White Zinfandel.   The greatest growth rate in the purchase of U.S. grown varietals were Riesling, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and Sauvignon Blanc.

  The top five most popular import countries accounted for over 84% of the wine imported into the U.S. in the 4^th quarter of 2010.  They were Italy, Australia, Chile, France and Argentina.   New Zealand was a close 6^th on the list at almost 5% of imports while all other remaining import counties combined accounted for about 11% of import sales.

   Using the sales figures rankings as an outline, here are a few speculative predictions from The Wine Guy for 2011:

The top domestic varietals:

Chardonnay:

   Still number one but look for broadening diversity in the available styles of Chardonnays on your wine market’s shelves/racks.   Improvements in unoaked chardonnays are occurring with a trend their increasing popularity and you will see an increase in the number of oaked/unoaked blends being offered as well. 

Cabernet Sauvignon:

   Napa is the traditional bastion of quality Cabernet Sauvignon with some challenging by neighboring Sonoma (particularly the Alexander Valley).  However, there appears to be an explosion of great cabernets from other locales in California and from the northwest.  Look for some exception cabs and red blends from the relatively new appellation of Horse Heaven Hills as well as other great growing areas in Washington and Oregon.

Merlot:

  Still a strong number three in popularity, this varietal is getting over the verbal bruising given it in the movie “Sideways”.   (I still love the irony in Miles’s most prized wine, which he drank by himself toward the end of the movie, being a merlot-dominated Bordeaux!)  It’s also growing in the variety of expression being given it from US and South American wine makers.  The northwest US and Chile are some great areas to explore.

Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris:

   If you love traditionally crisp Pinot Grigio, you can’t beat the better Italian producers, but the round mellow fruit tones of the recent Pinot Gris from the better Oregon producers display how subtlety great tasting good quality white wine can be.

Pinot Noir:

   Some European producers have acquired wineries in the US and are now producing some wines that combine the best characteristics of the US and European styles of Pinot Noir.  With improvement, as well, with the more affordable imported Pinot Noirs from South American and New Zealand, look for continued growth in this varietal.

White Zinfandel:

   Look for the American consumer to ever so slowly begin transitioning to drier rose.  It will take a long, long time but eventually you might even see a drier style of White Zinfandel come on the market.  In the meantime look for and import and do a comparison of your own.

The top import countries:

Italy:   

   Chianti and Pinot Grigio have long been the mainstays of Italian imports but look for their share of the Italian import pie to slip (in volume but not quality) as consumers discover there is a great plethora of Italian wines they can enjoy.  Look for growth in popularity of wines from the Italian regions of Albruzzo, Pulgia and Sicily in 2012.  As usual, reds will dominate the Italian imports but some US producers may begin to tickle the consumer’s interest on some new (to them) Italian white varietals.

Australia:

   Continuing popularity of Shiraz is a given but look for Australia to begin increasing efforts to export some of its better reds and whites.  Some cabs will begin to make their mark and a few more American consumers will discover the good things Australians can do with Grenache on its own as well as in red blends. Total volume will slip but be partially offset by slightly higher cost.  The trend will be to the better quality yet still affordable wines from down under.

Chile and Argentina:

    South American has made inroads the past few years simply by offering bang for the buck…nicely and highly rated wines at affordable prices.  Look for continuing interest in Malbec.  Also Carmenere will continue ascendency as the next South varietal to be “discovered” by Americans.  Argentina’s Torrontes will make some slow inroads as a white varietal.  While it is potentially a great wine for the U.S. market, I don’t think its time is quite here.

France:

    Look for a comeback in French Champagne and some exploration of French Whites.  The diversity in domestic Chardonnays may lead to US consumers returning to a previous love of French whites.

As with the South American Torrontes, French Viognier and Vouvray both have the potential to storm the white wine market in the U.S. although it’s not likely to happen yet.    Bordeaux remains soft as an import mostly due to cost but look for some moderate exploratory growth in the red blends.   Southern French rose remains a bubble waiting to burst. 

New Zealand:

    This country’s long dominant reputation in Sauvignon Blanc will likely continue.  However, if the diversity in Chardonnay leads to an exploration of taste alternatives by the U.S. white wine drinker, that could impact the volume of their exports in this area.  Look for some potential growth and discovery of New Zealand Pinot Noirs, although that will be highly dependent upon the ability to get a good volume of that product to the U.S. market profitably at a competitive price.    

Potential Surprises:

1.     Cabernet Franc has never quite made the grade in the U.S. but with some good ones are coming out of the Mid-Atlantic state, it’s a long shot waiting to happen.   Also, the north Georgia winemakers are turning to varietals such as Touriga in their blends and may eventually shed their reputation as being producers of redneck reds.

2.     Greek wines continue to improve in quality and reputation.  Aegean whites as well as mainland Nemea have great potential but the inertia of poor exposure and economic stagnation may be impossible to overcome.
      

S    Spain and Portugal remain just under the radar in imports.  The Douro valley in Portugal (home of the oldest wine production appellation in the world) has more than just great Port to offer but lacks the powerful marketing of the great wine families of Spain.  They may fare better in recapturing the interest of the American consumer in some red alternatives but will certainly grow their share of the sparkling market as the quality and reputation of Cava continues.

4.    
      California producers will continue their expansion of Italian varietals but will continue to suffer comparison with the dominant Italian imports.  What success they have could potentially be mitigated by the side effect of stirring interest in some good established Italian alternatives available from Latin America.

5.     
      The major growth for American consumers has previously been in red wine selections.   Mid 2011 may see that trend switch to other styles as more American wine sippers step out of the box.  Beneficiaries will be whites and rose from South America, France Italy, and South Africa.

This overview is just one wine buff’s speculation.  The trades, as well as many other bloggers, will be doing their own predictions this time of year.  It might be worthwhile to read many of these and use them as a chart to decide now what wines you would like to explore in the coming year. 

Enjoy!
                                                               

     

Penfolds Joins The Fight Against Aids!

During The Wine Guy’s tenure in retailing, customers perusing the Australian wine selections have often asked:  “How do you like that bottle of Penfolds?”   Over time, my stock answer became: “In my opinion, I don’t believe Penfolds knows how to make a bad bottle of wine!”   This southwestern Australian brand is almost singular in being the recipient of that kind of personal endorsement.  While there are many, many producers who often make good or great individual wines, few wineries consistently produce as many good wines over their entire product line as well as this Australian house. Over my wine tasting years, Penfolds has been consistent in its ability to offer a good value in a glass of wine, regardless of price range.   The only less than favorable experience I’ve had in a Penfolds wine came from a bottle that I’m sure was improperly stored.

Founded by English immigrants Christopher and Mary Penfold in Adelaide in 1844, Penfolds first became renown for their fortified wines, especially tawny port. By 1896 with heir and son-in-law Thomas Hyland now in full charge of the company, Penfolds & Co. accounted for fully 1/3^rd of Australia’s total wine production.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s the development of Grange began the company’s ascension into the ranks of the world’s most reputable producers of wine and by 1995, acclaimed wine critic Robert Parker wrote that Grange was “a leading candidate for the richest, most concentrated, dry red wine on planet earth.” Over the past two decades Penfolds has achieved recognition, penetration and popularity in nearly every major wine consuming market in the world.

The Wine Guy can count the opportunity to enjoy a five-year vertical tasting of Grange as one of his top ten wine tasting experiences ever.  However, it’s not just the luxury wines such as Grange or the higher end brands such as St. Henri that have attributed to this ascendency. It’s also their consistently good presentation of quality wines under $25.00 such as the Koonunga Hill and Thomas Hyland tier of wines.  Often retailing under $12, Penfolds Koonunga Hills Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon blend has been one of The Wine Guy’s “go-to” value wines for a number of years.

Just after the first of the New Year, Penfolds announced that two of its tiers:  Koonunga Hills and Thomas Hyland were becoming the first wine products ever to become affiliated with Product Red.  The brands that partner with the Product Red program contribute a portion of their proceeds to fight and combat Aids in Africa.  Roughly 67% of the AID suffers in the world are on this continent and over 3,500 of them die each day.   Penfolds is committing to making a contribution of 15% of its proceeds from the sale of Koonunga Hills and Thomas Hyland brand wines towards the fight against this disease.

Good wine...good cause…good reasons to go out and buy some wine that comes with a red screw cap.  Remember, these folks don’t know how to make a bad wine!

Wine Tastings Can Be Fun & Informative!

(The Wine Guy, aka The Wine Santa, at a pre-holiday tasting conducted by a wine wholesaler)

In one of my earliest blogs on Roger’s Grapevine, I extolled the benefits of attending wine tastings. (See “Taste More-Learn More” in the blog archives:  7/19/09)   That blog dealt mainly with tastings conducted at winery tasting rooms.    Another source is the many tastings conducted by wholesale distributors.  

Many of these are for the benefit of the trade.  Wholesalers will invite both their on-premise (restaurants, bars, etc) and off-premise (retail shops and stores) clientele to trade shows and special client specific tastings to review their portfolio of offerings as well as sample new selections.  Regular readers will note that a number of my blogs have been taken from these events as they have given me an opportunity to explore, sample and learn about wines and wine producers.  Sharing that information is part and parcel of what this blog is about.

Good wholesale distributors and their better representative staff will also support wine tastings for the benefit of their client’s customers. These are great opportunities for the consumer to try and sample new wines before purchasing.  While the client's staff may conduct the tastings with sample support from the wholesaler, many are conducted by the wholesaler’s representative.  These are your best opportunity to learn about the wines being sampled.  The representative is usually quite familiar with the wine itself and with the producer’s history and can provide a wealth of information along with the sample tasting of the product.  There may be a slight “tasting fee” as there often is at winery tasting rooms.  However, this fee is often waived with a purchase of the wines being tasted.  In many cases, the tasting is complimentary.

The photos attached are of Michelle, an experienced wholesale representative in the Arizona market for Republic National Distributing Company.   Michelle focuses on retail chain accounts for her wholesaler.  She works with these accounts in assessing their inventory levels, processing orders to maintain adequate stock, providing background information and sampling opportunities for her clients.  She also regularly invests time in conducting sample tastings for her client’s customers. Back in day when The Wine Guy  (prior to my retirement)was responsible for managing the beverage department of one of Michelle’s client’s she was one of the best trade representatives I had and I make it a point to attend her tasting events when I have the opportunity.

Check with your regular suppliers of wine, be they retail or on-premise sources and discover if they regularly offer wine tasting opportunities.  Taking advantage of these events is a terrific way to advance your knowledge of wine and to explore your taste preferences.   All of us have preferences in wine but venturing from them to try something new can be enjoyable.  Most of us will also find that these preferences can change and vary over time.  

Exploring what wine has to offer is always worthwhile and with the help of professionals such as Michelle, it can be fun and informative, as well.

Try something new from the world of wine soon!

A Special New Year's Toast

We’ve entered a new year!  While most of you spent the recent New Year’s weekend ringing in the new decade and saying goodbye to the old, the fetching Mrs. Wine Guy and I took the occasion to celebrate four decades of married life together. 

We often refer to our annual celebration as “contract renewal”.   Thank goodness the negotiations weren’t all that tough.  I thought it appropriate to include some excerpts from our weekend celebration in tribute to the one who served as my inspiration to pursue an interest in wine.

Being residents of Arizona, we “escaped” the usual New Years crowds with a trip to Tucson.

Our adventure began with a stagecoach ride at the “Old Tucson” movie studios.

                           

                            There were some stops at an old west tavern (note the wine barrel!)

We visited a rustic watering hole (now you understand why I call her the “fetching” Mrs. Wine Guy!)

A glass of wine at the saloon and dance hall led to a photo op with Miss Kitty and the girls…. 

Thank goodness I behaved myself, otherwise I might have been left behind later at the marshal’s office.

We over-nighted at the Hacienda del Sol Resort Ranch, which offered a great sunset view from our patio.

Our celebration dinner was a five-course meal with special wine pairings for each course at the resort’s Grill restaurant.  This chef and the sommelier did an excellent job in planning and it’s one of the reasons this facility is regularly recognized with Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator.

A little extra touch for dessert was well appreciated as was the reserve Spanish Cava with which we toasted the occasion.

We began our forty-first year together with a breakfast trail ride in the desert.  A tad brisk but what fun!

                                                As the anniversary card I gave her said,

               “On the road of life, it’s not where you go but who you’re with that makes the difference.”

Here's a Wine Guy toast to the one I’ve been fortunate enough to explore the road of life with for forty plus years..  Like a superbly fine wine, age has improved the quality and enjoyment of the experience!

A Good Time to Explore Cabernet Sauvignon

Despite being retired, The Wine Guy continues to work part-time in wine retail.  Doing so keeps me connected with the wine consuming public and with the trade as well.  The better distributors who supply the retail trade will regularly host wine tastings for key wine selling personnel to acquaint them with products.  Recently, I had the opportunity to taste and sample a broad selection of wines being featured for the holiday season by one of my employer’s better suppliers:  Republic National Distributing Company.   (Event photo at left is The Wine Guy with Terry Faunce, Accounts Manager for RNDC/Arizona)

While enjoying a couple of very good cabernet sauvignons at that tasting, I was struck by how seldom I’ve blogged about this great grape on Roger’s grapevine.  Cabernet Sauvignon is of course, one of most ubiquitous varietals in the wine world.  While Merlot has recently surpassed it in total worldwide plantings and while Syrah is grown in a greater number of wine producing areas, Cabernet Sauvignon remains the king of red grape varietals.     It is the most utilized singular red varietal and finds favor in a great number of the world’s most recognized and popular red blends.

Cabernet Sauvignon’s thick skin makes it adaptable to a number of growing conditions, provides ample and bold tannins that are conducive to good aging and flavor development.  On the vine, it is somewhat resistant to rot and frost.  It buds and ripens somewhat later than its frequent blending partners, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.  It gives rise to a great variety of fruit flavors that can vary with the terroir in which it is grown and also change in expression with the degree of ripening employed by the vintner.  It responds well to wood aging, primarily with oak, but also responds favorably to the chestnut and redwood aging that is practiced with it by some Portuguese and Italian producers.  Fruit flavors from a good cabernet sauvignon cover a wide range from cranberry to raspberry, from blueberry to dark cherry to black current.  The wine from this grape can evoke herbal elements that range from green pepper to mint and eucalyptus and even tobacco.  In varying cabernets you find hints of coffee, cedar, leather, vanilla mocha, and much, much more.  No wonder it has become a favorite of winemakers and wine sippers alike.   It is a versatile and flexible varietal that can be the source for great wines to fit almost any type of wine preference.

Here are few recent Wine Guy samplings that are recommended as cabernet sauvignons that you might want to sample:

Alder Ridge Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon:  

From one of the newer AVA’s in the U.S. northeast (established 2005) that is rapidly developing a reputation for great reds.  This is a rich expressive wine with notes of black cherry and cedar and a lingering finish.  The winemaker added small amounts of Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc to create a lot of nuances that you will thoroughly enjoy if you properly decant this wine.

Rutherford Ranch Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon:

This organic producer is located along Napa’s famed Silverado trail, the home of some fabulous California Cabernets.  Initial notes of boysenberry and cranberry meld and blend into a toasty smooth caramel finish.  This is the wine in our glasses in the featured photo at the left.

Chateau St. Michele Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon:

Another great northeastern treasure, this comes from the Columbia Valley’s Wahale Slope area.  It benefits from some complimentary blending which includes Syrah, Malbec and Merlot. Look for some great dark fruit flavors with hints of vanilla and a caressing finish.

Santa Ema Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Maipo Valley Cabernet Sauvignon:

This is a consistently good Chilean wine.  It offers blueberry, coffee and mocha.  It was described by a California wine merchant as having the smoothness of Barry White performing in a sequin suit and that smoothness makes it a favorite of the fetching Mrs. Wine Guy.

There are always great Cabernets to explore.   And recently, there has been a higher frequency of finding great cabs that rank in the high 80’s to low 90’s for under $25 (all the wines cited above fell in that category recently).   Thanks Terry, for helping to remind me that good cabernets are worth seeking out!  I hope each of you readers takes the opportunity to enjoy a cabernet sauvignon soon.

The Wine Guy samples a 40-year old Vintage Port!

Behind nearly every bottle of wine, there is a story. It may include the story of the producer, the wine-maker or even how and why that particular wine came to be made.  Sometimes the saga of a select bottle becomes a great story unto itself and such is the case of the bottle of 1970 J.W. Burmester Vintage Oporto you see pictured at the left.  When sharing a particular wine with special guests or friends, there’s often nearly as much enjoyment in sharing the story behind the wine as there is in the tasting of the wine itself.  Allow me to share the special story of this bottle with you and you’ll discover how The Wine Guy came to enjoy a 40-year old bottle of port from the third oldest wine appellation in the world.

A charming and gracious co-worker named Donna came to me one day and announced that in preparation for a visit from family from New Zealand, she had discovered this unopened bottle of wine amongst her “stash” of tucked away family treasures.  She wanted to know a little bit about the wine and whether or not, it would still be good to serve.

First the wine itself: 

In 1730 German immigrants Henry Burmester and John Nash founded Burmester & Nash in   London to import popular port wine from Portugal.  By 1750, their success led to a move to become producers in Via Nova de Gaia on the south shore of the Douro River near its mouth and in close proximity to the city of Porto, which gave its name to the third oldest wine appellation in the world.  This was also the site of the ancient Roman Empire city of Cale.  By the 18^th century another Burmester immigrated to Portugal from Germany to assume the presidency of the company which was renamed J.W. Burmester in 1880. Throughout the rest of the century, the company earned numerous accolades for its port products including recognition at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.  Toward the end of the millennia, the firm was acquired by a banking/investment consortium and continues operation today as part of the Sogivinus Group.

Vintage Port is declared in select years and many Portuguese producers only declare vintages a few times a decade.  It is required that the vintage must be aged at least 2 ½ years in barrels and it often takes a decade or more of aging in bottles to achieve what is considered proper drinking age.  Foot treading in traditional stone vessels called lagares produces typical Portuguese Vintage Port.  Fermentation is halted by fortifying with distilled grape spirits called aguardente, which adds alcohol while retaining some residual sugar content thus giving port its sweet, yet full body taste.  Much of the complex character of vintage ports comes from the slow decomposition of grape solids during the years of bottle ageing. As a result, settling, careful decanting and even filtering needs to take place in order to enjoy the wine.  In the case of our bottle in question, we’re talking 37 years from its bottling date of 1973.

The story behind this particular bottle:

My friend, Donna is a New Zealand native, lived in Australia and now resides in Arizona.  She believes the wine in question was given to her in Australia in the early to mid 70’s to commemorate the birth of one of her children.  Not knowing the conditions under which the bottle was transported or stored, I advised her the wine would either be superbly aged or terribly broken down.  In other words, she either had a very, very good port or a very, very bad one.  Opening and sampling would be the ultimate way to discover which she had.  In either case, sharing with visiting family from down under sounded like the perfect opportunity for just such a discovery.  She was kind enough to invite my attendance at the planned opening of the bottle. Unfortunately my schedule didn’t permit me to seize that opportunity.  Donna, however, did save a portion and presented it to me the next day as a thank-you for my efforts in researching her wine (As I told you, she IS a charming and gracious lady in the truest sense!)

The ever-fetching Mrs. Wine Guy and I lit a fire that very evening and proceeded to decant, filter and savor the remainder of Donna’s family treasure.   While just slightly past its prime, it was, indeed, a superb, complex and rich wine with all the wonderful aromas and flavors you would expect to find in a good, well-aged vintage port!  It made for a most enjoyable evening by the fire. I hope Donna and her family enjoyed the taste and the saga of this particular bottle of wine as much as The Wine Guy did.  It created a great wine memory and we will be forever grateful for her thoughtfulness in sharing.  I hope, as well, that you, as a reader, enjoyed the story of this particular bottle of wine.

As I said at the outset of this tale, nearly every bottle of wine has a story behind it. In selecting your next bottle to share with family or friends, ask your merchant to share that story so you can share it with your company.  Remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a rare or unique wine to create a memory you’ll cherish for a long time.  Sharing a good story over a glass of good wine with good company will always increase your enjoyment of wine

Have a great experience of your own soon…. enjoy some wine!

The Wine Guy is Back!

    My apologies for such a long absence.   I should have posted an advisory but I never thought my absence from this site would extend so long.  In preparation for our upcoming retirements, the ever charming Mrs. Wine Guy and I decided to list our home of the past decade for sale. It showed well and sold much faster than we had anticipated.  Finding storage for our decades of accumulation of personal property, as well as relocating to a downsized residence was complicated by the approach of the holidays.  Needless to say, time flies by when you're having fun!

    Topping off everything else was the discovery that the DSL lines at our new domestic digs had reached capacity and a delay was incurred in getting re hooked to the internet.  (Attempting to do a wine blog utilizing free wifi at Dunkin Donuts turned out to be impractical as well as totally uninspiring, despite the great coffee and donuts!)

    In any case, I'm back on line and hopefully haven't lost too many of you.  I hope to be back on schedule and have some stories to share including the saga of how a 40- year old vintage port made its way to my table during the hectic transition.

  Look for the beginnings of these postings in a few days and please help me spread the word that regular postings on The Grapevine will commence shortly.

Thank you for your patience and readership.

Slainte!

Chateauneuf du Pape

Chateauneuf du Pape is a wine worth exploring for its history as well as what it has to offer in taste.

This French AOC, comprising almost 7,500 acres of vineyards, is located in the southern Rhone Valley.  It is probably one of the best know and most highly regarded Rhone appellations today.   That, however, was not the case for much of its long and storied history.

The area is the site of a decisive historic battle between the Romans and the Gauls in 121 BC and later, it was the Romans who initiated viniculture here.  After the fall of the Roman Empire, the church became the principal instrument of winemaking throughout southern France.  The Templars settled there in the mid twelfth century and gave the area the name Castrum Novum  (New Camp or New Fort).  The village name later became Chateauneuf-Calcernier, which paid tribute to its earlier name as well as the area’s sandy and rocky soil.  It wasn’t until 1893 that the village formally adopted the name of its wine, “Chateauneuf du Pape” as its own name.   After Pope Clement moved the papacy to Avignon in 1308, the area began to be utilized as a summer papal residence.   The castle that subsequently became synonymous with the wine and the village was built by Pope John XXII in 1320.  This Avignon Pope was a promoter of the wines produced there and it was he who first called the wines  “Vin du Pape”, which much later evolved to Chateauneuf du Pape.   

The wines from this region have widely varied in presentation due to the variations in soil conditions, a range of winemaking styles and the wide number of grapes historically utilized.  The AOC regulations in effect today were not established until the late 1930’s and still permit up to 13 red and white varietals to be utilized in the red Chateauneuf du Pape.  Grenache is always dominant and must be 50% of the final product, which must be aged at least one year on oak.  This allows a wide range of expression in the wine.  The Chateauneuf du Pape most often imported to the U.S. is generally a Grenache Syrah and Mourvedre blend.  You may also encounter some utilization of Counoise and Cinsault in these.  The growth in popularity of Chateauneuf du Pape as a French export is largely due to exposure given by two prominent wine critics, Janis Robison and Robert Parker, Jr.  Parker’s promotion of the wine, in particular, gave impetus to a fourfold increase in the average price of Chateauneuf du Pape in this country in a single decade.  (No wonder the Chateauneuf Winemakers Union lobbied to have Parker made an honorary citizen of their village!)

In The Wine Guy's humble opinion, it is the GSM and similar blends in which this wine finds its best expressions.  Complex fruit characteristics, smooth tannins and superb, subtle, lingering finishes abound in the better selections.  Chateauneuf du Pape is a wine well worth exploring!

My Turn to Tackle the Sulfite Myth

It’s almost a rite of passage for wine bloggers to tackle the subject of sulfites in wine and having published “Roger’s Grapevine” for over a year, I’m probably overdue. Today, I’ll attempt to tackle the subject with a recap of what I’ve learned from numerous sources over the past 4-5 years of reading and learning about wine.

The necessity for tackling the subject is the seemingly unending stream of people I talk to that ask me how to avoid sulfites in wine because it gives them headaches. If it’s not an issue of interest for you or a close friend that shares your love of wine, today’s blog might be worth skipping over. Otherwise, here goes my two cents worth on the subject:

Wine headaches, particularly red wine headaches, are of concern to a significant number of wine drinkers I talk to on a regular basis. Most of them are very quick to blame sulfites as the culprit. The truth is that there is more than a 99% chance that sulfites in the wine are NOT the problem. Here’s the skinny on sulfites:

All wine sold in the U.S. (regardless of where it’s produced) must contain a warning “contains sulfites” if the wine contains more than 10 mg per liter (1.25 standard bottles). It must contain less than 1 mg per liter to be labeled “no sulfites” (Note: this is much different than the often seen “No Sulfites Added” label.) While sometimes, sulfites are added to wine or absorbed into grapes from the soil, you should be aware that sulfites occur naturally within wine as part of the fermentation process. ALL wine, unless means are employed to extract them, WILL contain sulfites. Adding hydrogen peroxide to your wine can chemically alter and remove sulfites. I would guess, however, that it probably wouldn’t be very appealing to your dinner guests.

The “contains sulfites” requirement came into being after government health officials estimated that 1% of the U.S. population may suffer from sensitivity to sulfites. However, sulfite reactions are almost always either dermatological or respiratory in nature. You’re more likely to get a rash or shortness of breath than a headache. If you’re asthmatic or C.O.P.D. and you utilize steroids in treating your condition, and also happen to be among the 1% who of the population who have sulfite sensitivity, you could possibly suffer headaches after ingesting wine with concentrated sulfites. A 2001 study by H. Valley & P.J. Thompson showed that an asthmatic response in sulfite sensitive subjects first appeared at extremely high sulfite levels in the vicinity of 300 mg per liter.

The average sulfite content for all measured bottles of wine is 80 mg per liter and that drops to about 40 mg per liter for organic wines. In terms of the standard 750 ml bottle we’re talking 60 mg/30 mg per bottle or about 10 mg/5mg per glass. Keep in mind that the human body itself produces about 1000 mg of sulfites per day! It’s with a high degree of confidence that I tell you that sulfites are probably NOT the villain if you get wine headaches!

Need more convincing….try munching on about six dried apricots, drinking a couple of back-to-back glasses of processed orange juice or having a huge fresh salad from a restaurant salad bar for lunch. If you don’t get a headache from any of these, then quit blaming sulfites for your wine headache! Dried packaged fruits and processed orange juice have preservative sulfites and nearly all restaurants utilize a keep fresh spray on fresh salad bar items that contains sulfites, all in concentrations comparable to, or higher than those found in the average bottle of wine.

O.K. That bursts your bubble….you thought you knew where to place the blame for your wine headache and now you’re back at square one. So what’s the answer? Unfortunately, that’s very hard to determine and the answer is probably different for different people. Tannins, histamines and seratonins are among many compounds that occur in wine that could possibly cause headaches. And, of course, let’s not forget that the alcohol content itself can play a role. The percentage of the population sensitive to alcohol is many times that sensitive to sulfites and headaches are not an uncommon reaction to alcohol sensitivity.

If your headaches are mainly due to red wine, histamine may be the likely suspect. If they occur mostly with white wine, it might be seratonin. The fact is that you have to do a little intensive detective work to discover the cause of YOUR wine headache. Note the kinds, types, even the origins of wines that cause your headaches and also the ones that don’t. Keep a log and build a database. Once you established a number of wines that do and don’t, it should be possible to establish a pattern of what’s present and what’s absent in the various wines in order to narrow down what you’re reacting to cause the headaches.

When the headaches are strong and severe, I always suggest to my inquirers that they discuss and share their reactions with their doctor. Wines are complex beverages with many compounds that mimic other compounds. It’s part of the reason we get so many different wonderful aromas and flavors in wine. It can also, however, be a source of reactions for all the hundreds of compounds people develop allergies and sensitivities to or have interactions with because of regular medications.

Remember, there are hundreds, even thousands, of possible choices for you in the world of wine. Don’t waste time with the ones you don’t enjoy or which have side effects and discover the ones that give you pleasure and satisfaction.

Here’s hoping you get to discover and enjoy a glass of wine that’s just right for you!

Worldwide Trends in Wine

The gentleman pictured at the right is Claude Robbins, M.W.A. and Director of the International Wine Guild. The International Wine Guild is the organization through which I received my CWS and offers a plethora of courses for the wine professional, as well as the general public. As a Guild member, I receive regular newsletters and their most recent one included Claude’s recap of recent data released on wine growing, production and consumption. For today’s blog, I’ve decided to borrow and pass along some items of interest from that recap.

The data is from five year rolling averages and covers the period 2004-2008:

Wine Production:
The biggest news arising from the data was Italy moving past France into the number one ranking among wine producing countries. France remains in first place in total wine consumption.
Italy, France and Spain are the top three wine producing nations in the world and represent 48% of the world’s total wine production. The United States, Argentina, Australia, China, Germany, South Africa and Chile round out the top ten producers of wine (Only 60 countries are currently being tracked as wine producing countries).
Chile and China showed the largest percentage increases in wine production at 32.7% and 23.9% respectively.

Total Wine Consumption:
As previously mentioned France ranks number one in total consumption, followed by Italy and the United States in almost a tie for second. (Italy nudges out the U.S. by about 7 million gallons). Rounding out the top ten in total consumption are Germany, China, Spain, United Kingdom, Argentina, Russia and Romania. Together, these 10 countries account for 72% of the world’s total wine consumption. China’s advancement on both the total production and total consumption lists is significantly notable. The wine world’s interest in China is growing by leaps and bounds with some of the world’s top producers establishing footholds there. The aforementioned director of the International Wine Guild just returned from China after establishing and training a staff that provide wine education in that country. It’s also interesting to note the United Kingdom’s number seven rank in total consumption especially when you consider they rank #58 out of 60 countries in total production. This means the U.K imports 99.5% of the wine it consumes. That makes them pretty keen observers on the overall world of wine and is one reason I always try to glean regular commentary and observations from the British wine blogs and wine trade publications, particularly Decanter magazine.

Per Capita Wine Consumption:
Most people would probably guess France as the leader in this category and while they do rank high (#3 at 14.1 gallons per person annually), they are surpassed by folks from the Vatican (#1 @ 17.6 gallons) and Norfolk Island (#2 @ 15.2 gallons). Luxembourg, Andorra, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Falkland Islands and Croatia round out the top ten all at 10 gallons and more per person annually. The United States has moved up four positions in this category to #57 with a consumption of 2.56 gallons per person, a 14.5% increase since the previous report two years ago. The world wide average for 223 countries is 1.2 gallons per capita.

Total Wine Exports:
Italy France and Spain top the list, each exporting slightly more 30% of their total production (all are on the top ten list in total production, as well). Australia, another top ten country is total production comes in at number four in wine export volume. Its exports are a stunning 56.1% of total wine production. Chile, South Africa, United State, Argentina, Germany and Portugal round out the top ten exporters with both Chile and Portugal joining Australia as major producers who export over half the wine they produce. Moldavia ranks #12 exporting 29.6% of its production; but of even more interest is the fact that the taxes on exported wine provides 15% of the country’s total income!

Wine Imports:
As previously mentioned the United Kingdom is tops in percentage of wine consumption that is imported. Their total imports amount to over 300 million gallons. France and the United States join them in as huge importers. France imports almost 517 million gallons or about 38% of its consumption. The U.S. imports a little over 222 million gallons, or 29.2% of its total consumption. Together these three import over a billion gallons of wine!


The wonderful thing about exploring the world of wine is that there’s always growth, development and something new being added to a diversity of choices that is already seemingly unlimited. In short, there’s always something new and exciting to enjoy. Go ahead and do some exploration today!

Pairing Wine with Food Isn't Hard!

Most neophyte wine consumers believe that pairing wine with food is difficult, requires intensive training, and needs to be handled by experts. Let me assure you that this simply isn’t the case. Pairing wine with food is adventuresome, fun, often exciting and can be successfully done by anyone with functioning taste buds, sense of smell and everyday common sense.

We professionals in the trade talk a lot about “organoleptics”. That’s the art of analyzing the tastes of things through the use of all the sensory organs (sight, smell, feel and taste). As professionals, it helps us to understand and learn about each wine we study. It applies, as well, to food and is an area of study and skill development for any serious chef. Applied to both wine and food together, it provides a basis for understanding the technical aspects of pairing food and wine.
For those of us who constantly want to learn and explore more in our beloved fields, it’s an important area.

Organoleptics isn’t required, however, to successfully pair wine with food. Those that believe that are the same ones who propagate the myth that for every food item, there is a “perfect” or “ideal” wine pairing. There should be many great wine pairings for each food item. Remember that wine IS food and has been the natural accompaniment to meals for over 4,000 years. It developed out of the need to have a safe beverage that would complement the food and make it safer and easier to consume.

The first hard and fast rule to remember is: Never pair food with a wine that you wouldn’t enjoy by itself. While it might be a terrific pairing for someone else, if you don’t enjoy the wine, you won’t enjoy the pairing. Always pair food with a wine you enjoy!

To complement food, wine doesn’t have to match perfectly in flavors. In fact sometimes, a contrast works very well. What the wine and food must do to one another is to enhance and highlight the key positive flavor characteristics of each other. They should not enhance or highlight any negative flavor characteristics nor should the key characteristics of one overpower and totally overshadow the other. How do you know when that has happened? Your taste buds will tell you! Trust them to be your guide just as you’ve trusted them to choose your favorite foods and beverages all your life.

The second rule to remember is: to know if a new experience is suitable for you, you have to try something new. Since it’s your taste buds involved, it really is mostly a trial and error process and pairing suggestions should be considered as guideposts or starting points to discovering the wine pairings that work for you.

Asking for advice and help is fine, but always make sure the wine professional you seek advice from does the following:
1) Gets a sense of the kind of wines you normally like to drink.
(This helps insure his recommendations are more based on your taste preferences than his.)
2) Asks how the item to be paired is being prepared.
(Additional flavors from preparation, spices and sauces may impact the choice of wine.)
3) Offers multiple pairing options for you to choose from.
(I personally love restaurants that will list more than one suggestion for each item when they do suggested wine pairings on the menu and generally mistrust them if they only list one.)
4) Advises what you should avoid in selecting a wine to pair and gives the reasons why.
(You’ll probably learn more about good wine pairing and develop more of your own pairing common sense from this advice than anything else.)


The final rule to remember is: YOU are the best judge. The purpose of pairing wine with food is to enhance the enjoyment of both. If it doesn’t work for you, then it simply doesn’t work! Seek another pairing that will.

O.K. it’s time to go forth and try some pairings. Make it fun by inviting friends over to sample 3-4 different wines. Try pairing each one with several different food appetizers and rating each combination on a 1 to 5 point scale. With each wine, try the same appetizers. Have your guests see which appetizer scored highest (and/or lowest) with each wine and discuss why. It’s fun and you’ll learn a lot.

If you would like to have some examples to use as guideposts, here’s some wine pairings that The Wine Guy has enjoyed:

Pasta with meat or mushrooms and red sauce:
Almost any good Italian red is worth trying but my favorite is a good Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo. The earthiness of this wine serves it well in pairing with red sauce pastas.

Shrimp stir-fry:
Good crisp, dry white wines with subtle fruit flavors work well. My most frequent choice is a Chenin Blanc, preferably from South Africa.

Mexican Bean Dip:
The Wine Guy makes his own with refried beans, cheese, green onions, cilantro and salsa. I’ve tried a lot of combinations that were so-so but had my socks knocked off when I paired the dip and good quality tortilla chips with a Spanish Cava.

Baked Halibut:
This light and delicate fish can be easily overpowered but still needs a wine that will bring some flavor accent. On someone else’s suggestion, I tried my halibut with a Spanish Albarino and it’s been my first wine of choice for this dish ever since.

Grilled Hamburgers:
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot come to most people’s mind (unless you’ve got a good Trappist Tripel Ale in hand). While they work, given the choice, I’ll pour a good Carmenere from Chile.

French Onion Soup:
We tend to think of entrees for wine pairings but certain soups are regular meals for Mrs. Wine Guy and myself. With this one, we enjoy having a good French Viognier especially if it’s been lightly aged in oak.

Sweet & Sour Chicken (or Pork):
With sweet teriyaki, sour pineapples, meat green peppers, etc, there’s a lot going on for a wine to stumble over. Some of the traditional Asian food whites (Riesling, gewürztraminer, et al) have a tendency for me to over accent the sweet side. My trial and error led me to try a rose’ of pinot noir and it was a delightful pairing with both the wine and the dish becoming more enjoyable than they would have been on their own!

The above example is what you’re hoping to find as you explore pairing wine with food. Lots of wines will go with almost any dish you choose but when you discover a pairing where both the dish and the wine taste significantly better together than they would on their own, you’ve hit the bulls eye!

Happy exploring and good luck with your pairings!

A Little Wine Math from The Wine Guy

The next time you hold a glass of your favorite wine in your hand, you may want to do a little math.
That glass of wine represents about 75 grapes, which is approximately the number of grapes contained on the average grape cluster. The typical vine will contain about forty clusters of grapes so each vine will produce slightly less than a case of wine.

There are about 400 vines to the acre. Those 400 vines typically produce 5 tons of grapes which will fill just over 13 wine barrels, the equivalent of slightly less than 4,000 bottles of wine or just over 330 cases. That means the acre of grapes that produced the glass of wine you’re holding probably produced over 17,000 additional glasses of wine.

Each of the above barrels required about 1200 clusters of grapes or roughly about 90,000 single grapes. That represents less than 10% of the yield from the average vineyard acre.

Oh, did we mention the barrel is probably oak. Out of the hundreds of species of oak, less than 2 dozen are suitable for barrel making and less than 10% of those are utilized for high-end wine barrels. The average age of a French oak tree utilized for wine barrels is 175 years old.

That’s a lot to think about as you sip!

A Good Wine Adds To The Occaission

Good enjoyable wine becomes even more enjoyable when you discover something new to enjoy it with. It’s one of the fun things about good wine: it never ceases to offer you something new to learn or something new to taste and experience.

A recent family visit by my son and his girlfriend during the celebration of my wife’s birthday offered just such an opportunity. The cuisine was Thai with an assortment of chicken, seafood and vegetable dishes. I’ve long been a fan of enjoying a good sake’ with Thai food, nigori in particular. However, since the meal was in honor of the fetching Mrs. Wine Guy, who is no fan of sake’, I reached into the cellar for a 2003 Grant Burge Barossa The Holy Trinity.

Grant Burge is a fifth generation vigneron in Australia’s famed Barossa Valley, renown for great Shiraz. The Holy Trinity is a Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre blend. All grapes are sourced from Burge’s Barossa vineyards and are all old-vine sourced. The vines range in age from well over 50 to 120+ years. That and some careful winemaking in the Southern Rhone tradition produces a wonderful blend that has drawn critical acclaim for a number of years. My 2003 vintage had received a 91-point rating from Robert Parker at release five years ago and also scored a 91 at the recent 2010 Australian Wine Competition. This silky wine offered complex aromas and tastes with a smoothness that balanced and complimented the myriad flavors in the Thai dishes on our table. While I have long been a fan of Grant Burge Wines in general and The Holy Trinity in particular, I truly enjoyed the discovery of a pairing that, somewhat to my surprise, worked extremely well.

It was at the conclusion of the meal that the significance of this enjoyable experience really hit me. We had enjoyed a traditional Thai family dinner preceded by a Mexican appetizer served with an Australian wine that was produced in a traditional French manner and aged in a combination of French and American oak.

Isn’t the exploration of the versatility of wine a wonderful thing?

Go and enjoy some exploration of your own.

Beaujolais and The Grape It Comes From

Most consumers are not familiar with Gamay but are familiar with Beaujolais wine. This French A.O.C. utilizes the Gamy grape as the component of its red wine, noted for softness and fruit forward characteristics.

Gamay has been grown in the Beaujolais region of France since the middle 1300’s and derives its name from a French Village. It is a thin skinned, low tannin grape that produces high yields, ripens early and has a tendency to be highly acidic. That tendency is modified, however, when grown in highly acidic soil and the characteristic fruitiness of the wine that comes from the Gamay grape is further enhanced by carbonic maceration.

Gamay is hybrid cross of Pinot Noir and the white varietal Gouais. Gouais is believed to have originated in south central Europe and was thought to have been brought to France by the Romans. It was known as “the grape of the peasants” but now is almost extinct. It is noted today because it led to the development of many of the white varietals utilized today in France and Germany. It also has highly influenced the genetic tree of the Gamay grape. Karen Mac Neil, authoress of “The Wine Bible” called Beaujolais “the only white wine that happens to be red”.

Gamay can also be found in very limited quantities and usage in the Loire Valley of France, in Canada, in Australia and in Oregon. There has been, in the past, many wines labeled “Napa Gamay” out of California but with some rare exceptions, nearly all of those were based on Valdigue, a grape with similar characteristics that once was thought to be a Gamay clone. It originated in the Languedoc Roussillon where it is mostly utilized in producing industrial alcohol. In California, wine-makers have copied the Beaujolais vintner’s usage of carbonic maceration and have produced a Valdigue wine that is, indeed, quite similar to many of the Beaujolais wines being produced.

One place you will probably not find Gamay is in Burgundy. In 1395, Phillipe The Bold, Duke of Burgundy, outlawed Gamay as a grape inferior to the preferred Pinot Noir. His ban was reaffirmed later by another Duke of Burgundy named Phillipe and since then Pinot Noir has been the basis of French Burgundy.

Most U.S. consumer’s early experience with Beaujolais has come with the introduction each year of Beaujolais Nouveau on the third Thursday in November. This quickly produced, young version of Beaujolais is rushed to market each year and accounts for nearly half of the region’s annual production of Beaujolais. There are many stories about the origin of the tradition but it comes back to basically being a marketing scheme to increase sales by Georges Dubouef. This Burgundian negociant is one of the leading producers of Beaujolais.

If you’ve never tried Beaujolais, The Wine Guy recommends trying both Beaujolais Nouveau and the regular vintage Beaujolais, particularly those with the Beaujolais Villages appellation. Both Georges Dubouef and Louis Jadot are widely available in the U.S. Some of the estate vineyard bottlings of Beaujolais can be quite unique but are limited and much harder to find. To experience Californian Valdigue, try, in particular, J. Lohr Wildflower Valdigue.


Exploring wine is always a fun adventure. Treat yourself soon!

A Tribute To Mrs. Wine Guy!

We normally think of the New Year as a time of renewal, but for The Wine Guy, this month is a significant milestone. It marks my first anniversary as a wine blogger, my fourth anniversary as a Wine Sommelier and the sixth anniversary of my first major winery exploration trip.
It even marks my first anniversary as a cancer survivor. It also marks a beginning. This month, Mrs. Wine Guy and I have begun planning our retirement together. Readers have often read my references to the fetching Mrs. Wine Guy. She has been a constant source of motivation and encouragement over the years (now numbering close to 40). It is she who first encouraged me to take a passing interest in wine and explore it more fully. It is she who has supported and encouraged me in all my most significant endeavors and has shared in the exploration of life's most enjoyable adventures.

In celebration of this time of renewal and in honor of an outstanding partner in life, as well as the exploration of wine, this week’s post is a pictorial tribute to her. She is the lady who has shared glasses of wine with me across continents and in a variety of countries and settings. Not unlike a favorite well-crafted wine, she is always a pleasure to be with.

In case you are curious. Mrs. Wine Guy’s favorite wines are:

Red: Santa Ema Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon or L.A. Cetto Nebbiolo Riserva Privada

White: Jean Luc Colombo Viognier La Violette

I think a toast to the Lady of My Life with one of those would be an appropriate way to say “thank you” for all her support and encouragement.

Here’s to Mrs. Wine Guy!

The Last Winery in Los Angeles!

Regular readers know by now that I am fond of exploring wine history and am fascinated by the influence of the Italians on the development of good winemaking here in the Americas. In my blog of 1/14/10, “Two American Wine Pioneers” I talked about the Guasti Family who built the Italian Vineyard Company of Southern California into the world’s largest vineyard and winery prior to prohibition. Southern California was THE area for wine production back then and the Los Angeles River basin was home to over 100 wineries. Then came prohibition, which most wineries didn’t survive. Some turned to sacramental wine production to carry them through. The J. Fillipi Winery in Rancho Cucamonga, another example of the Italian influence, still bottles the Guasti sacramental wine. The subject of my blog today, however, is yet another great southern California Italian winemaking family, the Ribolis, and their San Antonio Winery . It is the only winery still operating today within the city limits of Los Angeles.

San Antonio Winery was one of the most successful survivors of prohibition utilizing the sacramental wine strategy. They remain dedicated to that segment of their customer base today, producing over 60,000 cases of sacramental wine per year. But they also do a whole lot more.

The winery, named for Saint Anthony, was actually founded by a native Lombardian, Santo Cambianica in the Lincoln Heights district of L.A. (northeast of downtown) in 1917. He later brought over his Italian nephew Stefano Riboli and Stefano's wife, Maddalena, to assist in the operation of the facility. Together Santo and Stefano made a conscious decision to remain in Los Angeles when the California wine industry migrated. They did, however, invest in vineyards. They were early purchasers of vineyard land in Napa County’s Rutherford appellation. They also have vineyards in such prestigious wine areas as Alexander Valley in Sonoma, the Santa Maria Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands, Arroyo Secco, Soledad and in Paso Robles. A secondary production facility (and tasting center) has since developed in the L.A. metro area in the suburban city of Ontario. In addition to the San Antonio label, they produce wines under 8 different labels. They also serve as importers for about 200 brands of wine from Italy, France, Chile, Austria and Spain. They appear to be involved in, and dedicated to all types of wine.

Two of their most popular choices with consumers reflect that diversity. One is San Antonio Cardinale American, a classic non-vintage concord grape based table wine. Another is San Antonio Hermitage, a classic aged Rhone blend of Syrah, Petit Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache. There’s a good two dozen and more choices in between, not counting the other wines they import and/or offer. All this occurs at their well appointed tasting room and retail center that operates alongside the Maddalena Cuccina restaurant at the winery’s home on Lamar street in L.A. (see photos above). It all makes for an enjoyable visit, though sometimes it can become quite crowed. It’s history, touring opportunities, tasting options, as well as the good food in Maddalena's has made San Antonio Winery a popular tourist destination. It hosts nearly 200,000 visitors a year.

The fetching Mrs. Wine Guy and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit (and lunch) there. We hope to enjoy a return visit the next time we’re in the area. A tip from the Wine Guy if you plan to visit as well: the tasting selections available in the tasting room will vary. If some of the wines aren’t being poured, they may be available by the glass in Maddalena’s if you plan on eating there.

My favorite of the red wine selections was the aforementioned San Antonio Heritage which I thought was much superior to the also prestigious San Antonio Cask 520, A Bordeaux style blend aged in both French and American oak.

One of the better choices in the whites is the Maddalena Pinot Grigio, produced on the premises with juice sourced from Monterey. This crisp white with green apple overtones got a Double Gold and best of class at the California State Fair.

When you're at San Antonio Winery, don’t forget a visit to the trophy case. It's worth taking time to absorb some of the great historical significance of this unique winery, the last one standing in the City of Angels. It’s a fun visit and a slightly different kind of winery experience. Enjoy!

Try a Rose'

It’s summer and by all accounts, it’s going to be a hot one across the country. (It’s always a hot one in The Wine Guy’s Arizona home….we think we’ve cooled off when the daily high gets below 105!)
Summer is a time when many wine drinkers switch to rose’.

Rose’ refers to wines which are not fully red but have enough of a color tinge to them to make them clearly not a white either. The color in a rose’ can range from a very pale orange to nearly purple dependent on the grapes utilized and how the rose is produced.

There are three principal methods of producing rose’:

Blending:

Here simply blending red and white varietals creates the effect. It is a practice now less accepted by most, but not all, major producers. It is most commonly utilized in the production of some sparkling rose’ wines.

Saignee (or “bleeding the vat”):

Here the rose’ is produced by removing some of the pink juice from the must in the early stages of maceration. This early juice is then fermented into a rose wine. It is believed this practice may have been developed by some wine makers principally to enrich and enhance the color and concentration of the later red wine. Regardless of intent, it also results in the production of some good rose’ wine.

Limited Contact:

This method focuses on the intentional limitation of skin contact time in maceration in order to produce a lighter color and tannin content in wine produced from red grapes. This is the preferred method for producing most fine dry roses and the most common rose’ method utilized.

Overall, rose’s are noted for their lightness and crispness and are generally simpler than their heavier-weight counterparts made from the same grapes. This has led to their popularity as summer wines. They are generally very affordable, as well. However, you can find rose’s in nearly all price ranges, including some knockout sparkling rose’s from the Champagne region of France that hit the market at $500 per bottle or more.

One of America’s old favorites is Lancer’s Rose from Portugal (it dates back to 1944). Many boomers will attest to Lancer’s as having been one of their first wines. It is produced with red grapes that are totally separated from their skins. Fresh red grape juice and yeast is later added and additional fermentation takes place. A final round of adding grape juice occurs just before bottling to adjust sweetness.

One of America’s current favorites, White Zinfandel, is actually a relative newcomer to the world of rose’s and occurred by accident in the 70’s at a winery in California. In the process of creating a rose’ of Zinfandel, the fermentation of the wine became “stuck” due to the yeast dying off before all the sugar was fermented into alcohol. The resultant wine was bottled anyway and the rest, as they say, is history. The term “blush” came into popularity a short time later when a Mill Creek Vineyards winemaker created a Cabernet Sauvignon that was pink in color and slightly sweet. Not wanting to call the wine “white Cabernet Sauvignon, the winery took seriously a joking suggestion from wine writer Jerry Mead and called the wine a “Blush” for its blushing pink color.

Since that time, domestic rose’s from the U.S. have tended to be softer, fruitier and sweeter, especially those referred to as a “white” red varietal or as a “blush”. European rose’s, on the other hand, have a greater tendency to fuller in flavor characteristics and drier. If you’re approaching rose’s for the first time it may serve you well to consider what style of red or white you most frequently enjoy. If you tend to the sweeter whites such as riesling, gewürztraminer or moscato, or the lighter softer, un-oaked reds, then a white zinfandel, white merlot, many of the blush wines and/or a rose’ of pinot noir would probably be a good starting point for your exploration. If you enjoy heavier weight, oaked whites or full-bodied reds, I’d suggest looking towards the drier, more traditional rose’s such as those produced in Southern France, Spain and one of my favorite sources for dry rose’s: South Africa.

Here are a few recommendations from The Wine Guy to consider as you explore the world of rose’ wine:

Sutter Home White Zinfandel or Sutter Home White Merlot:
Two sweeter-style rose’s that come from the people who first created White Zinfandel by accident. (White Merlot is made the same way as White Zinfandel and first became popular in the 90’s). If you enjoy fruity, sweeter wines, this is your rose’ of choice. Just be prepared to shrug off snide comments from wine-snobs who will accuse you of drinking alcoholic kool-aid.

Francis Coppola Sofia California Rose’:
This rose’ of Pinot Noir offers mostly strawberry and cherry flavors with a hint of raspberries and rose petals on the nose. It has uniquely been offered in cans which boaters in my home state of Arizona (and elsewhere) love. Rose of Pinot Noir is a great intermediate bridge between the fruity and sweet California blushes and the drier, fuller old-world rose’s.

(Note from The Wine Guy: A favorite Pinot Noir Rose comes from the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara and is made by winemaker David Carr but unfortunately less than 100 cases at a time. Try it and pick up some if you ever visit his winery on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail).

Tapena Rose:
This Castilian producer offers a nice Spanish rose’ that blends Grenacha and Monastrell with a light touch of Shiraz. Look for cherry and strawberry laced with light citrus acidity followed by a soft smooth, somewhat mineral finish.

Casal Garcia Vinho Verde Rose’:
Better known for their white Vinho Verde wines, this Portuguese producer makes an effervescent, low alcohol (about 10%) rose with bright berry fruit flavors. The wine is made from three Portuguese red varietals: Azal Tinto, Barracao and Vinhao.

Falset-Marca Etim Roset Monsant:
Grenacha and Syrah from the Priorat region of Spain form the basis for this rose. It offers strawberry and raspberry with a hint of peach that lingers on the nice finish. A very well balanced wine.

Les Deux Rives Corbieres Rose:
The French love their rose’ and they produce some of the best dry rose made. This one hails from the Languedoc-Roussillon and combines the varietals of Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah. Look for raspberry and strawberry flavors and a light tanginess with the finish.


Chateau Campuget Costieres de Nimes Rose’:
Syrah and Grenache are the basis for this wine. The producer’s family has a 370-year history of winemaking in France’s Rhone valley. Look for some cherry and currant notes with the typical raspberry found in most roses. You’ll enjoy this wine’s long fruity finish.

Mulderbosch Stellenbosch Rose’:
Out of one of South Africa’s premier regions comes this Rose’ of Cabernet Sauvignon. Look for berry flavors accented by a hint of pomegranate and light spice followed by a nice long and lingering finish.

Juno Cape Maidens Pinotage Rose’:
South Africa’s signature grape, Pinotage, forms the basis for this rose’. Plum and cherry fruit flavors abound and some find a hint of banana. There are more tannins than in the typical rose but they are soft and smooth. This is a unique and well-made dry rose from the Paarl region of South Africa.

These are just a few examples. Rose’ wines offer a wealth of possibilities for your enjoyment. Go ahead and explore them for yourself. Just remember, a good rose’ is enjoyable anytime, not just in summer!