"Throw everything out the door and start again"

Legendary winemaker Jess Jackson likes to keep an eye on his legion of winery operations spread throughout California. via San Marcos Daily Record

The Story Wines are a boutique producer based in Melbourne and a predominantly Shiraz vineyard in the Grampians region. From what I can gather the 2005 “Orphan” Shiraz is their second commercial release under the label.

Slightly off blood red in colour, this shiraz smells like damp English hedgerow berries, dark chocolate and a hint of raspberry jam. Medium bodied yet full in flavour with fleshy blackberry, blueberry and plum up front, some pepper and spices, a soft and supple texture and integrated chalky tannins on a savoury finish.

In essence this Shiraz is a reminder that I need to drink more wine from our Mexican friends south of the border. It is seriously moreish and very reasonably priced at online retailers Squashedgrape and Boccaccio.

Score: 91/100
Price: $20
Closure: Screwcap
Alcohol: 14.5%
Other Opinions: The Story Wines, Winorama
Would I buy this wine?
Yes, very good value for money

At the end of March, we threw a little shindig for Ryan on his birthday consisting of wine, mounds of grilled butifarra and dozen friends. And with the appropriate social graces, many of our friends came bearing gifts, all looking distinctly similar to a bottle of wine. Clearly, they had been well versed in the ways of gift giving for an uber-wine geek!

The Rimarts Brut Reserva from Sant Sadurni d’Anoia is one of Ryan’s birthday bottles which has been sitting patiently in the refrigerator just waiting for the right moment to be uncorked. And today just happens to be the lucky day as new friends for the States have been invited for a traditional Catavino Cookout on our terrace complete with grilled chicken, butifarra, grilled peppers, artichokes, and of course, regional cured hams and cheeses.

The strangely appropriate timing of this grand uncorking comes just one day before DO Cava releases their brand new image, coupled with the new slogan, “From the Land to the Heart”. Can you hear the violin’s playing the background and feel the gentle wind ruffling your hair, as you overlook their vast, rolling vineyards? As told on the Wines of Spain website, the idea behind this heart warming slogan according to DO Cava?s Regulating Council, Gustavo García Guillamet, is to encompass the entire winemaking process, from the very earth where, ?Cava is born as a gift for the senses, wooing one?s emotions and going straight to the heart?. Question: Do you suddenly feel compelled to savor a glass of cava based on this eloquent and moving slogan? Are your keys in hand prepared to buy up a few cases of brut, brut nature and semi seco cava?

But wait, there’s more. The slogan is being launched in conjunction with their sleek and minimalist new image. According to Gustavo, ?It?s a simple silhouette of four bottles where one of the bottles represents young cava aged from 9 to 15 months, the second bottle represents cava Reserva aged more than 15 months, the third bottle represents cava Gran Reserva aged more than 30 months, and lastly the forth bottle represents a cava that boasts the same qualities as the rest but differs because it?s a rosé?. The image is further expounded upon in how each letter describes a characteristic of its particular style. Therefore, “C” stands for ‘Characteristic’ and ‘Convincing’, describing how a young wine is intended to fully express the varieties in their raw form. The first “A”, for its ‘Ample’ character’ and ‘aromatic’ expression of ripe fruit of a slightly old, mature wine. So on and so forth.

Clearly this marketing campaign took a considerable amount of money and time to put together, but is it effective? Personally, I believe this is a complete waste of time and resources, simply because the international availability of cava other than Freixenet, Gramona or Codorniu is still limited, as is the amount of quality and comprehensive information on the web. Take the DO Cava website for example. Is this helpful to you? Would you not prefer that money be spent on effective education and international marketing strategies? Granted, maybe we’re biased, but somehow, I doubt that you’ll be looking at your next bottle of cava, while standing in the middle of your wine shop, saying, “So, this ‘c’ stands for a young cava that I should drink now.”

So we’re a bit skeptical of their campaign, but that doesn’t mean that we will ever stop drinking cava, and this particular one is no exception. Albeit a wee flat on the finish, we loved the creamy caramel notes on the wine, accompanied by a lush round mouthfeel, and we definitely would try another bottle to see whether the acidity is merely a flaw in this particular bottle or emblematic of the wine.

That said, we’d like to know what you wish DO Cava would spend their money on? What resources are you craving to help expand not only your Cava education, but also the accessibility?

Cheers,
Gabriella

Gabriella’s Tasting Note

Ryan’s Tasting Note
Light golden color with medium large bubbles. The nose on this is bready with with a nice lemon cream undercurrent, and light caramel nut notes on top. Really a pretty wine. In the mouth the acidity and vigor is low, ending with a flat finish. Though I really like the flavors of marzipan, nuts, lemon, and creamy yeast. Incredibly flavorful and a real treat on the palate. Ony with it had a bit more spritz and acidity. 3/5

Share This

Bloggerview #19
Who: Peter Liem
Blog: Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel
Where: http://www.peterliem.com

Peter Liem is the second Wine & Spirits Magazine writer to take up blogging, beating his colleague Wolfgang Weber to the punch by a couple months. Peter's personal blog, Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel, has a certain derogatory ring to it, but please don't let this fool you. Peter is W&S's Senior Correspondent based in Champagne, giving him a unique and insider perspective particularly on the European wine scene. I learned about Peter's Blog from Brooklyn Wine Guy who highly recommended it and I was not disappointed. Peter's Besotted Ramblings are likely the best source of information on the Champagne wine region and Champagne the product on the net. It's an education in the waiting. Peter was kind enough to agree to be Bloggerviewed.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I started my blog in November of 2007, mostly because I was living halfway around the world from the majority of my friends, and it was an easy way to stay connected. It?s since grown into something beyond what I anticipated, and I find that I enjoy writing it.

2 In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I?m fortunate in that I?m based in one of the most dynamic and intriguing wine regions in the world, constantly surrounded by wine, vineyards and winemakers, and my blog allows me to develop ideas about issues and random bits of information that I encounter from day to day. My goal is to keep it mostly about champagne, but as I travel fairly regularly, I also end up writing about other things that I happen to be drinking or eating at the time.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
You mean other than its babbling incoherence and child-like grasp of HTML? Seriously, I suppose that one unique element of my blog is that among people blogging in English about champagne, I?m one of the very few who actually live in the region, and among those I?m the only journalist, as far as I know (the rest are winemakers or connected with wineries). Both of these things shape my perspective in particular ways.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
It?s been shocking, really. Each week surpasses the previous one. I don?t look at my stats a lot, mostly because I use Blogger, which doesn?t have an internal stat counter. But whenever I do, I think, ?Damn, where did all these people come from? And don?t they have anything else better to do??

5. Do you accept sample for review?
Well, most of my tasting is done at wineries, so I suppose that tasting wine "sur place" constitutes accepting samples in some way. I don?t feel any sort of conflict of interest, since I?m not actually reviewing wine, nor do I feel compelled to write about something just because someone opened a fantastically expensive or rare bottle for me. The whole point of having a personal blog is so that I can write about whatever I want to write about.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don?t. At my day job I?m required to use the 100-point scale, which I like to think that I can wield competently as a professional. Personally, however, I don?t believe in numeric scoring, although I recognize the need for a system to communicate a concept of quality, if you?re going to be in the business of reviewing wine. Fortunately, my blog isn?t about reviewing wine, and it certainly isn?t about rating wine. It?s more about establishing a context in which to place the wines that I write about, creating a backdrop so that the reader is better empowered to assess these wines for himself or herself.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
It?s a sort of mental exercise, usually in the morning. I don?t like spending much more than fifteen minutes on a post ? I?ll pick a sufficiently narrow topic and try to make myself write whatever I have to say within the allotted time. As I often spend much of my day writing other things, it?s a nice change of pace to write a short, focused post on something that I?m interested in.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I?ve done absolutely nothing to market my blog. In fact, I think the only thing I?ve ever done that could remotely be considered marketing is registering on Technorati. I must be the worst self-promoter in the entire world.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
As others have said, a blog connects you with your readers in a much more immediate way than print journalism. For one thing, you can write much more frequently, and your writing is delivered instantaneously to your audience, which offers huge advantages. When I write for print, sometimes it won?t be read until several months later, which has an impact on both how you write and what you can write about. Also, one of the most valuable things about blogging is a direct interaction with your audience, via comments, e-mails and the like, and it?s very rewarding to exchange ideas in this manner.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
I browse whenever I can, generally around the blogs that I?ve linked to on my site. I like Brooklynguy?s well-written and down-to-earth Wine & Food Blog. Dr. Vino is always a fantastic source of information, and generally a hoot to read. Wolfgang Weber?s Spume is intelligent and entertaining, not always about wine but that?s a good thing. I also like Ray Isle?s blog at Food & Wine ? he?s the best writer I?ve ever worked with, as well as an all-around great guy.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
I can?t say that I see a big impact on the industry. On wine culture, I suppose that it gets more people engaged in a dialogue about wine, whether they?re reading or writing. I think that blogs still occupy a fringe element rather than the mainstream, but their presence and influence is only going to grow.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
I would say Paris, except that I live close by and am there quite regularly, so it doesn?t feel like much of a vacation to me! I do love the city, though. For a proper vacation, I try to remove myself completely from Europe and North America, with Asia being a preferred continent to wander in.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Cats, unquestionably. They are by far the more civilized of the two. I?ve been in too many places in the world where I?ve had to carry a pocketful of rocks to fend off canine marauders. In Vietnam, however, I exacted my revenge upon the canine race when I ate dog prepared three different ways, including a boiled paw floating in soup, nails and all. It was a very Lance Henriksen in "Dead Man"sort of moment.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
The New Yorker. In fact, it?s become something of a ritual for me ? when I fly I almost always have both the New Yorker and Wired in my bag. One of the things I love most about flying is that it frees me of all duties and obligations, and I have absolutely nothing to do but sit there and read a magazine.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
A Prius would be a blessing, with gas prices the way they are here in Europe. Although as my current vehicle is a Peugeot 206, I would be thrilled to drive either a Prius or a BMW. The French make many wonderful things, but automobiles are not exactly their strong suit.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis, without a doubt. I?m an old-world, old-school, cool-climate, rocks-and-minerals sort of guy. I guess I sort of have to be ? I live two hours <I>north</I> of Chablis.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
I would have Kouei Furukawa, the kaiseki-trained chef of Shokkan in Tokyo?s Shibuya district, make me a multi-course extravaganza from whatever he found at the market that morning. I?d bring a ton of champagne, of course, as well as an ample supply of sake, and try out all sorts of combinations with Furukawa-san?s exquisitely elegant and refined cuisine.

18. What is Heaven Like?
Of course the champagne flows freely, and by some miracle it's all organically grown. The views are spectacular, rather like sitting out on the patio at the Ventana Inn in Big Sur. The chefs are Japanese, and the sommeliers probably are, too. And on the television, Arsenal is perpetually thrashing Manchester United, over and over again for the rest of eternity.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
There are many famous people living and deceased whom I might choose, but I?d have to say that my group of friends in Portland, Oregon, who all have fabulous cellars and are all complete wine dorks, will always be my favorite dining companions. Unfortunately we hardly ever get to see each other these days. There are more than four of them, but so be it.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Don?t use Blogger! Just kidding. I think it?s important to remember that while writing on the web allows you to be more casual and relaxed than writing in print, the rules of good writing still apply. Write with a purpose and keep your audience in mind. It doesn?t have to be Pulitzer Prize-worthy, but it ought to have a point ? writing ?I drank this last night and it was yummy? is not very useful to anybody, plus it?s boring.

Despite the kazillion posts of tastings these days, it's not something I get to do nearly as often as I like. Sure, I do a lot of in-store tastings where I pour a couple of my wines to innocent by-standers, but a full-on tasting with some sort of reason to it is somewhat rare. It's for that reason that I get so! stoked! when one comes along.

Betty's, one of my favorite restaurants in Buffalo, is looking to expand their wine program. I spoke with Carroll, the owner, a few weeks ago about a staff training to go through their entire list and explain the differences between grapes and styles and what foods to pair them with. This was a pretty monumental task; everything they have is by-the-glass, and they have about 20 or so wines to get through. This may not sound like a lot, but since the staff was bent on not spitting, you can see the potential for mayhem. Anyway, I was over there last night and the chef prepared nibbles to go with the tasting. Predictably, the room got exponentially louder as we made our way through, but hopefully it was a good exercise to taste them all side-by-side, if for no other reason than to taste how awesome Sauvignon Blanc and goat cheese are together.

Oh, and I got a free t-shirt. I'm easily bought.

Published on May 1st and just delivered to my doorstep via Amazon.com, The Wine Trials by Robin Goldstein enlivened (inflamed?) the wine blogosphere before anybody cracked the cover.

The striker to the matchbook?  Eric Asimov, a seasoned journalist for the New York Times, wrote a post based on reading a Newsweek article about the book.

You would not expect a journalist to comment on another piece of print media, especially without having read the book, but I guess this is the blogosphere and we are all guilty of seeking inspiration outside of traditional journalistic boundaries, but what ensued in the comments section of the post when nobody had read the book was truly sociologically interesting.

After a 65 comment explosion, Asimov wrote a follow-up after receiving a pre-release galley copy of the book and that post incited 31 comments.

Sequentially, the original post can be found here and the follow-up here.

Interestingly, the book is only, initially, available on Amazon.com.  And, yes, you guessed it.  Amazon is currently backordered on the book.

Somebody is interested …

Piqued by all of this, I did what anybody would do with all of that content on Asimov’s blog—I cut and paste into a Word document with .5 margins and 10 pt Trebuchet font.

36 pages and 17,000 words later I am more confused than before I started.  And, with no small amount of irony, the 17,000 words has to exceed the actual content in the book, which is 2/3’s wine listings. 

Here is the net-net version with this book:  the author did a blind tasting of many wines with large number of tasters (some 500 +) and the result was that numerous inexpensive wines (under $15) bested wines that are more expensive ($50 +) based on the panel of judges.

Pragmatically speaking, you do not have a book if people preferred more expensive wines to the less expensive wines so there is some room for question because the study, presumably, was set-up with an end conclusion in mind and not a hypothesis, but just the same it’s a fascinating book that makes for good arm chair reading over the course of a couple of hours.  With 58 introductory pages and the balance of the book being wine listings of the 100 wines under $15 that bested the $50 - $150 wines, it’s a light read.

The majority of the blog comments about Asimov’ posts on the book were centered on the division of small expensive wines and large grocery store wines.  This is an old ideological argument and more analogies were employed to explain the difference in art versus culture.  Variants cropped up about wine appreciation versus simpleton quaffers, etc.

Ugh, wake me when this tired old song is over with.  We get it.  Get over it.  Yes, there is a cultural difference between NASCAR fans and those that attend the symphony.  By God, both of these groups of people enjoy wine, too.

Nested within all of this debate is the essential truth by Asimov.

He states:

I am not saying wine is the equivalent of art. I do say that wine can be appreciated on many different levels, but that nobody should ever feel obliged to appreciate wine on any level. In the end, the book seems to divide wine consumers into the casual buyers who are pushed this way and that by forces they don’t understand, and the wealthy conspicuous status seekers who also are not quite aware of capitalism and marketing. Unacknowledged are the serious wine lovers who are knowledgeable, experimental and passionate, and who, yes, are in control of their own destinies. The book may speak to the first two groups, but not to the third.

As a member of the third group, the “serious wine lover” I can say unequivocally that I occasionally drink inexpensive wine and, natch, this book is an interesting take and a welcome addition to the pantheon of wine studies and a nice guidebook to the maze of choices at your grocery store for a through the week glass.

For additional reading at the source research study that led to the book, see this white paper.

Out of thousands of wines entered from 30 states and 10 foreign nations at the second annual National Women’s Wine Competition,...

A wonderful surprise. Light golden colour. Lovely nose of honey, toast and citrus. Silky palate with depth and richness. Long, every element in balance. At its peak now, this is a world-class wine.
Cork. 11.5% - 92/100

Although I missed the boat on this one completely, the results are in for the latest Wine Blogging Wednesday over at CorkDork. This month’s objective was to try new red wines from New Zealand. 31 bloggers participated this time! Check it out!