With all this talk of low employment rates, the housing market trough, corporate buyouts of failing producers and the loss of joy in the wine world, it’s refreshing to see more passionate winemakers continuing to put everything they have into their dreams of making great wines they love.  However, in most cases you have to go to where they are to experience their hand-crafted, artisanal juice and do it soon after release due to the small amounts made each vintage.  This is also an opportunity to taste something that’s more likely to be hand made, not manipulated and totally unique.

One such opportunity to check out 7 of these “micro-wineries” will be in Santa Rosa this Saturday, February 4th from 11a – 5p for the first open house featuring custom crush clients of Inspiration Vineyards.  This is a unique opportunity try and buy these wines when you normally can’t since none of these wineries have public tasting rooms or distribution.  Plus, the winemakers of each will be present to tell you their story and talk about the wines.

Sign up here:  http://inspirationvineyards.eventbrite.com/

Experience the small lot, artisanal wines from:

• Colagrossi Wines
• Inspiration Vineyards
• Little Red Vineyard
• Premonition Cellars
• Simple Math Cellars
• Two Shepherds
• Wesley Ashley Wines

On hand will be some small bites and the Ultra Crepe truck if you’d like to pair your wines with some wonderful crepes.

Advance Tickets Includes $15 Wine & Food Credit

Upon check-in at the door, you’ll receive $10 back in wine bucks, redeemable on the day of the event at ALL seven wineries.  Additionally, by registering in advance on Eventbrite, you’ll receive another $5 back in wine & food bucks that you can redeem for either wine or food from Ultra Crepes.

I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing wines from 3 of these wineries and look forward to experiencing something new each time I visit.

Richard Elia and wife Harley MacKenzie

I found this article in yesterday’s edition of the BostonHerald.com, about the closing of the Quarterly Review of Wines (QRW) after 35 years of circulation.  When I first read the headline I expected to see some tie in to how the world of news and information has gone more digital and QRW was to be just another casualty of how the landscape is changing.  But no, that is not what I found.  What I found were owners and writers of a wine publication actually losing their passion for wine and simply getting tired.

[Wine is] an industry that’s not much fun to cover any more.  Wine has become such a commodity now that the romance is over,” [the owner] said. “We’re losing the civilizing nature of wine drinking. It’s supposed to be a social event.”

Publisher/Owner, Richard Elia continues on in the article to blame the demise of his magazine on an aging staff, declining ads, and corporate takeover of many small growers and producers.  He goes on to say that they can no longer get connected with the real talent in wineries and subsequently the real stories about them, instead talking only to marketing directors who simply care about how many cases are rolling out the door.

I know wine bloggers who have relationships with and can get quality stories from winery insiders and I don’t understand his assertion that we’ve lost the nature of wine drinking as a social event nor how that correlates to his statement about wine becoming a commodity, do you?

The social aspect of wine has to do with people, not objects such as wine.  Wine is a great social “lubricant” that provides a subject, an experience, a talking point, an additional guest to the party that, when it all comes together provides something to remember between those people at that time and place.

Has wine become a commodity and are all the wineries being gobbled up by the corporate behemoths?  In certain aspects, I would say yes.  But, just as there are wineries being sucked up and the subsequent wines become blended with bulk juice and “standardized” vintage by vintage to appease the mainstream market, there is another round of new blood and breed of winemakers and wineries entering the system who are doing things far from being labeled as a commodity.  Just look at Two Shepherds, Cartograph, Stark, Premonition Cellars and a soon-to-be-announced label by yours truly.  You can check out two of these micro-wineries this Saturday at an open house and see for yourself.  This is where the romance continues to blossom.  There IS still joy in wine.

However, I can completely understand the challenge of an aging staff and just simply becoming tired of something after 35 years.  I was burned out on the Finance/Banking Technology industry in just 17 years.  This seems to be the true reason for the shut down, with a little bit of frustration about a changing world coming through in Richard’s answers.  As with anything we do in this life, we must be constantly changing and adapting to our environment, which continues to morph at an accelerated rate lest we become lost in the haze of growth and development.  We are, and must be, in control of our own destiny and remain open to change and new ideas, follow your passion and adjust when necessary along this path of life and work… else we will simply become tired and old.

As my most favorite of Pinot Noir loving friends who read this blog — all 3 of you — you can save $80 off a ticket to attend The 10th Pinot Noir Summit if you act now.  The 10th Pinot Noir Summit will once again be held at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District on February 25, 2012.  Last year was the first time I attended and this year I also participated as a judge.  The Pinot Noir Summit is unique in that this event is where the attendees become the judges and “pit their palates against the expert panel.” The Showdown consists of the 40 top wines from 50+ different appellations.  The rest of day consists of workshops conducted by winemakers, viticulturalists and wine educators.

If you use my Insider’s Discount Code below you can receive 50% off the published price. No one will have better priced tickets, ever.

There are 2 types of tickets available:

• All Day Ticket including The Showdown, Workshop, Sparkling Wine Reception, and Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony ($130 Full Price – $100 until February 1st)
• Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony Only ($85 Full Price)

If you buy tickets to the All Day Summit before February 1st, you can save $80 per ticket (YOUR cost is only $50!).

To purchase tickets to The 10th Annual Pinot Noir Summit click here, or enter http://affairsofthevine.com/shop/

Use my Insiders Discount Code: PNS50 to receive 50% discount.  The discount code is in effect now through February 18th.  You must click on Apply Discount Code and enter PNS50 to receive the discount.  At that time, if the event is not sold out, all tickets sold will be at full price.

You’re welcome.

AGENDA:

Full Day: 1:30-8:30 PM
Pinot Noir Showdown ~ A Blind Tasting
1:30-4:00 PM ~ A distinctly different format and atmosphere from other wine-tasting events, attendees blind taste and judge 40 of the top wines. Male and female votes are tallied separately and announced at the Grand Awards Ceremony.

Pinot Noir Workshops
4:15-5:15 PM 
Ellen Landis, Moderator ~ “Sleek, Silky and Seductive – Pinot Noir”
OR
Sid Sall, Moderator ~ “What Makes a Great Vintage”

Sparkling Wine Tasting
5:30-6:00 PM - Wines That Dance on Your Tongue ~ Sparkling Wine Reception includes an international selection of cheeses and other tasty tidbits.

Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony
6:00 -8:30 PM - The Bay Area’s favorite meteorologist and celebrated wine aficionado, Spencer Christian of KGO/ABC will emcee the Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony. Top Pinot Noir winemakers will showcase their wines with a pinot-friendly selection of light hors d’oeuvre. The winners will be unveiled and final results will be announced by wine lover, Christian at 8:00 PM.

The recent ruling in favor of Gallo’s proposal to expand the Russian River Valley AVA further south to Cotati and specifically include all of their Two Rock Vineyard just off Hwy 101 has raised more than a few eyebrows.  Wine Industry Insight has been on this story for several years and raised more than a few issues not only with Gallo’s claims but also with the TTB’s process and regulations.  On the surface it seems once again the big corporation bullies its way to get what it wants, but at what price?  What does this expansion potentially mean for winegrowers, producers (majority of smaller wineries) and, more importantly, consumers?

The battle for expansion has been going on since at least the early 90′s and pushes the RRV AVA boundary further south to Cotati, a move adamantly opposed by the Russian River Valley Winegrowers and notably Merry Edwards in this article, though several producers in the area were outspoken on this issue.  The expansion totals more than 14,044 acres bringing the total AVA acreage to 169,028.  The winegrowers argued weather conditions were, indeed, not the same and resulted in extended harvest dates when compared to the current AVA, however, Gallo contended the geographic components including climate and soils were, in fact, the same and seemed to have provided more evidence to the TTB than the naysayers.  It also appears the TTB process is based more on the information provided by all parties and not by bringing in any independent experts to validate such claims.

What is clear is that Gallo’s Two Rock Vineyard (350 acres) was a focus and expected to be included in the final boundary proposal.  It is my opinion that this argument is less a geographic and climatic one and more about what  Gallo does with the juice from this region and how it impacts the perception and reputation of the “brand” that is Russian River Valley.  We all know Gallo (most brands anyway) is a bulk producer more interested in high yields, high volume and low price and that can only mean less than great things when is comes to the level of quality we’ve come to expect from the Russian River Valley, don’t you think?

a viticultural area for American wine [is] a delimited grape-growing region having distinguishing features as described in part 9 of the regulations and a name and delineated boundary as established in part 9 of the regulations. These designations allow vintners and consumers to attribute a given quality, reputation, or other characteristic of a wine made from grapes grown in an area to its geographic origin. The establishment of viticultural areas allows vintners to describe more accurately the origin of their wines to consumers and helps consumers to identify wines they may purchase

Complete ruling and supporting information can be found here:  http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/11/16/2011-29519/expansions-of-the-russian-river-valley-and-northern-sonoma-viticultural-areas

I am curious as to why when making a case for the Two Rock Vineyard degree day comparison to the rest of RRV, why they used 1996-98 data instead of something more recent?  Is the next step to create smaller AVA’s within RRV to target further uniqueness or does that become too confusing for the regular consumer?  But, as some have pointed out, what is done is done, so why not just move along?

I once said on this blog that when drinking Pinot Noir there are no losers, but now I am not so sure.

What are your thoughts?

Gallo Proposed

RRV Map Prior

The year 2011 is swiftly coming to a close.  What started as a dream for both me and Jonjie, where everything seemed to be going our way at every turn like we had an everful purse of rabbit’s feet with a +10 against evil, the latter half of the year has us dealing with a few curveballs and yearning for the mental renewal of New Year’s in a couple of weeks.  So, it was nice to take some time for ourselves, get a break from the heartache and stress and remember why we are here in the first place.  If the simple beauty of the wine country complete with early-blooming mustard, a sip of some of Napa’s finest in Cabernet Sauvignon (by Corison Winery) and dinner with great friends doesn’t provide the prescription for what ails you, then you’re possibly a Borg.  See for yourself.  In the meantime, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year!