Budget Vino

Drewism: 2008 Harvest Report, At Least One Good Australian Shiraz, and California ‘Shock’

Well, the 2008 harvest is finally here, after a very long, hot, dry and smoky summer.  I’m certainly looking forward to bringing in all of our fruit, and wrapping up what looks to be another stellar year for Californian wine.  Despite the early frost events which damaged vines up and down the state, the 2008 growing season has been more or less ideal for much of the central coast, even with a few late heat spikes and numerous wildfires contributing to horrendous air quality for several weeks. 

 

A lot of people have been asking me if I think wildfire smoke will have an effect on the grapes and subsequently the wines coming from them.  I can only say that there is very little evidence where that has been shown to be the case.  I recently read an article out of U.C. Davis that discussed the interaction of grape skins with smoke residue, ash and grime, and how through prolonged exposure, the grape itself might actually absorb these substances during the early phases of its maturation process.  I doubt this could have taken place in much of Monterey, even though several of my vineyards are located very near to wear the Ventana Wilderness Fire and Basin Complex Fires took place.  The smoke from these fires simply didn’t hang around long enough to coat the grape berries much if at all, and regardless, I think that the berries’ skins were still too tough and turgid at the time for any absorption to take place.  But we will have to wait and see.  Other wine regions adjacent to longer-lasting wildfires (such as in the Sierra foothills and far North Coast ) could see much different effects on their wines.  The truth will be told in the glass, I guess.  Smokey aftertastes, did you say?

 

In any event, this years’ harvest looks to be comparable in quality to last years, if not more so.  Extremely low rainfall (yet again) produced some very small berries, and these are resulting in much more concentrated fruit flavors than in ’07 (smaller juice to skin ratio).  But tonnages are down by as much as 25% in many places statewide, indicating that prices will be much higher when the 2008 vintage eventually comes out.  We’ll have to wait and see if the lower yields produce the quality in Pinot Noir that we’re striving for, but my winemaker is extremely confident that it will.  Lower yields, for those who don’t know, means less fruit is produced per vine, which means that a single vine puts that much more effort into developing and maturing each berry cluster.  Thus, each cluster should be that much more intense in flavor and in tannin, and (hopefully) so should the wine.  Typical Pinot Noir yields in the Central Coast are between 5 and 6 tons per acre, but this year could see barely half that.  There’s already that indication from the Pinot we picked last week for Sparkling wine (7 tons/acre in 2007 vs. 4.5 this year).  What does this mean to you?  Your bottle of 2008 California Pinot Noir in the $10-15 range will be an extremely good buy (see Chalone Monterey Pinot Noir, Concannon Central Coast Pinot Noir, Melville Pinot Noir). What does it mean to your wallet?  It will no longer cost $10-15.

 

Very quickly, I wanted to share with you a great wine that I had the other night.  After bashing Australian Shiraz in a previous column, I thought it fitting to recommend one here.  I picked up the 06 McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz at Safeway because it was $6.99 on special, and because I hadn’t had a good Shiraz in a while (not that I was expecting much, especially for $6.99).  But I took the gamble.  And guess what?  It was really good!  Lots of dark cherry fruit, with plum, currant, tobacco, and cedar, and even a hint of mint chocolate at the end.  Overall, the flavors were well-balanced, and the wine was not overly oaked (as is the case with most Australian Shiraz, at least to this drinker).  It was a very pleasing wine, and at 13.5% alcohol, you could actually drink this one by itself (whereas most Aussie Shiraz needs a slab of meat alongside to balance the searing alcohol levels).  Interesting tidbit: that very same day I opened up a recent issue of Wine Spectator and saw this exact wine in the Smart Buys section, reviewed at 91 pts.  Not too shabby.

 

Switching gears again, I saw the movie “Bottle Shock” last month.  Though I was pretty appalled at the portrayal of various characters in the story (read George Taber’s book Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine for a more accurate representation of Steven Spurrier, et al), it was nice to finally see Napa Valley wineries, and Chateau Montelena in particular, finally get some widespread credit for their triumph at the now-famous 1976 Paris Tasting.  For those who don’t know the story, Montelena and several other then-fledgling California wineries went up against the big boys of Burgundy and Bordeaux in a blind tasting before a panel of entirely French judges, with California winning top honors in both the red and white categories.  The movie loosely follows this tale of how the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay outscored the competition, while humbling the French at their own game.  Proprietor Jim Barrett, his son Bo, and their winemaker at the time, Mike Grgich, leveraged those 1976 results to become some of the most familiar names in Napa Valley (though Grgich is left out of the movie completely).

 

Fast forward 32 years and Chateau Montelena is now sold to the owner of the legendary Bordeaux property Cos d'Estournel.  Rumors of the sale had been circulating through Wine Country for several months, but the potential deal conveniently came just days before "Bottle Shock" opened in early August. "Everybody who knows me knows I've made a long and happy career of getting back at the French," Jim Barrett said in an interview with The SF Chronicle, immediately following the release of “Bottle Shock”.  Financial details for the deal were not disclosed, though this article claimed “despite initial reports of a sale price of $110 million…estimates placed it as high as $150 million.”  The Barretts will continue to work hand in hand with the new owners through 2010, but its future after that remains a mystery.

 

The sale is only the latest in several high-profile sales of well-known California wineries.  Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, whose Cabernet was the other big winner in the Paris tasting, and Duckhorn Wine Company (my old stomping grounds), were sold about a year ago for $185 million and a reported $250 million or more, respectively.  Duckhorn, in particular, was sold to Paris-based spirits retailer Pernod Ricard, a company who this year also announced the acquisition of Swedish-based V&S Group (which includes the Absolut Vodka brand), making it the world's largest beverage group next to Diageo.  The Robert Mondavi Winery was sold to global conglomerate Constellation Brands in 2004 for roughly $1.35 billion.

 

I can’t help but feel that this particular sale is a little like the French trying to buy back their dignity, though it also serves as a reminder to those of us in the wine biz that the weak dollar has made even the most American of brands appealing to foreign investors, especially ones with deep pockets.  Wines from California no longer seem to have that young, fresh and exuberant style they did 30 years ago.  The establishment has been shaken; the so-called “new” wines coming out of California 3 decades ago were only considered as such because they were, well, not French.  But today, that is only the tip of the iceberg.  More and more buyers are looking to foreign markets for investment in even ‘newer’ new-world wines (see South Africa, Chile/Argentina, Australia/New Zealand).  We are seeing some wonderful new expressions of both traditional French varietals as well as lesser known ones from all of these places, and I have no doubt that other, less-traditional regions will also be explored in the future.

 

This is not to say that Californian wines are over-the-hill; quite the opposite in fact.  In the last decade there has been an infusion of new blood in the California wine world, with many unknown regions producing high-caliber wines from varietals never before planted.  This is certainly the case with Bonny Doon Vineyards, based in Santa Cruz, whose proprietor and maniacal uber-hippie Randall Graham is churning out some glorious Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Syrah Noir, and Marsanne (some from vineyards I manage), as well as Cal-Ital crossovers such as Nebbiolo and Barbera.  Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton are creating a new definition for California Chardonnay from their low-yielding vineyards in Santa Barbara County , and Paso Robles is widely considered nowadays to be one of the best areas for growing Zinfandel statewide.  Even Lodi and the Livermore valley are producing some very high quality Cabernets and Merlots, and at a fraction of the cost of their counterparts in Napa and Sonoma.

 

So don’t give up on California just yet, even if the French are buying it all back.  This phase of selling wineries to foreign holders, though tragic, may actually turn out for the best, especially in cases like Chateau Montelena (who has had a hard time turning a profit in recent years because of money woes).  California is firmly etched on the international wine map, and with a vision for producing new wines from new varietals, should only strengthen its reputation as a world-class wine producer for years to come.

Drewism: Hawaiian Wine, How to Recognize a Wine Snob, and What I’ve Learned (Various Ramblings)

I’m back.  My utmost apologies for the extended hiatus I’ve been on, but work has consumed me as of late.  Over the last several months I’ve overseen almost 400 acres of new vineyards planted in Monterey, and as such, I haven’t had a rest since my last post, more than 2 months ago.  Wait about another 3-5 years and I can actually start talking about the wines that I had a hand in producing.  I’ve only recently come back from a much-needed trip to Maui, where I spent several days doing absolutely nothing.  It was fantastic.  And no vineyards or wine in sight.  Well, almost none.

On our second day in Maui, I found that there is a very obscure winery located on the eastern highlands side of the island called Tedeschi (website: www.mauiwine.com).  I’ll leave you to read about it if you wish, but in my experience the wines are probably best to be avoided.  Besides the fact that its 80 degrees year-round in Hawaii, I can’t imagine that winegrapes can actually ripen well in such a hot and humid climate.  And, guess what, they can’t.  The wines, as I learned, are made in large part from local fruit grown on the island (as opposed to traditional winegrapes), so what you get is white zin’s banished younger brother.  Yummy.  True story: the winery bottles a wine called Maui Blanc Pineapple Wine.  ‘Nuff said.  On to other things.

I promised Dorian that in contributing to this blog, I would give periodic updates and insight into the oftentimes crazy world of wine that I am a part of.  But its not always fun and games, as many might expect.  It’s a lot of hard work, certainly, though I’ve met many great people in the process, and I call several of them my closest friends.  Many of the shakers and movers I interact with on a regular basis are extremely friendly, laid-back, and likeable people – not at all the types of people one would expect in the business of wine.  Though I’m sure many could bore me to death with endless wine jargon, and at tastings most could overwhelm me with their knowledge of one varietals’ expression of place, most choose not to.  Unless you ask.  In an industry where the mantra is eat or be eaten (or more appropriately, drink or be drunk), its nice to be around good-natured people and talk wine without feeling as though you’re completely inferior.

Sometimes, however, I run into someone whom I would characterize as a wine snob.  For me, this is a strong word: snob.  Generally, this is someone so in need of finding a social niche through wine drinking, it’s not even about the wine.  It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between a wine snob and a wine enthusiast.  Wine snobs come in two flavors: the loud and boisterous, and the reserved.  You’ll notice the boisterous snob right away when you walk into a tasting room, and he or she is blabbering exaggerated wine observations that you know they just pulled out of their ass or off the first page of the Chronicle’s Wine section.  To be honest, it’s a pretty embarrassing sight to see.   The quiet ones tend to keep their comments secret, hiding their tasting notes in public places (this actually happens, believe it or not), and making grandiose observations like “slightly angular with a hint of burnt tobacco leaf” to describe a wine.  Most of us would just find this obnoxious and pretentious, myself included.  In private, these types of people basically just sit around telling each other how great they are - I know because I’ve seen it happen on more than one occasion.

Enthusiasts, on the other hand, are fortunately the more common type of wine geek.  They are usually more than happy to share some wine knowledge with you, and in my experience, no matter what your understanding or level of sophistication in wine, they are more than happy to talk with you for as long as you’d like.  You’ve probably met this type of person perhaps at a winery or in a wine bar, the type who would never judge your choice in wine, taste, or assessment.  And they would talk with you about wine instead of talking at you.

I like to consider myself the latter, as I’m sure every normal person would.  So without further ado, I’d like to let you in on a few things I’ve learned about wine over the years.  Some you’ll maybe find useful, others mildly ridiculous, but I hope you can go away feeling like you’ve learned something.  And know that you’re not snobbier at all because of it – you’re merely becoming more of an enthusiast.

1. Nearly everybody likes Chardonnay.  And California Chardonnay – in almost any price range – is the most idiot-proof wine in the world.  Not necessarily subtle, however.  But like a big greasy breakfast to cure a hangover, it gets the job done.  Wine snobs love to bash it, though you can have it both ways by saying to your friends, “Its become fashionable to dump on Chardonnay, but we think this Casa New Oak flavor is hard to beat.”  Viognier and Marsanne are way cooler, but you have to know what you’re doing.

2. Almost any zinfandel that starts with R is good.  For instance, Ridge, Rafanelli Ravenswood, Rabbit Ridge, Rosenblum, Renwood.  The same goes for any zin that ends in elli.  Like Martinelli or Tofanelli.  I’m speaking, of course, of red zinfandel.  About white zinfandel, you have my permission to turn up your lip in condescension.  Three-day-old bath water tastes better than that crap.

3. Avoid artichokes whenever you consume wine.  I only recently found this out while reading an article that artichokes contain an acid called cynarin, which makes wine taste sweet.  I’ll keep that in mind next time I try to bust out a bold cabernet with my BBQ steak and artichoke.  Dangerous also with wine is asparagus, which contains phosphorus and mercaptan, turning most wines ugly, especially whites.

4. Every five years there’s a great worldwide vintage.  Mind you, not every place in the world experiences the same years of greatness.  For France in general, and Bordeaux in particular, ’85, ’90, and ’95 were all stellar, 2000 was otherworldly, and critics are touting 2005 as the “vintage of the 21^st century”, though I’m not entirely convinced yet.  Stateside, ’93, ’97-98, and 2002 have been terrific vintages for Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa, 1997 having become world-renowned, and ridiculously expensive.  Last year California had a phenomenal growing year (while Europe experienced one of the worst), and our 2007 Estate Pinot Noir (presently in barrel), appears to be one of the greatest wines my winemaker has made in over 30 years.

5. There’s no such thing as bad champagne.  Unless, of course, its badly shipped or stored.  By champagne, I mean the stuff that comes from the region of that name in northern France and is imported to the states.  The bad ones don’t seem to get sent here (I wonder why).  There are perfectly decent sparkling wines from other parts of the world, but why bother when you can get the real thing  - a nonvintage brut - for practically the same price?

6. Any Italian wine that ends in the letters aia is very good, too.  This seems to be the result of the fame of Sassicaia, the so-called Super Tuscan Cabernet, or so I’ve learned.  Today, you can count on Ornellaia, Solaia, Lupicaia, Brancaia Tassinaia, and Piastraia.  I don’t quite know why, but these producers seem to make excellent wines.  If you have the time and money to seek them out, do so.

7. In a wine store, head straight for the South America section.Why?  Because in 5-10 years you’re going to kick yourself for not buying that case of Argentinean Malbec or Chilean Carmenere that has since trebled in price.  No where in the world can you find better value buys right now than from Chile and Argentina.  I tell this to everyone who asks me what I buy, yet I still see Yellow Tail hanging around in people’s kitchens.

8. Wine ALWAYS makes for a great gift, regardless of the occasion.  Keep in mind that people who usually give wine as a gift probably like wine as much as you do, if not more.  Return the favor.  Also, its always fun to find a bottle of wine that was made in your birth year, if you have the time and resources to look for it.  I was lucky enough to be born in 1982, a vintage still considered today to be the one of the greatest for both Bordeaux and Champagne in more than a century.  Keep that in mind, Mom.

9. White wine with fish, red with flesh is a pretty reliable rule.  But any idiot can follow rules – it’s far cooler to break them.  Pinot Noir can be great with salmon, particularly grilled salmon.  And its wonderful with paella I’ve found.  Sweetish German Riesling is always good with pork and/or veal; the same goes for Gewürztraminer and Thai food.  Yet Chablis with oysters in my opinion is a match made in heaven.

Hope these tips help. Enjoy!

Drewism: There’s Better Stuff to Drink than [ kangaroo krap ]

Have you ever had a bottle of [ yellow tail ]? Come on, admit it. Everyone has. We all know that little kangaroo when we see it, and certainly know friends and family who have a bottle or two hanging around their kitchen. I myself am guilty of it as well. I even went so far as to share a bottle of Yellow Tail Reserve once in my life, and though it wasn’t an altogether awful experience, I must say that for $45 with corkage, I expected something a little more.

Yellow Tail, for those who have been under a rock for the last ten years, is an Australian wine brand, notable for its eye-catching label of a yellow-footed rock wallaby. A quick history: the brand was first developed in 2000 by the Casella family, originally of Sicily, who had relocated to New South Wales in the 1950s to start a new life for themselves. By 2003, the brand had become a behemoth - the number one imported wine to the US - and in that same time the original winery was forced to expand to nearly ten times its original size. Supply could barely keep up with demand. After only selling 112,000 cases in its first year, sales of Yellow Tail jumped to 7.5 million in 2005, helped in large part through distribution by low-cost retailers such as Costco. Also in that year, Yellow Tail became the first variety wine to move one million cases in a single month. At present, Yellowtail facilities have the capacity to store approximately 300 million liters (about 80 million gallons) on site with more wine produced and stored elsewhere.

Specializing in blended wine in the $8-10 range, Yellow Tail at first glance sounds like a dream: its quick to find, it sells well, and best of all, it’s cheap. From a marketing standpoint, Yellowtail hit the nail on the head. But they had the means to do so, with a large-scale distributor in Costco, financial backing through investors, and the hot Australian climate to load up its vines and churn out record crops each and every year. By mass-producing and mass-marketing Shiraz (same as Syrah, different name) and Chardonnay, Yellow Tail appealed to many casual wine drinkers worldwide who were desperate to try an entry red or an alternative to California chards, but who had neither the wine wherewithal nor the cash to pony up $15-20 a bottle for everyday dinner wine.

Today, Yellow Tail is one of the most recognized labels in the world.  Its annual revenues for the US alone are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and it comprises over 40% of all imports from Australia by volume (2006 data). To put things in perspective, Australian wines claim a volume market share of 9 percent worldwide; if Yellow Tail were to be excluded, this figure would drop to 5 percent. The success story apparent, Yellow Tail markets premium blended wine at basement prices, while concurrently targeting younger drinkers by through its instantly recognizable wine labels. With so many wines struggling to sell in the late 90’s, combined with beer being the beverage of choice for most of America’s youth and college students, this was a great way to recruit younger oenophiles as the traditional base got older and stopped buying wine. With all the good things that the Yellow Tail “phenomenon” spawned, why do I object so much to buying it?

The answer, and the reason for my lengthy discussion on this topic, becomes clear – or rather unclear - in the glass (no pun intended). A bottle of Yellow Tail, in general, has such a plethora of different grapes blended together that it might in fact not legally be called wine, at least according to contemporary Australian wine laws.

Shiraz makes for an easy blend with other classic grapes such as Grenache and Mourvedre, or Cabernet and Merlot, among many others. A few examples include Shiraz-Cabernet, Cabernet-Shiraz-Merlot, Grenache-Cab-Merlot, and Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvedre. Though the latter blend is an exception and can certainly make for some delicious wines coming from down under, at the end of the day there really is no way to recognize true varietal in Yellow Tail’s overly blended mess. Most contemporary blends contain a maximum of 4 grapes in a Syrah-based blend, or 5 for a Cabernet-based blend, but some of Yellow Tail’s contain six or more different varietals, many of which may not even be grown in Australia! For all you know, you might be drinking fermented grape juice made from grapes that were grown in Africa, India, or elsewhere in the South Pacific! I’d love to tell you that I’m making this stuff up, but I’m not.

As a result, Yellowtail by and large lacks a product that has a distinction of place. The truth is apparent on the label. Australian wine-labeling law stipulates the following:

“A minimum of 85 percent of the grape variety stated on the label must be used [to make the wine]; if two different types of grapes are used in a blended wine and neither grape represents 85 percent of the blend, both grapes must be mentioned on the label in order of importance (e.g., a wine labeled Cabernet/Shiraz has more Cabernet than Shiraz).”

Source: Kolpan, Smith, Weiss, et al. Culinary Institute of America's Complete Guide to Wines of the World.

So by designating ‘Shiraz-Cabernet-Merlot’ on the label, the folks at Yellowtail are telling you that 85% of the grapes in the bottle come from those three varieties. The proportions are unknown, though Shiraz appears in slightly higher percentage than the other two. What’s more troubling is that the remaining 15% is also unknown. There are likely a handful of similar grapes thrown in for good measure, though what they are, and more importantly, where they come from, remains a mystery.

So what am I suggesting as an alternative? California Syrah, for one. California produced 110,000 tons of Syrah grapes statewide in 2007, a large percentage of which could be characterized as ‘cool climate’. These are grapes that come from the cool coastal regions of Sonoma, Monterey, and Carneros, and without a doubt many will produce fabulous wines. Though an entirely different beast than Shiraz, cool-climate Syrah, as it has come to be known, is largely underrated in the United States. The slower ripening process, longer growing season, and lower yields lead to a wine grape that is highly sought after by many wineries looking either for a single varietal wine or for a Rhone-style blend. Cline Cellars makes a fabulous 100% Cool-climate Syrah from the Sonoma Coast appellation that is only $12.

The resulting product has proven in recent years to be very good, and an incredible value at that. Many growers from Paso Robles have come to Monterey in recent years looking for cool-climate Syrah either to bottle alone or to balance out their hot Cabernets and Merlots from San Luis Obispo county. Not surprisingly, many of these growers have been loathe to plant Syrah simply because of the lack of water availability in this region. It has been shown that Syrah is very susceptible to “burn” when conditions are such that water demands are high and its availability is low, particularly in the summer months when temperatures push well into the 100s. Syrah is an incredibly water-demanding creature, and even under stress its stomata tend to stay open (called anisohydric in viticulture jargon) and they continue to use water despite the fact that they are killing their own tissue in the process. Conversely, varietals such as Grenache close down their stomates when water becomes scarce (they are isohydric), and they essentially shut down photosynthesis in an effort to save water. This innate need to conserve is why Grenache does so well in the hot and dry climates of central Spain, in the Rhone Valley of France, and in Australia for that matter!

So why haven’t the Aussies taken the hint that continuing to plant Shiraz isn’t the best idea in these hot and arid climates? Probably because they can’t afford not to. Yellow Tail is a multi-billion dollar behemoth, and for the last near decade the stuff has flown off the shelves at record pace. Yet in the process, Yellowtail has effectively murdered the image of Australian Shiraz as a unique and quality grape from down under, mass-producing it to the point of retail over-saturation. And Yellow Tail has not only lowered its own standard in the process, but lowered the world’s standard for what is to be expected of the varietal it champions. But that’s all about to change.

Australia is at present experiencing a 100-year drought, and over the last several years some growers have lost as much as half of their crop due to yield limitations from water scarcity. This will certainly have an effect on the quality of wines coming out of Australia in the near future, but it will also have a supply effect on the industry as a whole down the road.

We’ll start to see the 2007 Australian reds hit the shelves in the next 18 months, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on things when they do. In the meantime, my advice would be to stop picking up the Kangaroo simply because it’s eye-catching and because it’s a no brainer. Put some thought into your decision-making at the wine store and dare to be different. There’s better stuff on the shelves from our own country to be had, and for comparable prices. And even if we don’t have a cooky marsupial on the label, it’s the substance in the bottle that really matters.

Drewism #1- Scoring one for the home team

When it comes to watching football, I am most definitely not one of those guys on the couch you see in the beer commercials. There may be a couple of brews in the fridge for special occasions or for friends who demand them, but for me football on the tube is as much about wine as it is about the game — a chance to multitask with two things I really enjoy.

Dorian at Budget Vino asked me not too long ago to write a column about some of the interesting aspects of the wine business, and asked for my perspective as a vintner. Being involved in wine, and having to work with some people whose stock portfolios are almost as large as their egos has opened my eyes to many of the business’ idiosyncrasies, and painted a rather skewed image of the California wine industry as a whole. One of the most absurd things to me about this industry is that the type of wine that should being produced and what the public is actually interested in is not always the same thing. So as a result, the wine business as a whole finds a way to correct for the shortfall.

For instance, Chardonnay currently saturates the entire wine market from the North Coast all the way down to Santa Barbara, and it’s very difficult nowadays to go to any tasting room in the state and NOT find a Chardonnay on the list. Most wineries see Chardonnay as their “cash cow”, a guaranteed quick buck that will keep the revenue flowing in just enough for them to stay afloat, regardless of the quality of their wine. To them, it’s priceless to have simply because the American public eats it up. When I was watching the AFC championship game last weekend, I was damn sure there was going to be a commercial at some point during the game starring a certain Indianapolis Quarterback giving invaluable information. Priceless? I’m not so sure.

The problem with the average American wine drinker is that they dislike change. Chardonnay took off in
California 30 years ago; people liked it, and have been loathe to try something new ever since. Despite the incredible array (and quality) of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Albarino and even Grenache Blanc and Roussanne produced here, it seems most drinkers like to stick with what they have always bought. Nobody wants to give something else a shot, even just once. As a result, winemakers are trying new ways to change Chardonnay to make it trendier, different, and just simply “less Chardonnay-like”, if that makes any sense (it doesn’t to me). “Un-oaked” Chardonnay is the new buzzword, and believe it or not, this still outsells practically every other white wine produced in California.

As you might guess, I’m pretty tired of Chardonnay. This is not to say that there aren’t good or even great Chardonnays out right now – and there are – but there is so much of it now on the market that what is being produced nowadays has really seen a dramatic decline in quality in my opinion. Consumers have been buying Chardonnay forever, producers know this, and as a result deliver a product that oftentimes barely makes the cut in quality by and large. But do consumers care? No. This is why there is no incentive for producers to increase the quality (and spend more money in the process) – the product sells by itself!

In my mind, there are only a handful of regions that can (and should) actually produce stellar Chardonnay here in California. So why then is it the most consumed wine in the United States? Chardonnay is a grape originally borne from the limestone soils of Burgundy, France, which is a cold, windy, mountainous place. Snow is very common in the winter. There aren’t too many places like that in California outside of the Sierras. And yet, Chardonnay is the #1 white grape produced in the Napa Valley, which has volcanic soils, typical summer temperatures over 100 degrees, and hardly ever sees snow in the winter. Nevertheless, it is still grown, and nevertheless, the public still buys it. Sure, it’s a different style of Chardonnay from the French style, but why settle? Why not grow a grape that can actually do well in the California climate? The answer is that up until about a decade ago, no one tried.

I recently tasted a few wines from 2006 and the early 2007s coming out of Sonoma, Napa, Monterey, and Lodi. Of the 52 wines we tasted, 20 were Chardonnays! That’s nearly one-half of an entire white AND red tasting. And how many Rieslings, Albarinos, Sauvignon Blancs, and other whites combined? 6. There is certainly a lag time between what types of wines are being produced and what is being consumed, and I think that with more and more Chardonnay being grafted to other varieties in recent years, we’ll see more alternative white wines replacing Chardonnay on your local BevMo shelf. But right now, in a nutshell, this is why the market is the way that it is, and why the consumer keeps on buying Chardonnay.

Of all of the wines I tasted, two stood out the most. Both where white, and both were not Chardonnay. One was a Riesling from Dos Hermanos vineyard in Lodi. It was off-dry and certainly had some minerality to it, with flavors of lemon, honeysuckle, limestone, and a metallic character to the finish that was very interesting and altogether pleasing. I am usually pretty repulsed by the often mouth-puckering sweetness of Riesling, but I’ve recently discovered several that have terrific balance between texture and body, like this one. I also really enjoy the effervescence that comes from Riesling wines, and this one was especially crisp and tangy and was overall a very satisfying wine. Also, Riesling is such a good food wine with non-traditional cuisines, so try it with a spicy Thai dish or Cajun food. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The second wine was a Monterey County Albarino, and I’m not just tooting my own horn here. There are few places in America suited to grow this small white grape originally from the Basque region of Spain. Albarino requires a long, drawn-out ripening season and a cool maritime climate punctuated by ample sunshine. The Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey provide a terrific setting for growing this grape stateside, as the cold wet winds coming off Monterey Bay chase early morning fog, allowing long summer days to ripen the grapes well into November. The wine is very flavorful, with nuances of grapefruit, orange citrus, leechi nut and a very slight creaminess that I’m sure will win over many Chardonnay drinkers.  It is great with fish and fowl alike, and in my opinion is as good for a picnic as it is for Thanksgiving dinner. Not much Albarino is being grown right now in California, so if you can find a bottle definitely buy it. However, I do believe we will start to see much more coming out of the Central Coast in years to come.

So how does this relate to football? Now that I think about it, it really doesn’t. But I will say this: Next Sunday, give the underdog a chance and root for the alternative. Chances are that the majority of America is getting pretty tired of New England winning it all (4 of the last 7 Superbowls), and the Pats are 14-point favorites this year. Is anybody really surprised that they are 18-0 and vying for a shot at history? It seems now that they are virtual shoo-ins to the playoffs, and though they certainly have the talent and the ability to go undefeated the entire year, I for one would like to see an upset. The Pats need to be knocked off their pedestal.

Because talent cycles so much in the NFL, I am convinced the Patriots’ domination will be short-lived. A future challenger awaits, and will one day take New England’s’ place. The public is similarly destined to find an alternative to the seemingly unbeatable Chardonnay, though it may take some time. Albarino or Riesling may not win this time around, but with enough public support, they just might down the road. 

As for me, I’ll be watching the Superbowl next weekend, hoping for a great game with another great bottle of wine.  And it most certainly will not be Chardonnay.