Family favorites (wine recommendations!)

Since we heard a presentation on the Willamette Valley in Thursday's class, this seems like a good opportunity to recommend a few of my family's favorite Pacific Northwest wines. (Not all are from the Willamette Valley, but all are from regions in Oregon and Washington.) My family likes to drive around tasting wine and buying bottles, but here I'll limit myself to sub-$20 wines that I've seen available on the shelves of Trader Joe's and Safeway near Stanford.

Erath "Oregon" Pinot Noir - the wine that first convinced me I liked red wines. A light Pinot Noir with lots of cherry and blackberry flavors. Especially good with pasta. At $20 per bottle, cheap for a quality Pinot Noir.

A to Z Pinot Noir - hey, they host the Pinot festival, of course there are two Oregon Pinots on this list! A Shabbat dinner favorite for my family - a bit more spice and tannin than Erath's Pinot, but still with strong cherry taste. Great with salmon. $20.

14 Hands "Hot to Trot" Red Blend - from a Columbia Valley winery, this red blend makes for smooth, easy drinking, with just enough peppery kick to keep it interesting. Highly recommended for sipping while you cook! It's mostly Merlot and Syrah (though the exact blend varies year to year), and it's utterly delicious ($10).

Chateau St. Michelle Riesling - a dry, crisp Riesling that hits just the right balance between fruitiness and acidity. Very light - perfect for brunch or lunch if you're getting an early start on your daily wine-drinking. This one's only $7, but Chateau St. Michelle also makes lovely higher-end wines (including ice wines) in collaboration with Weingut Dr. Loosen from Germany.

Napa's best winery?

When discussing the Domaines Barons de Rothschild case, the Opus One Winery name came up. Sure, I had heard of the wine, knew it was supposed to be of great quality, but that was about it. The following weekend I was planning to go to Napa for the first time and wanted to at least drive by after hearing Professor Rapp talk about how nice it was so I decided to learn more about its history and wanted to share.

The winery is across the street from the Robert Mondavi Winery in the Napa area (technically in Oakville) and was originally called Napamedoc until 1982 when it was renamed to Opus One. The location is not a coincidence as it was founded as a joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi in 1978. While Napa has a great reputation today, the joint venture in with the Rothschilds was a big development at the time and was a sort of stamp of approval at the time. The first vintage was released in 1984 and held the rank as the most expensive Californian wine, at $50, for some time. Interestingly, when Robert Mondavi was purchased by Constellation Brands in 2004, Baron Rothschild negotiated with Constellation Brands to remain in control of the marketing and management of the vineyard.

Pictures of the winery here:
https://www.opusonewinery.com/

Climate Change - A Threat and Opportunity in Established Wine Regions

Many groups in yesterday’s presentations brought up climate change as either a risk to or reason for the “emerging” status of wine regions. Of course, climate change is also affecting established wine growing regions. However, the change is viewed as both an opportunity and a threat, and regions have been responding in different ways.

Take Germany – they just wrapped up the hottest spring and summer on record in 2018. While this hurt other agricultural industries in Germany, winemakers had a record harvest… predicted to be an increase of 33% since the prior year. Winemakers and wine tasters from the region are already predicting it will be “historic”.

Across Europe, these longer and warmer summers are ripening grapes sooner and more consistently. And it’s changing what varietals are being grown. Germany – most well known for its Rieslings and Gewürztraminer – for the first time have the ability to grow reds like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah at a quality that demands premium pricing. However, the warm weather is also making it more difficult to grow Germany’s flagship white (Riesling). As the grapes are ripening earlier and more easily, they tend to be too sweet or too alcoholic when harvested.

Then there’s New Zealand – while we heard about the growth of Central Otago yesterday, New Zealand’s biggest region is threatened by climate change. While relatively new to the wine world, Marlborough’s Sauvignon Blanc took off in the 1990s / 2000s because of its unique flavor and acidity, thanks to New Zealand’s long growing season of warm days and cool nights. However, as the climate changes, that may be in jeopardy. As grapes are ripening more quickly and the growing season shortens, it is getting more difficult to maintain New Zealand wine’s signature acidity.

However, New Zealand winemakers are beginning to address this threat head on, experimenting with techniques around water usage, exposure, and yield management to affect the flavor of grapes in the face of a shorter growing season, hoping to maintain as much of its signature flavor profile as possible.

What does this mean on a large scale? Will established regions, well known for specific varietals, begin to adapt the grapes they grow to pursue new opportunities? Or will we see regions pursue scientific intervention to preserve their history as much as possible?

Sources:

NYTimes - ‘Disgusting to Say, but It’s the Truth’: German Winemakers See Boon in Climate Change

NZ Herald - Winemaking in 10 years: How climate change is affecting Marlborough, New Zealand's largest wine region

Family Heritage

Meeting Christina Wente for the second time was the specific type of good luck one may only have at the GSB. Before encountering her in Wine Class, I met Christina in Peter Francis' Family Business Transitions class. During this meeting, I learned much more about the Wente family and the vineyards controlled by the clan. As we went through slides showing family history and present-day marketing strategies, I realized how the nature of a family business built around wine may be much more pleasant than a family business built around manufacturing or media.

Wine is, after all, a source of ease in our society. Almost like sports, people who may share different political or religious views can get together around wine (unless of course, they do not drink). Having a product that encourages community and conviviality strengthens the bonds of the family when wine families gather to reap the harvest. 

Watching the Kingston story only reinforced this belief for me. The Kingston family grows wine out of love and not for the profits. However, having that bond of a shared place, a shared product, and the ability to consume the product for enjoyment is enviable. In the days when farming has long taken a back seat in the modern economy, I think every family should grow wine.

What’s in a name?

Last summer, my friend, Allie, and I decided to take a day trip from Paris down to wine country. The Loire Valley was the easiest region to get to by train, so we found ourselves pulling into Tours station, picking up a rental car, and heading off into the wonders of Touraine.

Having studied a bit about the local wines before our trip, we were prepared to see a healthy blend of chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc, and cabernet franc. Imagine our surprise when at our final destination of the day, the lovely Château de Nitray, we were presented with a bottle made from a strange new grape: “Côt.”

We, frankly, did not have the French language skills to inquire too deeply as to what was in our glasses, but we enjoyed it enough to buy a couple of bottles that were made short work of upon our return to Paris.

Recently, Allie and I were reminiscing about Château de Nitray and decided to check the website to find out how we could buy its wines in the U.S. Right there in the “Our Wines” section, we  once again encountered Côt. This time, I was determined to learn more. I opened a new Google tab, and down the rabbit hole I went.

This mysterious Côt, it turns out, was simply a different name for a grape that I was already quite familiar with: Malbec.

French Côt has played a supporting role in Bordeaux blends (under the name Malbec) for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until it found its way to Argentina in the 1800s (Barnes) that the varietal really hit its stride. Though many of the Malbec vines that migrated within France settled in Cahors (where they eventually earned their new name, “Côt”), some made their way up to the Loire Valley, all the way to Touraine, where I would eventually encounter them (Friedrich).

The French grapes in Tours differ from their South American cousins in that they tend to be lighter in body and in alcohol, lower in tannins, and more refined in flavor. They have even earned a reputation for being more elegant than their neighbors in Cahors (Friedrich). With the same black fruit flavor of the Argentinian grape, but less of the richness, Côt presents itself as the perfect summer red.

Here’s to counting down the days until it’s warm enough to truly enjoy it.

Sources:

Barnes, Amanda. “What’s the Difference Between Cot and Malbec?” Website. South

America Wine Guide. 31 July 2018. Web. Accessed 31 Jan 2019.

Friedrich, Jacqueline. “Perfect for Summer Drinking Try Cot, France’s Answer to

Argentinian Malbec.” Website. Eater. Vox Media. 9 July 2015. Web. Accessed 31

Jan 2019.

Sipper or a Gulper?

Having never found it difficult to polish off a 750mL bottle in one sitting (... with a friend or two helping), the rise of new startups and product lines aimed at changing the average serving size of wine piqued my interest. From Blue Apron's 500mL bottle to the $2,000 Plum at-home appliance (a venture-backed "fully automatic home wine preservation system and dispenser"), it seems like there is a strategy underway to target American consumers in smaller formats. I wondered: how much wine does the average consumer drink in each sitting?

Aside from this tidbit that, on average, it takes 2 people 2.5 hours to finish a full bottle of wine, it turns out there is not a lot of information out there on wine consumers' preferred size formats (WineFolly). 

Curiously, though, there is a niche body of related research on "micro-drinking behaviors". That is, researchers have studied how various factors (such as wine glass size and shape - see Julie's great post for a primer) affect consumption rate. Using cameras, they have tracked total drinking time, sip number, sip duration, and sip rate - with some interesting findings: 

• Increasing glass size from 250ml to 370 ml had the preliminary effect of increasing total wine sales by 10%
• At the same time, wine served in larger glasses is consumed more slowly (over more sips) than wine in smaller glasses - so customers might tend to linger longer and spend more when drinking out of a large glass
• Beer served in curved glasses has a faster drinking rate with more frequent sips (BMC Psychology)