Dr Vino's wine blog

These prime vineyard sites in the Middle Mosel were to get this $500 million bridge:

But now it will remain like this…

…thanks to Green Party gains at the recent state elections. Read more.

Raise a glass of Kabinett!

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SIPPED: a big platform
The political and legal issues of direct shipping of wine, specifically HR 1161, got a big airing on today’s op-ed page for the NYT. Hopefully more wine consumers will see the law for what it is thanks to this piece and join the effort to stop HR 1161.

SIPPED: more details
Antonio Galloni‘s recent event, the Festa del Barolo, gave consumers the opportunity to mingle with 15 Barolo producers and taste their wines, old and young, for $900. Mike Steinberger spoke with Galloni at length about the event and how it squares with the Wine Advocate’s ethics policy. (A related discussion popped up on wineberserkers.) Also, if you haven’t discovered Mike’s blog, it’s certainly the best new wine blog of 2011.

SPIT: murder
Vanity Fair has a piece on the attempt to poison and ransom vines at Domaine de la Romanée Conti. Funny, I remember this story from when it happened and it didn’t strike me as worth the Vanity Fair treatment. Apparently Aubert de Villaine didn’t either since he spoke with the author “most reluctantly.”

SIPPED: wine fun fact
Stan Kroenke, owner of Screaming Eagle, owns the Denver Nuggets and 29% of Arsenal, the football club, among other teams. I’m sure they pour Screagle in the locker rooms! [wikipedia]

A French scientist has determined a way to evaluate the quality of the next Bordeaux vintage–vintage 2011, that is.

Jacques Meganote, a researcher at INRA in Bordeaux, has collected samples from the tendrils the vines in the region have shot out already this year. Using a complex blend of mass spectronomy, DNA analysis, carbon dating, and weather history, he is able to forecast the quality of the vintage that has yet to be harvested–in fact, the vintage that has yet to grow a grape. The program is called “Bordeaux shoots and scores.”

“We are certain to 99% level that our forecast is accurate,” Meganote said. “We have been collecting it privately for five years now and this is the first time we have released the data.”

After two vintages widely praised, the Bordeaux wine trade will doubtless like his forecast for Bordeaux 2011.

“The concentration in the berries will be superb. This looks like a vintage that possesses both power and elegance. It will be a vintage of the century. Truly, a 99 point vintage.”

The next step in the program will be to pre-score individual wines.

Click for full press release.

Remember the “Fill ‘er up” wine from a tank?

Sadly, there have been no US entrants to this space in the scant six months since we posted despite a lot of interest. However, the NY Times recently observed that the Community Tap in Greenville, SC (photo, above) is offering wine-to-go as wine “growlers” akin to the 64-oz refillable beer bottles. Fruit-forward wines may be fresher with a keg than some bottled wine closures but unlike some craft brewers, all craft wineries bottle their product so the benefits would mostly be environmental and cost-savings. I think a large part of the appeal is the value aspect thus the $16.99 for 32 ounce strikes me as high, even though it is the same price as a 750-ml (25-0z) bottle. Part of what drove the popularity of the post on self-serve tanks in French grocery stores was the rock bottom pricing, I think. Unfortunately, the various markups of the three-tier system make that an uphill struggle in the US (except, possibly, at wineries).

I tweeted about wine growlers in the US and the twitterati could not think of other bars or stores that yet to offer these. (Can you?) However, a few wineries do allow growler-type refills; the NPA in Sonoma offers wine in refillable “kleen kanteens.”

What’s the most appealing part of self-serve wine to you–environmental aspect or the cost savings?

SIPPED: the life of a wine writer!
Ray Isle, the brightest star of wine TV, writes a terrific “week in the life…” essay for NY mag. Oh, man, do I want to be a wine writer when I grow up!

GUSHED: American pinot
Mike Steinberger rhapsodizes over the pinot noir from Rhys Vineyards, calling them the “best New World pinot” that he’s ever encountered. [Slate]

OPENED: floodgates?
Maryland’s legislature has passed a bill to allow wineries to ship (18 cases a year, max) to Maryland residents. Yay for them! But sad that the legislation did not extend the same right to to out-of-state retailers, which would probably be more useful for more people. [baltimoresun.com] In related news, Rhode Island authorities contemplate tearing down their cork wall. [Boston.com]

NOODLED: green wine
Slate ponders the question: “Is organic wine really better for the environment?”

SIPPED: variety
Aditya Gupta, formerly in my NYU wine class, recently had a wine from Freisa, making it the one hundredth grape variety that he’s tasted. Congratulations, and welcome to the Wine Century Club!

Jancis Robinson floated a novel idea on her website last week: what if critics, who descend on Bordeaux shortly to taste 2010 barrel samples, withheld their scores until the Bordeaux trade had finished their pre-sale campaign (known as en primeur)? The logic is that high scores for what is already an extremely hyped vintage would only drive prices higher.

Predictably, Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate and Tom Matthews of Wine Spectator poured cold water on the idea, as republished on Jancis’ site. Given that this is a classic prisoner’s dilemma, if Jancis admirably remains silent while other critics publish, it only hurts her since she loses influence. The embargo would only work if all critics agree to remain silent, which is not tenable in the real world, where there’s an incentive for each critic to publish first, getting his or her views circulating, and driving the discussion. Suckling often did that when he was at Wine Spectator getting in to tastings before the crowds of the en primeurs tastings and publishing his report more or less immediately (Parker’s report usually comes out after en primeurs, at the end of April).

Although it’s unworkable, would an embargo from critics serve to bring en primeur prices down? Perhaps, especially in less anticipated vintages such as 2008, which was also being pre-sold during an economic meltdown. Although still an important part of the Bordeaux sales machine, critics’ scores may not as important as brands themselves as this Liv-Ex analysis shows.

What drives policymaking that affects wine consumers? Thanks to opensecrets.org, we get a glimpse into how the sausage like HR 1161 gets made. Spot the consumer groups on the list! via WII

Further discussion of the political coloring of beer and wine donors.

It’s “drink sake night” tonight, and since I have other plans, I hopped on it last evening. I figured it was the least I could do after suggesting you try a sake last week to help out the brewers hit by the earthquake and tsunami.

It was a fun challenge because I don’t know much about sake. Sure, I wrote a story about sake but that was eons ago and learned about rice polishing and the importance of yeast. But I’ve had little since. So it was a good experience since I got to go to a new corner of Astor wine store and approach shopping as a newbie.

As such, I was attracted to packaging, notably these cute single-serve cups. But were they too gimicky? I had to ask for help. The helpful clerk assured me that they were actually pretty good, even if slightly gimmicky. I felt as though I needed a bottle. But not a whole one since I didn’t think it would be too popular at home. So, any good half bottles? Yes, he steered me to the Shirakawago Sasanigori Saké, Junmai Ginjo Nigori in a distinctive blue bottle. He said it was a good starter one for someone who likes high-acid wines. Sold!

At home, I shook it well and served it cold, as the label suggests. The milky, cloudy sake poured into the glass. As I swirled it, some of the unfiltered goodness was left on the side of the glass. The prevailing aroma to me was alcohol, but getting beyond that is a white flower and slight licorice note. On the palate, it is pretty rich–sort of a steamed rice crossed with Pastis–but also interesting enough to keep me sipping.

This brewery is in the landlocked Gifu prefecture, about 500 miles from Sendai, a place where we are all hopeful that some semblance of normality can return one day soon. Although, since pure water is also a key ingredient for sake, that day may, tragically, be a long way off, making a sip of any sake in New York today especially bittersweet.

If sake aficionados have suggestions for people lifting a glass of sake tonight, feel free to hit the comments.