Nota Bene is a periodic Wine Economist column that briefly highlights short stories that might otherwise escape attention.

Wine Goes to the Opera

A recent Wine Economist column examined the relationship between wine and classical music and worried that wine could become like opera, mainly relevant to a shrinking audience of affluent, aging enthusiasts.  Once upon a time wine was for everyone. What happens if it is mainly for elites?

Given these concerns, we were interested to discover that Festival Napa Valley has commissioned an original opera to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris. Bacchus and Venus are the opera’s main protagonists, supported by characters such as Steven Spurrier, Patricia Gallagher, Mike Grgich, Warren Winiarski, and others.

It’s an ambitious undertaking. Cheers to a successful premiere performance.

Against the Tide: K&L Opens in NYC

There is so much negative news in the wine press these days that signs of growth and optimism are both noteworthy and welcome. So you can imagine the excitement that has greeted the news that California-based K&L Wine Merchants has opened a new shop in New York City.  NYC wine news has been dominated by closings, not openings, in recent years, with the loss of Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits in particular.

What does K&L see in the NYC opportunity that many others do not? K&L CEO Brian Zucker writes that

My father Todd co-founded K&L in California in 1976 on the premise that careful selection and producer relationships could build a sustainable independent retail business. Fifty years later, that’s the model we’re testing in a market where several other independent shops haven’t held up. We built the ecommerce business in the late 90s and early 2000s, and that multi-channel base is part of why we have a thesis about why ours can work.

According to K&L’s press release, “The expansion follows six consecutive quarters of wine sales growth for K&L, even as much of the U.S. wine industry continues to navigate declining consumption, pricing pressure, and shifting demand. With four California stores, a national e-commerce business, the most active wine & spirits auction platform by bids and users, and now a New York location, K&L is betting that the category’s next phase will be driven by more selective consumers seeking value, access, and expert guidance.”

“There’s a lot more demand out there than the headlines suggest. Customers haven’t lost interest in wine, they’ve gotten more deliberate about it, and that’s something retailers can work with,” said Brian Zucker, CEO of K&L Wine Merchants. “Wine’s bigger problem was where prices went leading into COVID and during the consumption spike that followed. That’s working itself out now. We’ve seen significant growth in wine in each of the last six quarters, and it’s accelerating.”

Second Glass Test Update

Regular readers will be familiar with our “Second Glass” test for non-alcoholic wines. The wines have to remind us of the type of wine they represent and be tasty enough that we would happily drink a second glass. We recently met with research assistants Nancy and Michael to apply our test to a few editorial samples we received.

The news is very good. Two wines passed the Second Glass test with flying colors and we are pleased to add them to our “highly recommended” list.

Missing Thorn Sparkling White was simply delicious, with medium body and bright tree fruit flavors. Michael, who was initially disappointed to learn that we would be tasting NA wine, commented that he would not have guessed that the Missing Thorn was missing alcohol. Second glasses all around. Congratulations to the Missing Thorn team.

The Pierre Chavin Signature Zero Sparkling Chardonnay was an even bigger hit with our tasting panel. They appreciated the body and mouthfeel of the wine and the complete flavor profile. The label notes that nine percent of unfermented grape juice is part of the blend and I think this might have had something to do with the positive response. Grape juice is often blended into NA wines to restore some of the sensory elements that the alcohol removal process takes away. Missing Thorn’s blend includes an unspecified proportion of grape juice too.

Pierre Chavin is widely distributed by Kobrand and, at about $20 per bottle, is more affordable than some NA wines we have sampled.

Port Hits the Cocktail Circuit

Prosecco-based Aperol spritz drinks are everywhere these days, proof that cocktails and wine can be a profitable and delicious combination. Port producers have long encouraged enthusiasts to experiment with cocktails as a way of growing their market by introducing new customers to Port’s many pleasures. At one point a famous producer even redesigned some Port bottles and labels so that they would look more at home behind the bar.

Ruud Scholten (a.k.a. The Port*ologist) has written an impressive new book to help cocktail-curious Port lovers and Port-curious cocktail drinkers discover the pleasures of Port cocktails. The book, The Port*ologist: Crafting Port Wine Cocktails, seems at first glance to be a collection of recipes for cocktails featuring all manner of Port wines. On closer inspection, we found a lot more information about Port, Porto, the Douro Valley, and the fundamentals of mixology, too. The book is beautifully illustrated. An impressive package.

It is clear why a Port lover would want to try cocktails, but what’s the appeal for the cocktail set? Well, there is a taste, of course, but more than that there is also the fact that Port wine  has about half the alcohol of many liquors,  so the book’s Port Old Fashioned drink has less “punch” than the traditional drink. This aligns very well with current market trends favoring moderation.

Sue and I love to drink The Portonic, a white Port and tonic spritz, so we are already on board. Next stop is to experiment with other summery white Port cocktails as well as those for the other seasons and occasions based on Ruby, Tawny, and other types of Port. What fun! (Available direct from the publisher or from Amazon.com.)

This week, we introduce “Nota Bene,” a periodic Wine Economist column that briefly highlights short stories that might otherwise escape attention. Use the Comments section to let us know what you think and to suggest future stories.

Five Buck Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon?

I suppose it was inevitable that we would stumble across Five Buck Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. After all, there is a lot of surplus Cabernet out there, even in Napa Valley, and at some point, someone is going to decide that getting next to nothing for the bulk wine is better than getting nothing at all. Still, it was enough of a surprise that we took this photo at our local Grocery Outlet store.

Using the “Rule of 100,” a $5 bottle of wine suggests that the grapes were purchased for $500 per ton. That’s unlikely since the average price of Napa Cab grapes has been hovering around $7000 per ton for a while. Someone suffered a big loss somewhere along the supply chain that produced this wine. No, we didn’t buy any of it. Made me sad to see it on the shelf.

(See Blake Gray’s Wine-Searcher column for more on discount wine today.)

Rediscovering Rex Hill

I guess we sort of lost track of Rex Hill Winery. Rex Hill was one of the pioneers in Oregon wine and it was also one of the first wineries we visited when we started visiting the Willamette Valley in the 1980s. Significantly, Rex Hill was built around its vineyards, specializing in vineyard-designated bottlings and the strong reputation those wines earned.

Eventually, however, Rex Hill was acquired by A to Z Winery when it found itself in sudden need of production facilities. And then A to Z (and Rex Hill) joined Erath Winery as part of Ste Michelle Wine Estates and its Sycamore Partners, which acquired SMWE in 2021. Sycamore Partners sold the Washington assets of SMWE in 2025, but retains the trio of Oregon wineries.

Recently we had the opportunity to taste Rex Hill Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and the Rex Hill Seven Soils Chardonnay. They were both delicious (the heart of Rex Hill is still beating), but the Chardonnay was especially impressive. Sue and I agreed that we’d be very happy to drink it on any occasion.

Diving into Vinho Verde

The folks at Quinta da Aveleda contacted us a few weeks ago in response to a Wine Economist article about Vinho Verde. There’s more to Vinho Verde than the simple, delicious summer wine we all know and love, we wrote. You are right, the Aveleda folks said, let us show you more. So we accepted the offer of editorial samples and have enjoyed discovering that they are right.

We started with two single grape variety Vinho Verde wines, an Alvarinho and a Loureiro. Both are Vinho Verde, but so very different. The varieties and the corresponding blend possibilities make for many potential styles of Vinho Verde wine.

But that’s not all. A second pair of wines, Solos de Granito and Solos de Xisto, highlighted the different of soil types for a single grape variety. Interesting! They were so intense and so different, too, both from each other and from our expectations regarding Vinho Verde and Alvarinho wines, too. The Granito was full of tree fruit flavors, golden apple evolving into pear. The Xisto was all about structure and minerality. What a difference soil type can make! A really memorable experience.

And a final pair of wines, which we hope to taste soon, promise to take our explorations to the next level. Parcela do Convento Loureiro and Parcela de Roseiral Alvarinho are single-vineyard expressions of Vinho Verde featuring the Loureiro and Alvarinho grape varieties. Can’t wait to see (and taste) what’s next.

Wow! There is more to Vinho Verde than we thought. That’s a rabbit hole we’d be glad to dive into!

Canadian Boycott Bites

We started today’s Nota Bene with a story about bargain Napa Cab and we end with a story about bargain Napa Chardonnay. This photo shows the bargain board outside our local Metropolitan Market that recently caught my eye. That’s a pretty big discount on a name-brand Napa Valley Chardonnay from a recent vintage. What’s the story?

The explanation became clear with a quick peek at the back label. It was in English and French with the required Surgeon General’s warning pasted on a separate label. No question in my mind: This wine was bottled for the Canadian market, which is a market that doesn’t really exist in the way it used to because of regional boycotts of U.S. wine and spirits.

First time we’ve seen this situation on store shelves, but I understand ex-Canada market wine is available on discount re-seller websites. Have you seen it? No, we didn’t buy any. Made me sad to see it on the shelf.