Vinfolio Blog

As summer approaches, there are a multitude of food and wine events that take place in the Bay Area. Isn’t it time you got out and enjoyed yourself? Below is a list of the calendar highlights (refer to today’s feature, “Summer food & wine festivals,” in the San Francisco Chronicle as well as Vinfolio’s “Wine Events” page for more details).

MAY

May 16, San Francisco

Uncorked  - Fourth annual food and wine festival in Ghirardelli Square. www.ghirardellisq.com

May 16, Monterey

Sustainable Foods Fair – Daylong fair at the Monterey Bay aquarium including the annual Cooking for Solutions event featuring celebrity chefs. www.cookingforsolutions.com

May 30-31, San Mateo

Maker Faire – The “world’s largest do-it-yourself festival” including demonstrations on an array of topics such as brewing beer and preserving foods. www.makerfaire.com

JUNE

June 4-7, Napa

Auction Napa Valley – The American Wine Classic – In 1981 the Napa Valley Vintners established what is now the premier charity wine auction. Includes tastings, dinners and lunches, as well the Barrel Auction at Robert Mondavi winery. http://www.napavintners.com/anv/anv_1_overview.aspx

June 6-7, Menlo Park

Sunset Magazine's Celebration Weekend – Demonstrations, panel discussions and workshops at the magazine headquarters. www.sunset.com/cw

June 13, Mountain View

Great American Food and Music Fest – Cooking demos as well as food and wine tastings at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. www.greatamericanfoodandmusicfest.com

June 16-18, Santa Barbara, CA

6th Annual California Wine Festival - With a venue in the heart of the historic Spanish center of downtown Santa Barbara, the California Wine Festival features top local wineries, restaurants, caterers and musical performers. www.californiawinefestival.com/

June 25-28, San Francisco

Pinot Days – More than 200 Pinot Noir vintners are featured in tastings and seminars at this four-day event at Fort Mason (Vinfolio is a sponsor). www.pinotdays.com

JULY

July 18-25, Napa Valley

Napa Valley Festival del Sole – Fourth annual festival includes concerts, art exhibitions, and food and wine tastings. www.fdsnapa.org

AUGUST

Aug. 6-9, San Francisco

SF Chefs. Food. Wine. – Tastings, panel discussions, and cooking demonstrations by local chefs and members of the food & wine industry in Union Square and nearby venues. www.sfchefsfoodwine.com

Aug. 23-24, San Francisco

Family Winemakers Tasting - Experience the largest tasting of California wines in the world that showcases the state's small, family-owned wineries. www.familywinemakers.org/tastings/tastings.cfm/

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 4-6, Sonoma County

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend – Wine seminars, cooking demonstrations, and vineyard tours. More than 150 wineries and 60 chefs will offer samples at the 30th annual Taste of Sonoma on Sept. 5 at the Gallo family's historic MacMurray Ranch in Healdsburg. www.sonomawinecountryweekend.com

Ever read a comic book about wine? I hadn’t, until I found out this week that my inability to put those two concepts together was just a sign of advancing age and cultural ignorance. The Japanese manga series "The Drops of the Gods" has apparently been running for four years now, and has developed a cult following in Asia. My wake-up call came from the NY Times.  View the slide show here.

The whole concept is pretty cool. The hero must compete with his brother to decipher clues left by their father in his will to finding the twelve best wines in the world. As the NYT puts it, the series “…follows Shizuku as he learns about wine, allowing the reader to do the same.” Reportedly it has a huge impact on wine sales, but anything that puts people at ease with wine has my vote. 

More than that, the descriptors of wine are delightfully original. The authors are not professional wine writers, and deliberately avoid the usual comparisons with common scents and flavors. “Just like a classic rock concert!” says one brother after taking a sip of a 2001 Mont-Pérat. On a Burgundy - “Like walking in a quiet forest being followed by two butterflies,” exclaims the other brother. 

That approach may be tough to translate into professional tasting notes, although I have thought of places rather than things when tasting wine. Albarino takes me straight to the beach, and Burgundy has taken us all deep into autumn forests. But there is no doubt that Western concepts of scent and flavor are much overworked in the wine trade and could use a dash of Asian sensibility. All those American berry pies and French crème brûlées. The newest member of Parker’s stable, Lisa Perotti –Brown MW, has just published a useful Asian Food Lexicon for Wine on Parker’s website.

It is a great start, and had me thinking of more Asian scents and flavors that I would add, like cherimoya in some Chardonnays, and tamarind in Rhones.

Got any of your own favorite Asian foods that work?

I watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony Friday night, in rare TV communion with the rest of the world, and found myself gob-smacked, as we say in NZ. I expected that. I did not expect to feel moved. China is unfolding to the world with a mix of bravado and hope that the rest of the world will like them. They are trying so hard. I, for one, have enormous admiration and growing affection for them. Their society is transforming in front of their own eyes and ours, and although that transformation is uneven, they are on the right path and deserve our support. 

How does that segue away into wine? Easily, everyone’s doing it. The emergence of China as a producer and consumer of wine is fundamentally altering the wine market. That is old news. Vinfolio is expanding to Hong Kong, so are several auction houses, the Bordelaise set up camp there long ago, and even Mr Parker has made his inaugural visit there (that was news to me, as read in Mike Steinberger’s great blog about China on Slate.com. As a wine producer, my only experience of China was at a blind tasting with friends on a recent visit home to NZ. As I recall my notes read something like: “Bordeaux blend, possibly French, pretty fruit, a little smoky, dry finish, something like a Fronsac? 1997?” It turned out to be the 2005 Deep Blue from Grace Vineyard in Shanxi. That’s the thing about blind tastings. The wine always wins. Would I buy this particular wine again? Not at $60 a bottle, but I would at $15. Harlan & Co. can rest easy at the top of the price pyramid for now. 

As a consumer, China is gladdening the hearts of winemakers all over the world, if not the wallets of wine drinkers. Yes, at the high end of the market the Chicken Littles are right - “The price are soaring! The prices are soaring!”. But across the spectrum of wine quality, greater demand will ensure that smaller producers survive and prosper, providing us all with greater choice. If Lafite disappears into the stratosphere, another wine will take its place, in the market if not in our hearts, and from an entirely unexpected place. Hawkes Bay, anyone? Seriously, right now, my advice would be to buy Lafite while you still can, because the demand for Lafite in China is out of all proportion to its place in the wine world. By an amazing coincidence, Vinfolio has several vintages of Lafite in stock. Grab ‘em while you can. Or enjoy those “other” 1st growths in relative peace, if you’re not convinced that Lafite is the one wine to rule them all.

      Yesterday afternoon Robert Parker tickled the imaginations of posters on eRobertParker.com’s Mark Squires’ Bulletin Board. He promised an announcement forthcoming “that will shake the fine wine world.” Less than one day later, the sale of Chateau Montelena to Cos d’Estournel owner Michel Reybier was announced. Although this is significant news, Mr. Parker may have overstated its impact, as suggested by others, including Alder Yarrow, author of the blog Vinography. Following the sales of Duckhorn, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and Budweiser to European companies, Montelena is simply the latest surrender of the dollar to the almighty euro and it will not likely be the last.

However, I must admit that more interesting than the news itself is the speculation put forth by posters on Squires’ Board. Given time to speculate what this earthshaking news would be, their guesses ranged from thoughtful and astute to lewd and slanderous; entertaining is the best word to describe the banter of these contributors. Among my favorites are “Screaming Eagle’s new boxed wine ‘Bird In A Box,’” “Elvis is ALIVE and making wine in Healdsburg,” and, of course, the heated debate over attractive international news reporters. (My vote is for Melissa, by the way.)   

After a solid 19 pages of contributions and more than a few horse laughs, perhaps the shrewdest comment was “It’s  bound to be anticlimactic now.” And so it was. Even though posts moved on to important matters of quality and pricing, a staggering 55.02% of users still voted they “Don’t Care.” 

Could things be worse for Mendocino County? This growing season got off to an ominous start when frosts hit vineyards in Anderson Valley, causing up to 70% loss in extreme Deep End sites. And now, with Northern California experiencing one of its worst fire seasons in recorded history, things are only getting worse. Blazes in Mendocino are troubling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is horrible air quality with particulate counts above 200. The fires pose other threats, as explained here in Wine Spectator.

Of immediate concern are conditions for workers, threat of actual fire in vineyards, and a delay in harvest dates as smoke blocks out the sun (obviously needed for the fruit to reach maturity). Winemakers, though, are concerned with longer term effects, including one familiar to their Australian counterparts. “Smoke taint” is essentially flavors of smoke in finished wines made from vineyards that had been subjected to extended periods of smoky air. Most growers and winemakers are hopeful that conditions will improve by harvest, and that there will be no taint in the ‘08s.

Unfortunately, since smoke taint isn’t a term normally thrown about in California, there is an element of fear among winemakers. Companies that make, and sensationally market, chemical additives/corrections/whatever you want to call them, are seizing on winemakers’ concerns. Already, these companies are bombarding winemakers with promises of miracle fixes for any and all “off” flavors or aromas. This is nothing new; winemakers routinely use these products to adjust for everything from high alcohol to VA to…you name it. Is this just another challenge for modern winemaking technology? It will certainly be interesting to find out if smoke taint does in fact make it into some of these wines, and if anyone will notice. I, for one, am eager to find out. In the meantime, let’s hope that these tragic fires can be contained, homes and lives can be saved, and that California will no more have to fear the term “smoke taint”. 

Here's an update from our Importer on the current Brunello situation: 

No doubt you have all already heard about the rift between the US and Italian governments regarding Brunello di Montalcino. To recap, it seems that the Italian government has accused certain producers of using grape varietals other than Sangiovese in their Brunello. To prevent fraudulent sales of mislabeled Brunello to American consumers, the US government demanded that the Italian government release the names of those producers. The Italians said "no", not wanting to implicate producers that have not yet been proven guilty (or innocent).
 
As a result, as of June 23rd, there has been a blanket ban on the importation of "undocumented" Brunello into the United States from ANY source. The US government has insisted that any Brunello arriving at our ports must be accompanied by proof via laboratory analysis that the wines are 100% Sangiovese. If the wine does not have that document attached, the wine will be seized and destroyed.
 
All Brunello waiting in the UK or on the Continent will remain there until the issue has been resolved. We have no ETA but will keep everyone updated of any changes as they occur.