Good Grape: A Wine Blog Manifesto

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April 15 2006

Wine Blogger Montage

What did people do to kill 5 minutes before the Internet? In the ‘File Under’ morning and a cup of coffee file, I found this site that does custom Flickr-like montages based on Google image searches. I searched for "wine bloggers" and got the below back. Check out the site here. Overall, it makes you wonder about search engine optimization when somebody’s dog and a picture of pie comes back before anything related to your own site.

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April 15 2006

The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide

When I started Good Grape, I intended to make this a treatise or manifesto on how I view the world of wine--a view point that is couched in our history and skewed a little different then the connoiseur or foodie viewpoint. In doing so, I also thought to know our future, it would be important to know our past. To that end, I started with one of my first blog post from the American Vine-Dresser’s Guide by John James Dufour-- a sort of re-purposing of public domain content that I thought had a high degree of curiosity and relevance.

A short narrative of Dufour can be found here, but in short he is credited with being the spiritual leader for viticulture in the new world and for being the first successful viticulturalist AND winemaker in the states--having success in Vevay, Indiana in 1807. In 1826 he wrote a book, excerpted here in brief page by page snapshots, called The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide.

The first post can be found here and pages 6 and 7 of the preface are below.

The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide
pg. 6 - 7 Preface

If the United States were planted with vine-yards like France, as they will be at some future day, the patent right for it alone, would produce ten fold the income for this book. Another invention of mine,--the best way to graft grape vines, must rot be omitted, and many other experiments and remarks I made, to study their nature and their way of growing: they will be found through the book where I think they will be necessary to illustrate some of my positions.

I might have begun this preface, by the praise and encomium of the grapes and wine, and show the consequence on the health, temperance and cheerfulness of the people generally in any country, where there is a sufficient supply of genuine wine, which is equal to the provision of bread stuff; and as evidences and authority, I shall copy here what Mr. Speechley says in the preface of his treatise on the culture of vines:

"Of all the numerous sorts of fruits, indulgent nature produces for the use of man, that of the grape must be esteemed her noblest gift: For although various others not only afford comforts, but many of them even contribute to the luxury of the human race; yet none of them tend so eminently as does this fruit, to gladden the heart. Hlail then precious vine! Let me modestly presume to treat of thy culture, and to set forth thy virtues--a theme worthy of the immortal gods! 0 may thy superior excellence everlastingly inspire man with duty, and with unfeigned gratitude to the all bounteous Giver."

What Mr. apeechley says here, is highly corroborated bv what we read in Ecclesiastucus, ch. 31, v. 27 & 28,--"Wine is as good as life to man, if it be drank moderately: what is life then to a man that is without wine, for it was made to make man glad? Wine measurably drank, and in season, bring(eth) gladness of the heart and cheerfulness of the mind."

It is, to contribute all in my power, that I undertook to write this treatise, to engage and enable the people of this vast continent, to procure for themselves and their children the blessing intended by the Almighty; that they should enjoy, and not by trade from foreign countries, but by the produce of their own labor, out of the very ground they tread, from a corner of each one’s farm, wine thus obtained, first handed from the grand Giver of of all good, pure, genuine and unmixed by avarice, that it may have the effect on his heart and family intended by the Creator: Then in the cheerfulness of his heart, he will bless and thank him, who thus so bounteously provideth; than that offspring of fire-distilled liquor-so corosive and acerb as its parent, which crisps the heart and maketh man mad, will be left for the poor inhabitants of frozen countries, to whom both grapes and apples have been refused : and if this my humble performance, should contribute to bring such blessing in the country, I could rejoice to have quitted my first home to come here.When I took the resolution to come to America, to try the cultivation of the grape, I was but fourteen; and I came to this determination by reading the newspaper, which were full of the American Revolutionary War, and contained many letters from the officers of the French army aiding the Republicans, which complained of the scarcity of the wine among them, in the midst of the greatest abundance of every thing else; and inspection of the maps; I saw that America was in the parallel of the best wine countries in the world--like Spain, South of France, Italy and Greece: I then made the culture of the grape ...

To be continued ...

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April 14 2006

Good Grape! From Stem to Stern

Thereare female-oriented magazines on the newsstand every month with screamingheadlines of, “Better Skin in 30 days,” “Get that Glow Back” and the like. Usually this headline is nestled next to, orunderneath the one that screams “Make your man wild” and “Tighten your bunswhile seated at Work.”

It’sbrainless stuff, at least to the male species, and every issue has someavocado/cucumber/almond paste elixir that is designed to take away the wrinklesand perk-up flagging skin, or so I’ve glanced in the twilight hour at the endof the day between brushing teeth and lights out as my wife vacillates betweendoing Soduko or reading Simple Living magazine.

So,I was mildy interested, for research reasons only, and as a public service for female readers, when I saw a notice in WineEnthusiast magazine about Ishi Luxury Gourmet Skinfood. It is coming stateside.

Ishiis purporting to do spa treatments with grapes and grape by-products, under theproduct line banner of: VinoTherapy.

Fromthe Ishi web site:

Throughoutthe centuries, several books have been written on the medicinal qualities ofgrapes and wine, and in the book Liber de Vinis it states that ‘rosemarywine has wonderful qualities, for instance it can regulate appetite, exhilaratethe soul, straighten tendons, make the face beautiful and hair grow.’

LouisXIV introduced wine in his court due to ‘its healing properties and as itexalts beauty and improves facial features and complexion’ . It wascommonly discussed during the 19th Century how Grape Must was used to preparemasks and compresses for the face and neck.

Ishiwill have two treatment offerings available in the States very soon.

TheVisa di Vino is a four “course” facial treatment that luxuriates the body andincludes:

· An infusion of red grapevine leaves or small glassof red wine

· A refreshing and soothing tonic lotion made fromchardonnay grapes from the shores of Lake Garda followed by a cleansing milemade with sun ripened grapes from Tuscany to thoroughly cleanse the skin.

Othercourses include grape must and a night cream made from Chianti grapes.

The second offering is a body toning and slimming treatment that utilizes a "gentle massage with a cocktail of Sangiovese grapes."

Uh-huh.

Ina far cooler application of grape by-products, artist Christina LoCascio, alsothe Tasting Room Manager at Artiste Winery (yes, no kidding, an artist asManager at Artiste) is painting some very beautiful pictures using mostly wine in lieu of watercolors.

From her artists statement:

During this time I have studiedwine and winemaking realizing early on that it is an art form of its own. Thisunderstanding allowed me to explore wine in the physical sense as paint. Painting with wine is fusion and visual expression of my twin passions, art and wine.

WineSpectator had an article on her in their December ’05 issue:

While LoCascio uses a small amount of watercolor paint fordetailing, she relies mainly on red wine to produce colors ranging fromcopper to violet. To achieve this range, LoCascio has tinkered withdifferent varietals and methods of extracting color from the juice. Athick, inky paint comes from boiling two bottles of wine down to lessthan one glass, while white wine is used to lighten dark areas andclean brushes, much like water with pastel paints.

LoCascio’s boyfriend, Michael Larner of Larner Vineyard, alsohelps with the process. A graduate student at UC, Davis’ School ofViticulture and Enology, Larner uses a rotary evaporator to separatealcohol and water from the wine’s pigment, creating a viscous paintwith deep red hues. He’s also experimented with the pH levels inwine—adding tartaric acid for more acidity and sodium hydroxide for amore basic paint. The acidic tinctures become a vibrant purple, whilethe basic fluids appear brown to black.

There you have it. A good weekend: a massage in the morning with some grape by-products, a gallery in the afternoon with a provocative painting using wine as a medium, the night is free to indulge you as you see fit and then a little vino with the ham on Sunday. What a grape life we can all enjoy!

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April 14 2006

Wine & Our Religious Holidays

Oneof the benefits of being involved in an inter-faith marriage is, around the majorholidays, its one non-stop party after another—the complementary benefits ofJudaism and Catholicism not having exactly conjoining holidays.

So,Passover and the Seder is always celebrated in advance of Easter Sunday.

TheSeder is the gathering of family and friends the first two nights of the sevenday Passover holiday.

And,for wine, the Seder ceremony calls for the consumption of four glasses of wine.

Now,this is something I can get behind.

FromWikipedia:

Four Cups

There is a Rabbinicobligation to drink four cups of wine (or pure grape juice) during the Seder.This applies to both men and women. The Mishnah says (Pes. 10:1) that even thepoorest man in Israel has an obligation to drink. Each cup is connected to adifferent part of the Seder: The First Cup is for Kiddush, the Second Cup isconnected with the recounting of the Exodus,the drinking of the Third Cup concludes BirkatHamazon and the Fourth Cup is associated with Hallel.

ThePassover Seder calls for kosher wine. Even non-kosher Jews, at least the ones I am around, drink kosher winefor Seder—or, at the least, have it available. At my in-laws Seder, we also enjoyed an Oliver Blackberry wine, which,as fruit wines go, is pretty tasty.

I’mno expert on this, but there’s a good article on kosher wine here.

Thewine available at the Seder is of the Manischewitz or Mogan David variety—usuallysweet; very sweet and made from Concord Grapes.

Accordingto Kosher law a kosher wine

1) Equipment used to make thewine must be used exclusively for the production of kosher products.

2)The grapes and wine must be handled, from grape crushing to consumption, onlyby Sabbath-observing Jews, unless the wine is mevushal (pasteurized).

3)Only certified kosher products (yeast, filtering agents, etc.) can be used.

TheKosher laws are a bit of a detriment to serving fine wine when you consider thepasteurization that has to take place—pasteurization occurs at 190 degrees ormore.

Thisis a cruel bit of irony for our friend, Louis Pastuer, the pioneer of themethod and a notable oenophile, as well. He said:

"Winecan be considered with good reason as the most healthful and the most hygienicof all beverages."

Despite the high temperaturesand stringent requirements to make wine kosher, some folks are making finewine.

Anothersecondary and related interest to the Mogan David’s and Manischewitz’s of theworld is Indiana’s aforementioned Oliver Winery.

Oliveris definitely Indiana’s pride and joy in the world of wine and garnered somenotice in Wine Business Monthly in ’04.

#4 on Wine BusinessMonthly’s Hot Brands list in 2004

Olivermakes a concord grape wine called Soft Red that is the #1 selling wine inIndiana—no kidding. It sells by thepallet at Sam’s Club.

FromWBM:

OliverWinery’s shotgun approach to making wine includes making easy-to-drink, classicdry red wines such as Zinfandel, Shiraz and barrel-fermented Chardonnays.Oliver Winery has 40 acres of vineyards, a mix of vinifera and hybrids. Itrelies on growers in Washington, Oregon, California and Michigan, oftenshipping grapes in refrigerated containers packed with dry ice. Oliver Wineryalso makes sweet wines from Concord grapes. The hot seller and cash cow, infact, is Oliver Winery’s Soft Red Wine made from Concord grapes. The winerymade 65,000 cases of Soft Red Wine last year, and it retailed for about $8 perbottle.

"There’s an overlooked market segment in sweet wines the big boys aren’tmaking," said Oliver Winery owner and winemaker Bill Oliver,pointing out that some other wineries, such as St. JamesStoneHill of Missouri and St. Julian of Michigan, have found similarsuccess with some of their sweeter offerings. and

So,aside from Passover wines, there is a market for sweet and semi-sweet wines—particularlyin the Midwest where the declining sales in White Zinfandel memo hasn’t reachedall of our fair “Red” state brethren.

But,sweet wine or not, anytime food, family, friends and wine can come together isa reason to celebrate to me—Passover, Easter or any other reason.

Now,I’ll just have to pick out another semi-sweet wine, probably a Gewurt, for theham on Easter.

Salud!

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April 12 2006

Technology: Can it take some lessons from the world of wine?

One of my very favorite wineries in Sonoma is Dry Creek. Their Chenin Blanc is nice, and they were (and are) doing a Chenin Blanc when virtually nobody else is, and their Zinfandel is really nice after about an hour of air.

David Stare, the founder, has announced his retirement from the operations. In the article on Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s web site he says something really fun that belies his obvious business savvy, but underscores how down to earth he is--this on naming his Sav. Blanc:

Today,the winery is perhaps best known for various bottlings of Sauvignon Blanc,which Stare early on decided to call Fumé Blanc, a name that had been invented byRobert Mondavi. Asked why he decided to label his wines Fumé Blanc, Stare says,“I was having lunch with Barney Fetzer [founder of Fetzer Vineyards], and hesaid, ‘Dave, Fume sells better than Sauvignon.’”

As a counterpoint in bluster, this quote on employee morale and Blogs from Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, as quoted in Businessweek.

I have lots of sourcesof information about what’s going on at the company. I think I have apretty good pulse on where we are and what people are thinking. I’m notsure blogs are necessarily the best place to get a pulse on anything.People want to blog for a variety of reasons, and that may or may notbe representative.

It’s important in my job that I understand broadly the pulseof the company. Over a third of my time, I’m spending with our peopleinteracting with their work.

Aside from the humble-ness that smacks you in the face from Mr. Stare, you can draw your own deduction on the level of respect afforded to people who blog--Ballmer, in my estimation, basically demonstrates that Microsofties that blog are not people whose opinion he values.

Now, granted, this isn’t an apples to apples comparison, but is it any wonder that people would want to pursue their passion instead of the corporate drone life? I mean, what, with all the respect that is granted to those in the cube life.

Who would you want to work for? Compensation being equal, is it really a choice?

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