Dr Vino's wine blog

SIPPED: money back wine
The NYT reports on a new ad campaign from Blackstone, a Constellation wine brand, that is emphasizing “trust.” “We’re so sure you’ll enjoy the taste of Blackstone wines that if you don’t, we’ll pay you back,” the ads declare and even include a “money back guarantee“! Yes, the wine is $9.99 excluding shipping and handling charges. Call now! Operators are standing by! Actually, not all consumers can “relax, unwind, and uncork a flavor bomb,” as the Blackstone Winery web site suggests since the offer is not available in states such as California and New York. And it expires nationally on 8/31/2009.

SIPPED: Chateau Plastique
The LA Times reports on the rise of plastic wine bottles. While PET bottles are lighter and therefore welcome from a carbon reduction perspective, it bears mentioning that plastic can’t effectively be recycled (from plastic bottles to plastic bottles), only “downcycled” (from plastic bottles to park benches). [See comments for update]

SIPPED: rise of byob
A piece on theatlantic.com praises Philadelphia’s culture of BYOBs. But then adds this kicker: “For serious BYOBers, the only problem with this arrangement is that they’re better off purchasing their wine in another state.”

SIPPED: responding to critics
After Jeremy Parzen called reporting about Brunello on decanter.com “egregiously disinformational,” Decanter handed the their most recent update over to Parzen and his co-blogger Franco Zilliani. Check out the latest on “Operation Mixed Wine.”

Some friends from college came to visit a few months ago. They don’t drink much wine (mostly beer and cocktails) but they wanted to try something good to see what they were missing. For some reason, when we were going over some options, I found myself gravitating toward a 2004 Barbaresco from the producer Paitin (find this wine). Young as it was, I had been wanting to try it and at about $50, it seemed like a good splurge bottle for this event.

But the bottle didn’t exactly win our friends over to the joys of wine. As much as I liked the wine, its pleasures were still tightly wound in youthful tannins, which are bitter. A wine that has angular tannins is probably not a great wine for the majority of newbies. In fact, I’ve poured young Nebbiolos in some classes and events to illustrate the grip of tannins; most people dislike them but there are always a few people who love them. I think I’ll start polling people to see if it correlates with whether they like black coffee or not.

I was talking with a beer geek (is that what they are called?) the other day and he told me about the IBU, a measure also known as the International Bittering Unit that rates the hoppy bitterness of a brew. Apparently beers can be ranked by IBUs where Bud has about five, an India Pale Ale might have 40 and a Stout might have 60+.

Given that the geekier beers tend to be the more bitter beers, could we say then that Nebbiolo is also a geeky grape because of its bitter tannins? I think so. The same as a sugary latte holds more appeal than a straight espresso, the more bitter the drink, the more of a geek you have to be, it seems. Are we moving toward a general theory of bitter? And what to serve guests who aren’t so into wine…

Ben Carter writes a wine blog from Memphis known as Benito’s wine reviews. In the same spirit as our impossible food wine pairings, his series “Benito vs. ___”, he takes on such crazy foods as cactus or an MRE. Check them out! And while you’re there, you can check out his kind words about my book A Year of Wine–as well as a few words from me since we did a Q&A.

One of the questions he asked me was about a time when I had trouble opening a bottle. Being smoother than Rico Suave with corkscrew, I could only think of crumbly corks as difficult-to-open situations.

But later, Mrs. Vino reminded me of The Rabbit!

I haven’t ever confessed this to you, but The Rabbit and I are not friends. We once brought a celebratory bottle of red over to some friends at their new home. New as in brand new. And freshly painted. They presented me with The Rabbit to open the bottle and I confidently pushed down on the lever in such a manner as to thrust the cork into the bottle and force a geyser of red wine up to the ceiling. Whoops! Fortunately the painter was due back soon. But still, not one of my finer bottle opening moments.

What about you? Do you have any embarrassing moments in bottle opening that you’d like to share?

Soon enough, and barring a worsening of the blight, ripe local tomatoes will be flooding greenmarkets around the country–if they aren’t already. Which always puts me in the mood for gazpacho!

So easy to make and so fresh: Some tomatoes, a cucumber, a little red onion, a garlic clove, some vinegar…Mmm!

But tomatoes have high acidity and vinegar is wine gone bad, which is always hard to pair with good wine.

Which wine would you pair with a bowl of gazpacho? Or is it…impossible?!?

A remarkable wine story of the past few weeks that has gained lots of media attention is the story of “Banned in ‘Bama.” (click for details)

Interestingly, UCLA law professor, Eugene Volokh, posted about this label and said that it seemed “pretty clearly unconstitutional.” Not that Hahn, the producer of the banned Cycles Gladiator, would want to challenge the decision since they have garnered such a huge amount of media attention: they are making a massive amount of lemonade from these tiny lemons and now is mounting point-of-sales material in other states to try the wine “banned in Bama.”

Which other labels might be in jeopardy of being banned in Bama? Hit the comments with your thoughts.

To get the ball rolling, consider the image to the right that is on bottles of Geheimer Rat, Dr. Basserman-Jordan from the Pfalz (click to enlarge). Not only does the woman have sensuous grapes in her hair, but the screw cap is adorned with some rather sensuous initials.

And while we’re on the topic of judging a wine by its label, be sure to surf over to a site called The Coolist and see their display of 30 cool and clever wine label designs.

Finding rewarding light reds under $15 can be as hard as searching for the Holy Grail (but without the killer rabbit). Bump it up to $20 and you can have more options, such as this trio of 2006s. I stretched my dollar by purchasing these in a mixed case.

Produttori del Barbaresco, Langhe, Nebbiolo, 2006 about $19
This wine is such a trip! Light in color, the unsuspecting taster might presume it to be “thin” (the ultimate put-down for light bodied reds). Instead, delicious aromas of rose petal and damp earth great the nose. On the palate, great acidity precedes vigorous but interesting and manageable tannins. A great entry-level nebbiolo, a grape that can often escalate in price quickly. I haven’t tried the ’07 of this wine yet, have you?
Lot: 8.143. Imported by VIAS

Domaine Sylvain Pataille, Bourgogne-Passetoutgrains, 2006. about $18
Blending Pinot Noir? Say it ain’t so. But the practice gets a big “oui” in the appellation of Bourgogne-Passetoutgrains where the wines must be minimum one-third Pinot Noir with the balance the Gamay grape. The result in this 2006 offering from Sylvain Pataille’s 70 year old vines has lipsmacking fruit and acidity and, at 12 percent alcohol, gulpable. On a warm summer evening (when it’s not raining–grr), try serving chilled to 60 degrees for maximum enjoyment.
Lot tasted: LR 01. Becky Wasserman Selection

Alain Michaud, Brouilly, 2006. about $18
I hadn’t tried this Beaujolais producer before but I threw it in my cart. This straight up gamay (as opposed to the Passetougrains) from the strong vintage 2006 has a slight savory note to it as well as wild strawberries. It’s a bigger, broader style within the realm of cru Beaujolais that has a structured but chewy finish. Lot tasted: L. 02 Becky Wasserman Selection

Search for these wines at retail

The EPA reports that 28 percent of glass packaging was recycled in America in 2007. If you think that’s low, consider the number for wine (and liquor) bottles: 15 percent.

It’s a bit of a puzzle why wine (and liquor) bottle recycling rates are so low nationally. While some municipalities require bottle recycling, many more clearly do not. The consumption pattern of wine is amenable to recycling, it would seem, since it’s consumed in a dining room or restaurant: Unlike single-serve water or soda bottles, corks are generally pulled only a few paces from a recycling bin.

Hopefully this rate can rise. The NYT reported that in April, House Democrats introduced a proposal to place a five cent deposit on all beverage containers. (If that ever sees the light of day, hopefully unreturned wine bottles will not see the deposit go to the wholesaler rather than the state’s coffers.) Even though deposits are small where they exist now, the EPA report indicates recycling rates for glass beer and soft drink bottles are more than twice that of wine (and liquor) bottles at 34 percent.

Meanwhile, wine producers are slimming the weight of their bottles. Jancis Robinson once posted a “name and shame” list of heavy bottles. But now the pendulum is starting to swing the other way, if somewhat slowly compared to other drinks. Overseas, Torres is slimming their bottles. Fetzer Vineyards, one of the largest American winemakers, has announced 16 percent lighter bottles. Why? Not only are lighter bottles cheaper for the producer to buy, but the lower mass means lower carbon dioxide emissions during transportation.

On a related note, longtime readers might be interested to note that the paper that I co-authored on the carbon footprint of wine has been published in the current issue of the Journal of Wine Research.

GULP!
Michael Broadbent, founder of the wine department at Christie’s, has sued Random House publisher of The Billionaire’s Vinegar (buy on amazon). The Daily Mail writes: “The Broadbent claims the book suggests he invented a bid for another of the Jefferson wines – a half-bottle of 1784 Margaux – to ensure the successful bidder paid more than was necessary.” Random House will defend the lawsuit. The Billionaire’s Vinegar is also being made into a movie. (Image: The Daily Mail)

SPIT: sales
The NYT summarizes the effect of the recession on the California wine industry: “Brutal.” It continues: “Cash may be trickling, but anxiety is gushing forth.”

SWISHED: retail change in NY
A proposal to reform New York’s retail and allow wine sales in supermarket failed earlier this year. One state Senator has introduced new legislation that would allow not only wine sales in supermarkets but also food sales in wine stores and a “medallion” system instead of licensing. Owners could operate more than one location in New York, also a change. Time will tell whether this initiative fares differently. [LoHud]

SIPPED: ultra low prices
An (unlabeled) Australian wine is selling for $1.99 at a store in Sydney, or “cheaper than water.” Meanwhile, John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter estimate that the value of juice in Fred Franzia’s new Down Under Chardonnay (retail: about $3) costs “about 35 U.S. cents or less.”

SIPPED: Schmoozing and blogging
Wine Business Monthly reports from the Wine Bloggers’ Conference; Jim Gordon of Wines & Vines has tips for bloggers.

SPIT: stems on Air France
Air France has introduced a new line of stemless wine glasses in Business and First (aka Affaires and La Première). Are the wines served any good? Hit the comments with your on-board experiences.