Patriarch of California wine dies at age 94

Robert Mondavi died Friday at his Napa Valley home. He was 94.

Pulling a couple of praragraphs from the obituary that's running on forbes.com, Mondavi was the son of Italian immigrants had worked in the wine industry since graduating from Stanford University with a degree in economics the 1930s. He started at the Charles Krug Winery, in which his parents had invested after leaving Minnesota for California. A tempestuous relationship with his brother, Peter, led to a split from the family business and he opened his eponymous Napa Valley winery in Northenr California in 1966 at age 52.

Called in a bold innovator, Mondavi put his wines up against French vintages in blind tastings and championed the use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, which have become commonplace in California's $20 billion wine industry today. After beating some well-known French vintages in a 1976 blind tasting, Mondavi set up the first French-American wince venture, joining forces with Baron Philippe de Rothschild. The pair developed the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville, producing their first vintage in 1979.

Mondavi turned over day-to-day control of the winery to his sons in the mid--1990s, but a second generation of sibling disagreements, intense competition from other New World wines and a glut of California production in the early 2000s took its toll on the business, which was bought out for $1.3 billion by Constellation Brands in 2004.

I've done a couple of things to add some depth to Mondavi. I've asked a select group of winery owners in this region for their reaction, good and bad, and included a link to today's New York Times story on the death and life of Mondavi and a link to the Mondavi Web site, which includes his biography, his lifetime achievements and quotes.

Taste of Pennsylvania set for inaugural

The debut of what organizers hope will be an annual event will be held May 31 and June 1 at the York Fairgrounds. The Taste of Pennsylvania Wine and Music Festival will feature three bands on Saturday, the 31st, and three more on Sunday, the 1st. A total of nine wineries will be represented. Tickets are $15; at the gate the cost is $20 and it's $10 for a designated driver. They are available at Nell's, Saubel's and Wtzel's Shurfine locations. More on the event can be found at yorkwinefest.com.

Spokesman Brian Dudley was kind enough to respond by e-mail to a few questions about the event. Here is the exchange:

Q: Give me a quick overview of what came together to move this from an idea into a reality?
A: I was Commander of the Sons of the American Legion for seven years and over that time we made donations each year to many organizations, however the donations were usually $100 and I wanted to do more. So with my interest in wine, wine making and festivals I determined that a wine festival in York would be a great way for the SAL to make money to allow us to make bigger donations.

Q: What kind of demographic are you expecting? Who's going to these things these days?
A: Well, the typical crowd is the 30-to-55-year-old crowd of middle to upper class wine drinkers, however I think that many people enjoy wine and that is why Sunday's musical entertainment is more classic rock, something for the late 20s and early 30s crowd. I personally am 33 and I began drinking and making wine in my early 20s, so I do not think wine has to be for a certain crowd, you just have to enjoy wine to enjoy our festival.

Q: I know there's wine and I know there's music. Break down some of the things that visitors will get a chance to do?
A: For the admission price you will receive a wine glass that allows you wine tastings from all wineries throughout the day. So bring your chair or blanket and stay for the day of great music and wine. Next year I hope to add food demos from local cheifs, as well as an amatuer wine compitition.

Q: Will there be wine for sale there?
A: Wine is for sale at the event and we will be offering a wine check system, meaning that you can buy wine at a winery, have it marked; it will then be sent to the wine pickup area and when you leave you can go pick up all your wine. This will help those who want to buy several bottles to several cases, as they do not have to carry the wine around and they can take their car right to the pick up station when they are ready to leave.

Q: Tell me about the response, both from the public and the wineries? Looks like you did well in getting a mix of wineries from all over the region.
A: I am hearing from a lot of people that they are coming and hearing our commecials so I hope for a good turn out. I have been told that PA just doesn't have the same number of wine drinkers as Northern Maryland and I just do not think that is true and I hope our event shows that York knows its wine and will turn out for a festival. As for the wineries, I have gotten a great response, especially from the local wineries who want to see an event like this in York County. It can only help to showcase their wine by bringing wine drinkers to York County. As for wineries from out of the area, they have also been great and this will be a good chance for them to showcase their wine. The selection of wineries was very intential. I wanted to showcase the "Taste of Pennsylvania" by bringing together wine from across Pennsylvania. Wine grown in the soil and climate of the Lake Erie area will taste very different from wine grown and made in York Co. and I wanted to show that to everyone. Pennsylvania is a great wine region with a lot of promise and I hope to continue this event for a long time, to help the SAL and the Pennsylvania wineries.

Chaddsford's Eric Miller checks in

Eric Miller of Chaddsford Winery describes the business of making wine in Pennsylvania as evolving, comparing some parts of the state to how he remembers New York 35 years ago when he and his father were just starting out. No doubt, he agrees, it's encouraging that each year brings the opening of new wineries. As for national respect? "We're not ready for national recognition," he says in an interview that touches on several subjects. "The American consumer just learned how to say Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio. They cannot say Pennsylvania yet."

York Uncorked, Year 3

So how do the folks who plan and execute the annual Tour de Tanks/Uncork York Wine Trail event top what happened this March?

Easy. Alison Smith, public relations coordinator for the York County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said earlier this week that they’ll look at the feedback and consider ways to improve this now established prelude to spring.

“I think we always want more options,” Smith said. “We’re thinking about changing the wine and dine a little bit, [to] more BYOB. We’ve seen people want to be able to sample what they’ve purchased [at the wineries]. So we’re looking at that trend.”

Among the other considerations is tweaking the food component that’s part of the winery tour and tastings. As unique as the wineries and their owners and winemakers are, so is the food that sits aside the tasting area. Some have their finger foods catered; others prepare it themselves.

“That is something I will tell you we are working on, kind of revamping,” Smith said. “I think that’s one of the personality things that come through . . . [but] it’s not just about what you like, and I think that’s what we have to try to convey. We’re just kind of reassessing the way we do some of the thing sin the program, and I would say the food is an important part of the program.

“Since we are a bureau, the wineries do have a relationship with us, but they also all kind of work together and they decide as a group what they want to do. And so it’s kind of more about getting them all in the same place and deciding as a collective what’s best for everyone, not just the individual. It is something we’re looking into for next year. … to try and figure out the best way to do it for the audience.”

Otherwise, the ingredients are all in place for this event to continue to expand. More interest. A widening demographic, Smith said. And additional wineries getting set to open, potentially adding to the 11 now that are part of the wine trail.

“We have heard of a few new ones popping up,” Smith said. “Nothing definite on any of them joining our trail at the moment. But I think because you have such great committed vintners that they’ve shown other people who, five, 10 years ago, might have been intimidated. I think the Tour de Tanks event has a lot to do with that … bringing lots of different kinds of people to wine.”

It all began in 2006 as a Saturday-only event, but it made sense for several reasons – you try and compress stops at four or five wineries into one day, for one – to add Sundays the following year. Planners continued that schedule this year, once again through the month of March.

“Sundays also generated additional overnight visits for us, which kind of gets at the heart of what we do here at the bureau,” Smith said. “This year, we actually had an increase of almost 2500 visits overall. That was really good for us. And we had more of an extended draw. We saw visitors from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York state, and the ever-popular DC metro area. I think it’s convenient for them. They head north, and we’re about an hour and a half to two hours, and they feel like they’re in a different country.”

No exaggerating there. And what they find when they arrive is a succession of what could be termed open houses. “Something I think is really unique about our trail is that they are family-owned wineries,” Smith said. “What’s really interesting is that you get to see the personalities of the winemaker come through in the wine; the sophistication of a European- influenced blend comes through with Allegro, with Carl Helrich and just his wealth of knowledge on not only his own vineyard and not just the scientific composition of the soil in the area but just the way he talks about everything, not just wine. With Charles Aldinger and his friends [Buck Mortorff and his brother Junior, whjo are Aldinger’s partners] from Four Springs, they’re very kind of jovial joking guys, and that comes through in their wine, which is very well-balanced, very clean, crisp flavor, but you always kind of get that fruit in the background, that variety of fruit in the background.

“And Dick Naylor [of Naylor Wine Cellars in Stewartstown, Pa.], he likes to talk about that he was told many, many moons ago that grapes grow where peaches grow, and in York County, especially southern York County, there are areas that all you see in the summer are peach trees,” she added. “So if that says anything about the quality of the wine in the area, we really kind of have something unique.”

That’s paid off in bigger numbers, in visitors to the wineries and the restaurants for the wine-and-dine aspect, and the overnights. For instance, increasing from four to 10 days in 2007, the bureau saw an increase of 3,054 visits, and since 2006 has seen a hike of 5,475 visits at all wineries. All these numbers come from the bureau. Smith said that during the first year, 2006, one winery saw an increase in wine sales of 469 percent from the previous March without the event.

It’s very likely the event will remain in March. Smith said that month makes sense, well after the holidays and presumably after most of the winter weather, but before the chores in the winery and vineyard get too numerous.

“We might bring on another event in the year,” Smith wrote in an e-mail, “but Tour de Tanks will stay in March.”

So what sells you on a wine?

At some point I need to track down Eric Asimov to talk about many of the subjects he wrote about in this Wednesday New York Times piece. It hits so many of the subjects I want to cover with this blog: feeling comfortable about choosing wine, taking the winespeak and tasting ratings with a grain of salt and realizing that part of the fun, at least for me, is finding the bargains. And, of course, learning more about how the winemakers and winery owners view what they do.

For someone like me still trying to develop even a decent nose for wine, this graph from the story made me laugh:
Meanwhile, consumers face an impenetrable swamp of winespeak: Wine Spectator recently evaluated one Argentine red as, “Dark and rich, with lots of fig bread, mocha, ganache, prune and loam notes. Stays fine-grained on the finish, with lingering sage and toast hints.”

I'm not embarrassed to admit I'm OK on recognizing the dark and rich. Still working on decipering the loam notes and fig bread and most other things beyond the grapefruit/tropical fruit in Pinot Grigio and the crispness of a Sauvignon Blanc. If are of you reading this can identify loam notes and fig bread before I do, please check in. Otherwise, just enjoy the experience and the many wines that go so well with the dawning of summer.

Closing in on opening day

OK, I admit it. I'm jealous. I got to talk to someone who is on the doorstep of opening a winery at a spot west of Gettysburg in less than two months. And, actually, he sounded eager for July 1 to get here so he and his family can open the doors at Hauser Estate Winery. His will be one of at least a half-dozen wineries opening in the state this year.

Tossing out a few Pennsylvania numbers

According to wineinstitute.org, there were almost 6,000 wineries -- what they refer to as bonded winery premises -- across the United States in 2007. Bonded winery licenses are issued by U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau for the purpose of designating a tax-paid environment for wine. More than half (2,687) are located in California.

That number dwarfs what Pennsylvania lists in the same year (114). Still, it’s not so much that bottom line that reflects what’s going on in this state and elsewhere along the East Coast; a better indicator is the total number of wineries that existed, say, 26 years ago when there were 29. There were only 46 some 10 years later, and still only 64 at the turn of this century. But since then the state has seen 50 more wineries open, and that number figures to increase at a similar rate over the coming decade. OK, that doesn’t mean they’ll be filming the sequel to “Sideways” here anytime soon, but it’s definitely progress.

“Looking back to 1997, there were 53 wineries,” said Jennifer Eckinger, of the Pennsylvania Winery Association, noting the momentum, “and they were producing around 423,000 gallons. In 2007 we had 114 wineries, but now we currently have 122.. So thinking about the year there’s already been a jump. And the total production for 2007 increased to just shy of 1 million gallons.”

Where’s this surge coming from? Popularity and the awareness that this soil and topography can support grapes albeit the limitations that growers are faced with in certain pockets of the state. In the town of Northeast in the northwest part of the state near Erie, Eckinger points out, “that’s always been a grape-growing area. But it’s [happening] increasingly moreso across the state. Even in some relatively inhospitable areas, they’re growing the Minnesota variety of grape. And the grape industry is flourishing, Id say, in the eastern part of the state.”

Courtesy of Eckinger, here are some numbers that might surprise you on the state of winemaking in this state. Tomorrow we’ll put a face to these numbers by talking to the owner of a winery that’s yet to open. Jon Patrono will open his Hauser Estate Winery west of Gettysburg, and he shares some of the steps he and his family have had to take to advance within two months of opening for business.

These include, from left, the year and number of wineries, the total production, the total gallons sold, the sales to the PLCB and the sales on premises.

Year--No.--Prod.--Gallons--Sales/LCB--Sales/prem.
1981---27---254,724---181,181---5,960---165,524
1986---54---329,852---307,969---1,189---289,068
1991---50---312,009---293,121---8,231---259,831
1996---52---416,329---375,011---25,296--301,973
2001---72---598,327---481,737---32,961--430,119
2005--104--810,777---687,214---74,865---586,998
2006--108--780,155---723,032---82,021----620,649
2007--114--919,936---750,694---82,059----649,945