Wed, May 30, 2012 at 12:00 PM Whatever you think of Roger Waters or Pink Floyd, his current tour - performing the classic album "The Wall" in its entirety - is a one-of-a-kind production. This recent 60 Minutes interview is a interesting look at the tour and the man, a true creative genius.
Wed, May 30, 2012 at 6:00 AM 
Alas, a fine annual wine event in Central California is no more. In an email message and accompanying announcement on the Hospice website, the founders of the Hospice du Rhone event in Paso Robles, Calif. said they would be “discontinuing” the three-day event and focusing on more intimate gatherings. This is a big loss for lovers of Rhone varietals as well as the Paso Robles area, which has been riding a wave of momentum as a wine region in recent years. Good luck in your future endeavors from the ‘Zilla – The Hospice du Rhone will be missed. Additional coverage can be found here.
Thu, May 24, 2012 at 6:00 AM 
Hotel Happy Hour: In an effort to boost wine and food sales, Sheraton Hotels have teamed up with the Wine Spectator to offer wine tasting events in their hotel lobbies. Hotels that participate in Sheraton's "Social Hour" will hold the tastings three to four times per week. In North America, two of the wines they pour will hold a 90 or above rating from Wine Spectator, as reported by USA Today. Sheraton hopes this will encourage the wine loving Gen Xer travelers to socialize more in their hotels.
Greek Wine: In this time of economic crisis, winemakers from Greece are on a international promotional mission to spread the word about the wine revolution that is currently underway in their country. Sponsored by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Abroad (HEPO), winemakers recently held tasting events and wine symposiums in New York City to help bolster exposure of wines from Greece for consumers and wines professionals in the US. When asked about the future of the Greek wine industry, given the state of such political and economic uncertainty, many of the winemakers at the events seemed very positive, as reported in this article from the Chicago Tribune. The general consensus among the Greek wine professionals seems to be that things will improve after the next general election on June17th. In the mean time, they are continuing to spread the good news about wine from Greece.
Editor's note: CORKZILLA was invited to take part in a Greek wine webinar tasting event hosted by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Abroad (HEPO) in NYC last week. Stayed tuned for our review!
10 Years at $2: Interesting read from San Francisco's fantastic local public radio station KALW (91.7FM) about Trader Joe's uber successful Charles Shaw Wines - also known as Two-Buck Chuck.
Wine Fulfillment: As wine sales increase and more and more states allow direct wine shipments to consumers, the demand for fulfillment service providers has sky-rocketed. Sonoma base wine fulfillment company, WineShipping, is planning on spending millions of dollars upgrading it's packaging automation systems and expanding it's operations to a 150,000 square foot warehouse in Napa, as reported by the North Bay Business Journal. Another cause for the company's growth is increased interest in WineShipping's ability to offer it's customers a temperature-controlled delivery service option - allowing wineries to ship wine throughout the year.
Wed, May 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM CORKZILLA recently featured a few artists from this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as part of its monthly Wine and Tunes Pairing post. We'd like to highlight a couple of additional tunes, this time from first time Jazzfest performer Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who produced an impeccable set as the sun faded at the fairgrounds. Enjoy!
Thu, May 17, 2012 at 6:00 AM Bordeaux 2011 Wine Futures Rev Up: Two reports from the Wine Spectator and Decanter magazine sum up the state of the market for 2011 Bordeaux wine futures – Decidedly mixed. Known as en primeur releases in France, the wine futures are a closely watched indicator of Bordeaux pricing and demand, particularly as prices have skyrocketing for recent vintages. The Wine Spectator characterized the 2011 vintage as “less than classic” while Decanter magazine reports that so many released their 2011 vintage futures that some were getting lost in the shuffle among so many choices. Both reports acknowledge lower prices due to a vintage that is viewed less favorably than 2009 or 2010.
Good Times for Grape Growers: Farmers growing grapes got some good news at a recent vineyard economics forum, according to this report. Among the interesting tidbits - 45 percent of growers and wineries surveyed said they plan to plant new vines, a reaction to ongoing grape shortages that's leading to rising prices.
Justin Makes Post-Acquisition Moves: Justin Vineyards and Winery, a staple of the west side of Paso Robles, CA, has made several moves following its acquisition in late 2010 by Fiji Water, according to this report. Among the changes at the winery are: the acquisition of more vineyards, the hiring of a new winemaker, and a new style for its wine labels.
Sobering Investigation: On a more serious note than is sometimes found in the Weekly Wine News Around the Web feature on CORKZILLA, a Bay Area television affiliate aired an investigation of drunk driving in Napa and Sonoma Counties. A lot of the reporting isn’t exactly new, but an interesting fact uncovered in the report was that more than 80 percent of drunk driving arrests in Napa and Sonoma Counties were of local residents, dispelling the notion that it is wine-tasting tourists that are the cause of much of the problem.
Fri, May 11, 2012 at 6:00 AM Editor's note: As previously disclosed, this past month's Wine and Tunes Pairing was delayed due to circumstances well within our control - namely our attendance at this year's Jazzfest in New Orleans. This month's Wine and Tunes Pairing will come at you the week after the Memorial Day weekend, and we'll resume our normal schedule for our monthly ritual on the last Friday in June. Thanks again for your patience and readership!
By Joe Colgan
Now that the 42nd annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has come to a close, The 'Zilla would like focus this month's pairing on one of The Crescent City's most revered music ambassadors. In a previous pairing, we paid homage to one of Nola's greats, Anders Osborne, but this time we're shining a light on the elder statesman. Dr. John, aka "Mac" Rebennack, aka the Night Tripper, has been one of Nola's distinctive voices since the late 1960's. His unique appearance - blending Creole/African/Native American influences - combined with a gritty vocal style that mashes jazz/blues/zydeco/rock/pop together, Dr. John is the living embodiment of the essence of Nola. By cooking all these styles together in a sort of sonic gumbo stew, he conjures up a type of 'voodoo' music that sometimes takes you deep into a funky dark bayou, and leaves you wondering if you're going to get out.
The Good Doctor's first record, 'Gris Gris', was released in 1968 and it introduced the world to his unique style of swampy psychedelic funkiness. Thirty records later, we celebrate the release of his latest efforts, 'Locked Down'. Celebrate is an understatement. Since my first listen, I've been singing praises from the mountain top. This album exudes a kind of dirty-swampy funk that proves Dr. John can still bring the goods at the young age of 71. For this one, he's teamed up with The Black Keys' guitarist and singer Dan Auerbach to take the helm as producer for the project. Auerbach assembled a team of top-notch young guns to bring a vibe to the recordings that delivers the familiar Dr. John sound into a slightly new direction. Within seconds of the opening track, 'Locked Down', we're brought back into the land of hoodoo-voodoo and transported to a very funky place. From there we experience deep pockets of groove delivered from pumping baritones and bass, some African highlife, and every other style that makes the Dr. John soundscape. The album feels very organic and basic in it's instrumentation, but it is intricately assembled and produces a good amount of depth.
To pair with this refreshingly cool album, I'm going with a winery I'm newly and equally excited about. A friend recently reminded me of the greatness that is the Scholium Project - wow, I'm sorry I'm so late to this party. Winemaker, philosopher, artist, Abe Schoener's approach to making wine is one of non-intervention. Without manipulation, he lets nature do a lot of the legwork in the winemaking process. With this approach, it can certainly be a roll of the dice with mother nature involved. But after years of a lot of trial an error and experimentation, the end results from the Scholium Project are nothing but stellar and interesting. Go here for more on Abe's technique and background…a very interesting read.
When I hear a new band or album that I like, I tend listen to it into the ground - case in point, 'Locked Down'. I gobble up as much info I can about the new find and then hit the loop button. Same goes for a newly discovered wine. I've sampled just a few of Abe's wines so far, but I intend to go the distance. One recently opened bottle that I thoroughly enjoyed is the 2008 Gardens of Babylon. It's a Petite Sirah beast - 55% Petite Sirah, 17% Merlot, 11% Mourvedre, 11% Cinsault, 3% Syrah, 3% Sangiovese. Intense fruit flavors, dark, dark purple, and nice tobacco/earth nose - retails for around $34. Like Dr. John's latest, the wine feels very organic and produces a good amount of depth.
Enjoy with this vid of Dr. J and freinds in the studio. That's some Funk!!
Cheers!
By Ben Heskett
NEW ORLEANS, La. – That this place is an amazing potpourri of music, culture, food and good times isn’t a news flash. That the Big Easy is also a daunting place to pair wine with such a wide array of music is a bit of a conundrum.
The inspiration for this month’s entry is my attendance at the unparalleled music festival known as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (commonly known as “Jazzfest”), a wonderful annual undertaking that sprawls across two weekends from the end of April until early May and also includes countless late night shows, jam sessions and other random musical moments. In many respects, it embodies a certain kind of heaven for CORKZILLA, but in others, it’s a sensory overload…in a good way, as well as a daunting pairing task.
Rather than offer a definitive tune for this Wine and Tunes Pairing, I thought I’d offer a few selections from my time at the fairgrounds, where the Jazzfest magic happens. I’ve culled videos from three artists that may be less well known to some of you, but offered terrific sets to the Jazzfest hoards and will likely only grow in stature in the coming years – Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Gary Clark Jr. This cross-section of zydeco, bluegrass, and straight-up whiskey-soaked blues is a worthy representation of the diversity of music jazzfest offers.
I’ll have to choose a wine that goes with the region and, perhaps, a fair cross-section of its famous seafood creations. So let's go with a Sauvignon Blanc from Niner Wine Estates – The 2009 Bootjack Ranch vintage tasted during a recent site visit to the Paso Robles winery (more on that on the ‘Zilla soon). It has a lot of the elemental Sauvignon Blanc characteristics – lemon/lime, melon and a touch of apple – as well as a certain strength that serves New Orleans well.
It’s a crisp, full-bodied Sauvignon Blanc, able to stand up to a good portion of the fried seafood that New Orleans – and the stalls at Jazzfest – has to offer. It’s also refreshing, and for those who have attended the festival know, that’s an important characteristic given the often sweltering temperatures, whether you’re in the middle of the fairgrounds where the fun takes place or relaxing on the porch recounting all of the good music from your Jazzfest day.
On a tangential note, I also wanted to highlight a restaurant with an interesting story. Boucherie in the Uptown section of New Orleans started as a post-Hurricane Katrina food truck and grew into a phenomenal restaurant with a combination of great cuisine, an inventive wine and drink list, and a casual vibe befitting the Crescent City. If you are travelling to New Orleans, definitely give this place a shot if you can get in – From talking to the locals it is one of the current hot spots in town so plan ahead. I had an amazing meal there.
It's almost a cliche to say that Jazzfest is a true celebration of a place, its people and its culture, while also bringing in more and more people every year to join the party. In a world where more and more music events cater to such a wide audience demographic that they render themselves homogenous, Jazzfest remains a unique American experience that should not be missed. Laissez les bon temps rouler! Tip one back, turn it up, and enjoy – Cheers! And for more Jazzfest color, check out this photo gallery.
Thu, May 10, 2012 at 6:00 AM Eco-Shipping: A company in New York has come up with a pretty cool new way for wineries to transport bottles to consumers. As more and more wineries develop direct-to-consumer relationships, the need for shipping containers has grown. Ecovative Design Inc has developed new packaging materials made from mycelium, the hidden roots of mushrooms and fungi that form the foundation of the forest floor, as reported by Wines & Vines. The mycelium binds together forming a strong rigid material that provides that same protection as Styrofoam, but instead is completely recyclable.
The Easter Bunny Likes Wine: According to data from research group Symphony IRI, this past Easter Holiday had a spike (11% growth) in domestic wine sales compared to last April. Analysis of the data shows that Easter has become a big wine drinking holiday for Americans, as reported by Wines & Vines. The segments that had the fastest growth from last year was from red wines at $8-$10.
Pitt Goes from Diamond to Cellar: Word is actor Brad Pitt’s latest role will be as part of the celluloid version of the controversial tome, “The Billionaire’s Vinegar,” which tracks the story of rare wines found in Paris and subsequently auctioned off, according to Decanter magazine. Why is this story special? The controversial bottles include one vintage – a 1787 Lafite – that was bid up to the highest auction price ever paid for a bottle of wine. We’ll see if Pitt can pull off his wine industry role.
Ascentia on Gallo Radar: Wine conglomerate E&J Gallo is reported to be making its first foray into the Washington state wine market, looking to acquire the Columbia Winery and Covey Run brands from Ascentia Wine Estates. Due to ongoing debt problems, Ascentia has been divesting itself from some of its winery brands, according to Shanken News Daily.
Thu, May 3, 2012 at 6:00 AM More Brand Protection for Napa: Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) have enlisted the help of a group known as the Organization for Geographical Indications Network to protect its brand, according to this report. The organization enlisted by NVV is known to lobby internationally for increased legal protections related to key geographic areas, such as Napa and its association with wine.
Consumers Breaking our Benjamins for Wine: One of the casualties of the U.S. recession has been a dip in the price consumers want to pay for a bottle of wine, but that’s changing, according to this report in the Napa Valley Register. The only issue holding back Napa Valley from selling more wine, for example, is a lack of supply to satiate consumer appetites for its varietals, according to participants at a Napa Valley event.
A Small Step for The Garden State: Due to a bill that New Jersey Governor Christie signed at the beginning of this year, which became effective this week, wineries in the state can take orders from customers and ship directly to their homes, as reported by PhillyBurbs. In addition, NJ wineries that get licensed in other states will soon be able to ship to out-of-state customers and out-of-state wineries that produce less than 250,000 gallons will be able to ship direct to consumers in NJ. Corkzilla has been following this piece of legislation closely since last year. Although this is a positive step towards Freeing the Grapes, it is still limiting about 90% of US wine producers from shipping to NJ due to the 250K capacity cap.
Wine and Toilet Paper: This falls in the 'not necessarily the news' category, but it's somewhat fascinating. Apparently, the most powerful wine buyer in the world is Annette Alverez-Peters. For those that don't know Annette, she is the lead wine buyer for the big-box behemoth, Costco - which does roughly one billon in wine sales per year. In a recent interview with MSNBC, Annette spoke about how she considers wine to be the same as any other lifeless product Costco sells - such as clothes or toilet paper. There's not much soul or passion put into the making of toilet paper. I bet you could buy a lot of it for 1MM. Watch the vid here for a closer look...
Fri, April 27, 2012 at 9:00 AM By Ben Heskett
The Santa Cruz Mountains continue to offer tantalizing possibilities in terms of vineyard placement and resulting wines. This is what drew Bradley Brown, the winemaker and proprietor at Big Basin Vineyards, to the area, and the results are big, bold, and full of the character of the region.
Though the tasting room is right in the center of Saratoga, the vineyard can be hard to find, tucked at the end of an inauspicious road. For CORKZILLA, it has been some time since we were first turned on to Big Basin at last year’s Hospice du Rhone event in Paso Robles, Calif. A subsequent visit to both Brown’s sloping vineyard property in Boulder Creek, Calif. (Pictured below) and the tasting room in Saratoga, Calif., only confirmed the reasons for our original interest in the Big Basin portfolio of wines.
Brown grows mostly Syrah on his own Boulder Creek property, which h
e purchased in 1998. The positioning of the vineyard is no random act – It sits in a sort of “banana belt” that provides plenty of sun as well as fog inter-mingling from three different coastal directions, according to Brown. Brown also contracts for fruit with farmers in other regions who share his approach – low grape yields and organically oriented. His total output is around 2,000 – 2,500 cases annually.
It’s taken some time to fire up the keyboard, but a recent tasting at the Rhone Rangers San Francisco grand tasting event was the necessary reminder that Zilla’s readers need to know about this winery. We’re not alone – Brown has racked up some great scores from the usual wine industry suspects, and Big Basin was a popular table at the Rhone Rangers. Big Basin will also be pouring wines at this weekend’s 20th annual Hospice du Rhone.
A few thoughts on the wines in general:
- If you like big Syrahs full of dark fruit, you need to try one of several in the Big Basin portfolio. They’re obviously all unique in their own right, but seem to share a certain boldness of flavors.
- The Big Basin Grenache – called the “Grizzly” – is also worth a try. The soon-to-be-released inaugural 2008 vintage has a nice blend of Syrah, but you’ll need to be quick, since production is 34 cases.
- I’ll also note a wine that I had not previously thought of as a standout but was impressive when recently tasted at Fort Mason – The Homestead Red Blend from the Santa Cruz Mountains, a combination of 46 percent Grenache, 43 percent Syrah, and 11 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. Great fruit and a long finish.
This is a winery to watch for sure.