Tangy Grilled Chicken and White Wines for July 4th

A simple, tasty recipe from L.A. chef David Myers, plus 14 recently rated American white wines to match
by:Laurie Woolever
Posted: June 25, 2010

Summer is in full swing, and the big July 4th weekend is just around the corner—time for some easy grilling and some white wines to match. If you’re entertaining outdoors, try this flavorful, Asian-inflected chicken recipe from Los Angeles chef David Myers of Comme Ça, Pizzeria Ortica and the Grand Award-winning Sona (which has recently closed and will open in a new location in 2011.)

With the chicken dish, pour a full-bodied white that has both the heft and acidity to stand up to the marinade’s bold flavors and the smokiness imparted by grilling. We have put together a list, below, of recently rated white wines that fit that description, all of them from the United States, in honor of the holiday.

MARINATED GRILLED CHICKEN BREASTS
• 2 whole chicken breasts on the bone, skin on
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup whole milk yogurt
• 3 tablespoons red miso paste
• 1 teaspoon mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine used almost exclusively for cooking)
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped

1. Season the chicken with salt and black pepper, and use a fork to poke several holes in the chicken.

2. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, miso paste, mirin and soy sauce and whisk until well blended. Fold in the ginger, garlic and jalapeño.

3. Place the chicken in the bowl with the marinade solution and turn and gently toss to make sure chicken is evenly coated. Cover the bowl with plastic and refrigerate 3 to 6 hours.

4. Prepare a hot fire on a charcoal or gas grill. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Note that the chicken should not be dripping with excess marinade, but it is not necessary to wipe the marinade off, as it will help the chicken stay moist as it grills. Grill the chicken over medium-high heat on both sides until cooked through, about 10 to 15 minutes.

RECOMMENDED WHITES

Note: The following list is a selection of wines from recently rated releases.

- MERRYVALE Chardonnay Napa Valley Starmont 2008 Score: 90 | $20
Fresh and vibrant, with a full-bodied mix of tangerine, nectarine, peach and pear flavors that are intense, complex, layered and cleansing. This holds on to its core fruitiness. Drink now through 2013. 34,050 cases made. —J.L.

- WILLIAM HILL Chardonnay Napa Valley 2007 Score: 89 | $22
Fragrant fig, honeysuckle, pear and floral scents are rich, full-bodied, focused and balanced, showing a subtle touch of butterscotch. Drink now through 2012. 14,000 cases made. —J.L.

- AU BON CLIMAT Chardonnay Santa Barbara County 2008 Score: 88 | $20
Displays aromas of cedar, pineapple and tropical fruit, this is full-bodied, featuring sour green apple, spice and pithy citrus notes on the finish. Drink now through 2014. 15,000 cases made. —J.L.

- CHATEAU ST. JEAN Fumé Blanc Sonoma County 2008 Score: 88 | $13
Intense smoke and honeysuckle aromatics mingle well together, leading to crisp and refreshing lemon, tangerine and yellow apple flavors on a medium body, with good acidity. The smoke flavors persist on the finish. Drink now. 42,000 cases made. —M.W.

- FREI BROTHERS Chardonnay Russian River Valley Reserve 2007 Score: 88 | $20
Ripe, floral, peachy Chardonnay flavors are clean, delicate and full-bodied, but not heavy, ending with a subtle touch of oak. Drink now through 2014. 84,600 cases made. —J.L.

- ROBERT MONDAVI Fumé Blanc Napa Valley 2008 Score: 88 | $20
Concentrated and robust peach, citrus, golden raisin and apple flavors have a firm structure and refreshing juicy acidity. Smooth and sophisticated, with a long, spicy finish. Drink now through 2012. 50,543 cases made. —M.W.

- SANFORD Chardonnay Santa Barbara County 2007 Score: 88 | $22
There’s spice, citrus, pear and a touch of jalapeño pepper in this Chardonnay, which, though crisp and refreshing, turns rich and creamy on the finish. Drink now through 2013. 17,480 cases made. —J.L.

- SOUVERAIN Chardonnay Alexander Valley 2008 Score: 88 | $17
Intense, juicy, vibrant and full-bodied, with a complex mix of creamy oak, pear and nectarine flavors that are pure and focused. Drink now through 2014. 32,000 cases made. —J.L.

- STERLING Chardonnay Napa Valley 2008 Score: 88 | $15
Fresh, vibrant and full-bodied, with tangy nectarine, peach and green apple flavors that are pure and focused, ending with a cleansing finish. Drink now through 2014. 50,000 cases made. —J.L.

- BERINGER Chardonnay Napa Valley 2008 Score: 87 | $16
Ripe and full-bodied, with tangy pear, nectarine, melon, spice and light cedary oak character, ending with a cleansing finish. Drink now through 2013. 47,000 cases made. —J.L.

- ESTANCIA Chardonnay Monterey County Pinnacles Ranches 2008 Score: 87 | $12
Intense, with spicy floral and grassy notes that are full-bodied, with Key lime, citrus and green apple flavors that are pure and refreshing. Drink now. 268,000 cases made. —J.L.

- LUCKY STAR Chardonnay California 2008 Score: 87 | $9
Fresh, clean and vibrant, with tasty pear, melon, citrus and spice flavors that are full-bodied, ending with a rich aftertaste. Very impressive. Drink now. 30,000 cases made. —J.L.

- MATCHBOOK Chardonnay Dunnigan Hills Old Head 2008 Score: 87 | $15
Ripe peach, melon and baked apple flavors have a nice touch of nutmeg and spice in this full-bodied white, ending with a broad, full finish. Drink now through 2012. 12,000 cases made. —J.L.

- WILD HORSE Chardonnay Central Coast 2008 Score: 87 | $17
Rich, intense and full-bodied, with spice, baked apple, melon and creamy pear notes that are fresh, clean and vibrant. Drink now through 2014. 65,061 cases made. —J.L.

“I was doing strength and speed training [in the late ’90s] and it was a Friday, and the trainer invited me to join him at a wine bar, and I wasn’t into wine, but I tagged along,” McBride said. “The bottle we had was a Seaview Shiraz. I was like, ‘Wow, this is good; this is different.’” As McBride and his wife started learning about fine wine together and making it a regular part of family meals, his soccer career took them to England in 2004, where he joined Fulham of the English Premier League, arguably the world’s most competitive soccer league.

“Here I was, getting pretty comfortable with my knowledge of California Cabs, and then we moved to England, and I knew nothing about French wine, Italian wine, and then I got to experience that, which was pretty neat.” McBride said. He has also become a self-described foodie during his education in wine. “We also started enjoying some really nice restaurants in England. There are some unbelievable restaurants there; our favorite by far was NoBu in London.”

McBride started collecting wine while living in London, and his cellar has grown since returning stateside. “We’ve got over 600 bottles of wine. Right now it’s mostly California Cabs, but I’ve been getting into Syrahs like Saxum, James Berry Vineyards. We have birth-year Bordeauxs for my daughters.”

Josh Wolff: Time Spent in Germany
Forward Josh Wolff plays for the MLS’ Kansas City Wizards and has been a member of the U.S. National team since 1999, though he is not on the 2010 World Cup team roster. After playing three semesters for the University of South Carolina, Wolff joined the MLS’ Chicago Fire in 1998, and from 2006 to 2008 he played in the second division of Germany’s top soccer league, the Bundesliga, for 1860 Munich.

Like many of his fellow national team members, Wolff’s foray into wine appreciation has been a long but steady learning process. “In college you tinker with the alcohols, but wine is definitely what I prefer now,” said Wolff.”

“We have a decent amount of wine in our home in Atlanta, and we travel a lot so we try a lot of different wines, and that, I think more than anything, is how my exposure to it has grown and grown,” said Wolff. “There’s a decent amount of guys in soccer that dabble in [wine]. When I was in Germany for a few years, I knew another American, Ben Olsen [U.S. National team from 1998–2007], who also knows wine, and that’s where I picked up a bit more. Obviously Riesling is really big there, and my wife enjoyed those wines.”

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t say Ben and I always joked—we had had Cakebread 2002 ages and ages ago and loved it—and when we would go out for national team dinners, we always looked for Cakebread.”

Landon Donovan: Turned on by Opus One

Landon Donovan is perhaps the most celebrated member of the 2010 World Cup U.S. squad, and has been a member of the team since 2000. Donovan first played in Germany at age 17, in the Bundesliga’s first division for Bayer Leverkusen. In 2009 he played for FC Bayern Munich, and this year spent time with the English Premier League’s Everton before being called back to the MLS’ Los Angeles Galaxy, for which he has played forward since 2005. He is the all-time leader in both goals and assists for the U.S. National team.

Thrown into international competition as a teenager, Donovan was perhaps introduced to wine too soon. “My first wine experience was not the best,” Donovan said. “I was coming home from Argentina and had a little too much wine on the plane, got sick, had to make a connection, and that was not a good day for me,” Donovan said. “I told myself I was never going to drink wine again.”

His appreciation for the grape would come later. “Cut to my first real wine experience, which happened before I came to the Galaxy. It happened in a meeting with Tim Leiweke, who is the owner of the team,” Donovan recalled. “We met at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina Del Ray about a contract, and Tim is a big Opus One fan, and he kind of turned me on to wine that night, because I never realized how good it could be.”

“When I first went to Germany, I was removed from [wine], because I’d never had alcohol at that point. Getting there and meeting kids my age [when I was 17] was interesting because in America alcohol is so taboo, but in those European cultures, even with the kids, they’re not out getting wasted; there’s not a big mystery to it like there is here,” Donovan said. “But when I went back to Germany [in 2009], Munich is such a great city, and there’s so many great restaurants. It was a lot of fun to appreciate that.”

“When we go out as a team, more often than not it’s a steak house, and bottles of Jordan and Cakebread are big favorites with all of us,” Donovan said, echoing Wolff’s anecdote.

Recently Rated South African Value Wines
For the spectators and tourists heading to South Africa this month and next, as well as those watching at home who want to get into the Cape spirit, here’s a selection of wines that make a good introduction to the region’s top producers and signature varieties.

MULDERBOSCH Faithful Hound Stellenbosch 2006 Score: 90 | $22
Ripe and tangy, with a mix of red currant, damson plum, Kenya AA coffee and iron notes that glide through the mouthwatering, tobacco-tinged finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec. Drink now through 2011. 2,500 cases imported. —J.M.

RUSTENBERG Chardonnay Stellenbosch 2008 Score: 90 | $20
Delicious, with gorgeous melon, Bosc pear and Jonagold apple flavors offset by a stylish streak of grilled hazelnut. The long, racy finish lets the toast and fruit play together nicely. Drink now. 1,700 cases imported. —J.M.

DARLING CELLARS Shiraz Darling Onyx 2007 Score: 89 | $15
A racy, tangy style, with a vivid iron note piercing through the mix of raspberry, boysenberry and blueberry fruit. The long, pure finish is nicely focused. Drink now. 1,250 cases imported. —J.M.

WARWICK The First Lady Western Cape 2007 Score: 89 | $15
Juicy, with a good core of dark cherry, currant and fig fruit laced with sweet spice hints. There’s a lingering plum sauce note on the full-bodied finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now. 15,000 cases made. —J.M.

KEN FORRESTER Chenin Blanc Stellenbosch 2009 Score: 88 | $15
A delicious, medium-weight, juicy version, with mouthwatering peach, green plum and chamomile notes that extend through the green fig-tinged finish. Drink now. 8,330 cases made. —J.M.

SIMONSIG Pinotage Stellenbosch 2007 Score: 88 | $15
This weighty red has good grip, as briar and tobacco notes support the dark plum and blackberry fruit. A toasty edge frames the gutsy finish. Drink now. 5,000 cases made. —J.M.

BUITENVERWACHTING Sauvignon Blanc Coastal Region Beyond 2009 Score: 87 | $12
This has good cut, with citrus peel, chive and sea salt notes that stay racy on the light-weight finish. Drink now. 7,000 cases imported. —J.M.

RAATS FAMILY Chenin Blanc Coastal Region Original Unwooded 2009 Score: 87 | $13
Fresh, with white peach and honeysuckle flavors backed by a bright, lively finish. Light-weight but persistent, with good minerality stretching it out. A clean, breezy style. Drink now. 5,830 cases made. —J.M.

INDABA Chenin Blanc Western Cape 2009 Score: 86 | $10
Displays a friendly mix of green plum and citrus notes, with an almond- and heather-tinged finish. Drink now. 8,000 cases imported. —J.M.

MAN VINTNERS Sauvignon Blanc Western Cape 2009 Score: 85 | $11
Lively, with lime and fennel hints backed by a tangy, gooseberry-tinged finish. Drink now. 5,000 cases imported. —J.M.

EXCELSIOR Chardonnay Robertson 2009 Score: 84 | $10
Forward, with rounded melon and green apple notes that linger on the open-knit finish. Drink now. 10,000 cases imported. —J.M.

FLEUR DU CAP Chardonnay Western Cape 2008 Score: 84 | $10
Round and easy, with modest apple and pear notes backed by a lightly buttered finish. Drink now. 5,900 cases imported. —J.M.

Japanese Videogame CEO Opens $100 Million Napa Winery

Kenzo Tsujimoto of Capcom offers wines by Heidi Barrett and David Abreu, tasting menu from Thomas Keller

MaryAnn Worobiec
Posted: May 10, 2010

Recession? What recession? Defying tough economic times, the CEO of Japan-based videogame publisher Capcom Co. has opened a Napa Valley winery after 20 years of preparation and $100 million of investment. Kenzo Estate, named for owner Kenzo Tsujimoto, opened to the public May 1. Visitors will be treated to wine and food from a roster of Napa all-stars. The wines are a collaboration between consulting winemaker Heidi Barrett of Screaming Eagle, Grace Family and Dalla Valle fame and vineyard manager David Abreu, who has worked with wineries such as Araujo, Colgin and Bryant. The tasting room offers the chance to pair the wines with food created by the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller while sitting in a building designed by prominent winery architect Howard Backen.

Kenzo, whose company is best know for the Resident Evil and Street Fighter game series, purchased the 4,000-acre estate on Mt. George, on the east side of Napa Valley, in 1990. At the time, it was an Olympic equestrian training center. Vineyard planting began in 2002. There are currently 70 acres planted, and another 30 being planted. With vineyards on less than 2 percent of the property, the estate has the feel of a remote nature preserve.

Through an interpreter, Kenzo explained to Wine Spectator that when he first purchased the property, he was not planning on building a winery. But as he became aware of the potential of Napa Valley wines, he changed his mind. In Japan, he was able to purchase Napa’s Opus One, and while traveling he began to try other California Cabernets, and liked how they tasted.

There are four wines, all estate-grown: Rindo, a proprietary Cabernet blend ($75); a Cabernet Sauvignon called Ai ($50), another Cabernet-based blend called Murasaki ($50), and a Sauvignon Blanc called Asatsuyu ($60). The debut 2005 vintage was almost entirely sold in Japan, and the current 2006 vintage reds are being served at the winery. None of the wines have been reviewed yet by Wine Spectator.

Despite the fancy setting, general manager Michael Terrien points out that other projects with the same winemaking team would have been sold at a much higher price tag. “Kenzo has reset the price of luxury in Napa Valley to suit the post-recession,” he said. “Rindo, the $75 Bordeaux blend, has no comparable price competitor in the portfolio of wines produced by David or Heidi.”

Consulting winemaker Heidi Barrett helped craft Kenzo’s wines, while chef Thomas Keller crafted a menu for the tasting room.

Tastings are by reservation only. There are three different tastings available: $30 for four 1-ounce pours with cheese, $50 for four 2-ounce pours with charcuterie, and for $60, guests can have a wine-paired lunch with choices from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon restaurant.

The winery features architect Backen’s California barn style in modern earth tones, surrounded by 150-year-old olive trees. There are a couple of Japanese details that set Kenzo apart—all the reds are named after some of the 50 variations of the word “purple” in Japanese—Tsujimoto explained that it’s not only a reference to the grapes or the wine, but that purple was the traditional color of Japanese royalty. And bottles are wrapped in furoshiki, a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that is used to transport gifts or other goods.

Kenzo reports that he has a cellar of 10,000 bottles at his home in Japan. “I have 10,000 wines to try, but I only drink my wine,” he said with a grin.

The Game(s) of Wine

Test your vino knowledge with these grape-inspired games.

By Kelly Magyarics WineSmarts

While opening a few bottles of wine is often sufficient for a spirited gathering, games inspired by the grape encourage friendly competition and lively conversation, not to mention bragging rights. Grab one of these fun activities for your next wine get-together: 

Winerd

Tamara Leigh Murphy’s creative board game combines wine evaluation with trivia and blind tasting. 

How to play: Taste and critique three similar bottles of red or white. Then, answer any of 300 question and answer cards and twelve bonus/challenge cards, and successfully complete one or four blind tastings, to advance on the board. The first player to make it to the Winner’s Circle wins the title of Winerd! 

Good for: Up to four oenophiles who equally enjoy tasting and trivia. 

Sample question: Which bar staple is actually a wine? A) Vermouth B) Vodka C) Amaretto 

Where to get it: www.winerdgame.com, $36.99 

Bouquet—The Wine Game

Navigate the board and travel the world of fine wine using one of three skill levels: amateur, professional or connoisseur. 

How to play: Select a color-coded playing piece representing a continent. Correctly answer one card from each category, and complete tasks from the Chance Cards, before crossing the finish line. 

Good for: Up to six players with varying degrees of wine knowledge. 

Sample question: “Where is Château Giscours produced?” Amateur level answer—France; Professional level answer—Bordeaux; Connoisseur level answer—Margaux. 

Where to get it: www.wineentertainment.com, $44.95 

WineSmarts

Gather a bunch of friends and test your vino knowledge in this low-key card game. 

How to play: Select and correctly answer questions from a deck of cards containing 100 true or false and multiple-choice questions. Use the score pad to determine who’s the “wine smartest.” 

Good for: Both small and larger groups who prefer casual trivia to the structure of a board game. 

Sample question: “Can white wine be made from red grapes?” 

Where to get it: www.smartsco.com, $16.95 

Murder Mystery Party: A Taste for Wine and Murder

Wine and mystery-loving guests help solve the murder of local vineyard owner Barry Underwood. 

How to play: Invite six to eight friends to dress up and play the roles of the devious suspects. Use the provided recipes and shopping list to plan the food, and then nosh and nibble while sizing up the guilt of your fellow partygoers. The included CD provides an introduction, summary of events and solution to the crime, and character booklets help the budding thespians. 

Good for: Six to eight willing participants who are both Clue and Cabernet fanatics. 

Sample question: Was it Tiny Bubbles who committed the crime? Or perhaps Marilyn Merlot? 

Where to get it: www.amazon.com, $24.99. 

Brown Bag Blind Tasting

Put your senses of taste and smell up against those of your friends in this game that’s low prep but highly entertaining. 

How to play: Ask each guest to bring a bottle of wine wrapped in a paper bag. Distribute sheets of paper on which guests draw a table as shown below. Repeat the row headers for as many bottles of wine present. The guest who brought the wine pours a sample for each of the other guests, who have three chances to determine the grape, region and year. After each guess, the person who brought the wine tells the others what he answered correctly, and what’s wrong. If no one guesses correctly after the third chance, the right details are revealed. 

Good for: Wine or dinner clubs looking to sprinkle their gatherings with some liquid analyses in between courses.

 Kelly Magyarics is a wine and spirits writer, and wine educator, in the Washington, DC area. She can be reached through her website, www.trywine.net.

The Lowdown on Restaurant Markups

by Gretchen Roberts

The inside story on why and how restaurants price their wines.

  

The scene is all too familiar: glancing through a restaurant’s wine list you spot a Napa Cab you saw in a wine shop for $30; it’s listed at $80.

In a recent survey of consumers’ wine-buying habits in restaurants, Julie Brosterman, CEO of WomenWine.com, found that 70% of respondents felt restaurant wine prices were too high. “People are savvier about wine markups than they used to be,” Brosterman says. “They know retail prices, and they can look up wine prices on their Blackberrys while sitting in the restaurant.”

“Wine is a good profit item,” reads one restaurant management textbook. “It will average approximately the same cost of sales as food, but the labor and operating costs needed to present it are substantially less,” observes another.

Industry-wide markups average two and a half to three times wholesale cost, says Randy Caparoso, a restaurant wine consultant at Wine List Consulting Unlimited. A bottle priced at $10 wholesale might sell for $15 retail, but $25 to $30 in a restaurant. “Everyone knows you pay more in restaurants than at retail, but what really aggravates a lot of consumers is how wacky prices can be. A bottle may be $25 at one restaurant, $15 at another, and $40 at a third.”

So what really goes into wine prices, and why are they all over the map? Let’s dissect some of the factors.

State laws and taxes. Each state has its own alcohol laws and taxes that can affect the price of wine. Utah restaurants are required to buy wine from state-run liquor stores at retail price instead of wholesale price. Taxes are steep in some states—Tennessee tacks on a 15% tax hike for on-premise sales, for example—and fairly low in others.

Wholesale costs. Again, those Byzantine state laws make pricing a maze. In some states, wholesalers are required to price wine fairly to all restaurant customers; in others, large chain restaurants and those with bigger buying power are able to negotiate better wholesale prices.

Restaurant operational costs. “A neighborhood restaurant where you’re greeted at the door by the owner who also seats you, takes your order and cooks your food has two to three times lower overall expenses than a restaurant with fresh flowers, valets, five chefs and an army of waiters,” Caparoso says. “Wine is a commodity, a costed good. It’s the same as buying a pair of shoes. The nicer the store, the higher the cost of the shoes.”

Position on the list. Most lists follow a graduated markup, with the highest markups on the cheapest wines, and lower markups on higher-end wines. A $10 wholesale wine may be marked up to $30, but a $50 wine might be just $80.

Whim. Mike Shor, an economics professor at Vanderbilt University, did a personal study analyzing wine prices at 38 Nashville restaurants, rating the restaurants according to markups. “I teach a class in pricing, and a couple of restaurants I’ve been to have ridiculous wine prices,” he explains. “I wanted to see if that was true or just a feeling I had.”

His findings: markups varied widely. Some adhered to industry standards, but at least one merited this description from Shor: “If you search long enough, you may find a wine price that is merely insulting.”

Trevor Hertrich, a wine buyer for a large retail store in Denver and a former restaurant sommelier and wine program manager, says high markups are a matter of convention rather than good business planning. “To me, it’s more about the bottom line and selling more at a lower margin.”

Hertrich maintains that there is a magic number where a good restaurant wine manager can do a lower markup, sell more wine and make the same amount of profit. “If you pay $50 for a mid-range Burgundy, you can put it on the list for $200 and wait six months for someone to buy it, or you can charge $125 and sell it right away,” he says. “Meanwhile you’ve already paid for it and you have to store it.”

The good news is that restaurants are beginning to get the memo. Ten years ago, Caparoso says, wine markups were even higher, but that prices are moving down towards two times wholesale cost.

“Prices are coming down in response to consumer feedback. You couldn’t do that 15–20 years ago because not enough wine was drunk to make it worthwhile,” he says.

Ultimately, though, Caparoso begs wine lovers to stop comparing restaurant wine prices with retail. “You have an army of people serving you and cooking for you and washing your dishes. They aren’t doing it for free.”

Here are some ideas on how to get the best value from the wine list:
Spend more for a better value. Most lists have higher markups on the cheapest wines and lower markups on high-end wines, so often the more you spend, the better wine you’re getting for the money.

Order mid-list. The second-least-expensive wine on the list is often marked up the most. Why? “People don’t want to look cheap, so they order the second cheapest wine,” Shor says. Go one or two bottles higher for a better deal.

Beware brand names. Popular brand names always get the full markup because they sell no matter what, Caparoso says. “The restaurant is kind of punishing you for being a creature of habit.”

Be adventurous. “If there’s a wine I really want on the list but don’t think a lot of people will order, I put an even lower markup on it,” says Jay Frein, wine manager at Margot Café in Nashville, which had the best value wine prices in Shor’s study.

• Benziger Family winery recently got a facelift that was anything but superficial. For Earth Day, the winery announced it will be adopting new packaging for its wine, for both bottles and labels, that will lighten its impact on the environment. New bottles that weigh 30 percent less will use fewer natural resources to create and take less energy to ship. Soy-based ink on their updated labels will more eco-friendly than the industrial ink they used before. They’ve also invested in an electric vehicle research program to offset their carbon usage in an effort to become carbon-neutral. Today, 100 percent of the profits from Benziger’s tasting room sales will be donated to Sonoma Valley’s La Luz Center/Vineyard Worker Services, a non-profit organization that provides community assistance to Sonoma farm workers. And as a feather in its cap, Benziger recently won a 2010 Growing Green Award from the Natural Resources Defense Council for its efforts to recycle and reduce water usage at its vineyard. “We consider water conservation a major priority in planning vineyards, growing grapes and making wine,” said Mike Benziger.

• Today through Sunday, every guest tasting at Sonoma’s Rodney Strong Vineyards will take home a compact florescent light bulb as part of the carbon-neutral winery’s Green Light Pledge for Earth Day. Each bulb creates the opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions by 277 pounds per year; if all of Sonoma were to change just one bulb, 50 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented from entering the atmosphere.

• The non-profit Central Coast Vineyard Team organization, which promotes sustainable winegrowing, got an early start on Earth Day this past weekend, ringing in the ecological holiday with their annual Earth Day Food & Wine Festival at Santa Margarita Ranch. The three-day binge on locally cultivated and sustainably produced fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, olive oils and wines ended as the previous such bacchanals have, with virtually zero waste and a negligible carbon footprint thanks to heady doses of solar power, recycling and ride-sharing to and from the festival. Last year, 1,000 guests generated just two bags of trash.

• Wineries in Sonoma’s Green Valley, including DeLoach, Dutton-Goldfield, Freeman and Marimar Estate, hosted a walk-around food-and-wine tasting at Iron Horse Vineyards on April 18, with proceeds going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program and National Geographic’s Ocean Now initiative. Besides sipping Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, guests chowed down on sustainable dishes like Hog Island oysters, California Osetra caviar, fish tacos and homemade breads. National Geographic was on hand for a presentation on ocean exploration, and the winery will feature an eco-exhibit on the beauty of water.

• Australian winemaker Thomas Angove, credited with the invention of one of the most environmentally friendly forms of wine packaging, bag-in-a-box wine, has died at the age of 92. Riverland winegrower Angove’s was one of Australia’s largest vineyards when Thomas became managing director in 1947, a position which he held until 1983 when he was succeeded by his son, John Angove. Ever the innovator, Thomas was the first in Australia to use stainless steel tanks for wine storage. But he will be most remembered for revolutionizing wine packaging by developing the wine cask in 1965. When Thomas first brought the cask prototype home, his teenage son, John, told him, “That’s ridiculous, nobody will buy wine in a plastic bag stuck inside a cardboard box!” Fortunately for college students around the world (as well as the ecosystem), Thomas didn’t listen.

• Finally, in an equally philanthropic albeit non-green gesture, Italian fine-wine producer Tenuta dell’Ornellaia is celebrating the release of the 2007 vintage with a collection of artist-designed special-edition large-format bottles to be auctioned at a gala dinner at the Whitney Museum of American Art next week. Artists Ghada Amer and Reza Farkondeh collaborated on the series of hand-painted, stitched and printed artist labels, the theme for which is “Happily Ever After.” Twenty-three bottles in all will be up for auction, including a 9-liter salmanazar, four imperials and 18 double magnums; 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the Whitney. Bottle Shock star Alan Rickman is expected to be on hand at the April 28 gala at the museum, but those not fortunate enough to secure a seat may still bid online by registering at www.sothebys.com/ornellaia.

Sheryl Crow Brings Wine to Cougar Town

Plus, the cult Cab rivalry between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Saints coach Sean Payton continues, and a glass or two may help those with slow heart rates

Posted: April 8, 2010 by Wine Spectator

• When Unfiltered heard that Sheryl Crow has a guest-starring arc as a Florida wine sales rep on the ABC comedy Cougar Town, we were pleased but not surprised, given that the singer-songwriter-actress includes “good Australian Cabernet” and “good Merlot” on her list of backstage requirements when performing her music live. We tuned in eagerly to see Crow’s first episode on the show, in which her character, Sarah, tries to sell bar owner Grayson a few cases of Hurpes, a French Merlot (“It’s pronounced ‘hur-pay,’”) and later goes on a date with him. We were pleased to note Crow’s entire first episode of Cougar Town revolved almost entirely around wine (though not always in the fashion Unfiltered would recommend), from the way in which Jules, played by series star Courtney Cox (a big Rioja fan in real life) fills her wineglass straight up to the rim and always opens bottles to entertain her guests to the other characters’ staging of an intervention when Jules decides to stop drinking wine. We were puzzled, then, when the following week’s episode featured almost no wine at all, with a bizarre Japanese talking toilet getting far more airtime than the characters’ vino. There’s no new episode this week, so we’ll have to wait until next week to find out whether Crow can get her costars away from the bidet and back to the bottle.

• Maybe Chuck Wagner should add “Who Dat?” to the Caymus label and save New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton some time. Payton developed a thirst for Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon in February when he dined at an Indianapolis steak house and swiped a magnum of the Caymus SS 2007 that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had reserved. Two weeks ago, both men were in Orlando for the NFL owners meetings. As Payton explained in a press conference, “The other evening we had gone out to eat and the Cowboys were right behind us, about 10 minutes back in our rearview mirror.” Payton arrived at local steak house, Ocean Prime, first. And he had an ally: General manager Michael Joffrion is from Plaquemine, La., upriver of New Orleans. When Jones and the Cowboys staff walked in, Payton called them over and said, “I just want you all to know that [Joffrion] here is from Plaquemine, and he’s assured me that if there’s any Caymus in this building, we’re going to have first crack at it, and if we’re not interested in drinking all of it then we’ll send it your way.” In fact, Joffrion had ordered two magnums of Caymus for the occasion. Payton formally presented one to Jones as if it were the Lombardi trophy, but not before signing it once again, “Who Dat!” Caymus may replace Gatorade on the Saints sideline next year. Payton also mentioned during the press conference how it’s been well-known for some time that his one gameday superstition is to chew Juicy Fruit gum. For years, people have sent him packs. “After that Indianapolis Caymus heist, the makers sent a bottle over, and then one of the local suppliers sent a case. And I remember thinking, ‘Boy I wish I had done the Caymus earlier because I sure like getting the Caymus over the Juicy Fruit.’”

• Two years ago, a study from Harvard Medical School found people with high blood pressure need not give up the moderate consumption of alcohol. Now, in last week’s Harvard Heart Letter, the university claims that it is also OK to have a glass or two of wine a night for those with a slow heart rate. In it, editorial board member Dr. Peter Zimetbaum states that bradycardia, or a heartbeat under 60 beats per minute, may actually be helped by a little wine, since alcohol in responsible amounts can speed up the heart rate. “Although, that doesn’t make it a tonic for bradycardia,” he warns in the Q&A section of the e-newsletter. He also mentions that around times of gathering, such as Easter, emergency rooms see a spike in people having a negative reaction to alcohol, in something called the “holiday heart syndrome,” where heart palpitations cause pain, pressure, or heaviness in the chest, or shortness of breath. But keeping all things in moderation should keep people out of the ER. “The holiday heart syndrome can occur with just a drink or two, but it usually takes five, six, or more drinks to trigger it,” he writes. “Too much caffeine or overuse of over-the-counter decongestants can cause similar rhythm problems.”

Twitter Founder Biz Stone

Social network pioneer explains his charity wine project in more than 140 characters

Jennifer Fiedler
Posted: March 30, 2010

Biz Stone, 36, is CEO of Twitter, the social networking site turned cultural phenomenon that allows people to broadcast their thoughts on the web in pintsize slices of 140 characters or less. Stone created the microblogging site with partner Evan Williams after stints at Odeo (a podcasting site), Xanga (a platform for bloggers), and Google. Twitter’s swift rise from geeky obscurity to household name has earned Stone such accolades as GQ’s “Nerd of the Year” and Inc. magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Decade,” as well as inclusion on Time’s list of the most influential people of 2009.

Last year, Stone and Williams announced an unusual side project for Twitter: winemaking. Using a custom-crush facility, Twitter is making a California Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir under the Fledgling wine label and donating the proceeds from the sales to Room to Read, a non-profit organization that supports literacy programs around the world. Of course, interested parties can follow the progress of the entire project, from pictures of Twitter employees harvesting the grapes to videos about malolactic fermentation, on the wine’s own Twitter page (it currently has more than 300,000 followers). Stone recently spoke with Wine Spectator about how Twitter ended up in the wine market, what’s in his personal wine fridge and why Twitter is like winemaking.

Wine Spectator: How did the idea for Fledgling come about?
Biz Stone: We really admire [Room to Read] and we thought it was a great fit. People need to learn how to read so they can Tweet. And, in our organization, there are people that are wine enthusiasts. We had heard through one of our advisors about a local company called Crushpad that allowed you to make your own wine. Everything came together one day as we were talking. We would make wine and it would be fun because it was something that everyone could participate in together and all the proceeds would go to Room to Read.

WS: How involved were you in the making of it?
BS: I’m mostly involved from the standpoint of putting together the right people, coming up with the name, the idea and the branding. I unfortunately haven’t been able to make it to the fun part—the harvest and where we actually got to do the crushing [of the grapes]. I will definitely make it a point to be at the tasting.

WS: Are you into wine?
BS: Since I moved to Northern California, I have to be because wine sort of runs from the taps here. My wife and I are members of a sparkling wine club at Gloria Ferrer vineyards. We get involved, not just in tasting wine but going to the Catalan festival they have every year. There’s so much more to it than the wine itself. It’s been meaningful for me because one of the things that we’re constantly striving for at Twitter is this sense of craftsmanship—that you own what you’re working on and you’re proud of it. That’s something that really comes through in winemaking.

WS: Do you have a wine collection?
BS: We do have a wine fridge now, which has been a step up. Ev, my cofounder, has a pretty good start on a collection. When he got married he asked everyone as a gift to only bring a bottle of their favorite wine. We brought him wine from Duckhorn Vineyards. It’s a place we stopped at when we got married and we really loved the wine there.

WS: What else is in your wine fridge?
BS: Even though I didn’t initially like it, I’ve really started liking Chardonnay. There’s one that they sell at Trader Joe’s, La Crema. I really like that one. … I’m more familiar with California wines. We try to buy local wines whenever possible.

WS: How does being a vegan affect the wines you choose or food you pair with it?
BS: You can find wines that are not filtered through isinglass [or egg whites]. One of our board members recently had us over for dinner and selected wines that were all vegan. That was thoughtful … We’ve been to Spain a bunch of times. We have a lot of fun getting tapas in a veggie format. This past New Year’s Eve, we decided to stay home because I’d done so much traveling. We made a bunch of tapas and drank cava.

WS: Are there other regions that you’ve been to?
BS: We were surprised by the Finger Lakes region of New York. We went up there to visit Farm Sanctuary, where farm animals that are hurt and would otherwise be killed get to go live out their lives. And it turns out that they have all this great white wine.

WS: Would you ever own your own vineyard?
BS: I think it would be amazing. I don’t think I’d want to do the work, but [vineyards are] so beautiful. I always find it amazing that you can go to a vineyard and for $5 or $10 you can just sit at a beautiful table out under a tree and try all their wine. It doesn’t seem fair—It seems like it should cost more than that. But it’s such a great thing to do. Twenty minutes from my house and we’re sitting under a big tree in Napa, drinking wine.

WS: Do you have plans to do other wine charity projects?
BS: If it works out, then definitely. This is the new ambition: Finding a way to do good while having fun and making a profit. It helps us. It builds our brand. It builds culture. But it’s also meaningful in the world.

Popping Perrier-Jouet with the NFL’s Julius Peppers

Plus, wine pairing with “mommy’s milk” cheese, Trek winery defends itself against Trek bikes and Cleveland’s former mayor takes a page from Gavin Newsom’s book

Posted: March 11, 2010 by winespectator.com

• Here at Unfiltered, we’re no stranger to the confluence of football players and their wines. Add new Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers to the list of gridiron connoisseurs. After signing his new six-year, $91.5 million contract last week, Peppers headed to swanky Chicago nightspot Crescendo for dinner. While Peppers himself sipped on hip-hop mogul Jay-Z’s favorite bubbly, ordering three bottles of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades Rosé, he also treated everyone else in the house to Champagne, hoping to endear himself to the fans of his new city. Peppers bought 25 bottles, at $350 a “pop,” of Perrier-Jouet Fleur de Champagne Belle Epoque, each topped with one of Crescendo’s signature pyrotechnic sparklers to be shared among the rest of Friday night’s patrons (video available on YouTube; no word yet on whether the acrid scent of combusting magnesium will affect your Champagne’s delicate aromas, nor whether anyone cared). Not a bad way to make friends. Unfiltered just has one suggestion for Peppers: Next time, keep the P-J flower bottles for yourself, and leave the showy sparklers for the overpriced bubbly in the gimmicky packaging.

• Unfiltered was pleased to congratulate Lori Mason, wife of chef Daniel Angerer, on the birth of their first child when we were dining at Klee, their Austrian restaurant in New York this past January. But we found ourselves frantically trying to recall whether or not we’d ordered the cheese plate when we saw them on the morning news this week: Chef Angerer is making cheese with Mason’s excess breast milk. (For the lactically curious, the recipe for “Mommy’s Milk Cheese” is posted on Angerer’s blog.) But before you join the hordes of culinarily inquisitive (and creepy fetishists) trying to get a taste, you should know that there is no breast-milk cheese to be had at Klee. We talked to the Department of Health, and they told us that “cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption, whether sold or given away. While breast milk is healthy—we recommend it for infants—experiments with it as a food ingredient are best left for the home.” Still, count Unfiltered among the curious (we’ve eaten stranger things). We asked Mason about her one-of-a-kind cheese, and how to best pair it with wine. “Breast milk is low in protein, so it’s difficult to make a hard cheese. Daniel’s version is more solid than ricotta, like a provolone, but slightly gelatinous and very sweet,” Mason said. And the wine pairings? “I think it’s best with a Gewürztraminer, but one on the leaner side. Other choices would be Austrian Riesling or Grüner Veltliner, but whatever wine you choose, it needs to be crisp and bright to cut through the cheese’s pungency,” she told us. What about the cheese’s texture, you ask? “It’s a little jiggly.” She said it, not us!

• The longest hike undertaken so far by outdoorsy Napa-based startup Trek winery has been a legal one: The family operation was sued by Trek Bicycles for trademark infringement in the cycle company’s home state of Wisconsin, after three orders of the wine had been shipped there. (Two went to family members of vintner Andy Podshadley; the third to the wife of a Trek bikes employee—a trap!) A federal judge has now granted the winery’s motion to dismiss the case, deciding that three sales really weren’t infringing on anybody. Trek Bicycles had gone after Podshadley’s entire business, refusing offers that the winery change its name to Trec or Trekk and seeking all profits from the wines. “Of course, there are none when you’re starting a winery,” Podshadley pointed out. But, he explained, “We were contacted by a lot of law firms that wanted to represent us, because they wanted to go against Trek [Bicycles] I guess. They said, ‘Hey, we’ll do it for a case of wine.’” Though the bike manufacturer can still bring suit in California, the trial might only raise the winery’s profile, causing further confusion about the difference between wine and a bike. “Getting the name out there has definitely helped. We haven’t sold a lot of wine because of it, but the people who have ordered wine have been bicycle people.” It should also be noted that the Star Trek franchise was fine with the winery’s brand: “When CBS Studios contacted us, we said, ‘How about you look at our marketing materials? We don’t want anything to do with aliens and spaceships.’”

• It seems Gavin Newsom isn’t the only big-city mayor with plans to retire in the wine industry. Three-term Cleveland mayor Michael White recently announced plans to open a winery in Newcomerstown, Ohio, a rural community about 100 miles south of his former jurisdiction. White, who left the political spotlight in 2001 for a “simpler life,” also operates an alpaca farm in the area. “People who know only the public side of me don’t know that I was an ag major at Ohio State,” he told Unfiltered. The winery, Yellow Butterfly, which opens in May, will focus on locally grown varieties such as Traminette, a cold-hardy Gewürztraminer hybrid. The former mayor admits that his favorite wine is white Zinfandel, but Unfiltered thinks he’s headed in the right direction: The “gateway wine” has already piqued his interest in exploring sweeter-styled reds.

Ski then sip in style with Champagne house Veuve Clicquot’s latest fashionable accessory.

• Unfiltered retired our beer goggles when we graduated from college, but the Veuve Clicquot Champagne house is tempting us with a sophisticated upgrade—high-fashion ski goggles with Champagne-colored lenses. The limited-edition goggles, made by high-end sporting goods manufacturer Smith, feature a vision enhancing Carbonic-X lens, airflow lens-ventilation system, single-layer face foam and the yellow Veuve Clicquot logo on the strap. Retailing for $105, the goggles are on sale throughout ski season and celebrate Aspen’s Clicquot in the Snow, the third-annual weekend of après ski events including Champagne tastings and parties running today through Sunday. With just 800 sets made, Unfiltered hopes a pair makes it into the hands of Olympic gold medalist Shaun White—what better way to execute his double cork snowboarding stunt in style?

Chile earthquake rattles wine industry as millions of bottles’ worth is lost

Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 4, 2010

SANTIAGO, CHILE — The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to one of the world’s most popular wine industries, sending rivers of merlot and cabernet sauvignon pouring from cracked barrels and vast storage tanks onto warehouse floors.

“That was hard to watch,” said Pablo Morande Jr., who said he looked on as 2 1/2 million liters of wine sloshed into the ground at his vineyard in Chile’s battered wine country.

Vintners and analysts of an industry that is the fourth-leading wine exporter to the United States after Italy,France and Australia estimated that at least 150 million bottles’ worth of wine, and perhaps much more, was destroyed in the 8.8-magnitude tremor, which killed more than 800 people.

René Merino, president of Wines of Chile, the national association, said that at current retail prices in the United States, the loss was worth $975 million in spilled wine alone.

The full extent of the damage to the industry, which has annual sales of about $1.3 billion, is only now coming into focus as wine producers take stock of their losses. Some industry officials played down the damage, saying there would be little long-term effect on price or supply.

Officials from Chile’s biggest producers, representing 95 percent of the industry, met Wednesday and concluded that the earthquake’s effects on business were not as bad as initially feared. Merino, who led the meeting, said about 12.5 percent of the country’s cellared wine was lost.

But others said perhaps 20 percent or more of the Chilean industry’s stored wine was destroyed, which could create serious problems for Chilean exports in the coming months.

“Many wineries that lost 80 percent of their production are publicly saying just 15 percent was lost,” said one wine executive who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the fear that distributors would cut off wineries thought to be most heavily damaged by the quake. “This is an incredibly touchy subject.”

GALLERY

Earthquake in Chile

A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday, Feb. 27, and triggered a tsunami that threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

About 70 percent of Chilean production takes place in areas badly affected by the quake, including the Maule, Colchagua and Cachapoal valleys, all key areas for Chilean wine production.

Much of the damage came when massive storage tanks, stainless steel vats more than 15 feet high, toppled. Violent shaking snapped tank legs bolted to the ground, knocking the vats over and causing a domino effect as tank after tank crashed to the ground. Wine stored in barrels was also lost as the barrels rolled off racks, cracked open or popped the seal, flooding warehouses.

Winemakers who have visited the region said the damage extended far beyond finished wine. The quake also caused massive damage to infrastructure ranging from cracked underground irrigation tubing to collapsed warehouses. They said the damage has left major questions about the entire 2010 harvest and exports.

Although wine represents just 1 percent of Chile’s exports, the wine industry employs 80,000 full-time workers. In Chile’s central valley, wine is an important source of employment for thousands of temporary fruit pickers who flood the region every March. With roads and worker housing destroyed in the quake, the fate of this year’s harvest is unclear.

A mad scramble to buy grapes is expected as top producers seek to guarantee enough raw material to fill future wine orders. However, analysts said that after reduced sales last year because of the global economic crisis and a bumper harvest last year, wine storage at Chile was far above normal levels.

Still, with the fruit harvest just underway, Chile’s wineries are scrambling to find electrical generators to keep drip irrigation systems running. Centuries-old irrigation canals that bring fresh water from the mountains have collapsed, with water spilling down the hillsides long before it reaches the grapes.

“The vineyards still have no electricity in Maule, so they have not watered their vines since Saturday, so already we are talking five days. It is a hot time of year. . . . The fruit is going to raisin,” said Grant Phelps, chief winemaker at Casas del Bosque winery.

Phelps said his winery, in the Casablanca Valley, close to Santiago, was not severely damaged and lost just an estimated 5,000 liters. He said quick work by his employees to turn on an emergency generator to pump wine from damaged vats averted worse losses.

He said wineries further south in Chile were harder hit. He said some who lost electrical power could do nothing but “watch it go down the drain.”

Alfredo S. Bartholomaus, a Chilean-born importer who is credited with helping to introduce U.S. consumers to Chilean wine in the 1980s, was scheduled to fly to Santiago from Miami on Saturday. Instead, he returned to Washington and began contacting associates and clients in Chile.

Bartholomaus was 19 when the 1960 earthquake struck Chile, and he said he has vivid memories of hillside coastal towns that were destroyed by that quake’s tsunami.

Bartholomaus said it was too early to predict the disaster’s impact on Chilean wine exports. Although there are reports of millions of liters lost, “we don’t know if that was wine intended for export or for the domestic Chilean market,” he said. “I don’t think it will have much influence on the price of Chilean wine for the moment.”

In recent years, Chile has seen its fourth-place U.S. market share challenged by its South American neighbor, Argentina, as U.S. consumers have become more fond of malbec wines grown on the eastern side of the Andes.

Ironically, the earthquake may give Chile a temporary boost in sales, by calling attention to the plight of its wine industry. Phil Bernstein, who manages the South American portfolio at Addy Bassin’s MacArthur Beverages in the Palisades area of Northwest Washington, said he noticed more customers hovering over his Chilean selections this week.

“Several people said they hadn’t tried a wine from Chile in a while,” Bernstein said.

“People tend to seek solidarity with a country after a natural catastrophe,” said Merino, president of Wines of Chile. Asked about reports that consumers were paying more attention to Chilean wines after the quake, Merino said, “We have our fingers crossed that this is true.”

Wine columnist Dave McIntyre in Washington contributed to this report.