A Lawyer Looks at Wine Criticism

When I'm not making wine I am practicing law. This probably gives me a different perspective than some other bloggers and wine writers who have railed against "Parkerization", ie the hegemony of Robert Parker over the last thirty years in the area of wine criticism.

I don't share their view. Not that I always agree with Parker. Far from it. Most of the criticism seems to be that Parker shouldn't dominate the market in the fashion that he has and that this continues to be a bad thing for the wine world because winemakers now tailor their efforts to suit his palate.

I think- and this is where the legal vino point of view comes in- that this completely misses the point. When confronted with First Amendment free speech cases the Supreme Court usually says that the solution is not to stifle speech but instead to offer more of it. If you don't like what the other guy is saying, rather than coercing his silence, you should instead jump into the fray and offer your own viewpoints. Democracy- and the free markets- are messy and noisy places- and this is ultimately a good thing in preserving freedom.

After all, Parker is only doing what ALL critics do- including those critics who think he holds too much sway over the market. And that is to offer up his opinion. The fact that too many people pay too much heed to what he has to say is not HIS problem- it is merely evidence of the extent to which he has succeeded. More power to him for doing so -not really- just kidding!

So, rather than attacking Parker for his power, his competition needs to step up its game and offer their opinions and further develop their reputations, without tearing down Parker's. Compete in the marketplace of ideas and let the best man/woman win. Rather than shutting down speech offer MORE speech.

The inevitablity of time will ultimately prevail if nothing else will in the meantime. Parker has been attacking the whole concept of wine bloggers and some of them have not been kind to him.

But how many bloggers are over 40? And how old is Parker now? So, I say let him enjoy his time doing what he obviously loves. Rather than tearing down Parker, bloggers and other critics should be building their own reputations. I don't think however, that we will see the same level of hegemony by any one critic again any time soon. That era is passing

Calicaro Makes a New Wine List - American Grocery!

Calicaro is pleased to announce that we will be featured on the wine list at American Grocery, one of South Carolina's top restaurants. Sommelier and co-owner Darlene Mann-Clarke said our 07 "Poinsett" was "the best Anderson Valley Pinot Noir she had ever had." With her experience and the strength of their wine list, that says alot! Look for us there soon!

The Mystery of Wine (and Life)

Thursday night wine tasting of all three Pinot Noirs: consensus was that Calicaro '08 Liberty Bridge was the wine of the night. Friday night wine tasting of all three Pinot Noirs: consensus was that Calicaro '07 Poinsett was the wine of the night. Life is a mystery! But that is a good thing, wouldn't you agree?

Write a Calicaro Label - Win a Bottle!

For all of you writers and wannabe writers-

Calicaro needs some "back label" language for 2009 "Shoeless Joe" Zinfandel. Write some winning label copy and win a bottle of Shoeless Joe when released next fall. Feel free to play on baseball, shoeless stomping of grapes, the "Joe" name or fun things with Zinfandel like "Go Forth and Zin No More" We need just the back label language.

Just email me your label language to info@calicaro.com

Good luck!

Is There Something in the Water?

Quick- think of states likely to produce great winemakers, especially Pinot Noir makers.

I bet South Carolina, home of Scuppernong and Muscadine, is not even a blip on the radar screen.

So now you know where I am going with this, right?

Here are just the Pinot Noir winemakers I know about-

Thomas Rivers Browne- his own brand is Rivers-Marie and he is involved in many other wine projects, including Schrader. High scoring wines.

Jamey Whetsone - Whetstone Cellars and Manifesto brand plus consults on other wine projects. Also highly regarded. Trained with Helen Turley.

Suzanne Hagins - Lutea Wine. Organic and biodynamic wines. Have not tried but reputed to be lovely wines. Also does some consulting work for other brands.

Another brand- the name escapes me- but backed in part by the bassist for Hootie and the Blowfish. New brand and have not tried.

Finally, my brand, Calicaro. Also a small scale artisan project. Yes, there are alot of small scale Pinot makers, a varietly that lends itself especially to this type if hand crafted winemaking. But nevertheless, this still seems unusual. And I would be willing to bet there are a few more that I am unaware of (let me know if you know any).

So what gives here?

The Calicaro '09 Lineup

Here is what we are making this year: four Pinots Noir, one Cab Sauv and one Zin. We were so happy with our 08 fruit sources that we went back to each of them. New fruit sources this year include Doctor's Vineyard for Pinot and a Dry Creek Valley blend from some of the great Zin vineyards there. The Zin was a harvest time decision. Top quality fruit at a recession price. We'll pass the savings on with a very attractive bottle price south of $30/btl.

The new Pinot will be called "The Dark Corner" and the Zin will be called "Shoeless Joe". Folks with a South Carolina Upstate connection will recognize the names. Anybody else know the signifcance of the names?

Cheers,
Dave

High Pressure Work

So...a week ago the Pinot had fermented to dryness and we were ready to press. What is this pressing thing all about? And why do we need to press the wine?

Well, we don't really need to press the wine. There is alot of wine in the fermentation bin that can go straight into the barrel. This is called free run and some winemakers decide to use just free run wine and not use the press wine. Many say that this free run is the best quality wine.

And I would agree if we were making a lighter style of wine. But we like structure, body and complexity (we like to say Calicaro is "packed with flavor and stacked with complexity") and for that, you gotta squeeze the grapes. Remember, all of the good stuff is in the skins and you get more of the good stuff out by applying pressure.

It is our version of "shaking down" the grapes. We give them a bear hug and simultaneously empty their pockets.

We just have to be careful not to squeeze the grapes too hard, because we will then get bitter tannins. This happens as the seeds begin to crush at the higher pressure levels.

So we taste the free run juice and establish our baseline for taste. Then we set the Euro Press to take it to .2 bars of pressure on the mass of grape skins (which is called the must). We put a cup under and taste wine as it is released from the must. At .2 bars it still tastes alot like the free run. Next we go to .4 bars and taste again. Things now start getting interesting. More viscosity, or body, to the wine and more flavors begin to emerge.

We raise the pressure in .2 bar increments and tasting. More and more. All tasting good, no bitterness. We taste the wine being squeezed out at each fraction of pressure and also taste the wine that is a blend of all of the fractions.

At each higher fraction of pressure we are squeezing out less wine, just like squeezing a lime. At 1.2 bars something really interesting happens. This press fraction tastes sweet! There was a slight bit of residual sugar left in the grapes and it has now been released.

At 1.4 bars the sweetness is gone. We are getting concerned about the bitter tannins showing up. We take it to 1.5 bars and it still tastes good but decide to stop there. We are now getting only drops of wine anyway.

We send the wine straight to the barrel and can now breathe a sigh of relief. We have made it through fermentation, the wine tastes really good, and most of the risk- that is, the many things that can go wrong in winemaking, are behind us. The wine can go through malolactic fermentation and settle down for a long winter's nap, all snugged in and cozy in the barrel.

Cheers,

Dave

Reflections on Life as a Cellar Rat

Back from SF and reflecting on the life of a cellar rat. These are the people that do the day to day work in the winery and for two weeks I was proud to count myself as one of them.

"Cellar rat" sounds like a derogatory term but those living the life are a rather happy bunch. The pay is not good but the music is cranked up, the juice/wine tastes good and the fork lifts make beep beep sounds so it is easy to get out of their way, safety being a major winery concern.

The cellar rats range from people like me who are serious about making good wine and trying to learn everything about it, to the grizzled veterans who have worked many a harvest around the world. Some migrate with the harvest seasons, working in the southern hemisphere the other half of the year

There were several interns who were working on their enology or viticulture degrees and several folks who had been laid off and viewed this as an opportunity to change career directions. For the most part, the extra help is welcomed, as there is so much to do this time of year.

The winery owners such as myself, do not get paid for our harvest work. We hope to sell a little of our wine, of course.

A surprizing number of others do not get paid either. Many are happy to do it for the experience. Kind of the urban winery equivalent of a dude ranch. In fact, every evening was crush camp, in which folks with no experience had signed up and paid money to have the privelege of sorting fruit and punching down bins. Tom Sawyer has nothing on our winery! I will say that winery work is more fun than whitewashing a fence.

So...I miss the camaraderie, the energy and enthusiasm that people bring to winery work and the sense of pride in making something really good that you know people will savor and enjoy. As for the music...U2, Dr John, the Grateful Dead and Bob Marley I miss. The hip hop, not so much.

Bay Area Bits and Pieces

Back from San Francisco. Lots of good work in the winery but some free time to explore the Bay Area.

Here are a few semi-random thoughts and tips about the Bay Area.

Calicaro's winery, which we share with a number of other small brands is located in the Dogpatch neighborhood, adjacent to Potrero Hill and South of Market (SoMa for the cognoscenti). It is part of the new urban winemaking trend. Quite an interesting and diverse neighborhood and Dogpatch is such a great name for a Southern winemaker. Maybe we need to do a Dogpatch bottling!

Some good restaurants there tucked away inconspicuously. After wrapping up at the winery one night, a winery cellar rat handed me a split of White Hawk Vineyard Syrah and said "enjoy!" I walked up the street to Serpentine and had an amazing hamburger made from local Niman Ranch beef and an heirloom tomato salad. The peppery, meaty notes in the Syrah made a perfect pairing. White Hawk Vineyard is famous for its Syrah, and for very good reason. A memorable $20 meal.

Blue Bottle Coffee is all the rage in SF. Individual brewed drip coffee that takes about 5 minutes or so to make. Combine that with the frequent lines at these popular places and you have lost 20 minutes plus just to get a cuppa joe. Once was enough for me. I predict the fad will pass- sure the coffee is good but it just ain't worth that!

The Bounty Hunter up in Napa has a unique high testosterone approach to selling pricey Napa Cabernet. Animal trophies on the wall, a painting of a reclining nude female behind the bar and wine descriptions that sound like the bottles were tracked down by men on horses with high powered rifles.

I loved it- no snobbishness and the theme works here- it is the opposite of the tuxedoed waiter sniffing and sipping from a tastevin. And get there before 6pm and try the BBQ sampler plate for 10 bucks, made in house with their custom smoker. The meat falls off the ribs and you won't be hungry for the next 24 hours. While the wine focus is Cabernet, a big Zin or Syrah is the way to go with the 'cue.

Cheers,

Dave

An Affectionate Mondavi Story

Had dinner the other evening with a gentleman who wrote the Mondavi Winery's newsletters for several years. He had graduated from my alma mater a year after me so we swapped a few stories about college as we split a bottle of Calicaro Lone Oak Pinot.

He then started in on Mondavi stories. Robert Mondavi was one of the most well loved and influential figures in the American wine business. As their copywriter, Jeffrey was frequently able to have dinner with the family.

At one dinner, Robert Mondavi, who was well along in years at that point, swirled the wine in the glass so hard that it splattered everyone else at the table with a chest high horizontal spray of red wine. Mrs. Mondavi said with some alacrity, "a little less enthusiasm, my dear!"

Jeffrey also said that the first time he met Mr Mondavi it was a 7am breakfast meeting. Mr Mondavi had personally gotten up early and gone to the Oakville Grocery to pick up sweet rolls and coffee for the meeting. Jeffrey said this was typical for him- no pretension, so down to earth.

The wine business is full of great characters and clearly he was one of the greatest.

Cheers,

Dave