Link to a good holiday wine story
December 19, 2011
From Sharon Kapnick: sharonswineline.wordpress.com
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We need a united American wine industry
June 27, 2011
Since 4th of July is approaching, it seems like an appropriate time to raise the flag and shout a call for the unity of the American Wine Industry. I was inspired to write this post after a call to action that Jerry Lohr made last week at a conference in California. The wine Industry still suffers the lasting impact of the repeal of prohibition experiment which resulted in the balkanization of the alcohol business in this country. The resulting landscape today are many small local wine industries, sheltered (or not) within their State borders that do not talk and do not propel forward American wines as a whole. This is probably accentuated by the powerful Wine Institute of California which, by mandate, focuses on California wines thus inhibiting a country wide conversation about American wines in general (California still represents 90% of the US wine industry). . Today wine is produced in all 50 States, old post prohibition laws are slowly fading away broadening commerce, vines are being planted from the high plains of Texas to the great lakes, and did I mention the internet? – We are wine nation under Bacchus and it is time to unite and build the future of the American wine industry together.
Despite the growth and the influence of the wine industry we are, so far, the most disorganized heavy weight producer in the world – every major producing country (France, Italy, Chile, Australia, Germany, Portugal etc…) have strong national body promoting their domestic wines, making sure that wine is “on the table” during commerce talks between nation and channeling monies for research and development of their domestic industry. Did you know that Chile and China have a bilateral agreement that will reduce the duty on Chilean wines imported to China to 0% by 2015 – Meanwhile the USA’s wineries will still be paying duty at 41%. Does anyone care? Believe me, when a US agricultural trade employee talks about American products that needs support they talk about meat, poultry, corn, soy, cotton, potatoes, you name it – way before wine. Why is that? Because the meat producers are organized and can get their voice heard (they are also much larger than the wine industry, I concede) – not the wine industry – we need to get our message to Washington that we want their hears. The same goes around for research – what if China, or France finds a way to make their vine mildew-resistant (a good example that Jerry has used during his talk above mentioned), they will use it, take a gigantic advantage over us and by the way sell us those vines so they can do more research – America can do better than. It is time for American wineries to unite and time for the Wine Institute of California to show some leadership in that direction. Happy 4th!
Leave a comment (No Comments)A classic pairing – Riesling and blue cheese
May 24, 2010
The latest fantastic review of our 2007 Selenium Vin De glaciere by Wine and Spirit (92 points and one of the best Riesling in america), prompted me to open a bottle of this divine beverage last week end. It was a bit of a last minute thought but I had a piece of Fourme d’Ambert in the refrigerator (this is a great blue cheese if you do not know it) and this sounded like the right opportunity to rediscover an old classic pairing. The fourme I’ve unwrapped was not old so it was quite creamy and soft. The pairing was just superb, I highly recommend this classic pairing if you want to impress your friends and show them why pairing food with the right wine is a life changing experience.
Nicolas
Leave a comment (No Comments)Ancient lava flows from Eastern Washington
April 29, 2010
From the tri-city herald — Lava flows that helped shape the sprawling Columbia River Plateau occurred faster than geologists previously believed and likely contributed to massive climate changes, said a Washington State University researcher.
Steve Reidel, research professor of geology at WSU Tri-Cities, British researcher Tiffany Barry and others studied so-called Grande Ronde basalt lavas in the plateau region, which covers much of eastern and central Washington, northeastern Oregon and parts of western Idaho.
Their studies indicate the Grande Ronde flows, which include at least 66 percent of the basalt in the Columbia River plateau, occurred over a period of about 420,000 years and between 15.6 million and 16 million years ago.
That’s faster than what geologists previously believed. And at least 110 eruptions occurred during that time frame, according to a paper Reidel co-authored with Barry for the international geological journal Lithos.
The researchers said the frequency and size of the eruptions likely had a widespread impact on the environment. Just one of the lava flows could have covered much of Washington with nearly 10,000 cubic kilometers of lava, which is about 10,000 times the volume of ash produced by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, according to WSU.
“We realize with the eruptions of these basalts that there was a lot of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and chlorine that went into the air that had big environmental consequences,” Reidel said.
A single flow could have been as hot as 2,000 degrees and could have taken up to 50 years to cool. Reidel said that could have created monsoon rains in the Northwest and emitted plenty of heat and sulfur to alter the climate.
One result could have been the extinction of some plants and animals that lived at the time, although there has been little fossil evidence uncovered from lava flows to date aside from petrified wood.
“People are now starting to look for extinctions in the rock of this period in the Pacific Northwest,” Reidel said
Reidel said the flows likely were slow-moving enough for animals to outrun it and escape to higher ground in the Blue Mountains or Cascades.
“This was a golden age for horses, but there haven’t been any fossils found yet,” he said. “Petrified wood couldn’t run, but horses could.”
The belief that species were extinguished is based on evidence from other lava flows that occurred in the world millions of years ago, Reidel said.
For instance, a large extinction occurred during the end of the Triassic Period about 200 million years ago that coincided with lava flows coming from what is now northeastern South America and eastern North America, according to WSU. And gases from lava flows on India’s Deccan plateau initiated a mass extinction about 65 million years ago.
Reidel, who has been studying local rocks for years, and Barry — of Great Britain’s Open University — began collaborating more than five years ago. They got basalt samples from Hanford and outcroppings between Vantage and Lewiston, Idaho.
Grande Ronde basalt lavas were found stacked on each other with little or no accumulation of sediment, suggesting the succession of lava flows occurred quickly geologically, according to the manuscript to be published in Lithos.
Barry also compared argon isotopes in the oldest and deepest levels of the basalt to younger and shallower levels, and used the decay rate of the element to determine the relative ages of the rock.
Measurements of Grande Ronde basalt show it ranged from about 1,640 feet thick in some areas to almost 2.4 miles thick in others, producing enough basalt to sink the earth’s crust and create the Columbia River Plateau, according to the manuscript.
Pacific Rim Chenin Blanc – Some details
March 4, 2010
Why we make Chenin: Chenin was the second Pacific Rim wine, actually it was introduced under the bonny doon years (first vintage was 2004). We kept making it in Washington because we have access to great old Chenin Blanc. Most of our Chenin now comes from a vineyard in the heart of the Yakima Valley that was planted in 1972 (same year than Solstice by the way) – so the vines are now 38 years old! Old vines Chenin do not produce much and they give us a more aromatic style compare to most Chenin.
Grape sourcing: Our Chenin comes now exclusively from the Yakima Valley around Prosser. We have two vineyards but one (Hahn Hill) is by far the largest. Since those vines are old they are on an old trellis system (call the fan) that is not used anymore. Below is a picture of that system:
Our style: we use to make the Chenin a bit sweeter but with time passing we have settled for a drier style, closer to a Loire Valley style rather than a CA Chenin. Those wines usually change in the bottle going from a tight and fruity (pear, melon) style to a more exuberant (hay, passion fruit) style after 2-3 years in the bottle (I prefer them with some bottle age to be honest). I believe our Chenin totally rocks. We make 100% Chenin Blanc, no blender.
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