Journal review lands on Barefoot's Grigio

As a journalist, I was salivating reading this review in last Friday's Wall Street Journal on Pinot Grigio/Gris. Not only because of the way that they described some of the wines they tasted, but moreso because of the number. Sixty. Oh, to have a budget that allows for the purchase of 60 bottles of anything!!!

What's the difference between Grigio and Gris? In many cases, according to Journal writers Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Becher, it's strictly nuance. Many American winemarkers use Pinot Gris to describe a wine that's more full-bodied than Pinot Grigio, which they describe as wine that's "sunny and light." Both are finding their way more often onto tables, either as something to sip or pairing with a meal.

Being the poor journalist, I had my eye on what low-prices grigio's delighted their palates. Turned out to be Barefoot Cellars, based in Modesto, Calif. Here's what they wrote:

Our biggest surprise on the upside came on the lower-priced wines. Hogue has been one of our favorite value wineries for years and its Pinot Grigio is a real winner -- crisp, clean, lovely and a terrific buy at $6.99. Even more of a surprise, though, was a wine called Barefoot Cellars. We go so far back with Barefoot that we remember when it was a second label of Davis Bynum Winery and was called Barefoot Bynum. Now Barefoot Cellars is owned by Gallo and its Pinot Grigio is just as common in jug-size bottles as in regular-size bottles. It's nonvintage and its appellation is simply "California."
If we had to take a guess, we'd assume this was a very simple, acidic wine with some sweetness. But that's why we conduct our tastings blind. We found the wine charming and filled with fruit, with some depth and no obvious sweetness. We were pleased and surprised when we found that it cost $5.99. We tasted it twice more -- once in a large bottle -- and our notes were consistent. Jennifer Wall, the winemaker, said the Pinot Grigio contains 6% of an unusual, aromatic grape called Symphony. "Symphony is a fantastic grape. I love it. It's one of my secret blending wines that I use in a few wines. It's an aromatic and flavor booster that gives the wines a little extra oomph that amplifies the floral aromatics and flavor.
"My goal when I blend is to create a wine that is varietally correct first, then food-friendly, then affordable," she said. "It tastes like it was grown in the vineyard. I want people to enjoy it alone and with food. It's dry so that it doesn't compete with the food." The winery made a million cases of the Pinot Grigio.

Ill. law should keep buyers closer to home

I'm between appointments in hooking up with local wineries, so in the meantime spotted this story about the wine laws in Illinois changing June 1. Basically, it will force residents who want to order a substantial number of cases from out-of-state wineries -- up to 12 a year -- to pay for a shipping license.

Another provision of the law will allow small Illinois wineries producing less than 25,000 gallons of wine to self-distribute up to 5,000 gallons (about 2,100 cases) of their wine to Illinois retailers, according to the story that ran in last Wednesday's Chicago Tribune.

The passage of the bill last August was covered in more detail in a documented in a Winse Spectator Online story. That story pointed out that some Illinois-based retailers, who figured to benefit by the change in the law, weren't happy with it. “It amazes me that you can buy a gun or even a bride over the Internet, but you can’t buy a bottle of wine in many states,” said Brian Rosen, president and CEO of retailer Sam’s Wines & Spirits. Sam's clocks some $10 million of its $70 million in annual sales over the Internet, with much of that volume registered outside the state. “If retail shipments can be banned here, then maybe they’ll be banned tomorrow in California. We may wake up one day to find we can ship wine legally to Moline, Ill., and no place else.”

The Wine Institute reported on the change in this fashion on its Web site: "ON JUNE 1, 2008 ILLINOIS WILL TRANSFER FROM A RECIPROCITY STATE TO A PERMIT STATE. Beginning June 1, 2008 wineries must have an approved Illinois direct-to-consumer shipper's permit, file reports, pay sales tax and excise tax. Every applicant is required to obtain a bond for $1000 or 2x its estimated tax liability, whichever amount is greater. The permit fee varies according to the annual production level. Wineries with permits will be able to ship up to 12 cases annually to a consumer. As of January 1, 1992 an adult resident or holder of an alcoholic beverage license in a state which affords Illinois licensees or adult residents an equal reciprocal shipping privilege may ship for personal use and not for resale, not more than 2 cases of wine (each case containing not more than 9 liters) per year to any adult Illinois resident."

Chiming in on Aussie wines

This response to Pat Savoie's comment comes from Napa winemaker Paul G. Smith of OnThEdge Winery:

“The Aussie wineries are charged a 40% tax on wines sold in Australia, strongly promoting the export market. Here in Napa there is no way we can grow the quantity of grapes to produce fishy or other critter wines for what they sell for here. Some of these wines are produced specifically for the US market.”

Two thumbs up for OnThEdge Charbono

Threw a couple more questions at Pat Savoie after posting her last response, one on what kind of bargains were coming out of New Zealand/Australia, and also asked her how insulated Pennsylvania would be to price hikes since the state had already established good relationships with the markets in California and the Old World. Here's her reply:

"Not that there aren't values in Aust and NZ -- they have gone out of their way to price for the US market -- but prices have crept up. I don't see the level of value that exists in other areas. Yellow Tail at $6 or $7 is not a value to me.

"Yes, in PA you have to power of the state buying machine to hold prices down. One of my favorite wines was accepted by the LCB -- OnThEdge Charbono. The Wine Media Guild of NY, of which I am co-chair, had an all-inclusive Charbono tasting earlier this month (all 14 producers!) and the 2005 OTE was one of the favorites."

The making of Bedlam

Ed Boyce and his wife Sarah O’Herron note on their Web site that the idea of growing vines and making wine became increasingly appealing as they considered a destination for the next chapter in their careers. The researching and traveling to other vineyards only strengthened that commitment, so they bought a parcel in Mt. Airy, Md., and planted their first grapes for what would be called Black Ankle Vineyards in 2003.

That, Boyce says in a phone interview Wednesday night, was a significant hurdle to cross.
“You know, when you go into the vineyard business, the biggest and scariest decisions come first,” he says. “It’s where to plant and what to plant and then you have 50 years where you can’t change either one.”

Five years later, both no doubt are more relaxed about their decision. Entering their first batch in the Maryland Winemakers’ Choice Awards, Black Ankle recently walked away with three gold medal, including top honors for a white blend they call Bedlam.

Boyce spent much of the interview taking listeners through its evolution, how their intent to mix together their four white grapes – chardonnay, viognior, gruner veltliner and albarino – took on a new dimension when they discovered a visitor among their plantings of syrah.

“Two hundred vines turned out to be what we call our white syrah, a nursery mistake,” he says of the muscat vines. “We just decided to keep them. So we have a few hundred vines of Muscat.” Not perfect for these climes, he notes, but it "adds a really nice little spice and fruit component to the wine.”

On top of this success comes the opening of the tasting room in what they hope will be mid-July. It’s an endeavor that you can follow via a sequence of pictures appearing on the Web site. The most recent photo, taken earlier this week, is posted with this story. “All down the line we’ve tried to sort of sit back and say, ‘What do we have on the farm that we can use to build this building?’ and it’s turned into a very interesting . . . I think we’re very proud of the way it’s turning out.”

Happy birthday Woodhall

From my friends at Woodhall Wine Cellars in Parkton, Md., this note from the June newsletter:

"It doesn’t seem possible, but Woodhall has reached the quarter century mark. And to celebrate it, we’ve decided to run a two week birthday party beginning July 19th and ending on August 1st. For the whole period, there will be a gigantic sale on selected Woodhall wines (Pinot Noir, Rose’ of Sangiovese, Chardonnay 2005, Cabernet Franc, Tuscano and Angler Red) and on weekends we’ll be conducting special wine and food tastings and other surprises in the winery. More on that next month."

If my wife and I have hung around at any winery on a regular basis, it has been this one, located just off I-83 about 20 minutes south of York. There's a restaurant on the premises and lots of nice people -- take a bow Al, Debbie and Chris, to name a few. Like virtually every winery we've visited in both states, we're greeted there with a big smile and answers to all our questions. And, of course, lots of wines to choose from. Congrats, guys.

Savoie: Rough time for Old standbys

Following up on Tom Ward's recent comments regarding the impact of the weak dollar and other factors on the cost of a bottle of wine -- particularly the cases coming from abroad -- is this response from wine author and journalist Pat Savoie, a wine columnist for Primetime A&E magazine. My appreciation to Pat for checking in.

She writes in an e-mail:

"Wine prices. Afraid there is no good news either from the Euro-bloated Old World or the wineries of California, which have worked their way through what was a glut of plantings and supply. The overproduction has dried up. Frost has imperiled the '08 crop. The Euro continues to float at high-water mark, and importers and retailers, many of whom have tried to keep prices down, are now passing along the exchange-based price increases.

"In addition, the rush to plant new vineyards in CA has tapered off as land, vines, supplies and labor costs have increased, which means the supply is not increasing, so the value of grapes will climb.

"However, despite the economy, consumers don't seem to be trading down to less-expensive wines, probably because wine has insinuated itself onto the tabletop-- as part of the meal. I've seen research indicating that people are drinking more wine at home as restaurant prices continue upward. In fact, the highest sales growth is in wines priced at $12 a bottle or more.

"So, a good strategy is to focus on wines from areas that are not smacking down the dollar. Argentina and Chile are sources of good value wines. Portugal, despite its Euro currency, also offers a lot of great wines at bargain prices. South Africa is a great source. In the US, consider wines from NY's Finger Lakes and Long Island or from Virginia, Oregon and Washington.

"Or, start drinkng all those Old World wines you have been saving."