Is wine slumping? Apparently so, according to a recent article in Business Week. Citing the flailing economy, a grape glut and other factors, BW reports that more family-run shops are selling out to Gallo and other mass-producers. Some wineries are increasing advertising budgets to boost sales, while others are hiring chief financial officers and other management types to get costs under control. Familiar names discussed include Mondavi, St. Francis and Ravenswood, which churns out 400,000 cases of its low-end Vintners Blend to offset costs from its more rarified stock, such as the Monte Rosso Zinfandel. Despite the gloomy tone of the piece, data in the article suggest the underlying quirkiness of the wine market. For example, while sales for low-end wines have fallen 6 percent this year, revenue from premium brands grew 12 percent. There are probably many valid explanations for this contrast, but the ones that come to mind are 1) buyers of premium wines tend to have more disposable income and 2) wine is pretty unique compared with many other products, so true wine enthusiasts are unlikely to stop buying even if they can't afford it!
 :: posted by John Biers at 9:37 PM
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Paraiso Springs, and a plug for Gold Medal Wine. I've had trouble finding Paraiso Springs in these parts - so I was very pleased to see that they were the featured winery in my shipment from Gold Medal Wines this week. For those who don't know what this is, it's a wine club that delivers two bottles of award-winning wines from small producers each month. I found out about it from Eliot K. when I lived in New Orleans and have continued my subscription up here because, quite frankly, I don't want to run to New Jersey everytime I want interesting wine. Anyway, they shipped a 1999 Pinot Noir and a 1999 Chardonnay - hopefully they will be as good as the syrah. (oh - and anyone who joins Gold Medal, feel free to put me down as a reference so I can get some free wine!)
 :: posted by Chris Gray at 11:07 AM
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Undiscovered Australia. It's been a while since I've gone to a wine tasting, but that might change now that the Wine School of Philadelphia has opened up in my neighborhood. Keith Wallace, the former journalist (NPR, Baltimore Sun) who used to do the tastings at Chaddsford has gone off on his own, and if Friday's tasting was any indication, the new classes are pretty good (and bonus! no more icky Chaddsford wines are served). Anyway, here's what we drank:
1) Yalumba NV Museum Release Muscat, Victoria region. 15 points. I'm becoming more of a dessert wine fan these days, and this one topped my list. It tasted more like a port than a muscat, with toffee overtones. Apparently Wine Spectator gave it 93 points, rather unusual for a dessert wine. It retails for about $20 and is allegedly fairly easy to find.
2) (tied) Clonakilla 1999 Shiraz, Langhorne Creek. 14.5 (yes, I'm still assigning halves!) Nearly all the wines Keith served were not your typical fruity big Australians, and this one seemed particularly French-y to me. It smelled smoky and had a toasty, leathery taste - but in a good way. $25.
2) (tied) Rosemount 1999 Traditional, Langhorne Creek. 14.5. This was a blend of syrah and cabernet sauvingon. Big jammy taste - the most "Australian" of the wines served. 91 points from Wine Spectator. It was good, but not worth the $45 price in my opinion.
4) Frankland Estate 1997 "Olmo's Reward," Western Australia. 11.5. Another blend, this one of cab, cab franc and merlot. It had a French mushroomy smell, but it tasted syrupy to me. Not much of a finish.
5) Mad Fish 2001 Chardonnay, Western Australia. 11.5. Keith called chardonnay the "tofu of the wine world" because it picks up the flavors of its barrels. The fact that Australians use stainless steel barrels instead of oak came through on the chards that he served. This one smelled flowery, with a sweet, bright taste to it. $19.
6) Salena Estate 2000 Chardonnay, Riverland. 10. This tasted like Granny Smith apples to me. Not at all like an American chard - a bit flintier, like a sauvignon blanc. $19.
7) Mad Fish 2000 Shiraz, Western Australia. 10. I had really wanted to like the Mad Fish wines because I liked the name (and the cute turtle on the bottle), but I ended up not ranking them very high. I like my shirazes to have a "pow" to them and this one didn't deliver.
8) Salena Estate 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon, Riverland. CORKED. Boy, was it ever. Never smelled a wine that nasty before. But at $16, it could be worth checking out sometime.
 :: posted by Chris Gray at 6:42 PM
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October 10 results. Sorry for the delay. I probably won't be able to get these filed on the other pages of the site until Sunday or so.
     1) "Krakatoa." 2000 Ridge California Geyserville, Sonoma County; 66% Zinfandel, 17% Carignan, 17% Petite Sirah. $34 or so. Average 13.6; range 12-17. Variously described as jammy, smooth, yummy, creamy, tart, fruity, elegant. The trouble with a some of these young zins is that they're all muscle -- extracted fruit, tannin, alcohol, and that's it. The nice things about this one was that it was a whole lot more balanced than most of the others. The wine seems very substantial, but the fruit didn't knock you over, and it's balanced by a pleasant tartness.
     2) "Rocket." 2000 Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma, Sonoma County. $17. Average 12.6; range 11-18. We loved the '98 version of this at the inaugural wine club meeting. A lot of people found it smooth and rounded, with a pleasant but not overwhelming cherry taste. Somebody -- maybe Jeff -- said, "maybe it's not a complicated wine, but I'm not a complicated guy." Steph recognized it instantly and gave it an 18. For the little that it's worth, your Webmaster was a bit skeptical of this one, because of a perceptible note of Robitussin and because it didn't have any of the charcoal or zesty notes that make zins so much fun.
     3) "Cheney." 2000 Robert Biale Napa Zinfandel, Napa Valley. $27. Average 12.5; range 11-17. People really liked the nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice notes in this wine. It reminded somebody of holidays. Jammy fruit, not cloyingly sweet, some depth. But others thought the flavors didn't add up, and that a bourbon-like finish never really settled.
     4) "New York Times." 2000 Norman Vineyards Paso Robles Zinfandel "The Monster", Paso Robles. $16. Average 12.4; range 10-16. A pleasant wine that smells of milk chocolate, boysenberries or homemade blackberry jam. But in a way it's a little strange: the first couple of whiffs of all of those flavors put together reminded a couple of us of an Australian-style California shiraz, and it seemed for a while like the wine was trying to be something it wasn't. (Here at wine club we like our Zins to be out, proud and unapologetic.) As it settles down, you can taste the underlying zin-ness. But it's an odd ride. Odd associations: It reminded one person of Enron, because it didn't deliver all it promised, and another of New Order's attempt at a rock album, because its true nature shone through soon enough.
     5-tie) "Disney." 2000 Francis Coppola Diamond Series Zinfandel (Red Label), California; 89% Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah. Average 12; range 9-15. One person, who will remain nameless, wanted to reduce her score upon learning that this was a Coppola wine. In truth, this was the Honda Accord of Zinfandels. Like an Accord, it delivers everything it ought to: a decent amount of fruit; notes of of charcoal, chocolate and oaky vanilla; and a pleasant meaty feeling in your stomack. But there's not much style or spunk to the enterprise, and the smell is bigger than the taste.
     5-tie) "Betsy." 2000 St. Francis Old Vines Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley. $17. Average 12; range 10-16. We took to calling this Standard Zin #2. Fairly restrained fruit and oak, nice blackberry nose. A little tingle on the tongue. Some peopel thought it was seamless and well-balanced; others cited a bitter, biting finish. Go figure.
     7) "Teen Love." 2000 Rabbit Ridge Zinfandel, California. $12. Average 11; range 7-15. Back in the day, this was my idea of a really fancy wine. Tonight, it seemed to taste like sweaty sun-dried tomatoes with a tiny hint of mint. Others thought it drinkable if thin, a nice one-note wine with a bit of cranberry in the nose. Nothing especially unpleasant here, but it seemed to be missing something. It needed some kind of catalyst, Paul thought.
     8) "Madonna." 2000 Rocking Horse Zinfandel, Napa Valley. $19. Average 9; range 7-12. On the plus side, this wine had a nice hint of cloves. On the minus side, it was overly earthy and Euromusty, with hints of turpentine and pine bark. Variously described as chemical, artificial and even icky. Bitter finish. At 15.6%, it's palpably alcoholic. Tolerable with chocolate, but what isn't?
     It's worth noting that three wines -- the second-, third- and fourth-ranked wines -- were separated by two tenths of a point. Which is almost nothing at a tasting with ten people.
     All of these came from Martin Wine Cellar. The fake names all refer to things that are powerful.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 1:23 AM
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Chocolate Port! Soon had a surprise for me when I (surprisingly) showed up in DC for work this weekend. There, at her neighborhood World Food store, was the infamous Deco Chocolate Port that Steph and I discovered on our 2000 California trip! We both bought bottles, and Soon poured it over the Harvest Pear Crisp recipe from the October 2002 Cooking Light. It was quite tasty (I also bought a bottle of the Duet Hazelnut Sherry, the dessert wine that broke in my suitcase and ruined my late-1990s-era pashmina).
 :: posted by Chris Gray at 1:06 PM
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Chardonnay with pizza? I say yuck, but the New York Times says yum.
 :: posted by Stephanie Grace at 8:48 AM
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Point-Counterpoint: Wines From The Onion: "You Know, There Are Some Excellent Red Wines Coming Out Of Argentina" vs. "I Hate You, I Hate You, I Hate You."
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 9:07 PM
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