March 2, 2012

Real Wine: Old and New

By Cristóbal Arellano

Two month into my domestic wine odyssey, and it is abundantly clear that the current face of the domestic wine landscape is changing, and evolving into a very intriguing soap opera of events. The ongoing debate over the legitimacy, quality, and consistency of ‘natural’ wines, the backlash from more savvier consumers over alcohol levels, usage of oak, and extraction, and the surging popularity of more alternative grape varieties, is turning this decade into a watershed time for the wine industry in the United States.

Some folks, such as myself are enjoying the spectacle unfolding in front of our eyes, others are wincing at the thought that their patrimony of iron-fisted big wine oppression is coming to its fateful finale. The long good-bye of the once considered hallmarks of our wine culture: the snarling beast of soaring alcohol levels, and unholy, heavy-handed usage of bitter oak all twisted and contorted into what makes up 97 point, three digit $ bottle of wine.

Two months of drinking as much good domestic wine has taught me this, things are changing for the better for us who grasp the concept of real wine. More of it is being made, and even more of it is at least somewhat affordable. Sure,  I could still write  endless articles about all of the garbage I’ve tasted over the last sixty days. And honestly I still believe the majority, let’s say around 90% of wine made in this country isn’t all that great, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s getting brighter. It’s illuminating the once dark days of the domestic wine industry, and shining light on the path to real wine, the wines we used to make here, the wines that we still can make.

I’ve recently tasted some domestic wines that lead me to believe in the idea of incredible, and real domestic wines. It was an enlightenment to anyone(me) who once thought we were incapable of producing such structure and balance. I tasted some mid eighties(86-88) wines from Dunn, some early eighties Eberle wines, and some Chimney Rock wines from 85-88. These wines were real. They were produced to age, produced to be consumed with food, and made to be structural works of art. Aesthetics and function.

Somewhere along the way these types of wines have become a scarcity. Look at a bottle of early to mid eighties Napa cab. what’s the alcohol content? The ones I tried were all below 14%ABV a few of them under 13%.  Yet still there is so much ignorant chatter about it being impossible with the current climate to produce wines of strength and elegance in California and yet contain such levels. Why not? We used to. And many unheralded producers still do. My quest is to track down and taste as many of the unheralded as I possibly can. Aside from the great eighties wines I mentioned previously, I have found some producers who are crafting wines that have rekindled the past glories of California’s wine making past. Wines that reflect a conscious effort to make wines that are true to their dirt.

A Tribute to Grace, Santa Barbara Highlands 2009 Grenache was a good example of cool climate and restrained California Grenache. Lovely hints of sage, and licorice in the aromas and palate. R Cellars, Sonoma, makes one of the most classic models of California Pinot Noir I have tasted so far, with added bonus of being priced around $30, it was one of the few California Pinot Noirs I’ve tasted of late that didn’t taste like cherry Coke. Coturri Winery is a natural producer who makes a nice Mendocino sourced Carignane. My friends Jody & Emily Towe from J.Brix have in barrel some of the most natural, restrained and food friendly range of wines I have tried this year. All are produced to reflect place of origin, and expression of variety. They currently are producing a wicked rosé, which I have previously mentioned in an earlier post, a stunning Pinot Noir, Rielsing, Grenache, and Syrah. I’ll be tasting barrel samples of these wines again next week. So stay tuned.

The search for real wine in the homeland continues…….


2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Real Wine Chronicles

February 17, 2012

Culture Clash

By Cristóbal Arellano

Drinking European wine for the last fifteen years, being raised in a European household where only European wine was consumed, and having lived in Europe, I had become spoiled by the shear quantity of affordable quality wine. It is probably the biggest element that I’ve overlooked before diving into this domestic wine experiment: The availability of affordable, high quality domestic wine. Yes Virginia, I drink cheap wine by hectolitre. Real wine is not defined by price. There is so much good juice under $20 it’s insane. I’m just struggling to find it from domestic producers.

For years, wine periodicals had been publishing proclamations of a California wine glut. If that’s true I want to know where in the hell all of that wine is at? For whatever reason I can’t seem to find it. If Napa and Sonoma are selling off juice at cut-rate prices, then there should be some really great wine at a fantastic price, or at least one would assume. In France, Italy, and Spain this would be the wine that makes up what the majority of the population drinks at their dinner tables every night. A very good, but cheap food wine. Doesn’t seem to be the case in our country. Why am I not finding these wines?

There is a huge lack of quality in the lower tiers of the price scale.

I Have found wines that are made in an age-worthy manner, I have found wines that are a finely made balance of tannin, acid, and fruit, and I have found wines that represent a sense of place or terroir. What I haven’t found yet is a very good amount of wines that are affordable and at the same time contain all of the above attributes. This has been quite a surprise considering this supposed “ocean of wine” the California wine industry is sitting on. The impression I am getting is that this country, or at least California only has two tiers of wine: High quality wines which will cost you $30 and above, and everything else. Now I understand why Argentine and Chilean wine sales are doing so well in the United States in spite of the current state of the economy.

I hear plenty of winemakers, and wine industry people bemoaning the current state of domestic wine sales, and the problem seems to be a very simple one. There a’int shit that is drinkable in the under $2o tier. It’s quite the quandary, because a value market does exist, this is proven by the consistently growing market for Spanish, and Latin American wines that fall into that under $20 price tier. How come the domestic producer don’t make an attempt to usurp that market?

The most commonly heard complaints from winemakers, and winery folks are that the price of land is too high to make great QPR wines, they say water is too expensive to make great QPR wines, and they say that labor is too costly to make great QPR wines. This is all bullshit. It can be done. If it can be done in Europe, it can be done here.

The real problem that I see is this; there is no real incentive to produce great QPR domestic wines, why? Well it seems in this country that price is dictated by one main factor: Points. If a $10 wine fetches a 92 point reward from a wine magazine, I can guaranty that the following vintage will double in price. Thus turning what was once a great QPR wine into a winery cash cow. I see wines like Borsao Tres Picos from Campo de Borja, Spain that has consistently garnered 90+ points for over a decade, and I think that bottle has gone up maybe $2-3 over the last 5 or 6 years. That would not happen here. (see Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. Used to be a great value 10 years ago, now days not much being sold that is drinkable under $40)

I’m still blown away by the fact that I can walk into a wine shop in my home country, dead-set on not spending over $15 per bottle, and walk out with nary a domestic bottle. Something’s sadly wrong here.

Now, the good news.

Washington makes good and affordable wine. I have had some stellar bottles that were under $25 dollars in the last few weeks and all but one was from Washington State. One of the better QPR producers I have found is Hedges. In the last three weeks I’ve now tried their entire range of wines, and I can honestly say that they GET IT. It’s fucking wine! It’s meant to accompany food, and it shouldn’t break the bank. Even Hedges estate wines, which are very well made are under $30. That would be unheard of in California.  It is obvious that Their Hedges Estate Red, and their Estate Syrah DLD are both badass, made to be aged, but approachable now. Both great efforts, both around $25. Even their C.M.S. Red, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah is a steal at around $10. Nice supple fruit, without being “fruity”. The alcohol comes in at 13.5%, lending it being a wonderful food wine as well. Great structure for a price point wine. This is the type of wine I’m looking for. Well made, balanced, good with food, and fairly priced. The only thing I think their portfolio is missing is a rosé. 

The best QPR California wine I have tried recently is the 2010 La Clarine Farms Mourvèdre. A well crafted organically made wine that is around $20. Made in a drink now style, Bandol it is not. It is something all its own, that is all about the dirt that it comes from. This wine was well-balanced, with fruit, tannin, and acid, with all of the common characteristics one would expect from the variety, nice game meat aromas, with tight, and tart red berry fruits.

The trek continues.

4 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Rants, Real Wine Chronicles

January 18, 2012

Some Musings, and as Always, Plenty of Bitching and Complaining.

By Cristóbal Arellano

Life’s too damn short to squabble over spilled milk, right?…..well, I’m young, and not all that smart, so…yeah I still get all stressed out about the little things in life that drive me ludicrous….things like; piss-poor wine writing, the mindless shit that consumers utter about wine, and the stupid things I see on the back labels of wine bottles are just a few examples of the asinine, but small details in life that really piss me off. Fortunately, I still have a good head of hair, and nary a wrinkle on my brow, so until I have a coronary or road-rage causes me to drive some moron into the center-divider on the I-5 I’m gonna keep allowing my panties to get all knotted-up in a bunch, thank you very much.

Oaked vs. Un-oaked Chandonnay

There are two questions that really infuriate me like no others. 1 Is this Chardonnay un-oaked? And, 2. How does this Chardonnay compare to Rombauer? The onslaught of un-oaked Chardonnay is obviously a knee-jerk reaction to the last two to three decades of deep-fried butter stick wine. But is it the right answer? So, to the people on both sides of the oaked v. un-oaked debate I say this: My personal belief is that great Chardonnay benefits from neutral French oak. Note, I said great. By that I mean Chardonnay that is exceptional enough to stand up to oak. But let’s put the whole debate into perspective. Any of you who have tried Domaine William Fèvre 1er Cru and Grand Cru wines can attest that it is as natural as an expression of Chardonnay as any, and a great example of the terroir of Chablis, and guess what, it’s oaked, and no one is whining about it. Why? Because it doesn’t matter, it just the way it’s supposed to be.

Oak is not the enemy, secondary fermentation, residual sugar, non-native yeasts, and the misuse(over abuse) of new oak barrels is the culprit for the current malaise found in most domestic Chardonnay.

Screw Caps

You people know I’m a purist, but don’t make the assumption that I’m a screw cap hater, because believe it or not, I’m all for them. The screw cap tells the consumer “you can drink me now”. It helps take the guess-work out of wine buying for a lot of novice consumers. I still like natural corks though. Nothing will tell you the provenance of a bottle of wine like a perfect natural cork.

The Alcohol Debate

Alcohol is meant to intoxicate, I get it. But let me say this, the argument that alcohol levels do not matter so long as a wine is balanced out by acid and tannin is bullshit. Naturally and ideally a pinot noir should not reach 15%ABV if it is picked at the proper degrees brix. That is of course if you’re trying to produce a food friendly wine. Highly alcoholic wines make it hard to pair with food(the entire basis and existence of wine is intended for this purpose). I know, people don’t buy wine to drink it with food, they swill and guzzle wine like $2 Pabst Blue Ribbons at a T.G.I.Friday’s happy hour. People want high alcohol wines. Or so we’re told. If this statement is indeed untrue, what have we as consumers done to dispell this way of thinking? We got ourselves into this pickle by way of our laziness.

Consumers blame producers, producers blame global warming, global warming is blaming Nostradamus.

Hear ye, hear ye, all wine consumers, producers, and retailers, listen up!!!! We have abdicated the power of an entire industry to a select few wine journalists who are punishing us with their ideas of what wine should be. They like high alcohol, oak monster wines. The fact is that we will continue to get these types of wines until we decide to take the power back. Wine drinkers, stop buying off points, wine retailers, stop selling off points. Wine producers and wine PR people, stop marketing off points.

Poor wine writers, what would they do with themselves if they could no longer review wines by assigning them a numerical value? They might have to resort to writing real articles that resemble actual journalism.

Perfume and Cologne at Wine Tastings

Bitch please! This is a wine shop not a dance club. Hey you….yeah you with the Jersey Shore fucking hair. You smell like you fell into a vat of Sex Panther. Yeah, it stings the nostrils, and now I no longer have a sense of smell. Why people come into a wine shop for a tasting smelling like stripper juice is beyond me. You do realize that having complete command of your olfactory system is just as important as your sense of taste. Props to those wine shops who are actually enforcing a no perfume or cologne policy.

6 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Rants

January 16, 2012

Evil Poll: If You Had To Drink Wine From Just One Region For The Rest Of Your Life, Which Would It Be, and Why?

By Cristóbal Arellano

I was pondering this question myself this weekend, and I struggled to come up with a definitive answer right off the bat. Would I want to live without Champagne? Could I make it a life time without Bourgogne Rouge or Chablis? Thank you baby Jesus, we don’t have to make this drastic of a decision, but if you did what would it be? Last night, I was basically stuck on the Loire Valley. Call me crazy, but in the end I went with Languedoc-Roussillon, WTF? Yeah, believe it or not, producers there are making every style of wine under the sun, from Crémant to Rosé, they are very affordable for the most part, and many of the wine makers are on the cutting-edge of ‘natural wine’ production. Are you in the mood for a big, brooding red, well we’ve got Faugères, Minervois, and Corbières. Need a crisp, tangy rosé, well they’ve got some good ones that rival Bandol, but cost a lot less. Looking for a refreshing white wine on a hot day? How about an indigenous white called Picpoul? So, you say you like bubbles? How about one of the best examples of Méthode Traditionnelle from Crémant de Limoux? You’ve got a sweet-tooth?  how’s a Banyuls sound. The breadth of wines and styles is awesome, and the affordability is too.  I want to hear from you now:

If You Had To Drink Wine From Just One Region For The Rest Of Your Life, Which Would It Be, and Why? 

7 comments   |  tags: | posted in Real Wine Chronicles

January 11, 2012

Evil Plea: Please Don’t Buy Your Wine Where You Buy Your Toilet Paper

By Cristóbal Arellano

Where you buy your wine says just as much about you as what you buy.

My resolution for 2012 was to dedicate my blog to the exploration and better personal understanding of domestic wine. I’m going to expand on that idea by spouting off a bit with my two cents about wine retail in this country. Now, allow me to step off my real wine soap box for just a second. I don’t give a shit what you drink. You can drink whatever you want, it ultimately doesn’t affect me as much as my vitriolic bite might make it seem. I don’t care if you don’t want to try new grape varieties, styles, or appellations. In the end, what wines you decide to drink have little effect on me. Your money, your palate, your decision. However, where you decide to buy these wines does. Now allow me to step up onto to my small wine shop around the corner soap box.

Wine shops do exist, sometimes you have to search a bit, other times they’re right around the corner especially if you live in a populated, urban setting. The folks that are running these establishments do it because they’re passionate about wine, if they wanted to make sweaty wads of cash they’d just sell stock and bonds, or crack cocaine. It’s a labor of love that we as wine drinkers should have a vested interest in supporting. As enticing as it is to carry out one stop shopping, a wine shop will almost always have better selection, price, and first and foremost, actual wine expertise. Yes, knowledge is something that cannot be bought and sold, only learned through experience. This experience comes from the shop proprietors and their staff having constant contact with their industry, from the wine reps continually exposing the staff to tasting samples from the far-flung corners of the globe, to the onslaught of trade events.

Costco has some damn good prices on wine and a decent, although somewhat limited selection. They also have underwear, televisions, and diapers. At times they employ a wine steward who may even have some sort of wine education. I also know that they do care about the wine industry. I know they have made some inroads in legislature that has benefitted the smaller wine merchants. I also know that your local wine shop does not sell toilet paper or DVDs. They do not offer any other intangibles or services to their customers to fall back on other than wine and wine knowledge.

I know, Bevmo will give you an additional bottle of wine for an extra five cents, and that is very nice of them, but they’re a corporation that sells a lot of booze, and are basically a glorified liquor store that sells more charcoal, and kegs of Coors Light than they do wine.

Grocery stores? Don’t even get me started. It’s where I buy my kids boxes of Count Chocula, and most of the wines they sell there are as interesting and complex as a bowl Reese’s Puffs(no disrespect, I love this cereal)

One of the greatest advantages of buying from your local wine shop is this; the people in these shops might be able to understand and interpret  your palate more articulately that you can. Once you begin to form a relationship with a good wine shop, these people will know as soon as you walk in the door what they may have recently brought in for stock that fits your palate profile. They will know what wines they can introduce you to that might be outside of the norm for you. The can assist you in any wine odyssey you may be considering embarking on. You know very little about Tokaji? Well there’s only one bottle of it on the shelf at Costco and probably none at a grocery store, and without doubt, no one in sight who has even a clue as to what Tokaji is, how it’s made, and why it is so relevant and vital to the wine world even after centuries. Your local wine shop can help you get your feet wet.

My family is from a small village in Gipuzkoa, Euskadi called Gaztaintxabal. When you purchase wine, you head down to the vinoteca, Where a gruff old man wearing a txapela named Txetxu will only ask you three questions; Zuria (white), Beltza (literally black, but means red with wine), or Arrosa (pink). You may think that Txetxu isn’t giving you many options, you might like to peruse around the shop on your own, the thing is Txetxu knows you, you’re his customer. He is well aware that on Sundays you have Bacalao al Pil Pil as a religion. He already has a bottle picked out for you, because he knew you were already coming down to the shop. You do not question Txetxu.

This is what a wine shop is to me, and why I’m so glad to be part of the familiar dynamic that these small but personal merchants present. These are the sensations and experiences you can’t get from a place with a membership card or a shopping cart the size of an SUV.

Osasuna.

8 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Real Wine Chronicles

January 5, 2012

California Wine for Hipsters Volume I

By Cristóbal Arellano

A quick rant, and then we”ll get to the beef.

Hipster do not like wine, they like to hunt it. They move through obscure wines like a dust bowl tornado through a trailer park. One day they’re up on Gravner, the next it’s Blaufränkisch. It is an endless, and insatiable desire to find the next esoteric experience, but I have been convinced through close-up observation that these people don’t actually enjoy drinking wine. Just the shear act of buying an Arbois Trousseau  doesn’t mean you understand it. You’ve got to try one that is a traditional and well executed example of Arbois Trousseau.

I cannot deny that I too have always pushed myself into new countries, regions, appellations, and varieties. I haven’t liked all of them, but I know without doubt that the greatest example of any wine style from any country will at the very least offer up one unique and redeeming feature that makes it unique, and worth the trouble. In my quest for the authentic, I too was probably considered a hipster wine drinker by many(most). That is a huge reason why have decided to test my own resolve this year.

However, just as a tiger cannot change his stripes, I cannot let go of my passion for the uncommon, and the underrated. What at the onset seemed to be a difficult challenge, is turning into an unexpected surprise, there are wines of substance in California that can pique any wine hipsters’ interest so long as he’s truly open-minded and hasn’t gone over the proverbial “esoteric deep end”. None of the wines I drank this week were what one would consider outlandish…no, no 100% California Bastardo yet, but what I have noticed is that knowing the right people who understand your palate makes all of the difference in the world, and really cuts down on how much bull shit wine one needs to wade through.

Forlorn Hope Gascony Cadets Petit Verdot Suisun Valley 2006

Ignorance, and lack of expereince keeps from saying that this is the best California Petit Verdot made, because it is probably only the second example from California I have ever had. I recall years ago trying a Di Carlo Petit Verdot….didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Petit Verdot is sort of outcast when it comes to varietal wine. The few I have come across have been Italian or Spanish and produced to be Vin Gris or rosé. The 152 case Gascony Cadets is exactly the type of wine I’m looking for; a humble producer who has a passion for outcast varieties, but also a gutsy belief in terroir, and providing a pure example of the combination between grape,  dirt and Mother Nature. Focused, linear, and tannic. A wine I believe will age and improve indefinitely. The integration of the 14.5%alc and fruit is flawless.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what more Forlorn Hope is capable of.

J.Brix Uncontainable Rosé of Grenache Santa Barbara Highlands 2010

Wednesday, Jan 4th 2012. San Diego, California. It’s 84 degrees, and my resolve is being tested. My knee-jerk reaction to such a situation would be grab that bottle of Chateâu Miraval Pink Floyd Rosé  Côtes de Provence resting in my cooler, but I have a promise to keep, and a resolution to live up to. Fortunately enough for me I was gifted a bottle of pure salmon tinged sunshine.  I will admit that from the onset of my resolution I was very skeptical of finding rosés that would keep my interest for very long, this might be the best example I will find, and in the worst(best) case scenario I can drink this wine all day everyday, and I’d quite happy doing so.

There’s something honorable about producing a rosé that was meant to be a rosé from harvest to barrel and not just as an after-thought. This wine has a badass backbone of acid, that makes me wonder if it would become Tempier-like with some advanced bottle ageing. I hope to find out.  Just like the Forlorn Hope Petit Verdot, this wine is a small scale project that is dedicated to a native yeast fermented, naturally produced product, with no manipulation.

Kinero Rustler Roussanne Paso Robles James Berry Vineyard 2009

Finding interesting white wine in California that isn’t Chardonnay is like finding….wait, there are interesting white wines in California? Tropical, crisp, profound. This wine is fucking good, that is all.

So, wine peeps of America, what domestic wines should I try next? I’m open to suggestions. Let me know what wine I should be drinking next and why.

-Osasuna.


8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Real Wine Chronicles

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