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| | The Complete Grape Growers Guide. |  | | A Complete Guide For Growing Grapes. Converts Very Well At A Reasonable Price! Growing Grapes And Making Wine Is A Very Popular Topic Right Now.
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| | Fool-Proof Wine Values. | | | Learn How To Easily Find Wines Of $50 Quality For $10 Or Less. Impress Friends With Your Expanded Wine Knowledge. Eliminate Your Dependence On Wine Salespeople. And Take The Hassle Out Of Buying Wine.
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| | Making Wine From Home. | | | A Fun And Very Informative Book On Home Wine Making. The De Facto Standard For All Home Wine Enthusiasts With Recipes, Advice And Tricks.
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[01/05/2009, 20:52]
Chateau St. Michelle Syrah 2002 wine review by (PB) | | 
Dark black cherry hue with big fruity bouquet of minty black cherry and plum.
Palate--relaxed tannins with prevalent evergreen notes on top of dark berry fruit. Finishes a little quick. This Washington state wine is made in the popular style and is pleasant enough for the right mood.
For around $25, I'd rather spend it on something from K Vinters (also Washington state) or a Santa Barbara Syrah. Raise a glass. | | | |
[10/20/2008, 11:00]
Champagne Ruinart | | 
Founded in 1729, Ruinart is the longest established sparkling wine house in the Champagne region of France. Named after Benedictine monk Dom Thierry Ruinart, the winery is located in the city of Reims, where ancient crayères (chalk pits) serve as cellars that offer constant temperature and humidity, thus allowing the wine to age as long as 12 years. These crayères were hewn from the chalk sub-soil by the Romans, who used the chalk as building materials. Also used during World War I to escape the bombing, these cellars were classified an historic monument in 1931. Join us as we sit down with Ruinart’s Cellarmaster Frédéric Pana?otis to discuss Ruinart’s history, its vineyard sources, and of course its various cuvées. For more info on Champagne Ruinart: www.ruinart.com Sponsor: Bagged Wine: www.baggedwine.com Click Below to Play the Show: Download audio file (GR-ENG-USA-2008-10-20.mp3)
| Show #217
(58:56min 42MB) |
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[11/06/2008, 04:46]
Thailand: Winemaking in the Tropics - Part 1 | | I am on my way to visit the vineyards of Thailand. I have already learned about some of the many challenges they face, but now I will learn how they are overcoming them.
Growing grapes in the tropics takes a different approach than in the temperate climes. Vines do not get a chance to achieve dormancy, they grow vigorously all year round. This leads to the "Two Seasons, one Crop" approach, which means that there is only one harvest, even though there could conceivably be two. This increases the quality of the grapes, since the vine does not have to produce fruit twice.
Then there is the rain. This is a monsoon climate, and when it rains, it pours, for months. Wet leaves rot and this would not at all be a suitable time for producing fruit beneath a leafy canopy. And so, harvest takes place in the winter. We are not below the Equator, so harvesting in February and March means growing during the dark months. This has a direct effect on the amount of photosynthesis the vines can achieve.
High water tables in at least one of the vineyards we have visited so far, necessitate rather drastic soil management. A moisture barrier has to be placed 15 feet down, and then stones, in this case slate, is used to fill in the hole, greatly increasing the drainage potential of the vineyards. This keeps the water from rising too far, while allowing surface rains and irrigation to trickle down, nourishing the roots.
Heat is also a major concern, not only in the vineyard, but in the winery. I have tried some wine that tastes as if it may have been made in conditions that were inappropriately hot, but herein lies the rub. Was the wine damaged during production, or transportation and storage?
No matter how careful the wine producers are, the transportation and storage conditions, or more properly, the lack of them, spells disaster for much of the wine. Restaurants and stores often have no refrigeration for the wines, and even if they did, the truck the wine was delivered in may well not.
The heat is also problematic for making wines which contain residual sugar. Those I have visited with blame the heat for restarting fermentation in the bottle, or in many cases the "bag in a box" bladder. I personally think that better sterile filtering practices could make such wines possible, but I will learn more as I visit more wineries in the next few days.
Why the emphasis on wines with RS? The food. Spicy chiles are not easy to pair with wine, and while many producers insist their dry reds go well with the foods, I can't help but point out that I prefer slightly sweet whites with spicy food.
With many thanks to the Thai Wine Association who have invited me to tour their member wineries, I am off to explore and learn about the Thai wine industry. A full report will be coming to a blog near you next week. | | | |
[09/26/2008, 11:48]
Gaja: relax Brunello rules on Sangiovese | | A two tier qualification proposal for Brunello? I can't believe it's come down to this... talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. Richard Woodard (decanter.com) writes: Italian winemaker? Angelo Gaja has said that Brunello should operate a two-tier system and allow other varieties other than Sangiovese.
As the Brunello grape blending furore continues, the veteran Piedmont producer - who also makes Brunello di Montalcino ? has suggested DOC? Brunello should move on and no longer demand the wine is made from 100% Sangiovese.
In an article published this month in Italian newspaper Libero and local Tuscan paper La Nazione, Gaja says that if indeed Brunello producers have been adding other grapes illegally to the wine, then those producers should have been lobbying to get the appellation? rules changed.
» Full Story Tags: melgab, wine, brunello, montalcino, appellation, italy, south-africa, South Africa | | WorldWine Tags: melgab, wine, brunello, montalcino, appellation, italy, south-africa, South Africa, | | | |
[11/11/2008, 16:35]
One Glass a Time: Sweet! (Wine Spectator) | | | I have been traveling in the past week with a dining partner who can not drink much. Rather than ordering a whole bottle, which would inevitably require leaving some behind so I could drive back to the hotel safely, I have been choosing several different wines by the glass over the course of the meals. | | | |
[01/07/2009, 07:16]
ZAP Zinfandel Festival: January 28 - 31, San Francisco | |  It's that time of year again. I know of no other event that seems to bring out the inner wine lover in so many San Franciscans more than the annual ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) Festival. It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn out with such enthusiasm for this single varietal festival. Don't get me wrong. I love Zinfandel -- unabashedly so. But I tend to forget how many other people do too. Especially those that live in San Francisco.
Of course it's not just San Franciscans that turn out for this one-of-a-kind weekend. People come from all over. The Zinfreaks crawl out of the woodwork, so to speak, and march their way into San Francisco to celebrate their grape of choice, along with the rest of us who sometimes wonder where the rest of these folks hide themselves the rest of the year. But come one, come all, there's plenty of Zin to go around. The annual ZAP festival is comprised of several events. The week begins on Wednesday January 28th with a series of seminars that allow attendees to taste flights of wines in a guided fashion with commentary from winemakers, as well as an exclusive walk-around tasting of so called "rare" Zinfandels that will not be poured at the public tastings. On Thursday the education takes a back seat to hedonism, in the form of the Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing, a walk around event that features dishes prepared by chefs from all over the U.S. specifically designed to match Zinfandel wines. Attendees can wander from station to station with glass and plate in hand trying different combinations of food and wine until they find their favorites (or until they topple over like plump rabbits in a food coma). On Friday the event gets a little more swanky for an evening with the winemakers. This event features a live auction for charity, a pre-dinner tasting, and a sit-down dinner with winemakers. You can buy some great wine while giving to charity, and then you can have a great meal while a winemaker pours a selection of their wines and answers all the questions you ever might have about making Zinfandel. And finally on Saturday, the ultimate San Francisco wine tasting begins. Starting at 2:00 PM, the floodgates open and hundreds of Zinfandel wines are available to the public for tasting. There is simply no other opportunity like this to educate your palate about Zinfandel as a wine, and no other chance to so easily discover new Zins for yourself. The event tends to get a little crazy as the afternoon progresses, both in terms of the size of the crowd and its level of inebriation, but don't let that stop you from showing up early, enjoying yourself, and then making your exit before the sloshing and stumbling begin. Last year I had the flu, and couldn't make it, so I'm very much looking forward to this year again. And you should be too. Especially because you might get to go to one of the events for free. I've got five pairs of tickets to give away to the Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing on Thursday January 29th. All you have to do in order to get yourself a pair of tickets is be one of the first five people to compose a haiku about Zinfandel in the comments section of this blog (and leave me your full name and e-mail address in the fields provided). That's it! ZAP Zinfandel Advocates and Producers Festival
Grand Tasting: Saturday January 31, 2009
Doors open to the public at 2:00 PM (members can get in an hour earlier)
Herbst and Festival Pavilions
Marina Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94123 (map) Tickets for the Grand Tasting are $59 if purchased in advance (which you should do most assuredly). If any tickets are left they will be $69 at the door. Tickets for other events range from $95 to $210 depending on the event. ZAP members receive discounts on all tickets. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, please see the ZAP event web site. SPECIAL NOTES: I don't recommend parking anywhere near Fort Mason on the day of the event. Take public transportation or park a long way off and walk. Also I especially recommend wearing dark clothes that you won't mind getting a drop or two of red wine on when someone accidentally jostles your glass (or theirs). Finally, I recommend showing up with a full stomach, drinking lots of water as you go, and spitting instead of swallowing. You ain't got any taste buds in your throat, and if you want to learn anything you need to stay sober. Otherwise you'll be one of the drunken fools that everyone makes fun of at 4:30 PM on Saturday. See you there. | | | |
[11/12/2008, 06:45]
The Thin White Line | |  They said it couldn?t be done. Yet it is being done. California is emerging from the excesses of the previous decades (who isn?t) and presenting a leaner, meaner attitude in their wines. By lean and mean I mean acidity and a glorious lack of residual sugar. Perhaps Pilates is good for all types of fat.
Just today I had two crisp, mineraly and very dry white wines from California and they were as good examples of the genre as you?ll find anywhere. Facing down a half dozen pristine oysters the 2006 Brander Sauvignon Blanc Natural from Santa Ynez was master of its domaine. It was clean and fresh as you could want, yet the Brander was not that simple cat pee punch produced in New Zealand as on top of that zest was a lovely touch of honeydew melon and ripe pears. Brander Natural is a rare example of a new world sauvignon blanc that can actually challenge Sancerre or Pouilly Fume for both guts and glory. More difficult to find, but well worth the search is the 2007 Pey- Marin, The Shell Mound, Riesling from chilly Marin County. Here?s a high strung dry riesling that is not a bad copy of Alsace, but an interesting wine in its own right. Like the Brander, on top of all the structure and bite is a deliciously ripe fruitiness that belongs only to California. At only 11.8% alcohol it hits some of those high notes you thought only German riesling could hit. There used to be a line that could not be crossed in California without wines being branded as thin. Thankfully those days seem to be gone as producers like Pey Marin and Brander produce lean, mean fighting machines such as these. | | WorldWine Tags: California, wine, riesling, sauvignon blanc, | | | |
[11/07/2008, 19:47]
Today on Serious Grape: Waving Goodbye to Expensive Wine? | |  I'm on the road for work, which means that I'm reading The Wall Street Journal. This paper is everywhere business travelers are: in lounges, planes, and hotels. I don't subscribe at home, but as it's Friday and the paper was outside my door, I turned to the "Tastings" column written by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher to read what two of my favorite wine critics had to say. (photo by filtran)
Essentially, they said that expensive wine was so five minutes ago. And then they made a surprising recommendation for this year's "holiday gift pick."
It's not expensive. It's not hard to get. But it will leave you wondering if America's expensive wine habits are on the brink of changing--for the better. What do I think? For my thoughts on their story, click over to Serious Grape, my weekly column on the excellent food site Serious Eats, and get all the details. | | | |
[11/12/2008, 11:50]
What Food With A Gewürztraminer? | |  A combination cited as a classic food and wine combination is Munster cheese with Gewürztraminer. But how many people sit down to a meal of just cheese? What I'm after is a main meal dish. Ruling out Gewurz with Chinese or Thai dishes (a combination I've never found remotely enjoyable) a recipe sent with a bottle of Espiritu de Chile Gewürztraminer sounded at once interesting, autumnal and tasty. The wine itself is not hugely expensive (around a fiver) but works well as a mid-week slurp and did work deliciously well with the food - a Thai-Spiced Chicken Salad.
Review0.3
 Wine Tasting Note: Espiritu de Chile Gewürztraminer, 2007, Central Valley, Chile.
Price: £4.99 [More: Adegga / Snooth]
A pleasant nose - hints of violets, limes and roses with similar flavours on the palate only more focused and noticeable. Hints of sweetness balance the wine but this is not a full in-yer-face Gewurz some can verge on the soapy, almost violent in intensity and spicy sweetness. This does have a little of the rose and ginger coupled with a suspicion of strawberries but, as expected for a humbly priced wine, is quite gentle and more subtle. With the food: Despite the generous dollop of Thai Chili Paste the salad is not overly spicy (in the heat-hot spectrum) it still has a decent level of background heat but not enough to dampen the taste buds and, in turn, ruin the wine. Pear and apple flavours appear in the wine leading to the question should the dish have a little sliced pear added for additional autumnal flavours (not terribly Thai I suppose. Mind you is Savoy cabbage?)
Andrew BarrowScribblings Rating - 86/100 [3.25 out of 5]
Duck pâté and Foie Gras (although I find this too rich a combination, especially if the wine is of the sweeter style) do work well with Gewurztraminer.
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[10/31/2008, 16:41]
Today on Serious Grape: Why Read About Wine You'll Never Drink? | |  If you are often frustrated reading wine magazines, wine books, and wine reviews that focus on wines you can't find in your local store, you may wonder why I am addicted to Michael Broadbent's Vintage Wine: Fifty Years of Tasting Three Centuries of Wines. This book collects his tasting notes for the oldest, rarest, and most coveted wines in the world.
Today on Serious Grape, my weekly column on Serious Eats, I explain why I love reading about wine I'll never, ever be able to drink, like the 1811 Chateau Yquem from the "comet vintage." For me its a vicarious pleasure akin to reading People magazine or Vogue, and it combines two of my favorite other pleasures: history and mystery.
If you don't know Michael Broadbent's book, it's an awe-inspiring trip through some of the oldest and most expensive cellars on the planet. And because there's no conceivable way most of us will ever be able to buy any of the wines he tastes here, there's none of that frustration--just pure enjoyment. If this sounds like something you might find fun, or you are looking for a gift for a wine lover, check out today's post.
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[10/17/2008, 17:18]
Rediscovering Riesling at COPIA Class and Tasting | | THIS SUNDAY FOLKS!
 Class occurs 10/19/2008, 11:30-01:00 pm
Panel discussion Riesling is currently the fastest growing white varietal in the US, increasingly sought out for its food friendliness and its aromatic, vibrant character, however, its variety of sweetness can make it a challenging purchase for the consumer. Join Riesling producers for a discussion of this versatile grape and the new ?Riesling Taste Scale,? read more. Rediscovering Riesling Walk Around Tasting
Sunday, October 19 ~ 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Elegant, aromatic and food-friendly, Riesling?s making a comeback! The perfect pairing for Asian, Indian, and of course, German and Austrian cuisine, ?The Other White Wine? abundantly deserves its growing popularity. Taste dozens of domestic and international dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling Rieslings paired with artisan foods ranging from sausage to sushi. You?re sure to find the perfect match! read more
Pub.: 2008-10-08 09:18:37; Udt.: | | | |
[12/06/2007, 15:15]
The Results Are In! | | And apparently, Yulia is the Upset Queen. She's adept at bringing $7 bottles that end up winning blind tastings. Either that or we all have cheap tastes... not quite sure. So last night was the Mourvedre/Monastrell showdown. And honestly, it was pretty disappointing. We blind tasted 5 wines and none of them were particularly stellar. As per my normal accuracy, I guessed 3 out of 5. I knew we had 2 cheap Spanish, 1 pricier Spanish, Cline's Ancient Vines, and Thomas Coyne. I did not know the vintage of any of them. Wine #1: Blackberry/blueberry nose, with a touch of herbs. A bit of funk wafting through. Tight tannins. Thin fruit, but very ripe. Smoke on the finish. I guessed it was a cheap Spanish from 05. I gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars. Wine #2: Smells exactly like sweet boysenberry pancake syrup from IHOP. Blast of fruit on the opening palate and then... nothing. Kind of gross, really. I guessed another cheap Spanish from 05. I gave it 1 star. Wine #3: Much lighter in color (the previous two were densely purple-red). White chocolate and sweet cinnamon on the nose with blackberry/raspberry fruit. Same fruit on palate with spicy-herbal finish (sage, thyme, cinnamon). Lingering cocoa. I guessed a CA from 05, and I figured it was Cline. I gave it 2.75 stars. Wine #4: Ripe blackberry, some astrigency on the nose - kinda like band-aids. Also lighter in color than the first two, more red than purply. Cassis fruit, smoke and lots of herbs. Lingering tea. I guessed a CA from 03 or 04 based on color and herbality. I guessed it as Thomas Coyne and gave it 3.25 stars. Wine #5: Smelled just like... dish soap? Seriously. Or cheap rose perfume. Sweet raspberry also present. On the palate, pretty tasty mulberry fruit with mint and thyme. I guessed it as the pricier Spanish and placed it as an 05. I gave it 3 stars. So, it turned out that: #1- Cambra's 03 Uno! Shit, we all got that one wrong. And quite frankly, it is NOT worth the price. #2- Chonchelo 06 - Cheap Spanish, indeed. We just poured this straight down the sink. #3- Cline 05 Ancient Vines Mourvedre - Got it right, but it's not as good as I recall. Much lighter and much leaner on herbs. #4- Thomas Coyne 04 Mourvedre - Pretty good stuff. I'd feel ok about recommending this. #5- Finca Luzon Verde 06 Monastrell- And with that, Yulia's cheap Spanish trumps us all. This is a great bargain. | | | |
[11/14/2008, 09:40]
2004 Night Owl Merlot | |  The other night I invited my brother John over for dinner and the chance to spend a bit of time shooting the breeze, swapping tales, and unwinding at the end of the week. I had a couple of buffalo filet steaks marinating for a few hours in a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and Angostura bitters. I sliced up a few small blue potatoes and roasted them in butter and garlic, and prepped basic sides of mesclun mix and fresh berries. When John showed up, I threw the meat in the skillet and cooked it to a perfect medium rare. Anything longer and buffalo starts to get damned tough.
 The yellowish blob on top of the steak is a daub of homemade aioli, best described as French garlic mayonnaise. I used olive oil, egg yolks, a lot of garlic, and cayenne pepper to make mine. It solidifies in the refrigerator, but when topped on a hot steak it slowly melts into a lovely sauce. It's a bit different from béarnaise, but definitely gets the job done, and the oil-based topping helps compensate for the fully lean buffalo meat.
For the wine we popped open a bottle of Delicato's now defunct 2004 Night Owl Merlot from Monterey, California. $10, 14.5% abv. Some blackberry and cedar notes, but mostly just a pretty basic California table Merlot. While the wine was not spectacular, the food and conversation were great, and frankly there's nothing wrong with the wine taking a backstage to everything else once in a while. | | | |
[09/21/2008, 01:10]
Amazon.com to Begin Wine Sales | | 
Amazon.com, the online purveyor of books, apparel, and just about everything else, has announced its plans to enter the wine sales business. Beginning as early as mid-October, the online retailer will offer a selection of more than 300 wines from all over the United States to customers in 26 states. The company indicates that the selection will represent a wide cross-section of US producers, not just wineries in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
Shipping and taxes, as ever with online wine sales, will likely be an issue. Amazon says that customers of the Amazon Prime service (which carries a $79 annual fee) will get free shipping. Still, it's an intriguing development.
(photo © istockphoto) See full article.
Related Entries:
Catch Champagne Sales - 06 January 2007 Wine Sellers Dream of Amazon - 18 January 2007 British Spending More on Wine, Less on Beer - 13 August 2007 TiVo and Amazon will Deliver Digital TV Shopping - 24 July 2008
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[03/12/2008, 03:02]
Vintage Cellars affordable imports ... | | By Campbell Mattinson
Publisher, The Wine Front
 I like writing about imports but it always frustrates me how limited they are (in terms of availability) and generally how expensive. As a reviewer it can feel like I’m spending a lot of time writing for a very, very small number of people. When a box of affordable imports from Australian retailer Vintage Cellars came in though I jumped at it; this is more like it. Vintage Cellars has put a lot of time and energy into its quaffable import range in recent years and it shows. These wines are generally good, available and not expensive. Tasting through them was like a quick trip around the world. There are a couple of real bargains here.
These reviews are available to subscribers only. Click here for the reviews. In coming months I will attempt to review the comparable ranges of other importers. | | | |
[05/07/2008, 16:18]
Interview with Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections: First Installment | | 
Following the theme of my last post about Americans? increasing awareness of the quality wines that many artisan producers of Argentina are exporting, I?m pleased to post the first installment of my interview with Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections. Along with his business partner, Nick Ramkowsky, they formed a company that not only imports the wines of artisan Mendoza producers, but selectively forges meaningful, long term relationships with them. As Ed Lehrman explains in the interview, this type of involvement encompasses much more than shipping and distribution, extending into representation, consulting, label design and many other crucial aspects which in the end, bring American consumers the types of genuine artisan wines that multinationals couldn?t even conceive of delivering.
Based out of Sausalito, CA, Vine Connections has been at the forefront of the changing of the guard, in terms of tastes, that I described in my last post. Their portfolio includes excellent California, New Zealand and Japanese Saké producers, alongside the wines of star Mendoza winemakers Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky, along with others to look out for, such as Mapema, Tikal and La Posta del Viñatero. If you really want to know what Argentines really like to have at the table and moreover, the breadth that Argentine wines are capable of achieving, I encourage you to explore the types of artisan producers that Vine Connections represents and whose work, over the coming years, will ultimately triumph over the characterless, corporate-backed South American wines saturating our shelves.
I would like to thank Ed Lehrman for taking the time to provide his in-depth responses concerning Vine Connections, its vision and inspiration. Our conversation unfolded over e-mail:
*What is the vision behind your company and what were some of the key experiences that led you and your business partner to get started?
- My partner, Nick Ramkowsky, and I have both been in the wine business since 1986 (we started very young), and we could have done any number of things together. Nick was a small California distributor at the time, and I had just sold my direct-to-consumer wine business where he had been one of my suppliers. A fateful trip together in May of 1999 launched us into the importing/national sale & marketing business. We spent about a week in Mendoza on that trip tasting wines from bottle, barrel, tanks?you name it?and we met some incredible winery owners and winemakers. By the end of the week, we were looking at each other and asking, ?How does the 5th largest wine producer in the world hide incredible wines like these from the US?? It seemed like this must be the opportunity of a lifetime for wine guys like us to lead the charge in introducing Argentine wine to the US, and in a way that they would be fully appreciated for their quality and authenticity, and not just their price. As an aside, of the first 12 wines we imported from Argentina, the LEAST EXPENSIVE wine was $22 retail! So in fact, Vine Connections was originally formed in order to be an Argentine wine importer.
*Compared to other importers, what is the depth of Vine Connection's involvement with the producers its represents? (in terms of consulting, marketing, other assistance, etc.)
- It is hard to speak about other importers, since some do quite a lot and some just taste and buy. As for us, we take the approach that we are the winery?s own sales & marketing department and they can use us for as little or as much as they need. That may mean writing back label copy, helping with label design, or determining whether a new blended wine is even a good idea to add to their portfolio.
For all of our wineries, we do the copywriting for all printed materials since we can communicate their stories in English more effectively, and along the same lines, we handle most press relations since we are here and readily available. And I guess the most valuable thing we do would be called ?consulting? since we offer our advice on many topics based on our 40 years of working in the U.S. wine biz.
*How does your company forge relationships with producers? In this vein, what is the process like for you when considering an addition to your portfolio? Do the producers come towards you in the way of trade events, do you travel to areas to scout, so to speak, or some combination thereof?
- We are very careful in this regard since our objective as an importer is to build brands and not just sell wine. That requires long-term relationships, so besides tasting backwards and forwards through a winery?s production, we spend as much as time as we can with the owners and the winemakers to see whether there is a good fit for working closely together. When we meet people who already think they know it all about winemaking, marketing, etc., we politely walk away no matter the wine quality. Our initial screen is the wines?they have to be particularly good since that is what we are known for importing. Then we start talking about their philosophies, their dreams, their business objectives, and where we should all eat dinner together (a meal with a potential supplier is always a good way to gain more insight).
This process means that while we have run into some wines that we like, we have sometimes been unwilling to take the winery on. The most common stumbling block for us seems to be that the winery lacks a strong winemaking philosophy, and often because they have abdicated this cornerstone to a consulting winemaker (and most often to foreign winemakers). As time has passed, we have pretty much settled into the idea of only representing wineries owned by Argentines and with Argentine winemakers since the winemaking vision is usually clearer and more grounded in expressing what makes Mendoza so special compared to other regions.
From the first moment that we meet a winery team, it usually takes about 18 months before we come to an agreement, do the ground work, and then start selling the wines in the U.S. It seems to work--we have never lost an Argentine winery and every brand that we represent has achieved a significant level of success.
I wish I could say that finding these producers followed a particular recipe, but in truth, all of our brands have come to us via different sources. The key is to have your radar on all the time so that the best ones don?t slip by accidentally.
*You represent Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky's Dominio del Plata Winery?how did that relationship come about and how far back do you go?
- Well, if it weren?t for the ?dynamic duo? of Mendoza, we may never have been Argentine wine importers. We met them on our first trip to Mendoza in 1999, and they were so obviously talented and knowledgeable that they got us thinking a lot about the possibilities. We also formed a trusting relationship so quickly that it became obvious that we would work together, and together push forward a common vision of making Argentine wine part of the daily American fine wine conversation. That seems like an ominous task looking back now?we had no company yet and they were renting a very small winery at the time?but at the time it just seemed like destiny. | | | |
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