Official Chilean Wine Industry Update

PUBLIC DECLARATION ON THE CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE AND THE NATIONAL WINE INDUSTRY

Santiago, March 3, 2010. In addition to emphasizing the overall strength of the Chilean wine industry’s material infrastructure and the fortitude of its people, Vinos de Chile, the association of Chilean wineries, has been able to verify the effects produced by the recent earthquake and its impact on the wine industry.

We wish to express our deepest condolences for the suffering of many employees and their families who have been affected both personally and materially, although we are happy to report that we have no information about the loss of lives among our workers.

The wine industry has been affected, but after several days of working to assess its impact, we have determined that the damage is, in fact, limited.

We have been able to quantify the total loss of wine at approximately 125 million liters, including bulk, bottled, and aging wine. This figure is the equivalent of US$ 250 million, which represents a loss of just 12.5% when compared with the 2009 vintage of 1.01 billion liters. We are therefore certain that dispatches and compliance with commercial obligations will return to normal within a very short period of time and without major difficulties.

The damage to infrastructure varies among the different wineries and has not, as yet, been fully measured. The wine grape vineyards have not been affected, and we are waiting for electricity to be restored in order to determine the extent of damage to irrigation systems.

Routine work has been reestablished-or will be shortly. Bottling lines are in generally good working condition, as are the cellars, which have already being repaired. The harvest has begun, and volumes should not be affected by the earthquake. In fact, the first containers have already been dispatched, although the speed of transportation will depend upon the general functioning of the country’s overall infrastructure, such as highways and ports.

The wineries are also focusing their efforts on attending to the morale and material needs of their employees.

The wine industry will maintain the necessary contact with the authorities in order to ensure that the highways, ports, and basic services are restored to full working order as quickly as possible, and also to strengthen their support of the industry’s promotional efforts abroad and the development of the country’s image.

We would like to thank the many and sincere outpouring of concern, and support that all of the wineries and the industry in general have received from the international community since the earthquake. We hope to continue to count on their solidarity and especially the understanding of our importers and distributors for unexpected delays which, in many cases, are beyond the control of the industry, and which the circumstances of the earthquake can bring.

Our primary message is that we are working arduously to reestablish normality in the wine industry and to continue delivering the best of Chile to the rest of the world through our wines.

René Merino

President

Vinos de Chile A.G.

Tags: Chile Earthquake

Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle sent out this update on her family wineries in South America:

Dear Friends and colleagues,

We have received your very kind emails and phone calls  and wish to thank you all for your heart felt concern during this very challenging time in our beloved Chile.

I am pleased to reassure you that while there has been very considerable damage throughout the country, we at Lapostolle have been lucky;  all of our team, workers and their respective families are accounted for and most thankfully safe.  Everyone is naturally working to restore order at their homes and at our vineyards and wineries.

It is still very difficult to communicate. Lapostolle server is not running yet, but I am in communication on a twice a day basis with our team . ( I am in Miami and will go to Chile as soon as the airport is re-opened)

As of now we were very lucky; the Clos Apalta winery had only one barrel broken and the main residence and the winery itself managed to be unscathed.

Our Cunaco Winery (main winery) has experienced a bit of damage to some barrels and bottles in rack.

Importantly, our facilities and tanks which are being prepared for the 2010 Harvest, are completely undamaged and will be ready as we look to begin harvest in a few weeks time.

Communications continue to be challenging, so please be patient if you have difficulty in contacting us….I am sure we will be back to more normal telephone and internet communications within days.

We continue to assess the situation and will be back to you with further updates, but we look forward to the harvest and to the order and sense of normalcy  it is sure to bring us all.

Again, on behalf of our entire Lapostolle Family, thank you for your concern and prayers.

Kind regards,

Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle

Tags: Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, Chile Earthquake, Clos Apalta, Cunaco, Lapostolle

2010 U.S. Professional Wine Buyers Competition
Gold 2007 Piesporter Michelsberg Spatlese Special Collection
Gold 2006 Piesporter Goldtropchen Auslese Special Collection
Gold 2007 Riesling QBA Blue Bottle

2010 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition
Silver 2007 Riesling QBA Blue Bottle
Bronze 2007 Piesporter Michelsberg Spatlese Special Collection
Bronze 2007 Piesporter Goldtropchen Spatlese Special Collection
Gold 2006 Piesporter Goldtropchen Auslese Special Collection
Bronze 2006 Piesporter Michelsberg Auslese Special Collection

2009 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition
Bronze 2007 Piesporter Michelsberg Spatlese Special Collection
Gold 2006 Piesporter Goldtropchen Auslese Special Collection

VERTIKAL wines are the perfect expression of the picturesque slate slopes of Germany’s famed Mosel region. Much of the growing area is located on the river banks which rise so sharply that the vineyards along these steep vertical slopes are amongst the steepest in the world. VERTIKAL wines are sourced from only the finest vineyards throughout the Mosel, Nahe, Pfalz and Rheinhessen regions in Germany. The wines are a true expression of the land and people who share a passion and commitment for producing Germany’s finest varietals including Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer and Liebfraumilch.

30+ “Best Buys”
25 “90+ Point Scores”

Go to the website
Download the .pdf

I wanted to say thank you to the servers and chef’s out there who cook and serve our meals, and the host that greets me, the busboy (serving assistant I have been informed now days), dishwashers and floor managers. Thank you.

This past weekend I was on my feet for 3 days and remembered what it felt like years ago when I used to cook, wait tables, wash dishes, hosted, and bussed tables. My dogs were barking.

It started Friday; I attended the Texas wine and grape grower conference in Dallas at the lovely Renaissance hotel in Richardson just off 75 north. John Klugman, the general manager, is one of the finest operators in the hotel industry. I have known him for several years at different properties around the country and we are lucky to have him in Texas.

The food the hotel prepared and served during my stay was served prompt and of excellent quality. Several people around me took notice.

Well, back to my aching feet,

I walked the show and visited with the different product reps at their booths. It was one of their best attended conferences, according to one of the board members I know.

I was at the conference to give a presentation on when a winery should consider using a distributor. Mark Hyman from Llano Estacado winery and I teamed up for the presentation. Mark has been in the distribution business prior to heading up a winery.

I made it out without being pelted with tomatoes.

For the two days I attended the conference I was on my feet for 10 hours each day. It didn’t seem to be that long, but as I look back, it was probably longer. We flew back to Houston and I worked as a volunteer at the Houston Rodeo Uncorked wine and food tasting event Sunday afternoon and evening.

Volunteer check in was at 4 and check out was at 9:00pm. The event went by, just like the old days of working the floor, like a flash. I got to visit with old friends and taste some really good wines. It was over before I knew it. There never seems to be enough time. We made promises to see each other sooner rather than later. Promises I know will be hard to keep. If nothing else, we’ll see each other here next year. This is a fun event.

This morning I felt the pain, yes the wines were delicious, and probably distracted me from thinking about my feet, but this morning my feet were talking to me. They ached like the old days. I know, I have put on weight, and I need to trim back, but it was an old familiar pain from the past.

It reminded me of those old days of long hours of slicing and dicing, garnishing plates and seating guest. Those were some of the greatest times in my life.

Lifelong friendships were formed during those younger years. I met one of my old busboys from the 70’s on this trip and we got to swap stories and business cards, he’s now a residential real estate agent for Remax. We got to catch up with some of the gang and relive the old stories of dropping meals on guest and cursing the lousy tippers. You always remember the good tippers and the bad tippers.

My hat is off to the guys and gals who take care of me these days.

Tags: Master Sommelier Guy Stout, The Stout Report

Billed as “The Biggest Italian Wine Event Ever Held Outside of Italy,” scores of Italian wine-makers, industry professionals and enthusiasts are converging on Manhattan for three days of Italian wine seminars, presentations, tastings and dinners.

This is a joint promotion by the Italian Trade Commission, Veronafiere/Vinitaly and Buonitalia, and is designed to heighten awareness of the progress Italian wines have made in recent times. The focus this year is on four regions: Calabria, Puglia, Tuscany and Veneto. Some of the seminars scheduled are: “Gaglioppo the Great: The New Generation of Southern reds,” Venetian Native Grape Varieties,” “The Remarkable Wines of Apulia,” and Virtual Vino, Millenials and Social Media Decanted.”

Following a successful maiden voyage in 2009, this three day conference, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, launches their second edition. This follows the momentum of the 2009 harvest, which is reported to be historic and a thawing economy, which is showing signs of a slow but steady revitalization in America.

Alongside the educational seminars, there will be dinners around town and several tastings, including the “Italian Wine Masters Grand tasting: Tuscany and Prosecco,” and the climatic “Vino 2010 Italian Wine Exchange Grand Tasting.”

And, of course, there is the hope that many of the new wines showcased at these events will open up willing markets, for all of the great work that has been made in Italy in recent times.

Further details available at www.italianmade.com/vino2010.

Live blogging, a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter (also here) have all been set up and activated for these events, as well.

Tags: Buonitalia, Italian Trade Commission, Veronafiere/Vinitaly, Vino 2010

Source: Dallas Morning News

Author: Rebecca Murphy

Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Cantina Tramin, Sudtirol-Alto Adige, Chardonnay 2008, $12.99-$15.39

Cantina Tramin, established in 1898, is a cooperative winery with 290 grower members and a very talented winemaker, Willi Stürz. This fetching chardonnay shows bright citrus and pineapple fruit with a wisp of stony minerality. Its pure and focused fruit will be a righteous partner for scallops sautéed in lemon butter.

Sudtirol and Alto Adige refer to the same region in northwestern Italy, in different languages. Italians call it Alto Adige; in German it’s called Sudtirol. This area was Austrian, but was ceded to Italy after World War I.

Found Here: Wine of the Week Jan 6, 2010

Tags: Alto Adige, Cantina Tramin, Chardonnay, Rebecca Murphy, Tramin, Willi Stürz, Wine of the Week

I did a very odd thing this year for New Year’s Eve. I traveled. I have never gone anywhere for New Year’s, but this year, my better half and I went with friends to New Orleans. Besieged with college kids for the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans put on the mask of a college town, decorated with the plumage of Key West and the glitter of New York.

The French Quarter is a lovely, crass, elegant, over-indulgent, culturally refined and mysterious old lady.  In short, everything I want to be when I grow up. I walked her streets for four days, and each time I would make a turn, some wonderful new surprise lurking around the corner up and kissed me square on the mouth when I wasn’t expecting it.  In tribute to this majestic old Voodoo Priestess, I wanted to mention a couple of my favorite moments in the Vieux Carré.

Deanie’s was the first thing I got a good whiff of when I stepped out of the cab in New Orleans at the Chateau Bourbon.  I believe my exact words were, “Smell that?  Food.  Cooked in BUTTER!”  (What?  It wasn’t New Year’s Day yet.  I still had a few left before the resolutions would start.)  After a long afternoon of travel, the atmosphere was a bit noisy, but the cooks have the crawfish by the tail in that joint.  Yum.

Frank over at Evelyn’s Place demanded we view the 6-item menu on the chalk board above our heads and decide what to eat on the spot. Upon reaching a decision, he told us to park our “butts right there,” as he pointed to a table next to the juke box.  Frank’s sense of humor and irreverent temperament is enough of a reason to go, but the gumbo and freshly baked bread is enough of a reason to go back.  If you’re lucky, you’ll even get his permission to dip your bread into the gumbo.

Orleans Grapevine is amazing.  After three days of eating fried everything and indulging in some extremely questionable mixed drinks, stumbling upon Orleans Grapevine reminded me why I am glad to be a foodie.  And, that I was, in fact, in a foodie town.  If I was a songwriter, I’d write love songs to the crab cakes.  If I was a poet, I would describe the baked brie with roasted garlic cream in rhyming verse.  Upon leaving, a fellow patron admitted to us that he had just eaten the Prime Black Angus medallions and nearly cried.  Yeah, it’s that good, people.  Not to discount the wine, which our party of four drank 2 (or was it 3?) bottles of the house red.  The Orleans Grapevine is the restaurant that you close down after a night of luxurious red wines, magnificent conversation and astonishingly good food and wake up the next morning thinking it was all a dream.

Tags: Glazer's, Julie Tijerina, New Orleans, Wine Tourism

Wine of the week: Barefoot Riesling NV

The Wine Curmudgeon has long been ambivalent about Barefoot wines. They seem to occupy the middle ground between Two Buck Chuck, which is usually just cheap, and the $10 wines I like, which are cheap and always worth drinking.

Tags: $10 wine, Barefoot wine, cheap wine, inexpensive wine, Jen Wall, Riesling, Wine of the Week, wine reviews

Source: Dallas Morning News
By: Rebecca Murphy
Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Brennan Vineyards, Texas,

Viognier 2008, $20.49-$24.99

Judging from what’s often in the bottle, viognier is a challenging grape for winemakers. It is a highly aromatic variety, but it needs to be ripe for those peach, honeysuckle and apricot aromas to show. By the time the grape is ripe, the acidity is on the low side and the alcohol is on the high side. So thank goodness for those who get it right, like today’s wine from Texas with those fruit-bowl aromas and flavors in full bloom. Yet it has enough acidity to keep it lively. Pair it with a Thai chicken curry or a chicken with mango salsa.

Brennan Vineyards is in Comanche, southwest of Dallas. It is co-owned by Patrick Brennan, formerly of Fort Worth. He thinks viognier is “the white wine of Texas.” He may be right.

Tags: Brennan Vineyards, Brennan Viognier, Rebecca Murphy, Texas, Viognier, Wine of the Week

Source: The Wine Curmudgeon

Author: Jeff Siegel

Since it looks like Falesco’s Vitiano, one of the Wine Curmudgeon’s all-time favorite trio of wines, is going to drop out of the $10 Hall of Fame next year because the weak dollar has pushed its price to $12, I thought it only fair to mention another Falesco wine from Italy.

About the only thing wrong with the Est! Est! Est! ($9, purchased) is that it doesn’t come with a screwcap. Otherwise, this white blend is as close to perfect as cheap wine gets — 12 1/2 percent alcohol, bright acidity, and enough fruit (pears, perhaps?) to please American palates without bothering those of us who like less fruit in their Italian wines. Drink this chilled on its own or with any kind of seafood. It would also do quite nicely with takeout chicken.

And, as befitting an Italian wine, there’s a story to it. The English king, Henry V, was traveling to Rome in the 12th century, and one of his servants went ahead to find quality wine for the king to drink. When the servant found an inn with good wine, he was supposed to write “est” on the inn’s door. When he arrived in Montefiascone, home of Est, he enjoyed the wine so much he wrote “est, est, est.”

Tags: $10 wine, cheap wine, Est Est Est, Falesco, inexpensive wine, Italian Wine, Jeff Siegel, white wine, Wine of the Week, wine reviews