So, what with the end of the Oughts nearly upon us, I’ve been of course thinking of a way to wrap 2009 things up on the blog, and I have to thank Steve Heimoff of Wine Enthusiast for providing a rather excellent mechanism by which to do so; in the December 31 issue of Wine Enthusiast, Steve writes a column entitled “Wine Online in 2009,” in which he lays out his candidates for the Top 10 Issues that most captivated the wine blogosphere this year.

Given that Ridge and myself are proud participants in said blogosphere, I wanted to make sure I offered at least two cents worth of perspective on each of these ten items. So here goes!

The Recession

The Big R. Of course it’s been a topic of conversation, and we’ve all been analyzing the effects and repercussions from all angles.  Conventional wisdom in the world of wine seems to be that, while people are certainly having to tighten their belts, the recession isn’t keeping them from drinking wine per se, but rather, it’s forcing them to purchase wines at a lower price point, and do so “directly,” as opposed to in restaurants.

While Ridge wines aren’t what myself or anyone else would probably consider to be entry-level priced, I do think that judged on a price-break-to-quality ratio, we consistently offer a tremendous caliber of wine for the money. But that doesn’t change the reality that our prices may be above the level below which wine purchasers are currently looking for offerings. And while we accordingly have certainly seen some challenges on the wholesale and export side of the equation, our direct-to-consumer sales have actually been notably solid.

Which brings me to the issue of buying “directly.” I think that, while the recession has certainly been a factor, there is something else at work here as well, the ever-increasing confidence, sophistication, and knowledge of the American Wine Drinker. Combining personal experience with unprecedented technological access (are you too seeing more and more diners in restaurants using IPhones and the like to look up wine ratings as they peruse the wine lists?), the American Wine Drinker seems to be feeling progressively more and more able to make informed wine choices themselves, without relying on wine lists, sommeliers, or shelf talkers in retail shops. So why not come directly to the source?

And this returns us to the recession. What better way to engage in a “staycation” then to spend a day picnicking and wine tasting? I think what he have on our hands is potentially a new model for wine consumption in our country. It’s less expensive, yet more involved; more engaged, yet less confusing; and it’s more educational, yet more fun. It begins with some time spent perusing some favorite wine blogs (no subscription costs!), then heading off to a favorite tasting room or two (an excellent opportunity to taste before you purchase, and learn before you taste!), stopping only to pick up supplies for a picnic (cheaper than a restaurant!), and ending on the grounds of a favorite producer’s vineyards, with a lovely bottle of wine (no restaurant mark-up!), great food, and great company.

If that’s somewhat transparent, so be it! Of course I’m describing an afternoon spent at our Lytton Springs and/or Monte Bello Tasting Rooms, but in all honesty, I think the experiences we can offer are a perfect antidote to the recession, and I hope we’ll be able to welcome every single one of you at some point in the not-too-distant future!

The 100-Point System

I have to say, this hasn’t been of much concern to us here at RIDGE. While we’ve of course been fortunate to receive some lovely scores from many reputable wine critics and commentators over the years, RIDGE is a producer that has always favored philosophy over facts, and in the end, while the point system may function as a handy sort of shorthand, my feeling is that the best reviews are potentially the longest, and certainly the most insightful, and most expressive. Writing about wine is potentially just as much an art as is creating it, in that, like all art forms, one is essentially trying to express the internally inexpressible in some external fashion, and while it’s by definition never wholly possible, the wine writer who is able to inspire us by their words to experience anew the artisanal gift of a fine bottle of wine has done an artist’s job, point system or no.

Blind Tasting vs. Open

While it would certainly be easy to agree with the vast majority of people who favor blind tasting, I think I’m going to take the rather more controversial road here, and offer a vote in favor of open tasting. Why? Because blind tasting removes something from the tasting experience that I believe to be vital in assessing the character and quality of a wine; the INTENTIONS of the winemaker!

For example, let’s say you taste a wine blind, and you note it to be reasonably light-bodied, not overtly complex, pleasantly fruit-forward without being notably opulent, and not overtly structure-forward, featuring fairly soft acidity and only mildly chalky tannins. Your summary? Maybe you’d classify it as a spring-summer sipper, to be enjoyed in its youth. You judge it to be very pleasant, and give it a good, if not great, rating. Ok, fine. But what if the winemaker’s intention was to craft a wine with substantive cellarability virtually written into the wine’s DNA? With all the attendant complexity and sophistication such a wine must exhibit? Wouldn’t you have to consider the wine a bit of a disappointment, if not an out and out failure, if this was the case? But you wouldn’t be able to do this, because you wouldn’t know anything about the winemaker!

Speaking from the Ridge side of things, and as noted above, we’ve always been about philosophy as much as facts; art as much as science; agrarian traditions as much as technological ones, etc., and accordingly, intention is a big part of what we do. I’m not sure one can truly and properly assess a Ridge wine without some degree of understanding about WHY it tastes the way it does; WHY it was made the way it was made. The problem with blind tasting is that it assumes tasting is only that, tasting. But taste isn’t all that makes a wine unique.

Making Wine More Accessible To A New Generation

I’m actually going to run with a thread Mr. Heimoff himself touches upon in his article, and ask the following: does anyone else out there find it somewhat condescending the extent to which people seem to think that reaching a younger generation of potential wine consumers has to mean simplifying things? While I of course can recognize that some of the review and discourse models out there are crafted in the spirit of puncturing the oft preponderant pomposities that have historically surrounded the wine industry, many of the new wine blogs, wine shows, wine articles, etc. out there that have touched on this issue seems to be obsessed with the idea of, as Mr. Heimoff writes, “making wine simple,” of “taking the mystery out of wine.” Why? Are younger wine consumers incapable of grasping complexities? Are younger wine consumers incapable of appreciating, pursuing, and unraveling mystery? I am going to essentially agree with Mr. Heimoff on this one, and argue that a new generation deserves the same respect as any preceding generation, and accordingly, all of us who work with, and write about, fine wines should give younger people interested in wine the benefit of doubt, and assume sophistication on their parts. The words may be different, the slang different, the colloquialisms different, the methods of information transference different, but that’s no reason to assume the content is any less complex.

Credibility

The issue here, in terms of it being a hot-button topic, seems to be the question of who has the right to speak on wine, and who should be listened to. Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that it’s a battle between the old guard (print media, Robert Parker, etc.) vs. the new guard (wine blogs, Gary Veynerchuk, etc.), with the old guard maintaining that their experience, skill, knowledge, and seriousness of purpose equates to a solid rationale for their continued dominance in the oenologist’s marketplace of ideas,  and with the new guard maintaining that it’s a new world out there, a digital democracy, and the dinosaurs are dead and need to realize it.

In the end, I think the whole debate is pretty silly. Credibility, to my way of thinking, comes with accountability, which comes with scales of exposure. For example, if you write a wine blog, and no one reads it, then there is no one to check your facts. You could write alot of really inane things, and pass it off as gospel. Accordingly, it’s not likely your blog should be recommended to those looking to expand their wine knowledge. Alternatively, if you write a wine blog, and hundreds of thousands of people read it, chances are you’re going to get caught out if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Accordingly, it’s probably a pretty safe recommendation to send a viticultural mendicant looking for salvation your blog’s way. Credibility comes from accountability. The greater your scale of exposure, the harder you have to work to make sure you’ve got your s$%t together. Remember, Robert Parker started out with a direct-mail newsletter that no one had ever heard of …

Deconstruction

Not entirely sure why Mr. Heimoff made this a separate category, as the issues are essentially the same as the “younger generation” topic, that is, what’s essentially at issue is the question of whether wine needs to be “simplified” in order to generate interest. So I’ll skip repeating what I’ve written above, and instead offer a tangential defense of complexity over simplification; take classical music. To the uninitiated or uninterested, it can all just sound like a bunch of stringed instruments screeching along to no apparent purpose. But as you start to learn about it, you start to be able to, for example, identify different instruments (oboe, flute, viola), or different sections (allegro, scherzo, rondo), different composers (Beethoven, Dvorak, Ives), even different performances (Mahler’s 5th, with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted my Michael Tilson Thomas); in short, your understanding deepens, and your appreciation grows. Put another way, with knowledge comes pleasure. Wine is no different. Deconstruction in the service of understanding? Certainly. Deconstruction is the service of simplification? Why?

Oak, Extraction, and the International Style

Well, I’m very proud to say that I think Ridge is an American producer that falls on the right side of this equation. While there are certainly those out there who may not be fans of our wines, I think it’s pretty rare that we’re accused of over-oaking or over-extracting, and our wines have consistently remained at alcohol levels far below the current averages. Accordingly, I think my personal stance is pretty clear; I’m here at Ridge because I believe in Ridge; what Ridge does, and how Ridge does it.

I will add one more thought though, somewhat in keeping with my perspectives above as regards a sea change in the character of the American Wine Drinker. If for no other reason than perhaps the incessant proliferation of food shows on television, I think we as a country are starting to finally get our heads around food and wine pairing, and accordingly, fruit and alcohol are slowly retreating to the back seat, while things like acidity, spice, and herbality are edging closer and closer to the driver’s seat. Traditionally, and probably as recently as 10 years ago, wine in this country was unqualifiedly an alcoholic beverage; nothing more and nothing less. I look forward to the coming day, growing ever closer all the time, when we, like much of the “international” world, come to understand wine as but one component of the meal. A vital component, certainly, but a food item all the same. As the perfectly made sauce makes the entree, so the perfect wine completes the meal.

Video

Mr. Heimoff notes in his article that more and more wine bloggers are experimenting with video. Well, all I can say is that my video on this blog of how to use an Ah So Cork Puller is one of the most regularly visited posts yet offered on 4488: A Ridge Blog. So there. Whatever that means.

And that’s it for ‘09, and that’s it for The Oughts!

All the best of the holiday season to  you and yours, and may the new year bring happiness and safety to us all! Cheers!

p.s. a special thank you to Steve Heimoff and Wine Enthusiast, for providing the architecture upon which to hang this little house of words …

Plus, I had an embarrassing crush on Robert Urich when I was a little girl.

I’ve read a few of Robert Parker’s more recent novels and enjoyed them. Not great literature or anything, but surely a guilty pleasure. I started reading them after a friend brought over one of the Jesse Stone movies he rented from Netflix. Then, I remembered hearing that Robert Parker was the author of the Spenser series, which ultimately became that television show Spenser for Hire, which I was addicted to as a little girl. For one reason only.

So, I decided to start reading the Spenser books. Since I’m pretty particular, I felt I had to start from the beginning, so I ordered this first novel in the series and read it in one sitting today, on my day off.

In this first novel we find Spenser already a very experienced, tough private eye living alone in Boston. The moment we are introduced to him we realize he’s not as simple of a man as one might think. He’s literate, and not the uneducated boob that people who first meet him seem to assume he is. In the first scene in the novel he is holding his own – intellectually that is – in the office of a university president who clearly looks down on him. And from that moment we – or at least I – have to really like this character.

Deep into the novel we see some really shameful behavior from Spenser. I won’t tell you what, because I don’t want to spoil that moment – two moments actually – of sweet shock you’ll experience when you read it for yourself. Or maybe you won’t be shocked. Maybe I’m just naive.

But I prefer not to dwell on this. Spenser reads, and he truly likes to cook, even when it’s just for himself. And, he’s big and burly and protective. He’s got muscles in his forearms and I think it’s very kind of Parker to let that slip for his shallow female readers. I can forgive the stuff I don’t like so much about Spenser.

As for the writing, this book was written in the early seventies, and it’s definitely dated.  But the cast of characters is colorful and interesting, and feels real. The mystery is only somewhat compelling, but there were plenty of surprises along the way.

I liked it, and I’m ready for more. The second Spenser novel is God Save the Child. In it, we know that Spenser meets Susan Silverman. Remember her? She was the reason my dad was always willing to watch the show with me.

Wine enthusiasts spend a lot of time and money on magazines and guidebooks and I guess they are never sure if they’re getting the best advice. One of this blog’s most common referring links is the Google search query “world’s best wine magazine?” Want to know the answer? Read on.

If you were going to read just one wine magazine, which one would it be? I decided to use my university students to try to find out. They are plenty smart and know a lot about wine, but they don’t (yet) spend much of their time reading these publications.  Perfect subjects for a little media analysis experiment.

Three Ideas of Wine

I passed out copies of perhaps the three most influential wine magazines on the planet and asked my students to analyze them in terms of point of view, intended audience and, of course, which one they would want to read.

The three magazines are Wine Spectator, Decanter and Wine Advocate. Wine Spectator has the highest circulation of any wine magazine in the United States and probably the world. Decanter, a British publication, sells fewer copies, especially here in the U.S., but has global reach.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate is a subscription-only publication; most people don’t actually read the Wine Advocate, they just see the rating numbers and blurbs on Wine Wall shelf talkers promoting particular bottles. It’s very influential despite its limited distribution.

The magazines are different in almost every way. They certainly represent three different ideas of wine. Which is best? Well, that depends.

Wine Spectator

My students quickly labeled Wine Spectator a “lifestyle” magazine and this isn’t just because it has non-wine or tangentially-related-to-wine  “lifestyle” articles about food, travel, celebrities and so forth. The advertisements were the giveaway to them. While many wine companies advertise in WS, so do the producers of many luxury and designer products.

(Most wine mags are lifestyle publications, they just have differing ratio and proportion of wine, wine-related and pure lifestyle editorial content. It would be interesting in give the students Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and, say, Wine & Spirits to analyze regarding wine versus lifestyle emphasis. Maybe next term.)

Taken together, the editorial content and the advertising (plus the “coffee table” large format) gave my students a strong sense of a plush lifestyle publication. Wine is part of that world, they said, but not the only part of it. Some were attracted to this lifestyle image and other repulsed. They all found it fascinating.

Decanter

Decanter’s cover boldly proclaims that it is “The World’s Best Wine Magazine.” Is it?

Decanter is a lifestyle magazine, too, but that’s not what struck my students. Compared to Wine Spectator they noted a more specific wine focus and talked about finding deeper analysis of wine regions and issues.  I’m not sure if this is really true or if it reflects Wine Spectator’s high advertisement page  count, which might make it seem like there is less wine content.

But for whatever reason Decanter seemed more seriously interested in wine as opposed to lifestyle, according to my students.

Decanter has a different approach to wine ratings, too. Whereas Wine Spectator has many wine reviews in the back covering new releases from the U.S. and many international regions, Decanter typically features in-depth review articles on just two regions. You get more breadth of coverage with Wine Spectator and more depth with Decanter.

Wine Spectator made good  browsing, one student said, and sometimes that’s just what you want, but Decanter would be better to read.

Wine Advocate

My students were shocked by Wine Advocate. Nothing in their experience had prepared them for a “just the facts, ma’am” wine publication. Black type on tan paper. No photos. No ads. Page after page of winery and wine reviews, focusing on three or four regions in each issue.

Not for browsing. Not for reading. You have to study Wine Advocate to get anything out of it they said.

Who reads Wine Advocate? No one would read it for pleasure, according to the students. (I disagree — geeky baseball fans read columns of statistics on their favorite sport. I think there is a similar wine reader.) You would read it for business — because you are a wine retailer, distributor, investor or maybe own a restaurant.  This, they said, was a magazine for readers with a serious professional purpose.

The World’s Best Wine Magazine?

So which one is the best?  I know my answer. If I could only read one it would be Decanter because I think  it is more focused on the supply and demand issues I write about. It’s a wine magazine written by and maybe for “Masters of Wine” who care a lot about commercial concerns.

Unfortunately, Decanter’s specific consumer wine advice is mainly irrelevant to me since the British market it covers is so different from my Wine Wall here in the United States. Very few U.S. wines (apart from the big multinationals) successfully break into the British market, for example, and so we get little space in Decanter compared to wines from Europe and Australia. The market here is just the reverse.

My students weren’t willing to choose a “world’s best wine magazine.” They could see strengths and weaknesses in all three.  One student said it boiled down to a trade-off between accessibility (Wine Spectator) and authenticity (the more detailed analysis of terroir you find in publications like Wine Advocate) and there’s no perfect balance between them.

In wine, as in many other areas of life, we want both accessibility and authenticity and I guess my students have already become both surprisingly self-aware of their position in this struggle and skilled at negotiating the complex space it  creates. Interesting.

World’s best wine magazine? No such thing. It depends on who you are, what you are looking for and your particular idea of wine.

The Bonny Doon winemaker Randall Grahm has just published an anthology of his quirky writing.

Please have a look here for a full review.

The Wine Future Rioja 09 conference was held here on November 12 and 13.  Organized by Pancho Campo, Spain’s first Master of Wine, the event was touted as the most important gathering of luminaries in the wine business.  The cost was steep, about $1,500 for the two-day event, including a megatasting given by Robert Parker, arguably the world’s most influential wine writer.

Initially I was going to pass because of the price but finally I was able to attend, thanks to a complimentary invitation from one of the sponsors, Marqués de Riscal, whose finance director Fernando Salamero was my boss for 15 years while I was the director of the Rioja Exporters’ Association.

When I saw the list of speakers I was a little disappointed, because most of them were my age or older, which didn’t seem to jive with the idea of the future of our industry.

 Having said that, I especially enjoyed the presentations about social media (Ryan Opaz, Gary Vaynerchuk and Jeremy Benson), Miguel Torres’ talk about climate change and what Torres is doing about it, Robert Joseph’s thought-provoking talk about making wine easier to understand, Tim Hanni’s presentation about taste perceptions and Nicola Jenkin’s talk about packaging.

I personally feel that an important issue for the future of wine is overcoming the major hurdles small and many medium-sized wineries have to overcome just to find a route to market.  We can talk about empowering consumers all day but if consumers can’t buy certain products because of

• the increasing concentration of distributors (USA)
• the increased power of supermarkets and the demise of traditional retailers (UK)
• the impossibility to sell wine through the internet between countries in the European Union
• the difficulties small US wineries face to sell directly to consumers in different states (although this is improving)

these brands are handicapped.

In Europe, traditional wine producing countries face decreasing per capita consumption of wine and a lack of interest on the part of young consumers. There was a lot of talk about being able to connect with consumers but nothing was said about strategies to interest young consumers from Spain, France and Italy to wine.

I think there should have been more emphasis on these real issues facing our industry.

Parker tasting:

We tasted 20 wines (18 garnachas and two Riojas).  When the wines were announced in the program,there was a big fuss in Rioja about the absence of any Riojas and consequently, two were included at the last minute.  Parker defended himself by saying that he wanted to focus on the widespread international use of garnacha rather than on tempranillo, mainly used in Spain.  In addition, he stated emphatically that he didn’t want to give the impression that he was sacrificing his independence by promoting the wines in the region hosting the conference.  Fair enough,  but this explanation wasn’t well received by the locals because of the increasing range of garnachas from Rioja available here.  They weren’t, however, known by Mr. Parker, leading me to believe that their international distribution is weak (Garnacha producers from Rioja take note!).

Before the tasting, I, like most people, expected a symphony of overripe, overoaked, high alcohol fruit bombs, but was very pleasantly surprised, especially by the seven Châteauneuf-du-Papes, none of which had seen any oak at all.  All of them were really elegant and showed both the place they were from and the characteristics of the garnacha grape.  The 1945 Marqués de Riscal was superb.  I also liked the Clos Erasmus from Priorat (not at all inky and inscrutable), Espectacle from Montsant, the Clarendon Hills Old Vines and the Killakanoon from Australia.  On the down side, I didn’t think the Contador (from Benjamín Romeo in Rioja) was ready to drink yet and the Aquilón and Atteca Armas (both from the neighboring region of Aragón and sold by the Spanish specialist importer Jorge Ordóñez) had too much new oak , obliterating the fruit, for my taste.

 I was also fortunate to help a local journalist with his interview with Parker. In the interview he defended himself from his detractors by saying that he had an eclectic palate and that he was displeased with two of the wines in the tasting because they were overoaked!

He came across as a passionate, sincere, fiercely independent guy , which I liked.

I enjoyed the event because of the social media presentations, the networking oportunities it gave me and chatting the other speakers, most of them old friends.

However, next time, I hope distribution and social networks are at the top of the agenda!

Ayer 25 de noviembre, a las 12:45 horas aproximadamente, comenzó la charla “Nuevas tendencias en la elaboración de vino” correspondiente a las Jornadas sobre el Sector del Vino,  impartida por D. Fernando Zamora Marín, profesor titular de la Facultad de Enología de Tarragona perteneciente a la Universidad Rovira i Virgili, y decano de la misma durante 4 años. Zamora se diplomó por la Universidad de Burdeos, y además de su labor en la enseñanza, ejerce como enólogo en Priorato y Monsant. Entre sus estudios destacan la maduración de compuestos fenólicos.

Durante algo más de una hora pudimos disfrutar, expuesto de una manera clara y divulgativa, de las palabras de Zamora, que tras una introducción y referencia a las prioridades actuales en el perfil del vino, se pasó a explicar algunas de las técnicas y prácticas enológicas más en auge en la elaboración del vino.

Así, tras destacar que las modas en el sector del vino existen y marcan la pauta, desde revistas como Wine Spectator o gurús del vino como Robert Parker, repasamos el perfil de vino que se demandaba hacer 25 años y el perfil de vino que se demanda en la actualidad. En cuanto a vinos tintos nos encontramos:

• Hace 25 años: vinos de color teja, muy oxidados, con poco cuerpo y suave al paladar, y con mucha madera vieja.
• Perfil actual: vinos de color rojo intenso, incluso con recuerdos violetas, con fruta equilibrada con madera nueva, tánico y estructurado.

uva Albariño

Por otro lado, es importante destacar y diferenciarse del producto internacional a través de vinos con personalidad propia, como pueden ser aquellos elaborados con las variedades de uva Albariño, Verdejo o Airén, es decir, hay que tipificar el producto español para diferenciarnos del resto. De esta manera, Zamora elabora el perfil ideal del vino en la actualidad con cuatro palabras: concentración, armonía, persistencia y tipicidad.

Posteriormente, se pasó a hablar extensamente de las nuevas prácticas enológicas. Simplemente queremos mencionar aquí los puntos que se trataron, para intentar más adelante hablar tranquilamente de los mismos, pues algunas son técnicas de gran interés para la elaboración actual del vino. Los puntos que se vieron fueron:

• Maceración pelicular prefermentativa
• Crianza sobre lías
• Microoxigenación
• Estabilización tartárica con gomas de celulosa
• Eliminación de semillas o délestage (deslastrado)
• Desalcoholización parcial
• Disminución del pH del vino

Queremos destacar, no sólo la gran charla que dió Fernando Zamora explicando las distintas técnicas, sino que tras cada una, nos mostraban datos experimentales que demostraban lo expuesto, tanto de otros autores como de su propio equipo de investigación, y que permitían ver claramente la validez de las técnicas.

Como toque final, nos han llegado rumores de que a lo mejor se encuentra en la próxima Semana Universitaria del Vino. Esperamos que así sea y podamos disfrutar de nuevo con las palabras de un gran orador.

It’s not often I have the opportunity to experience a quartet of excellent wines on the same day. This past Saturday on a weekend trip to the Big Apple, that opportunity presented itself. My fellow oenophile, Gerry B. stopped by the New York Wine Exchange and picked up a bottle of the 2005 O’Shaughnessy, Howell Mountain, Cabernet Sauvignon. I had brought with me from my humble collection, a 2005 Larkmead, Oakville Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon.

We popped both of these in our room at the Marriott prior to dinner. It probably wasn’t fair to the O’Shaughnessy because I know from past experience that this is a huge wine that needs to be open a couple of hours before drinking in order for its true flavors to show. Parker had scored this wine 95 points and it has a great bouquet of licorice, dark berry fruit and tobacco. It’s smooth but quite tannic and that’s where not allowing it to breathe serves as an injustice. I’d give this one a 92 and blame the score on our lack of patience.

The Larkmead showed much better and although Parker gave it a 92, I think all of us thought it deserved higher. I’d give this one a 94. It’s not quite as full-bodied as the O’Shaughnessy but it felt more balanced and the flavors were crisp and precise with undertones of rich spices and blackberries.  We could probably have finished both bottles but it was time to get ready for dinner and more wine at Tribeca Grill.

Aside from the food, Tribeca Grill is a consistent winner of Wine Spectator’s Grand Award for their extensive 1800 selection wine list. I was thrilled to find the 2005 Lillian’s White Hawk Vineyard Syrah.  I had always wanted to try this wine having read so many rave reviews on the various wine boards. The fact that winemaker, Maggie Harrison, was the former assistant winemaker at Sine Que Non, which I have also never experienced, added to my excitement. The first taste was magical. Very seldom to you get a wine that delivers everything you are looking for in the beverage you are so passionate about. The Lillian Syrah delivers on so many different levels. It’s dark and brooding and packs so much flavor that you grasp for the right words. If Sarah and Sparky Marquis didn’t already capture the name “Velvet Glove” for their ultra-premium Mollydooker Wine, it would be perfect for the Lillian. It’s like getting hit with a velvet glove. The wine has smoothness down to a science and drinking it with my duck breast entree was like a meal designed in heaven. I’d give this one a 98 and place it #2 on my all-time list of wines. It was, as the sommelier mentioned when pouring at our table, “like drinking Sine Qua Non for one-third the price”.

Gerry had chosen the 2005 Venge Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This was an interesting wine. Parker had scored it a 92 with these remarks in December of 2007 “exhibits a deep ruby/purple color, loads of new oak, plenty of cassis fruit, high tannins and a noticeable acidity.”

I found it to be the lightest Cabernet, in color, of any I have ever had. It almost looked light for a Pinot Noir. It has a beautiful nose and is exceptionally smooth but I found the fruit flavors subtle, not bold, and almost, not just Bordeaux like, but  Burgundian. It was good, but so different that I could never pin it down and I gave it a 90. I think both wives agreed with me but Gerry loved it; even more than the Lillian Syrah. I guess that’s why they make more than one type of wine and why the true way to judge a wine is by your own palate and not by high scores or the opinion of others.

The truth is that all four of these fine wines were excellent. They each had their own story to tell and all of them added to my own personal history of wine drinking pleasure.

A wine website which encourages enthusiasts to connect and inspire each other to try something new has launched this month

Offering a twist on the online shopping experience, winegrapevine.co.uk combines online social networking with wine choosing.

Mike Denman, co-founder of winegrapevine.co.uk

“Research shows that the people who are most likely to value your opinion on wine are your family and friends, so we have made the sharing easier” commented co-founder, Mike Denman.

The concept is based around removing the traditional snobbery from consumer wine buying and winegrapevine.co.uk features around 200 award-winning or highly acclaimed bottles at the most competitive prices online*.

To make the choice even easier, a personal shopper facility provides specific recommendations to site visitors, according to their personal or gift-buying requirements. Complementing this, the designer dozen service allows customers the option of being sent regular mixed cases tailored to their wine preferences and budget.

Winegrapevine.co.uk is the brainchild of husband and wife team Mike and Jo Denman, who share a passion for trying and enjoying wine.

“Open-mindedness is key to food and wine appreciation, but without some form of credible advice, it’s all too easy to miss out on the good stuff” commented Mike.

After being inspired by a local wine merchant when living in London, Mike and Jo moved to the South Cotswolds to raise their young family and start their former business, Badminton Wines.

“We decided that it was again a time for a change.   Wine Grapevine takes wine buying to a new level and I believe that engaging with social media is the way forward for wine buying and appreciation.

“By narrowing down the selection we offer to wines which have recently won an award or received critical acclaim makes it so much easier for consumers to buy with confidence.

“However, with social media shaping the way people behave and opinions are formed, both online and offline, we really felt that shoppers would benefit from the inclusion of our social network – the grapevine.  After all, the enjoyment of wine is primarily a social activity, so it seemed a logical feature.”

Mike and Jo select wines based on the merit of their specific vintage, distinguishing them from many other wine merchants, who select according to brand.

Critics and influencers the winegrapevine.co.uk favours include Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, The Wine Spectator, Decanter Magazine, jancisrobinson.com, the International Wine Challenge, the Decanter World Wine Awards, the Sommelier Wine Awards.

The UK website also offers mixed case options, gift purchases and a cork point loyalty scheme, enabling buyers to save further money on future site purchases.

- ENDS -

* winegrapevine.co.uk prices are set accordingly by carrying out regular price comparison checks on www.wine-searcher.com

For further information or high res photos, please contact Jennie Wood at
Avalanche Media on 01373 300282 or info@avalanchemedia.org

¿El vino esta en crisis? Los expertos del sector han analizado estos días la situación global del mercado, aportando ideas sobre como encarar los cambios venideros. Según David Cunningham (Constellation Wine), la crisis esta teniendo un impacto importante sobre el sector y en el canal Horeca, pues un 46% menos come fuera, el consumidor está centrado en el precio y el minorista ve afectados sus márgenes que se reducen porque hay más costes y más impuestos, en contra de la necesidad de mantener los precios bajos. España es a la baja sostenida y el 72% compra solo vinos de DO. Hay excesos de inventarios, hay grandes grupos que se deshacen de marcas y de productos porque tienen baja eficiencia operacional y necesitan bajar costes en medidas de austeridad. Australia esta arrancando viñedos, menos bodegas, menos vinos, menos denominaciones porque no tienen ninguna razón comercial de existir.
Para Europa esto es una tragedia por su cultura del vino, de más de 8.000 años de antigüedad. La educación puede jugar un rol muy importante, pero hay mucho que hacer, hay que moverse mas rápido. Los bodegueros tienen que utilizar las nuevas herramientas tecnológicas para que los Milleniers, (jóvenes nacidos después del 1987), se vean nuevamente atraídos hacia este estilo de vida; la mitad de este grupo se encuentra en la edad de beber el vino, consideran que el vino es cool y los hace mas sofisticados. Valoran el producto con amigos, blogger on line más que el marketing y la publicidad tradicional.
Para el Grupo Codorniu, con más de 450 años de experiencia y 17 generaciones, su piedra angular es la visión a largo plazo. Una empresa familiar que solo gracias al abuelo visionario, puede hoy producir y distribuir en el mundo 20 millones de botellas. “Hay que comunicarse directamente con los clientes utilizando las nuevas tecnologías: boletines electrónicos, presencia en radio, Newsletter semanal a directivos responsables de la toma de decisiones, base de datos selectiva”.
Es muy importante participar en las redes sociales especializadas, investigarlas porque son líderes de opinión. Hay que ponerse unos al alcance de los otros, a través de las comunidades on line para garantizar una información global. Las relaciones son víricas, la transparencia es rentable, el miedo es libre pero no es rentable.
Gary Vaynerchuk de www.winelibrary.com pasó de 3 millones a 45 millones de US$ de facturado. “Se necesita una capacidad autentica de conectar con el consumidor, contar tu propia historia. Internet ha nivelado el terreno, todos pueden competir; es necesario crear capital de marca, no dejes que nadie controle tu marca. Los usuarios se conectan entre si y generan opiniones, hay que dirigirse a los apasionados en Internet, aquí está el potencial, hay que estar online”.
¿Que peso tienen entonces los periodistas del vino y la prensa escrita?
Según José Peñin, el “columnismo” es mas interesante desde el punto de vista de la divulgación, permite profundizar en la cultura del vino, las características de cada bodega, su historia etc.
La educación del consumidor es muy importante, hay que hablar del cambio climático y de como contrarrestar el efecto invernadero, pensar en el reciclaje, en el packaging para minimizar el impacto ambiental.
 “La viña es una planta muy sensible a variaciones de temperatura, comenta Miguel Torres, una subida de dos grados va a afectar la calidad y la producción del vino en España y en otras partes. Si subiera cinco grados mas a día de hoy, el sur de Europa seria estepa y la cultura del vino seria imposible”.
Robert Parker y Kevin Zraly proponen el “Wine Certification Program” (un programa que ayuda a incrementar el conocimiento del vino), compuesto por tres niveles de test por Internet; cada examen (de una hora aproximadamente), permite obtener un certificado con la firma digital de Robert Parker.
El reto mas importante en este momento es la economía, la sostenibilidad y rentabilidad. La consolidación de empresas preocupa por la concentración de poder, hay miedo a perder el nicho de las bodegas artesanales que sea en Borgoña, en Napa Valley, España o Italia. Internet puede ofrecer productos artesanales a los consumidores.
 “Los bodegueros tienen que tratar de hacer sus mejores vinos, concluye Robert Parker, puede aparecer un conflicto cuando el gobierno interfiere con una estricta legislación sobre el porcentaje de alcohol del vino, porque limita la creatividad del bodeguero y si la ley rebaja el alcohol y quiere mandar en eso esta influyendo en la calidad. La responsabilidad social que deriva del consumo del vino es otra cosa y tiene que ver con la persona y no tiene sentido reglarla por ley”.

Ver foto – video

A Salton é uma das vinícolas participantes do Congresso Internacional Wine
Future – Rioja 09, que aconteceu de 12 a 13 de novembro,
em Logroño (Espanha).

O presidente da empresa, Daniel Salton, viajou em companhia
do diretor-técnico, Lucindo Copat, do diretor de vendas Wagner José
Ribeiro, e do sommelier Vinícius de Miranda Santiago, para prestigiar
o evento, destinado aos profissionais do setor.

LEIA MAIS NOS SITES
:: SORTIMENTOS :: http://www.sortimentos.net/?p=4525
:: GEBBEG VARIEDADES :: http://gebbeg.com.br/?p=7470

.

For a while we have been meaning to write something here about “ballet myth busters”, to address certain preconceptions about this art form often seen as inaccessible, stuffy and niche. David Bintley’s Cyrano might be just what we needed to illustrate how ballet can be demystified. Created two years ago for Birmingham Royal Ballet, it shows that story-based ballets can be fresh, funny and accessible and that classical dancing need not always be centered around tutu-clad ballerinas.

Taking Edmond Rostand’s well-known play and staying close to its text, Bintley’s ballet narrows down the gap between theatre and dance. For starters the costumes are not what you would expect: plenty of ruffles, French breeches and big boots for the men and Romantic, Toile-de-Jouy-chic, for the heroine Roxane. Unlike the formality of classics Swan Lake or The Sleeping Beauty, there’s something unceremonious and inviting about the way the audience can see various characters strolling onstage and preparing to watch the “performance within the performance” as they take their seats, it’s almost like a levelling of the playing field.

Elisha Willis as Roxane and Robert Parker as Cyrano Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

Robert Parker’s Cyrano is sympathetically played, with equal measures of tragedy and comedy. As in the play, the sad story of continued stoicism in the face of unrequited love is counterbalanced with plenty of humour. In a scene at Ragueneau’s Bakery, the bakers spoof the Sleeping Beauty’s Rose Adagio with baguettes and tartelettes in lieu of Aurora’s roses. In another moment our antihero Cyrano uses hilarious diversion tactics to cover up the secret wedding between Roxane and Christian, keeping rival De Guiche away.

Cyrano pretends to be a stranger with fantastic tales about the moon. I read afterwards that this episode of Rostand’s play is inspired by the real Cyrano de Bergerac who had written a work entitled The Other World: Society and Government of the Moon, considered one of the earliest science fiction compositions. This peculiar scene could easily fall into camp but Bintley manages to make Cyrano’s dancing while wearing a glass light globe over his head both wacky and dignified.

Bintley can get Romantic too. He fully conveys Cyrano’s gift for poetry and love letters through dance and sometimes mime, both beautifully realised by Robert Parker. The various pas de deux between Roxane (Elisha Wilis) and Christian (Iain Mackay, ex-BRB now guesting from Corella Ballet) are full of “head over heels in love” intricate lifts to represent the young lovers’ passion, with full credit here to Mackay’s excellent partnering skills.

Elisha Willis as Roxane and Iain Mackay as Christian in BRB's Cyrano. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

In addition to the central characters there are great roles for BRB’s male soloists such as Ragueneau the baker (Christopher Larsen) and Cyrano’s cadet friend Le Bret, danced by the marvellous Chi Cao. Marion Tait’s character part as Roxane’s jovial duenna is also a class act. If I had one wish, it would be for stronger female choreography as Roxane’s solos are very marked by attitude turns. But just as I start to notice this, Bintley puts Roxane into bravura mode. She bursts into battle camp cross dressed as a “soldier” in the final act and dances a sequence of typical male steps including some lovely pirouettes à la seconde. I should have seen it coming. Cyrano is most definitely a myth busting ballet.

Ryan’s Speech at WineFuture Conference in Logroño, Spain:

For the past decades the everyday consumer has been ignored. I’m not talking about the high end or even weekend wine geek, but rather the consumer who likes wine, wants a better bottle and could give a shit if the wine has terroir or 90+ points. They want to enjoy the wine for what it is, social lubricant,..

The problem is retailers, importers, and the press were all trying to sell the same package of BS that you need to “know wine” to love wine. It’s the teach first drink later model, which I believe leads too often to consumers afraid that they might do something wrong, and as a result they end up simply buying based on price and what the label looks like. Why, because they are the only things not trying to tell them that they aren’t smart enough to enjoy wine. The consumer has choices, or is starting to, and the internet is bringing us these choices.

these consumers now are talking about wine and buying wines, and are doing it with the tools they use to communicate within their social circles everyday.

Facebook, once a college meet up site, is now a place where brands are being built…While in another more recognizable form for many of us we have Social tasting note sites like Adeggaand Cellartracker which are allowing consumers to share online what wines they own and to see what their friends are drinking.

A lot of people laugh at these online tools  but it reminds me of a quote I found online: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” This was Western Unions response to the telephones invention.

Ironically similar statements are being made about blogging today. The truth is that we are seeing the fading away of yesterdays’ tools of communication, giving way to a new way of looking at wine.

Today’s consumers have voices. The internet have given them voices, And these voices are not your competitors or enemies, but rather clients, readers, buyers, and sometimes new friends.But the real truth is that the consumer is tomorrows critic. And in the end if they don’t know where Tempranillo comes from it doesn’t matter,  they do know whether or not they like the wine. As a group they have an aggregated voice that is powerful and broad.

they will be the ones to buy your products, and share their thoughts with their friends, just like they always have. If you do not listen to them…you lose. If you choose to engage with them…you win.

Today the internet is also a conversation. It is not monologue it is a dialog. If you are not prepared to engage and talk to your consumer, be prepared for disappointment. Today’s consumer wants a conversation…no they expect one.

YEEEAAAPPP…. I could not agree more with you Ryan (Catavino ) ! Thanks.

Jancis Robinson M.W. : “I can’t honestly say that we solved the wine business’s problems.  In fact I felt that we did not discuss its gravest ones – economic peril for so many – in enough detail.

Jancis Robinson M.W. – O.B.E & Robert Parker Jr

But the conference was certainly not a waste of time, and represented a huge coup on the part of Pancho Campo (seen at the microphone) and the Wine Academy of Spain team to have managed to get such a high-profile crowd together.”

WineFuture on video | Tasting Notes & Wine Reviews from Jancis Robinson

____________________________

Robert Parker’s ‘Grand Garnacha tasting”: The Grand Garnacha Tasting – Wine Future Conference – Catavino

“Tonight ( Friday 13th) in the hall of the Rioja Forum in Logrono Robert Parker sat at the head table overseeing a sold out auditorium of 450+ representatives of the wine world eager to share a glass with him. Kevin Zraly, the pre-eminent figure in wine education in the US & Pancho Campo MW, President of the Wine academy of Spain who organised the event, moderated the session. Catavino was there, live-blogging, photographing, tweeting, and recording tasting notes live on adegga.com, and I was part of the team.

List of wines poured:

Châteuneauf-du-Pape –France/Francia
1. Domaine Charvin 2007
2. Marcoux Vieilles Vignes 2007
3. Mont Olivet – La Cuvee du Papet 2007
4. Chapoutier Barbe Rac 2007
5. Barroche Pure 2007
6. Vieille Julienne 2007
7. Pierre Usseglio-Mon Aieul 2007

Spain/España
8. Atteca Armas 2007 – DO Calatayud
9. Mancuso 2005 – Vino de la Tierra de Valdejalón
10. Espectacle 2006 – DO Montsant
11. Clos Erasmus 2005 – DOCa. Priorat
12. Aquilon 2006 – DO Campo de Borja

California
13. Pandora – Alban 2006
14. Sine Qua Non Atlantis 2005

Australia
15. Killikanoon Duke 2006
16. Greenock Creek Cornerstone 2006
17. Clarendon Hills Old Vines Romas 2006
18. Torbreck Les Amis 2005

Rioja
19. Marqués de Riscal de 1945
20. Contador 2007

He ( Robert Parker)  spoke lucidly and passionately about his love of wines and his unpretentious style and incredible knowledge was somewhat captivating. For Parker the responsibility of the great winemaker is to “capture and translate the essence of your terroir and faithfully respect the vintage given to you by Mother Nature”.

Report from Raymond Magourty for “Catavino”.

YYYEEEAAAAPPPPPP…. When it’s nice…it’s nice?? STOP the fuss ! Enjoy on your own  !!

IVO

Tonight’s Cyrano at Sadler’s Wells was the long-sought for Holy Grail of ballet: a new story ballet that was good. Birmingham Royal Ballet managed to take a play about poetry and turn it into a ballet that … well, frequently was poetry. Perhaps I exaggerate a little, but I can’t remember the last time Romeo and Juliet gave me the sniffles (“Cmon and die already!”), and Cyrano made me weepy at least twice. The music wasn’t really amazing or memorable (though it frequently sounded familiar), but it did the job and was enjoyable; the costumes were good and a nice break from fake renaissance and “modernesque” fluffy skirts and corsets.

But really, it was about the dance, wasn’t it? Elisha Willis came back from a sizzling modern turn in E=MC2 to take on the role of Roxanne, and managed to be both adorable, nimble, and graceful – but, most importantly, to be 100% believable as Roxanne all the way though. You could see why three guys were completely in love with her, and when she twirled and leapt her way through the regiment and then did an Irish step-dance turn on top of a drum, you absolutely bought that all the soldiers were now going to go over the top full of patriotic fervor. Passion, joy, fear, anguish – she had me sold every step of the way. And God, she was pretty, and cute as a butterbean in her “sneak into the battle to see my boyfriend” velvet pantsuit. I will have to make a special effort to see her next time BRB are in town.

I, of course, must now turn to Cyrano, as Robert Parker was hardly offstage the whole night. He managed an incredible upper-body expressiveness – vital when this is how you are “speaking” love letters – and also had great leaps and heart-wrenching solos. But even better, he got to fight duels, which were incredibly fun to watch, and do a love duet with someone who was in love with someone else – all while making me feel bad for him (and not just because his nose fell off after the balcony scene and he had to dance around it for about five minutes) – all while wearing a cape, a wig, and yummy custom boots. What a turnaround from Mayerling – I struggled so hard to care about its lead, but Parker had me bought the minute he kissed a market woman while fighting off a man with his blade.

Most of the “heavy lifting” was left to Iain Mackay in the role of Christian, who had to, again and again, do a Macmillan-esque lift in which Roxanne went over and around his shoulders to land en pointe. After the balcony scene, it looked like he almost dropped her, and in his final scene his arms were visibly trembling as he held her overhead. For all that Parker had to act and dance, there’s no doubt that Mackay was really, really working hard during this show – perhaps a little beyond his abilities. Still, he was compelling in the role of a simpleton, and I found that, like Roxanne and Cyrano, he too had charmed me before the end of the ballet. Damn these dancers and their mad acting skillz! I’m so used to just watching the dance, since when am I supposed to get caught up in the story?

Really, this was such a fun show, with lots of compelling action on stage (such as the “baguette adagio” in the bakery, and of course the duelling, and the very exciting battle scene), so much so that I never looked at my watch once – well, only to make sure I was coming back on time from intermission. My companions Amy, Alice and J also thought it was great. Doubtlessly there have been ballets in which the choreography was more exciting – I sit here still befuddled about people’s enthusiasm for Mayerling – but David Bintley has created something in which we, as the audience, care about the story and the characters. This, then, is a ballet worth watching – and as it’s on for two more days, I advise you go buy your tickets ASAP and make sure every night has a full house.

(This review is for a performance that took place on Thursday, November 11th, 2009. Cyrano continues at Sadler’s Wells through Saturday, November 13th. If you’re skint, there is a half price ticket deal available, but I recommend paying full price if you can afford it, as Sadler’s Wells is an institution that deserves to be rewarded for consistently bringing great dance talent to London.)

This is the second of two ballet programmes by the BRB at Sadler’s Wells, the other one being a triple bill called Quantum Leaps.

Cyrano was originally created by David Bintley for the Royal Ballet in 1991, but this new version for the Birmingham Royal Ballet has a completely new score by Carl Davis. The music is atmospheric, well suiting Bintley’s ballet, which is based on the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It’s about a noble seventeenth century fellow named Cyrano with a horribly long nose, who is in love with his cousin Roxane. She in turn is interested in the callow young cadet Christian, and the plot is complicated by the fact that her guardian, the Comte de Guiche intends to marry her himself. Roxane asks Cyrano to deliver a love letter to Christian, and since the young fellow can’t read or write he asks Cyrano to write to Roxane on his behalf. The scene is then set for Roxane to fall helplessly in love with the letter writer whom she believes to be Christian. De Guiche manipulates events so that Christian is killed in battle, and Roxane then enters a convent in despair. She sees her cousin, Cyrano regularly, not knowing he is seriously wounded, nor that he loves her and has written all those beautiful letters. When she finds out, it’s too late and he dies in her arms.

Robert Parker was superb as Cyrano, with strong stage presence, precision in dancing, ability to express emotions, and playing well with the humorous parts. Elisha Willis was an utterly charming Roxane and her pas-de-deux with Cyrano in Act I was beautifully performed. This is a lovely piece of choreography, where she teasingly holds on to the letter she’s written. The supporting dancers all did well, with Iain Mackay as Christian, Chi Cao as Cyrano’s aide Le Bret, Christopher Larsen as Ragueneau the baker, Dominic Antonucci as the horrid De Guiche, and Marion Tait as the Duenna, who looks after Roxane. It’s always a pleasure to see her on stage, with her fine musicality. This is a ballet with plenty of ensemble dance for the men, and they performed it extremely well.

The designs by Hayden Griffin are wonderful, and I loved Roxane’s costumes. The fights, directed by Malcolm Ranson, were entertaining, but suffered from the usual weakness of people dropping dead without any apparent blow being struck. It was all very effectively lit by Mark Jonathan, and very well conducted by Wolfgang Heinz. Altogether this is a ballet to appeal to those who like a good story, and after a slow beginning it picked up later and the use of mime was very cleverly done. In fact it’s rather remarkable to turn into dance a story about a man who is good with words, but I think Bintley has succeeded.

“..The largest forum to discuss the current status of the wine industry .”Kevin Zraly

Jancis Robinson OBE, MW – Gary Vaynerchuk – Esteban Cabezas The Wine Academy of Spain- Justin Howard-Sneyd MW – Waitrose – Christopher Cannan; Europvin – Baudouin Havaux; Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – José Peñín – Juan Such Juan Verema.com – Miguel Torres ; President of Bodegas Miguel Torres – Oz Clarke – Pancho Campo MW Founder of The Wine Academy of Spain and first Spanish Master of Wine – Quim Vila Founder and CEO of Vilaviniteca – Robert Joseph & Robert Parker – Ryan Opaz Catavino (YEEEAAAHHH  !! ) – Xavier Pagés Font – Grupo CodorníuGeneral Manager for Grupo Codorníu – Rafael Ansón President of Honor of the International Academy of Gastronomy and President of the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy.

The Fair and Exhibition Palace of La Rioja, situated at 25 San Millán Street in Logroño, is an emblematic building in Rioja. It has the convenience of the underground car park with 112 spaces, as well as the large public car park above ground. Behind each room, and with the innovation, modernity and capacity at your disposal, you will find a highly skilled team of technical staff.

More infos on: WINEFUTURE

Thanks to :

www.thewineacademy.es

www.winesfromspain.com

www.academiagastronomia.com

Enjoy the talk….I will follow thanks to Catavino …..

IVO

In this triple bill each work was a team effort, and the dancers performed superbly. The sequence of ballets was well-judged and made a great evening of dance.

The first item, Powder was a revival of a 1998 ballet by Stanton Welch, an Australian-born choreographer who is now artistic director of Houston Ballet. It’s a sensuous use of dance to accompany Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, completed shortly before his death. The seven couples were led by Natasha Oughtred and Robert Parker. She was beautifully musical, vulnerable and sexy, well supported by her partner, and by Victoria Marr and Ambra Vallo as the other principal girls. The costumes by Kandis Cook — tight shorts for the men, and long chiffon skirts with various satin bodices for the women — were admirably sensual, and the subtle lighting by Mark Jonathan was very effective. The long sweeping motions in the choreography made this work the gentlest of the three and the right one to start with.

The second ballet, named after Einstein’s equation E = mc², was the main focus of the evening for me. It’s a new work by artistic director David Bintley, in four movements each with strongly rhythmic music specially commissioned from Australian composer Matthew Hindson. The first movement represents energy — the E in the equation — and was vibrantly physical. The energy represented here is the chaotic energy of the Big Bang, and I particularly liked the sextet of men, which showed immense power amid the rhythmic chaos. The second movement represents mass — the m in the equation — and is a complete contrast to the energy movement, reflecting the fact that we perceive mass and energy to be quite different, despite Einstein’s equation showing they are manifestations of the same thing. The sudden transformation of mass to energy informed the third movement, representing the dropping of two atomic bombs in World War II. This was demonstrated by powerful sound effects and a single white-faced dancer, Samara Downs in a kimono and with a large fan. Then came the fourth movement with a square array of lights on a screen at the back of the stage gradually becoming visible. This was the c² of the equation — c being the speed of light. The choreography here was particularly inventive, extremely well performed, and fascinating to watch. There was no physical set, and changes of mood were signified by Peter Mumford’s clever lighting, with sudden shafts of light streaking across stage. Costumes by Kate Ford were different for each part, and I particularly liked those for the second movement with their sombre colours and black shorts for the men. Altogether this four-part ballet was a feast of ideas, and I look forward to seeing it again.

The final item on the programme — The Centre and its Opposite — was a new work by Garry Stewart, artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre. It was extremely physical with unusual movements not normally seen from a ballet company, and was performed to electronic music by another Australian, Huey Benjamin. There were unusual rhythmic elements in the music, as befits a composer who has performed widely as a drummer. The set comprised vertical light strips round the edges and horizontal ones above, designed by Michael Mannion, and the tight grey costumes with black hgihlights were cleverly designed by Georg Meyer-Wiel. The audience reaction to this last item of the evening was strongly positive, though I found the new ballet by David Bintley to be the most interesting item in the programme.

On en était resté aux bouchons synthétiques, ou capsules, qui piétinaient la tradition, signes de l’industrialisation de ce qu’on voudrait pour toujours artisanal : le vin, le pinard, la piquette, ce dont il faut boire cinq verres par jour pour ne pas avoir d’accident cardiovasculaire, ou presque (je confonds peut-être avec les pommes). On s’émouvait de la perte définitive du goût de carton moisi au profit de la triste discrétion du silicone.

Mais on a trois ceps de retard. Ou plutôt, trois satellites. Car ça, c’était un débat du vingtième siècle. Aujourd’hui, le raisin est en orbite.

C’est EADS, par l’intermédiaire de sa filiale Infoterra, spécialisée dans l’« observation de la Terre », qui a propulsé le raisin au-dessus des nuages. Sa technologie, baptisée du ravissant nom d’Oenoview™, développée en France l’an passé, vient tout juste de traverser la Manche. Elle se résume en fait à un satellite, qui emmagasine des images très haute définition (au choix: un ou cinq mètres par pixel) des vignes, sources de données biophysiques, comme la quantité de feuilles au mètre carré, le couvert végétal, etc. Des cartes en sont tirées, puis analysées par les messieurs de l’Institut coopératif du vin, qui conseillent le viticulteur en vue de faire baisser ses coûts de production, puis de récolter le raisin à un stade optimal selon les cépages.

Bref, EADS, c’est encore mieux que Robert Parker. Sans doute aussi présomptueux, peut-être encore plus consensuel, certainement plus cher, mais scien-ti-fique !

Sur le site Web du JDD, un vigneron a l’air content. Et, toujours sur le site Web du JDD, la viticulture par satellite, c’est dans la rubrique “style de vie”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8334688.stm

http://www.eads-nv.com/1024/fr/pressdb/pressdb/Astrium/20090227_astrium_Oenoview.html

Espectacle 2006

Espectacle 2006, es la tercera añada del vino elaborado por René Barbier, Fernando Zamora y Christopher Cannan, este cien por cien garnacha fue elevado a la santidad por Robert Parker en su añada 2004 con un 99. Este añada ha sido puntuado con un 96 y sigue estado en la elite de vinos españoles de The Wine Advocate.

Sólo disponemos de unas pocas botellas de la nueva añada 2006 que la demanda las lanzará a precios de locura.

De intenso color picota muy intenso,  su nariz muestra recuerdos de frutos rojos muy maduros y licorosos. Animal, tostados, especias de mucha complejidad en definitiva. En boca entra goloso y cálido, con los taninos muy bien pulidos, siendo sabroso, largo y con un gran recuerdo y persistencia.

Scary. Looking at my calendar I realize that the next IVSA event is scheduled for November 9th! So, before I get a glut of new wine notes to comment here, I will go back to those I had in the September event. And since I already posted notes on the whites I enjoyed, let’s now visit the tintos I found memorable. You may notice that mostly I am covering Italian wines but given the size of the IVSA event and the number of products (and the number of people you stop by to say hi and chat) there was little room for anything else.

• Let’s start with one of my favorites of that busy evening. Enoteca Bacco brings a truly delicious Negroamaro varietal, the 2006 Verve IGT from Salento. Pure expression of fruit, direct and ample, with dark overtones and really fun to drink. Not surprisingly, a previous incarnation of this wine, the Verve 2004, collected gold medals left, right and center. Battle the incoming November blues with Verve matching grilled blue fish like mackerel, sardines or spicy dishes (click on links for recipes). Just under 30 dollars, this listed product is available at LDB stores.

• Tempus Malbec 2007. Under 18 dollars, I fully enjoyed this uncomplicated, fruity, filling Malbec brought to us by MKR Importers. A no brainer for roasted beef, grilled meats, sausage in a bun with friends, etc. Just make sure you don’t eat your friends. Ha ha.

• When I had the Anghelos IGT 2006 I did understand the reason for the name: Angelic. I recommend this wine with absolutely NO reservations to those who enjoy a balsamic nose followed by a meaty, fleshy chunk of fruity acidity and elegant tannins that do not let go. Cabernet Sauvignon, Montepulciano and Sangiovese are blended in this superb broth hailing from the Marche region. Soft enough to accompany a Pasta Fagioli (pasta and beans in tomato sauce) but will stand up to an Osso Bucco. Wine Quest importers hit it right on the nose with this vino tinto. Under 40 dollars, this is the kind of wine you want to kick off the cool part of the year in full form.

• Fontanabianca means “white fountain”, which is the name of the winery that makes the Sori Burdin 2004 Barbaresco. This broth is potenza (potence) in the full meaning of the term. Nebbiolo grapes in grand style, with a tremendous aromatic profile and an equally tremendous body and tannic structure. Robert Parker, in his flowery-paralegal style calls this wine “authoritative”. I don’t know how a wine can be authoritative but I surely like the adjective here. Close to 90 dollars, granted not a wine for everyday consumption, but make sure you have a bottle around for that special occasion. And give me a shout when you do; I’d love to have this tinto again.

•Di Majo Norante is a producer that always delivers quality at affordable prices, without compromising the quality and more importantly, the sense of terroir. Their Sangiovese and Ramitello are good examples of this, but here I want to mention the Prugnolo del Molise IGT 2004. A delicious, easygoing yet flavorful Sangiovese. Light and playful but balanced and structured enough to be taken seriously. This product, brought by Style Wines retails for less than 22 dollars.

•The last two wines are both represented by Liquid Art Fine Wines. The Tenuta Sette Ponti ‘Crognolo’ IGT 2006 is a Sangiovese Merlot blend from Toscana. At around 40 dollars a bottle, it merited a 92 pt score by Wine Spectator (08/31/08). Full bodied, concentrated, tannic, warm, with cherry and earthy aromas and flavors, this is a delicious, powerful wine.

I closed the night with the Domaine de Cristia Chateauneuf-du-Pape AC, 2006. I knew it would be my last tasting of the night. The lights had already flickered off a couple of times and the Liquid Art reps were already putting their gear away. I could not but ask for a second pouring, being late and feeling like I deserved a break. I savored every drop of the Cristia. Elated and in awe, I only jotted down

depth suavidad elegance long red fruit rocks beautiful alcohol integration A

Enough said.

Hasta la proxima.