SIPPINGSISTER.COM

CHAMPAGNE ON SALE

SippingSister — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:32:00 GMT

Champagne sales fell off a cliff last year and, as a result, discounting was rampant - at least in France. Decanter.com reports that while total sales grew to 295 million bottles, the only reason for the increase was discounting. It seems that if you lived in France you could have a bottle of Comte de Noiron, Hubert de Claminge and Champagne Paul Breteuil for less than 10 euros. See story here: http://tinyurl.com/yanlpar That comes out to less than $13.50 a bottle. Perhaps we'll be seeing similar prices on this side of the pond?

Banker says winemaking is an act of passion

SippingSister — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:24:00 GMT

Lenny Recanati and his winemaker Gil Shatsberg on their passion for wine and what they're trying to do.

http://sippingsister.com/2010/01/25/banker-says-winemaking-is-an-act-of-passion.aspx

Why does a successful businessman become a vintner?

“In order to go into the wine business, you have to have a passion for it, you have to have a love for it. Let’s say there are better businesses to go into, more profitable, more lucrative. Easier ways to make money,” explained Lenny Recanati, whose first career was in international banking and finance.

“In other words, you go into it because you love it, not because it’s a business,” Recanati said. “It starts out as a hobby. When it makes money, it becomes a business.”

The passion started in his childhood when his parents made wine from their vineyard in the garden behind his home in Haifa. His father was in shipping and he would always bring home bottles

Today, Recanati has some 5,000 bottles in his cellar. Like many collectors he dreamed of having a winery and in 2000 he and a small group of investors open one in Israel’s Hefer Valley in the Upper Galilee.

His new winemaker, Gil Shatsberg, like his predecessor Louis Pasco, trained at UC Davis. Shatsberg, 48, who previously worked at Golan Heights winery and founded the Israeli boutique winery at Amphorae, also traces his love of wine to a childhood on Kibbutz Tzora where he worked in the vineyard.

After his service in the army, Shatsberg was determined to find a job where “it did not require me to be in the office the whole day, and that did not require me to be in the field all day and that it would involve art.” Winemaking met his requirements.

Just as wine evolves over time, so do a winemaker’s style and goals.

When he started out, Shatsberg tried to “take all the sunshine we have in Israel and push into the bottle and concentrate everything that I had in the bottle.” The resulting wines were dense, heavy and high in alcohol.

But with experience, he changed his mind

“They were too big,” he said. “I realized that when I couldn’t finish my own wine, that it was too heavy.”

So now he aims for wines that are “are more elegant, less alcohol, less oaky, less tannic wines. Wine with finesse that are tasty, and fruity and you drink the vineyard and the sunshine in their elegance.”

Winemakers in Israel, like their colleagues across the border in Lebanon, have to contend with obstacles that are manmade as well as Mother Nature. The most recent release of Recanati’s Reserve Merlot 2006 was made from grapes from the Ella Valley near Jerusalem, instead of the Upper Galilee.

The conflict in the summer of 2006 kept the vintners out of the vineyards for a month and despite what was a late harvest, the grapes from the northern vineyards where the wine is usually sourced were just not up to snuff, Recanati said shaking his head.

The result, even after spending 18 months in French oak barrels, is a Merlot with softer tannins and rounder feel beneath the red berry flavors.

“It has the taste of the Judean hills,” Recanati said.

And that is his goal. “Not to make Bordeaux or wines that come from California or Tuscany. But to make Israeli wines.”

Wines from the cellar of the "richest little girl in the world"

SippingSister — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:52:00 GMT

A few bottles from the cellars of a woman once dubbed the "richest little girl in the world" will be up for auction next month at Christie’s in New York.

Each of the four lots of three bottles of 1929 Chateau d'Yquem, which have a pre-sale estimate of between $15,000 and $24,000 for the Dec 9 auction, come from the cellars of the late U.S. heiress Doris Duke.

Born in 1912 newspapers christened her "the richest little girl in the world." She was the only child of U.S. tobacco baron James Duke. Her father, who founded both Duke Energy and the American Tobacco Company, today known as Fortune Brands, died in 1925 and left the bulk of his estate, an estimated $100 million, to his then-12-year-old daughter.

But while her life is the stuff of books and movies - two husbands, numerous lovers, and a butler accused of killing her - it may also perhaps be proof that money can't buy happiness.

Despite gaining a reputation as a philanthropist and art collector and acquiring estates in Hawaii, Newport, Rhode Island, Beverly Hills, California, Somerset County, New Jersey and Park Avenue in New York City, she intimated to a journalist that her fortune was in some ways an obstacle to happiness.

"All that money is a problem sometimes. It happens every time. After I've gone out with a man a few times, he starts to tell how much he loves me. But how can I know if he really means it? How can I ever be sure?" she told an American journalist over a glass of wine at Rome's Hassler Hotel in 1945, the New York Times said in her obituary.

But while she may not have found lasting love, she was quite a businesswoman. At the time of her death in 1993, her estate was estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.

Prosecutors decided not to charge her butler, who became a millionaire after Duke's death, and the bulk of her estate went to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which funds the arts, education, environmental efforts and other causes.

Brouhaha over Brunello continues

SippingSister — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:23:00 GMT

Italian officials – at the ministerial and ambassadorial levels – met with the head of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade unit (TT in the middle of October trying to get some relief for the producers of one of Italy’s most expensive wines – Brunello di Montalcino.

It seems it didn’t work.

U.S. officials first banned the importation of the famed red wine last spring when Italian authorities started their own investigation into what the diplomats refer to as “mislabeling” and normal folks would call fake. Under Italian rules – and those adopted by the European Union – Brunello di Montalcino must be made entirely of Sangiovese grapes. No Merlot. No Cabernet Sauvignon. Just Sangiovese. The Italians and the producers insisted on these rules to begin with.

But, it seem someone in Italy noticed that there were just so many hectares of Sangiovese grape vines and there was no way that many vines could produce all those bottles. So they seized the production at five different producers while they investigated. The Italian press caught wind of the investigation and U.S. officials in Rome notified the folks back in DeeCee.

U.S. Customs folks at TTB’s direction at first halted any imports. Now the U.S. represents 25 percent of Brunello di Montalcino market, so the move comes as quite a blow. Then TTB said the Italian government was on the hook and it had to certify that any of the wines bearing the designation Brunello di Montalcino were in fact, 100 percent Sangiovese.

As one TTB official, speaking off the record, told me that the agency wouldn’t have known anything about the adulterated wine and frankly, if the bottles were labeled properly – i.e. they said they also contained other grapes – they would have been allowed in. “We don’t care what you call it, so long as you label it properly.”

But, if the vintners admitted that the Brunello in question wasn’t 100 percent Sangiovese – they wouldn’t be able to: a) call it Brunello and b) command such high prices. Brunello di Montalcino, depending on the house and the vintage goes for about $60 and up a bottle.

The Italian officials met with the TTB folks on Oct. 20 and tried to reassure the U.S. that the Italian Minister of Agriculture’s office “has taken fully responsibility for the integrity of all 500 Italian wine denominations and has ensured that none of the mislabeled products that have the subject of numerous press reports for months now are on the market.”

The Italians also said that a court case as a result of their investigation would be concluding shortly and that they’d provide the information on the final disposition to the TTB as soon as possible.

TTB’s response: Fine as soon as we get the prosecutors’ report we’ll evaluate it. Meanwhile, the certification rules remain in force, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.

Of course, the Italians had issued their own press release a week earlier saying that the issue had been closed.

The result is less clear than unfiltered wine.

Only in New York (apologies to Cindi Adams)

SippingSister — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:45:59 GMT

Sometimes, I love my hometown. This past weekend, France and Italy decided to visit. Not only were there free tastings of Prosecco at Grand Central (see earlier post), but at the New York City Food & Wine Festival there were serious tastings of serious wines: Chateauneuf du Pape from Chateau de Beaucastle - one of the premier producers - and a library tasting of Amarones from Bertani Estates.

You can praise Pinot Noir. You can rave about Reislings and Gewurtztraminer. But when it comes to serious wines, wines with elegance and complexity like the notes that linger after a symphony has finished, you want these wines.

In a few weeks, the Beaujolais Nouveaus will arrive to great (or not so great) fanfare. At about the same time, the Amarone grapes will just be finished being laid out on mats to dry until they are almost pucker like a raisin. This probably won't happen until early Spring. It is only then that they will be crushed and fermented and then left in big oak barrels. Some of them have been aging for 20 years in those barrels, And then they will be bottled. And then maybe, if it was a great year, they will be released. The aromas of licorice, tar, plum and leather will fill the glass. And if you are very lucky to live to a ripe old age, the wine will finally be fit for drinking. I tasted both the 2001 Bertain's most recent release, and the 1964 - yes 1964 - before most of you were born. And the 1964's color was just a shade darker, but its nose was so much richer and fuller. If I could I'd buy a case of the 2001. And then with luck drink it over the next 30 years. Of course, I doubt that I will live long enough to finish that case off - so the surviving bottles would make a great gift to my friends.

As for the Chateauneuf de Pape, Those also stood the test of time. At least a good chunk of time. We tasted back to 1988. And while I don't really remember 1988 very well, I do think it must have been a very good year for wine.

Tastings of Chateau de Beaucastel's wines 1988-2007, followed by Amarones from Bertani Estates - 1964 -2001.
http://sippingsister.com/2009/10/12/only-in-new-york-apologies-to-cindi-adams.aspxNew York City Food & Wine Festival wine tasting. Chateau de Beaucastel's wines from 2007 back to 1988 and Bertani Estates' Amarones from 2001-1964.

Venice comes to New York

SippingSister — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:20:00 GMT

Sometimes, I love New York. Usually, I wait for winemakers to visit the city. Today, I discovered Venice was visiting New York. If you'd like a glass of Prosecco and some lovely cheese to help you continue onto the Bandolino, head over to Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. through Oct 13. I guess it;s Veneto's way of helping us celebrate Columbus Day. The Prosecco is Bisol - a big fat sparkler. And the young man pouring it is Matteo Bisol. So, if the closest you're going to get to Venice this season is a Donna Leon mystey, drop by for one of the Commissario Guido Brunetti's favorite ways to end the day.

Twitter

SippingSister — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:16:00 GMT

Make Wine Not War

SippingSister — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:57:00 GMT

Most winemakers worry about the weather, for great wine is made in the vineyard. In Lebanon, they worry about other things.

http://sippingsister.com/2009/10/08/make-wine-not-war.aspx

“Weather, if only I could worry about theweather. No, I don’t worry about the weather. We are blessed with wonderful weather,” said Sami Ghosn, 43, who with his brother, Ramzi, 44, re-opened their family’s Massaya vineyard in the Bekaa Valley. The area averages 300 days a year of sunshine.

Lebanese Christians, the Ghosn family fled their country in 1975 when the 15-year civil war broke out. First they went to France and then in 1984 to the United States.

Several times there had been offers to buy their land covered with clay and limestone soil that lies between the mountains and the Mediterranean at more than 3,000 feet up. But they always refused.

“I knew I wanted to go back. It is beautiful,”he said, his brown eyes brightening at the thought. “Massaya, by the way, does not refer to the Messiah. It is the Arabic word for twilight and it’s just so beautiful in the vineyard at that time of day.”

It was not until the early-90s, when the political situation had calmed that Sami felt he could pursue his dream of taking up the family business. So he left his successful architectural practice in Los Angeles (“I gave my Green Card back when I left. I didn’t want to be tempted,” he said.)

Wine has been made in the region since Phoenician times. “You know we joke. You have New World wines. You have Old World wines. We have Ancient World wines.”

Indeed, the Silver Selection Red is a blend of four grapes including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Mourvedre and Cinsault, which is native to Lebanon. A medium bodied wine, it is a cherry color with a nose that smells of a spice market.

Some of the vines are 80 years old or more, he said. These produce fewer grapes that have incredible intensity and flavor. Consider as well that the vineyard is not irrigated.

"My job is mostly to just stay out of the way and let nature take its course," he said.

The 2006 harvest will be released on November 22, Lebanon’s Independence Day. It is the harvest that began just as the ceasefire went into effect at the end of the Israel-Lebanon war, when vineyards on both sides of the border were sporadically shelled.

“No, I didn’t buy my pickers bullet proof vests or helmets,” Sami said. “It’s not like the movies. Bullet-proof vests do nothing to protect you from shelling. Luckily, there was the ceasefire and while we lost some vines, we were able to make a harvest.”

He then held up a t-shirt that reads:“Massaya.com Make wine not war” and said, “ I think if there are battles, it should be the battle to see who makes the best wine.”

Champagne Alternatives

SippingSister — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:21:00 GMT

To quote Napoleon: Champagne - in victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it. But at $25 or $30 or better for a bottle of just so-so non-vintage Champagne, I'd like to offer alternatives to put a little sparkle in your glass.

Prosecco - Italy's answer to Champagne - is always a good bet. Zonin is a fine alternative and for under $8 - or less than the price of two Starbucks lattes - you can easily add a bit of sparkle to your drinking. For a few bucks more at $12 give Sommariva Prosecco di Conegliano a sip. But if you really want to see how great Prosecco, which is not only the name of the grape, but the region in Italy where it's grown, can be try Bellenda. The kosher version will set you back around $20 a bottle, and the non-kosher version about $18. It's incredibly creamy and rich and filled with floral aromas.

There are some lovely Cavas from Spain. Now everyone knows Frexinet, but raise your game a bit and give Gramona Cava Celler Battle at $17 or so a bottle. Or, perhaps try Raventos L'Hereu Cava for the same price.

Champagne is not the only region in France that produces sparkling wine. Try one from the Loire Valley or perhaps Lucien Albrecht Cremant d' Alsace for $15.

And if you want to buy American in order to help our flagging economy, then try a sparkling wine from of all places New Mexico. Yes, New Mexico. It's Gruet and it will set you back $15.

So there you have it. An assortment of ways to put some bubbles back in your glass.

Credit crisis hits wine auctions

SippingSister — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:51:00 GMT

The floodwaters generated by the global credit crisis have seeped onto the top deck of the wine business.

Domaine Romanee Conti 1990, which commanded more than $20,000 a bottle just year ago, can now be had for less than $13,000 – a 35 percent drop.

“The price of wine, particularly at the higher end, has gone througha two-year period of unprecedented increases. Not surprisingly, we now see a period of price adjustments, as reflected in the results of tonight’s sale,” Jamie Ritchie, head of Sotheby’s Wines North America said after the Oct. 28^th sale.

Auction houses, no matter what they’re auctioning, tout their sell through – the percentage of lots sold. In the spring, Christies, Sotheby’s, Zachy’s, Hart Davis Hart all boasted sell throughs of more than 90 percent.

As recently as the September 19-20 Hart Davis Hart auction of a single collector - known as the Fox Cellar – there was a 100 percent sell through and the total from the sale of1,746 lots of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Petrus, and DRC was almost $11.2 million, topping the high end of the original estimates by almost $1 million. It may well have been the highwater mark for wine auctions.

And it took place the same week that the Dow Jones Industrial Average roller-coastered more than1,000 points to close at 11,388 and a temporary ban on shorting stock in about 800 financial companies went into effect.

Six weeks and several auctions later, the sell-through seems to have dropped to an average of 79 percent, a four-case lot of DRC 1990 was left unsold because the reserve price was not met and the Liv-ex 100, the wine industry’s leading benchmark, dropped 3.7 percent to 253 at the end of September from a high of 262.71 just set in August. Oh and the Dow, it closed at 9,325 on Oct. 31, down almost 20 percent since September 19.

Charles Curtis, head of Christie’s North American Wine Sales, said after the Oct. 25^thauction there was “a softening of some prices, demonstrating that current economic conditions have made for a buyer’s market.”

And on November 1, Hart, Davis, Hart held a sale in Chicago where the estimates listed in its catalogue were lower than those inthe Fox Cellar auction held six weeks ago.

“It’s a bidder’s market. There’s great opportunity,” said Paul Hart. Asked if the market for collectible wine has peaked, he replied, “The thing about collectors…. Is that there is a passion. It’s not like trading a 100 shares of IBM. Someone who buys 86 cases of Lafite more likely wants to drink it. There’s a level of passion that makes this market a little different.”

One Down, 99 to Go!

SippingSister — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:48:00 GMT

Decanter, the UK's wine magazine, put out a list a while back of the 100 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die. Well for me - one down, 99 to go.

You know any day that starts with a 10 a.m. wine tasting is going to be a good day. I was among about 60 or so lucky people to be invited to a Library tasting of Penfolds wines at the Ritz-Carlton in New York yesterday. Among the 14 wines on offer was a small glass of Penfolds 1962 Bin 60A Coonawarra Cabernet Kalimna Shiraz. Now, if you can find a bottle of this wine - Penfold's has only released this twice I think, winemaker Peter Gago said, the second time in 2004 - it will set you back several thousand dollars. (And I'll be dead by the time the 2004 is ready to be drunk!) So it was with great glee that I slowly raised the glass and sipped my couple of hundred dollars worth of this 46 year old wine. Yes. It was ambrosia. Yes, it was fabulous. (it had also been double-decanted which Peter recommended for wines of this age because as he said, "It always looks better after a double decant." To which I say: What doesn't?

I wish I could wax poetic about the fruit and mellowed tannins, the silky fabric of the wine coating my mouth and the lingering finish that is now just a wonderful memory, but I lack the words. I know the odds of my tasting it again are up there with winning the lottery, but I am so glad that I did.

Ok - back to the practical. The same folks who make this wine to die for and another "collectable" under the Grange label, also produce some pretty marvelous wines that are as they put it in the tasting "commerical wines". That means we mere mortals might actually be able to afford them. You'll find in the most recent issue of Consumer Reports that one of their wines Penfolds Shiraz is going for about $11 a bottle. And their Bin 2 red goes for about $15 a bottle. So, if you really want to taste what Australia can do, step up to one of these or perhaps "E-Minor" from Barossa Valley Estates. Now, don't get me wrong YellowTail is fine for a party, but if you want to see what winemakers can do - try one of the one's I've suggested. Yes, they're a couple bucks more - maybe even $5 more - but trust me, you can taste the difference.

How Green is your Beaujolais Nouveau?

SippingSister — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:37:00 GMT

Don't be surprised next month when the Beaujolais Nouveaux arrives in plastic bottles!

Yes, Boisset - the French wine giant - said that all of its Beaujolais Nouveau would be shipped to the U.S. in plastic. Or perhaps plastique! The company's official line, of course, is that plastic is much lighter than glass and so will save not only on shipping costs, but lower its carbon footprint. It's not necessarily mentioning that plastic is also cheaper than glass saving on yet another cost.

Now with screwtops becoming de rigeur in many Australian, New Zealand and European wines, it seems plastic bottles can't be far behind.

But what will it do to the wine?

Personally, I don't think there's much of a risk with BN. I mean it's the first wine of the year that is produced. It's made very quickly - fermented for only a few weeks - with hardly any tannins (that's the stuff that makes your tongue really come alive). BN is always fruity. It is something that is meant to be consumed immediately with that Thanksgiving turkey. I figure if plastic doesn't harm orange juice, then it's probably not going to harm Beaujolais Nouveau. But just as one doesn't keep OJ for more than a couple of weeks in the fridge, one shouldn't keep BN around too long.

Chin chin

Le Cirque is holding a sale

SippingSister — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:23:00 GMT

Le Cirque is auctioning off about half of its cellar. That's right. The famed French restaurant that catapulted Daniel Boulud to stardom in the gustatory galaxy is selling about 170 lots worth of its wines and Christie's will be doing the honors. The auction is set for next month. The question is why?

The following is pure speculation on my part: a) This is New York, everyone needs more room even those who have 16,000 square feet; b) the auction market for fine wines is peaking or has peaked and the owner, Sirio, figures it's time to unload some of this stuff; c)the number of folks ordering a 1900 Chateau d'Yquem for $12,000 a bottle has shrunk after the 35 percent decline in U.S. stocks; d)time to prune the collection and use the money to buy even more outrageously expensive Bordeaux?

So if you want to pick up a bottle of Petrus or perhaps a charming Margaux and be feted all the while (the auction will be at the restaurant - 151 E. 58th Street) save November 15.

A votre sante

Vintners prefer Obama, Brewers back McCain

SippingSister — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:02:00 GMT

Ever wonder who is funding whom? Seems wineries and vintners are backing Obama this time around. But most of the distributors for both wine and beer are funding McCain.

I checked www.OpenSecrets.org to find that most of the wineries and most of the bigger winemakers - Constellation Brands, Diageo, Gallo - were indeed backing more Democrats this year than Republicans. While overall, the brewers are donating just a smidge more to the Dems (for the first time since the 1994 election), the widget above will show you the top contributors from the industry.

Now what are you going to be drinking between now and Election Day?