Blending Versus Single Vineyard Wines

It was always the habit of the great wine makers of Bordeux to blend their grapes to make their wine for a simple reason; to produce a dependable product. Changing weather conditions year to year would favor one varietal over another, so grapes would be selected to balance out the blend and play to their strengths.

Of course some of the great houses are unwilling to push that as far, so that is why some labels skip vintages; the grapes just didn’t measure up and the blend they would have had to use would have skewed the flavors too far in an uncharacteristic direction.

In the Napa and Sonoma Valley the tradition of blending has evolved along its own odd pathways due to the unique nature of the place. Our micro-climates allow dramatically different varietals to thrive just a short truck ride away. This allows wine makers to mix grapes from distinctly different climates together.

The other day I was touring in the Sonoma Valley and my clients were tasting at Chateau St Jean in the reserve room. Some of the wines were composed of the same varietals pulled from very diverse sources. I’ve seen this in Napa too, Cabernets sourced from Mt Veeder, Atlas Peak and Howell Mountain, all in the same tank.

I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with this, after all the Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena that won at the 1976 Judgement of Paris was drawn from vineyards in Sonoma’s Alexander and Russian Valleys, and Napa’s Oak Knoll district. These are three very different flavor signatures, but they won and put Napa on the map (even though most of the grapes were from Sonoma).

What is lost with this kind of blending is a sense of place. One of the big differences between the American wine makers and the Italian is that the former is concerned with how the wines taste, while the later is concerned with how the wines make you feel. Italian wines are designed to go with food, low alcohol, high acid, and lots of sharp tannins in the reds. Quite the reverse of the California wines where food is often an after thought.

The other characteristics of the Italian wines is a strong sense of place. We think of Terroir as a French concept, but the Italian Territorio is well respected tradition. The flavor of that vineyard is in the bottle and when you drink it you visit that locale. In Italy where people drive out to the country to fill their jugs at their favorite cooperative, everyone has a favorite, a place that’s special, and that preference is passed through the generations because its the flavors of home.

I’m not saying that wine makers should not experiment, but as a person who loves to travel I relish a bottle of wine as a portal that leads me to a charming place where the vines turn the sunshine into magic in a bottle.

Ralph de Amicis

www.AmicisTours.com

Great Weather Means Great Videos

The first half of February Napa and Sonoma have enjoyed wonderful Spring like weather with luminous sky and mild breezes. I’ve taken advantage of this to visit wineries and make two minute videos for inclusion in our website and smart phone Apps.

They allow us to show the visitors what the signs look like, the tasting room and the views. We get to make some commentary about the place and the winery experience. You can find them on our website at http://bit.ly/dQ8WeA and on the updates for the Napa Valley Wine Tour iPhone App and of course the Sonoma Winery Tour App.

We’re working on new Apps for the Android system using new materials. We hope to have them available before the season gets into high gear.

The Year of the Metal Rabbit

In looking at the forecasts for the Chinese New Year it is very clear this is going to be a good year in California for international tourism, and especially wine tourism. It looks to be a rough year in Australia for wine tourism, which isn’t surprising since the weather there is having a drastic impact on their economy. In South Africa it may a little cool, something which California dealt with in the 2010 vintage (the coldest summer since 1950 they say).

On the east coast of the USA they also have the potential for a great tourism year, how much of that is wine tourism we shall see. I suspect that the California wine country will continue to be a favorite place for international money to be invested. Some of the money poured into Napa in the past few years by wealthy foreigners has been stunning in its size. All through this recession construction has continued, more hotels, more wineries, more restaurants. Obviously the smart money is betting on the North Bay Wine Country.

The Chinese New Year Forecast offers some interesting insights about how the year will develop globally and how we may experience personally. You can find it at www.SpaceAndTime.com.

Ralph de Amicis  www.AmicisTours.com

The Vines are Asleep and the Mustard is Bright…

And all we have to comfort us is the wine…! The Chinese New Year is fast approaching. In the west we would call that the New Moon in Aquarius. We often think of the Winter Solstice as the low ebb of the year because it is the shortest day, but that is the first day of Winter, not the low ebb of the year. The New Moon in Aquarius holds that distinction and as the Chinese New Year it is one of the most celebrated festivals in the world.

In an agricultural economy, like wine country, you sense the importance of that time, because only after that date does the new Spring seem to infuse the plants and the seeds. There is a saying among farmers that is often criticized by scientists, “An early Spring”. It is a way of saying that the energy is infusing the land early in the year.

It is a matter of lunations; counting the phases of the moon that elapsed since the Winter Solstice? The Chinese New Year is always the New Moon in Aquarius. How early is the Spring? It depends on when in the month the New Moon happens. In 2011 the New Moon is on February 2^nd, at 13 degrees Aquarius, in the middle of the sign, so this is going to be a normal Spring, neither early nor late.

It may be a very electrical Spring, thunder and lightning and maybe a few tremors to shake the seeds and sprouts out of their slumber. But what do you expect with the advent of the year of the Metal Rabbit. In the Chinese tradition there isn’t a Man in the Moon, there is a Rabbit in the Moon. It is a sign of fertility and luck, and a harbinger of Spring.

With Jupiter entering Aries (The 12 year cycle of Jupiter is the foundation of the Chinese Animal years) we have symbolically entered the year of Spring, when everything begins fresh and new with vitality and warmth of a distinctly hormonal kind. What does this mean for the grapes? An exciting, at times tumultuous year requiring skill and experience in both the vineyard and the winery, resulting in wines fit for royalty because they are exciting, but still warm the heart and sooth the soul. Here’s to Vintage 2011!

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html

 

Napa’s Best Rainy Day Wineries

Wine country is a year-long destination and in even in December we’re still touring with clients, albeit not with the back to back scheduling common during grape crush. But late fall and winter is also the rainy season here, and wine touring is an outdoor activity in part, so when the skies open up it helps to know which wineries are the most fun on cloudy days.

“It doesn’t rain in the tasting room.” Ralph’s often heard refrain in winter time.

Being farther from the ocean Napa is incrementally drier than Sonoma, since it’s from the Pacific that the rain clouds roll in like roiling white express trains arriving from the far beyond. Being a broad, long valley Napa also offers better vistas on rainy days than Sonoma, so for the outdoor experience it is preferable.

Another key is how far is the walk from the car? Wineries are food factories and often it is a hike from the parking lot to the front door. As a driver guide I deliver my clients as close to the front door as possible before heading off to the lot. Hiking is my job, not theirs, they are on vacation. In southern Napa on the Silverado Trail Signorello is a good example of a small winery with a short walk from the lot to the tasting room. The views over the valley are wonderful and the inside experience is intimate and friendly.

Farther north just before the Yountville Cross Road is the Robert Sinskey Winery. This is a favorite on rainy days, a short walk from the lot into their high ceiled tasting room fronting their winery, and the smell of wonderful, fresh made snacks in the air. They have a commercial kitchen in the tasting room and there’s not much that compares to those aromas for making one curious about their very interesting wines.

Just a bit north Goosecross is another small family place with a short walk and a fun tasting room. The view is different here with the valley rising on both sides before you walk past the fermentation tanks into the barrel room to enjoy the wonderful variety of wines. For a bigger winery the new facility at Silver Oak is grand, all of those great stone blocks and stained glass. Those big, hefty Cab blends warm the soul on a cool, wet day.

A little farther north the inside tasting room at Mumm Napa is delightful in the cool weather, with its glass walls and comfy seating. Sparkling wines always stimulate the conversation and their world class photography gallery needs to be visited. Bring a glass of wine with you. Almost forgot! They have one of the most fun gift shops in the valley. Just to the south of them on the Silverado Trail ZD winery has a beautiful tasting room, high, airy and still cozy.

North of St. Helena the Rombauer winery is a just a short walk from the lot and the views from the covered porch are great, although so is their wine. Across the way Failla’s by appointment sit down tasting in their cozy cottage of their Pinots, Chards and Syrahs is perfect on a rainy day.

Around Calistoga the Summer Winery is such a homey place to taste, relaxed, delicious with the feeling of authentic wine country without the airs and ego that often fly around the valley. Surprisingly the four big destination wineries around Calistoga, Sterling, Clos Pegase, Schramsberg and the Castello de Amorosa are not great rainy day locations. They all depend on a lot of time outside. In that neighborhood we much prefer Frank Family, or Cuvaison, or even Revana with their by appointment tasting in their elegant little salon.

So much of wine country is made up of small, family wineries that finding places with a short walk and a cozy fire place is pretty easy. The tasting rooms are dry and the wine is wet, and when the mists cling to the verdant green hills of Napa you would think you were in Ireland, if the Irish grew grapes.

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html

 

 

Margaret River Visitor to Napa

It is interesting how Blogs evolve. One of the books that got me started on our Amicis Tour blog was Taber’s ‘In Search of Bacchus, Wonderful Adventures in the World of Wine Tourism.’ It’s a great book following his year long journey around the world to twelve of the most interesting wine destinations. Not surprisingly he started with Napa, not only is it the most popular, but it also so easy to get to.

Not long after though he visits the Margaret River district about four hours south of Perth, Australia. I found that especially interesting in part because the area first became popular as a surfing destination, a sport I happen to love. Then the first wineries were all started by Physicians, and of course in my alter ego I’m ‘Dr’ Ralph, a Naturopathic Physician, so I understand that love of art and science that often lead Doc’s into the wine world. And of course I love all things Australian, even though I’ve yet to make it there. But the day is young.

So what is this all have to do with ‘now’? Yesterday I did a wine tour for one of the original winery owners from the Margaret River, Elizabeth Killerby, as she put it, “the fourth in at Margaret River”, thirty years ago. Like the others her husband was a Physician from Perth, and my impression is that even more than here, everybody knows everybody. She is in the states visiting with friends on the way to Whistler to spend the holidays with family, so it was just her and me driving around wine country, visiting tasting rooms and talking about the wine business.

This really is an international business, with many of the same players on the various continents. Anyone who follows the business knows the difficulties that the Aussies wine makers are having. There was a point last year where bottled water was more expensive than their jug wines. The high end makers are even more put upon, high labor costs make it very hard to compete with the infusion of other southern hemisphere wines with much lower costs. The strong tradition of the labor union in the Commonwealth spurred the use of picking machines years ago until now they are the norm.

Tightening immigration and financial regulations made Australia unattractive to their most dependable vineyard workers, the Italians, because of their preference to be paid off the books, aka tax free. Margaret River produces many of Australia’s most prestigious wines, the Bordeaux style blends. These are always the most revered because they age well, and improve over time. They are also the most expensive to produce because the long term investment and slow return on investment makes any CFO wonder, ‘Why are we in this business?’

What impresses me the most is when people make a choice and then point their lives in that direction. With vineyards and wineries that choice often is multi-generational and touches an entire community of people. Many times I pull into wineries with clients and I think the tasting room must be pretty busy, only to find out that the cars are from the workers, it takes a lot of people to run a winery and when that’s over thirty years just think of how many people that touches. To meet and talk with someone who was there at the beginning of a major wine region was a great Christmas present.

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html

 

Grrr-gich is the Real Thing

I visited the Grgich Hills winery in Rutherford the other day with clients from Croatia (who now live in the USA). Now most folks from Napa know that Mike Grgich is from Croatia, but most don’t know what a big deal that is in a country that was under the soviet thumb for so long. To have someone leave that suppressed country so young and do so well is an inspiring story.

My day was made all the more interesting because the Grandmother in the party spoke very little English, but she did speak Italian, so we were able to converse. She came from the wine country of Croatia and had lived in northern Italy so we had plenty to talk about. We were about to leave when Mike Grgich and his grand-nephew Ivo, who manages his Bio-Dynamic vineyards came down the stairs from their offices. They spent the next half hour getting to know their Croatian guests to the delight of everyone there.

I often feel that the tasting there is very low key, after all, the tasting room is really an extension of the barrel room with a couple of tasting bars and a little shopping. Then Lahni reminded me that the experience is similar to the tasting at Chris Loxton’s in the Sonoma Valley, a simple tasting room with the barrels over your shoulder. And clients love that! I admit to being a little jaded about wineries, after all I visit hundreds and my focus is often on the hospitality experience. For me the historic architecture, or the innovative facilities are the most interesting, but I am reminded that for the typical visitors barrels and tanks and the smell of fermentation are not everyday things.

The Grgich vineyards are BioDynamic, a natural system that works with the cycles of nature in a conscious way. It is not very far from the method that Mike Grgich learned as a young boy from his Grandfather in Croatia. It is very easy for farmers steeped in the chemical industry’s propaganda to think that previous farmers were ignorant rubes, who could barely scrape together a living from the bare earth.

The reality is that humanity is part of nature, and lives in a synergistic relationship with plants and other animals. The oldest book in the world is a 5000 year old Chinese herbal manual. Anyone who has every seriously studied anatomy, physiology or botany knows that as much as we research, living systems are always more complicated and remarkable than we can conceive. The whole idea of magic is that there are forces at work beyond our perceptions. Before Marconi radio waves would have been considered magic as would most of Astrophysics.

With as much as we know, what else in our universe is beyond our current perception? We may not understand completely how they work and yet the results are significant. The actions that winemakers take to make great wine are always done based on experience and with hope for the future. Ivo asked me something interesting, if the wineries that use chemical are so great why don’t they advertise that in their publicity? When a vineyard is organic they gain uber points with the green consumer. But when vineyards use chemicals they keep it to themselves. It makes you think.

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html

 

The Top Winter Time Wineries in Napa

In the Summer Napa looks like Tuscany, richly colored green vines, among golden, rolling hills. In Winter it looks like Ireland, if Ireland grew grapes, and those golden hills are springtime green and mist clings to them in magical wisps. Many of the locals consider fall and winter to be the most beautiful time here, with the bright yellow mustard flowering between the rows of bare vines.

After the New Year the vineyard workers will be trimming the canes, making way for next year’s growth. Some will be made into wreaths, some will be turned under the soil, and the rest will reach into the sky in white, puffy columns of smoke. Last year the cane trimming seemed to come late because the wet winter kept the men out of the vineyards and the canes too wet to burn.

This is the rainy season, and every few days some fast moving band of clouds will come in off the ocean and scamper through, but it’s a warm winter rain, compared to the bone chilling down pours I grew up with in the North East. But it can be abundant, and the deep culverts beside many roads attest to the stormy weather.

Vineyards are graded to drain well, vines don’t like having wet feet, and so impressive ditches edge many of the roads. Sometimes the unwary or inebriated drive into those ditches; it’s not a pretty sight, and one more reason to hire a wine tour driver. Another reason is that we know which wineries are the most hospitable in the winter. Here are some of my favorites in Napa.

First some big wineries

Mumm Napa for their sparkling wines, their lovely, window-lined sit down tasting room, and their great photography exhibit.

Domaine Carneros for the grand French style, sit down tasting rooms, the lovely winter time gardens, and the easy location.

Rubicon because there is so much to do inside, tasting room, café, museum and the grounds still look lovely in the cool weather.

Silverado Vineyards with its great architecture and views, wonderful staff and welcoming feeling.

Now some smaller wineries

ZD with its nested, yet sunlit tasting room, nice fire place and friendly team.

Heitz Cellars for its cozy tasting room, a short walk from the parking to be welcomed by a warm fireplace.

Sawyer Cellars with its intimate, cozy tasting room and family feel. Once again a short walk from the parking

Peju has become a small, destination winery with its remarkable grounds and amazing interiors. In the high season they are slammed with visitors but the winter season is a great time to enjoy them.

Quixote is such a remarkable place and the sit down tasting gracious and delicious that this stands up to every season. If a modern building can be described as cozy this is it.

Robert Sinskey is a delight in the cool weather, with its parking lot close to the building, and the welcoming smells of the commercial kitchen that shares the tasting room’s space. That’s where the wonderful bar snacks and food pairings come from. The woody feeling and the delightful wines make it popular in the cool weather.

Where don’t we go very much in the winter?

Castello de Amorosa is a wonder, a Tuscan-style Castle of over 100 rooms, but stone castles are cold in the winter, and while they are great most of the year for the tourist experience, in the winter it is less than cozy. On the other hand, they stay busy because it is remarkable.

Opus One is another remarkable place that depends on a spacious promenade on top of the building with great views of the valley. It if it cold or wet that doesn’t work so well. On the other hand, the tasting room is comfy, the staff is remarkably nice once you have a chance to chat with them, and of course the wines are Opus One.

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html

Fire Places in the Tasting Rooms

The other day Lahni was Tweeting and reaching out via Facebook in a survey of wineries that have fire places. What a great idea! Now whenever I notice a fireplace I text her and we add to the list. When we go wine touring in the cool weather visiting a tasting room with a warming fireplace is a treat. Darioush has a fireplace, surrounded by an enclosing seating arrangement. At the end of the mantle are two glorious bronze sculptures, Persian soldiers, bows on their shoulders, their heads supporting the stone of the mantle. In that wonderful Napa eccentricity this Persian dream has such a cozy, Californian luxury.

Lambert Bridge in the Dry Creek Valley has a fireplace in that beautiful ranch style building. I remember the first time I visited there on a tour on the Valentine day’s weekend, a little cold and wet, walking into the crackling warmth. Sebastiani in downtown Sonoma has two fire places, flanked by huge easy chairs in that cavernous tasting room.

Being a wine tour guide is about being on the road, and between the change of seasons and Daylight savings time the winter evenings come quickly and dark, because there are few street lights, and none down those narrow country roads. For the clients wine touring is a succession of tasting rooms, but for the guides it is a line of roads between familiar spots and friends.

As much as we vary our tours and include diverse wineries, just the volume of tours that we conduct means we will visit places multiple time. For a guide one of the attractions of small, family wineries is that visiting will mean seeing familiar, friendly faces. That is a special thing. Most people spend their work day surrounded by the same people. Salesmen are the bravest of working people because they have to encounter new people consistently and engage them.

A tour guide encounters new clients every day, and then spends the day figuring out what they want and how to provide that. The work is much easier in the long, warm summer days, It is harder in the wet and cool short days of Fall and Winter, but visitors come right through the year and it doesn’t rain in the tasting rooms and the hills are green and misty and filled with dreams of romance and wood crackling in the fireplace.

 

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html

 

 

Wine is such a Funny, Subjective Topic

Wine is such a funny, subjective topic, as much smoke and mirrors as grapes and presses. In the vineyards real work gets done, and in the cellars decisions get made, but once it gets inside that bottle, behind that label it becomes an unknown quantity dependent on marketing to make its case. I’ll let you in on a secret, salesmen have been known to lie, publicists to exaggerate, and even wine makers to dilute, substitute and counterfeit.

It’s not their fault, they’re human, and they’ve been drinking, so almost anything is possible. If you read the websites of Napa wineries every single one makes great wines, every owner is a paragon of virtue, and every wine maker was born under a lucky wine making star. I guess my biggest problem is that the content of the sites is all so similar. Now admittedly, I am a little bit jaded, writing wine tour books and Apps has required reading an excessive number of sites, and there is a limit you can write about growing a fruit and smashing it into a palatable beverage in beautiful surroundings, but come on. I’ll bet that the idea for smoothies has its start in the delicious, pre-fermentation juice, rich with skins that later becomes wine, and yet you don’t see the ocean of literary hyperbole about smoothies.

The reality is that once the wine is in the bottle the experience becomes remarkable subjective. At blind tastings, any indicator of the price of the wine massively skews the results in its favor. Tastings in Napa routinely turn price points on their heads, with the most expensive wines losing in favor or their massively less expensive neighbors. This happens so consistently that it makes you wonder who is pricing the wine. Price points have more to do with how much the real estate cost the owner, and the heft of their egos, than the quality of the wines.

There are differences in wines, and their quality and purity, but the human palate is easy to persuade. Also, palates learn, they add to their arsenal of known flavors, so that subtlety becomes more obvious. I’m often asked what my favorite wine is, and I respond by saying that it depends on what I’m eating with it. Wine is food, and I rarely have it by itself. That synergy is the reason that wine and food pairings are now so common at wineries, they show off the wines and increase sales.

Over time a person’s physiology changes, their tastes adjust and wines they enjoyed in their youth become unpalatable, while others become enjoyable. In other words, it’s all so damn subjective, so take the subject less seriously, allow a bit more artistry into your decisions, and realize that this most social of drinks in intended to bring us together, not separate us into categories and classes.

 

Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guide Books and Smart Phone Apps and owners of Amicis Tours which does both group and private excursions. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html