This Week In Wine–11/27/11
November 27, 2011
China Basketball Star to Sell ‘Yao Ming’ Wine
Months after retiring from basketball, Chinese sporting hero Yao Ming is venturing into business by setting up a wine company to meet a growing thirst for the tipple in his home country.
Yao, 31, is China’s first global sports superstar with a personal brand valued at more than US$1 billion.
Yao Family Wines will sell vintages using grapes from the famed Napa Valley region of California, reflecting his time playing in the NBA, the China Daily newspaper said Thursday.
The first batch of "Yao Ming" wine, as it will be branded, is a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon which will sell in China for 3,800 yuan (US$600) a bottle.
The company has its own winery but will source grapes from six vineyards in the Napa Valley, according to information that was posted on the Yao Family Wines website but has now been removed.
Click here for the full article.
My Thoughts
I had no idea this guy was only 31! Wow! That makes me feel all kinds of under-accomplished! Any-who…fair-play to him! If Yao-Ming can go out there and sell a $600 bottle of Napa Cab, more power to him! Though, it’s certainly a ballsy price-point to start his inaugural vintage at! I’ll be interested to see the uptake.
Gallo Looking for More Grapes
Knowing that California’s growers are facing tough decisions on whether to plant wine grapes or to take part in a nut-growing swarm that’s sweeping the state, a titan in the wine industry brought some bullish reassurance to a Fresno meeting of San Joaquin Valley wine growers.
“This year we have already signed 10,000 acres of long term contracts for grapes,” said Joseph Gallo, president and CEO of the E&J Gallo Winery, the world’s largest family owned winery.
Gallo said he expects continued growth in the wine business. He added that his company, which has imported wines from abroad, has “a plan to avoid importing bulk wine from foreign suppliers,” pointing to what he said was “an astounding number” — the equivalent of 300,000 tons of grapes imported as bulk wine in 2010. “Those tons should be grown in California,” he said.
Click here for the full article.
My Thoughts
It would probably surprise most people when they hear me say that I’m actually kind of a champion for the Gallo brand. Gallo labeled wine have almost become a wine-drinkers joke, much the same way that people laugh about consuming Boones Farm. However, it would no-doubt shock most people to learn just how many quality wine brands they own!
Da Vinci Chianti (Italy), Whitehaven New Zealand), Louis Martini (Napa), MacMurray (Sonoma), Apothic (California), McWilliams (Australia), and Martin Codax (Spain); (to name but a few) are all Gallo labels, and I’m certain 99% of their drinkers don’t even know it!
Peter Michael Winemaker’s Dinner at Matthew’s Restaurant
November 27, 2011
Never Have Truer Words Been Spoken…
November 26, 2011
"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." – Restaurant Critic Anton Ego in the Movie Ratatouille
The Police “Synchronicity” Red Wine Blend, Mendocino, California.
November 25, 2011
Grapes
Carignane, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Viognier (probably in that order, %’s unknown).
The term “Synchronicity” refers to a “meaningful mix of seemingly unrelated events resulting in a significant sum”, which was the inspiration for this red wine blend of grapes which aren’t commonly seen together.
Facts
- Quite unbelievably, Sting is actually hand-harvesting all the grapes himself from this “Synchronicity-blend”. He also serves as winemaker; and can regularly be seen in the winery treading the grapes under-foot, whilst singing “Message In A Bottle”.
Just kidding, but how AWESOME of a story would that have been!?!?
- Synchronicity is a label put together by the Mendocino Wine Co., who in turn developed the Wines That Rock line of wines. The vision for this new brand is “Great Tasting Wines Inspired by Music”. They also make a Grateful Dead Wine, Rolling Stones’ Forty Licks Merlot, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon Cabernet, and Woodstock Chardonnay. No word on when the Slipknot Shiraz will be released…my guess is that it will be a very angry wine….
- In 2007, the Mendocino Wine Co. became the first winery in the United States to achieve carbon neutral status.
- Mendocino Wine Co employ a team of very respected winemakers to craft their wines. Spot the odd man out…
– Paul Dolan (Fetzer, Bonterra)
– Mark Beaman (Columbia Crest, Chateau St Michelle)
– Bob Swain (Gallo, Clos du Val)
– Christian Le Sommer (Chateau d’Yquem, Chateau Latour) - Only 100% consumer recycled paper is used for the Wines That Rock line. All wine case boxes, packaging stationery, and other printed materials are also printed on recycled paper, using soy and water-based inks. Sting would be proud!
How to Cook a Turkey.
November 24, 2011
My Top 10 Reasons to Love Wine (If You Don’t Already) – #1
November 24, 2011
#1 Variety
My top reason to love wine!
They say variety is the spice of life, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of wines produced each year, from a vast number of wine producing countries, from a plethora of grape varieties, from a multitude of vineyard regions, from……I’m running out of clever-words, but you get the idea!
There is nothing more sad to me than people who limit themselves to one grape, or region, or to some extent even mumble such rhetoric as, “I hate Chardonnay!”
No, you don’t!!! You just haven’t tasted a good one yet! I don’t care who you are, and what your perceptions are about any one grape. If you’re a relatively new wine drinker (as most of us are) you’re in no position to be making statements like that!
I put my money where my mouth is all the time with people who believe all Riesling’s are intensely sweet. I’ll blind taste them on a dry German Mosel Riesling (or tell them it something else), and when they like it (which they always do), I’ll reveal what it actually is.
With wine you could literally try a different bottle of wine every day for the rest or your life and never be stuck for options!
← Older posts Newer posts →
