Monthly Archives: April 2024

GD Vajra: Once Upon a Time in Barolo

April 30, 2024 By in Italian wine, wine, wine markets 2 Comments

Once upon a time … That’s how many of our most beloved stories begin, so that’s how we begin this report on the wines of G.D. Vajra. These wines might be best understood in the context of the stories about them. And the stories have surely helped us understand and appreciate what we found in our wine glasses.

So … once upon a time Sue and I were invited to take part in a Zoom interview with Giuseppe Vaira, the second-generation family winemaker of G.D. Vajra. It was a great pleasure to spend an hour (even a web hour) with him.  If you ask him a question, he will tell you a story (once upon a time …) using metaphors to communicate both facts and feelings. I think you can get a sense of what I am talking about from this video. 

Every Glass Tells a Story

Mr. Vaira is such an engaging person that it would be difficult not to like his wines, but the memory of his stories certainly added to the experience. Here are three brief examples to show you what I mean.

Barolo is famous for Barolo, of course. That’s what they make and export around the world. But what do Barolo winemakers like to drink, Mr. Vaira asked. Dolcetto! Not, he made certain to add, because they are cheap (it would be difficult to get as much for a Dolcetto as for a Barolo), but because it can make such an appealing wine.

Dolcetto was once widely planted (and enjoyed), but it lost out to Nebbiolo when the region was replanted after Phyloxxera. G.D. Vajra began making a very special Dolcetto Costa&Fossati in 1979 and it shows what Dolcetto can be. Complex, elegant, great with food. Who would not want to drink a wine like this?  Mr. Vaira’s story made us pull the cork and now we can’t think of Dolcetto the same way.

The Sun? Or the Moon?

The second story is about Freisa, an ancient Piemonte grape variety that you rarely see anymore. Freisa was once very common in the region, we learned and used it to make the base wine for Vermouth. But then came Prohibition in the United States and the bottom dropped out of the Vermouth export market. Most Freisa vines were pulled out so only a little is left.  Many different styles of wine are made from Freisa today, so it would be easy for consumers to get confused. What is Freisa? Well, it depends.

G.D. Vajra’s Freisa “Kyè” plays on this theme. Look at the label. Is it the sun? Or the moon? Hard to pin down. As you might imagine, our minds were racing as we tasted this wine. I imagined that I could sense the Vermouth connection, but that might be the power of suggestion. A unique experience, more moon than sun for me, but maybe it was the residual effect of that solar eclipse a few weeks ago?

At one point Mr. Vaira suggested that we taste the 2020 Barolo wines over a couple of days to appreciate how they evolve. We took it as an opening to sample two different wines, half on one might and half on the next so that we could both compare the terroirs and experience the evolution. You’d do the same thing, wouldn’t you?

Turn It Up to Eleven?

Inevitably each wine came with an image or story to provoke our imaginations. The Coste di Rose comes from a small steep vineyard at the top of a hill. Reaching to the top, the notes tell me, that you are confronted with a tall sandstone dune, a dramatic sight that makes this vineyard’s unique soil profile clear. A wine with emotion, according to the tasting note, with tones of cherry and rose petals, mint, and sweet spices.

I selected the Ravera Barolo to complement the Bricco delle Viole partly because of the difference in terroir but, I admit, mainly because of a note I found where Giuseppe Vaira says, “I am intrigued by Ravera’s indomitable personality. It is crisp like the sound of a Telecaster, straight and electric.” How can you not taste a wine that evokes the iconic Fender guitar that has featured on so many rock hits?

The experiment was quite an experience. The two wines were indeed quite different from each other, showing the influence of terroir, and the second night tasting added more depth and richness. It reminded me of my friend Brian’s advice to always double-decant Barolo wines. These wines have years of development ahead of them, so it will be interesting to revisit them and see how their stories and personalities have evolved.

An Unexpected Favorite

Of all the G.D. Vajra wines we have tasted so far, Sue and I think the humble Dolcetto is our favorite, which is a surprise. But this isn’t just any Dolcetto because great effort was made to select the best heritage clone vines and to plant them in just the right place (a vineyard plot that would have made great Barolo) to tell the story of this historic wine in the most expressive way.

It doesn’t make economic sense to make a Dolcetto like this, but sometimes there are more important things to consider. It is all about the story at G.D. Vajra. I think that’s why their wines are so appealing.

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An article that begins with “once upon a time” and ends with electric guitars needs a theme soung. Here it is. Enjoy. (It’s a Stratocaster not a Telecaster, but you get the idea!)

Wine Book Review: Discovering the Hidden Vineyards of Paris

April 23, 2024 By in book reviews, history, wine, wine history 3 Comments

Geoffrey Finch, The Hidden Vineyards of Paris (Board and Bench, 2023).

Urban wineries aren’t surprising anymore. It is not that difficult to truck in grapes and other supplies to make (and then sell) wine in the heart of a busy city. City wineries are not as ubiquitous as local craft breweries, but they aren’t hard to find. If you go to Paris, for example, you’ll find a winery on the first floor of the Eifel Tower.

Urban vineyards are a different matter. Cities, by their very nature, are filled up and built over, with what open land that remains after urbanization devoted to parks, playgrounds, and so forth. A vineyard? That would be a surprise.

But of course, cities have not always looked and operated as they do today. Before the advent of cheap and secure transport, for example, cities had to be much more self-sufficient than they are today. Food could not cheaply and reliably come from far away, so local sourcing was vital. This was especially true for wine in Europe because of its central place in diet, culture, and economy.

You can find remnants of the old vineyards if you look for them. In Venice, for example, the Venissa vineyard is a short vaporetto ride from St Mark’s Square. It’s a different side of Venice, serene like the city itself (La Serrenisima) once was.  Sue and I love the vineyard and the hotel and restaurant that the Bisol family has developed.

But wait … there’s more! If you know where to look in Milan you can find the evidence of Leonardo’s personal vineyard reconstructed, according to Professor Scienza, using DNA analysis. Add that to your bucket list!

I was amazed to discover that Paris was once the center of the largest vineyard area in France and the world. This makes sense, however, since the city’s large population required wine, and the local environment was well-suited to grape farming. Parisian vineyards declined slowly and then suddenly, however, due to a number of forces including especially the arrival of the train, which delivered quantities of wines that were better than the local ones (from Burgundy and Bordeaux) or much cheaper (from Langudeoc and eventually Algeria, too).

Parisian vineyards declined but did not entirely disappear. You have to look closely to find them, however, which is what Geoffrey Finch has been doing for over 40 years. His new book is a slim volume packed with insights, information, and colorful illustrations that tell the story of grapes, wine, and Paris.

Finch guides us through vineyards that are used to produce wine, vineyards that don’t yield wine but serve other purposes, and isolated vines too random to be called vineyards but that tell interesting stories. Even the largest of these vineyards is small by the standards of Bordeaux or even Burgundy, but size isn’t the point here. Rather they are a chance to encounter the history of Paris and wine and, if you are lucky, have a taste, too.

We have visited Paris several times, but have never been to Clos Montmartre, the largest vineyards and the only one with commercially available wine. There is even a community wine festival. It’s on our list for the next Paris expedition.

It would be great to visit these vineyards with Finch on one of his tours and to hear his stories in person, but reading The Hidden Vineyards of Paris must be the next best thing because of his distinct sensibility, insatiable curiosity, and obvious fascination with Parisian history. Each vineyard (or individual vine in some cases) has a history that is specific to its subject and also reflective of Paris more generally. Each is a pleasure to read and appreciate.

Taken together, the vineyards and their biographies give a rich sense of what Paris is, has been, and perhaps might be again. The Hidden Vineyards of Paris is informative, entertaining, and well-written. Highly recommended.b

Roots to Resilience and Success for Ontario’s Wine Industry

April 16, 2024 By in wine, wine markets 1 Comment

There has been a lot of troubling wine business news recently and I am watching closely to see if, when, and how the industry can pull together to address the many problems. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Lewis Perdue’s 1999 book “The Wrath of Grapes” criticized wine industry groups for putting individual interests above broader industry needs. Can we do better this time around?

So far this year I have been able to take the industry’s pulse through my participation at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento and virtual and in-person speaking events in Idaho, Burgundy, Moldova, and the Eastern Winery Expo and License to Steal workshop in Syracuse. These experiences have left me cautiously optimistic, although narrow interests are a strong force.

I remember a lunch conversation with the owner of a small eastern winery looking for more direct sales opportunities. Off-site tasting rooms were a good option, but the extra sales involve substantial extra cost. What about sharing space with another winery from your region, I suggested? Maybe, was the reply, but not with a real competitor. Understood, but that limits cooperation. And that’s a problem if you are trying to grow the wine market pie rather than just grab a bigger slice.

My next stop is Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, for the 6th Ontario Craft Wine Conference. The one-day program plus trade show packs in a lot of opportunities to learn, teach, talk, listen, and build new and honor old relationships.  There are four tracks for specialized workshops: finance/operations, human resources, sales/marketing/digital, and technical/winemaking.

There are also three general “keynote” sessions where I hope everyone will gather. The day starts out with Spanish winemaker extraordinaire Almudena Alberca MW discussing “The Future of Premium Wine Production.” I take the stage right after lunch with a talk about “Secrets of the World’s Most Respected Wine Regions.” Elaine Chukan Brown addresses ” Building New & Diverse Opportunities in Wine” to close out the day’s formal program.

A reception follows and, if past is prologue, this is where a lot of the most important discussions will take place. It promises to be a full, intense day. Looking forward to it.

Can the wine industry pull together to address today’s problems? The Ontario conference title is “Roots to Resilience and Success for Ontario’s Wine Industry.” Resilience is certainly the name of the game today. Success in the future will be best achieved if the the industry can find ways to pull together.

Kind of Malbec: Mendoza Wine + Business Collaboration

April 9, 2024 By in Argentina, wine, wine brands, wine markets 3 Comments

“Kind of Blue” is one of my favorite jazz albums and, although we usually think of it as a Miles Davis work, it is really a collaboration of talented artists at the height of their powers.  Recorded in 1959, it features John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, and Bill Evans among others (who can forget Paul Chambers’ bass on the title track?). A timeless classic.

Wine is like jazz in many ways, including the power of ensemble work. Although we often give credit for a wine to the head winemaker, there is usually a team involved. The collaboration can take many forms. Recently, for example, Sue and I have sampled the wines of Ventisquero made by Chilean Felipe Tosso and Australian John Duval (of Penfolds Grange fame). Their “Obliqua” Carmenere, the result of a 20-year collaboration, was probably the best version of this wine we have tasted. The two winemakers harmonize well indeed!

Here in Washington State, the Long Shadows winery is organized like an album of duets. Allen Shoup, who founded the project, invited renowned winemakers from around the world (including John Duval, as it happens) to work with his team to make their version of Washington wines. The idea was to showcase what Washington can produce (and it has done that successfully) and give the international winemakers a new melody to riff on.

Miles Ahead: Marcelo Pelleriti

We were recently introduced to the wines of Pelleriti Priore, which are the result of a different sort of collaboration that makes complete sense. Marcelo Pelleriti is kind of the Miles Davis of the team. He is a rockstar (to mix musical genres) winemaker who has worked in both his native Mendoza and in France. An associate of Michel Rolland, Pelleriti has made famous wines in both hemispheres. His focus today, however, is Argentina, which is a great place to grow wine, but a difficult place to grow a wine business because of its many economic problems.

If Pelleriti is Miles Davis, then Miguel Priore is more like Bill Evans on the piano, driving the project forward and creating the foundation for Pelleriti to riff. Priore, also a Mendoza native, knows the region’s terroir, too, but especially contributes his understanding of the business side of wine to the partnership. Pelleriti makes great wine, Priore makes the great wine business possible. Together with other members of the Pelleriti Priore team, they are a tight ensemble.

The Business Side: Miguel Priore

The business side is very serious and I can see how it empowers Pelleriti. They insist on owning their vineyards, which is a very considerable investment. They have also invested to ensure effective distribution of their winery’s 50,000 case annual production both in the United States and in Europe. Looking to the long run, they have prioritized wine quality and providing their clients quality service over other factors.

I had to ask Miguel Priore about the problems of doing business in Argentina, with its high inflation and uncertain future given new President Milei’s bold policies and strong opposition. Priore acknowledged the challenges, but business in Argentina is accustomed to headwinds and his intent is to provide Pelleriti with a firm economic foundation for winegrowing and to insulate buyers from the economic changes, too. This is the right approach, but not easy to do. Makes me appreciate how important both parts of this duet are to the final product.

Kind of Malbec

In vino veritas, they say, and this was one of those times when the wines sang in harmony with their reputation. Sue and I tried two Malbecs from the Flagship line, a Marcelo Pelleriti Signature Malbec made from old vines and the 1853 Selected Parcel Malbec made from very old (more than 100 years!) vines. The year 1853 is significant for Argentina; it was when the first Malbec vines arrived from France.

Sue and I are now working our way through the next level of Marcelo Pelleriti and 1853 wines   Last night we opened an Altamira Malbec they call Terroir Expressions “Hostage.” Why “hostage?” Because once they tasted the fruit from this “old little vineyard,” they felt themselvews held hostage to its charms. It is a real pleasure to experience the complex harmony. Powerful. Elegant. Unique.

Kinda reminds me of “Kind of Blue.” Another timeless classic?

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P.S. Although he is best known for rock and roll, I don’t think Marcelo Pelleriti will object to the jazz references in this article. When Sue and I interviewed the two protagonists via Zoom I noticed that Pelleriti was wearing a vintage Ramones t-shirt under his jacket.

What’s Ahead for Wine and Artificial Intelligence?

April 2, 2024 By in Uncategorized Leave a comment

About half the hands in the room shot skywards and I was surprised.

I was at the License to Steal national wine marketing workshop that took place alongside the Eastern Winery Expo in Syracuse, New York, last month and the topic was artificial intelligence (AI). We had just seen a presentation about the role of AI in the wine business and Donniella Winchell was leading the follow-up discussion.

How many people were already using AI to help them create content for marketing, social media, and other purposes? The answer was a lot and everyone was interested in learning more.

AI and Productivity Gains

Most of America’s wine is produced by a few very large companies but most of America’s wineries are much smaller and can only dream of the sort of division-of-labor efficiencies that Gallo or Constellation enjoy. Smaller wineries with smaller staffs need all the help they can get to do all the jobs that need to be done.

It is still early days in what promises to be an AI revolution of business practices generally, but the License to Steal workshop showed clearly that there is much interest in increasing productivity in wine business with AI help.

Where is AI headed in the wine industry? AI help with first drafts of sales materials and tasting notes is a beginning, but there is potential for much more. If you want to see where artificial intelligence might go in wine, set your GPS for Moldova.

Moldova’s AI Wine Initiative

Moldova is a small country with a big wine industry and a cutting-edge tech sector, too. If you mix the two together, you get the first vintage of AI wines, which were introduced to the world at this year’s ProWein trade show (click on the image above to watch a brief video of the event).

Diana Lazar and her AI wine team used artifical inelligence applications to make decisions from vineyard to cellar to label design for a Feteasca Neagra red wine and a white blend of Feteasca Alba, Feteasca Regala, and Viorica. Robert Joseph led a ProWein seminar where the AI wines were tasted blind alongside similar conventional products from Moldova.

In a sort of “Judgement of Dusseldorf” poll, a majority of the tasters voted for the AI wines, which I don’t necessarily take as evidence that AI programs make better wines than people, but that people using AI advice can make very good wine.

This Changes Everything?

Although some like to think that making wine is as simple as just letting nature take its course, in fact producing fine wine is a complicated problem-solving process. It is not ridiculous to think that AI programs can be useful in identifying key choices and, in some cases, actually making them. The Moldova initiative shows that AI-directed winemaking can produce impressive results.

Although the popular focus today is on general purpose AI programs like ChatGPT, which are still prone to factual errors and “hallucinations,” I suspect the productive future lies in specialized AI programs specifically trained in complex technical areas such engineering, medicine, and precision agriculture.

So what’s the future of AI in winemaking? Too soon to tell. A few years ago blockchain technology was a hot topic and there were predictions that it would be used in all sorts of ways in the wine industry. Blockchain is being used for sure, but not yet to the extreme extent some people foresaw.

Will AI be the same? There sure is a lot of interest, as I saw at License to Steal, and the list of potential uses is broad. AI is another tool and if it is used creatively and responsibly it has great potential to increase productivity throughout the wine production chain. Let’s see what happens now!

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I will be giving a brief video presentation on April 5 for “Market Growth and Strategic Insights: Wine Industry Conference 2024” organized by the Moldova National Wine and Vine Office.