Carissa Mondavi - Women in Wine Series - Continuum Estates This is Part I of the history of Continuum Estates told by Carissa Mondavi. Her father, Tim Mondavi, established this Prichard Hill, Napa Valley, Winery/Vineyard to produce supperior Napa Valley wines.
Rene Barbier Clos Mogodor Priorat Interview Tricia Conover interviews Rene Barbier, son of founder, Rene Barbier, Winemakers, Clos Mogodor - the historic winery that put Priorat on the map of the finest Spanish wines, and wines of the world.
Champagne Sabering at Christmas It's so festive to have a Champagne Sabruese saber a bottle at your wedding, business or charitable event.
Wine Wanderings on Substack Wine Wanderings is a premium, subscription-based newsletter on Substack dedicated to articles about wine, spirits, and travel.
Check out my article: Dry Rosé Resurgence – Top 8 Recommendations - at PRiME Magazine featuring Brad and Angelina's Chateau Miraval (see Estate pictured below). Noteworthy that Kathie Lee Gifford just launched her Dry Rosé as a house wine for Carnival Cruise Lines. Love the variety of colors, flavors, and grape blends that make up this "Summer in a Glass" wine.
See my interview with George Miliotes and the entire article in PRIME Magazine.
Today's post-recession restaurant customer demands a significant Wines-by-the Glass (WBTG) program. A truly inspired wine list drives curiosity, welcomes exploration, and invites sampling. Properly priced WBTG programs can motivate guests to sample specialized selections within affordable ranges. Finding such an inspired wine program in fine dining and casual chain restaurants can be challenging, but examples of excellence exist. Below are details of several multi-location, specialty restaurant, and Locavore restaurants that offer distinct wine-by-the-glass programs.
Master Sommelier, George Miliotes is the Wine and Beverage director of the 42-location Seasons 52 fresh grille restaurants, 51-location Capital Grille fine dining restaurants, and 12 location Eddie V’s, New Orleans style seafood restaurants. He anchors all these wine programs with smart and exceptional WBTG selections. George is one of the fewer than 250 (MS) Master Sommeliers worldwide.
George Miliotes, MS, was one of the original creators of the Seasons 52 concept. In these restaurants he features over 65 choices of wines-by-the-glass with selections from 14 different countries, and featuring over 26 grape varietals. A popular aspect of his program is "Drink them before they are famous", wines that invite discovery, like the Casas del Bosque Reserva Carmenere, Rapel, Chile. Milliotes and chef Jim Messinger thoughtfully present food and wine pairing suggestions on each week’s menu as well. Happily, a one-ounce sample of any wines on the list is cheerfully offered by the staff, and allows guests the opportunity to choose their favorite pour. Logical prices ranges reflect the smart economics of the program, too. Thorough and extensive staff training accompanies this outstanding WBTG wine program, so your servers can make knowledgeable suggestions. “The beauty of our program is that we allow you to sample wines side-by-side and pick your favorite,” says George Miliotes, MS, in a private interview. (See Q&A with George Miliotes, MS below.)
George plans and directs the annual summer Capital Grille Wine Event, “Generous Pour”. “We plan a year in advance for this promotion and work with several wineries to create special offerings”, Miliotes notes. The Generous Pour event allows guest to sample up to 7 different wines in the collection for just $25 with accompanying meal from the regular menu, then refill their favorite. Miliotes works with wineries like Arrowood, Sonoma, CA, and Selbach-Oster, Mosel, Germany, to create unique wines like the Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon, “Catchwire” for this program. “Some of our guests come 3 or more times during the Generous Pour two month season”, George notes. “The iPad wine menu we have just introduced to Capital Grille has also enhanced our guest experience. This programs rolled out smoothly and guests seem to like it. It allows them to look for wines by food pairings, by varietal, by region, by flavor, and by point score.”
I just returned from the 2014 Syposium for Professional Wine Writers held in Napa Valley last week. Robert Parker was our keynote speaker. See Video This conference is sponsored each year by the Culimany Institute of America, The Napa Valley Vintners, and Meadowood Resort.
Attendees included editors from Wine Enthusiast, New York Times, Sunset Magazine, Food & Wine, Worth Magazine, Wines & Vines and wine writers from Wall Street Jounal, San Francisco Chronicle, and Huffington Post among others.
The Symposium featured sessions on wine analysis and flaws as well as writing styles, photography, video skill enhancement.
There was also a "Down and Dirty" field trip to various vineyards. I was fortunate to be able to work on the biodynamic prep at the Raymond Vineyards where I met the Owner of Raymond and Boisset Family Wineries, John Charles Boisset. We are virtually framed here.
Finally, Here is the first place winning Limerick awarded at the Founder's Dinner. The theme was "10" - for the 10th Symposium.
10 Wine Writers Limerick
by Tricia Conover
Wine writers share a mystique Surrounding their pithy critique Descriptors abound 10 various found Describing a single barrique.
A Rhone or Bordeaux you can bet Our 10 writers commonly vet And one writer differs Among all the sniffers And savors that wet-doggy Brett!
While the wine news is reporting a record Premiere Napa Valley auction event, where 10 cases of Dana Estates sold for $70,000 or $1167/bottle, it is important to note the incredible contribution of women winemakers among the Napa Valley vintners. One of the 10 top wines to be sold at this auction was from Amuse Bouche, Heidi Peterson Barrett's Pomerol-style Merlot. Heidi's successes are legendary including early clients like Screaming Eagle.
Prior to the auction I attended a preview event exclusive to some of the more well-known women winemakers. There were some spectacular wines featured in-preview including:
Meander's "Conspire" Sauvignon Blanc by Amy Aiken - Stainless steel fermented and sur lie aged for 5 months bringing a real creaminess to the S. blanc. See Amy Aiken's Story
Tres Sabores ¿POR QUÉ NO?!! by Julie Johnson - an affordable and delicious Zinfandel wine, great to use to "Pop the Question". Why Not? See picture below. Learn about Julie Johnson's Wines
Remi Barrett, Heidi's daughter, was pouring several wines from one of the other family wine labels, La Sirena. It is a memorable dry Moscato with floral and tropical aromas, and a nice addition to their pricy flagship "allocated" wine, their Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Robert Parker has called Heidi Barrett "the first lady of wine".See Heidi Peterson Barrett's Bio
Raymond Vineyard's Director of Winemaking, Stepahnie Putnam, was pouring a great value wine, Raymond's Reserve Cab which retails at $35 - one of the best values I saw today for a true Napa Valley Cab. See Stephanie Putnam's background with Raymnd Vineyards
Each year 200 Napa Valley winemakers craft special small lots of unique wines that 1000 attendees and bidders from restaurants and retailers snap up a their specialty wine offerings. These wines are donated to the auction by the vintners to help support the charities and programs of the Napa Vintners Association. We're happy that a record $3.1 Million was raised on Saturday. And, we applaud the special contribution of women winemakers to endeavor.
Tricia Conover, C.W.P. and Julie Johnson, Winemaker, Tres Sabores
I just returned from the Premiere Napa Valley Wine Auction and the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers. A new star has emerged from the Auction - Scarecrow - by winemaker Celia Welch. A Japanese importer paid $125,000 for a 5 cases, or $2083 per bottle. Two years ago that same lot went for $80,000.
The Auction took place at the Culinary Institute of America, Napa Valley, where the crowd of 1,000 consisted of vintners, retailers, restaurateurs, distributors, brokers and media from across the country and around the world. The PNV Wine Auction began in 1997 as a "bake sale" by the Napa Vintners Association to preserve and protect the Napa Valley appellation and has evolved into a week-long event. The Symposium for Professional Wine Writers featured attendance from 85 of the most well-know editorial wine writers including Susan Kostrewza (Wine Enthusiast), Richard Bradley (Worth Magazine), Karen MacNeil (The Wine Bible), Lettie Teague (The Wall Street Journal).
Do we have a new wine star? A new Screaming Eagle? The buyer of the Scarecrow lot, Ichizo Nakagawa, owner of Tokyo-based Nakagawa Wine Company, receive a standing ovation from a record crowd. He said he was determined to buy the lot "no matter what",
"I'm amazed, I'm shocked," said Scarecrow owner Bret Lopez stepping outside to catch his breath. "We never dreamed we'd reach this stature and (winemaker) Celia Welsh is a genius, a humble genius who coaxes the sublime flavors from the old men," referring to the 66-year-old-vines that produce just a 1/2 ton per acre.
Here are some of the other statistics from Premiere Napa Valley courtesy of the Napa Vintners Association:
Premiere Napa Valley 2011 – By the Numbers
Nearly $2.4 million in sales
23% y/y increase
Topped record year 2008 ($2.2 million) by 5%
Successful bidders: 68
Cases purchased: 1530
Average price per case: $1546 ($128/bottle)
Rounding out the other top ten highest earning lots of the day: Schrader Cellars, Ovid, Levy and McClellan, Shafer Vineyards, Robert Mondavi Winery, Reynolds Family Winery, Duckhorn Vineyards, Silver Oak Cellars and Beringer Vineyards.
I was asked in September to participate as a Certified Wine Professional to help promote a wine and chocolate pairing on Dallas’ KDAF TV 33 segment, “The RC Project”. This pairing of chocolates from Steve Smith’s company, Nib Chocolates, and Waterbrook Winery, Columbia Valley, WA, will be served at the after-party of the AT&T Dallas Symphony gala, September 11. The Côtes du Coeur of the American Heart Association, of which I am a Society member, is providing the wine. This appearance made me contemplate the healthy pairing of wine and chocolate as part of our GrapeStone Concepts “point of view” on the benefits of drinking wine and eating healthy foods slowly.
(Roni Proctor, Dallas’ KDAF Channel 33 The RC Project; Steve Smith, Nib Chocolates; Tricia Conover, C.W.P., GrapeStone Concepts, Candice Crawford, The RC Project)
It has long been realized that red wine brings to our bodies a group of organic chemicals that can serve as clot-inhibiting, bad cholesterol reducing, antioxidants. Recently, chocolates also have been known for their health-inducing and psychoactive properties. The Aztecs were the first to use a hot, steamy chocolate drink from the seeds of the cacao tree, species theobroma cacao ,“food of the gods”, for its restorative properties. The consumption of chocolate triggers the release of endorphins which contributes to that inner glow induced in susceptible chocoholics, according to the Directory of Chocolatiers. Chocolates have organic compounds of anandamide and theobromine which cause relaxation and happiness.
The latest studies on red wine have been truly amazing. The health effects of wine drunk in moderation are not just the anti-atherosclerotic (anti -plaque in vessels), antithrombotic (anti-clot formation), but also are the angiogenic properties (inhibit the production of blood vessels) against tumors. Many new therapeutic cancer-fighting drugs work on the premise that the prevention of growth of new blood vessels inhibits the growth of tumors. The tumors need new blood vessels to survive and spread. Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in the skin and seeds of red grapes, is one of the agents that can inhibit cancer-feeding blood vessels.
Red grapes, dark chocolate, blueberries, garlic, soy and tea are some of the ingredients that starve cancer while feeding our bodies.
Dr. William Li, M.D., Medical Director and President of the Angiogenesis Foundation was recently covered by Wine Spectator for his presentation at the TED Conference, a small non-profit where the world’s thinkers and doers gather for “Ideas Worth Spreading”, in February 2010. Dr. Li says,
“By examining the potential of antiangeogenics in food, we will find answers to cancer all around us…In our groceries, in our food, and in our glasses”.
So the pairing this week of fine Oaxacan Spice and Tahitian vanilla bean chocolates with Waterbrook Winery’s 2007 Mélange Noir, a blend of Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc grapes, is not only fit for the spectacular Dallas Symphony Gala, but will make us fit, too.
I am a follower of the wonderful “Wall Street Journal“ writers,
Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher. Normally every weekend in the Personal Journal
section they have extensive wine articles, wine reviews, and interviews. On November 21 they stated:
“At the beginning of this year, we printed a checklist of 20
things to do in 2009 to make wine more fun—easy, doable things. Put very
simply, some of the items on the list were to open a sparkler for no reason;
try a Sauternes; have a blind tasting; organize your labels; finally replace
that old corkscrew; and attend a winemaker's dinner. For the complete list,
drop us a note at [email protected] and we'll send it along”
I took the challenge and sent them a note about my
progress on their challenges. This was a week prior to our hosting a wine tasting in our home. Little did I know that they would publish my comments in their Wine Notes. Here is the result of my note published in the November 28 “Wall Street Journal”:
So I threw the wine tasting for 20 people with 14 bottles of
wine. Yes, and I did have both a Cab (a most outstanding Alpha Omega proprietary Era and a Chardonnay (a Chateau Montelena) in the mix. I selected good to great quality wines for each unusual (for the crowd) varietal. The following “new”
varietals won over the die-hard Cab and Chardonnay drinkers as their favorites
(in rank order of popularity):
Mendoza Malbec
Rias Baixas Albariño
Mosel Riesling
Rioja
Provence Rosé
Experiment on your next wine tasting event, and I think you will find some new varietals to make your next House Wine.
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