A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I spent a week in Salem, Oregon wine tasting. We were able to visit some nice wineries in the Willamette Valley region. The valley is prime growing area for not only Christmas trees and Willamette Hops (pictured below in Hops heaven), but Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio wine varieties as well. Dundee Hills is by far the most written about Appellation in the Willamette Valley with Domaine Drouhin and Domaine Serene (we did not visit Ponzi) the most visited and famous wineries. We found these two wineries to fall into the same stuffiness which big financed wineries seem to feel they have to present to sell their wine. No denying the beauty of the two “Domaine” properties, but the wine itself and the tasting rooms were a let down to the overall experience. Not all was bad in Dundee Hills. Lange, Torii Mor and especially Argyle and DePonte wineries were pleasant to visit. North of Salem and just west of Dundee Hills is the small town of Carlton. On the map it looked as if the area would be littered with small vineyards, but in fact the town is a collection of warehouse wineries and store front tasting rooms. There were too many “wineries” to visit in a one mile block radius, but we stumbled across Seven of Hearts Wine Tasting Room and its owner, Byron Dooley. The little winery is not even on the map yet his wine/chocolate shop (Byron’s wife Dana is the chocolatier) is a testament to the owner/winemaker/vineyard manager/distributor’s dedication and love affair with his product. The wine was genuinely good and the efforts of the owner are evident in his product. It was a real treat to meet Byron and share is accomplishments. Closer to Salem, is Willamette Valley Vineyards which does a nice job with its highly distributed portfolio, but despite being Oregon’s biggest winery, the tasting room experience is not over done and is complimented with a beautiful winery. Around the corner we found Left Coast Cellars. Left Coast was by far the best winery of our trip. A small winery who’s tasting room is a converted barn, the wines are world class especially the 2006 Latitude 45 Pinot Noir which out performed any Pinot Noir we tasted the entire trip. Other wineries visited in the Eola/Amity area were Eola Hills, Bethel Heights and Stangeland. Worth mentioning is Witness Tree Winery. This lowly winery located in the heart of the Eola/Amity Appellation is by far the worst case of a mismanaged winery we have ever encountered. With Estate grown Pinot Noir and other varieties, the winemaker is the owners son and all of the wines were butchered to a point where you couldn’t tell the difference between a Pinot Noir and a Viogner! A real shame considering we tasted some great wines from neighboring wineries, Bethel Heights and Cristom. Oregon has real nice winemaking going on. The Pinot Noirs in general rival Santa Barbara county but cannot compete with those produced in Carneros. It was a nice get away to the Pacific Northwest and we benefitted by sampling a region which has made its mark on the American landscape yet has managed to stay quaint.

In 2004 I visited the small town of Haro, La Rioja and established my affiliation with the superb wines from the heart of winemaking in Spain. Since then I’ve been challenged in trying to duplicate the wines I tasted. I’ve come close on some occasions, but I could never really find that one wine which took me back. Well, finally I believe I have found the wine. Viña Zaco is a hip new wine from that very region of Rioja which hit the spot when my wife and I shared a bottle last week. I found the wine at Henry’s for a great price of $11.99 and proceeded to relive the wines I had in 2006. This 100% Tempranillo was an excellent example of what Rioja has come to be. Winemaker Diego Pinilla has captured the best of Rioja and given it a modern hip check. Pick up a bottle, it is a jewel.

Veraison of the Garnacha grapes at DBB headquarters backyard vineyard…

Enviado por email del Club Torres Online: ¿Cuándo debemos decantar un vino tinto? Para apreciar las cualidades de un vino tinto a veces es necesario decantarlo, normalmente cuando se trata de un reserva o gran reserva. Este sencillo proceso, de verter el vino en otro recipiente, acelera la desaparición de los aromas a “cerrado” surgidos durante el reposo del vino en botella. ¿Qué son los aromas a cerrado? Son los aromas que se originan cuando un vino lleva muchos años tapado y que pueden recordar al cuero, la humedad, etc… ¿Qué conseguimos con la decantación? La decantación permite que el vino entre en contacto con el aire. Lo que llamamos oxigenación. De esta manera “recuperamos” los aromas frutales del vino (compotas, confituras). Si nos encontramos con una botella que tenga estos aromas a cerrado y además, posos en la base de la botella, aprovecharemos el decantado para separar estos posos del vino (con luz de fondo para verlos bien…) ¿Cómo debe ser el decantador? El decantador debe ser de cristal transparente para que podamos apreciar el color del vino, y de forma parecida a un jarrón de flores. Por ello su cuello debe ser más estrecho que el cuerpo, así el vino podrá deslizarse por sus paredes interiores, oxigenándose lentamente y despertando los aromas que queremos disfrutar. ¿Cómo saber cuando tenemos que decantar? Te proponemos un truco muy sencillo para saber si hace falta decantar un vino: al abrir la botella, servirlo en una sola copa, y pasados unos 10 minutos, servir otra. Si aprecias una diferencia y una mejora en la primera copa comparada con la segunda, el vino necesita decantarse. ¡Salud!

Two different films. Two different stories. Two different grapes. What the new film, Bottle Shock boiled down to was a weak movie reminiscent of a fast paced made for television movie about a hugely important event in California Wine History. Plus how can you really fall for a film which actually celebrates the buttery taste of a Chardonnay. I enjoy an earthy Pinot Noir much better. Malolactic Fermentation in Chardonnay drives me nuts. Eva agrees with me on the corniness of the film as we both left the theater thinking “it wasn’t even close to being in the same class as Sideways”. I did however enjoy Alan Rickman’s “wine snob” Englishman role. Recommendation: See it for yourself, you might like it. Have a glass or two before you do. Advice, try not to fixate on Bo’s fake wig. I couldn’t get past it.

On Sunday August 31st, we harvested 125 lbs. of Grenache wine grapes. Once again and with anticipated adolescent resistance, the family pitched in and picked, destemmed, berry sorted and crushed the 2008 Picina Vineyard harvest. After initial crushing and one week fermentation, the harvest yielded about ten gallons of wine. I removed the skins after one week of fermentation and color extraction. It looks like we might get a little more than 9 gallons of finished wine at about 12% alcohol. After bottling we should end up with four cases of Hacienda Valdez 2008 Picina Vineyard Grenache. The wine turned out a little lighter than planned, but not as light as a Rosé. Grenache is considered a pinker than normal grape, and not editing down clusters might have contributed to the light color. After bottling the 2008 should be ready for consumption in about 10 months. Its been a great learning and fulfilling experience. Its just been a long time coming. I first planted our first vineyard in 2003, but we suffered through 3 bad years of Powdery mildew. I will more than likely graft Mission or Tempranillo onto those Cabernet Sauvignon vines next year. I actually tried to graft Grenache this spring, but it did not take. Needless to say, it takes a great amount of patience to plant, grow, maintain a vineyard and to eventually make a wine. But, as everyone who knows me knows I’m a very patient man,… NOT!

We visited California Gold Country wineries and were quite surprised by the quality of wine being produced in the Northern California region. We stayed in Sutter Creek which is just south of Plymouth and many of the top wineries in the whole Sierra Foothills region. The region is dominated by Old Vine Zinfandel and Sangiovese. It was actually quite a surprise to see the amount of Rhone varieties being produces in Amador County such as Viognier, Roussanne, Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache. This is in addition to the top notch Sangiovese being produced at Spinetta, Vino Noceto, and Amador Cellars. The best winery of the visit was by far Vino Noceto with the biggest surprise in being Nine Gables and its Mission grape wines. Best Zin winery, Renwood. Biggest disappointment was Montevina. Not the same since the Trinchero Family bought them out. The worst winery, Bella Piazza. Overdone wines attempted in the big Italian style, but just plain bad. Overall, the Zin region wide was pretty tame. We were never overpowered by any jammy Zins. Jammy is good but we found the best Zins we did taste were medium bodied.

An interesting article I found today. The Wine Fraud Detective, 31 July 2008. An electronic tongue that can ‘taste’ the grape varieties and vintages of wine has been created by Spanish scientists. Cecilia Jiménez-Jorquera from the Barcelona Institute of Microelectronics, and colleagues, created a multisensor device and trained it to distinguish between different wines and grape juices. When speaking with specialists of the wine industry, the need for a rapid route to obtain valuable information about product quality was noticed, explains Jiménez-Jorquera. It takes a long time to send samples to a centralised laboratory for analysis with complex equipment. Jiménez-Jorquera’s electronic tongue combines an array of six ion-sensitive field effect transistor-based chemical sensors, with cross-sensitivity to multiple ions in solution. The data is then analysed with an appropriate chemometric method. ‘This system enables the rapid and simultaneous measurement of different analytical parameters related to the quality control of wines and grape juices,’ says Jiménez-Jorquera. The electronic tongue is small and robust, Jiménez-Jorquera explains, and it is portable – which is essential for field measurements. She adds that the device could be used to detect frauds committed regarding the vintage year of the wine, or the grape varieties used. The advantage of this device is that it is ‘fast, easy and relatively cheap’ says Sue Ebeler from the University of California, Davis, US, who has studied wine flavour chemistry. ‘One of the most interesting aspects,’ Ebeler adds, ‘is the ability to predict sugar, acid and alcohol content using sensors that are not specifically sensitive to these components but respond to cations and heavy metals.’ The next step, says Jiménez-Jorquera, will be to extend the number of samples analysed to get more precise results, and give the best training for this electronic tongue. Other kinds of chemical sensors can then be incorporated to broaden the field of applications to other beverages and foods. Rachel Cooper, Royal Society of Chemistry.

From the world of strange headlines: Wine maker insures nose for £3.9m. Nigel Reynolds, Telegraph.co.uk — A Bordeaux wine maker has insured his nose for £3.9 million, the Lloyd’s of London insurance market said. A bespoke policy was created for Ilja Gort, the Dutch owner of Chateau de la Garde in Bordeaux, France, to cover the loss of his nose and sense of smell. Mr Gort, who produces Tulipe Wines, said his nose was his most important asset, as a good sense of smell was essential to guarantee the quality of his wines. While the tongue has only five areas of taste, the nose can distinguish millions of different scents, he added. “This certainly is an insurance policy not to be sniffed at,” said Jonathan Thomas, lead underwriter at Watkins Syndicate who co-insured the policy with Allianz Nederland. “The nose and sense of smell of a winemaker are as important as the fingers of a chef.”

Tragic news in the wine world from Down Under. South Australia Winery Collapse. Sky News, Australia. Friday March 7, 2008. A young winery worker is in hospital and nine others have been treated for minor injuries and shock, after a disastrous workplace accident at McLaren Vale in South Australia. A crusher and 14 rotor fermenters came crashing down at the Wirra Wirra Winery on Thursday afternoon. ‘I just heard like a bomb had gone off. A series of little bombs,’ said witness Alan Mahony. A young cellar hand was briefly trapped in the wreck of steel and was later taken to hospital in a serious condition. Several other workers managed to get away in time. Paramedic Nicola Franklin said ‘I think everyone was extremely lucky in this situation but they’re all still very shaken by it all.’ Health and Safety Investigators were on the scene quickly, while engineers might still be required to help determine why the concrete slab supporting the massive framework collapsed. Half a million litres of the winery’s 2008 harvest is gone. The accident couldn’t have come at a worse time, in the peak vintage period. For now, the winery’s been shut down.

During a recent break in the Primary action, Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton poured herself a glass of red wine and talked to the traveling press aboard Air Force One. Seems the topic of conversation before centering on the primaries was about Hillary’s choice in booze. Hillary mentioned she had a preference for Ales, in particular Blue Moon Belgian Ale. Its great to see this side of a public figure, I just wish the article dove more into what wines Bubba and Hillary prefer. Well, if the primaries continue to progress the way they are and Barrak Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I’m gonna have to buy me a couple of six packs of Blue Moon and gain the nerve to cast my vote for John McCain. There, I said it Brian! I will vote for McCain because you gotta love anybody who pisses off conservatives the way McCain does.

Although DBB is mostly about my beloved Toros, I do as the title implies post on occasion about wine. DBB 1.0 had blog entries documenting my expanding wine exposure but I somehow was giving the illusion of becoming a wino. DBB 2.0 fell into the pattern of posting interesting articles surrounding the world of wine. So, based on the recent history of my wine post, I feel and believe besides being a primarily Toros Blog, DBB is also a Wine Blog. In no way is it a Wine Blog like the 500 to 700 hundred wine blogs currently on the internet. One of them, Fermentation has gone so far to award the Annual American Wine Blog Awards. Currently taking nominations, the awards will be announced later this Spring. This got me to thinking. Why not name DBB’s favorite Wine Blogs of 2008? So here they are. darkbrownbucket.com’s Top Five Wine Blogs of 2007:
#5. quaffability, the fruggle approach.
#4. Dr. Vino, lots of cool stuff from the Doc, Tyler Colman.
#3. elmundovino, Cuz Spanish wine rules!
#2. Vinography, new look for a all time favorite blog.
…and the Number One Wine Blog of 2008…
#1. Wine Library TV, Gary Vay-ner-chuk is the man!

Three survive highway inferno as van slams into wine truck. The Sydney Morning Herald, December 9, 2007. Three people were lucky to escape with their lives when a van slammed into the back of a semitrailer laden with wine bottles in heavy fog yesterday. The van, carrying a man and woman, burst into flames upon impact as the vehicles headed south along the Hume Highway near Pheasants Nest, just south of Sydney, shortly before 1am. A car travelling behind then collided with the van, with the pile-up closing the highway for two hours. The man and woman were taken to Liverpool Hospital with chest and leg injuries.

Expensive wine doesn’t have to be French or Californian. Would you pay $1200 for a Ribera? I would if I could, but I can’t so I wont.
Con solo dos años de edad, el Pingus 2005 se perfila como uno de los mejores vinos de la temporada. Hola.com, Octubre 2007. ‘Pingus’ es Peter Sisseck, un ingeniero agrónomo y enólogo de cuarenta y cinco años nacido en Copenhague, y afincado en la Ribera del Duero desde hace dieciséis. Su caldo estrella, el Pingus 2005, aún no se ha comercializado, pero está llamado a ser uno de los mejores del mundo. Avalado por la categoría de sus antecesores (el primero, el Pingus 1995, obtuvo una puntuación de 98 sobre cien según la clasificación de Robert Parker, uno de los críticos vinícolas más importantes del mundo. La cosecha de 2004 alcanzó un cien sobre cien), el Pingus 2005, con solo dos años de edad, ha vendido ya las 5.970 botellas producidas, con un precio que oscila entre los 600 y los 700 euros, aunque podría llegar a sobrepasar los 1.200 con el paso de los años. Frente a la frialdad de las cifras, la espiritualidad del proceso de creación y embotellado del vino, que se cuida al máximo y que según este enólogo es uno de sus mayores secretos. Convencido de que las fuerzas de lo natural, lo cósmico y lo espiritual influyen en el cultivo, Sisseck abraza algunos de los rituales tradicionales (y no tan tradicionales) para producir su cosecha: infusiones de ortigas para las cepas, estiércol enterrado en noches de luna llena o embotellados en fechas señaladas, fortalecen el vino y le unen a la tierra, marcando de forma determinante su sabor. El Pingus 2005 está elaborado con uva de tempranillo de cepas de más de setenta años. La transformación de la uva en vino tiene lugar en una antigua bodega de Quintanilla, al margen del Duero, y es conservado en finas barricas de roble francés, en las que se oxigena durante 23 meses antes de ser embotellado y vendido.

Enviado por email del Club Torres Online: Aunque muchas veces al mirar la carta de vinos de un restaurante es la columna de la derecha, es decir, la del precio, la que prima en la elección del vino, hay otros factores que nos dicen mucho más del vino que, sencillamente, su precio. Así que, de las recomendaciones que os queremos hacer la primera a tener en cuenta dice que no lo más caro es siempre lo más bueno. Cuando tengáis delante la carta de vinos, fijaos que incluya no sólo el nombre del vino y el de la bodega, sino también el año de cosecha. Así, si buscáis un vino blanco fresco o un rosado comprobad que no tenga más de uno o dos años y un tinto joven tampoco lo escojáis de dos o tres cosechas atrás; si se trata de blancos o tintos con crianza los vinos pueden ser más antiguos, pero en cualquier caso, es un riesgo pedir vinos de más de 8 años. No lo hagáis a no ser que tengáis la seguridad de que, no sólo que el vino tenía tanta capacidad de envejecimiento, sino que el restaurante cuenta con los medios para conservar adecuadamente sus vinos. No conocer ninguna de las marcas que os proponen, es algo que resulta cuando menos bastante sospechoso. Las marcas de prestigio garantizan siempre un buen nivel de calidad y facilitan la elección a los más cautos. Otra buena señal es poder escoger entre un amplio intervalo de precios, con algunos vinos más prestigiosos e incluso algún vino extranjero. (Recuerda que puedes apuntar todas tus compras y catas de vino en la sección “Mis Vinos” de Club Torres Online – ¡una manera perfecta de no perder la pista de los vinos que has disfrutado!)

Enviado por email del Club Torres Online: Mi jefe me ha invitado a cenar, ¿Qué vino llevo? Inevitablemente, en la carrera de todo empleado, llega el momento en que el jefe propone un plan fuera del horario laboral. De todas las opciones, la peor, es la invitación a una cena en su casa: nos tememos la decoración, la conversación con su pareja, los críos repelentes… Así que empecemos por aligerar el ambiente y relajar nuestras tensiones, y que mejor que un vino para romper el hielo. Hay una regla infalible que dice que todos los jefes son carnívoros; además, su afición por el vino tinto suele ser directamente proporcional al cargo que ostenta. Así que por lógica deductiva, para no errar, optemos por un tinto potente y clásico (no es el momento de hacer experimentos). Dependiendo de nuestro presupuesto (y nuestro sueldo), podemos optar por un Jean Leon Gran Reserva o un Mas la Plana, y si de verdad queremos ese ascenso, nada de rodeos: un Vega Sicilia o un Grans Muralles. Ahora bien, os advertimos que si el jefe es un sibarita, tendrá ya dispuesto el maridaje perfecto para su cena, y, nada más inoportuno que estropeárselo obligándole a abrir nuestra botella. Sugerencia, un vino dulce para el postre; escoged uno de esos de origen insólito y elaboración curiosa, por el que cualquier gourmet se pirraría. Un vino de podredumbre noble (sea un Tokay húngaro, como el Oremus, un Sauternes, como un Château Lafon, o un Vendimia Tardía de Chile), o bien un vino de hielo o Eiswein alemán (de la familia Egon Müller, por ejemplo). Sutiles y exquisitos, su elección será todo un golpe de efecto.

Its not exactly Sonoma County. Nor is it Napa Valley. Ramona, California in San Diego County is one of America’s newest AVA (American Viticulture Area) and as is tradition in up in coming anything in this country, many will protest its advancement. The county of San Diego prohibits the pouring of wine in tasting rooms so small wineries such as Salerno have had to struggle to get their wines sold aside from their web based business. Bigger wineries benefit from their tasting room sales and exposure, but the up and coming Ramona AVA is at the mercy of the ballot box. If a local tasting room ordinance passes, they will be able to join the biggy AVAs in the California and other states in pouring thier wine for the throngs of touring tasters. If the ordinance does not pass, the Ramona wineries face a long winding road to success. Just like the Highway 67 which runs through Ramona.

On Sunday September 2nd I convinced the family to join me in the 2007 Wine Grape Harvest in our backyard. We started the morning enthusiastically ready to harvest the Grenache I’ve been waiting patiently for. It was ungodly sunny, hot and humid so the earlier we got started the better. I estimated we had about 20 pounds of ripe wine grapes to pick. After ceremoniously thanking the wine gods, we started. After the morning harvest, we berry sorted the grapes and ended up with 12 pounds of salvageable fruit. Damn it. Mildew, rot and immature grapes took a toll. We started the crush and pitched the yeast. I figure I can get about one jug out of the effort. Oh well, the process was fun. If it works, I can’t wait to sample it. BTW, I got home this evening and the house reeked of fermenting fruit. Yes!

I stumbled across this interesting article on DNA and cloning of Wine Grapes. I’ve always wondered why new varieties don’t show up in wineries or on the store shelves. The following article explains the importance of the work by a couple of Italian scientist who have opened up the genetic doors for future quality wines. You know, wine nerdy stuff.
Wine-Grape Genome Cracked. No rush to produce new varieties for oenophiles is likely. Jim Downing – Sacramento Bee Staff Writer. Scientists may have cracked the genetic code of the wine grape, but don’t hold your breath for that first bottle of “Double Helix Red.” After spending decades teaching consumers to savor familiar, often centuries-old grape varieties, wineries have little motivation to add an uncertain new variable to a crowded field of products. “Wine-grape breeding is basically dead, because there’s no interest in new varieties,” said Andrew Walker, a professor of oenology and viticulture who specializes in plant breeding at the University of California, Davis. A team of French and Italian scientists reported Sunday in the online version of the journal Nature that they’d sequenced the genome of the wine grape. The announcement marked the first full accounting of a fruit’s genetic material and revealed tantalizing information about the link between a grapevine’s DNA and the aromas and flavors of its grapes. Researchers have completed genome sequences for only a handful of species, including fruit flies, humans and rice. In food crops, knowing the DNA code of a species gives researchers a jumping-off point for developing new varieties with desirable traits, such as resistance to drought or disease or, potentially, flavor and aroma. It can help to guide conventional breeding programs as well as the development of genetically engineered varieties. But in the case of the wine grape, consumer recognition of traditional varieties is so high that winemakers are leery of taking a chance on something new, even if it was developed without controversial genetic engineering techniques. “If it’s not (an established variety), it’s a tough sell,” said Eric Aafedt, winemaker at Bogle Vineyards in Clarksburg. “If the wine was great, it’d still be a tough sell.” Grapevines are propagated by grafting a shoot from one plant onto the rootstock of another, producing a vine that is a clone of the plant that produced the shoot. All the vines of a particular variety can be traced to a single common ancestor, said Carole Meredith, professor emeritus of oenology and viticulture at UC Davis and now a grape grower and winemaker in the Napa Valley. The millions of cabernet sauvignon varieties grown around the world today, for instance, are all near-copies of a single vine grown in France several hundred years ago. Only the grapes from these clones can be sold as “cabernet sauvignon.” Plant breeders have, over the years, introduced new varieties of wine grapes developed by cross-pollinating one variety of grape with another. But there are few success stories. The late UC Davis professor Harold Olmo developed several varieties starting in the late 1940s. But those grapes, such as emerald riesling and ruby cabernet, haven’t become familiar to wine lovers. Developed mainly for heat-tolerance, they’re generally planted in the San Joaquin Valley and made into low-end wines that aren’t marketed as being made from any particular type of grape. By contrast, new varieties of table grapes developed by Olmo and others were widely adopted, greatly expanding the crop’s harvest season and geographic range. If the genetic map of the wine grape is unlikely to lead quickly to new varieties of wine, Meredith said, that doesn’t mean the study was for naught. “I personally think that the biggest benefit is that it will allow us to better understand how grapes work,” she said. Learning what sorts of weather conditions or farming practices can “turn on” a certain gene linked to a floral aroma or susceptibility to a disease could help growers fine-tune the way they care for their crop. “The benefits are really in understanding how grapes respond to different environments,” she said.

We spent another weekend in wine country. Back to Healdsburg, California it was. I was describing the town to a friend and could not help compare it to Haro in La Rioja. Similar to Haro, Healdsburg is a town which revolves around wine. Most commerce is about wine and growing grapes. We joined the town during its 150th Birthday celebration and the party resembled Haro during fiestas. The wine is great too. The whole place was getting set to harvest as early as the end of next week. Unti, Frick and Quivira are a handful doing Rhone style. Which we like. The whole region does Zinfandel and Pinot Noir the best. They also do Cabs, Cab Franc and Petite Syrah and of course Chardonnay in every freaking direction. Best winery we visited… between Quivira, Bella and Iron Horse. Best Wine: Iron Horse 2003 Benchmark, OMG. As I stated before, I urge you to consider this region when avoiding the crowds of Napa and Sonoma.