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As reported by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, Amazon.com will begin to sell wine in a just few weeks here in the U.S. The announcement came from The Napa Valley Vintners association and not directly from Amazon. Also reported was that New Vine Logisitics will be Amazon’s shipping partner when they go live.
Rumors have been circulating for some time that Amazon would enter the market but most observers thought they would concentrate on high volume brands. But the Amazon head wine buyer was on the floor checking out wines at the recent Family Winemakers of California and I have spoken with several smaller wineries who have been in discussions with them.
As I posted back in March, I think his is the most signifiant development in wine distribution since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. And Amazon’s actions in the past 6 months have validated my hypothesis that medium to small wineries are their target. Their decision to work with regional wine associations is a good one from an industry relations, recruitment and PR point of view. I don’t think it was an accident the announcement came from the Napa Valley Vintners and think we’ll see announcements from other winery associations before Amazon formally launches their wine business later this month or in early October.
This is a great development for both wineries looking for online distribution and for consumers looking for small production, artisan wines. I expect the shipping fees to be reasonable like Amazon does for all their other products but their Prime service will be a must for serious wine lovers. For $79 a year, you get free shipping on all purchases with second day delivery. No word on if that speed will be honored for wine but if it’s just free ground shipping for wine, that will be huge for sales. With increasing fuel costs, shipping is becoming a real problem for wineries as it adds significantly to their customer price. If this is a non-issue, then wineries stand to benefit greatly from what Amazon if offering.
This is not good news for other online wine retailers who do not have the deep pockets to cover the significant shipping costs or the economies of scale that Amazon has. But I still think there will be a place for niche e-tailers like domaine547 and wine marketing sites like woot and The Wine Spies.
I think this is the biggest wine story of the year and will be blogging about what this means for wine marketing over at my company blog.
Cheers to Amazon and welcome to the wine business.
What am I doing around 1:00 am EST almost every night? Checking woot.com for the latest woot item, of course! Being a computer/tech junkie, I am always finding random good deals on woot. Now, they have made my life complete, with Wine Woot.
Every week they will be featuring a single deal on wine. Take it or leave it, but when they are out of stock, you are out of luck. If this turns out anything like the regular Woot.com, a good deal will be sold out in minutes.
The wine deal they have up there right now looks pretty good: St. Supéry 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot Sampler. Seeing as how these would fit the Cheap Wine Reviews rule of 15 bucks or less, I might give this wine a try.
[07/18/2006, 15:19]
Michel Rolland, the most influential enologist of the world : " 75 % of the Chilean wines is green "
The most important and polemic flying winemaker of the world does not agree with the commentary of the Chilean critics who say that the wines are falling down in a style "On I mature". In sole right, it conversed with "Revista del Campo" of his acid vision of the enology and of the specializing journalism.
Here is a really fantastic recommendation for those of you who may already enjoy Austrian whites, as this wine has the capacity to detonate or reignite even the faintest bystander?s interest in Grüner Veltliner. If you have had Grüner and did not think much of the variety, I highly recommend giving Hofer?s an honest chance.
The label on this favorite of mine, in the spicy-white category, reflects Austria?s recent experimental appellation system of DAC?s, standing for the Latin, Districtus Austriæ Controllatus. Notwithstanding the seemingly imposing, archaic or superficially impressive appellation name (depends how you wish regard it), the crucial element to consider here is that Hofer?s wines are crafted seriously, so enjoying them turns out to be quite effortless. This Grüner sees time in stainless steel and is sourced from their Freiberg site in Weinviertel, one of Austria?s largest and most significant wine producing regions, in the northeast of the country. Should organic wines be of interest to you, Weingut Hofer belongs to Bio Ernte, a group whose producers operate on slightly different, some would argue higher, organic cultivation and production standards than even those dictated by say, the EU.
My notes: Pale, clear and golden. Clean nose with lovely stone fruit, spice, as well as mineral and floral elements. The palate is dry, with fresh, zesty lime acidity and slightly Riesling-like stone fruit, rocky minerality and spicy white pepper. These flavors, particularly the great peach/apricot flavors and white pepper, pervade the aftertaste.
No one wants his or her taxes raised. Yet given the enormity of the fiscal challenges that lie ahead for this country, is a new tax on wine in order? I don't think so, and certainly hope not. But in the past, anti-alcohol lobbies have eyed a tax increase on wine and spirits.
The wines of Bulgaria have mostly been impressing me with their value but not their complexity, to say the least. This has become so universally true that I have coined the phrase "Bulgarian Soft" to refer to them in my notes. It was time to venture forth to one of the better restaurants in the country to see what throwing money at it would bring.
What follows is a detailed review of the restaurant, but only a generic review of of the wines. As always I save the wine specifics for the readers of my newsletter. It is free and it is emailed so there is no trees to kill, and it comes with a password to unlock the full data base of all of my wine tasting notes. You may sign up for it here.
The restaurant that received our patronage this evening was the Uno Enoteca in Sofia, Bulgaria. This was the first white linen restaurant we have had a chance to visit in Bulgaria, and we had a great time. The staff was attentive and friendly, and everyone did their best to ensure that we enjoyed ourselves.
The food was simple. A little too simple for my taste. We tried ordering more Continental style fare, but even early on a Friday night, the kitchen had run out of our favorites. We opted then to try the more traditional Bulgarian style of dining, which they refer to as BBQ and I put under the heading of: kill it and grill it.
The Muscat from the Thracian region we opened the dinner with was delightful. Aromatic but crisp and dry. I have really been enjoying the many Muscats I have tried in Bulgaria. They all tend towards the drier side, and have been more successful than the other aromatic style whites I have tried.
I started with rabbit stuffed in a nest of potatoes, which I had high hopes for. It was alas, rather bland. There was no sauce at all, just a tiny piece of rabbit in the center of half dollar sized fried shredded potatoes. This was served with warm slices of cucumbers and carrots. There was no hint of herb, spice or apparently even salt in the dish.
My wife settled for a carpaccio of beef when we learned the carpaccio of duck was sold out. It was served in the traditional manner, with shavings of parmesan cheese and arugula, with a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil. This is mostly notable because olive oil is not common in Bulgaria, and it was good to see. The carpaccio was fresh, thin, and pretty much like every other time we have had it. Nothing to rave about, but perfectly nice.
Next up in the wine department we had a relatively pricey Merlot / Cab blend. At 140 Bulgarian Leva (around $115) it was the most expensive wine we have tried, even given the usual restaurant markup. It lived up the the "Bulgarian Soft" moniker, but with delightful fruit and more complexity we had seen in other Bulgarian wines.
I am a fan of the soft style in wines, Zinfandels and Pinot Noir usually being more to my taste than tannic Cabs. If your tastes are similar than you will enjoy a foray into Bulgarian wines. If you expect well defined tannins in your Cabs and Merlots, you are likely to be disappointed. I have only tried a dozen or so examples to date, but this seems to be the pattern I am noticing.
For our main course we had grilled meats. Lamb and a veal steak, ordered by weight. They came unadorned with limp grilled vegetables their only accompaniment. They were cooked perfectly, but they were, to us, rather boring. No complaints, it is just a matter of taste, and the Bulgarian love of grilled meats is not one that we really share.
The house kindly surprised us with a taste of an Austrian dessert wine, but I never got a good look at the bottle, and it happened too quickly to get details. Suffice it to say it was rich and flavorful and one of the highlights of the evening.
We finished with a small chocolate soufflé that was perfectly nice. I prefer to see them served with a bit of creme anglais, but once a saucier.... Not everyone share my penchant for sauce on everything. In this case it was more like sauce on nothing.
The ambiance of Uno Enoteca was delightful. With outdoor seating under an awning making the most of the warm summer night. The fresh air also helped disperse the ever present cigar and cigarette smoke that is a fact of life pretty much everywhere outside of the US.
The service was very good, in fact the only Western European service we have experienced in Eastern Europe to date. Usually the wait staff do their best not to be at all obtrusive, which looks a lot like being ignored to our standards. At Uno they were attentive, knew how to pour wine without over pouring, and did a fine job of making sure that everything was as perfect as it could be.
I definitely recommend Uno Enoteca to anyone dining in Sofia, and if your tastes run close to mine I can only hope that their full menu is available when you visit.
Dubbed the "first lady of wine" by one Robert Parker, Heidi Peterson Barrett makes damn good wine (think Screaming Eagle) in Napa, and now you can listen to her talk about how she decides what and when to harvest in this video just posted by one of her winery clients, Fantesca. Filmed on October 2, Heidi discusses not only Fantesca's harvest but that of the region as a whole, so it's a nice 3-minute primer on what's happening in the vineyards in and around Napa about this time. Personally, I was super lucky to meet Heidi earlier this year in Napa at a fantastic gathering of women in wine, and if you click the link to "read more" you can check out a pic of the two of us. Not my best pic - but then again, that hardly matters when one is so close to Ms. Hallowedness of Wine. Cheers!
Refined, elegant and vibrant, delivering a lively mouthful of lime-accented apple and pear fruit, weaving delicate shades of cream and toast into the finish. Drink now through 2012. 1,500 cases made.
Monday blues? Here at Vin Vini Vino, we've got Monday Hangovers, a weekly dose of headaches, hangups and how-not-to's. Consider it your worst-case-scenario guide to wine. Grab an aspirin - we'll try not to yell.
OK, so this weekly feature hasn't been so weekly lately. Frankly, I haven't been all that snappy with the posts, either.
Like any passion (cross-stitch, anyone?), wine has a habit of getting lost in the shuffle when the stampede of daily life comes barreling through. We've been painting our office, landscaping, working, entertaining. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.
But how do you pick up with your passion once you find the time again?
How do you get inspired? How do you find the energy?
If wine is your cup of tea, er, juice, you go to the store. That's right, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Even if you have a cellar full of drinkable bottles, shelf browsing can be quality time. There's nothing like a few hundred brand new, shiny bottles lined up like soldiers to remind you that there's a world of wine out there - and that what you've tasted wouldn't fill a bucket.
Something to try at every turn. Single-varietal gamay, beerenauslese, pinot blanc from Sonoma, muscat, ripasso, Douro, Kongsgaard, vernaccia.
Sad sign of the times: collectors are resorting to selling their precious wine in order to raise capital. Lisa Baertlein (reuters.com) writes:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wine cellars have been taking a hit from the global credit crisis and it isn't because the owners of rare bottles are drinking more -- it's because they have been selling to raise cash.
The selling started with mortgage brokers and has moved to Wall Street as owners turn their collections of coveted vintages into liquid assets.
"People need money. Even richer people need money sometimes," Vinfolio.com founder and Chief Executive Stephen Bachmann told Reuters on Monday.
In the last few weeks, private collectors submitted offers to sell $10 million worth of wine to Vinfolio, a San Francisco-based company that buys and sells wine online. Normally the company has about $6 million offered to it.
IN A DRAMATIC change of focus the Hardy Wine Company today announced that it was taking a great leap backwards - and changing its name. From the end of this month the Hardy Wine Company will be known as Constellation Wines Australia. This is an attempt to change the perception of the Hardys wine name from that of a corporate giant to, more simply, a regional winery 'known for quality and craftsmanship'
While this change is largely window-dressing, it is important. It marks a significant shift in thinking at Hardys. In recent years its super-premium portfolio has been sadly neglected, to the point where many premium wine drinkers (and wine media) today query whether the Jack Mann, Houghton Gladstones, Hardy's Tintara and Thomas Hardy super-premium labels still exist. The Hardy Wine Company has become known for good quality, cheap, non-region-specific fighting varietals. It has been at the forefront of the much maligned 'race to the bottom'.
And for a long time this strategy has been widely perceived as puzzling and myopic - like defecating in your own nest.
Hardy Wine Company President John Grant said today that ‘This is a pivotal time for our company as we embark on a range of activities to move our company to higher ground. From 31 March ... we aim to showcase to the world regional winemaking at its finest.
‘By drawing on Constellation’s global resources and tapping into our generational traditions, we aim to become Australia’s regional wine champion, recognised for our quality brands and winemaking excellence.’
‘Changing our company name provides greater freedom to shine the spotlight on the real heroes of our business - the outstanding regional wines. In particular, it allows the Hardys brand to return to being a winery, known for quality and craftsmanship, rather than being known as a corporation.’
‘We will be adding to our diverse regional offering and continuing our exploration of Australia’s premium wine regions’, he said, ‘as well as strengthening our front line staff, with additional personnel, tools, resources and training’.
Constellation Wines Australia brands include: Amberley, Banrock Station, Barossa Valley Estate, Bay of Fires, Berri Estates, Brookland Valley Estate, Chateau Reynella, Goundrey, Hardys, Houghton, Leasingham, Moondah Brook, Omni, Redman, Renmano, Stanley Wines, Starvedog Lane, Stonehaven, Tintara, Yarra Burn.
Giuseppe Lonardi Classico 2005 Imported by Small Vineyards( if yo can find stuff from them they are a great importer)
I am not going to lie I am a little thrown of by the Classico on the label, since it is a D.O.C. and not From Chianti? same grapes and all but still. Any how I digress, this is a pretty old world style not fruit driven( yes my favorite type) but it still has good red fruit, earth a bit of herbs, and stems. It is pretty cheep, around $13 bucks a bottle, and is very food friendly, worth checking out for sure.
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.
Posted by 1 November 2: We didn't touch the fermenters on Saturday because we don't take any 1 or 1 readings until the must has been allowed to soak for two days. We know that the juice will always extract more sugar and acid from the skins than what we would see right out of the crusher, so there's no need to fool ourselves by taking measurements early.
Already available as a super limited lp (we may still have a few left), now finally available on cd, the latest from Bay Area new-kraut-folk-age combo Alps, which finds the band sounding more high fidelity than ever, and more kraut than folk, which in both cases suits them big time. For those new to Alps, a rundown of several members should help give you an idea of where their sound is coming from: our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma). But Alps is definitely more than the sum of its parts, their sound is quite varied, expansive, even epic at times, but simultaneously, they manage to craft a sound simple and solid, based as much on rhythm and texture as on song and melody. On past releases, Alps were a much more ramshackle concern, which at the time was definitely a big part of their sound, and thus set them firmly amongst the lo-fi cd-r drone folks scene, their sound a sort of ghostly Appalachia, mixed with longform drone music, muddy muted ambience, minimal soundscaping and plenty of lo-fi buzz and hiss much of the record mired in a corrosive murk, that only added to their dark dronelike vibe. The move to Type Records, coincides, perhaps not coincidentally, with a sonic shift, where once was abstract and low fidelity, is now rhythmic, and propulsive, looped and repetitive, and most importantly, glistening and glimmering, the sound crystal clear, and this time the dreaminess doesn't come from poor recording, it comes from the compositions, and the arrangements, and a super nice sounding recording courtesy of Phil Manley of the Champs and Trans Am. The core members of Alps also have a keen interest in new age music. Not the Deep Breakfast sort of schlock that most seem to equate with the genre, but instead more the sort of inner space, dreamy drift of Tangerine Dream, Deuter, Steve Hillage and the like. And those sounds are all over III as well. The opener is a gorgeous looped soundscape of repetitive guitar figures, and glistening chimes, almost like a dreamfolk Steve Reich, bits of Appalachia, big buzzing synths, strummed zithers, a gorgeous melancholy melody played out over the course of five and a half minutes. The second track finds the band getting their kraut on, channeling Neu! Or Agitation Free but through a much more washed out and weary space rock, like Hawkwind gone new age. Distant drifting vocals, all manner of layered buzz, distorted guitars buried in the mix, space-y FX, very tranquil and mesmerizing. The follow up "Cloud One" finds Alps revisiting their folk roots, taking strummed acoustic guitars, and simple piano, and draping them over a woozy melody and a super spare abstract rhythm. "Trem Fantasma" is a barely there whisper of spaced out dronemusic, Gloriously wreathed in musical mystery, drifting piano, fragmented guitars, some soft sixties 'ladada' vocals, another dreamy drifter that threatens to spirit the listener away to some sun dappled green grassed knoll. "Labyrinths" is another new age / krautrock meander, washed out and shimmery, the drums the only thing keeping the rest of the song from just floating away, playful melodies, that sound like Perry and Kingsley rendered in shades of grey. The next few tracks are more abstract, sounds swooping in and out, rhythms, if there are any, buried beneath soft layers of sound, everything hushed and minimal, until album closer, "Into The Breeze", which sounds just like the title would have you imagine, breezy, soft focus, the drums, simple and stripped down, shimmering steel string guitar, that ever present piano, the melody wistful, the production hazy and a little woozy, effects swirling in the background, the drums gradually becoming more and more tripped out, before fading out completely, leaving just the guitar and the piano to drift heavenward, through a field of soft shimmer and the glistening afterglow of the sounds that came before. The more we listen to III, the more obvious the new age-isms become, which is not a bad thing at all, it wraps the proceedings, no matter how krautrocky or folky or droney, in a sweet swirl of moonlit dreaminess, turning each song into its own sort of otherworldly mesmer. .Info stolen from; [ Aquarius Records ]
My, was it only last July that I posted my first fake interview? That I unleashed my demons of satire? That seems so very long ago...before I became Strappo. Here's #1. My favorite part is about the antiquity of the casks and DNA. Enjoy! July 03, 2007 Visit with a serious winemaker The following is a distillation of many conversations with vignerons (or vignaioli) -- winemakers -- at various gatherings. With a bit of my bitingly sarcastic "humor" added as a special "treat." T: So tell me why you got...
Do you do anything with port other than drink it or serve it with stilton?
I'm not a great fan, by the way, of port with cheese, especially stilton. Two strong totally strong flavours that clash. Just because it is 'tradition' doesn't make it right! I'm out on my own I think. A quick twitter poll resulted in an almost universal condemnation for my heretical views.
"Nope, I've tried it, and in my humble opinion, the complexity of the port combats the cheese, I like a desert Riesling or Sauternes instead"
Chocolate is the way to go when matching food with port; especially the Late Bottled Vintage version. I've just enjoyed a rather scrummy Chocolate Bavarois (made 'em myself, he says with a triumphant gloat) with a generous glass of Cockburns LBV - pure bliss. You have to be generous with the drink serving, none of your namby-pamby little glasses, splash a generous measure into a wine glass.
Review0.3 Wine Tasting Note: Cockburn's Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port , 2003, Portugal Stockist: Asda and Morrisons 10.69 [More on UKWOL] Price: £9.99 [More on Adegga / Snooth]
Distinct chocolate notes in the wine are mingled with a deep richness and mellow complex fruits. Mulberry is often noted but to me is more sweet raisins with a little plum and sweet strawberry thrown in. A nice sweetness tempered by the tannins and a creamy mouthfeel.
Andrew BarrowScribblings Rating - 90/100 [3.75 out of 5]
A full recipe and instructions for Chocolate Bavarois is available on SpittoonExtra.
I've tried this wine a few times now (1st, 2nd) and on each occasion I've been impressed. Weightier and more textured than the Germanic archetype, tonight it smelt of flint, toffee apple and something faintly herbal and grassy. There is notable sweetness which is married with intensity and focused acidity. It's hard not to find something pleasingly crystalline and stony about this.
Up until this review I had not tried any Clonakilla wines, however now I think it is fair to say that if you live in NSW and are feeling a bit parochial, but not in the mood for something from the Hunter, then the Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2007 will be a safe bet.
Perfumed aromas of blackberry, plum, cherry and some floral notes. On the palate it’s lush and full flavoured with grippy, yet fine tannins and a long lingering finish. Although very approachable now, a few years in the cellar should do wonders.
I tip my hat to the winemaker Tim Kirk, this is a fine effort. I cannot wait to crack open a bottle of the super-premium Shiraz Viognier - an occasion that will need to wait a few years.
Score: 93/100 Price: $27 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.5% Other Opinions: Cant seem to find any outside of subscriber only websites Would I buy this wine again? Yes indeed, I am pleased to say I have 3 more bottles in the cellar.
I started with the idea of Ratatouille, but not enough tomatoes and some left over meat ragú lead to this improvised meal. . .
How?
First the ragú. Fry a handful of chopped pancetta in oil with a pinch of cinnamon, then when the pancetta is golden add one finely chopped onion, two finely diced carrots and two cloves of crushed garlic. Stir and fry for a few minutes, before adding a large handful of mixed fresh herbs (I like sage, marjoram and parsley). Stir and then add your meat (500g of minced beef and 300g of minced pork belly) along with two tins of diced tomatoes and a few bay leaves. Stir and once the meat is starting to colour add two generous glasses of leftover red wine. Cover and cook with gentle heat for 90 minutes, before uncovering and turning up the heat, to reduce the liquid if needed.
Now the eggplant. Dice (into 1 inch cubes) two medium eggplants and salt generously (to remove the bitter brown liquid). After an hour rinse and dry before frying the eggplant (in olive oil) in batches. When just golden, remove and place in a large baking dish. Then fry three cloves of garlic and 4 large diced tomatoes in the same pan (removing the stuck on bits of eggplant at the same time) and when soft, remove and add to the eggplant. To this add four generous ladles of the ragú (approx 1 litre of sauce) and stud the mixture with fragments of bocconcini or goats cheese (optional) and then coat with fresh breadcrumbs and a handful of grated Parmesan. Bake in a preheated oven (200 degrees Celsius) for 30-40 minutes.
Wine? This is very robust and calls for something red, firm and affordable. I had several glasses of shiraz.
The French wine appellation of Gigondas tends to get overshadowed by its flashy and better-known cousin, Chateauneuf du Pape. However, the smooth red wines of this Rhone Valley region have a charm and complexity all of their own. Like Chateauneuf, they are made with primarily Grenache grapes, but the similarity ends there as James Molesworth of "Wine Spectator" magazine illustrates in the video below:
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Anselme Selosse believes the magic of Champagne takes place deep underneath the region?s chalky soil, where the vines take hold of what he calls the essence of the earth.
It was another surprising detour in a career composed almost exclusively of detours: Isobel Campbell, former Belle & Sebastian member and sometime solo act, teamed with Mark Lanegan, taciturn former Screaming Trees singer and serial collaborator. With the release of their Ballad of the Broken Seas, the "Beauty and the Beast" lines came fast and furious. So did the Nancy and Lee comparisons, which were probably welcome. The pairing of Lanegan and Campbell ma
Tecnorati
As reported by the 
Up until this review I had not tried any Clonakilla wines, however now I think it is fair to say that if you live in NSW and are feeling a bit parochial, but not in the mood for something from the Hunter, then the Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2007 will be a safe bet.
