Dr Vino's wine blog

When the fraud squad raided Verget from Verget.

Jean-Marie Guffens, a winemaker in Macon who founded Maison Verget, endured a decade-long investigation by French authorities, including Customs and Fraud office. It started in 2001 after the grapes were harvested but before the winery staff had even filed the harvest paperwork. And it continued ebbing and flowing, with allegations that Guffens was blending wine from the south into his Burgundies. In the 27-minute video, Guffens declares that “we live in a banana republic” with “mafia-style” raids including a surprise winery inspection with 25 officers, and accusations of complicity against the staff. His wife and members of the staff were even held in custody for two days. Eventually, in 2010, the charges were dropped. Guffens sued to have his name exonerated and– SPOLIER ALERT!–a judge in Beaune ruled in his favor in November.

This action and the heavy-handed tactics over Olivier Cousin’s whimsical labeling, set against the backdrop of declining domestic wine consumption, illustrate the difficult days for many French vignerons. I’ll add it to my file for updating Wine Politics.

Calvin Trillin has a hilarious post on ACI, a measure with false precision akin to the wine score. Here’s a snippet: “Among people who think of themselves as wine connoisseurs there’s a 61 percent ACI.” What is ACI? Click through to find out… [Slate.com]

Giuseppe Quintarelli, “master of the Veneto,” has died at 84. [NYTimes.com]

Registration is now open for the next session of my six-week wine class at NYU. [scps.NYU.edu]

And next Monday, I’ll be participating in a panel at The New School with Frank Prial, Julia Flynn Siler, Charles Sciccolone and Andy Smith. We’ll be discussing the life and legacy of Robert Mondavi.

Who wields the most influence on wine in China? As the year of the dragon kicks off soon, I put this question to various China insiders.

Ian Ford, partner at Summergate, a leading wine importer to China: Yao Ming. He is a mega-star and having him talking about his new wine from California is not just good for California wine, it’s good for all of wine in China. [Summergate does not import the new Yao wines - Ed.]

Jeannie Cho Lee, Master of Wine, author of Asian Palate & Mastering Wine: Han Changfu the current Minister of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China; controls all national agricultural regulations including wine and can move entire market with one policy change.

Jamie Ritchie, CEO & President, Americas and Asia, Sotheby’s Wine. The Government: who controls both supply and price. By keeping zero tax on wine in Hong Kong, you have this thriving market, that we all know and love (even despite this short term scaling back in demand/prices). In Mainland China, the same is true, as the import/hygiene restrictions limit a more free and open market. A favorable regulatory environment is the most important key to any market.

Debra Meiburg a Master of Wine based in Hong Kong: That’s a tough question. The mainland market is quite fragmented. Voices in Beijing are unknown in Shanghai and vice versa. Don St. Pierre or the Summergate teams are obvious choices as the leading fine wine importers in China. The domestic industry is stepping up their game and in that regard Professor Li Demei is highly influential (Chinese Agricultural University) as well as Professor Ma Huiquin. The auction houses capture the international headlines, but are connecting with a small number of people with deep pockets.

Sun Xitai, a 62-year-old businessman in China has been sentenced to life in prison. His crime? Bringing about $7 million worth of wine, mostly Bordeaux, from Hong Kong to mainland China and failing to pay sufficient duty.

You can get the whole story in an interesting post on Bordeaux Undiscovered. The post cites China’s Legal Daily saying that 70 percent of imported red wine is smuggled, which seems a staggering amount. Travelers from Hong Kong to China are allowed to bring one liter of wine or spirits legally.

While I don’t know the details of this case and how much was imported when, but it does seem odd that the period involved is 2004-2009. After all, Hong Kong scrapped wine duty in only in 2008; before that it was higher than the mainland, where the duties total about 50 percent of the imported price. So this harsh punishment may be more to set an example to curtail such activities.

He had this final comment about the duties: “It would be difficult to stay in business if I went through official channels.”

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of New Jersey? Surely, the local wine, right?!

That’s what state legislators were hoping when they voted a reform to New Jersey wine law this week. With the governor’s signature, which he has said he will provide, the state will become the 39th to allow the direct shipping from wineries to consumers. After Granholm, the 2005 Supreme Court decision that found it unconstitutional to allow in-state wineries the right to ship to consumers while out-of-state wineries were prevented, New Jersey was one of the rare states that didn’t open up shipments, but instead closed down.

The new law is certainly worth celebrating but don’t think about popping Champagne unless it is purchased at a store in NJ. The most glaring shortcoming is that the bill only legalizes shipments from wineries, not wine stores, thus disallowing free trade in over a third of the wine consumed in the US. For reasons of parity, that’s too bad. But since there are many innovative wine stores and the state has become one of the most competitive in the country, New Jersey residents are still well-served.

Anyhoo, not all wineries can ship to New Jersey under the new law, just wineries under 250,000 gallons (about 85,000 cases). These “capacity caps” are controversial and were struck down in Massachusetts (at a threshold of 30,000 gallons) as a form of discriminating against out-of-state wineries, which was what Granholm said was the big no-no. Further, wineries must purchase a license to ship, which is among the highest such fees in the country. Cathy Corison, proprietor of Corison in Napa Valley, tweeted “NJ opens up to direct wine shipment. $938 annual fee. Gee… thanks. #smallwinerytax.”

For an additional fee, licensed wineries are allowed to open more than a dozen tasting rooms for direct sales throughout the state, which also seems to advantage in-state wineries. But if an out-of-state winery opened a store, it would be a new and fascinating challenge to the three-tier system. (In this vein, Chateau Montelena just opened a “tasting room” in the Westin hotel in San Francisco; New Jersey also has many BYOB restaurants.)

So for NJ consumers, it’s a half-a-loaf law. It’s better than the status quo ante. But not ideal since buying wine from, say, NY wine stores is still illegal (and thus, I’m sure, never happens). New Jersey wineries may be the biggest beneficiaries of all as they can expand in-state (and out-of-state!) sales. Time to bone up on the terroir de Jersey Shore (although this map is much funnier).

What do you think? If you are a winery or New Jersey resident, are you excited or non-plussed by the change?

SPIT: Burgundy 2010 allocations are harder than ever to get, per above video!

CHUGGED: USA remains the largest wine-consuming country for the second year in a row. China rose to the top five for the first time. [thedrinksbusiness]

SIPPED: Americans rejoice as they will soon be able to purchase NJ wines directly! Or that’s how they spun the bill’s passage to liberalize the state’s shipping laws. [NJToday.com]

SPIT: Chinese “8″ no longer lucky for Lafite — 08 vintage has tumbled 45% in a year. [decanter]

SIPPED: Collateralized drink obligations. A little leverage with your wine? A NY lender offers loans with wine as collateral: borro.com

SIPPED: Mmm, maps. Parcel-by-parcel in Montrachet.

SIPPED: I offer some wine picks at Men’s Health. You’ll have to get the ab workout advice from them though…

Is food-wine pairing dead? Never! And the same is true of our “impossible” pairings. So by request, we kick off 2012 with an easy one for you: grilled cheese.

Yes, it’s comfort food. And, no, it’s not impossible as the bread-cheese duo is the basis of so many delicious staples from pizza to ravioli. So raise the degree of difficulty, if you so desire, by adding a twist to the classic by suggesting your favorite cheese. (Incidentally, Ruth Reichl gave some tips last week on Gilt Taste about how to make grilled cheese better, including grating the cheese and adding a thin layer of mayo!) Who knows, maybe your grilled cheese will be graced by a depiction of the Virgin Mary it and you can sell it for $28k on eBay!

Bryan, who asked the question originally, said he went with Australian cheddar and a Simon Bize Savigny-les-Beaune 2009. How would you spin it?

In a series of post that will go directly into the Wine Blogging Hall of Fame, check out the return of the Hosemaster of Wine and his three-part series, PARKENSTEIN!

In the first installment, Parkenstein assembles his creation: “the more power I accumulated, the more I felt this feverish desire to transfer it to another being, to give power to a cipher of my own creation.” In the second, the creation is animated “the monster’s speech was made up of grunts and snorts and slurping sounds. I had succeeded beyond my wildest dreams—he already spoke like a critic.”

And in the rousing final installment, the creation wanders the earth…which only is big enough for either the creator or the creation.

Mary Shelley would be proud–if she were a wine geek. Hopefully there will be Young Parkensteen!