text:
Research Article| September 01 1998
Henry's constants and mass transfer coefficients of halogenated organic pollutants in an air stripping packed column
Pen-C. Chiang;
Pen-C. Chiang
*Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Chung-H. Hung;
Chung-H. Hung
**Department of Environmental Engineering, Foo-Yin Institute of Technology, Taliao, Kaohsiung Hsien, Taiwan, R.O.C.
J. C. Mar;
J. C. Mar
E. E. Chang
***Department of Analytic Chemistry, Taipei Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.1998.0263
Pen-C. Chiang, Chung-H. Hung, J. C. Mar, E. E. Chang; Henry's constants and mass transfer coefficients of halogenated organic pollutants in an air stripping packed column. Water Sci Technol 1 September 1998; 38 (6): 287–294. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.1998.0263
Both Henry's constants and volumetric mass transfer coefficients (KLa) of eight priority chlorinated organic compounds including 1,1-dichloroethene, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and 1,4-dichlorobenzene in an air stripping packed column were investigated in this study. The liquid and gas phase EPICS (Equilibrium Partition in Closed System) and direct calculating methods were applied to determine the Henry's constants of VOCs. The interference of co-solute on Henry's constants was also investigated. Experimental results indicated that decrease in Henry's constants of VOCs was observed in the presence of humic acid but no apparent effect on Henry's constants was detected when there was NaCl and surfactant in solution. Four different configurations of packing media including Intalox Saddle, Super Intalox Saddle, Telleret, and Hedgehog made of polypropylene were respectively packed in the air stripping tower and investigated in the study. The dependence of hydraulic loading, air-water ratio, and configurations of packing media on mass transfer coefficients of VOCs was discussed.
Air stripping, Halogenated organic pollutants, Henry's constants, mass transfer coefficients, packing media
© IWA Publishing 1998
Impact Factor 1.915
CiteScore 3.3 • Q2
13 days from submission to first decision on average
This paper is Open Access via a Subscribe to Open model. Individuals can help sustain this model by contributing the cost of what would have been author fees. Find out more here.


text:
Physics and Astronomy home
About Physics and Astronomy
Research profiles
Co-op information
Physics 437 research projects
Undergraduate Student Research Awards
About to graduate
Funding and tuition
News archive - September 2015
The quantum vacuum takes shape
The concepts of a quantum vacuum and quantum vacuum fluctuations are still not accepted by everyone. However, a group of researchers including Chris Wilson from the Department of Physics and Astronomy have found further evidence that the two concepts are a reality. Through experiments conducted at Chalmers University of Technology, the researchers were able to probe the quantum vacuum fluctuations and not only measure their strength, but also map out their shape them.
A twist for control of orbital angular momentum of neutron waves
For the first time, a team of University of Waterloo researchers from the Faculty of Science and Institute Quantum Computing show that a wave property of neutrons, Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), can be controlled.
This newfound control of neutron OAM states means that researchers can now use neutron OAM beams to see inside materials that optical, x-ray or electron OAM beams can't penetrate.
This control can help measure the magnetism, for example, in magnetic materials, as well as deeper probes of superconducting and chiral materials.
Transportation Public Lecture brings community together for Science Literacy Week
Physics and Astronomy Professor David Hawthorn demonstrates superconductivity using a miniature levitating train.
HeForShe Impact Scholarship winners arrive at Waterloo
Six young women entering STEM disciplines in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will begin their studies this year with a $12,000 HeForShe IMPACT Scholarship from the University of Waterloo.
The new scholarship program is part of Waterloo's ongoing efforts to achieve gender equity in academic programs that have traditionally been male dominated. They will be awarded to 24 young women over the next four years for a total of $288,000.
Future students (22)
Faculty (23)
Alumni (22)
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: (519) 888-4567 ext 32215
Contact Physics and Astronomy
Log into Student Portal
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Institute for Quantum Computing

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Top-level fitness, tennis and squash facilities with a strong feeling of community. Mayfair aims to cultivate the ultimate member experience by providing first-rate amenities and service.
Friendly and experienced staff look to enhance the member experience whether you're playing tennis, squash, enjoying our spa and wellness departments, working out at the gym, swimming, or relaxing in the Bistro.
Sports camps: Tennis Camp, Squash Camp, and Splash and Laugh Camp (swimming skills) for summer break, winter break, March break, and PA days.
Birthday parties: fun sports party packages including soccer parties, ball hockey parties, multi-sport parties, tennis parties, squash parties, and pool parties; plus cooking parties, make-your-own parties, movie parties and spa, dress-up and tea parties!


text:
Carolyn Hax/Tell me about it
Carolyn Hax: Invite said 'no gifts,' so don't bring one, and don't feel bad about it
Suggest donations to charity, so the can't-arrive-empty-handed crowd will have an outlet
3 mos ago + By Carolyn Hax/Tell me about it
Carolyn Hax: She settled and married a man she didn't really want, but does he know that?
"I don't look at my marriage as a loss, only that the spouse I really wanted simply doesn't exist"
Carolyn Hax: Daughter's kids wreak havoc during a two-week visit to Grandma's house
"I don't know how to tell her without harming our relationship that they cannot stay with me on her next visit"
Carolyn Hax: Aunt would like to impose a deadline on niece's overlong summer visit
"I just don't want to be responsible for a young adult; it opens up a different set of challenges and issues"
Carolyn Hax: Daughter feels disingenuous when grieving the parent her mother never was
It's normal for surviving children to grieve both the parent they had and the parent they wished for
Carolyn Hax: Son and girlfriend told they can't live with Mom to save money unless they marry
Aunt wonders if she should warn her sister of the possible consequence of this demand
Carolyn Hax: Mother-in-law's control tactic is side-eye and silence. Now what?
Projecting her answer to questions and going along with your plan may be the best option
Carolyn Hax: Even being a part-time foster parent doesn't appeal to him
For two years they cared for his wife's half siblings, but now he wants out
Carolyn Hax: How do I keep from being my sister's divorce sounding board
Sister wants an end to constant complaints about soon-to-be ex-husband
Carolyn Hax: Adult daughter's resentment building as she feels forced to care for irresponsible Mom
Mom has no regard for consequences or the position she puts others in by her choices
Carolyn Hax: Controlling Mom lashes out at son who 'let her down'
He's skipping college to pursue a trade, she wants him to pay his own bills now
Carolyn Hax: Wife needs help picking up the pieces after new husband's financial fraud
New husband lied, caused you harm, and apparently does not see getting caught as a deterrent


text:
The Star Story Preview
Preview our magazine's lead feature
Thank you! You are now signed up to the Star Story Preview
Hauser & Wirth launches in Somerset
The gallery heads west and opens with a Phyllida Barlow show
Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL (01749-814 060; www.hauserwirthsomerset.com).
July 15 2014 / Charlotte Abrahams
The latest addition to Hauser & Wirth's international portfolio of galleries dedicated to contemporary and modern art opens on Tuesday July 15 with Gig, an exhibition of dense and exuberant new sculptures by Phyllida Barlow. This is exciting news: Barlow is a significant British artist (her antimonumental work Untitled: Dock is currently on show at Tate Britain), while Hauser & Wirth represents more than 50 leading and emerging artists and is also responsible for the estates of Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesse. However, what makes this new space really interesting is its location in a group of Grade II-listed farm buildings on the edge of the rural English town of Bruton, Somerset.
When Iwan and Manuela Wirth first discovered Durslade Farm, it was falling into disrepair, but they saw an opportunity to create an innovative platform from which to share their passion for contemporary art with the community of Bruton – and beyond. Planning permission was granted in 2012 and now the 100-acre site is home to two new purpose-built galleries, developed by long-term collaborator Luis Laplace of Laplace & Co architects, as well as a number of renovated historic buildings and a landscaped garden designed by Piet Oudolf. (Drawings of his designs are on show.)
The central focus of Hauser & Wirth Somerset is the art, of course, and the core exhibition programme, which Barlow begins in bold and colourful style (with works such as Untitled: Stashhoarding, first picture; Untitled: Gig, second picture; and Untitled: Postscorral, third picture, all price on request), will focus on new work by the gallery's roster of artists.
However, this is also an innovative arts centre offering an impressive programme of talks, seminars, residencies and events, including collaborations with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre and the University of Exeter. And since no decent arts centre is complete without a good café or restaurant, it has one of those, too. Run by award-winning, Bruton-based restaurant At The Chapel, Roth Bar & Grill promises locally sourced food in a beautiful landscape. What's not to love?


text:
Travel To Canada's UNESCO World Heritage Sites
We might be a young country, but as a destination, we have many offerings for tourists.
Shannon Skinner Broadcaster, Speaker, Author
popejon2
Canada is now 150 years old. We might be a young country, but as a destination, we have many offerings for tourists. With ten provinces and three territories extending from coast-to-coast-to-coast, covering a vast 9.9 million square kilometers, Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area.
What you might not know is that Canada has many UNESCO World Heritage Sites. UNSCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - recognizes world heritage sites that are of significant cultural or natural value. And we have plenty of them. Here is a list, so time to pack your bags and hit the road and see these amazing sites:
Canada's UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
1. Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, B.C. and Alberta: includes Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho national parks; and provincial parks Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber.
Grizzly01en via Wikimedia Commons
SGang Gwaay (credit: Grizzley01en)
2. SGang Gwaay, British Columbia: 19th-century Haida village.
3. Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta: located in the 'badlands' of Alberta where important fossils were discovered from the 'Age of Reptiles,' especially 35 species of dinosaur, dating back 75 million years.
4. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta: marked trails, an aboriginal camp and buffalo skeletons are what remain of a 6,000 year-old hunting custom.
5. Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, Alberta: the word's first international peace park, with stunning scenery.
John Talbot
Rideau Canal (credit: John Talbot)
6. Rideau Canal, Ontario: a slackwater canal from Kingston to Ottawa, originally built for strategic military purposes.
7. Historic District of Old Québec, Quebec: a fortified colonial city founded in the early 17th century by French explorer, Champlain.
8. Miguasha National Park, Quebec: on the southern coast of the Gaspé peninsula.
9. Landscape of Grand Pré, Nova Scotia: marshland and archaeological site of the first European settlers in North America.
10. Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia: British colonial settlement.
11. Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia: the "coal age Galápagos."
12. L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, Newfoundland: remains of an 11th-century Viking settlement.
jcmurphy at English Wikipedia
Gros Morne National Park (credit: jcmurphy)
13. Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador: spectacular scenery displaying some of the world's best examples of the process of plate tectonics.
14. Red Bay Basque Whaling Station, Labrador: archaeological testimony of a pre-industrial whaling station.
15. Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek, Yukon Territory, B.C. (and Alaska): Spectacular parks, contains the world's largest non-polar icefield.
16. Mistaken Point, Newfoundland: rugged coastal cliffs that stretch 17 kms.
17. Nahanni National Park, Northwest Territories: one of the most spectacular wild rivers in North America, plus deep canyons, waterfalls, and a limestone cave system.
18. Wood Buffalo National Park, Northwest Territories and Alberta: home to North America's largest population of wild bison.
Canada. What's not to love?
If you have visited any of these sites, I would love to hear what your favourite spot is. Tweet to me at @Shannon_Skinner or leave a comment below.
Shannon Skinner is an award-winning television and radio show host and producer, international speaker, author and travel writer. For more information, visit ExtraordinaryWomenTV.com and ShannonSkinner.com. Tweet to her at @Shannon_Skinner.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.
Photo credit: Canadian Rockies - popejon2, Paddington, Australia (via Wikimedia Commons)
MORE: Banff Buffalo Jump canada canada150 Dinosaur Provincial Park Lanse aux Meadows national parks nature Old Quebec Ridea Canada rockies Rocky mountains SGang Gwaay Shannon Skinner tourism Travel unesco Waterton Glacier International Peace Park world heritage sites news


text:
Dentsply Professional Contract Details
Defense contract under the Defense Logistics Agency awarded to Dentsply Professional on 9/26/2016.
Per the U.S. DoD, * Indicates a "small business" classification and ** indicates a "small disadvantaged business". NOTE: the U.S. DoD only publicly reports contracts valued at $6.5 million USD or greater.
The contract language is EXACTLY as it appears on the official U.S. DoD website (http://www.defense.gov/contracts/) unless otherwise noted.
Contractor: Dentsply Professional
Department: Defense Logistics Agency
Awarded: 9/26/2016
Dentsply Professional, York, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a maximum $35,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for consumable dental items. This was a competitive acquisition with 19 offers received. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. The maximum dollar amount represents the life of the contract, including option years. Location of performance is Pennsylvania, with a Sept. 25, 2021, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DE-16-D-0021).
Total Contract Value: $35,000,000
View all contracts that include "Dentsply Professional" in the MiC database.
What is the Military-Industrial Complex?
Military-Industrial Complex Companies
Military-Industrial Complex Speech
Eisenhower Biography
Yearly Totals
By Service / Agency
U.S. Navy / Marines
Special Operations COMmand (SOCOM)
Transportation Command
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Missile Defense Agency
Defense Finance and Accounting
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Defense Logistics
Site Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies
www.MilitaryIndustrialComplex.com • Content ©2006- MilitaryIndustrialComplex.com • All Rights Reserved. The MilitaryIndustrialComplex.com logo is unique to this website (unless where indicated) and is protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. Unless where indicated, the content presented on this website is from the public domain. Material presented throughout this website is for entertainment and historical value. Images originating from the US DoD do not imply endorsement of this website nor its content. Part of the network of sites that includes MilitaryFactory.com and AmericanPresidents.net.


text:
NewsPolitics
Black Panthers stand with Pamela Smith
by The Black Wall Street Times June 8, 2019
by The Black Wall Street Times Published: June 8, 2019 Last Updated on January 4, 2021
While serving time for a non-violent offense, Pamela Smith became the victim of rape by a prison staff member.
"I am Pamela Smith, I was raped, assaulted and abused," she explained to a local news station back in January 2019.
On Saturday afternoon, members of the New Black Panther Party gathered outside the Tulsa County Courthouse to demand justice for Smith. Some members traveled from nearby states.
"Women of color in the state of Oklahoma do not see justice," Smith told the Tulsa World. "It's powerful men in high positions and state officials that's raping and torturing black women. When black women call out for help, our cries fall on deaf ears. They turn a blind eye."
"When it comes to inmate-on-inmate rape, the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, a female facility in McCloud, Oklahoma, was the worst in the nation, with a rate of 15.3 percent.
Incarcerated women and women of color are the forgotten faces of the #MeToo Movement.
In 2003, the US Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Sadly, this law went into effect after Smith's incident. However, it doesn't negate the fact that she still is a victim of rape and is still owed justice.
Smith is another women of color, fighting for justice in the shadows of the modern day #MeToo movement.
Her life's story "Begging for Justice" is now available on Amazon.com
Black Lives MatterGreenwood NewsGreenwood PoliticsRace in America
Adorable little boy calls out stinky feet Becky
"We were racially profiled," by the Catoosa Police Department


You can "snooze" while having your dentistry done. This very safe method of oral medications allows you to accomplish all your dental goals while sleeping. Dr. Burstein has been trained by the Doctors Organization of Conscious Sedation (DOCS).
Apprehensive, fearful of dental treatment? Are You Anxious About Going To The Dentist?
Relax, you are in good hands. This is true for all patients of our dentist in Sherman Oaks, CA, Dr. Burstein. If you are familiar with dental anxiety, Dr. Burstein wants you to know about the Sherman Oaks, CA sedation dentistry available in his practice. Oral conscious sedation dentistry exists to safely relax patients, making dental work easy for them to face and easier for Dr. Burstein to provide.
How does sedation dentistry works?
Patients take a pill before their appointment and become less aware of the sensations of the dental office. With the use of oral medications in a monitored environment, we can safely perform the dentistry with no discomfort. Furthermore, you will not be aware of the treatment performed and will probably have little or no memory of your dental visit.
"I have been trained in providing you with this safe form of oral sedation. Anxiety regarding your dental treatment should no longer be an obstacle in achieving your dental goals."
Dr. Burstein provides safe and effective sedation dentistry in Sherman Oaks, CA for a relaxing dental visit. Please call (818) 906-1122 if you have any questions regarding anxiety-free dentistry.


The largest Digital Audio advertising network, TargetSpot, released the results of its annual Digital Audio Benchmark and Trend Study. Conducted by Parks Associates, this year's report unveils key new insights about the rapidly growing Digital Audio market. These insights include the growing role of connected devices in facilitating listening, the increase in social interactions while listening, and gains in advertising recall and response rates among Digital Audio consumers.
Digital Audio listeners are highly engaged: 80 percent listen 1-3 hours per day and 40 percent listen 1-2 hours per session. This year's data reveals not only that 75% of listeners change stations on the same Internet Radio service at least once a day, but also that nearly two thirds of listeners change to different Internet Radio websites at least once a day.
The increase in access to content and user engagement has led to increases in both ad recall and response. 58 percent of listeners recalled having seen or heard an Internet Radio ad within the last 30 days compared to 52 percent in 2011. Of those listeners, 44 percent responded to an Internet Radio ad in some way, compared to 40 percent in 2011.


The link below will run the Cold And Flu Guide in a new browser window.
The link below will run the Triple Assessment process in a new browser window.
The link below will run the ERA process in a new browser window.


text:
Category Archives: Grüner Veltliner
Sostevinobile has not always been as diligent as we could be in visiting some of the outlying wine regions that we will be featuring, and so Your West Coast Oenophile recently ventured out to the Livermore Valley for the first time in a few years. Apart from its renowned gargantuan wine operations: Wente, the first significant Chardonnay producer in California, and Concannon, which inaugurated Petite Sirah on the West Coast, far too many other members of the Livermore Valley AVA are relegated to relative obscurity outside the Bay Area (in no small part because these two aforementioned wineries were permitted to remain open during Prohibition).
To rectify matters, I took recently advantage of an invite to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremonies for Wente's Table & Tasting Lounge to reacquaint myself with some of the AVA's cutting-edge producers. Readers who know me know I have long been a vocal advocate of Steven Kent, a producer whose Cabernets deliver more bang for the buck—$125 for a bottle that would easily fetch $500+ if the label read Napa—than perhaps any other winery on the West Coast, along with Daou and Quilceda Creek. Less publicized is that his family's former winery, Mirrasou, had committed 250,000 cases of their White Zinfandel to my debut bottling, George Herbert Walker Blush, before the bureaucrats at BATF denied us label approval.
Thirty years later, Steven's wines are a far cry from what I experienced in the snow-covered (!) vineyards in San Martin. Our tasting began with a sneak taste of their just-bottled 2018 Ragbag Albariño, a crisp, deft expression of the grape form Lodi's acclaimed Bokisch Vineyards. Similarly, the 2018 Lola was a predominantly Sauvignon Blanc blend, mellowed out with a substantial 32% Sémillon. Mid-range BDX single-varietal bottlings of the classic, pre-climate change Bordeaux reds from their Ghielmetti Estate Vineyard, was strikingly represented by the non-vintage BDX Collection Malbec, while the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon exquisitely blended their Ghielmetti Cabernet with 4.5% Petit Verdot and 4.5% Merlot from nearby vineyards.
Though young, the 2016 SVS Cabernet Sauvignon, produced entirely from the Clone 7 plantings at Steven Kent's Home Ranch Vineyard, totally exemplified why this unassuming operation deserves to be ranked among the elite producers from California's more heralded regions. A beautiful wine with the promise of attaining its full potential in another 10 years.
From there, I moseyed on to Darcie Kent, no relation to Steven but certainly a kindred spirit in raising the bar for Livermore viticulture. Their quaint, cottage-style winery stands in welcome contrast to the industrial feel of the nearby Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the soulless abodes of its nuclear physicists. Darcie and her husband David greeted me with a special hand selected tasting that began with their 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, a self-described spicy interpretation of the ever-so-delicate Musqué clone. Next up was their spectacular 2018 Rava Blackjack Grüner Veltliner, a signature wine that predated the Kent's' move into their own facility. I was similarly impress with the upcoming release of the 2018 Pistachio Lane Chardonnay, while the library selection of the 2014 DeMayo Chardonnay aged beautifully.
Darcie Kent's Petite Sirah bottling, the 2009 Madden Big Petite amply showed why this varietal remains a mainstay in Livermore. We concluded the tasting with their 2015 Firepit Red, a deft mélange of the premium fruit from their Crown Block Estate Vineyard: Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, and Zinfandel. Afterwards, I stayed on as a guest for their barbecue and concert by The Novelists, a Reno-based quartet that adeptly covers hits from Bruce Springsteen and Queen to Toto and Pink Floyd. It was a splendid coda to a splendid visit.
My only regret of the afternoon was not allotting sufficient time to visit with the many other wineries here. Since my last visit to Livermore, there has been a notable proliferation of vineyards, tasting rooms, and producers, along with a collaborative effort to upgrade facilities here from the rather mundane sterility of a light industrial complex to more inviting and encompassing tasting experiences, as renovation of S. Vasco Road's The Block 37 attests. I intend to make up for this lapse quite soon.
This entry was posted in Albariño, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Musqué, Sémillon, Uncategorized, Zinfandel and tagged Bokisch, Concannon, Daou, Darcie Kent, Mirrasou, Quilceda Creek, Steven Kent, Wente on July 22, 2019 by donaldmarc.
My contribution to the world's wine lexicon
One of the hallmarks Your West Coast Oenophile is striving to establish for the wine program at Sostevinobile is untainted objectivity in selecting the wines we will feature, both at our wine bar and through our retail operations. Over the 2½ years that I have been relentlessly developing the wine program, I have made numerous new friends, strengthened old acquaintances, and been extended enormous generosity everywhere I've traveled. But I cannot allow the pull of personal relationships to influence our decisions, insuring that our clientele knows that we are offering them the best wines we can source, week in and week out, based solely on a rigorous methodology for evaluation (more on this in a later posting).
This process of selection, however, is based on a bias I have articulated many times: that the quality and variety of wines found on the West Coast makes for a superior wine program that is comprehensive in its scope and that delivers wines of sufficient, if not exceptional, value. Toward this end, I am constantly willing to challenge my own hypothesis and sample a wide array of the imported wines Sostevinobile eschews.
Recently, I returned for another pre-auction tasting with Wine Gavel at Ame restaurant in San Francisco. Admittedly, this is a realm in which I have scant exposure and have little ability to assess the quality of the event, apart from the criteria outlined in their event program. After all, the mere notion of wine collecting baffles me. Unlike something like numismatics or philately or other accumulations of memorabilia, the only way a wine collector can fully enjoy his acquisition is to obliterate its value. On the other hand, if the collector does not consume the wine, the whole exercise seems like a thankless pursuit.
As with last year's event that I attended, Wine Gavel poured a number of well-aged French vintages, including a handful of Premiers Crus, from their own vaults. Several of these had been polished off before I arrived, but those that I did manage to taste ranged from lackluster to near dreadful, at least when standing on their own merits (vs. pairing with food). Maybe these particular wines came from off vintages. Maybe previous owners had stored them improperly. In any case, I was once again duly unimpressed with such highly-touted labels.
Shortly after, I partook in a late night tasting of French wines at Prospect. Here, the Robert Kacher Selections and our host, the Henry Wine Group, brought out a number of more moderate selections from the Loire Valley, Alsace, Côtes du Gascogne, Burgundy, Corbières, Costières de Nîmes, and the Rhône Valley. Nearly all these wines listed at <$20/bottle wholesale, many even less than $10, while the represented AOCs ranged from the rigid strictures of Bourgogne and Châteauneuf du Pape to the unfettered blends found in the minor regions. As I found with the Bordeaux tasting I had attended earlier this year, an enormous gulf exists between the top echelon (Premier Cru houses in Bordeaux, Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy) and those from the lower tiers in those appellations that issue such rankings.
Here's the gist of what I ascertained at this tasting. The lower end white and red Burgundies (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) poured here could hardly be said to give Oregon or Santa Barbara a run for their money. The range of Sauvignon Blanc expressions, including the Sancerres, mostly seemed pleasant, if unremarkable. The dessert bottlings never failed to please, while I must concede that the West Coast is still catching up to France in its capacity to offer as broad a selection of noteworthy, mid-range sparkling wines as the proliferation of Crémants and Champagnes they produce.
My investigations into West Coast viticulture are by no means near complete or comprehensive, but as yet, I have not found a varietal bottling of Aligoté or a straight Ugni Blanc here. Seldom -seen Carignan played a more prominent role in a number of the French wines, including the 2008 Domaine Sainte Eugénie Le Clos Vin de Pays d'Hauterive and its sibling 2007 Domaine Sainte Eugénie Corbières Rouge, two highly impressive wines, given their sub-$9 price tag, while the premium Font du Michelle Châteauneuf du Pape Étienne proved well-worth the price it commands. But, in spite these exceptions, the selection of French wines overall failed to sway me from my contention that the omission of imports diminishes the wine program I am building.
Some wines can be so restrained or overly acidic that they simply cannot function on their own merits. To call such wines "food mandatory" seems appropriate, as their need for complementary pairings cries out:
The pablum reiterated ad infinitum by local sommeliers to rationalize their disdain for California wines is that French and other European vintages offer lower alcohol levels and a more restrained, terroir-expressive style that makes them food friendly. I would contend that the plethora of these imports are food mandatory—wines virtually undrinkable without the salvation of food pairings.
This reality hits home pointedly with the Italian vintages I've recently sampled, including the 1998 Quintarelli Ca' del Merlo IGT Veneto (Valpolicella) or the Terlato-owned 2001 Gaja Sito Moresco poured at Wine Gavel. At San Francisco's hotter than hot Cotogna, I had to send back both the 2008 Tenimenti d'Alessandro Cortona Syrah and the 2008 Renato Ratti Nebbiolo d'Alba Ochetti, while I struggled through samples of the 2008 Torre di Beatti Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, the 2009 Cantine Barbera Nero d'Avola, and the 2008 Marotti Campi Lacrima di Morro d'Alba Rúbico before throwing in the towel and ordering grappa at Italian wine-focused Ottimista Enoteca.
These explorations served as prelude to my return visit to Around the World in 80 Sips, a reprise from the tasting Alyssa Rapp's Bottlenotes staged last year. This time round, however, the event took place at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, rather than at Crushpad, which had relocated to Napa. Consequently, this tasting no longer was dominated by labels from the defunct San Francisco Wine Association or produced at the Third Street facility, while offering a wider spectrum from winemakers within California and around the world.
I had planned to work my way through the local producers, then continue my forays into the imported wines, and ought to have had enough time to sample just about everything on the program. But even with a trade hour before its official start, Around the World in 80 Sips is a different kind of wine tasting, a sales event geared for their wine club subscribers and the οἱ πολλοί, as we used to say in my ancient Greek studies. Not that it even remotely resembled the mass frenzy of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition that transpired a week later; still, the setup here lacked a flow and coherence one expects at an event oriented toward wine industry professionals.
The central reception area housed a number of the sponsoring wineries, along with vendors for different wine paraphernalia, and the only food at the event. I immediately gravitated toward Clos du Val's table for my first sampling of their wines since their Vindependence launch last July. Fortunately, Tracey Mason only remembered my commendations for their wines and so generously poured a full selection of their offerings, starting with the unlisted 2007 Carneros Chardonnay, followed by a superior successor in the 2008 Carneros Chardonnay. Similarly, as enjoyable as the 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir proved to be, the 2007 Reserve Pinot Noir easily eclipsed it. And while I preferred the less expensive 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2006 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon hardly stoods as a laggard.
Chappellet is one of those wineries so consistently good, it's easy to take them for granted. Their more accessible selections, the 2009 Napa Valley Chardonnay and the 2008 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon could easily delineate a lesser winery, while their 2008 Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon proved absolutely stellar.
Sonoma's Freeman Vineyards may not be as widely recognized as Chappellet, but inarguably maintains an equally impressive reputation for their Pinots. As expected, both the 2008 Akiko's Cuvée and the 2008 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir exemplified this finicky varietal. One of these days, I may actually get the chance to tell Michael Polenske how much I like his Blackbird label, but, for this evening, I simply had to content myself by tasting through his 2008 Arriviste (a dry rosé crafted from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc), the Merlot-dominant 2007 Illustration, and the 2008 Arise, a Pomérol-style blend.
It was good to reencounter my friend Janet Viader, who has included Sostevinobile in all sorts of industry events over the past couple of years, and sample her latest vintages. The 2007 Tempranillo showed an amiable expression of the grape, while the 2008 Cabernet Franc radiated. Also excelling with this latter varietal, Crocker & Starr poured its version of the 2008 Cabernet Franc alongside a splendid 2009 Sauvignon Blanc.
Whenever I encounter Cannonball, I invariably break out my iPhone and play the live version of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy—a perfect tune to complement both the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and the exceptional 2007 Merlot. I also cited a musical allusion for Sledgehammer in my last column, so will avoid the pitfall of redundancy this time around. A resampling of their 2008 Zinfandel, however, seemed perfectly warranted, while I was glad to be introduced to their 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Nearby, Karen Cakebread introduced attendees to her new venture, Ziata Wines, pouring her inaugural 2008 Oakville Cabernet Franc and a preview of the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, both superb viticultural efforts.
Also new to me was Matt Kowalczyk's Buscador from Santa Ynez. This decidedly non-vegan venture made a strong initial impression with its 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and a trio of reds: the 2008 Petite Sirah, a youngish 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, and the quite splendid 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. Not new but more than wonderful to see once again was Napa's Neal Family, with equally impressive bottlings of their 2008 Napa Valley Zinfandel and the 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. And I was please to check in on the continuing evolution of Clif Family Winery, whose accessible and affordable The Climber series included the 2009 The Climber Sauvignon Blanc and the 2009 The Climber Red, a blend of 63% Zinfandel, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Syrah, 2% Merlot, and 2% Petite Sirah.
An interesting find this evening was a négociant bottler known as Banshee, which bifurcates its production with a lower-end label they call Rickshaw. Both the $15 2009 Rickshaw Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast and the $15 2007 Red Wine Napa Valley (a mélange of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot) struck me as well-crafted wines, while the more expensive 2009 Banshee Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast and the 2008 Banshee Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley impressed me mightily for wines sourced on the open market. Now that the Huneeus Partnerships produces a number of Orin Swift's former bottlings, they treat each as a separate label, without detriment to either the 2009 Saldo Zinfandel or the emblematic 2009 The Prisoner, still a Zinfandel blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Charbono, Grenache, and Malbec.
Also featuring a split persona, Greg Norman Estates Wine featured both their California and their Australian labels; from their local operations, the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc struck me as a bit perfunctory. Before I delve into his imported wines, however, as well as the others I managed to sample, I wanted to focus on the true anomaly of Around the World in 80 Sips: an entire enclave devoted to the wines of the Livermore Valley. I'd like to think this sequestration stemmed from an ultimatum: buy our wines or we will obliterate you from the face of the Earth, but, despite their superior nuclear capabilities (compared to every other appellation on the planet), I gather that the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association helped underwrite the event and so warranted special focus.
Front and center in the Livermore room, Concannon's Jim Ryan held court, pouring both his lush 2006 Reserve Petite Sirah and the 2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as the 2008 DeMayo Chardonnay and the 2007 DeMayo Zinfandel from Darcie Kent, a Livermore boutique noted for her vibrant painted labels. Livermore's other Goliath, Wente Vineyards showcased a range of its labels, from the low-end Tamás Estates' 2008 Double Decker Red (Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Barbera) to the striking Meritage 2008 The Spur from Murrieta's Well to their own 2009 Riva Ranch Chardonnay and the smooth 2008 Small Lot Grenache.
No longer affiliated with his family's Gallo-controlled winery, Steven Mirrasou's eponymous Steven Kent offered a trio of his vintages: the 2008 Merrillie Chardonnay Landucci Block, his signature 2007 Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, and an extremely pleasing 2007 Small-Lot Petit Verdot Ghielmetti Vineyard. Finally, one of Livermore's hidden gems, Nottingham Cellars, hit critical mass with their featured wines: the 2009 Chardonnay and a superb 2008 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
I had hoped to find more time to work my way through the rest of the world, but the disparate configuration of the event made access to a number of stations problematic. In particular, I regret missing the wide selection of Austrian wines. Despite pouring from three tables in the central room, the crush of attendees thwarted my efforts to sample a number of varietals that have scant production in California: Zweigelt (Mokelumne Glen); St. Laurent (Forlorn Hope); and Grüner Veltliner (von Strasser and the aforementioned Darcie Kent). Not to mention a Riesling or two.
I did make it to the Australian table, however, and found Greg Norman's contribution, his 2007 Limestone Coast Shiraz, a perfectly standard Aussie Syrah, while the slightly blushing 2008 Brut Taché from Taltarni Vineyards only marginally impressed. I didn't get to try any of the Sauvignon Blancs that put New Zealand on the viticultural landscape nor the lone Malbec that exemplified Argentina, but did linger at the table for neighboring Chile. Here the forte has become Carménère, best represented this evening by the 2007 Terrunyo Carménère from Concha y Toro, the conglomerate which recently acquired Fetzer and Brown & Forman's other wine holdings. Apart from this exceptional wine, the Chilean portfolio struck me as rather mundane, including the 2008 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon from Cousiño Macul, a weak 2009 Reserva Carménère from Casa Silva, and even the much-touted 2007 Maquis Lien, a wine that blended Syrah with Carménère, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.
The table from Italy had already packed up when I arrived, and most of France had been depleted, save the rather forgettable 2009 Whispering Angel Côtes de Provence Rosé from Château d'Esclans. And with that final sip, it was time to bid adieu and thank Alyssa for her hospitality, then head to the home of the America's Cup for a social gathering.
Someday soon, I hope, I will be able to attend a wine tasting simply for the pleasure of the wine and the comradery of the other attendees. When I no longer need to research the wine program at Sostevinobile on such an intense level, I will be able to appreciate events like Around the World in 80 Sips in a completely different light, to be sure. And with that in mind, I look forward to next year's event and Bottlenotes' continued success.
Meanwhile, though little convinces me I should reconstrue the wine program I have mapped out, I expect that I will continue to explore the range of wines that fall outside our purview. Know that the staff Sostevinobile plans to assemble will be thoroughly versed in the entire world of wine and able to explain the virtues of varietals and styles grown elsewhere, in order to offer our clientele a sound basis for understanding and enjoying the wines we do select.
On a professional level, the staunch proponents of imported wines will continue to champion their belief in the superior balance in their selections. Food friendly or food mandatory, it is not my charge to sway the beliefs of these sommeliers and restaurateurs. My only mandate is to build a wine program that will be second to none.
This entry was posted in Aligoté, Barbera, Brut, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Carménère, Charbono, Chardonnay, Grenache, Grüner Veltliner, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, Tempranillo, Ugni Blanc, Zinfandel on March 7, 2011 by donaldmarc.
And now, a word from our sponsor…
In this final entry for 2010, I'd like to step out of my guise as Your West Coast Oenophile and speak to the future of Sostevinobile. This past year presented considerable challenges, even for those of us who didn't grow grapes; one of the consequences was that I became too immersed on a number of fronts to put out a newsletter. In lieu, I cobbled together a Christmas greeting for our many winery friends, business affiliates, and other acquaintances, with intimations of substantive progress for our venture looming just ahead in the New Year.
We're still on track for January, and my optimism increases with every passing day. And it was certainly gratifying to receive numerous congratulations and encouraging responses to my mass e-mailing (once I figured out how to work around Earthlink's bulk mail policies). Nonetheless, intimations in a few of these replies lead me to feel I should make clear what Sostevinobile's wine acquisition procedures will be, once we become ready to start formal operations.
I began building our wine program just over two years ago and have now identified and addressed nearly 2,300 wineries and independent labels throughout California, Washington, and Oregon. This puts us somewhere between ¼ and ⅓ of our target of assembling the most comprehensive source of sustainably-grown wines from the West Coast. Obviously, there will be myriad implications to such an ambitious goal.
The long-term plan for Sostevinobile is to open and operate up to a dozen large-format wine bars with retail stores and e-commerce in strategically-select cities throughout these three states (any more than that and we will not be able to provide the consistent quality I demand). For now, however, everything is focused on launching our flagship wine bar in San Francisco. Here we will have a rotating program of 48 wines by the glass, with an ever-growing reserve bottle-only list and a much more comprehensive retail line.
with swapping out one flight of red wine and one flight of white each week,
that leaves us with somewhere in the vicinity of 350-400 wines we can
offer onsite our first year. Regrettably, this will mean Sostevinobile cannot accommodate every wine I try—at least as a bar selection—and I have made a point of not making any commitments in this regard other than to be as equitable with everyone as I possibly can be.
My role in developing Sostevinobile has been to lay the groundwork for our wine programs and to build a database of wineries that meet with our criteria for inclusion. When Sostevinobile does reach the point where we are actively acquiring wine, selections will be determined by consensus of the in-house wine tasting panel I am cultivating. I do not pretend to have a universal palate that can speak to the widely disparate tastes of the clientele we are anticipating, nor do I believe any one single person should try to fulfill such a function.
Sostevinobile is determined to avail our wine bar and retail programs to every winery I have contacted and befriended over the past two years. Our tasting panel will give a fair and studied evaluation to each of the wines submitted to us and determine how best we might incorporate it into our wine lists and our retail sales. But the only immutable pledge I can make is to sustain the integrity of our program and provide the finest showcase available for the incredible wines of our region.
Certain factors will inescapably play into our decisions. Wines will have to fall into an affordable by-the-glass range. Wines readily available in supermarkets or wine superstores will likely face less of a chance for inclusion than those that can constitute discoveries for our clientele. Statistically, the four California bottlers of an underrepresented varietal like Grüner Veltliner will more likely to find their way onto one of our flights than will the 900 or so Chardonnay producers. And, of course, all the wine Sostevinobile selects must meet with a level of sustainability that I will outline in the near future (like the new California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance certification, our criteria are being designed to be supportive and embracing, not exclusionary).
On a personal note, I look forward to working in 2011 with the numerous wineries with whom Sostevinobile has already established a relationship and to enjoining those whom we have yet to meet. Like most other people, I am hoping that the economic turmoil of 2010 will soon be but a speck in the rearview mirror and the coming year will bring prosperity and success to us all.
2010 also saw the loss of a number of wine friends I have made, including Art Finkelstein, Marie Nichelini-Irwin, and Rachel Ann Seghesio, whom I had met merely two days before her unexpected passing. Perhaps most poignant, however, was the death of 104-year-old Marie Ringrose, the aunt of Sostevinobile's putative seed investor and of numerous members of the Dolan (Mendocino Wine Company) and Rossi families (Italian Swiss Colony). Two Christmases ago, I delivered a fifth of her favorite daily tonic, Johnny Walker Red, to the San Francisco Towers, where she resided.
Sostevinobile hopes all our patrons can enjoy such dynamic longevity! Our goal is to furnish the proper elixir to ensure it!
This entry was posted in Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner on December 31, 2010 by donaldmarc.
Try to dismember a guy in September
T.S. Eliot was wrong—how could anyone who is as morosely fatalistic before the age of 35, as the pre-redacted version of The Wasteland clearly illustrates, not be? Granted, September may not truly be the cruelest month—Your West Coast Oenophile is a proud September baby—but, in its role as California Wine Month, it has certainly proved the most overwhelming for Sostevinobile.
Nine major events to attend and cover, in the space of little over three weeks, with several others I was forced to bypass because of time overlaps—suffice it to say I felt tugged in about a hundred different directions. This coming on the heels of Family Winemakers, with the 76 wineries I tasted there. I'm beginning to feel like a walking field blend! I've already written extensively on the Taste of Sonoma, and am obliged to thorough coverage of The Ultimate Sierra Foothills Wine Tasting Experience, the 11th Annual Mt. Veeder Appellation Tasting, and the Coombsville Première Tasting. Now, however, let me try to synopsize the other five events and some private explorations:
Rock Wall Does Rockpile
The day after my Disco Milestone Birthday, my friend Randy Caparoso sponsored a side-by-side tasting of the various winemakers and growers from the Rockpile AVA. This viticultural area is highly unusual, in that it owes its prominence to the recent man-made phenomenon of Lake Sonoma, which formed following the damming of Dry Creek in 1983. Unintentionally, this artificial reservoir provided a new climate modulator for the soil-poor ridge tops that were not submerged after the dam's completion, making possible the highly-stressed Zinfandel vines for which this rugged region is famed.
Others had farmed here before or made wine from Rockpile Vineyards, but the AVA truly came into its own when Wine Spectator named the 2003 Rosenblum Rockpile Road Zinfandel its #3 wine for 2005. Fittingly, Randy's Rockpile seminar took place at Alameda's Rock Wall, Kent Rosenblum's current wine venture that Sostevinobile has cited on numerous occasions. Along with the "home team," seven other wineries poured for this trade-only event, making the afternoon quite leisurely, with unfettered access to all the winemakers on hand.
Rock Wall poured familiar selections of its wines, including the 2008 Chardonnay Russian River and a barrel sample of its 2009 Rockpile Zinfandel, chivalrously allowing its guest wineries to take the spotlight. Along with its 2007 Señal, a Zinfandel smoothed with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Petite Sirah it had poured at Family Winemakers, Branham Estate showcased both a 2007 Rockpile Petite Sirah and 2005 Rockpile Zinfandel.
Stryker Sonoma is a Geyserville operation making a number of wines from Rockpile Vineyards. Exceptional wines, as their black ink 2006 Petit Verdot Rockpile Vineyard and new 2007 Cabernet Franc Rockpile Vineyard attested, along with an amiable 2005 Zinfandel. My friends from Seghesio poured an interesting bi-annual vertical of their Rockpile Zins, starting with their exceptional 2005 Rockpile Zinfandel. While the 2007 Rockpile Zinfandel tasted a tad less complex, the barrel sample of the 2009 vintage portended great promise
Rockpile suits a range of bold, red varietals, including the family of Bordeaux grapes. Paradise Ridge fully exploits this terrain with its 2007 Rockpile Merlot. Like Seghesio, it offered a vertical of its Rockpile Cabs, starting with the 2005 Elevation Cabernet Sauvignon Rockpile. Again, this wine did not seem as striking in 2006, but the 2007 Eleva
tion Cabernet Sauvignon Rockpile was extraordinary.
Rosenblum's former winemaker, Jeff Cohn, proved ever the contrarian by pouring four Syrahs with nary a Zin—quite the Rockpile anomaly—from his own JC Cellars. Jeff actually sources Syrah from two different vineyards and pour two different vintages from each. I found the 2008 Buffalo Hill Syrah incrementally preferable its 2007 version, while the equally excellent 2007 Haley Syrah and the 2008 Haley Syrah contrasted only in style, the latter displaying far more minerality than its predecessor.
As good as these Syrahs were, they were overshadowed by the absolutely astounding 2007 Madrone Spring Syrah that Mauritson Wines poured. Mauritson forebear S. P. Hallengren essentially founded Rockpile, first planting vines there in 1884. With seven separate vineyards in the AVA, the breadth of wines they bottle under their affiliated Rockpile label is remarkable, ranging from the 2008 Rockpile Ridge Zinfandel and the terminally-named 2008 Cemetery Zinfandel to the 2007 Madrone Spring Petite Sirah and the 2007 Buck Pasture Malbec. I also sampled their 2007 Buck Pasture Red, a Meritage with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Petit Verdot, 10% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Franc, and can only wish they had poured their alluring 2007 Independence Red, an exotic blend of 23% Tinta Cão, 23% Touriga Nacional, 23% Souzão, 23% Tinta Madeira, and 8% Tannat.
As I alluded in my last entry, I had kind of taken Mauritson for granted after my initial exposure to their wines a while back and not really explored them in depth. This afternoon, however, they absolutely opened up my eyes (as they did for many of the other attendees) to how extraordinary so many of their wine are during the centerpiece of the afternoon: the Rockpile tasting seminar. Not that I mean to detract anything from Seghesio or Paradise Ridge or Carol Shelton, who also poured comparative selections of their Rockpile Zinfandels from the 2000s, all of whom had several highly impressive bottlings throughout this past decade.
Shelton and Mauritson each poured one of their 2001 and 2002 bottlings, starting with Carol's 2001 Zinfandel Rocky Reserve and Mauritson's 2001 Rockpile Ridge Zinfandel—a bit peaked, in both incidences. the 2002 Rocky Ridge, however, proved a wine whose flavors exploded on the tongue, a truly amazing wine. We leaped ahead to 2005 with Seghesio's 2005 Rockpile Zinfandel and the 2005 The Convict Zinfandel Rocky Ridge Vineyard from Paradise Ridge joining the mix. Both of these wines struck me as amiable, as did the 2007 Shelton, but the 2005 Rocky Ridge Zinfandel Mauritson poured warranted one of my very rare !
2007 is widely considered a benchmark year for Rockpile Zins, and both Seghesio and Carol Shelton more than lived up to expectation. I felt a bit indifferent about Paradise Ridge's selection from this vintage and, ironically, Mauritson's bottling, while superb, seemed a bit diminished compared to the 2005. The last comparison, the barrel samples from 2009, came around full circle. Paradise Ridge showed strong, Seghesio and Shelton hinted at extraordinary things to open up with a few years' aging, and, again, the Mauritson garnered a (pre-bottling!) .
Another of my coveted red & black accolades belongs to a wine Carol Shelton poured at the main tasting, the 2003 Zinfandel Rocky Reserve. The 2000 vintage of the same showed remarkably for a 10-year-old Zin, while both the 2004 and 2006 remained impressive. I also found the much to like in her 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockpile Reserve and in the dense richness of her 2006 Petite Sirah Rockpile Reserve.
Some of the attendees at this intimate gathering wondered why know one had tried growing a white varietal in Rockpile, though the consensus seemed that rugged character of the soil might not suit itself to the majority of these grapes. In jest, I suggested they could always make a White Zinfandel. My hasty retreat to the door and my next appointment at the Green Chamber of Commerce came not a moment too soon!
No acronyms, please! SLH—the Santa Lucia Highlands.
Given my proclivity with ABM software (anything but Microsoft), along with my numerous stints writing for and marketing hi-tech and Internet enterprises, many people think of me as a techie. Hardly, even though I did submit a GUI icon for COBOL for patent and often find myself an easy mark for free Macintosh tech support among my close circles. On the other hand, my disdain for the prefab milieu of Silicon Valley (aka LegoLand) has been well documented in these entries, and, despite my overt allegiance, I will readily identify Cupertino as the home of Ridge over Apple.
Technological advances can offer wonderful advantages. Back in the days of typewriters and IBM Selectrics, I could never compose at the keyboard and always had to transcribe my manuscripts from hand-written pages; with the advent of personal computers and Quark Xpress (whose word processing functions are infinitely more elegant than MS-Word), I script seamlessly on the screen and edit as I type. It's only when operating a technology becomes an end in itself, rather facilitating a purpose or achievement (i.e., Facebook) that I find myself contending with its value. Or simply when it doesn't do what it's supposed to do.
GPS stands for Global Positioning Satellite; like millions of other people, I have come to rely on this technology to pinpoint any place on the globe with utmost precision. Sometimes, however, I think it must stand for General Proximity (Sort of). The Wine Artisans of the Santa Lucia Highlands held their Summer Trade Tasting at Cin-Cin Wine Bar the following Monday. Even with plugging in their precise street address, differing mapping services put their location at point more than nine miles away from downtown Los Gatos, near the Palm Haven area of San Jose!
A number of attendees and even some of the winery representatives failed to note this discrepancy, only to find themselves hopeless crisscrossing the Valley and arriving more than an hour late; I had enough of a sense of the general boundaries of Los Gatos to double-check and point my iPhone toward the correct listing. But even this setting could not properly identify the little side alleys and walkways that subdivided this little shopping district, causing me to squander a good 20 minutes or so crisscrossing a four block area in search of a storefront. By the time I located the bar, I was ready to drink, or should I say, sip.
No matter, once I had signed in and collected my glass, my frustration bubbled away. Most of the wineries on hand today had poured either at the Santa Lucia Highlands tasting in San Francisco back in March or at this summer's 18th Annual Winemakers Celebration in Monterey (or both), so I naturally gravitated to newcomer Caraccioli Cellars, a tantalizing startup working out of Gonzales. Atypically, my first tasting of the afternoon was their superbly dry 2006 Brut, a méthode champenoise rendering of their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay lots. Their second cuvée, a sparkling 2006 Brut Rosé, faintly painted a pink pour in the subdued interior lighting and hinted at a touch more sweetness than a Brut typically imparts. I was struck by the acidity of their food-friendly 2007 Chardonnay, while the 2007 Pinot Noir had already attained a distinct softness to it.
This event launched the first-ever bottling for tiny KORi Wines, with a their 2007 Pinot Noir KW Ranch, an auspicious debut for this Gonzales boutique head up by the effervescent Kori Violini, who wisely eschewed any musical depictions on her label. Other wineries that chose to represent themselves with but a single Pinot were Charles Hendricks' Hope & Grace, a Yountville-based operation pouring their Santa Lucia Highlands bottling, the 2008 Pinot Noir Doctors' Vineyard, Scenic Routes of Marin's Pey-Lucia Vineyards, with a 2008 Pinot Noir Frisquet, and Healdsburg's Sequana, with their 2008 Pinot Noir Sarmento Vineyard, their Santa Lucia Highlands single-vineyard Pinot.
Tondrē Wines was scheduled to pour their 2007 Pinot Noir Tondrē Grapefield, but failed, once again, to appear. The 2007 Pinot Noir Tondrē Grapefield from Bernardus, however, proved an exceptional wine, almost the equal of their 2007 Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard. Meanwhile, their 2007 Chardonnay Rosella's Vineyard distinguished itself in comparison to the 2007 Chardonnay Paraiso Vineyard. The ubiquitous Ed Kurtzman's August West produced a trio of impressive wines from this same grapefield, the 2008 Chardonnay Rosella's Vineyard, 2008 Syrah Rosella's Vineyard, and their 2008 Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard, as well as a distinctive 2008 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands.
The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA has taken on quite the Burgundian aura since its inception, and, befittingly, nearly half the remaining wineries this afternoon showcased only their Chardonnay and Pinot (I realize each may also produce other varietals from outside the growing area). Having highlighted these efforts earlier this year, let me simply cite the standouts: the 2008 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard from Martin Alfaro; Talbott's extraordinary 2007 Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, as well as their 2008 Pinot Noir Kali Hart; Morgan's 2008 Pinot Noir Double L Vineyard; the double charms the 2008 Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard and the 2008 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard from Testarossa; Mariposa Wine's Crū label, with its 2008 Pinot Noir S.L.H; the delightful 2007 Pinot Noir Four Boys's Vineyard that Pessagno poured alongside its 2008 Chardonnay Lucia Highlands Vineyard; and a striking contrast between the 2008 Mer Soleil Chardonnay and its twin 2008 Mer Soleil Chardonnay Silver, the same wine aged in cement tanks, that Belle Glos showcased.
Pockets of contrast did appear this afternoon. Tudor Wines made a strong showing with its 2006 Pinot Noir Sarmento Vineyard, distinguished itself with a pair of contrasting Rieslings, the 2007 Radog Riesling Santa Lucia Highlands. and the drier, more approachable 2007 Radog Riesling Evie's Blend. beyond its familiar lineup, Hahn Family Wines poured a rather likable 2008 Hahn Pinot Gris, while Ray Franscioni's Puma Road showcased its 2007 Pinot Gris Black Mountain Vineyard, the same source of its 2007 Chardonnay.
A rosé by any other name is still a rosé; nonetheless, the 2008 Vin Gris of Pinot Noir McIntyre poured was a welcome refresher on this warm afternoon. My friends from Pelerin impressed with their 2009 Les Tournesols Paraiso Vineyard, a Roussanne/Viognier blend, to complement their 2007 Les Violettes Paraiso Vineyard, a Syrah.
Paraiso produced its own label, under which they bottled their 2008 Estate Pinot Noir and a truly delectable 2007 Pinot Noir West Terrace; their own 2005 Syrah Wedding Hill showed their impressive versatility, as well. Similarly, I found the 2007 Estate Syrah Manzoni produced equal to, if not superior, to their efforts with Chardonnay and Pinot.
I have made no pretense about my fondness for Wrath, and this afternoon only amplified my appreciation with the exceptional 2007 Syrah Doctors' Vineyard (if only they had not run out of the 2007 Syrah 877/Noir before I approached their table)! Similarly, I have been effusive in my praise for Carmel Valley's Boekenoogen, and was delighted to sample the 2008 Syrah Santa Lucia Highlands left behind at their station when they packed up early and left.
Obviously, I would have also like to try Boekenoogen's 2008 Estate Chardonnay and the 2007 Estate Pinot Noir, as well, had they finished the event. From a professional standpoint, I find it highly disconcerting when wineries depart prematurely (this occurs with predictable regularity at almost every tasting)
—it seems little to ask if someone makes a three hour commitment for them to avail themselves for the full three hours and enable as many attendees as possible to sample and evaluate their wines. It's quite an overwhelming feat to try covering everyone who pours at these tastings—and remember, folks like me are there principally to support and promote you.
Adventures in West Coast Wines
Eight things I know about Daly City:
1) Its formal name, The City of Daly City, seems woefully redundant
2) The revolution that overthrew the Marcos regime in the Philippines was largely financed in Daly City
3) Malvina Reynolds' song Little Boxes was written about Daly City
4) Malvina Reynolds' song Little Boxes will probably be the only song ever written about Daly City
5) John Charles Wester, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City, came from Daly City. So what?
6) Daly City calls itself "The Gateway to the Peninsula." So what?
7) No one describes San Francisco as being "just outside Daly City"
8) Steven Matthew David's Matthew's Top of the Hill Daly City no longer sits atop the hill in Daly City
To put matters a different way, trekking across San Francisco's southwest boundary hasn't been a high priority of late, other than detouring to shop at 99 Ranch on the way home from Santa Cruz or Monterey, so I was immensely pleased to accept Robert Morrison's invitation to attend his Adventures in Wine Trade Tasting at Fort Mason. While this Daly City distributor and wine storage facility focuses heavily on imports from France, as well as Southern Hemisphere and other European producers, they carry a strong inventory of wines from California, Washington and Oregon, as well.
Although I had committed to attend the Wine Institute's Unexpected Grapes from Unexpected Places (unless, like Sostevinobile, you've been combing the state for unusual wines for the past two years), I managed to sandwich in a couple of hours to meet and sample from the 23 West Coast vintners represented at this trade-only event. It turned out to be well worth the digression.
It's pronounced "Oregon."
As with the Santa Lucia Highlands wineries, Oregon's houses predominantly focused on Pinot Noir—at least, in what they were pouring on this afternoon. A paragon of phenomenon, the Willamette Valley's Amalie Robert—a name that sounds utterly Burgundian—proudly poured four interpretations of its forte: the 2006 Pinot Noir Dijon Clones, an impressive 2006 Pinot Noir Amalie's Cuvée, and their standout, the 2006 Estate Pinot Noir, along with the augur of their soon-to-be released vintage, the 2007 Vintage Debut Pinot Noir. From Dundee Hills, Dusky Goose, which ought not be confused with Zazu's Duskie Estes of Iron Chef fame, impressed with both their 2007 Pinot Noir Rambouillet Vineyard and the 2007 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills.
Soléna Estate made its opening statement with Oregon's other signature Pinot, pouring an easily approached 2009 Pinot Gris. Interestingly, they also featured three diffrent Pinot from sequential vintages. While the 2008 Pinot Noir Grand Cuvée still demanded time to develop, the 2007 Pinot Noir Hyland Vineyard was eminently drinkable; in turn, the exquisite 2006 Pinot Noir Domaine Danielle Laurent, fittingly named for owners Laurent & Danielle Montalieu, was just reaching its peak.
I confess to feeling tepid about the 2008 Estate Pinot Noir Patricia Green Cellars poured but very much cottoned to their 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. Oregon's final representative of the afternoon, Et Fille daughter Jessica Mozeico complemented her three Pinots: the 2008 Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard, the 2008 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, and her superb 2008 Pinot Noir Kalita Vineyard with and exceptionally dry 2008 Viognier.
Les grands vins de la Californie.
Adventures in Wine's California selections included a number of familiar faces, like Mendocino's organic specialists Yorkville Cellars. Though their claim to be the only producers of varietal Carménère in the state would be refuted later in the month, they did make a strong showing with their latest production of the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, their 2007 Merlot, and the 2007 Hi-Rollr Red, their second bottling of this Zinfandel-based proprietary blend that features Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and a touch of Petit Verdot.
Another longtime familiar venture that has managed to maintain the quality of its wine despite considerable internal upheaval over the past decade is Healdsburg's Pezzi-King. The current release, the 2007 Old Vines Zinfandel, still displays the same flare that originally garnered so much press for this venture, while their 2009 Chardonnay seemed eminently drinkable. Their 2008 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon tasted far too early, but I had no qualms about the 2007 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel or their fine 2008 Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc.
Even though I have long received the newsletter from Bruce Patch's Wine Guerrilla and sampled their wine on a number of occasions, I habitually think of them as a marketing tool, à la Wine Spies or Bottlenotes. No such mistake was possible this day, as worked my way through five titillating Zins, the standouts being the 2008 Zinfandel Adel's Vineyard, the 2008 Zinfandel Russian River Valley, and, as might be expected, the utterly sensual 2008 Zinfandel Coffaro Vineyard.
No surprise in finding Carole Meredith pouring her Lagier Meredith; contrary to Robert Parker's ratings, I preferred her 2006 Syrah to the 2007 Syrah he rated 94+ pts. I was surprised to find my old squash opponent Jack Jelenko, late of Villa Toscano, pouring for Jeff Runquist Wines. Jack poured their newest release, the 2008 1448 R, alongside its constituent components: the 2008 Zinfandel Z, the 2008 Syrah R, a tantalizing 2008 Barbera R, and a superb 2008 Petite Sirah R. 1448 stands for the winery's elevation; I have no idea what these initials mean.
Not that Washington. This one!
Before tackling the vast selection of Washington wineries on hand, I stumbled across Relativity, a California négociant label whose slogan "You don't have to be a genius to drink good wine" speaks volumes. While their websites boasts of a Napa Cabernet and research has uncovered a proprietary blend they call the 2007 Quantum Reserve, Adventures in Wine apparently only handles their 2007 Merlot Oak Knoll. Several of the Washington operations represented themselves with but a single wine, to decidedly mixed results. Another négociant, Randy Leitman, poured his 2007 Randall Harris Merlot, a wine that fell short of expectations. On the other hand, Robert Karl Cellars comported themselves quite capably with their 2007 Claret, as did Syncline, with their proprietary 2007 Subduction Red, a Rhône-style blend with Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Counoise, and Carignane.
With its aristocratic-sounding name and derivative French label, the 2008 Syrah Cuveé Marcel Dupont from Descendants Liégeois ought to have been an impressive wine, but disappointed. Its parent company, Hedges Family Estate, also proved rather unremarkable with their 2007 Red Mountain (Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot) and their mass-produced blend, the 2008 CMS Red, although I did enjoy their 2009 CMS White, a Sauvignon Blanc. Another Hedges label with French pretensions, the House of Independent Producers, proved rather bourgeois with their 2008 Merlot La Bourgeoisie but did score quite nicely with the 2009 Chardonnay Dionysus.
In recent years, Washington has garnered considerable acclaim for its Cabernets and Bordeaux blends. This reputation proved itself with the two selections Cadence poured: the 2007 Ciel du Cheval, a Cabernet Sauvignon- & Cabernet Franc-dominated blend, with Merlot and Petit Verdot, and the 2008 Coda, a Pomérol-style blend of these four varietals from the same vineyard. Walla Walla's Abeja ratcheted things up a notch with their spectacular 2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2008 Merlot that was almost its equal. Their regular 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon wasn't quite in this league, but the 2009 Chardonnay proved every bit as extraordinary.
If only Washington's premier Cabernet producer had brought a couple of their much-heralded bottlings! Leonetti Cellars did, however, mitigate most of my disappointment with their profound 2008 Merlot and an unexpected surprise, the seductive 2007 Sangiovese. Another of Washington's most acclaimed houses, DeLille Cellars, proved their mettle with the 2006 Doyenne Syrah and a decidedly unsweet 2008 Chaleur Estate Blanc, a 2:1 blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
I would have appreciated Woodinville's Efeste merely for the playful names with which it labels its wines, like its natural wine approach to Sauvignon Blanc, the 2008 Feral or the literal impression of it 2007 Jolie Bouche Syrah. Equally compelling was its 2009 Evergreen Riesling, a splendid medium-dry wine. A bit more pedantic in their labeling but still impressive were the six wines L'École No. 41 poured. The 2008 Recess Red nicely blended Merlot, Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, while the 2007 Perigee offered a more orthodox mélange of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. As enjoyable were the 2007 Merlot Columbia Valley and the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla, but my decided preference was for both the 2007 Cabernet Columbia Valley and the exquisite 2008 Sémillon Columbia Valley.
I might have stayed longer to sample a number of the French, Italian and Spanish wines being poured—comparative tastings like this helps Sostevinobile put its own palate in perspective,—but my other obligations demanded that I pedal halfway across town and join the crowd inside the tent at Hotel Vitale. I thanked my host for his hospitality and for sparing me from an arduous commute to his warehouse, but my day was far from over.
Wines of the Mojave Desert
Maybe I shouldn't be so facetious. Perhaps one day we will transcend the known bounds of viticulture and establish a Mojave AVA, encompassing a vast swath of tilled acreage that stretches from Palmdale to the California/Nevada border, dotted with colorful names like Château Barstow and Devil's Playground & Cellars, producing Xeric Red from the most water-stressed Zinfandel vines ever to be planted. After all, Michael Mondavi did envision growing grapes and building wineries on Mars in Mondovino. Indeed, this breakthrough could be his vindication.
Meanwhile, pretty much every other part of California is encompassed by an AVA. To demonstrate the incredible panoply of œnology throughout the State, the Wine Institute orchestrated Unexpected Grapes from Unexpected Places, an expo of wine from 15 of California's major wine growing regions. More than 100 different wines were featured in an open-air tent erected in front of Americano, the wildly popular bar and restaurant that anchors Hotel Vitale along San Francisco's Embarcadero.
For Sostevinobile, the event offered a chance not so much to sample hitherto unknown wines as it was to solidify relations with the all-important regional trade associations and cooperatives. Plus, as a bonus, pre-registered trade participants were treated to an intimate presentation of Evan Goldstein's acclaimed Daring Pairings seminar, an insightful demo of how wine focuses and amplifies the flavors of meticulously-matched food preparations.
First things first, however. Though it was hardly possible to sample every wine being poured, let me offer my findings, region by region, with no particular order of priority.
Wines labeled North Coast can contain grapes from any of the four counties comprise this mega-region. Often lost in the shuffle behind Mendocino, Sonoma, and Napa, Lake County has steadily expanded as a premium winegrowing locale over the past decade. The table this afternoon featured but two of the more prominent local producers. I opted for the full complement of wines from Italian varietal specialist Rosa d'Oro while renewing my acquaintance with Pietro Buttitta. Little doubt I would enjoy his 2006 Aglianico and a very robust 2007 Dolcetto, while the NV Nebbiolo proved a pleasant surprise. The true revelation, however, was the 2007 Primitivo, which I even commended to new Wine Institute President Tom Klein—an amazing demonstration of how this varietal distinguishes itself from Zinfandel. Having enjoyed their wines on numerous other occasions, I bypassed the offerings from Lake County's other representative, Six Sigma, a winery I will richly embrace if they ever change their name! (Note to owner Kaj Ahlmann: people enter the wine business in order to flee corporate culture, not embrace it.)
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant isn't the only thing fired up in this dynamic wine region. Their table provided me my first exposure to Salisbury Vineyards, who, in turn, introduced me to their 2007 Syrah Noir, a varietal that had previously eluded me. Niven Family brought their entire line of labels, but I focused only on their new Zocker, with its compelling 2009 Grüner Veltliner. I also managed a taste of Claiborne & Churchill's aptly-named 2007 Dry Gewürztraminer, a frequent favorite.
Home to more than 240 wineries, the Paso Robles AVA is California's largest, and, in many ways, most intriguing. Not bound by arcane traditions, wineries here fully exploit its status as the new frontier for winemaking in the 21st Century. I dabbled in a few of the many familiar labels here this afternoon, starting with an earthy 2007 Tempranillo from San Miguel's Silver Horse. Ortman Family vastly impressed me with their 2007 Petite Sirah, while Justin seems to impress everyone these days with its proprietary Cabernet Sauvignon, the much-lauded 2007 Isosceles. I didn't tasted the 2009 Barfandel, a blend of Zinfandel and Barbera from Lone Madrone, though I have but two words to describe the name: Olive Garden.
The French equivalent for the Portuguese amador is amateur, but as far as winemaking goes, it's entirely a misnomer. One of three regions that comprise the overall Sierra Foothills designation, Amador has proven fertile ground for Italian, Iberian, and Rhône varietals. Having made plans to attend the more comprehensive regional tasting the following Sunday, I limited myself here to Karly's 2009 Rolle, a refined Vermetino, and
the 2008 Normale Sangiovese from Vino Noceto.
Monterey may be the seat of the Central Coast region, but it offers far more than the ubiquitous Coastal Cellars that have diluted the brand of so many premium wineries. Ironically, I bypassed such stalwarts as the 2007 Grenache from Marilyn Remark or the 2006 Claret Reserve Scheid was pouring; perhaps, I was simply in a white mood. In any case, I was happy to taste a staple of the AVA: the 2009 Bay Mist Monterey White Riesling from J. Lohr and the 2008 Loredona Riesling from Delicato.
In between the majesty of the Pacific Ocean and the monotony of Silicon Valley stands the alpine buffer of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Encompassing a cross-section of three counties, it lays claim to some of the most innovative wineries in California, like Ridge, David Bruce and Bonny Doon. Today's table presented several of the lesser-known from this appellation, all of whom I have covered extensively over the past two years. I confess that my sip of the NV Brut from Equinox only made me long for their superb sparkling endeavor, the 1997 Blanc de Blanc Cuvée de Chardonnay. And while I tend to concentrate on their Iberian-focused Quinta Cruz label, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard captured my attention with their 2006 Durif McDowell Valley (aka Petite Sirah).
Miles Raymond, take heed! Santa Barbara means far more than Pinot Noir—and by that, I do not mean Ronald Reagan's Santa Barbara Ranch, Michael Jackson's pederastic playground, or even the unsightly offshore oil rigs near La Conchita. Of course, there was a delicious irony this afternoon that Miles' iconic Hitching Post chose to serve their 2007 Merlot, but the true diversity of this AVA presented itself in a trio of wineries on hand. I have long wanted to sample the wines of Rancho Sisquoc, and was richly rewarded with my first taste of their 2009 Sylvaner Flood Family Vineyards, a wine that easily lived up to its advance billing. Similarly, my long-awaited introduction to Mosby rewarded me with their superb 2006 Sagrantino. It had been several years since I first met Crystal Clifton at A16, so I had no compunction about sampling the full array of Italian varietals her Palmina had transported here. As with the handful of other wineries producing this Trentinese varietal, her 2008 Lagrein defied stereotyping, but the 2009 Dolcetto was near stratospheric. I greatly enjoyed both the 2008 Barbera and the 2006 Nebbiolo, but found myself most intrigued by her pair of white wines, the 2009 Arneis and the sumptuous 2009 Tocai Friulano. All in all, this region packs more of a wallop than an irate Sandra Oh.
The second part of the Sierra Foothills triumvirate, Calaveras also displays a wide range of varietals, with particular strength in the Spanish & Portuguese grapes, as well as with Zinfandel. With plans to attend their upcoming tastings, I merely made a courtesy stop to try the surprisingly good 2007 Garsa Tempranillo from Solomon Wine Company and a refreshing 2009 Muscat Blanc from Newsome-Harlow.
They used to be known merely for their Tokay. And a 1969 song by El Cerrito's Creedence Clearwater Revival. Much like Paso Robles, this former backwater of the wine industry has evolved over the past two decades into a significant AVA, with a number of innovative wineries and a genuine commitment to sustainable practices. As the appellation continues to evolve and establish its identity, a wide array of varietals are moving to the forefront. Once again, I managed to sample just a small selection from the array of wines being poured here, knowing I would be attending a more focused tasting in a couple of weeks. Still, I was pleased to revisit with Harney Lane and indulge in their 2009 Albariño before moving on to indulge in the 2008 Great Friends Barbera Grands Amis poured, along with the rare opportunity to taste the 2006 Teroldego Reserve from Peltier Station.
Livermore Valley
San Luis Obispo may have its own nuclear reactor; Livermore has its prestigious atomic research lab (I'm told "engineered in Livermore commands" a considerable premium on the nuclear black market). With a winegrowing tradition that dates to the 1760s, this AVA lays claim to the first labeling of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Petite Sirah as varietal bottling in California. Though dominated by large-scale, historic wineries like Wente and Concannon, it has given rise to numerous boutique producers over the past two decades, like Picazo Vineyards, with their handcrafted 2006 Estate Merlot and the cerebral Occasio, which poured its 2008 Pinot Gris Del Arroyo Vineyard.
Juxtaposed between Fresno County and the Merced-Mariposa axis, Madera quite literally occupies the center of California. The county is best known for Mammoth Mountain and Yosemite, bears the ignominy of the Chowchilla kidnappings, and is home to a pocket of rugged, hi-tech developers in Coarsegold. While its reputation for wine has squarely rested on its dessert-style wines, like the NV Old Vine Tinta Port from Ficklin or Quady's ever-amazing 2009 Electra, an intense Orange Muscat, the region is starting to blossom in a fashion similar to the Sierra Foothills, as the amiable NV Reserve Dolcetto from Birdstone Winery exemplifies.
Completing the Sierra Foothills triangle, El Dorado has long held a particular affinity for Zinfandel, as well as for Rhône varietals. In recent years, however, a number of these wineries have shifted toward more standard grapes, as the 2009 Reserve Chardonnay that longtime Rhône Ranger Lava Cap poured here. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed 2007 Patriarche from Holly's Hill, a deft blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Counoise, and resolved to explore more of this AVA's wines the following Sunday.
It's tempting, of course, to compare Mendocino with the Sierra Foothills and describe their appellation as "elevated," in a manner of speaking. A prime location for Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer, the county also lays claim to California's finest production of sparkling wines, alambic brandies, grappa, and other grape distillates. Mendocino boasts of being "America's Greenest Wine Region," a claim that is bolstered by the presence of Parducci, Navarro, Fetzer and its many offshoots, and innumerable other practitioners. This afternoon, however, I was drawn to a pair of Syrahs, the 2006 Broken Leg Syrah from Drew Family and an incredible 2006 Syrah Yorkville Highlands that Meyer Family produced.
Napa and Sonoma
Both these regions need no introduction. Though strongly represented on this afternoon, each has already received extensive coverage in this blog. While noting the strong presence of wineries from both counties, I bypassed their stations in favor of the food pairing seminar.
The Food & Wine Tasting
Evan Goldstein, the youngest American ever to complete the Master Sommelier certification, conducted a special seminar based on his current book, Daring Pairings, a copy of which was generously given each of the attendees. After an introductory glass of Handley Cellars' 2006 Brut Rosé Anderson Valley, we paired a pair of wines each to three exceptional entrées prepared by the kitchen at American. The first round matched a Halibut Crudo with a traditional complement, the 2009 Fumé Blanc from Sonoma's Château St. Jean and a less orthodox Roussanne/Grenache Blanc blend, the 2009 Camp 4 Vineyard Blanc from Santa Barbara's Tensley. I found myself favoring the more traditional match-up.
We followed with the Liberty Duck Involtini, a thin, carpaccio-style slice of cured meat wrapped around a fig filling. While the 2009 Estate Pinot Noir from Rodney Strong paired admirably with this hors d'œuvre, I felt it illuminated the 2008 Grenache from Paso Robles' Denner Vineyards.
The final course, a Short Rib Bruschetta with Tomato Conserva, seemed a bit perfunctory in its two pairings. Of course, I had had many occasions to sample the 2006 Reserve Petite Sirah from Concannon, but the revelatory aspect of the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Robert Mondavi was that Constellation had managed to maintain its excellence.
Having attended a truncated version of this seminar at The Mechanics Institute earlier this summer, I confess I had approached the event with guarded skepticism. This previous presentation had featured only imported wines (plus New Mexico's Gruet), which led me to suspect that Goldstein might be one of those sommeliers that take pains to eschew California wines, unless, like this afternoon, compelled to serve them. "Hardly," Evan assured me. "The last time, I had simply grabbed whatever I had lying around."
Vive la France?
The last event I must cover for this seemingly interminable installation was the Pre-Auction Tasting Wine Gavel conducted The San Francisco Wine Center. Another Judgment of Paris this may not have been, but here was a chance to stack my California predilection against some of the more acclaimed wines France has produced. I swear I tried to be objective.
Starting with the whites, I worked my way through comparative sips of the 1997 Verget Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères 1er Cru and the newer 2001 Boyer-Martenot Puligny-Montrachet Les Caillerets 1er Cru. the former, frankly bordered on being undrinkable; the latter, while faring better, hardly seemed a wine I would make efforts to seek out. In contrast, the 2004 La Carrière from Calistoga's Peter Michael Winery proved an extraordinary wine from this exceptional producer of vineyard designate Chardonnays (and easily worth its $90 price tag).
My familiarity with much of French wine is admittedly limited; I had never heard of the 1964 Leroy Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru prior to this event and, again, found myself duly unimpressed. Nor am I versed in what years constituted great vintages. I approached both the 1967 Chateau Cheval Blanc Saint-Émilion 1er Cru and the 1970 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac with near-giddy expectation, only to be underwhelmed. Were these notably poor vintages? Had the bottles been stored inappropriately? How was I to tell?
My reaction to the 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon from Charles Krug was admittedly tepid, but I was pleased to try what may well have been my first taste of a pre-1970s California wine outside of the Gallo-Paul Masson-Almaden jug oligarchy. Nor did the 1980 Cabernet Sauvignon from Chappellet seem to have stood the test of time. Purely by accident, however, our hosts had included two bot
tles of 1970 Cabernet Sauvignon from Robert Mondavi. I noticed one had been stamped Unfined, the other Unfiltered, in what later was described to me as simply casual experimentation during that era. The two wines contrasted starkly, and while the Unfined vintage certainly offered considerable merit, the Unfiltered shone through as an exceptional wine.
Far and away, the best wine of the evening proved to be the 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon from Caymus. Second only to 1997 as one of the spectacular vintages from the last decade, this wine stood at the peak of perfection and begged to be tasted two, three, four times (with a nary a drop to be spit!). As I prepared to leave, our hosts brought out a bottle of 2004 Gaja Ca'Marcanda Promis, a Sangiovese blended with Merlot and Syrah. If Sostevinobile poured imports, this wine could easily find its way to our roster, but for now I have to settle for the guilty pleasure of a Gaja Castello Di Barbaresco NV Grappa the next time I dine out.
This entry was posted in Aglianico, Albariño, Arneis, Barbera, Brut, Brut Rosé, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Chardonnay, Cinsault, Counoise, Dolcetto, Gewürztraminer, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, Lagrein, Malbec, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Muscat Blanc, Nebbiolo, Orange Muscat, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Port, Primitivo, Riesling, Roussanne, Sagrantino, Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc, Sylvaner, Syrah, Syrah Noir, Tempranillo, Teroldego, Tocai Friulano, Vermentino, Viognier, Zinfandel on September 29, 2010 by donaldmarc.


Confidence deserves to be guaranteed. All of our Jewelry are covered by a 3-month manufacturer's defect warranty, which covers defective parts. Items will be repaired or refunded if unable to repair. Improper repair of warranty service performed by someone other than Abreumx will void this warranty.
For any warranty claims please email us at warranty@abreumx.com for any manufacture's defects. Please include your name, order number, details of the defects and the word "Warranty" in the subject of the email.


The Karma Sense Eating Plan is your go-to guide to eating healthy while enjoying the foods you love. Based on feedback from the Karma Sense audience, I learned that one of these loved foods isn't a food. It's alcohol and it's something I don't give enough attention in my writing.
I don't know what it says about my audience that so many people have questions on this topic but, we aim to please. This post examines Karma Sense alcohol consumption. I originally gave an in-depth analysis and recommendation on Karma Sense alcohol in Episode 10 of the Karma Sense Foodcast. If you listened to that, this post is similar.
But if you haven't heard it or need reinforcement, sit back with a tasty beverage and read on.
Another thing I learned from you in the audience is that some of you like to read, some of you like to listen and some of you like to do both. Again, we aim to please. Therefore, in the future, you'll sometimes see that I repeat topics in both formats.
Really, the only reason I'm repeating topics in different formats is to support all audiences of the Karma Sense Media Empire. It's all because we aim to please. It has nothing to do with my being lazy (or hungover on a Monday morning).
What'll I do, indeed! That's the question asked in the Disney classic, Dumbo, when our hero mistakenly consumes a fermented beverage and begins to big-time hallucinate about pink elephants.
Now, I know some people who've had a drink or two in their lives and none of them ever saw pink elephants. And, if you remember that scene from the movie (or watch the psychadelic YouTube clip above), you'll wonder what the animators were on. It had to be a lot stronger than a few beers.
Karma Sense Alcohol – What'll YOU Do?
Alcohol is another one of those really confusing and controversial macronutrients. That's right, for the purposes of this discussion, alcohol is a macronutrient, like protein, carbohydrates and fat.
Unlike protein, carbohydrates and fat, your body doesn't need alcohol to function. Our species evolved for thousands of years before Fred Flintstone discovered cactus juice.
Is it Me Barney or is that a Pink Mammoth Over There?
Did you ever notice how Fred was a little paunchy? The alcohol in his cactus juice contributes 7 calories per gram to his diet. That's about 64 calories contributed solely by alcohol in a normal size shot, mug o' beer or glass o' wine. That 64 calories doesn't include the additional contributions from the carbs in your beer, wine and mixers, the protein in your jello shots or the fat in The Dude's White Russian.
The Pink Elephant Over There Really Pulls the Room Together.
And all of that should be a consideration when you're making a decision on the role alcohol has in your healthy lifestyle. As you know, the Karma Sense way is not to assume that there's a cookie cutter approach to any health question. The answer always depends on your goals, values, lifestyle and obligations.
But to prevent this blog post from running over like a poorly poured beer, I need to make some gross generalizations (gross as in large, not as in disgusting although I can't guarantee the latter).
Some people shouldn't drink at all.
Some people have no desire to drink.
Some people like to drink and want to lead a healthy lifestyle.
A subset of #3 above includes people who want to lose weight.
There are also people reading this who don't fit any of those categories. They're just here for the poop jokes and don't care about anything else. Will there be poop jokes? Well, think about what bears do in the woods and you'll have your answer.
Meanwhile, let's look at those first four categories.
There are a bunch of health issues that get worse if you drink These include but are not limited to liver disease, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, kidney disease, stomach ulcers, many mental health issues (I include addictive behavior in this category) or when taking medicines that don't mix with alcohol. You and your doctor know who you are I don't want to be the turd in the punchbowl so I'll stop with this category here (⇐That bear in the woods just dropped another one) .
If that's you, there is no reason to start. It's true that moderate drinkers seem to avoid many chronic diseases more successfully than teetotalers. There are other chronic diseases such as stomach cancer, that nondrinkers more successfully avoid.
If there's any nuance on this subject it's for the moderate drinkers. Let's first define what moderate means.
If you're registering your complaint after January 20, 2017, that's OK. It's still probably his fault.
Moderate drinkers drink because they like to. Some further rationalize they're drinking because of rumored benefits. Red wine is the biggest benefactor of this halo effect. You may have heard of 'resveratrol,' the pigment that makes red wine red. Resveratrol is a beneficial antioxidant that has heart-healthy effects. But you can find studies that suggest health benefits in white wine, beer and even the hard stuff. That's because the majority of red wine's health benefits come from the alcohol, not the resveratrol. While resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant, the amount you get in red wine isn't all that great and furthermore is available in spades in grapes, red berries and dark chocolate.
It's not, however, available in spades (rimshot).
In summary, for people who are moderate drinkers and want to pursue a healthy lifestyle, there is compelling evidence that your heart health will be somewhat stronger than people who abstain and much stronger than people who drink too much. But be aware, your chances of getting cancer are a little higher than your non-drinking friends. But if you're avoiding binge drinking, the difference is small. Odds are there are other places in your lifestyle that you can change that will have a better impact on your health than quitting drinking.
Okay, so now I have to define what too much drinking is even if it's a little redundant. For men too much is drinking more than 2 drinks a day. For women, it's more than one drink a day. Don't bother to do fancy math tricks here either. If you don't drink all week and then have 5 drinks in a day, that's binge drinking and that's unhealthy. On the other hand, if you're a woman who, for example, has 2 or 3 glasses of wine one evening a month, I wouldn't worry. Especially if you also occasionally skip a night or two.
It is definitely possible to lose weight and still have alcohol as part of your diet. I've done this myself. But, alcohol is a source of empty calories. That is, calories with no other nutritional value. If you stop drinking or even reduce your drinking and everything else stays the same, you will likely lose weight. You lose weight when calorie intake is less than calories burned.
Dropping alcohol is an easy way to tweak the simple equation in your favor. When I've dropped pounds while still drinking, it happened because I made other favorable lifestyle changes too. This is your decision.
And hey, it's not all or nothing. If you're in the habit of having a drink every night, why not make a deal with yourself to skip it one or two nights a week? Choose the two days of the week, put it on your calendar and turn it into a non-negotiable item. Say, "Tonight's my non-drinking night. No big deal." But when you say it, do so to yourself or make sure it's relevant to the conversation. Otherwise, people will think you HAVE been drinking.
Do that for a month. That's no more than 8 days of not drinking. See how you feel. Check your weight and waist size. Is there a difference? How hard would it be to add another night?
For many people, this technique is easier and more successful than, for example going from beer to a martini because the latter has fewer calories. But there's nothing wrong with that strategy either. Totally skipping a calorie-laden drink is more effective but do what ya gotta do brah.
If you want to explore more strategies for optimizing your health without going all 18th amendment, you know where to find me. We aim to please.
If you have a topic you'd like me to explore, why not drop me a question. Just fill out the form below. All communication remains confidential unless you're looking for a Karma Sense shoutout.