San Francisco native Justin Chin possesses an almost stubborn optimism
about the future of hospitality. As general manager and wine director of The Happy Crane in his hometown’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, he’s quietly shaping one of the city’s most innovative dining experiences.
Thanks to new research about quercetin, the list of culprits in wine falls into three primary categories: tannins, biogenic amines (BAs), and alcohol.
Humans may use their sense of sight more,
but through smell, we can determine such things as the quality and consistency of foods and beverages.
Calls for optimism are the theme of new year missives from wine industry colleagues near and far. One in particular came from a Northern California winemaker who is puzzling over the lack of adoption by Gen Z consumers, an increasingly fragmented and dispirite domestic market and included a request for insights that might inspire hope.
The message my students are sending to the makers of the world’s historic sweet wines amounts to a love letter. My passion for these historic wines can only be described as a love affair.
The University of California, Davis, has a long history of groundbreaking research that has significantly impacted the global wine industry. Standing on the shoulders of giants With the retirement of several key academics whose research in the areas of grapevine genetics, fermentation science, and sensory science has played a crucial role in the development and advancement of the modern American wine industry, the Department of Viticulture and Enology now has new leadership. In January 2024, Benjamen Montpetit began his tenure as the Marvin Sands Endowed Chair in the department, succeeding David Block, who spent nearly 13 years in the role. Montpetit’s journey Montpetit’s journey from studying biochemistry to assuming leadership of the world’s top wine-science department was a natural progression. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, he made his way to the University of California, Berkeley, for postdoctoral research in gene expression regulation using yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As a self-described foodie, Montpetit had already formed a deep personal connection to Vancouver’s multicultural restaurant scene, but it was a memorable glass …
In 2021, The prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB) wine competition began using artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Winespace, a Bordeaux-based firm founded by Sylvain Thibaud and Julian Laithier in 2015, as part of its judging protocol as a valueadded feedback mechanism for producers.
Bubbles are the hallmark of all sparkling wines, and they play a significant role in the cachet that surrounds this category. Even the terms “bubbles,” “mousse,” and “Champagne” elicit a pleasurable response in expert and novice consumers alike.
Fog over the Pelletti Vineyard in Laguna Hills, Russian River Valley.
Of the more than 1,000 compounds that make up wine’s aromatic profile, desirable aromas are represented by a combination of 82 different volatile compounds, only some of which are detectable when present above threshold.
If studying Chianti Classico has not made your list of New Year’s resolutions, the Consorzi Vini e Olio Classico has just handed you an incentive; a free, online training program – Mooc Chianti Classico.
Morrow, who received MICHELIN’s California Sommelier Award in 2022, oversees the wine cellar at PRESS, which houses the largest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world and is focused on library wines. When adding a new bottling to the list, he looks for winemakers who have worked their way up at acclaimed producers and then started their own labels.
AI-generated podcast summarizes four recent articles With advances in artificial intelligence (AI) making huge strides, podcasters look to be on the endangered species list. NotebookLM has cranked out a realistic – if not completely accurate – ten-minute discussion of four of my recent wine related articles exploring Champagne production techniques, accountable sustainability, lower-alcohol Cabernet Sauvignon, and novice wine education. It was fascinating to see how the algorithem selected four topics from my archive, sussed out the key points of each article, and wove them together into a podcast that I found no more or less compelling than many I have listened to. For the record, I don’t find podcasts a particularly good use of my listening time. While there are exceptions, I prefer reading to listening to other people audbily processing content. That said, I encourage you read these brief articles – Rare perpetual reserve a hallmark at Champagne Palmer Solera wines are the secret sauce in Champagne producer’s blending process. In a tribute to the rare practice of aging reserve wines via the solera …
A group of professional palates recently gathered for dinner at Auro, the one-Michelin-starred restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley in Calistoga, California, for a tasting hosted by Clos de los Siete founder Michel Rolland and managing director Ramiro Barrios to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the estate, located in Argentina’s Uco Valley.
A wine’s scent is one of the best indications of its quality. The hedonic effects of wine are influenced by hundreds of volatile aroma compounds, making it one of the most complex of food and
beverage products.
Interest in lower-acohol wines is growing among consumers putting producers like Jordan back in the limelight. “Our Bordeaux-style Cabernet and Burgundy-style Chardonnay wines . . . range between 12.6% and 13.8% [alcohol], compared to the California average of 14.5%,” says Jordan winemaker Maggie Kruse. “This represents far more than numbers; lower-alcohol wines have a more balanced flavor profile.”
Elizabeth Spencer’s Sarah Vandendriessche guides the Napa Valley Vintners’ environmental stewardship committee.
Visit Sacramento and Slow Food International will host Terra Madre Americas, the American version of the internationally acclaimed Terra Madre Salone del Gusto food conference May 17th – 19th at the Sacramento Convention Center. Programming focuses on three key Slow Food themes – wine, coffee and biocultural territories of Latin America and the Caribbean. The event is free to the public and brings together wineries, food producers, scientists, cooks, and researchers from the United States and Latin America for educational and interactive experiences for all ages. Additional ticketed event opportunities including Slow Wine USA masterclasses programmed by Slow Wine USA editors Deborah Parker Wong and Pam Strayer with producers from the 2024 Slow Wine USA guide. Saturday, 5/18 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Slow Wine: Take Your Time, Everyday Wines: Wines Priced $30 and Under, $50 Speakers: Deborah Parker Wong, journalist and Slow Wine USA director, and Pam Strayer, journalist and Slow Wine USA co-director. Little known fact: Lodi and the Sierra Foothills offer affordable, artisanal wines (priced below $30). Explore California wines from lesser-known varieties originally from …
Biodiversity equals stability was the key message at Siclia’s second international SOStain symposium.
Researchers have identified compounds responsible for coconut and dried fruit aromas in red grape must and new wine.
Our sense of smell is based on two delivery pathways, orthonasal and retronasal; that makes it the only “dual sense modality” we possess, one that provides information about things both external and internal to the body.
Iron Age wineries tamed the ancestor of the indigenous Bobal vines of Utiel-Requena.
There’s little doubt this disruptive reinvention of the beverage category will impact wine and beverage alcohol consumption for a host of reasons. Among them is alcohol moderation or abstinence by younger consumers whose lifestyles already include frequent consumption of functional products. While beer and spirits producers have already found purchase in the category through brand extensions and acquisitions, wine producers don’t seem in any hurry to participate.
If you’re keeping tabs on wine quality in Southern Italy with its myriad indigenous grape varieties and oftentimes limited access to distribution, this update on the Sannio DOC should prove to be useful. Through a combination of research trips to Campania and the opportunity to judge the Radici del Sud “Roots of the South” wine competition which has been held in different venues in the town of Bari, Puglia since 2006, it provides a look at the key factors for the region and a snapshot of wine quality.
Pyrazines—too much of a good thing and they’re a fault; absent in varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and they leave something to be desired. In relation to bitterness, pyrazines can be the source of a flaw or fault, but that’s just one of many ways they can impact wine flavor. Ask any maker of Bordeaux varieties, someone who grows grapes in a marginal climate or experiences a colder vintage, about their concerns, and they’ll surely count elevated pyrazines among them. Admittedly, pyrazines are a double-edged sword. Without them we wouldn’t have the expansive range of wine styles that are possible from Sauvignon Blanc or the markers that help us identify the family of Bordeaux varieties and the likes of Carmenère. But in the extreme, pyrazines dominate wine at the expense of other varietal flavors. We’ve all tasted them—from pungently herbaceous boxwood (the polite reference to cat pee) and jalapeño pepper in Sauvignon Blanc to rank green bell pepper or even weeds in red wines that haven’t achieved physiological ripeness. Pyrazines are the family of volatile organic …
Minerality — Without question the most controversial and elusive of wine descriptors. This comes as no surprise given that the exact definition of what minerals themselves are is still under debate and has been expanded as an element or compound formed through “biogeochemical” processes. Nutrient or dietary minerals—single elements like manganese, potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, calcium, copper and zinc—are minor components of red wine. White wines have small amounts of iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus and zinc. A serving of wine can also contain several milligrams of halite, the mineral salt (sodium chloride is the chemical name for salt), and we can accurately describe its taste in wine as saline minerality. Knowing that wine contains minerals, why is describing minerality so problematic? Largely because aside from halite, nutrient minerals are essentially tasteless. Only when they’re in a highly concentrated liquid form, for example as a dietary supplement, do they taste offensively bitter. But the elusive flavors we describe as “mineral” in some wines can be readily attributed to specific compounds. The two of the most common …
There’s no question that glassware can alter our perceptions of wine. It’s a phenomenon experienced by every resourceful consumer who has pressed a plastic cup into service when a wineglass wasn’t close. While the proliferation of shapes intended to complement or enhance specific wines has been met with skepticism from certain corners, without empirical evidence to the contrary, simply increasing the measure of enjoyment that’s obtained from a glass of wine has validated the practice and the efforts of Austrian glassware maker Riedel. Science has already provided empirical evidence that makes a case for the superiority of wine glasses for the appreciation of wine. Using a thermal imaging technique, Japanese researchers have captured pictures of ethanol vapors volatizing from a wine glass in a ring-shaped pattern, with the area of lowest alcohol in the center. This “donut hole” effect allows for greater appreciation of volatile aroma compounds without the added interference from ethanol. When wine was tested from a Martini or straight glass it didn’t exhibit a ring shaped-vapor pattern, proof enough that wine glasses …
A focus on sustainability
drives progress as Bronco
Wine Company hits a
1 billion bottle milestone.
Visits by two winemakers who work on either side of the Andes provided some perspective on the terroirs being targeted in Chile and Argentina for ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and cooler-climate varieties, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Wine is, for the most part, water and ethanol which in turn become vehicles for the minor components that are largely responsible for aroma, taste and texture. Through the efforts of researchers at the University of California at Davis and the University of Burgundy in Dijon, our understanding of wine’s biochemical landscape is expanding rapidly. Research focusing on metabolites known as metabolomics, the scientific study of the set of metabolites present within an organism, cell or tissue, has now validated the concept of terroir by showing that every vineyard and every wine has a fingerprint that, like our own, is utterly unique. At the metabolic level, wine contains a record of how it was made—a fingerprint that points to the origin of the oak and “memories” of sulfur dioxide additions that were made to the must. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Beyond general references to tannins, acids and sugars, the lesser elements of wine are usually left to their own devices. Knowing what constitutes those components and how they collectively contribute to wine …
. 40 years of dedication to a craft is a life’s work and a milestone that demands to be celebrated. That’s exactly how I felt when long-time Catena winemaker Jose “Pepe” Galante visited San Francisco with his new releases for Bodegas Salentein. Friend and fellow wine journalist Monique Soltani of Wine Oh TV shot this beautiful photo essay of a luncheon I prepared and hosted in honor of Pepe. Enjoy this visual feast!
The gentle, rolling terrain and southern shores of Italy’s Lake Garda are home to a unique indigenous white grape variety—Turbiana. Mistakenly referred to as Trebbiano di Lugana, the Turbiana grape is a relative of both Verdicchio and Trebbiano, but it’s genetically different from both, and the wines
produced from it differ as well.
A new method for sanitizing stainless steel tanks and barrels using ultraviolet light is finding a receptive audience in California. The BlueMorph technology has been in development for four years and is coming to market at an opportune time. According to founding partner Alex Farren, a biochemist and toxicologist, the method known as Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) uses little or no water, no chemicals and only takes 30 seconds to install. Depending upon size, tanks can be sanitized in less than 30 minutes.
If everyone on your winegrowing and winemaking teams shares a common language, there’s less risk involved when it comes to making crucial decisions. Few would argue that the most crucial decision a winemaker faces is when to pick. Beyond establishing intentions for the style and quality of the finished wine, making confident, proactive picking decisions relies on accurately assessing levels of ripeness. This acquired skill is on that vineyard managers and winemakers typically master through trial and error as they learn to speak the same language when describing degrees of fruit maturity and other sough-after qualities. Using the analytical method of Berry Sensory Analysis (BSA), a technique to describe the characteristics of grape maturity developed by Jacques Rousseau at the Institut Cooperatif du Vin in Montpellier, France, and introduced in Northern California by Enartis Vinquiry in 2006, winemakers can c onfidently assess fruit quality for specific wine styles and, in turn, gain more control over harvest timing decisions and production methods. Read the entire article here: Berry Sensory Analysis
A Cornell University study suggests that including sensory descriptors on tasting sheets can reduce sales in the tasting room. Contrary to popular belief – and the results of previous wine and food studies – including sensory descriptors in tasting room collateral materials may not increase wine sales. Spurred by the lack of research available about the effect sensory descriptors have on consumer choice when used in conjunction with product samples, researchers at Cornell University looked to winery tasting rooms in New York for answers. According to Miguel I. Gómez, the Ruth and William Morgan Assistant Professor at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, who conducted the study in conjunction with graduate student Marin Shapiro, “The study has raised the issue with tasting room managers that certain kinds of information may work better than others.” Gómez has presented the work before industry and business audiences on the East Coast and noted that tasting room managers there have begun experimenting with their tasting notes to see what effect those modifications have on sales. The study, …
Story and photos by Deborah Parker Wong
For wine, as with most consumer goods, packaging is an obsession, and rightly so; its role in the commercial success of a product is undeniable. Packaging is usually the consumer’s first impression of a brand and it contributes greatly to the experience of enjoying wine. We touch a wine bottle repeatedly, often read and record the label in its entirety, gaze at it while we’re drinking and we may even save it for posterity. Considering the time, effort and resources that companies devote to wine packaging, labels seem to get the lion’s share of the attention. But that’s not always the case for products such as the cork which actually come in contact with the wine. “Cork tends to be treated like a commodity,” said Vance Rose, director of sales and marketing at Amorim, “and wineries often buy cork based upon price alone.” Read full article For Natural Cork, Form Follows Function here.
Consumer acceptance of wine packaging other than glass is growing, but fine glassware remains the undisputed tool of choice for presenting, evaluating and fully appreciating wine. While both crystal and glass stemware share space on winery tasting bars, the move by wineries to upscale glassware frequently coincides with the addition of luxury tasting experiences designed to showcase top-tier wines. “We’ re seeing wineries choosing the best,” said Sylvie Laly, director of U.S. winery sales for Riedel, Spiegelau and Nachtmann. “When a winery using our non-varietal specific Riedel glass trades up to the varietal-specific series, tasting room managers can see that their consumers’ experience is being significantly enhanced, and that translates directly to increased sales for the winery.” For Riedel customers, that choice means a baseline increase in cost by about 30%. From the entrylevel Degustazione series, nonvarietal- specific glasses designed for basic wine styles, a 19.75 ounce red wine glass runs $2.99 per stem whereas a varietal-specific 21.5 ounce cabernet/merlot glass from Riedel’s Restaurant series runs $5.95 per stem. Read the full article Tools of …
Many Anderson Valley Pinot Noir producers time the commercial release of their wines around the annual Pinot Noir Festival and technical seminar, now in its sixteenth year. This year’s event took place in May, and some 40 producers poured their wines at Goldeneye Winery in Philo. As vintages go, 2010 and 2011 challenged producers in more ways than one. Yields were down in 2010 by as much as 30 percent due to a blast of heat in August. Fruit that wasn’t scorched that year ripened, but not overly, resulting in wines with good acidity and flavors. A wet 2011 had many producers scrambling to pick before October rains intensified pressure from botrytis. While Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs can be roughly sorted as one of two broadly-defined wine styles we’ll call “fragrant and sleek” and “bold and deep,” the string of cooler La Niña vintages that started in 2009 and continued through 2011 has closed the gap somewhat on that divide. With more generous vintages such as 2012 and 2013, which is shaping as warm and …
We’re kicking up the dust once again with the 2010 vintage presented by the Rutherford Dust Society at a blind tasting held at Beaulieu Vineyards’ Rutherford House in July. According to President Davie Piña, the Society is in the last stages of their watershed restoration project which has lessened erosion and reduced disease pressure along the 4.5 miles of riverbank that bisect the AVA. “Rutherford growers have given up eight acres of vineyard to restore the river,” said Piña who was met with a round of much-deserved applause for his pivotal role in managing the project. Across the 18 red wines shown that morning, vintage events in 2010 including cool, grey La Niña conditions punctuated by a severe heat spike and untimely rain during harvest produced a narrower range of styles. The tasting was organized moving clockwise around the AVA from west to east and conditions at Rutherford House were ideal with the wines being given time to aerate prior to the tasting. Read the full article at Rutherford Dust 2010.
It’s alive! Unlike its Left Bank counterpart, the Saint Émilion classification is indeed a living thing. The promotion of 17 châteaux not previously classified to the status of Grands Crus Classés in 2012 made this year’s tasting of 33 (of the 63 classified) all the more interesting. Having tasted the 2009s during visits to several of these estates prior to their promotion, focus was squarely on the 2010s during the San Francisco tasting held at Terra Gallery in early November. It’s fascinating to witness change, and the châteaux, which were on an upward trajectory in 2009 for the most part, didn’t disappoint. Read the full article here at Grands Crus Classés of Saint Émilion.
Early responses to the California Farm Bureau Federation’s 2013 agricultural workforce survey point to labor shortages in excess of 30% and far more unmet demand for labor than in previous years. With the 2013 wine grape harvest beginning two weeks earlier than normal in California, at a time when the table grape harvest is peaking and berry crops are still in full swing, labor shortages were undeniable. According to Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers in Fresno, competition for seasonal employees is stiff as workers follow the highest-paying jobs. He cited instances of strawberry growers hiring vineyard workers, only to have raspberry growers step in and offer those workers higher wages. From all accounts, the money follows the most perishable crops. “There’s no question that wages are escalating and growers are stretching out the timing of their harvests,” DiBuduo said. “They are not getting as much fruiton the market as fast as they would like.” Fifth-generation Lodi grower Kyle Lerner was pressing chardonnay when he gave Vineyard & Winery Management an account of the …
A virtual tidal wave of data is fueling the race toward accurately predicting consumer preferences and buying behavior. With intelligent computer systems now gathering information in real time, businesses of all sizes are experiencing a sea change in the way they and their customers use technology. Until very recently, we looked to the past and relied on historical data to identify current trends and to predict consumer behavior. But now we’re looking forward. Information technology has spun us around 180 degrees and given us the ability to use data to extrapolate and make predictions. With a new generation of applications being developed to predict consumer preferences and wine-buying behavior, companies of all sizes are clearly pursuing the promise of big data. “Predication is the nut that everyone is trying to crack,” said data scientist Michael J. Tompkins, cofounder and chief science officer for Houston-based startup VineSleuth. For Tompkins, whose typical project may involve millions of unknowns, wine has its own unique set of challenges. “It’s not as if we have the answer yet,” he said. …
On the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, a cold, dry Zonda or rain shadow wind swept down the eastern slopes of the Andes and dropped a blanket of snow over the vineyards of Mendoza, Argentina. “It’s a beautiful sight but devastating to budding vines and fruit trees when followed by a frost,” said Andrés Rosberg, President of the Association of Argentine Sommeliers. Early-budding Chardonnay (and the stone fruit trees) in the Valle de Uco and San Rafael suffered this vintage, but frost and hail storms are the exceptions in Mendoza, where wine-growing conditions are considered less than extreme. Argentina’s most rigorous wine-growing conditions are found at the country’s extremes: from remote 10,000-foot sites in Salta to the north and the cold, arid steppes of Patagonia to the south. But the country’s wine culture traces its roots to more hospitable sites. Vines first arrived in the northern province of Santiago del Estero and were brought from Chile to the San Juan and Mendoza regions in the mid-16th century. The arrival of European immigrants …
Dirt. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the influence of terroir and its contribution to the flavor in wine is one of the most controversial and debated topics among wine enthusiasts. I created this crossword puzzle to help my WSET Level 3 students study soil types in a creative way. Even if you’re not a student of wine you’ve probably already encountered many of the soils I’ve included here. So, put on your geological thinking cap and have at it with these clues Soil Survey Clues. You’ll can find the answers here. Soil Survey Answer Key
Wine quality has been on the rise in Lake County and winegrowers there have their sights set determinedly on the future—and it’s a very bright one at that. Driven by increased demand for high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Sauvignon Blanc, the value of the region’s wine grapes climbed by 20 percent in 2012, reaching a ten-year high, while yields inched up by just three percent. Here at THE TASTING PANEl, we’ve been following winegrowing in Lake County closely for the last five years. When questions arose about the age ability of the region’s wines, we were quick to take up the challenge. More often than not, exposure to Lake County wines is limited to the supporting role they play in blends from nearby appellations. When this point was raised during a technical seminar hosted in June at MacMurray Ranch by the appellation’s winegrowers, Steele Wines’ Joy Merrilees had answers at the ready but no proof positive that the region’s high-elevation wines can withstand the test of time. Read the complete article here…Long-lived Lake …
Visually, Burgundy isn’t a particularly mysterious place; the low-growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines hunker over the earth in their search for heat. From a vantage point to the east of Chablis, you can survey the gentle landscape and precious grand cru sites in a sweeping glance but, the wines themselves continue to remain a mystery—one that we ponder with each passing vintage. During the week-long parade of trade tastings known fittingly as Les Grands Jours, it seemed as if no stone has been left unturned by importers in their efforts to demystify the wines. Tastings that began in Chablis and stretched to the far reaches of the Mâconnais revealed that, while importers have been astute in seeking out quality, there are new discoveries to be made in Burgundy. Primarily in the form of young producers who have branched out, after years of mentoring, to start their own labels and less-visible sub-regions whose wine quality is pushing forward by leaps and bounds. At this bi-annual celebration, Burgundy’s grand cru vineyards sustain the most scrutiny, and …
If you’re a regular at the annual Family Winemakers of California tasting being held on September 9th from 3:00 to 6:00 PM at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion then you probably have a game plan for navigating a tasting of this size. If you’re new to the game or if you’re a bit overwhelmed just by the idea, take heart, help is on the way. I spend a big chunk of my time attending wine tastings. Each year I taste about 5,000 different producers from every winegrowing region in the world. Here in California, I not only spend time visiting wineries, I jury several regional wine competitions which helps familiarize me with smaller producers including many of those pouring at Family Winemakers whom only sell their wine directly to consumers. Like any good quarterback, I always have a game plan lined up before heading out onto the field. I invite you to piggyback on my research and use this list as a guideline to some not-to-be-missed wines by California’s best and brightest. The real beauty …
