Dave McIntyre's WineLine

Shades of Green

Gather a few winegrowers together and ask them about their craft, and you’re likely to hear some thought-provoking answers. Such was the case earlier this month when I moderated a panel discussion on “green” winemaking at the National Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian’s annual “Demystifying Seafood: The Ocean and Its Bounty” event.

Since any good food event requires wine, the museum partnered with the Rhone Rangers, an association of 150 U.S. wineries that grow grapes traditional to the Rhone Valley in France - grenache, syrah, mourvedre and other reds, plus viognier, roussanne, marsanne and grenache blanc among the whites. I moderated a panel discussion and tasting of “green rangers” - Phillip Hart of AmByth Estate in Paso Robles; Pam Harter of Rocca Family Vineyards in Napa; Steve Beckman of Beckman Vineyards, Peter Stolpman of Stolpman Vineyards, and Ken Volk of Kenneth Volk Vineyards in Santa Barbara County.

The discussion focused on sustainable, organic and biodynamic viticulture, three schools of “green” winemaking with sometimes dramatic differences. There were hints of contention: Stolpman and Beckman, who are neighbors in Santa Barbara County’s Ballard Canyon, joked of shared water tables and drifting sprays. But the winegrowers shared an obvious and heart-felt dedication to producing world-class wines in a manner that preserves their small parcel of the Earth.

Here’s some of what they had to say:

“We’re all family owned vineyards, were not corporate,” Stolpman said. “We don’t have to answer to quarterly profits or losses. For me to be a boutique winery operation, there’s no reason not to farm organically. Yes, this year I could have saved money buying Roundup to kill all the weeds, I could go out and poison all the varmints in the vineyard and have an easier time. But the thing about fine wine is there is no cutting corners. I think the use of chemicals is a modern, convenient way to make life easier and more profitable, not to make better wine.”

And about those chemicals, Hart, who farms biodynamically and makes “natural” wines (in his case, foot-trodden, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and bottled without added sulfites), had this to say: “If you are a chemical farmer, then you are putting chemicals on your crops, and then we are ingesting them. In our current society we’re starting to realize that may be having some influence on our bodies. If you’re a good farmer or a biodynamic farmer, then those chemicals aren’t going on your crops and they aren’t going inside you. I think that’s pretty vital.”

“Grapes have an ability to absorb what’s around them,” agreed Beckman, who also farms his vineyards according to biodynamic philosophies. “Smoke taint, for instance, which has been a problem in California and Australia. If you look at the list of vegetables and fruits that you should wash thoroughly, grapes are on that list.”

“And with Australian wines, that eucalyptus flavor we like comes from eucalyptus trees that grow around the vineyard,” Hart said. “That’s not direct absorption. It makes you think.”

Rocca Family Vineyards has about 30 acres under vine in Napa County, and pays a minimum of $50,000 a year to maintain organic certification, Pam Harter said. “We do it because we think it’s the right thing for our families, our vines and our wines - it’s not making us money. But when I go out to the a vineyard that’s farmed organically or biodynamically, it feels alive. It’s a totally different feeling in those vineyards.”

Ken Volk is a major proponent of sustainable farming, which incorporates some of the principles of organics and biodynamics without the strictures involved in certification. There are several sustainability programs for wineries, including one developed by The Wine Institute, the California industry association.

“Sustainability is about how to farm your vineyard in a way that future generations can benefit,” Volk said. “It comes down to the ‘three E’s’ - environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable.”

“Economically feasible” means flexibility to do what’s necessary when trouble hits.
“The reality is there are times when you may be reliant on synthetic chemicals, pesticides, to control things,” he said. “Last year because of the weather we had, there was more acreage coming out of organic certification than any year in the past decade. People were responding to the climate they were faced with.”

(This article was published June 22 in The Washington Post. Also, the subsequent food and wine tasting event included three Virginia wineries that are members of Rhone Rangers: Tarara Vineyards, Veritas Vineyards, and Delaplane Cellars.)

 

The panel, from left to right: Phil Hart (obscured), Steve Beckman, Peter Stolpman, Pam Harter, Ken Volk and well, some other guy. Photos: Kevin Allen, for the Smithsonian.

Regional Wines Showcased in DC

 

Local and regional wines were in the spotlight at the Masters of Food and Wine event early this month. It was the Park Hyatt Washington’s second time participating in this event, which occurs throughout the year at several of the hotel chain’s outposts around the world.

The hotel’s beverage director, German Broggi, who came to the District last summer, has developed an entire page of Virginia wines for the Park Hyatt’s restaurant, Blue Duck Tavern, and he made sure local vintners were well represented in the three-day event.

The opening reception on Blue Duck’s small patio along 24th Street NW on June 2 (luckily, before our heatwave began) was crowded as partygoers met and mingled with Jeff White of Glen Manor Vineyards, Emily Pelton of Veritas, Jason Burrus of Rappahannock Cellars, and Rachel Martin of Boxwood — three of Virginia’s top wineries. Barboursville’s Luca Paschina held court among the crowd in advance of a winemaker’s dinner he hosted later that evening. 

The Masters event was not entirely local, of course. Such famous names as Caymus, Duckhorn and Jordan were represented. One enthusiastic fan gushed to me after stopping at Alma Rosa’s table, “Oh my gosh, that’s Richard Sanford! He’s a pioneer!”(Sanford planted the first pinot noir vines in the Santa Rita Hills area of Santa Barbara County back in the 1970s.)

At the Barboursville dinner, Paschina poured two vintages of his viognier reserve to support his belief that viognier ages well and should not be consumed too young. The 2002 was rich and unctuous and deep golden in color, but I still preferred the crisper, fresher 2009, which showed the flowery aromas and austere structure that makes Barboursville one of my favorite viogniers year after year. Perhaps nine years is a little too long for aging it, but the richness of the 2002 did pair nicely with chef Brian McBride’s lobster dish. (I also attended the wonderful America Farm to Table dinner the next night, with guest chef Brian Huston from The Publican in Chicago. The kitchen staff in Blue Duck Tavern was magnificent both nights.)

The highlight wine of the evening, however, was the Octagon, Barboursville’s signature wine. This merlot-based Bordeaux blend was showing beautifully in the 2001 and 2006 vintages, bolstering Paschina’s argument that Virginia can consistently produce world-class wine.

Other local wines shared the spotlight on Friday. After a brief appearance on News Channel 8’s “Let’s Talk Live” (see above) that morning, I conducted a small tasting of 10 Virginia and Maryland wines for about a dozen people at the Park Hyatt. The idea was to showcase some of the region’s best wines in a setting more congenial than the typical summer wine festival — after all, barrel-fermented anything doesn’t taste very good in 100-degree heat. (The link is to a writeup of the tasting on BrightestYoungThings.com, which definitely marks a first for me.)

My guests enjoyed some unusual wines, such as the Chester Gap 2009 Petit Manseng, as well as more traditional offerings, such as Black Ankle Vineyards’s excellent 2008 Bordeaux blend called Crumbling Rock, or Michael Shaps’s stunning 2007 Cabernet Franc. The tasting ended with a bang — the Boxwood Winery 2007 Topiary, a 50-50 blend of merlot and cabernet franc that may be hard to find retail now but should still be on some restaurant wine lists. If you can find it, don’t pass it up. The Topiary is drinking beautifully.

Locavore/locapour does not mean focusing exclusively on local wines. It means giving props to the quality wines our local vignerons are producing. And Park Hyatt Washington did exactly that in its annual showcase of our local bounty.

Maryland Enters the Modern (Direct Shipping) Era

 

Finally! After years of waiting, Maryland wine lovers will soon be able to send wine home from their California vacation, thanks to a new law approved by the state legislature in the session just ended.

In a time when the economy is still struggling, Congress can barely manage to keep the federal government going, and Japan tries to cope with the devastation caused by last month's earthquake and tsunami, it seems somewhat parochial and selfish to crow about direct shipping. But it has been a frustrating effort as we Marylanders waited to join the residents of 37 other states and the District of Columbia who already can have wine shipped directly to their homes. For years, we've been denied this by the greedy wholesalers' lobby, which predicted doom and gloom if direct shipping were to become law, and which only begrudgingly agreed to this year's legislation.

It's not a total victory - we can't order wine from out-of-state retailers, for example. And the legislature wouldn't approve corkage bills that would have allowed diners to bring their own wine to Maryland restaurants. But we'll take it.

Kudos to Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws and the Maryland Wineries Association for their efforts over the years to make this law a reality. And cheers to the lawmakers who took a positive step forward. (Even if you did raise the alcohol tax ... )

More details on the new direct shipping legislation are in my Washington Post column for April 6.

 

Cut to the Front of the Line for Kosta Browne ...

If you're dying to get your hands on some cult California pinot noir, here's your chance to cut to the front of the line for Kosta Browne's mail list, and help a good cause to boot!

And if you ever wonder if those medals draped around bottles on display at a local winery actually mean anything, well ... read this. But of course, don't forget my recommendations of wines worth paying attention to this week ...

The Annual Thanksgiving Conundrum

Thanksgiving is coming, which means wine writers across the country are telling you to worry about what wines will clash with the cranberry sauce. To which I always say, "open one of everything" and turn the feast into a food-wine pairing clinic. But if you can't or won't do that, I offer some guidelines in today's Washington Post Food section. Also, I suggest some wines to pair with the Food section's Thanksgiving menus, including an all-American selection ranging from Argentina to Canada (and points in between).

 

Why Aren't More Local Wines on Local Wine Lists?

This is a question that can probably be asked wherever fine wines are made. In fact, it WAS raised last year in the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported complaints by North Coast vintners about restaurants that touted their local meats and produce but filled their lists with imported wines. Todd Kliman took the debate national this summer with his essay, "The Locavore Wine Hypocrisy," on thedailybeast.com. In today's Washington Post Food section, I look deeper into the question, and find some intriguing arguments on both sides to explain the problem. I also discover some area restaurants that are making the commitment to feature the local vino.

Oz Clarke Gives Two Thumbs Way Up for Virginia Wine!

Here's a great way to start Regional Wine Week: I received my copy of Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2011 yesterday - it's a fun, handy reference volume with short entries on wine grapes, regions and producers around the world, with vintage charts, liberally peppered with bons mots from the effervescently witty Oz. I always enjoy reading his introduction, which this year warns against complacency by wine drinkers in the face of anti-alcohol activists who don't distinguish among drinks.

Then he describes what wines excite him lately. There are some unpronounceable Turkish varieties, and he's hot for Slovenian Furmint and even Cabernet Sauvignon from Jordan. (The country, not the Sonoma County winery.) He's rediscovered Chardonnay from California, New Zealand and Australia, and while he doesn't seem to share my love for Argentina, he gives a begrudging nod to Torrontes.

And then there's this:

"My most thrilling discovery in the USA this year has been the wine from vineyards spread around Washington, DC, in particular those of Virginia, whose sumptuous, scented Viogniers are world-class. A perfect partner for the leaner, racier delights of New York State."

Some disclosure is in order here. I contribute entries on the Eastern United States to this book, and I hosted (and wrote about) Clarke when he visited the Washington area earlier this year and shared his opinions on some local wines. When I met him, though, it was clear he was already quite familiar with many wines from the Mid-Atlantic region and particularly jazzed about Virginia Viognier.

Don't forget to check out DrinkLocalWine.com this week for more postings on regional wines!

Celebrating Kathy Morgan, Master Sommelier

To celebrate Kathy Morgan's achievement in attaining the Master Sommelier diploma, I asked some of her colleagues to suggest suitable wines for a toast in her honor. They are not necessarily what you would expect - yes, there is a special Champagne in the lot, but also an historic California cabernet, an exuberant Loire red, and a "quaffable" aged Left Bank Bordeaux. And in my column this week, I discuss Kathy's achievement and what it means for the Washington, D.C.-area restaurant community.

And of course, the Post has a nice photo of Kathy in the Citronelle wine vault, resplendent in her red M.S. pin.

Weather Plays Games with the 2010 Harvest

This year's strange weather is playing some real mind games on vintners as they begin the 2010 harvest. Here in the Eastern U.S., harvest is earlier than ever after an exceptionally hot and dry weather helped ripen grapes - or at least spike sugar levels - faster than anyone could have imagined. Out West, a cooler-than-usual summer has delayed harvest, raising fears that the autumn rains will begin before the grapes are off the vine.

Here is my early harvest update in Wednesday's Washington Post along with my monthly list of Recession Buster recommendations. This month features some boxed wines, perfect for your end-of-summer cookouts.

Now, we have Hurricane Earl, a Category 4 storm, bearing down on the East Coast. If forecasts hold, it should not have a great effect on Virginia or Maryland, but it could deliver a lot of wind and rain to Long Island at an inopportune time. Stay tuned ....

Randall Grahm Tinkers With the Vin Gris ...

Randall Grahm is a restless soul, who seems incapable of settling down and just being contented with what he's accomplished. Which is probably good news for fans of his Bonny Doon wines, for he is always looking for something new, some way to improve. But of course, if we love his wines, there's always the danger he'll get bored and change a favorite out from under us.

That happened with his 2009 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare, his popular rose that year after year has been one of my favorite pink wines from California. The 2009 is much paler than usual, and Randall explained why when I met him at a recent Rhone Rangers tasting in Washington DC. It's also his first Demeter-certified Biodynamic pink wine.

Oh, but don't despair - the new Vin Gris de Cigare is terriffic. Different from what you might expect if you've been a fan of previous vintages, but terrific. Taste for yourself!

And for good measure, here's a link to my interview with Randall Grahm under a streetlight on a dark sidestreet near Dupont Circle last September, when he furtively came to town hawking his new book, Been Doon So Long. Of course, the book since won a James Beard Award, so he doesn't need to be furtive about it anymore.