More about Le Beast at my company blog.

#5 - Twitter Taste Live

I’ve been involved in this event since the second tasting and agree that this is the most significant wine idea of the past year. Starting from literally nowhere, organizer Craig Drollett of Bin Ends Wine has created a global wine tasting event that is as powerful as Wine Blogging Wednesday. And he did this in about 5 months. A lot of people don’t think Twitter is a good platform for wine tasting events but I think we’ll look back on this in a year and see the genius here. You’ll have to trust me on this one.

#8 - WineSide

With the economy in the tank, wineries will be hard pressed to pack visitors into their tasting rooms. Why not bring the tasting experience home? That’s what’s behind WineSide, a patented 6 or 10 cl sample of wine sealed with a screw cap. Wineries can easily send these samples not only to critics, wine writers and bloggers but also to their prospective customers (um, how about Twitter Taste Live?). The major barrier to adoption for U.S. wineries is a reasonable mobile bottling facility. If anyone wants to invest in such a business, I’ll run it for them. Seriously. This is a real market opportunity here.

.5 - Volute

I think this should have made the top 10 but I’m biased. Added as one of the 3 bonus entries, Volute is a single serve wine brand packed in an aluminum container. You know, the airplane size but not in glass that can break and is not as recyclable. Not only does aluminum recycle more efficiently, it’s also lighter than glass reducing it’s carbon footprint. I hope to see more wines packed like this in the future.

I’ll be on the lookout for more of the wine related ideas on Springwise and will bring them to you throughout the year. UK readers might want to check out Naked Wines straightaway.

[Via Springwise]

Enter the four, yes 4, bottle cellar from the folks at Solutions. Conveniently mounted below your kitchen cabinet like a microwave, this unit keeps 1/3 of a case of wine at the correct serving temperature. While many of us will not want to keep wines in this type of thing very long, it does look like a decent solution (if a bit pricey given the capacity).

Check it out here.

[Via CNET]

And this wine from Clos LaChance really delivers on that promise. This family winery started in the late 1980’s as a backyard winery that has grown into over 150 acres of vineyards located just 20 miles south of San Jose.They make a number of wines in three different tiers with the “special select” being the top of their range. I was not familar with this producer, but from the wines I’ve tasted so far, this looks like a winery to seek out.

Tasting Notes:

Clos LaChance, Meritage, Estate Vineyard, “Special Select” 2005 ($50/sample) - Dark purple color with aromas of black cherry, eucalyptus, licorice and vanilla. Blackberry and dark currant flavors with mint and bell pepper finishing with sweet oak and moderate tannins. Well balanced and quite enjoyable now but will continue to gain complexity with another 2-3 years of cellaring. This wine is throwing a fair amount of sediment now, so you might want to decant before serving.

14.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

Tonight’s selection is from Langtry Estate who are probably better known for their Guenoc label of value priced wines. Both of their brands feature a Petite Sirah that I have enjoyed in the past and this wine is probably made from declassified barrels. Nothing wrong with getting some cash for excess inventory and from my experience here I think they will sell this effort through pretty quickly. The name “R.C.T.J.W.F.” is an acronym for “Really Cool Trader Joe’s Wine Find” and I’m hoping to see some other varieties in this series show up this year.

Tasting Notes:

Langtry Estate, “R.C.T.J.W.F.” Petite Sirah 2006 ($6) - Very dark purple-black in color with aromas of slightly stewed plum and blueberry jam. Juicy blackberry and blueberry fruit finishing with polished tannins. A fruit bomb but still nicely done for the price.

13.9% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Perhaps I should have read the New York Times before making my prediction yesterday that wine consumption would decrease as consumers gravitate to lower priced wines. As they published Wednesday, consumers are indeed selecting lower cost bottles but are purchasing more for about the same total dollar amount as a year ago. This bodes well for wine merchants and producers of lower priced “value wines” in the $10-15 price range. It seems consumers are more comfortable with three $15 bottles than one $50 bottle.

The piece speculates on the reasons for this but I think it’s likely that people have stopped going to restaurants and are cooking more of their meals at home. It’s good to see wine being thought of as an affordable luxury even if consumers are trading down in price.

So I could be half-wrong about that last prediction; I really hope I am.

Photo by sparktography on Flickr

This wine was one of the bottles I purchased on my trip to Spain in 2007 but had not yet tasted. I picked it up in a store in Montsant along with a few other interesting choices based upon wine style or varieties I have not tried. I think Ryan from Catavino also picked up a bottle of the same wine for similar reasons but haven’t seen his review yet.

This sparkler is made from Trepat, a native red variety from northeast Spain almost always used to make rose in Conca de Barbera and Costers del Segre zones. About 3,700 acres of this variety are grown in these Spanish wine zones today with some producers starting to make red still wines from the variety.

Tasting Notes:

Canals Nadal, Cava Brut Rose, Reserva NV ($14) - Quite a deep shade of ruby for a rose with vigorous, fine bubbles. A reserved nose of candied cherry and strawberry makes you expect an austere wine. Not so on the palate with full red raspberry and strawberry fruit flavors finishing bone dry with a nice mineral, lees note. Very nice balance for a sparkling wine at this price point. Enough body to pair with more hearty fare than most sparklers.

12% ABV
Composite cork closure
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Photo by Charyn Pfeuffer

A couple years ago I made 8 bold predictions for 2007. I decided to sit last year out after only the most obvious of the eight actually came to pass (increasing direct to consumer wine sales). But some progress was made on the list in 2008 with Tyler Colman, a.k.a Dr. Vino truly “going pro” with the publication of not one, but 2 wine books. Not to mention the entire Gary Vaynerchuk story which played out in a big way since I made that prediction. Some of my other predictions also made some progress toward fulfillment so I’m going to add six more for 2009 today.

The Year of Value - This prediction is really not that much of a stretch since the world economic downturn has made it a lot more challenging for wine producers to sell higher priced wines. Anything above $25 a bottle will be a tough sell in this environment with a lot of competition for consumers in the $10-15 price category. Look for some producers to just lower their pricing while others, such as Cameron Hughes, Mark West and Castle Rock, will be perfectly positioned to gain market share. 2009 is the year of extreme value that might also spark more interest in wine auctions as consumers look to maximize their purchasing power.

Wineries Really Go Direct - More wineries are exploiting direct to consumer sales and I expect to see a lot more growth in this area particularly for higher priced brands. The economics of direct sales and shipping will be a major advantage for wineries who can create enough pull with consumers. With wine tourism down due to the recession, I see the winners being those who create this pull online via ecommerce and, increasingly, a social media presence.

Alternative Packaging - As wine lovers become more concerned about the carbon footprint of their favorite beverage, more will look for wine packaged in bag-in-box or TetraPaks. As I’ve blogged here in the past, I hope to see better quality wines in these packages particularly those wines intended for immediate consumption.

Wine 2.0 Will Produce A Star - I’ve written about the intersection of Web 2.0 and wine for some time now but there has not been a breakout success story yet. This year will produce at least one star who will finally validate this space. My money is on Snooth right now but this could change as the year progresses. Stay tuned for a lot more on this subject here soon.

Wine Media Goes Digital -The traditional glossy wine magazines such as Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast will be forced to rethink their print business model this year and go more digital. I still think there will be the same amount of wine publications produced but the ones that are left will have figured out how to make money from their online presence and not just by print advertising sales. Of all of these magazines, Wine Spectator is the best positioned to flip the switch, open up their subscription site and become supported by their online advertising inventory. But I don’t expect to see them do this because they will see too much short-term risk in their current, but doomed, business model. 2009 will be a great year for new entrants trying to figure out this territory like Mutineer.

Americans Drink Less Wine At Lower Price Points - This prediction is linked with my first one but I think it’s important to note that the wine market in the U.S. will not grow as it has in the past. Not only will consumers drink less wine they will trade down to lower priced selections. With the U.S. dollar increasing in value, this will make imports more attractive especially from the Old World where vineyard land is a long sunk cost.

So there you have it; six bold predictions for 2009. I’ll revisit these in June and again in December to see what really happened.

Which ones do you think are right, dead wrong or what did I miss?

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So I was amused when Jill from domaine547 sent me a wine from Black Sheep Finds called “Hocus Pocus.” This was one of 3 bottles won as the prize shared with Richard from The Passionate Foodie for getting 20% of the Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wines of 2008 correct. This is precisely the type of wine I would shake my head and pass over on the shelf so I was curious how the wine in the bottle actually tasted.

Black Sheep Finds is a winery run by Amy Christine and Peter Hunken. Their bios on the Black Sheep Finds website doesn’t give up too much other than they both love wine (and maybe like each other quite a bit, too). Dr. Debs has a bit more background in her review of their 2005 vintage over at Good Wine Under $20. Besides Hocus Pocus, their Syrah brand, they also offer a Sangiovese blend called “Dalla Pancia” and a Cabernet Sauvignon called “Genuine Risk”. Interesting, if not a bit calculated, branding from the Mollydooker school of wine marketing. Everyone has to have a story to tell to sell their wine and this one is a good one made better by some pretty tasty juice in the glass. I’ve also got to give them props for focusing on the value category which will be one of the major trends in 2009 (more about that tomorrow).

Tasting Notes:

Black Sheep Finds, “Hocus Pocus”, Syrah, Santa Barbara Country 2006 ($18/sample) - Very dark purple-black in color with aromas of blackberry, blueberry, licorice and sage. Juicy dark fruit flavors with mint and black pepper finishing with moderate, but polished, tannins. Great varietal character for the price. Only 550 cases produced.

14.9% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

Thanks to Jill from domaine547 for this wine, which seems to be sold out there (thus my WineZap link above). It shows that maybe I should not judge a wine by it’s label and pick up more of these kinds of wines. I’ll definately be on the lookout for Black Sheep Finds wines next time I see them.

Château Clos René 2000 ($30-60) - Deep crimson-purple in color with aromas of black cherry, dark currant, pencil lead, fennel and mint. Rich black cherry fruit with black pepper and dark chocolate finishing with moderate, but plush, tannins. A delicious Bordeaux blend that has more years ahead of it.

13% ABV
Natural cork
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com
Voicemail: +1-646-495-9203 ext. 19765
http://drop.io/winecast
Copyright 2008 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed to the public under Creative Commons.

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Updated December 22, 2008 with links that actually work (thanks, Dyan!)

Vina Santa Ema, “Rivalta” 2003 - ($68/sample) Dark purple in color with aromas of black currant, plum, blueberry, fennel, mint and vanilla. Rich and concentrated dark currant and blackberry fruit with black pepper and dark chocolate finishing with firm tannins. A delicious Carmenere-led blend that will age at least 4-6 more years.

13.8% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com
Voicemail: +1-646-495-9203 ext. 19765
http://drop.io/winecast
Copyright 2008 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed to the public under Creative Commons.

Image via Wikipedia

Best of the wine blogosphere for December 5th through December 12th:

• Prepare: It’s About To Get Real Ugly Out There
• Threshers 40% Off Voucher December 2008
• Top Ten Wine Stories of 2008
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Carménère has long been a favorite variety of mine and it’s not grown much outside of Chile. When you see it in Dry Creek Valley or Bordeaux, it’s almost always lost in Cabernet or Merlot-led blends. But in Chile, there are many examples of the grape on it’s own as is the case in my selection this evening.

One of the six permitted red varieties in Bordeaux, it’s not much planted there anymore due to it’s low production and late ripening. But in the 18th and 19th Century, Carménère was highly prized in this region of France and was exported to Chile before Phylloxera claimed most the vines in it’s home country. But the root louse never made it to Chile, in large part due the the barrier of the Andes Mountains. Until 1994 DNA typing, most Chilean Carménère was thought to be Merlot and many low-end Merlot from Chile today still have the tell-tale “gun metal” aromas of Carménère in the blend.

Tasting Notes:

Vina Casa Silva, “Los Lingues”, Carménère, Gran Reserva, Colchagua Valley 2006 ($19/sample) - Very dark purple-black in color with aromas of black currant, raspberry, licorice, gun metal and vanilla. Focused and concentrated black raspberry and blueberry fruit flavors with cocoa, mint and bell pepper finishing with moderate tannins. A well balanced, delicious Carménère that will age and is also an excellent value.

14.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

Thanks to Tim from Cheap Wine Ratings for hosting this month and I’m already looking forward to January when we are picking wines for breakfast… for real. I’m thinking another value red here but most likely from California; or something with bubbles.

Image by Muffet via Flickr

Best of the wine blogosphere for November 17th through November 29th:

• stormhoek in the west texas desert
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Longtime listeners will remember my interview with Judd back in Winecast 45 three years ago. His passion for the Humanitas vision has not changed since that interview and he is still a one-man operation. Like last weekend’s Twitter Taste Live 5, I will live blog the event for those who can’t attend or want to revisit the tasting later. 

Disclosure: I donate my time to help Humanitas with social media outreach.

But I’m not going to post reviews for that style of Beaujolais this year as there are much better values in French Gamay than the 20% sold as glorified barrel samples 8 weeks after harvest. The best of these are made in the 10 “Crus” or growths of Beaujolais. These wines have more much depth than Beaujolais Nouveau and can still be very enjoyable 4-5 years after harvest while Nouveau declines at about 5 months of age. But the craziest thing to me is Cru Beaujolais is the same or less money than Beaujolais Nouveau.

This wine comes from Beaujolais mega-producer Georges Duboeuf who’s promotional genius is largely behind all the Beaujolais Nouveau hype. His wines are available all over the U.S. and most good wine stores will have a selection of his Cru Beaujolais from $10-15 a bottle. Morgon is one of my favorite crus and Duboeuf makes two bottlings: the “Flower” label here and Domaine Jean Descombes. I’ve tried both from the 2005 vintage and they are very close in taste and quality.

Tasting Notes:

Georges Duboeuf, Morgon, “Flower Label” 2005 ($10) - Dark ruby color with aromas of cherry, raspberry and violets. Fresh and juicy black cherry fruit, some white pepper, finishing with supple tannins. An excellent value perfect for the Thanksgiving table.

13% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

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This past Saturday I presented three of his wines as part of Twitter Taste Live 5. All the wines were provided by Cameron Hughes as samples but I was very impressed with each wine which I will review over the next few weeks here. But the most impressive wine was a new release today, Lot 93, a 2004 Tempranillo from Spain’s Rioja region.

When I opened this wine Saturday, the brand on the cork indicated the producer is Bodegas Covila. On my visit to the region last year, I was struck by how every winery seemed to age their wines as “shiners” or unlabeled, selling the wine when it was “ready to drink.” This old school philosophy makes many wines from Spain tremendous values and provides stock for folks like Cameron Hughes to buy and label for his customers. The result is one of the best values I’ve ever seen as this could easily sell for $50-60 a bottle.

Tasting notes:

Cameron Hughes, “Lot 93″, Tempranillo, Rioja 2004 ($21/sample) - Dark ruby in color with black cherry, cassis, fennel, cocoa and vanilla aromas. Sleek and concentrated black cherry & dark currant fruit with some black pepper and a touch of earth finishing long with firm, but surprisingly well integrated, tannins. A well structured wine that will age for another 5-8 years. The most extreme value I’ve tasted yet from this négociant. Highly recommended.

13.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

• “stormhoek. made In south africa. drunk in west texas.”
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I knew at some point there would be an occasion to write about Sherry, a wine I’ve had over the years but didn’t really get into until a visit in June of 2007 to El Puerto de Santa María in the so-called Sherry Triangle. As a guest of Osborne, I visited their winery and tasted Fino literally pulled from the solera. But the most surprising part of this visit was a dinner with only Sherry served. I knew the starter would be easy with a Fino or Amontillado and the dessert course would be matched with a sweet Sherry of some sort but the entree would be a challenge. That’s when I was introduced to Oloroso which was a revelation at the time. But the best wine that night was a sweet Sherry made from a very old solera and the Pedro Ximénez grape. I rated it a 99, the only wine I have ever rated that high.

But before I dig my notes out for that wine let me flash forward to this week when I was looking for a Sherry to review for this tasting. As someone now a bit more educated about Sherry, I know that Fino is best consumed before 6 months from it’s bottling date. Most every Sherry producer has some sort of bottling code that indicates the day and year of bottling. Many times these are cryptic with Roman numerals used for the year but Osborne uses a more understandable code. So while I am continually disappointed in the stores here in the Twin Cities where Fino is “fresh” at 9-10 months past bottling, I was surprised to see a bottle of Osborne Pedro Ximénez “1827″ on the shelf with a bottling date of  June 23, 2007… just 5 days before my visit to the winery.

For those not familiar with how Sherry is produced, a quick aside before my tasting notes. The production of Sherry is very old, in it’s current form since the the Moors ruled Spain some 1,200 years ago. Some, according to this piece in Wikipedia, track this style of wine back to the city of Shiraz in modern day Iran, literally the cradle of viticulture in antiquity. The production of Sherry starts with grapes grown in very chalky soils around Jerez, Spain from Palomino or Pedro Ximenez. In the latter case, the grapes are dried for two days before pressing and fermentation begins to concentrate their sugars. After primary fermentation, the wine is fortified with brandy to levels of alcohol determined by the style of the final wine. Fino or Amontillado are fortified to 15 degrees alcohol so that flor yeast can survive to complete the wine. Oloroso is fortified to 17-18 degrees alcohol to prevent the growth of flor and the wine is primarily shaped by oxidation in the solera.

The solera is a system of large barrels between 3 and 9 in number usually stacked in a pyramid shape. This allows for the young wine to be introduced at the top of the solera to fill the lower barrels where the finished wine is drawn for bottling. Sherry is aged in barrel for a minimum of three years but this time in barrel is much longer for more highly prized and rare Sherries. Through reduction and oxidation the resulting wine gains complexity and since all the barrels are neutral, no aromas or flavors from the oak. This is a truly unique and old school style of wine that I hope more wine lovers will try.

Tasting Notes:

Bodegas Osborne, Pedro Ximenez “1827″ Sherry ($21) - Mahogany in color with powerful aromas of fig, molasses, espresso, hazelnuts and some heat from the alcohol. Rich and sweet in the mouth with fig, maple syrup, cocoa and caramel flavors finishing very long with enough acidity that balances the luscious sweetness. Decadent, delicious and an excellent value at around $20 a bottle. Also very nice poured over vanilla ice cream as it’s own dessert.

17% ABV
Screwtop closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Bodegas Osborne, Pedro Ximenez “Viejo” Sherry ($100/sample tasted at the winery) - Almost black in color with very complex aromas of fig, dates, espresso, dark chocolate, molasses and a hint of baked orange. In the mouth, very rich and layered fig, caramel, baked orange, spice and nut flavors mingle with quite a bit of sweetness that is balanced by acidity. This wine has a finish that seems to go on forever. One of the most extraordinary tastings of my life and as close to a perfect wine I have ever encountered. Buy it, if you can afford it.

16% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Joe, the 1WineDude, for getting me back into this style of wine. I’m going to continue to explore Sherry both here and on my podcast… and might even post those recordings made in Spain some 17 months ago.

Consistent with my theme of Wines For Recessionary Times, I will be tasting two wines from Cameron Hughes, one of my favorite purveyors of extreme value wine.

I have selected Lot 92 2004 Margaret River Chardonnay and Lot 36 2005 Rutherford Cabernet for the tasting.

The Chardonnay is available for just $14 at the Cameron Hughes online store but Lot 36 is only available in Costco or Sam’s Club stores (I paid $12.88 today for Lot 36 at Sam’s).

So pick up one or both of these wines, friend me up on Twitter and taste along with me on November 15th. I’ll be posting a follow-up with the approximate time of the tasting next week and, of course, tweet about this too. I hope you will join me or at least follow along on Twitter Search using the hash tag #ttl.

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