New direction

After a year and a half sabbatical from full-time employment in the wine industry, ironically due to a cross country move to a wine producing area, I'm happy to say that my career path is once again clear. I've taken a California Regional Manager position with Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards here in Santa Barbara County. 

I'm not sure what I want to do with the blog going forward. I'll add content that I feel good about and have time to write (time being the key factor), but the writing I'm sure will take a different approach. If you've checked in and read my posts over the past two years- thank you! I hope to see you out in wine country sometime soon!

A consumer's view of the Wine Spectator Grand Tour in San Francisco

On the way up to San Francisco to pick up my inbound Atlanta friends Justin and Jon for our 2013 wine excursion - the 2013 Wine Spectator Grand Tour was conveniently happening downtown. When the Wednesday April 24th date was announced, it seemed like the perfect excuse to splurge on a ticket and start my vacation a few hours early.

These events can have their pluses and minuses. On the plus side are the wines under one roof available to taste. High-end producers and wines from nearly every major wine region in the world are there. The down side is an expensive ($200) ticket and the unknowns prior to the event. Those unknowns to me were the potential pitfalls of overcrowding and a difficult layout. With an event duration of three hours, efficiency is needed to get to the desired wines. I've been to plenty of other wine events and wine trade tastings where tables were crowded out, or where it was difficult to find who you were looking for without walking around the room with a map. Fortunately many of the former events I wasn't paying for. This time it felt like there was more at stake.

In anticipation, I mapped out my targets and even posted an inquiry on WineBerserkers.com asking if anyone had been or was going to the event. The posting started a bit of an odd dialog about the worthiness of the event, but I was undeterred to take advantage in my goal to taste and note a great list of wines from the event. On the day the event rolled around, I was on the road finding my way up to Union Square in San Francisco to the Marriott Marquis. Successfully navigating time and traffic, I was in line to get in just a few minutes prior to opening. Once inside, with a glass and my notes in tow I made my way through three hours featuring plenty of great juice (and the occasional wine celebrity manning a table).

Any trepidation about the potential downsides of the event were quickly answered. The event wasn't oversold, so you could walk around comfortably and take notes. The room was effectively laid out from sparkling to whites to reds by region, so I intuitively knew where to go without looking at the map. Most importantly, there was only one wine poured per producer per table, keeping lines to a minimum. I tasted just about every region and producer I set out to and enjoyed the experience.

Bottom line, yes it's an expensive ticket, and Wine Spectator may be passé to certain wine message board posters, but if I had the extra cash and the event were convenient, I'd be happy to do it again. Here's a link to the wines tasted.

Happy trails!

Exciting things are happening at Wine I Like! So much so that I'm taking the rest of April off from posting to concentrate on other things I have going on. I'll be attending the Wine Spectator Grand Tasting in San Francisco and then doing some Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino wine tasting later this month. I look forward to posting on these excursions in May - until then, happy trails!

The wine slump.

Do you ever get into a wine slump?

To me this is along the same lines as a food slump. I sometimes get tired of everything I'm eating. Nothing sounds good, and nothing new or different easily comes to mind.

There's a great lyric to a song from the band Nada Surf that describes this. The song is called 'Fruit Fly' and its lyrics vividly illustrate depression from the perspective of the writer's mundane observations and subsequent thoughts in observing fruit flies in his kitchen.

"Left straight right straight
I can't find a reason
I know I'll keep going but
I can't find a reason
Nothing looks right
Nothing smells right
And I can't land"

These "slumps" that I speak of are probably rooted in some form of anxiety or depression. The world has seemed particularly dark and bleak to me recently... Elections cycles are great to remind me of how dysfunctional we can be as a society. Storms, heatwaves, and droughts are constant reminders of the fragile world in which we live.

Personally and professionally, I'm feel like I'm in a bit of a purgatory. I know, I know I should just be happy to be working. Whatever.

So the wine slump... I love tasting different wines. And despite the awesomeness of moving to an area among vineyards and winemaking, my tasting regimen has suffered since getting to my destination. Before I got here I had a career in wine -- equal parts exhilarating and exhaustion. Lots of exposure and learning, but lots of stress and headache. There was no time to do the blog. Now my career is outside of wine. I've tried to move the passion for wine into a hobby by getting back into blogging, and through part-time winery work here in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Something is missing though. I'm aimlessly looking for forced exposure to new and exciting wines. Everything seems stale. I'm trying to find my way back into that exhaustion and stress. Maybe a new wave of inspiration will strike and the blog can fill the void. Short of that, all that I have to offer right now is this meandering reflection of my non-inspiration.

By the way, when mired in a wine slump and food slump, high quality store-bought sushi (thanks El Rancho Market!) and Gruet Blanc de Noirs are a good start in climbing out!

Oh yeah, check out Fruit Fly... it's a great tune.
 

What's In Your Tech Sheet?

Like many wine lovers, I have at least some interest in the details of how a wine is made. I don't however, have the time to research the small details of every wine that I drink.

Much of what I learn comes from the wine's tech sheet. It's usually available in some form from the winery website. Sometimes as a separate PDF file, and other times as listed on the main description page. I'm interested in any information that the winemaker is willing to share on the tech sheet, but at a minimum I like to know a few things. Site specific information; time in oak with percentage new; native or inoculated yeast, brix level at harvest, general fermentation information, viticultural info, and clones used (on high end wines) are a few things that are useful for me when listed in tech sheets.

There are other items that would be interesting to know about, but aren't going to appear on a tech sheet anytime soon. Things such as acidification, watering down or other alcohol lowering techniques, added enzymes, etc are certainly of interest. However you're probably going to have to do some serious reading to get this information. Recently I've found some pretty candid information from winemakers in books like New Classic Winemakers of California and North American Pinot Noir.

What kind of information is an interested consumer owed in the form of a wine tech sheet? I'm sensitive to the different angles that this question addresses. As a wine lover, I want to know and understand wine more fully. The decisions made in the winegrowing and winemaking process, and the different means and philosophies behind those decisions, are endlessly fascinating. I try to keep an open mind in any of the possible directions. It's the same kind of interest in reading album liner notes where the musicians give you information about the recording process, the different equipment that was used, and the players on the album.

On the other hand, I understand that much of this information is seen as proprietary, to be doled out at the discretion of the vintner. The information that can be withheld is not of a concern to the immediate health of the consumer, so maybe it is up to the interested consumer to search out what they're interested in on their own. We're free to make buying decisions based on the information given or not given. As in music, there are plenty of great albums that share very little information in the liner notes.

With all this in mind, I've linked five tech sheets below. These are wines that I've written about over the last year. I'm listing the information beside each that is given; click the link for the wines. As you'll see, it's an interesting variation. There's definitely no standard format or level of information.

Tech Sheet 1 (domestic)- total production, release date, site specific information, soils, clones, fermentation details, time in oak with percentage new, harvest yield, alcohol by volume.

Tech Sheet 2- (imported)- grape varietals, alcohol by volume, acid level, pH level, sugar level, harvest dates, type and temperature of fermentation, fermentation techniques, type of oak, time of oak w/percentage new.

Tech Sheet 3- (imported)- alcohol by volume, basic aging information, winemaker name, very basic harvest and fermentation info, grape varietals.

Tech Sheet 4- (domestic)- winemaker name, vineyard name, time/type/percentage new oak aging, growing season/harvest overview, harvest period, brix at harvest, alcohol by volume, total acidity, pH level, grape varietals.

Tech Sheet 5- (domestic)- vineyard/harvest overview, time of harvest, brix at harvest, detailed fermentation information, use of inoculated yeast, time in oak w/percentage new/1yr/neutral, percent estate vineyard, grape variety, clones, alcohol by volume, total acidity, pH level, residual sugar, winemaker name.

How important is the technical information to you, and how much should be offered to you vs you seeking it out?

Too Much Information?

Matt Kramer's "Manifesto 2010" column in the new Wine Spectator (March 31, 2010) hits on the theme of transparency in winemaking. Among all the talk about high alcohol levels; interventionist vs. natural winemaking; biodynamic farming; and the myriad of other topics surrounding the making of wine- I agree with Mr. Kramer that transparency is the centerpiece in the discussion.

At the same time, I'm not sure how much unsolicited information is owed by vintners about their winemaking techniques and philosophies. Accurate alcohol by volume seems like a no-brainer to me, but the 1% (on wines less than 14%) and 1.5% (on wines greater than 14%) leeway that US law allows on label is such a large range that you have to take the information with a grain of salt. You'd think this would be the most basic information that you could rely upon regarding the wine.

Outside of that, how much information is owed to the consumer? I've seen tech sheets detailing rootstock, clones, soil, yeasts, percentage of new oak, type of oak, size of barrel, farming methods, and everything in between. On the other side of the coin, I've seen only the most basic technical information given. I was looking on the website for Chateau La Tour Carnet the other evening and it couldn't tell me the percentage of new oak that was used in aging.

Is it more interesting to speculate whether a wine was watered back, or aged in what percentage of new oak, or fermented with natural yeast... or more interesting to know all this information going in? I like to get my own impressions and then see how they might be correct or mistaken. I'm not sure that any of the detailed technical information is owed to me- part of the onus is on me to find it out if I have an interest. I'm not sure what to read into the less detailed tech sheets and websites... as long is doesn't potentially affect the health of the consumer (i.e. alcohol, sulfites), then to me its proprietary information. If the winery thinks putting it out there is useful then I guess they do it. Maybe they just think if you or me is interested enough we'll find a way to get the information... maybe we ask the question in the tasting room or email the winery.

That's not to say that I don't appreciate full disclosure when it is offered- both positive and negative. I guess its easy to disclose that you farm biodynamically, or ferment with natural yeast, or don't filter or fine on your tech sheets if you think this is appealing to your target customers. What's impressive to me, as Matt Kramer mentioned in the column, is the concept of disclosing a potentially unfashionable detail about your wine. In New Classic Winemakers of California, Bill Wathen of Foxen mentions that some wines have to be watered back- but not something they like to do. I overheard Steve Beckmen of Beckmen Vineyards saying in their tasting room last year that the 2007 vintage didn't need to by acidified... I don't doubt the integrity of Foxen or Beckmen for these reasons. I'm sure there are plenty who avoid talking about that stuff, but in avoidance maybe the opportunity is missed for a meaningful discussion with perspective about hot-button winemaking issues.

It would be great to see a more open discussion, but I'm still unsure that I am owed any more from a winemaker than I would be from a musician, or an artist. Maybe the methods are essential to the final result, maybe the ends always justify the means. It's in the eye of the beholder I guess- from the winemaker to the consumer.

Thoughts From New Classic Winemakers of California

I recently read New Classic Winemakers of California. The book is a series of conversational interviews conducted by Steve Heimoff from Wine Enthusiast with noteworthy California winemakers. The sections are divided by decades which the winemakers got their start, either the 70's, 80's, or 90's. Big names such as John Alban, Heidi Peterson Barrett, Greg Brewer, Merry Edwards, Elias Fernandez are profiled- and the list goes on and on.

Heimoff does a great job conducting candid conversations with the subjects. For instance, the question is often asked about rising alcohol levels in California fine wines. The variations of responses are fascinating, and some winemakers offer theories about why this might be the case. An idea that came up more than once was the role that lowering yields plays in driving up sugars in the remaining fruit. If the goal is to pick with ripe mature tannins, then the brix is often already high due to the reduced yields, resulting in higher alcohol. Another idea that was mentioned was the lack of old vines in California. The idea being that old vines produce a naturally lower yield and this allows the tannins to ripen in concert with the sugars in the grape- allowing for a complex profile at a lower brix. This makes sense when considering the recent history of California viticulture- new vineyard development, replantings, phylloxera in the late 80's, etc.

The discussion also gets into cellar techniques that winemakers may or may not use when picking at high brix. At least one noteworthy producer admits that they are willing to resort to water addition as a means to lower alcohol. Others say the high alcohol is better than using reverse osmosis or water addition, they view it as the natural expression of the vineyard. Most seem to regard it as an issue that they are beginning to deal with and that the levels will start to come down in the future. Plenty of other subjects in the cellar and the vineyard are discussed, the brix discussion just happens to be what resonated most with me.

If you're interested in issues in the vineyard and the cellar and haven't checked this out, it's a fascinating and worthwhile read. I like Steve Heimoff's stuff in Wine Enthusiast- his reviews seem to correspond with my tastes, and he's not easy to peg like other critics can be. I'll look forward to reading his earlier book, A Wine Journey Along The Russian River.