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.

Exploring Loire Reds In Their Terroir - Literally

Wine lovers are always searching for the taste of terroir in their wines, but they rarely taste wines in their terroir.

I experienced the latter — literally — in one of the strangest wine tastings I have ever enjoyed. It happened on a cold, damp day late in March last year, near Bourgueil, a small wine town in France’s Loire Valley. I was touring with Ed Addiss and Barbara Selig, the husband-and-wife team that is Wine Traditions, a specialty importer based in Falls Church, and Ben Peach, a friend of theirs who’d abandoned wine retailing in the District for life in France. Addiss had made an appointment with Sandrine Deschamps, half of a husband-and-wife winemaking team, who met us at her winery. But instead of showing us her barrel room and bottling line, Deschamps hopped into her SUV and led us through the winding streets of town and up the hillside to the Grand Mont vineyard, the highest and farthest from the river in the Bourgueil appellation.

On foot, we followed her into a tunnel under the vineyard, into an old quarry that had provided much of the stone that built the town of Bourgueil. During World War II, the labyrinth sheltered Resistance fighters; Deschamps pointed out their anti-Nazi graffiti along one wall.

About 10 years ago, she explained, a group of vignerons had bought the quarry with the idea of using it to store wine and developing it into a tourist attraction. Some vineyard equipment had been placed in a few alcoves; here and there, vine roots from the vineyard above snaked through the ceiling in their quest for moisture. But mostly the cave showed evidence of its previous incarnation as a mushroom farm. There was fungus everywhere: dripping from the ceiling like stalactites, oozing from the walls and encrusting the stone table on which Deschamps had arranged our tasting, for which there were several glasses and a few bottles of wine.

“C’est champignons!” Deschamps said of her table covering. Nobody was tempted to pry some off for shaving onto our evening salads, however.

The Loire Valley is known primarily for its white wines: crisp sauvignon blanc or muscadet and luscious chenin blanc. Cabernet franc dominates the region’s reds, though gamay, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and malbec make cameo appearances. For years, the reds had a reputation of being underripe and astringent. Warmer vintages over the past decade have made the wines riper but not ponderous, and some importers have crisscrossed the region searching for the most talented producers. At their best, Loire reds are fresh and invigorating, tasting of black cherry spiced with white pepper. They often have a smoky, savory, leathery quality I call “Grandpop’s library.” Chinon is the best-known area, followed by Saumur, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil.

Unfortunately, Loire reds are underappreciated in our market and therefore underrepresented here. But try to find them. Their medium weight makes them ideal reds for summer, and their robust flavors can stand up to hearty meats in any season.

They also appeal to wine explorers: those oenophiles who love delving into the intricacies of why wine tastes like it does. Bourgueil, for instance, is a small appellation, yet it contains three distinct terroirs, as Deschamps explained that day in her mushroomy alcove. (Visits with French winemakers often turn into geology lessons.) Those terroirs are marked by gravelly soil (gravier) near the Loire, clay mixed with flint (argilo-silex) on the slopes around the town, and chalky soil (tuffeau) on the plateau above the town, where we were standing. The wines progress accordingly from the gravier’s soft, supple and young-drinking wines to the tuffeau’s tannic, minerally wines with enough structure to last a decade.

Deschamps’s own wine, the La Fontaine aux Fougeres Myosotis 2008, was made from cabernet franc grown organically in the mid-level, argilo-silex, vineyards. It showed clean, spicy fruit flavors and minerality from the flint in the vineyard soil. A few months later, this wine became part of the Wine Traditions portfolio, along with one from another producer, Bruno Dufeu, grown on the Grand Mont vineyard above our heads. True to its terroir, Dufeu’s wine is powerful, structured and age-worthy.

As Deschamps led us from the maze of tunnels back into the sunlight, I realized that in a short time I had gained a substantial understanding of a small but enchanting French wine district, one well worth exploring.

In Bourgueil, all roads lead to wine.

 

Wine Recommendations

Red wines from the Loire Valley show some diversity of grapes, but cabernet franc is the star. Unless otherwise noted, these are exclusively cabernet franc. They are also noteworthy for their lack of new oak. Loire vignerons apparently do not feel compelled to kill forests to make wine. Bravo! Unfortunately, these wines are not widely available in the Washington area; distributors told me that for some reason, they sell better in other markets.

Domaine Bruno Dufeu Cuvee Grand Mont 2008

*** GREAT VALUE

Bourgueil, France, $15

From the tuffeau (chalky soil) on the plateau above the town of Bourgueil, this wine is stunning for the price. It is deep and richly structured, with black cherry, peppery spice and earthy animal/leather notes. It finishes with soft, supple and savory tannins. It should age well for five to 10 years. Worth stockpiling.

Wine Traditions: Available in the District at Cork Market; on the list at Cork Wine Bar and Petits Plats. Available in Virginia at Chain Bridge Cellars (formerly Cecile’s Wine Cellar) in McLean, J. Emerson Fine Wines & Cheese in Richmond.

Domaine des Baumard Logis de la Giraudiere 2006

**¹ / ₂

Anjou, France, $20

This wine played tricks on me. It was nondescript at first — almost reticent — as if it were evaluating me instead of the other way around. But when it realized I wasn’t going to force it to fit a preconceived idea of what a red wine should be, it drew me close with enticing floral notes and a pure, mineral core. It is a blend of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon.

M Touton Selection: Available in the District at Rodman’s, Sherry’s Fine Wine & Spirits, Watergate Wine & Beverage. Available in Maryland at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis, Wine Harvest and World Gourmet Wine & Beer in Potomac; on the list at La Ferme in Chevy Chase.

Manoir de la Tete Rouge Bagatelle 2009

**¹ / ₂  GREAT VALUE

Saumur, France, $15

Cabernet franc grown organically on chalky tuffeau soils, this wine exhibits all of the Loire hallmarks: dark fruit, savory tannins and a spicy, earthy tobacco note that lingers like a fond memory.

Potomac Selections: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits. Available in Maryland at Calvert Wine & Spirits in Hunt Valley; Mt. Washington Wine Co., Wells Discount Liquors and the Wine Source in Baltimore. On the list at B Bistro, Grand Cru and Helmand Restaurant in Baltimore. Available in Virginia at Arrowine in Arlington Au Domaine in Alexandria, Chain Bridge Cellars in McLean, Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market in Richmond.

La Fontaine aux Fougeres Myosotis 2008

**¹ / ₂  GREAT VALUE

Bourgueil, France, $16

Made from organically grown grapes, this wine is lively with floral, earth and leather flavors. It is nicely balanced and ideal for drinking now, slightly chilled, with burgers or steaks from the grill. Don’t forget the mushroom sauce.

Wine Traditions: Available in Virginia at Arrowine and Whole Foods Market in Arlington.

Domaine de la Colline 2009

**

Chinon, France, $15

From a very ripe vintage, this wine is light and expressive, floral and mineral. Chilling it slightly will enhance its fruit and reveal an inner verve, the way a breeze imparts energy on a warm day.

M Touton Selection: Available in the District at AB Liquors, Circle Wine & Liquor, Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Rodman’s, Schneider’s of Capitol Hill, Watergate Wine and Beverage; on the list at Bistrot du Coin. Available in Maryland at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis; Cork & Fork in Bethesda; Franklin’s Restaurant, Brewery and General Store in Hyattsville; Frederick Wine House, Old Farm Liquors and Viniferous in Frederick; Rodman’s in White Flint; Silesia Liquors in Fort Washington. Available in Virginia at various Wegmans locations, Wine Made Simple in Charlottesville; on the list at Zin in Staunton.

KEY

***Exceptional  **Excellent *Very Good

This article, minus the photographs, was published June 8 in The Washington Post.

Photo credits: Me

Top photo: Welcome sign at the Grand Mont vineyard above Bourgueil.

Second photo: Sandrine Deschamps pours samples for (l to r) Ben Peach, Ed Addiss, and Barbara Selig.

Third photo: The tasting lineup. Where do those mushroomy aromas come from?

Bottom photo: Thirst-inducing roadsign in the town of Bourgueil.

Sidney Moore Margolis, a DC wine retail icon

Sidney Moore Margolis passed away April 9. DC wine lovers of a certain age will remember her as the proprietor of Mayflower Wines & Spirits on M St NW, near the old Marriott hotel and Blackie's House of Beef. It was a major stop on my "Stations of the Vine" pilgrimage each Saturday when I was learning about wine and building a cellar by visiting various wine stores for their free tastings and energetic discussions about wine.

Sidney herself rather kept to herself - she was not a gregarious retailer. She preferred to express herself in the store newsletter, which she personally wrote and typed in the era before computers and the Internet. She would write about the winemakers whose products she featured in the store, or wonderful meals she had with wine, or top-notch olive oils from Tuscany she could offer at the store. It was great reading, and great marketing.

My tribute to Sidney was posted today on The Washington Post's All We Can Eat blog. I hope you'll read it and remember someone who not only sold us wine, but helped us appreciate its role in our culture and in our basic enjoyment of life's finer pleasures.

 

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.

 

It's Official: The Donald Trumps Kluge Estate's Auction Bid

So let the naming games begin: Donald Trump has purchased the Kluge Estate winery and vineyard near Monticello, apparently as a “white knight” investor to keep Patricia Kluge and her husband, Bill Moses, in charge of the winery. Trump purchased the bulk of the estate April 7 in a foreclosure auction, and told The Washington Post he would keep Kluge involved. (As  I first noted last November on the Post's All We Can Eat food blog, Kluge and Moses were reportedly trying to interest Trump in the property shortly after their bank called the loan.)

While Kluge and Moses may remain, Trump told the Post he would rename the winery. Will it be Truge Estate? Trumpicello? Will he replace the cameo of Patricia's image on the New World Red (see photo) with his own mug shot? Since he’s promoting the “birther” controversy over President Obama’s citizenship, maybe he’ll try to convince us the vineyard isn’t really in Virginia after all.

Whatever he calls it, he paid Trump Change. Kluge and Moses lost the sprawling estate last fall in a spectacular bankruptcy when their bank called in a $35 million loan on more than 900 acres they owned south of Charlottesville, not far from the historic estates of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. According to Charlottesville wine blogger Richard Leahy, Trump and another unidentified bidder split the estate - total bidding price was a mere $8.07 million.

Trump’s parcel included the winery and the vineyards, at more than 160 acres planted, Virginia’s largest. “I’m really interested in good real estate, not so much in wine,” Trump told the Post in an phone interview after the auction. “This place had a $28 million mortgage on it, and I bought it for $6.2 million.”

Wonder what he’ll charge for the wine ...

 

(This post originally appeared in slightly different form on The Washington Post's All We Can Eat blog on April 8.)

Agh! Public Speaking - Seattle and St. Louis

In high school, I hated public speaking class. In grad school, I was a lousy teaching assistant. But maybe that's because I didn't have anything worth speaking about. Like wine, for instance.

In the next few weeks I'll be venturing out of my cave for three (yikes!) public speaking engagements. The first two will be March 26 in Seattle at Taste Washington!, an annual event sponsored by the Washington Wine Commission to showcase that state's wonderful wines. I'll be on a panel discussing the terrific Seven Hills Vineyard, giving the consumer/critic's perspective along with a top-notch group of winemakers: Marty Clubb of L'Ecole No 41, Chris Figgins of Figgins Family Wine Estates (including Leonetti Cellars), and Jean-François Pellet of Pepper Bridge Winery, plus Drew Hendricks (Master Sommelier!) of Pappas Brothers restaurants. The panel will be moderated by the Wine Commission's Shayn Bjornholm (another Master Sommelier!). So I may be mostly in listening mode for this one ...

That afternoon I'll join some fellow wine writers for a panel called "What's the Point(s)?" We'll discuss different ways (100 points, stars, etc) of "quantifying the quality" of wine in general and Washington wine in particular. The panel will be moderated by Sean Sullivan, the energetic and talented author of Washington Wine Report, and my fellow speakers will be Sara Schneider of Sunset magazine and Rebecca Murphy of The Dallas Morning News. This will be a raucous, fun discussion.

The next weekend, April 2, is the DrinkLocalWine.com 2011 Conference and Twitter Taste-Off, this year focusing on Missouri wines. (Unofficial conference slogan: "Tweet Me in St. Louis!") I'll be moderating a panel discussion on "Does Locavore = Locapour?" My fellow panelists will be Ann Pollack, of the popular blog St. Louis Eats and Drinks; Glenn Bardgett, wine director of Annie Gunn's Restaurant (and a James Beard Award semi-finalist this year!); Debra Grace, of Grace Manor Restaurant; and Todd Kliman, Washingtonian magazine's food and wine editor and author of the award-winning The Wild Vine, a story of the Norton grape. (And a James Beard Award winner!)

This should be fun! Whether your passion is Columbia Valley Riesling and Syrah, or Missouri Norton and Vidal, I hope to see you! And don't forget to follow Twitter tage #DLWMO.

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 ...

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! DLW11 is Coming!

DLW 2011: Missouri will feature some of the top names in Missouri and regional wine as well a live Internet radio broadcast and an expanded version of our trademark Twitter Taste-off on April 2, 2011, at the Doubletree Westport in suburban St. Louis.

The  schedule for the third annual event includes Doug Frost, MS, MW, the godfather of American regional wine; Eric V. Orange, the founder and CEO of LocalWineEvents.com; Missouri winemakers Andrew Meggitt of St. James and Cory Bomgaars of Les Bourgeois; Todd Kliman, author of The Wild Vine, the best-seller about Missouri’s norton grape; St. Louis sommelier extraordinare Glenn Bardgett of Annie Gunn’s; and DLW co-founder Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post. [That's me!]

Olivia Wilder, host of the top-rated Olivia Wilder Times, will do her radio show live from the Missouri Twitter Taste-off on the blogtalkradio.com network, interviewing the winemakers and wine personalities in attendance.

Some two dozen Missouri wineries will pour two wines each for the Twitter Taste-off on April 2, where participants will blog or Twitter about what they've tasted.  We’ll give awards to the best wines, as voted by the taste-off participants (who must be 21 or older).

“Every year, we put together a great program, and I wonder how we’ll ever do better than that,” says DLW co-founder Jeff Siegel, the proprietor of the Wine Curmudgeon blog. “And the next year we always do. I think that has a lot to say about the quality and depth in regional wine.”

Ticket packages start at $35, which is the price for the Twitter taste-off and a buffet reception with the winemakers and wine personalities at the conference. Go to DrinkLocalWine.com for a complete schedule and to order tickets. For information, call (214) 727-1992.

DLW 2011 follows the success of the group’s first two conferences -- in Dallas featuring Texas wine in 2009 and in Leesburg, Va., featuring Virginia and Maryland wine in 2010. DLW also holds an annual Regional Wine Week in October, in which more than 40 wine bloggers, writers and columnists from the U.S. and Canada write about their favorite regional wines, ranging from Ontario to New York to Florida to Texas to Colorado.

DrinkLocalWine.com's goal is to spotlight wine made in the 47 states and Canada that aren't California, Washington, and Oregon. It's the brainchild of Washington Post wine columnist Dave McIntyre and wine blogger Jeff Siegel, the Wine Curmudgeon.

Conference sponsors are the Missouri Wine and Grape Board; LocalWineEvents.com; Annie Gunn’s;  the Doubletree Westport; and the St. Charles County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Wine News: Are We 'Buying Up' Again? Yet?

The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Market Enforcement Branch saw a spike last year in the number of complaints filed by wine grape growers against buyers who couldn’t fulfill their contracts, the North Bay Business Journal reported this week.  While these cases don’t involve any names you’re likely to recognize, they demonstrate the poor economy’s continuing impact on the U.S. wine industry.

Yet the wine industry continues to try to drum up some good news. (Can we string a few more infinitives in there just for good measure??) Bloomberg reported this week that younger wine drinkers are once again “buying up” by choosing pricier bottles in restaurants. The beneficiaries of this, according to Bloomberg? Constellation Brands and Diageo.

Well, okay. These wine industry behemoths produce enough wines at various price levels that they are probably pretty well insulated against the vicissitudes of recession. Or consonance. If consumers are indeed “buying up” over what they were willing to pay a year or two ago - whether in retail or restaurants - I would like to hear about it. More likely, this is wishful thinking. Consumers may be less reticent about spending money on wine now that the recession is easing, but my bet is that we’ve learned over the last few years that there are plenty of terrific wines available that cost a lot less than what we were used to paying. Maybe prestige of price is less valuable than it was before, while we’ve discovered that quality of taste can be had for less.

Are you spending more - and more comfortably - than you were a year or two ago? In other words, is the wine recession over for you personally? Or have your buying habits - in stores or restaurants - changed permanently because of the recession? Please let me know in the comments.

Bobby Kacher - Dean of the DC Importers

The Washington, D.C., region is a very fun and active market for wine consumers, especially for those of us interested in imported wines. There is a vibrant cadre of wine importers serving this market, enough to keep wine lovers turning bottles to look at the back label to see who is importing which wines.

The dean of these importers is Bobby Kacher, the ever loquacious face, palate and voice behind Robert Kacher Selections. I profile Bobby in my wine column this week in The Washington Post.

Bobby represents about 75 producers, and about 70 of these are French. (He has two producers in Argentina, one in Portugal, and one in South Africa, that I know of.) All are family owned and operated, they emphasize organic viticulture (at least, no pesticides and herbicides), temperature-controlled fermentation to keep the wines fresh, no filtration, etc - many of these seem commonplace now, but Kacher helped promote these practices when he started importing wines in the 1980s.

As you'll see in the sidebar on wine recommendations, I learned a lot about French wine by purchasing Bobby's imports back in the late 1980s. There are many more importers in the DC area that I follow now, and I seem to be learning about more every year as the market thrives and expands. And I've followed Bobby less reliably as I've explored other importers' portfolios. But each time I taste some of his wines, I'm reminded of my wine-loving roots.

And whatever you do, don't miss out on that Saumur ...