A word on the inaugural BottleRock Napa music festival (Willpower stage photo at right) held at the exposition ground in Napa, Calif. I only attended the Thursday slate of bands, with hopes dashed of a Black Crowes - Furthur back-to-back mindbender when Furthur's Bob Weir decided he needed a break and the band canceled. Nevertheless, the diversity of acts was impressive (ALO, Primus, Avett Brothers) and the use of space at the expo was inspired. The Black Crowes remain at the height of their powers, delivering a pure set of rock 'n roll that will long be remembered in the valley. If I was to quibble, I would make the wine component of the festival more WineLands-like, with a central place to feature wineries adorned appropriately, but the different wineries represented was terrific. I was in more of a beer mood at the time, I will say. The festival will be back next year with organizers announcing a three-day approach over the weekend of May 9-11.
PA Backs Off on Privatization: Anyone who’s spent time in Pennsylvania knows it’s a hassle to procure wine and spirits – Stores are state-controlled and, like similar states, have an interesting approach to customer service, hours of operation, location, and many other key consumer issues. Well, it looks like privatization is on ice in the state, for now, according to this report, with a modified approach preferred by the state’s Senate.
Meditation on Terroir: One of our favorite winery blogs by Tablas Creek Vineyard reflects on the genesis of the term “terroir” and its increased importance in the wine industry, particularly among so-called new world appellations. It’s a great read, delving into the history of terroir and its growth as an essential element for many winemakers and drinkers.
“Parkerization” a Myth?: Wine critic of all wine critics Robert Parker has criticized the notion that there’s been a “Parkerization” in the wine industry so that wines suit his tastes, according to this report. Parker says his tastes remain “complicated and varied,” the report said.
Northwest Vineyard Buys: Two purchases in Oregon highlight increased vineyard buyout activity in recent months. According to two reports from Great Northwest Wine newsletter, Bacchus Capital Management of San Francisco, Calif. purchased Panther Creek Cellars and Precept Wine of Seattle, Wash. bought the Yamhela Vineyard in Oregon’s Yamhill-Carlton appellation. Terms were not disclosed.
Editor’s note: The ‘Zilla has been offline for a bit, but we wanted to share the following older news stories with our readers.
Advocate Settles with Former Critic Galloni: The lawsuit filed by wine-rating newsletter the Wine Advocate and its founder Robert Parker against former critic Antonio Galloni has been settled out of court, according to this report. As previously reported, the lawsuit attracted a lot of attention in the wine industry due to the prominent personalities involved.
Land Loss: Some startling results from a study done by researchers at the University of Texas were released last week which suggests that land suitable for growing grapes will disappear between 25% to 75% in major wine producing areas throughout the world by 2050 due to global warming. The study is the first to combine the impact of global warming on wine regions, according to this report from Decanter magazine.
Editor's note: The CORKZILLA team has been woefully behind schedule in terms of our Wine and Tunes Pairing publishing lately. Let this serve as a March/April edition of our signature feature. We'll offer another edition in May. Appreciate your readership!
By Ben Heskett
SAN FRANCISCO -- The recent Rhone Rangers tasting here included its usual sumptuous reds, refreshing, crisp whites, and a smattering of resurgent rose. In light of this festival of Rhones, CORKZILLA will get you ready for spring wine drinking as part of this month’s Wine and Tunes Pairing by featuring a few of our favorites (We'll call it a flight) from the tasting – a departure from our usual modus operandi of picking a single bottle to pair with a musical composition.
I’ll highlight a few options that tickled my taste buds at the annual Fort Mason event, now given increased importance in the region with the end of the Hospice du Rhone wine event in Paso Robles, Calif. I've whittled it down to three after initially listing five finalists, focusing on wineries you may not be familiar with. It was a terrific year at the Rhone Rangers event, full of distinct, high-quality wines that left a good impression. The diversity of styles within American Rhone varietals at this moment in time is notable. It was tough work, but someone had to do it. Here they are:
AmByth Estate 2010 “Priscus” Grenache Blanc: A Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne white Rhone blend that offers a rich, complex experience.
Villa Creek Cellars 2011 Garnacha: A 100 percent pure Grenache expression with good tannic balance.
Miraflores Winery 2009 Estate Syrah: Focused fruit-driven Syrah, with grapes grown on hillside vineyard at 3,000 elevation in the Sierra Foothills of California.
I’ve left a few of my musical favorites in the files to be used for special 'Zilla occasions, and this Wine and Tunes Pairing is just such an occasion. To go along with our diverse mix of Rhone-style goodness, I will turn to one of my all-time favorite songs – “Fearless,” by Pink Floyd off their “Meddle” album, which ended up offering a synthesis of the band’s early years of exploration and more than hinted at the genius to come. In fact, the ‘Zilla has gone to the “Meddle” well once before for a Wine and Tunes Pairing, with a May 2011 edition featuring another mindbender, “Echoes.”
With uplifting lyrics, a psychedelic build, and a chorus at the end featuring the Liverpool FC (soccer team, for those American readers) Kop Choir singing "You'll Never Walk Alone," "Fearless" is a tour de force that stands the tests of time. It's an appropriate accompaniment for Rhone wines, since these varietals offer a depth, diversity and complexity rarely found. Cheers!
For some additional coverage of the always worthy Rhone Rangers event here, check these diverse entries from fellow wine bloggers:
- The Solosyrah blog reviews a number of Syrahs from the event, focusing on more balanced versions of the varietal. Some good insights here from Cyrus Limon.
- The Enofylz blog focused on the abundant Rose’s at the Rhone Rangers event, offering some good recommendations.
- Not directly connected to the recent Rhone Rangers San Francisco event, but nevertheless related, the Simple Hedonisms blog offers a feature on Bonny Doon Vineyards, its charismatic founder Randall Grahm, and the recent release of its white Rhone blend. Additionally, Steve Heimoff offered his thoughts on a surge in interest in the Grenache Blanc varietal.
Those of you who read CORKZILLA frequently probably know that the roots of this endeavor can be traced directly to a wine class on the campus of Sonoma State University in Northern California. A grad uate class called Wine Business Experience at the school started producing an annual vintage and, as a result, they're celebrating next weekend at the Kokomo Winery in Dry Creek Valley, Calif. Here's the details:
WHEN: Saturday, Apr. 20, 1-4 PM
WHERE: Kokomo Winery, 4791 Dry Creek Road at Timber Crest Farms in Healdsburg, Calif.
RSVP: Contact Dana Swilley at SSU at (707) 664-3347 or swillwy@sonoma.edu
Occasionally the 'Zilla feels the need to share a particularly awesome moment related to music, wine, or, frankly, otherwise. Our latest comes from the Friday, Apr. 12, star-studded "Ramble" at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, Calif. The venue is the brainchild of former Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh and his wife Jill. The latest series of rambles includes Luther Dickinson, from the Black Crowes and North Mississippi All-Stars, along with Anders Osborne and Jason Crosby, among others. It was a great night of music. In the below photo, blues guitar virtuoso Dickinson is playing an amplified tin can with two strings during a raucious version of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (video of the North Mississippi All-Stars version embedded below the photo).
Coming to America: International wine merchants and traders, Bordeaux Index, have recently opened shop in Los Angeles with the goal of offering a wider range of top American wines to customers worldwide, according to this report from Decanter magazine. The new location will help target fine wine investors and drinkers in the US, as well as help feed overseas interest in the best wines California has to offer.
The Fake Wine Fight: Billionaire wine collector William Koch is escalating his ongoing fight against counterfeit wines to federal court in New York. Koch claims that expensive vintage wines he bought at auction in 2004-'05 were counterfeit, and although he was offered a full refund when the suspected wines he purchased were proven fakes, Koch is moving forward with the lawsuit to "protect the integrity of the fine-wine market", according to this report.
The 38 Percent: A mere 17 percent of the French drink wine every day now, down from 50 percent in 1980. Mon Dieu! More significantly, 38 percent of the French do not drink wine at all. Why? It’s a generational erosion, according to this BBC News report.
Appellation Battleground: The Santa Barbara, Calif. area appellation of the Santa Rita Hills, often known for its Pinot Noir vineyards, is in the midst of an increasingly common phenomenon – disagreements over American viticultural Area (AVA) boundaries. A Santa Rita Hills grape grower wants to expand the current geographical boundaries of the appellation, according to the Wine Spectator magazine, and is being met with some opposition.
Future of Red Mountain: Washington State wine drinkers know the Red Mountain appellation well, but in order to manage future growth, planners are readying a strategy for future development, according to thisWines and Vines magazine report. The plan covers issues such as irrigation and land use.
It's that time of year again - Nominations for the 2013 Wine Blog Awards are open. As CORKZILLA is part of an eco-system of dedicated friends and colleagues in the wine industry, we'd like to encourage our readers to nominate those stories or blogs that rise to the top. Don't be shy - Make yourself heard! And good luck to those bloggers we've met along the way.
In our capacity as an observer of the wine industry, CORKZILLA tries not to take sides, and in the case of the lawsuit by Robert Parker's (pictured at left) Wine Advocate wine ratings newsletter empire against former correspondent and heralded wine rater Antonio Galloni (made public this past week), we will continue that tradition. But it is worth noting that both sides work in an industry that champions the power of a couple of glasses or just the right bottle to ignite a meeting of the minds, either intellectually or socially. On that note, we'll provide some takes on the news from a few outlets we enjoy:
- Decanter magazine offers a lengthy take with some interesting perspectives from those in the industry and impacted by some of the allegations found in the lawsuit.
- Crack San Francisco Chronicle wine writer Jon Bonne summons a prior life as a legal reporter to ask a few worthwhile questions based on the lawsuit.
- Finally, The New York Timesweighs in, following up on a recent post about Galloni's departure, and blog The Daily Meal adds its .02 cents.
Jersey? Sure: Great soil, a warm growing season, and cool ocean breezes are the perfect components for making fine wine. It seems the Outer Coastal Plain, located in Southern New Jersey, has just the right amount of these components to make extraordinary wine, according thisNew York Times report. The problem is trying to convince the wine drinking world that great wine can come from NJ.
Cali Passes 200M Case Mark: The California wine industry continued its long-term growth trend in the U.S., with consumption rising 3 percent in 2012, according to this reportbased on data from Impact Databank. Wines priced at $20 and above continue to surge as the consumer continues to look for quality, in addition to value.
It Only Took 600 Years: Venerable Italian winery Marchesi Antinori is finally ready to open its doors to the publicafter more than 600 years in the wine business. The Antinori winery has built a new facility in Bargino, Italy for the public to learn about its distinctive winemaking process, according to Forbes magazine. In our view, it’s about time!
Crowd-sourcing in the Wine Industry: Let’s face it – the wine industry is an expensive business to be in when you’re starting out, with large upfront costs. The online crowd-sourcing phenomenon is fast becoming a component of raising capital, according to this Wines and Vines magazine report, helping small wineries grow.
Editor's note: As is sometimes the case, the real world gets in the way of the 'Zilla's fairly flexible publishing schedule. So we present February's Wine and Tunes Pairing a few days late. Enjoy!
By Ben Heskett
The jazz world lost a great one recently when renowned trumpeter Donald Byrd passed away in early February at the age of 80. Byrd made his mark as a so-called “hard-bop” trumpeter who played with many of the jazz giants of the 1950s and 1960s, such as John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, but his evolution as an artist as his career progressed – exploring fusion with other musical forms such as funk and rhythm and blues - is perhaps his most potent legacy.
Jazz and wine clearly are an incredible combination. To underscore this point, fellow wine and music aficionado Christopher Watkins from Ridge Vineyards offered an inspiring tribute to Byrd following his passing on the winery’s blog. The ‘Zilla will not pretend to match such prose, but in tribute to the smooth player that was Byrd on the trumpet, I find it only fitting to choose a similarly silky offering from Ridge, one of the 'Zilla's go-to wineries. In this case we'll go with a rare offering, the 2009 Merlot.
The Merlot grapes are usually part of the winery’s always exceptional Monte Bello Cabernet-based blend, but 2009 proved to be a good year for a separate bottling. I admittedly could have cellared this wine for another 3-5 years and it would be the better for it, but I could not wait to open this Merlot now, a 100 percent pure expression of the grape from the famed Monte Bello Vineyard located at the winery’s Santa Cruz Mountains facility. Silky, sultry, and full of terrific dark fruit and spice.
To pair with this classic, I’ve chosen two compositions from Byrd – an early expression called "Three Wishes" from the “Free Form” album and a more experimental cut called "Xibaba" from a period when Byrd was moving into more jazz fusion, adding some interesting psychedelic elements in the process. Byrd also appears on a formative, innovative and influential hip-hop and jazz fusion album from the 1990’s that remains in heavy rotation at the ‘Zilla estate – Guru’s “Jazzmatazz, Vol. I.” Rest in Peace, Donald Byrd. You were one of the greats. Cheers!
By Joe Colgan
In keeping with the in memoriam theme this month, we'd also like to pay tribute to another great musician we lost in February, former Allman Brothers Band guitarist, "Dangerous" Dan Toler. Playing with the Allmans between 1979-1982, Toler was a monster lead guitar player who's style added a bit of jazz fusion into the mix of the bands very established Southern rock/blues sounds. Post the Allmans, Dan spent much of the 1980s playing with the Gregg Allman Band, touring and recording on Greg's hit, I'm No Angel in 1986.
After learning of Toler's death I revisited a concert film of Allman Brother's Band from 1979 - "Live in Gainsville, FLA". It's a film I used to watch over and over again back in the day and it's where I first saw Dan do his thing. The clip below is the Allmans doing "Whipping Post" - watch for Dan around minute 1:30
As a pairing to honor Mr. Toler's legacy of beautiful guitar work, I'm going with a bottle I recently opened and loved, Terra Valentine's 1996 Wurtele Cabernet Sauvignon. Hailing from one of the 'Zilla's favorite AVAs in Napa, Spring Mountain, the Wurtele offers intense wild berries, leather and oak on the nose with a bit of minerality adding to a full bodied palette. This wine is deeply dark, big and bold with a nicely paced finish.
Thu, May 16, 2013 at 1:00 PM 
