Beyond Grapes - Why Not Jalapeños?

Jalapeños, macadamia nuts, and pineapples - oh my! Turns out, you can create wine out of pretty much anything you can ferment in a barrel. Consider the Cardinal Hollow Winery's 100% jalapeno wine, which pairs well with brie cheese. Or Mill Lane Winery's rhubarb wine, which tastes of peppermint, cedar, and raspberry flavors mixed with a bouquet of Christmas spices and raspberry notes. Exploring these abnormal wine varietals raises the question - why are grapes such a popular choice in winemaking versus other fruits? What forces are at play here?

The short answer is cost-savings. Apparently, grapes and wine are a match made in heaven. Grapes uniquely contain the right balance of sugars, acids, and tannins needed to make a long-lasting and flavorful fermented beverage. Most other fruits simply cannot produce wines that last as long or taste as good without additives - that is, grape wine is cheaper to produce compared to other wines. 

But are fruit wines as inferior to traditional wines as "the market" would have us believe? The EU legislature has ruled - with strong support from major European wine brands - that wine should be legally defined as "a drink made from fermented grape juice". Does this sound at all like the "soy milk can't be called milk" debate raised by dairy incumbents here in the U.S? This is an interesting example of how industry incumbents, particularly in F&D, can raise barriers to entry via the law and labeling squabbles.

The rise of the kiwis

Looking at some wine export data for our paper on Romania, we made this chart showing what percentage of its wine production a few select countries are exporting. We thought the rise of New Zealand in late 90s and throughout the 21st century was pretty remarkable. Pulled ahead by its Suavignon Blancs, New Zealand not only massively grew its production but also exporting almost all of this new production. Helped by its reputation from the historical links to anglosaxon countries, such as the UK, US and Australia, it never struggled to find new demand. At the same time, its citizens own preferences for drinking didn't change and despite massively increasing production, it still imports about a third of its average 20 litres per person per year consumption, a lot more than countries that have a similarly thriving export industry such as Italy or Spain. 

Large fortune to make a small fortune

during my investment banking days, as I zoned out staring at my computer screen and its blinking cursor, I used to dream about an idyllic life owning a small vineyard and making a small wine label.  I never discounted the challenge of learning winemaking from the ground up, but assumed that having a small operation where you could be closely connected to your product and got you more involved with nature would be a nice reprieve from the monotonous hours in a cubicle.

That dream seems untenable these days as I learn more about the Wente and Kingston families and their respective decades-long tribulations in building out a business, and about the growers in the Long Island region.  Even as DTC becomes more prevalent and mitigates some of the onerous requirements from the 21st Amendment, I didn't realize how much investment was required to make half-decent wine, let alone good wine.  I expect that pioneers in new wine regions today have extremely patient timelines, knowing that few will realize a profit or achieve scale sufficient to sustain the business until close to their retirement. 

Who is this Rothschild guy anyway?

One little bit of history that I find interesting (and was thus hoping to find in the Rothschild case from last week) is the story of the Rothschild family.

The case mentioned a bit on the family's history, which led me to read up on them a little bit.  I thought the following two bits of history really stand out and demonstrate how impressive (and diversely skilled) of a family the Rothschilds were and are today.

1) The family dates back to the 18th century, where they initially built a banking empire, establishing banks in nearly every major nation in Western Europe.  Ultimately as the family network grew larger with every generation, the family started to split off their respective fortunes into separate empires.  Obviously certain parts of the family focused on winemaking, but others continued working in banking and Rothschild & Co is a major investment bank today.

2) Yes, Lafite Rothschild is one of the best known Bordeaux wines in the world.  Care to know the name of the winery that they are neighbors with?  Mouton Rothschild!  Yes, Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild are two separate wine labels originally founded by different members of the Rothschild family, both of which produce wines among the best (and most expensive) in the world.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Mouton Rothschild chateau, and I got to learn a bit about that side of the family.  Not only did we get to walk through the winemaking rooms (we were there in November, so slightly after harvest), we also got to walk through the museum (yes, there is a museum there) and see both an extremely odd art collection and an interesting exhibit on the history of their labels.  Mouton Rothschild is (I believe) unique in that they produce a different label for their wine each year, and commission a world-class artist to produce the work for that year's label.  Past artists include David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.  This is not surprisingly something they are quite proud of and have tons of information on all the labels on their website: https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/label-art/discover-the-artwork


Here are a few pictures I could dig up from my visit there:

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothschild_family

Port Tasting in Porto

This past summer I traveled to meet some friends in France and Portugal. While in Portugal I acquired a taste for Port, and who wouldn't! It is deliciously sweet and alcoholic. A fortified wine, Port was actually originally invented by British merchants in the early 1700's, during a time of war with France. The British turned elsewhere for their wine, but found that to make the wine last during the trip back to Britain they had to fortify it, and thus Port was born! The Port houses, which line one of the banks of the Duoro river in the city of Porto, are subsequently almost exclusively British-named brands that were really just exporters at one point, such as Dow, Graham, Sandeman, Cockburn, Taylor, and many more. The Port houses in Porto have also figured out the commercial side of tastings. Lined up next to the river, these producers/shippers provide tours of their facilities, education on the making of Port, and of course, tastings. They make it easy to try the main categories, Ruby, Reserve, Rose, Tawny, and White port. Though they do quite a good business with tastings and bottles you can buy in their facilities, the Port industry has a relatively robust export side as well. In 2018 almost 10 million barrels of Port were shipped abroad for a value of EUR 450 million (annualized figures based on  https://www.ivdp.pt/en/docs/StatVendas/Porto/Table%201_2018.pdf figures). Sweet, very alcoholic, and relatively affordable, Port has become a favorite of mine, if only as a special treat.

Jews and Wine

I come from a giant Jewish family. Something that's always been interesting to me is what I've called the "wine conundrum" in our culture. Wine is an integral piece of the Jewish story - we drink it every Friday for Shabbat, you're instructed to have at least 4 glasses on Passover (and you literally put wine on your prayer book during this holiday), and for Purim, according to the Talmudic tractate Megillah, "a person is obligated to drink on Purim until he does not know the difference between 'cursed be Haman' and 'blessed be Mordechai.' "

So why, then, am I one of three cousins (out of a total of 20+, the other two being my full-blood siblings) that can have more than a glass of wine without getting sick and/or falling asleep? And did you know that Israel has one of the lowest incidences of alcoholism in the world?

It's likely because of a genetic mutation called ADH2*2, which increases the levels of acetaldehyde in your blood stream. Acetaldehyde is a toxic chemical produced when your body metabolizes alcohol - and it causes some pretty nasty effects like headaches, nausea, and flushing ("glow"). Though not exclusive to the Jewish population, about 20% of Jews have this mutation, and the effects are strongest for Ashkenazi Jews (aka my family). 

This mutation is very rare among those with white European descent. Fortunately for my wine-drinking habits, my father is 100% not Jewish, with a Certified Eastern European Liver (pretty sure that's the official scientific term for someone as far away from the ADH2*2 mutation as possible). I confirmed with the 23andMe test that I do not have this mutation, and process alcohol normally.

Thank goodness, and l'chaim!

The juice was worth the press

In 1985 - Kip Forbes, of the Forbes Magazine family, purchased a bottle of wine at auction. Seemingly, this wouldn't be noteworthy as bottles of wine are purchased all the time, however at the time this was the most expensive bottle of wine ever purchased at auction - it sold for £105,000!! Adjusting for inflation, that is ~$367,000 in 2018 US dollars. So why on earth would a bottle be worth so much?

My dad worked for Forbes magazine for essentially his whole career, and working in the finance department was the man responsible for signing the check for this historic purchase. The way he told it, he was 'along for the ride' as Kip was insistent on buying this wine. The thing that made it so special was the inscription "Th.J" on the bottle - oh and that it was also a Lafite! It was a 1787 Lafite allegedly from the estate of President Thomas Jefferson himself. My dad said he had to close his eyes as Kip bid the price higher and higher until he finally purchased the wine. Upon leaving the auction house, my dad called Malcolm (head of the family and Forbes magazine) and told him the price they paid for the wine. Forbes was a huge collector of artifacts, but this seemed to be inexplicable. So, tails between their legs, Kip and my dad boarded their plane to head back to New York from London.

By the time they landed, however, the free press that the family (and magazine) had gained from this absurd purchase had paid for the cost of the wine many times over! Kip and my dad were praised by Malcolm for their genius marketing strategy. The wine, to this day, has not been opened but some controversy has grown around it. There are allegations that the wine is a fraud and not related to Thomas Jefferson whatsoever.