Dr Vino's wine blog

The August 30 issue of the New Yorker contains a much-discussed profile of the Koch brothers, the billionaires bankrolling the Tea Party and libertarian organizations. But who wants a Tea Party when a Wine Party would be much more fun?

The words “billionaire” and “Koch” are familiar to ardent wine enthusiasts; the book The Billionaire’s Vinegar depicts William Koch, industrialist and disgruntled wine collector, as a lawsuit-wielding sheriff bent on ridding the fine wine world of counterfeits. However, the brothers in the New Yorker story are actually Charles and David who still control Koch Industries; after acrimony came to a head in the family company, they bought out William (and his brother Freddie) in 1983. Litigation simmered among the brothers for the following seventeen years.

Taking a page from his brothers’ playbook, what if Bill were to fund a Wine Party, bent on liberalizing the country’s wine shipping laws? He has already burnished (or tarnished, depending on your perspective) his reputation with high-end collectors. But restrictive interstate shipping laws plague wine enthusiasts in many states. Although there has been a greater liberalization of shipping laws from wineries to consumers in the past five years, laws governing wine retailers-to-consumers remain much more restrictive with only about a dozen allowing the practice. This stifles innovation in wine retail and reduces selections to broad swathes of consumers, while keeping prices high in many markets. Judicial challenges remain the key weapon in this fight and Bill Koch has much experience in litigation.

Further, wholesalers of beer, wine and spirits have initiated a legislative campaign to freeze wine shipping laws as they are. While this effort seems be going nowhere, they will doubtlessly return in the next legislative session and probably be better prepared. Thus having financial largesse on the pro-shipping side would make this a more formidable fight in the legislative arena, where, all too often, money counts for more than votes. But citizen unrest can be fomented with some Champagne bottles sabered as effigies of unblocking the system. Above all, the wine party would not just have to be against interstate shipping laws but could be for many things, such as discussion, eating (come on, who is anti-eating), and, of course, truth!

Bill Koch has already written himself into the story of fine and rare wine in America. By diverting a portion of his wine funds to this more populist approach, he could earn the adoration of Joe Wine Sixpack.

Site reader Supertunaman sent in this label shot (about the quality of most UFO sighting photos) with the comment, “LOLOL!”

What’s so funny? If Miller is the Champagne of Beers, perhaps this is the Champagne of White Zinfandels?

Actually, since a 2005 bilateral accord between the US and the EU, the term Champagne cannot be used on new labels of American sparkling wine. So this Barefoot wine (now owned by E. & J. Gallo) must have been approved sometime prior to that as existing labels at that time were grandfathered. Also of note: the last time I checked, there were zero hectares of Zinfandel vines in Champagne.

Paul Draper appeared on the program “Dinner with Julia” with Julia Child in 1983. As you might expect, he brought along some wines from his Ridge Vineyards. The trip back in time is complete when he offers Julia a Ridge, Amador, 1980 Zinfandel, which he describes as “a Beaujolais-style Zinfandel.” Watch the brief clip to catch a glimpse of Ridge White Zinfandel (who knew!) and to see what Paul pairs with artichoke and lobster!

Hi, soon visiting New York for a wedding, my wife and I intend to do some NY touristing. Drinking good Italian wine I can do in Italy or in my home country (Sweden), but where to find a good selection of reasonably priced US wines in NY? -Johan

Interesting question! I assume Johan would be interested in a bar to drop into before or after his wedding festivities on an evening. New York City wine bars are dominated by lists that focus mostly or entirely on Italian wines; an emphasis on French wines is probably second. But since the demise of Vintage New York, which focused exclusively on wines of New York, nowhere really leaps out to me as having a preponderance of American wines. This may have to do with the fact that it is hard to find tasty American wines that retail for under $12 a bottle, thus putting them at a disadvantage in a restaurant situation with higher markups.

However, it is possible to put together a flight of American wines at a few places. Terroir Tribeca has five American wines available by the glass, with the small sizes all under $8, including a trio of New York State Rieslings. There are certainly better options at some restaurants that aren’t wine bars per se but have some bar areas; Gramercy Tavern is one possibility. But perhaps the best bar-bar for this type of request is Morell, which not only has several wine domestic reds and whites available by the glass, but affords possible celebrity viewing at Rockefeller Plaza.

What’s your theory as to why finding abundant American wines by the glass at NYC wine bars is such a challenge? And what are your suggestions for Johan?

Ten years ago, vineyard owner David Hirsch of Sonoma brought some of his wines to New York. Wine & Spirits magazine assembled a group of leading sommeliers, tasted the wines and Rod Smith wrote a story about it. A couple of weeks ago, the magazine assembled another group with David Hirsch to taste some of his 2007s–as well as some of the same 1997s tasted a decade ago.

Hirsch bought his land on the Sonoma Coast, just three miles from the Pacific, in 1978 and planted a portion to pinot noir in 1980. About 1,100 acres in all (though less than 100 planted), it comprise a “geological jumble” of sites with the San Andreas fault running through the middle. For decades, the fruit was sold to leading wineries; in 2002, Hirsch built a winery in the middle of the vineyards to make wines under his own label as well.

So it was that the 1997 Chardonnay that we tasted was made by Williams-Selyem but the 2007 was from Hirsch Vineyards. I found the 1997 to be still surprisingly big and creamy, with stiff peaks of 16% alcohol. The 2007 Hirsch, although nobody’s going to confuse it with Chablis, was definitely leaner, with higher acidity and lower alcohol: voluptuousness was replaced by more restraint. Consider it a datapoint in the discussion about alcohol levels. Read more…

Box wine just lost its box.

The AstroPouch, previously used for foreign wines mostly in overseas markets, contains an American wine for the first time starting today. The distinction goes to Glenora Wine Cellars which put its Trestle Creek Riesling in 1.5L bag, two bottles’ worth of wine, and sells it for $17.99 from its tasting room. Like a box wine, the bag has a spout; you can learn all the technical details on winesandvines.com (where the image came from too).

According to our calculations, this takes us wine step closer to making the wine belly a reality.

Once again, for the second time in a week after the single-serve wine cups, we must ask you: abomination or genius?

Tony Soter shed some unnecessary weight from one year to the next–in his bottles.

The Oregon vintner shipped his 2007 Pinot Noirs in bottles weighing 900g, more than the 750g of wine in the bottle. But for his 2008s, which are being released soon, the bottles will weigh 600g (both bottles, pictured right). Needless to say, the reduced packaging mass greatly reduces the carbon footprint of the wine.

“The time has passed that you can try to impress people with the substance of the bottle as opposed to what is in the bottle,” he said.

He also thought it odd to import tons of empty glass bottles from France, so started sourcing his bottles locally. One new facility near Portland is getting underway making recycled glass from hydro-electric power. Currently, he is sourcing the glass from Seattle. Other vintners in the area are also taking steps to make their bottles more lightweight, he said.

Here at the Dr. Vino World Headquarters, we raise an ultralight crystal stem of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir in their honor!

Could California’s wine excise tax increase 12,600 percent?

If Josie and Kent M. Whitney have their way, it will. According to the Sonoma Valley Sun (via wineopinions), the Secretary of State has cleared their ballot initiative that would raise the excise tax on a regular bottle of wine from four cents to…$5.11. They estimate this would raise $7 – $9 billion for the state’s coffers. (See more on the proposal at ballotopedia.org)

The only thing standing in the way of this rise is the fact that the Whitneys need the signatures of 433,971 voters — and then half the votes on the referendum in the fall.

While excise taxes might be the type of strong brew that only a few politicians can raise, it’s extremely unlikely that voters would really want to raise these taxes in such a drastic manner both out of their own self-interest and protecting the local industry. (If the mild reversal in California’s budgetary woes reported on Bloomberg today continues, any popularity for the initiative could be dampened.) But where there is no local wine industry, excise taxes do have a habit of creeping up every year…