Dr Vino's wine blog

By Ben Curtis

For most people, Hungary probably doesn’t immediately spring to mind as a great wine-producing country. Yet Hungarian wines have a tradition that goes back at least to Roman times, and a renown that was once second to none. France’s Louis XIV, for instance, famously referred to Hungarian Tokaj wine as “the king of wines and the wine of kings.” This royal reputation was unfortunately tarnished by forty years behind the iron curtain. Communism, with its unique ability to turn gold into lead, triggered a precipitous decline in the quality of Hungarian wine. Since 1989, though, Hungarian vintners have been avidly trying to repair that damage, and once again the fame of Hungarian wines is spreading beyond the country’s borders.

A visit to Hungary’s numerous grape-growing regions, then, is a chance to see vineyards not yet overexposed to globe-trotting enophiles, and moreover to enjoy some charming villages and lovely countryside, all at prices still very reasonable compared to those in Western Europe. The main problem is one of choice: wine is such a deeply rooted part of Hungarian culture that many areas are worth exploring, from the pastel-hued city of Eger in the north, whose Valley of the Beautiful Women produces the red Bull’s Blood wine, to the Villány-Siklós wine route in the south, with its Mediterranean climate. That said, though, there are perhaps two main regions that best reward a traveler’s time.

The first, not surprisingly, is Tokaj itself. This is a region of volcanic hills in the northeastern part of Hungary, dotted with vineyards and villages that are relatively little changed over the past hundred years. The area centers on the town of Tokaj: strolling along its Baroque main street, you’ll pass by any number of wine cellars where, besides tasting the local tipples, you can learn about the arcane Tokaj classification system of “butts” (in Hungarian puttony) designed to indicate how much sweet aszú grape nectar a given wine contains. Aszú in Hungarian means “withered,” and it refers to grapes that are left to ripen so long that they become shriveled but extremely sweet—or “nobly rotten” in wine parlance. The aszú nectar is what makes Tokaj unique.

Cellars here and indeed throughout Hungary are often simple, rustic affairs, definitely not as corporatized and shiny as, say, their Napa Valley counterparts, but with much more character. Tokaj cellars are particularly distinctive for their mould-covered walls, which are critical to the fermentation of Tokaj wine. Many of the biggest wineries around Tokaj are now in fact owned by French, Spanish, and German firms, and international investment has gone a long way to modernizing what the communists so long neglected.

All was not plonk in the Bad Old Days, though: the Oremus winery, today owned by the Spanish company Bodegas Vega Sicilia, produced in 1972 a vintage that was recently voted the best dessert wine in the world. Other names to look out for include the winery Disznókö, which has also recently won several gold medals, and almost anything from the vintner István Szepsy, whose wines often sell out quickly.

The other area most worth touring surrounds Lake Balaton in the western part of Hungary, about two hours south of Budapest. This lake—known somewhat jokingly as “the Hungarian sea” to ocean-starved central Europeans—sits at the heart of a region with many attractions. The village of Tihany, with its ancient Benedictine abbey and its location high on a hill extending into the lake, takes the prize for picturesqueness. At the southeastern end of the region there bubbles the separate lake and spa of Hévíz, fed entirely by geothermal water—it’s the second-largest geothermal lake in the world, but just one of Hungary’s many hot springs.

The town of Badacsony is the Balaton’s most famous wine center, known particularly for its Rieslings. Lying in a broad valley ringed by extinct volcanoes, Badacsony is very scenic, and if you have one too many glasses at all the wine bars in town you can walk it off on the hiking trails in the area. One of the best local wines is produced by the vintner Huba Szeremley; look for recent vintages of his Badacsonyi Szent Orbán to find out what you’ve been missing.

Finally, though no great wines come from Budapest, even on hillsides within the city limits you can see little family plots laced with grapevines. The capital is also a great place to taste and shop for wines from all over the country. Wine stores are plentiful, especially on the Pest side of the river, while smack in the middle of Buda’s castle district, in the cellars of a big neo-Gothic building, you’ll find the Museum of Hungarian Wine. Also in Budapest every September the Hungarian Wine Festival takes place. Growers, vintners, and wineries from around the country assemble to show off their stuff and talk business, accompanied by lots of tastings, competitions, folk music and dancing. It’s quite a party, but then they have a lot to celebrate, since Hungarian wines are once again making a name for themselves all over the world.

For more information on Hungarian wines and wine tourism, surf over to www.winesofhungary.com.

Spain
Spain once harbored the ambitions to become “the world’s wine cellar” in the late 19th century but the phylloxera aphid laid waste to those hopes as it had to the French vineyards slightly earlier. While never really emerging from the long French shadow, Spain does have the most acres under vine of any country and is the world’s third largest wine producer. A transition to quality has been underway over the past two decades and several dynamic new growing areas and winemakers have been emerging. Finding great price-to-quality wines from Spain is easy: here are but a few suggestions.

Castaño, Solanera, Monastrell, 2000, $9.
An old joke compares politics to sausage: you just want to enjoy the end result, not what went into it. This wine comes from Murcia, a region better known for its sausage than for its wine. But one thing you will want to know about this wine is what went into it (politics included!). Located just west of Alicante in the small and unknown growing area of Yecla (which only has four producers), Bodegas Castaño is making some top-flight wines. This one is smooth as silk from beginning to end. Imported by Eric Solomon, who has a large portfolio of excellent French and Spanish wines, the Solanera is a blend of old-vine monastrell grapes, more commonly known as mourvèdre in the Rhône, and cabernet sauvignon. Wonderful scents, beautiful complexity and an excellent finish will make people fortunate enough to find this wine savor each and every glass.

Dehesa Gago, g, 2001. $9.
Gago does it again! Telmo Rodriguez, the prolific and diverse winemaker from Spain, has produced another great vintage of this well-packaged wine. (Has it really been that long since the first 10 for 10 list?) The elegant black label with a prominent white g adorns this bottle. But it’s not just the container that’s important here since the local grapes (100% Tinta de Toro, the local name for the red-wine grape Tempranillo) are made in a jammy, New World style. With only limited imports to the US, it is best to buy this wine with both hands.

Osborne, Solaz, 2000, $5.50.
This is another easy-to-find, easy-to-drink wine from Spain. Viva España! A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon/20% Tempranillo is from the sherry makers, Osborne (not the Osbournes of MTV fame!). Although the label states that the house was founded in 1772, that date refers to Osborne, not the new winery into which the company has recently poured $47 million. Thus far the capital that has rained over the arid Castilian plain near Toledo has produced a wine that may lack complexity but is very drinkable and an excellent value.

France
France produces many of the world’s top wines so the challenge in French wines is to find a good price to quality ratio. I find the far-flung growing regions of Bordeaux to be quite alive with innovation and great winemaking, yet quite well priced.

Château Cheval-Blanc Signé, white, AOC Bordeaux, 2000. $5.
Members of the ABC (anything but Chardonnay) club will enjoy this crisp, dry white from the outer reaches of Bordeaux. While made of mostly Sauvignon Blanc, it lacks the cloying sweetness and citrus of many other Sauvignon Blancs. Fans of granny smith apples will love this wine since green apples predominate. Riesling is often suggested as a good wine for spicy Asian foods but this one also fits the bill without the sweetness that many people dislike in Rieslings. This wine is a win-win to bring to a party: not only do you impress your host with a Bordeaux and enjoy it if it is opened, but if it is not opened the low price makes it easy enough to replace and have another at home.

SCV Castelmaure, Col des Vents, AOC Corbières, 2001. $6.50
Mrs. Vino and I sought out this winery during our April 2002 trip to Languedoc. The sommelier at a nearby restaurant recommended another of their wines, the excellent La Pompadour 1999 (not available in the US), and that made us take the winding road up to this winery. Located in a high valley in the Corbières growing area of Fitou, just a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean coast, this winery is a cooperative, which means that some 70 local growers collectively own the winemaking facility. The totally unpretentious facility cranks out wine that is much more complex than other wines from the area. A nice purple color gives way to an appealing nose followed by a palate of black currant and other dark fruits. When we were there, a Danish customer was filling his car with cases of their wines. Since Americans can’t drive there and load up, Kysela Père et Fils imports it. This American bottling has a handsome label and an even more attractive price to quality ratio.

Grange de Rouquette, Marsanne Viognier, 2001. $9.
This vin de pays d’oc blends two local white wine varietals that aren’t very well-known in the US, the Marsanne and the Viognier. Viognier is unforgettable from the Rhône’s Condrieu area and starting to catch on in California where it is generally north of $30 a bottle. Hence this Viognier is a steal. This pleasant, unoaked wine was a great complement to some Italian sheep cheese (pecorino) covered in fig spread on a water cracker. Another great import from Robert Kacher.

Château Paul Mas, Vinus, 1999, $8.
Unlike Château de la Négly, which started at the top, Domaine Paul Mas has traditionally been a table wine producer who is now reaching for quality. The 1999 Vinus, a grenache-syrah blend aged in oak barrels, is an appellation wine from the Côteaux de Languedoc. My brothers came over for lunch one day and we cooked a meal and ate on the deck with a bottle of Vinus served slightly chilled and in short, Italian-style glasses. Most enjoyable.

Grande Cassagne, Costières de Nîmes, 2001. “GS” La Civette. $7.
Think blue jeans. As in denim, or “de Nîmes” as the material was originally known in French. This wine, also “de Nîmes,” is supple and smooth as a pair of old jeans. Since appellation wines are not allowed to display the grape varietals on the label, this producer coyly calls it “GS,” which could stand for “Great Stuff,” but instead Grenache-Syrah, the blend’s two grape varietals. This wine has a good red color, a complex nose, and surprising sophistication and complexity. The finish is slightly abrupt although not unpleasant. But hey, it’s only $7 and for that, it’s a steal.

Domaine de Pouy, vin de pays Gascogne, 2001, $5.
Tired of Chardonnay? Try this unctuous white from Gascony in southwest France. Unbelievable value, the crisp flavors of peaches and apricots, devoid of citrus, butter or oak, make this a perfect wine to keep close to the deck (great with insalata caprese). Don’t buy more than you intend to drink for the next few months since it is best while young and fresh.

Austria
Austrian winemakers have had to overcome a lot of adversity. Not only are they high-cost producers in a global marketplace but difficult and unfamiliar names can be off-putting. Further, the winemakers hurt themselves through scandal. In 1985, sales of Austrian wines fell off a cliff when several producers were caught adding diethylene glycol to their wines to add sweetness. This led to a worldwide recall of almost all Austrian wines and tainted the local industry’s reputation. Real wine journalists now say that Austrian producers have thoroughly escaped this shadow and now are producing some strong wines, thanks to a new quality policy. Jancis Robinson recently reported that Austrian white wines decisively beat white Burgundies in a blind tasting. I was eager to find out for myself.

Loimer, Grüner Veltliner, Langenlois, 2000. $9.99.
“Gru-V,” baby. No this is not the wine commentary of Austin Powers. In fact, this is how sommeliers in fine restaurants are pitching this Austrian white wine varietal. The grüner veltliner is a crisp, dry alternative to the well-known Teutonic white wine, Riesling. Using no oak, this medium-bodied wine is very approachable with notes of citrus and a slight effervescence. As with many Gru Vees, this wine is fast friends with vegetables and shellfish. Loimer also makes a very good Spiegel wine that is more complex with a longer finish for $18. Surprise your friends by showing them this good wine from Austria.

Fred Franzia, the bulk wine producer from California known for wine-in-a-box among other travesties, has been a busy pumping out the wine recently. His Bronco Wine Co. produces wine under the Charles Shaw label, which now sells for $1.99 at Trader Joe’s grocery stores (although it sells for $2.99 outside of California thanks to the mandatory distributor intervention).

The wine has been flying off the shelves as some shoppers are buying 10 cases at a time according to an article on sacbee.com. One Trader Joe’s store manager in Sacramento said that the store sells 300-500 cases of Charles Shaw a day. The wine producer has reportedly entered into this exclusive arrangement with the grocery store chain to the tune of one million cases. That’s a lot of wine for one label.

This aggressive marketing strategy underscores one half of the current crisis for California wines: a grape glut. Acreage under vine has been on a steady increase over the past decade. As a result, the harvest (amount of grapes crushed) has grown by over 40%. For several years as supply was increasing, prices were also increasing, the best of both worlds. This year, in contrast, the overproduction has caused prices at the low end to decline in a commodity-like fashion as final demand has slackened. (click here for the crush data)

That means bankruptcies in the industry. In the first major boom and bust in this country’s wine industry during the 1870s, many farmers were forced to sell below their costs, which drove them out of business. In this current cycle, growers have already declared some of the first bankruptcies and it remains to be seen whether some wineries will also be forced to close as well. The invisible hand of the market is delivering the bulk wine producers and growers a powerful slap.

Customarily the wine market does not operate as one monolithic market, but instead as two distinct markets split between quality and quantity. A crisis on the low end in which prices decline can occur without affecting the high end. Regions, varietals, brands and vintages all serve to insulate the high end from the brutal price competition of the low end. The price of apples need not affect the price of oranges: a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley would not really be affected by a glut of Merlot in the non-descript central valley of California.

Or at least that is how it works most of the time. While the current crisis of overproduction in the US market has forced prices down for low end wines, the slowing economy has put pressure on the high end. As a result of these two troubles, many producers are bringing prices down. That should be joy for the rest of us.

However, economics alone does not drive wine prices for the American consumer. The key aspect of the US wine market is that even if producers lower prices, prices to the consumer may not necessarily decline given the various, entrenched layers between the producer and the consumer. This time consumers may just be in luck. Hopefully some distributors will be compelled to also clear their inventories and lower prices accordingly (although the Charles Shaw example does not provide much hope). High-end restaurants are even lowering prices as Amanda Hesser reported in the 12/25/02 New York Times. Retailers are also likely to run lots of sales and discounts over the next few weeks and months, typically some of the slowest of the year.

All is not lost for the US wine industry during this time. The industry has taken significant strides toward putting better wines in the bottle over the recent past. The downturn in prices combined with good quality could turn Americans—with some of the lowest per capita consumption rates in the world—into more regular consumers. That, indeed, would be the silver lining for the industry. But producers would be well advised to heed recent consumption trends that indicate consumers drinking “less but better” wine and not skimp on quality. In the meantime, consumers can get some welcome relief from snap up some domestic bargains from California.

Succumbing to the pressure for year-end lists, and in keeping with the background theme of academia on the site, I decided to compile a list of top wines of the year. I use academic references to situate my favorites of the year. Of course these picks are not restricted to those in the Ivory Tower—just insert yourself where you think you fit. As ever, value (price to quality) considerations played a large role in the selection.

Best wine, graduate students (or interns)
The insecurity and poor pay of the exploited and hard-working grad student makes them want good bang for their buck. Borsao 2001 ($5) fits the bill nicely. This red wine from Spain is a great bargain that is packed with flavor and is sure to make whoever brings it the star of grad student parties. Château Cheval-Blanc Signé 2001 ($5) is a great Sauvignon Blanc that not only tastes fresh and clean but also has a nice label and the Bordeaux name to impress others at first glance.

Best wine, assistant professors (or junior sales executive)
Besides enjoying amenities like an office (with a window), a research and (gasp) telephone budget, the regularity of the paycheck is a welcome relief from the depravity of the grad student days. However, all the responsibilities of the new job and the new demands on the paycheck may spell a desire for the wine to flow in quantity over quality. The Castell del Remei Gotim Bru 1999 ($9) from Catalonia and the Mas de Guiot 2001 Grenache-Syrah ($9) from Languedoc are two excellent reds that are guaranteed to knock the socks off the department chair. Silverado Sauvignon Blanc 2001 ($9.99) has a sleek design and a crisp, clean taste that has converted several associate professors to this varietal.

Best wine for associate professors (or Vice-President for Something)
There are lots of good wines to choose from at the associate professor level-getting tenure has its perks. From the Barossa Valley in Australia, Cimicky Signature Shiraz 1999 ($23) is among the best shiraz I have had from Australia. More refined in style than the burly low-end Shiraz from Oz, this one is worthy of Cimicky’s John Hancock. Also eligible in this category are the Edna Valley Chardonnay 2000, which is a good value (now $12 although it used to be under $10 not so long ago) and the Loimer Spiegel Grüner Veltliner 2000 ($18), a crisp white wine that is very flattering to seafood.

Best wine for full professors (head honcho)
Having made major contributions to your field, the worldwide recognition and royalty checks are rolling in. Time to crank up those wine purchases a bit-you never know when the Dean my drop by. Sadly, excellent Chardonnays only start at $25: at this price, the Dehlinger Chardonnay 2000 from Sonoma represents an excellent price to quality ratio. With its multiple layers, notes of butterscotch, and a textured long finish this wine has turned many heads. In the reds, why not impress the Dean with the massive Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta 2000 ($45) from Chile. With Michel Rolland—one of several “flying winemakers” in Chile—consulting on the winemaking, this wine is a blockbuster that probably needs some more cellar time but that has wonderful complexity of dark fruits. Many retailers are trying to clear out the late 1990s vintages of Bordeaux so some good values can be found among them. Consider the 1999 Pichon le Baron de Langueville ($36), a great Bordeaux château now selling for a great price.

Best wine after finishing grading all those exams (or closing a deal)
Abadia Retuerta, Rivola, 2001 ($10.80). This lively Spanish wine with an earthy nose and a long finish definitely punches above its weight in price and is just what the Dr. ordered after all the grading is done.

Best wine for celebrating the acceptance of an article for publication (or meeting a big deadline)
Franus, Cabernet Sauvignon, 1998. ($21). Smooth and complex, this wine sells for about a 40% discount to the succeeding vintages from this Napa winemaker.

Best wine for curing the mid-semester (or mid-winter) blues
The cure is a little Zin as the big, red wine from California is known. Turley Old Vine Zinfandel, 2000 ($22), one of the best Zinfandels made and therefore one of the most difficult to find, but it packs a punch with its spicy nose and bonanza of flavors (and nearly 16% alcohol). Otherwise for zinfandels, in the words of Jay MacInerney, “almost anything that starts with R is good” (the producers here are Ridge, Renwood, Rafanelli, etc) and often easier to find. Hartford Court makes several excellent Zins but these too are hard to find (their phone is 800-588-0234).

Best wine to celebrate getting tenure (or a promotion and a raise)
Pol Roger Rosé, 1995 ($60). A favorite of Winston Churchill’s and a favorite of mine this year. Light bubbles and lively mouthfeel make this a good pick for a major celebration.

Best “wine” for not getting tenure (or shareholders of bankrupt companies)
Mad Dog 20/20.

Best wine to give to somebody you don’t really like/cooking wine
Charles Shaw Merlot or Chardonnay, $1.99 at Trader Joe’s grocery store. So this is where all those surplus grapes have gone-into the million cases that Franzia (as in wine-in-a-box) is selling exclusively through Trader Joe’s. Don’t be surprised if this “Two Buck Chuck,” as it is colloquially known, costs three bucks at Trader Joe’s outside of California. Within the state, the producer negotiates directly with the retailer whereas outside the state, a distributor must intervene thanks to entrenched state monopolies.

“I wouldn’t wash the family dog with it,” said the New England innkeeper where Mrs. Vino and I had our wedding reception. Cava, the object of his condescension, is a sparkling white wine from Spain. Although sparkling white wine and champagne are essentially the same thing why are they different in the innkeeper’s mind? Is it worth paying through the nose for champagne?

People in the wine industry love the last quarter of the year. That’s because we love to drink wine at our celebrations. Almost three-quarters of the year’s sales occur in the last three months. While Thanksgiving and Christmas may be limited by country or religion, New Year’s Eve is a global bash and champagne dominates it. “If everyone in the world had just one glass of champagne…” Or so the logic went for the millennium when sales were brisk and rumors spread about a potential champagne shortage. In the end, the shortage did not occur and the millennium left the producers with a hangover.

Champagne, as in the stuff that James Bond drinks, comes from the Champagne region just east of Paris. In 1911 residents of several communities excluded from the official growing area staged an angry protest and troops had to be brought in to quell the demonstrations. Although those residents’ zones were ultimately included in Champagne, they were the first of many groups worldwide who would try to crack into the prestige of the term. The Champagne producers have been able to rebuff other worldwide producers of the bubbly stuff through their exclusive claims to their origins in the Champagne region. As a result we are left with Cava, Sekt, spumante, and sparkling white wine from the rest of the world.

Champagne producers obscure the varietals that they use, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. “Blanc de blanc” means it is made from Chardonnay grapes while “blanc de noir” means Pinot Noir has been included. The producers also obscure vintages as the majority of champagne comes in a non-vintage form. As a result, the champagne houses are the very model of the corporate brand that so many New World producers seek to emulate. Just give them a couple of centuries and they’re bound to catch up.

Paying through the nose is common for champagnes but not always necessary. Yes, the likes of Cristal, vintage Dom Perignon and Pol Roger are wonderful, but they are well in excess of $100 a bottle. From California, Domaine Chandon (the US arm of Moët & Chandon, part of the LVMH luxury goods empire) and Pacific Echo (now owned by Clicquot, another part of LVMH) both offer good sparklers around $12. From Spain, Louis de Vernier has a good dry Cava for $9, but Cava uses the local grape varietals that some people, such as my innkeeper, find objectionable. However, the Brits have grown to love Cava over the past decade. In the highly competitive UK market, Cava now accounts for 47% of sparkling wine sales, up from only 7% in 1991 according to a recent report on winebusiness.com.

If you feel the need to get your bubbly from Champagne itself, good values are available around $25. Look for the non-vintage brut (dry) wines from Piper-Heidsieck, Louis Roederer, and Lansonfor a particularly good price to quality ratio.

Two main vocabularies have emerged in worldwide wine production to indicate quality. The first, common in the New World countries (basically the world ex-Europe), indicates the grape varietal on the label. The second, common in Old World countries (Europe), indicates the growing area. Fluency in each vocabulary is essential as both are on the rise.

In Europe, particularly France, quality has been traditionally been rooted in place. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and the Rhone have all indicated quality wine for centuries. The English and Dutch middle classes that imported Bordeaux wines in the 19th century, for example, knew them mainly as quality wines and wines from Bordeaux. What the place name disguised, however, was the component parts of what makes Bordeaux, namely, the grape varietals of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.

In the United States, quality production came quite late. Only in the late 1960s did American growers and wine makers start a wholehearted focus on quality. While they were acquiring winemaking skills through trial and error as well as scientific research at the University of California (Davis) they lacked a vocabulary for transmitting that quality. Some winemakers took the place names from France making “hearty burgundy” or “champagne.” However, the French producers cracked down on these pale imitations through asserting their right to the name claims.

The 1980s solidified the American approach to varietal labeling. Kendall-Jackson, among others, started a line of Chardonnays in the $4-7 per bottle range. These “fighting varietals,” as they came to be known, were made in a clean, contemporary style and in vast quantities. They soon had a wide following, which reinforced consumer preferences for varietals not necessarily tied to a place.

At the same time American producers were carving out the varietal niche, there were signs of mutual learning and comprehension between the two vocabularies. The Americans introduced a framework in the late 1970s for region with American Viticultural Areas. Although not as strong as French appellations, the AVAs were a first step toward emphasizing the growing area. Terms such as “Napa Valley” hence had legal meaning. In a dual strategy, varietals could accompany growing areas on the label (although neither claim had to be completely fulfilled as producers were allowed 5 – 25% of the grapes used to come from other varietals or growing areas).

The French appellation winemakers have not implemented a dual strategy as varietals are prohibited on appellation labels. While this may work for the top growing areas such as Bordeaux or Burgundy, the proliferation of appellations (they have more than doubled to more than 400 over the past 30 years) means that the less well-known appellations have had an uphill struggle to build their identities. An indicator that it is working, however, is that appellation vineyard land can easily sell for three times the price of non-appellation land in Languedoc, an area where appellations have increased over the last two decades.

The French also adopted a dual strategy but not for the appellation wines. The class of vin de pays (literally, “country wine”) identifies both the region and the varietal. This category has had tremendous success since its creation two decades ago and now accounts for 25% of French annual production. While the regional claims are diffuse (the pays d’oc, a leading area, is vast) the varietal claims are strong. A Chardonnay must be 100% Chardonnay.

The corporate brand can be a third indicator of quality, but as a vocabulary, the brand is much more limited. I will save a discussion of brands for a future posting.

Thus it is clear that space remains for both vocabularies. A Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand tastes quite different than a white Bordeaux, which is likely to have a lot of Sauvignon Blanc.

America is known for having a free market economy. But there is one area where markets aren’t so free and that is the shipment of wines. In fact, California producers can only ship to 11 states that have “reciprocal” trade. This makes for headaches for small producers and limited access for many consumers.

The production, distribution, and sale of wine—along with beer and distilled spirits—were outlawed during Prohibition. But Prohibition spanned much longer than just the 14 years (1919-1933) at the national level. As early as the 1851 Maine Law, states implemented their own state level prohibitions.

Similarly, when the passage of the 21st Amendment repealed national Prohibition, many of the states won what amounted to “opt-out” clauses and set their own state policy. As a result, some state prohibitions continued into the 1960s. Many county and municipal level controls still exist. Even for those consumers who don’t live in directly affected area, the sediment of prohibition still covers the map.

This patchwork repeal maintained state controls over production, distribution, and sale of wine and other alcoholic beverages. For most states, not as viticulturally endowed as California, this meant concerning themselves with distribution and retail. This right has generally been given to private firms within each state but some states, notably Pennsylvania, maintain state ownership over distribution and retail. All of this means that—unlike books or electronics—simply getting quality wine from producers to consumers is tightly controlled.

Pressures are mounting for this situation to change. Some hail technology as the force that tears down these barriers. As internet usage increases, consumers will become more informed (by reading drvino.net for example!), compelling firms to offer wine sales over the internet. But it is actually increased airline security that has led to the first legal loosening. Last week, Congress passed a bill that allows out-of-state tourists to west coast wineries to ship their purchases home. Although this affects only a handful of states and an even smaller percentage of wine consumers, it is a sign that the winds of change are blowing.

As tantalizing as the prospect of change might be, it is unlikely to occur quickly for several reasons. First, many of the firms that aspired to sell wine over the internet have failed. Second, states and local authorities collect significant revenue from wine (and beer and spirits) that they would lose through direct shipments. Third, the political weight of distributors is significant both at the local and state level where they are large political contributors as well as at the national level where their industry organization is on the Republican Party’s “Team 100” of top political donors.

It is a paradoxical situation that a country that prides itself on free trade has such restrictions on shipping quality wine but one that unfortunately looks likely to endure.

Wine is a cash cow for restaurants. It is not uncommon for a restaurant to sell a bottle of wine for over a 300% mark-up on the retail price of the same bottle (and the restaurant often doesn’t even pay the retail price). Wine by the glass is a particularly insulting activity since the consumer quite often covers the entire cost of the bottle by purchasing just one glass (while the restaurant may be able to pour 5 – 7 more glasses from that bottle). The situation amounts to a “legitimized mugging of the consumer” according to wine critic Robert Parker.

To be fair, wine is capital intensive. Restaurants have to allocate storage space on the premises for wine and hopefully that storage area is temperature controlled. The expensive strategy for a restaurant’s wine cellar is to buy and hold a large inventory. The less expensive way is to have the local distributor make deliveries once or twice a week. However, this second strategy has its pitfalls in that the restaurateur loses control of the wine list to the distributor’s portfolio of wines. This is a leading cause of why restaurants with good food serve frustratingly bad wine.

Training the staff can be time-consuming and expensive but this is not always the case. When the restaurant has a sommelier, or wine steward, that person must have been trained. The most prestigious training for a sommelier is the Master Sommelier, a degree that is difficult to achieve and also rare (only 51 currently in the US). However, fewer and fewer restaurants—including even some top restaurants—are taking the time to have a sommelier and instead provide all wait-staff some wine education. Actually, wine producers visiting from California or local distributors are often the ones who undertake this education. Learning by doing seems to be in fashion. That’s a fine approach when it comes to wine but it is decidedly less expensive. The cost savings could be passed on to consumers.

What can you do about this situation? Well, not all that much really. One approach is simply not to buy wine in restaurants that have excessively high mark-ups. But because fine food and fine wine complement each other, this strategy may not be the most enjoyable. Many restaurants will let customers bring in their own wines and then charge a “corkage fee” ranging from $3-10 (sometimes even more). This can be a good way to get around the markups since a really good $30 bottle of wine from a wine shop could fetch over $70 in a restaurant. However, many restaurants recognize this as an end run and it is best to call first to confirm that it is accepted practice. Short of sending a blatantly offending restaurant a letter, voting with your feet (or your pocketbook) is an effective way to send a message.