Dr Vino’s wine blog

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Dear Dr. Vino,

If you had to take a bottle of American wine to Bulgaria that reflects the most recent trend in American winemaking, what would that bottle be? I want to take a bottle to my key participant in my academic study (who is one of the best winemakers in Bulgaria) when I head out next month to the wild Balkans. If this is an impossible question to answer, forgive my boldness (& ignorance) and please ignore it!

Impossible–never! It’s a great question, actually. I thought about American wines recently for a piece that I contributed to on Forbes.com about ten independent wines from the good ole US of A. I’d probably take one of those. Many of them actually run counter to the trend in higher alcohol levels so I’d point out that they are, in fact, anti-trendy, or the beginning of a new trend, perhaps. And then maybe bring a Turley that I’m trying to get rid of just for laffs.

What about you? Which wine would you bring if you were in this reader’s shoes?

Could it really be true that David Beckham bought his wife Victoria (fka “Posh”) a winery in Napa for (only) “seven figures” for her recent birthday? So reported the Sun in the UK. Apparently the couple got into wine while he was playing for Real Madrid and, now living in California, may have taken the plunge. However, the fact that it remains unobserved in wine circles makes me skeptical that it really happened. But let’s talk about it anyway!

A columnist on MSNBC later reported on other reporting, looking for a motive:

“David feels like Victoria needs something to do other than shopping and going to parties,” a source told Full Disclosure. “He is hoping she will get into the wine business and settle into some kind of regular routine.”

Ouch! SFLuxe.com throws cold water on the idea of their buying a property, instead suggesting they bought into The Napa Valley Reserve. A $150,000 deposit buys the right to purchase wine, from a half a barrel to three barrels. Members can be as involved as they like, picking grapes off the vine (in stilettos?) or punching down the cap.

What should be the name of their wine? The Sun suggested Chateau Posh, describing it as thin bodied.

If they do buy a winery, they would be the latest celebrities to buy one. Brangelina recently signed a long-term rental in Provence and Johnny Depp bought Venssa Paradis a vineyard there as well.

Should you be able to drink wine in a park with a picnic?

This question arose during the Q&A after my talk at the Beard House last week. Funny, wine politics extends to parks!

It turned out that the woman who posed the question had, in fact, just sipped wine at a picnic in Prospect Park in Brooklyn–and all in her party were ticketed! At $25 a head, that ended up being a $150 wine experience that she and her friends would no doubt could have lived without. Or the most expensive rosé they had ever tasted.

For those of you who might wonder why they were issued a citation, city law bans open containers of alcohol in parks or beaches. Mayor Bloomberg did get in trouble in 2003 when some people were ticketed for drinking beer on a beach while he was photographed days later listening to the Philharmonic with people having wine near him.

Are these blue laws outdated and we should be able to uncork rose while in the park? Have your say in the latest poll!

Last week I shot some video with Eric Arnold of First Big Crush fame, now also of Forbes.com fame. The first video–and my video debut–is now live! I pick ten independent American wines for Independence Day. Head on over to Forbes.com for the story (with slide show) or cut straight to the video.

What would be on your list of independent wines?

Also, check out this story from Bloomberg–who knew AVAs could be so fun! Regulatory columnist Cindy Skrzycki does a good job recounting the story that led the Feds to reject the petition for a Viticultural Area named Tulocay in Napa. Quotage from Dr. Vino.

E Pluribus Vinum will be the new motto for America, soon to be the top wine drinking country in the world! Katie of Ramsey, N.J. suggested it and you voted it.

As a prize, I sent her a signed copy of the hottest (only?) wine book to be released in July, my own, Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink. Thanks, Katie, and thanks, all, for your votes!

Cities used to be for beer making. Wine, traditionally made near the vineyard, is moving into cities at warp speed.

First wineries infiltrated Brooklyn, as Brooklyn Oenology and Bridge Urban Winery have done and Abe Schoener will do in Red Hook later this year. Next up: Manhattan. City Winery, a night club meets wine bar meets winery, will open at 143 Varick St in the fall.

Michael Dorf, owner of the nightclub the Knitting Factory among other pursuits, is heading the City Winery. Grapes will be trucked in from New York State, California and possibly beyond to be made into wine under the supervision of David Lecomte, a French trained winemaker who has made wine at Chapoutier and Herzog, the kosher winery in California. People can buy a barrel (approximately 250 bottles of finished wine) starting at $5,000 and track its progress. Crushpad, which pioneered this approach in San Francisco, will also open a facility in NYC in the fall.

While the winery space will be for members (aka “barrel owners”) only, the nightclub/wine bar will be open to the public with more than 50 wines by the glass and an event space for up to 400. Oh, and there’s a state-of-the-art sound system.

Read more about City Winery and the bureaucratic hoops they had to jump through including licensing and waste removal issues at Wines & Vines (they could send all that pomace to Delluva Day Spa instead!). The Village Voice also had a recent piece on the trend.

Tipster Steve points out that times have changed since 2000 when the “last” winery moved out of NYC as tax incentives and rising costs lured the kosher Kedem to Bayonne, NJ. The barrel always rolls…

America will soon be the biggest wine country in the world and we need a motto! Thanks to the 30 commenters who often had multiple suggestions–browse them all for a good laugh.

Ray Isle, Deputy Wine Editor at Food & Wine magazine, the frequent face of wine on the Today Show, a wine blogger in his own right and all around good guy joined me in narrowing the field of suggestions. So here they are, the finalists, for your voting. Decide America’s new wine motto here and now!

The one with the most votes as of Friday will be crowned the winner and will receive a signed copy of Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink. That’s right, the book that tells the story of wine in France and America through the lens of industry politics will be on of theirs in time for the Fourth of July. Congratulations to site readers Mark Ashley, Patrick Henry (who knew?), and Katie for making it into the finals!

The United States of America will soon become the largest wine drinking country in the world. It depends on whom you ask, but some time in the next year or two or five, we will be downing more of the fermented fruits of the vine than any other country–including France and Italy. Of course, they still tower over us with 52 and 46 liters per person respectively while we manage only about 13 liters per American (somewhere between a third and a half of Americans claim never to drink alcohol).

So we have to be ready: we need a motto. Britain did it. Then Freakonomics blog urged their readers to come up with one for America in six words. Collectively, we drink and now YOU can decide: Post your suggestions in the comments here for America’s new motto as the top wine consuming country.

Ray Isle, who writes his own excellent blog (now with pictures!) when he’s not giving wine seminars in Aspen or writing his wine column for Food & Wine magazine, will join me as a mini-panel of flag pin-wearing judges. We will cull through your suggestions and select some finalists for your voting, starting next Tuesday.

And to up the ante from our usual prize of mere “glory,” whoever submits the winning slogan will win a signed copy of my just-about-released book, Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink. That’s right, the book that tells the story of wine in France and America through the lens of industry politics could be yours for the Fourth of July.

So put down your flag for a second and start typing your slogan for America as world wine leader!

SPIT: wine ice cream!
Move over Cherry Garcia, here comes pinot noir ice cream! Well, assuming you’re over 21. Yes, the New York legislature passed a law preventing minors from getting their hands on the stuff since two gallons of the ice cream contains as much alcohol as one glass of wine according to one producer. Can’t be too careful, New York!

SIPPED: wine and war
Faced with budget cuts for veterans, the fabled French Foreign Legion has gotten into the wine biz to raise funds from the sale of a wine called “Esprit de Corps.” An officer who overseas the property had this tasting note for the wine: “Strong when attacked, solid on the onslaught, full of grapeshot on the frontline.” [AFP]

SPIT: tasting notes!
“From now on, wine drinkers, you get to mention three things you smell in a wine, max. Then you have to tell me something more interesting.” I guess he’d like the note for the “Esprit de Corps.” [Chicago Tribune, thanks, Stephen!]

SPIT: liquid soap!
A restaurant in New Zealand mistakenly served dishwashing soap to two customers thinking it was mulled wine. Courts awarded the stricken customers $752 each for their emotional harm. [AP News, thanks, Casey!]

SPIT: freedom in Illinois!
Wine-loving residents of the Land of Lincoln now have fewer choices: It’s confusing, but in a law effective today, wineries (both out-of-state in-state) will have caps on the amount they can ship to Illinois and out-of-state retailers will be banned from shipping to the state. While it’s a sad day and you can chalk one up for special interests let’s just hope this legislative folly goes the way of the foie gras ban soon enough. [Chicago Tribune]

SPIT: freedom in France
Liberté takes a back seat in France too where wine ads are strictly controlled in France and Microsoft has taken the unusually cautious step of removing wine ads from their ad service (Google ads still include wine on the internets in France). If anyone is looking at this site in France, remember, ceci n’est pas une pub! [thepost.ie]

SIPPED: wine education
An inside look at wine education at the Sommelier Society of America. [NYT]

SPIT: jugs!
Almaden and Inglenook, two wines known for their big jugs, will now come in the lightweight bag-in-box format. It sounds like old wine in new wineskins but because of the volume involved it will contribute to reducing wine’s carbon footprint. [Bizjournals]

SIPPED: corks in space
Schramsberg winery reports that Navy Commander Kenneth Ham is flying with bottles of the bubbly on board the space shuttle Discovery! If only. But he is taking some corks and labels from the Napa sparkling wine producer on the flight with him.

SIPPED: Wine books
A review of three wine books today in the NYT Book Review section follows one by Eric Aismov from ten days ago to review the spring crop of wine books. And, yes, my reviews will follow soon before you head to the beach this summer!

RIP: Robert Mondavi, the American wine colossus, who died at 94. [SF Chron, NYT]

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