“We have to get over what I call the trophy mentality”
-Dick Grace
Our neighbor, Dick Grace, created what could justifiably be dubbed the first Napa Cult wine back in the in the mid-80’s. His wines at the time were some of the most expensive and still are. Release price is $225. BUT, Dick Grace, is not your average high-society, new money, big party throwing winegrower. His profits, after what he admits supports a very comfortable lifestyle, go toward supporting charities world wide.
Read more: SF Gate (the San Francisco Chronicle) article
When you spend a lot of time and money on a passion like wine collecting, there can be the tendency to get that trophy mentality. We strive for the next big wine prize. It certainly happens to us winegrowers. We strive for recognition from our customers, peers, and the press. Times are tough and we’re all watching what we’re spending. Charitable organizations are having a heck of a time with most facing reduced giving and funding. If it comes down this year between supporting a charity and buying our wines, give to the charity.
Last week Joe, who blogs at WineHunterNYC.com, checked in with his thoughts on the white wines he found at Trader Joe’s, This week he is back with the Part II focusing on the reds, here’s what he has to say…
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2007 Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon ($9)- Deep garnet/ruby; some dark fruit, graphite, spice and oak on [...]
Continue reading about Trader Joe’s Wine on Location – Reds with Joe Sears
Today we brought in just under 3 tons of Merlot from Frediani Vineyards up in Calistoga.
Mia was up and out before daylight to get up to Calistoga and watch the pick. She also had some other vineyards to walk through and sample before heading to the winery for the processing of the Merlot.
You might [...]
I have read two articles in the past month that described Millennial wine drinkers as less sophisticated than older wine drinkers.
Here is a link to one of the articles.
I cannot say that I agree with this viewpoint.
But then again, it depends on your definition of sophistication.
Boomers have historically wanted to impress friends and family with an expensive bottle from high profile wine regions like Bordeaux or Napa.
Millennial wine drinkers gain prestige by bringing a bottle with a interesting story, which might be an import from Croatia.
I would argue that Millennials thirst for wine knowledge and their desire to experience as many grape varietals and wine regions as possible, is a mark of sophistication.
Their frequency of wine purchases tells us that they have made wine a part of their everyday life. Whereas past generations of Americans may have relegated wine drinking to only special occasions.
And yes, they are savvy too, these new young wine explorers. They access and share information, wine reviews, food pairing ideas and pricing online.
They have also been the generation that has accelerated the growth of the organic wine and biodynamic wine sector. They care about what they put into their bodies and how it was made as well.
I always get an enthusiastic response from Millennial wine drinkers about natural wines. With the older generation, there is some begrudging yet growing interest mixed with distrust for a product made without chemicals.
These are some interesting results from a recent Wine Market Council survey.
Frequency of wine bottle purchases over $20:
43% Millennials
32% Gen X
22% Boomers
Importance of online information when purchasing wine:
36% Millennial
29% Gen X
22% Boomer
Percentage of imported wine purchases:
41% Millennials
31% Gen X
24% Boomers
Continue reading about Millennial Wine Drinkers: Savvy meets Sophisticated
Today is Sunday, which means we aren’t picking, but we are tasting. We rode over to the winery on our motorcycles to taste all the fermentors and see how everything is coming along.
It’s a treat to ride during harvest, as we don’t usually get the time to ride, and even if we [...]
Continue reading about Fermentations means Taste, Taste, Taste!
A fellow member of Vinocellar.com asked me recently if I’ve ever posted a vertical tasting note on our Butterdragon Hill wines. I haven’t. In fact, the only time I write a tasting note on a Match wine — or even think about it in that way — is for the particular wine’s release letter. Still, I am constantly trying our wines and, when hosting folks for tasting, usually get a chance to try a vertical. I make mental notes about how a wine is developing, what would be the optimum decant time, drinking windows, etc. I also make a mental note that I should post such thoughts either here on the blog or, probably even better, on a web page on the site. That mental note seems to always get filed away and never done.
Anyway, here are some current thoughts on the Butterdragon Hill vintages:
2002 – the first vintage, the highest score from Wine Spectator, very popular, currently my least favorite. While the fruit is delicious, big, round, and sweet, I always thought this wine was a bit too heavy and stylistically simple. Not really where I wanted to be but a full throttle Napa Cab for those looking for it.
2003 – currently drinking the best (I’m hearing this from a bunch of folks as well) and ironically, on release it was definitely the most worrisome and the least popular. It seemed a bit thin while barrel aging and on initial release but continued gaining heft to where now it is an awesome wine. I think one of the biggest initial stumbling blocks for us business-wise was that the 03 (from a cooler vintage) followed the 02 in a different style. I know this caused some confusion as distributors and brokers tried to follow up the 2002 with the 2003 in placements. It also didn’t help that 2003 Napa vintage was generally damned by the press. Very elegant and drinking wonderfully right now.
2004 – Fruit and flowers. This was the first vintage, in my opinion, where the vineyard really started showing its character and we could start to see the Butterdragon HIll style. It sort of combines the roundness of 2002 with the elegance of 2003. Lovely candied fruit aromas fill the glass and yet it doesn’t seem to be all about candy. I love the complexity we’re able to get from this cooler side of the Valley. Depending on how many you have in the cellar, it wouldn’t be a crime to open one now with about an hour in the decanter though I’d say the perfect time will be in two years.
2005 – Spicier. This vintage shows much more traditional cabernet flavors… currant, green herb, tea leaves, pepper. Reminds me of old world more than new. Although it is far from ready to drink, this is one of my favorites so far. This is the wine Gary Vaynerchuk gushed over to the tune of 93+ points. My favorite way to serve this wine right now is to just open the bottle a couple of hours before serving and pour right from the bottle. It could use a few more years in the cellar too.
2006 – More like 04 but everything is a bit bigger on this wine… the fruit is more lush, complex undertones are there and will develop further, tannins are not overbearing but promise long-term ageability. Just a baby, but 3-4 years from now should be an awesome wine. Definitely needs time.
2007 – The younger the wine, the harder it is to evaluate and we just bottled the 2007 Butterdragon Hill in July. I think it is going to be incredible.
Continue reading about Comparing vintages of our Butterdragon Hill Cabernet
1. Hard Habit to Break – Chicago
2. Happy Xmas (War is Over) – The Moody Blues
3. Melt My Heart to Stone – Adele
4. Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
5. Coming Home – Fleetwood Mac
6. One Irish Rover – Van Morrison
7. The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden
8. I Think I Smell A Rat – White Stripes
9. Lady Madonna – Beatles
10. Bye Bye Love – Simon & Garfunkel
Feel free to share what happens when you hit “shuffle” on your iPod/MP3 player.
I’ve been in Napa the last few days and have visited a few tasting rooms. Some of those experiences were good, some very bland and a couple just plain miserable. Not miserable because I ended up with a bus-ful of tourists in pleated Khaki shorts and sock-less loafers, who ask far too many, well, not so profound questions, but miserable because of the way the tasting room staff approached me and my tasting experience.- Don’t sell me on every wine you have. I’m on the other side of the counter, talking to you, one person, throughout the whole tasting and when you tell me that the first wine is “beautiful,” “gorgeous,” “one of my favorites,” “a real top seller” and on and on…and then proceed to tell me similar things for the next 6 wines, including 3 of which that are, by far, your favorites, it undercuts your credibility. I stop listening. I do not trust your opinion. Oh, and by the way, only one of those 6 wines was good, at least for my palette.
- That one that was good? Remember that one? Well, that bottle at home wasn’t nearly as good. Not sure what you did when you poured the tasting, but don’t create an experience that can’t be duplicated. Don’t decant the wines then pour them back in the bottles or do anything else behind the scenes that make your wine taste better because I will not buy your wine again if I have a different experience at home.
- And, to that point, please, please, please don’t openly use aerators when you’re pouring me samples. Whereas the “behind the scenes” technique above is, I guess, acceptable and several wineries do it, pouring your wine through an aerator at a tasting, in front of me, is flat out egregious. You take a bottle of what you’re trying to sell me, sing its praises, then pour it through an aerator and tell me to swirl it for at least a minute before drinking. What that tells me is that (a) you don’t trust that the wine is good enough on its own…(b) you don’t trust me to make a discerning decision about what’s good and real about the wine…(c) you’re cheating right in front of me – I have several aerators at home and I love them for their ability to make a mediocre bottle of wine just that much better, but, you are selling your wine to me – stand behind it and let it win or lose on its own merits…or (d) all of the above.
- Oh, and don’t tell me to swirl it because it’s cold and just came out of a different cellar than the rest. I have a pretty normal sense of touch and this wine was the same temperature as the others. Period.
- Don’t push me through as part of a group when I’m there by myself. I don’t know these other people and I may taste at a different pace than them. Making me wait 5 minutes between tastes is not going to make me buy your wine simply by being in your winery longer. What you didn’t know is that I just came from another winery where they recognized that I was not part of the bigger group, so they treated me to 3 of their reserve wines. I’m not even saying that these reserve wines were that much better than the rest of the tasting, but at least they made me feel special from the others by sneaking me some tastes of “the good stuff.”
- Don’t assume just because I came to your winery in shorts, an old t-shirt and a dirty hat that I am not going to buy your wine (what can I say, my wife was at the house catching a nap and I snuck out wearing some grubby clothes). Treat me like everyone else – you never know.
And, finally, do not expect me back at your winery any time soon. All of the above equate to an experience that’s not worth duplicating.
Continue reading about Tips for winery tasting rooms – on my soapbox
Flanked by Winemaker Thomas Houseman (L) and Viticulturist Jason Tosch (R), the crew toasts the 2009 vintage over pinot noir picked from our Justin-Grant Vineyard in the Chehalem Mountain AVA. Below are freshly picked bins of Muller-Thurgau from our estate property.
Mia was up bright and early yesterday for the first pick of reds. She was up at Bressler Vineyards for their Cabernet Franc and Merlot picking. The fruit came in really clean and it’s all in a tank soaking away.
Mia sampled the Bressler Petit Verdot (24.6 brix) and the Cabernet (24.4 brix) while [...]