The Passport to the East Bay Wine Trail

East Bay Vintners’ Alliance
presents
The Passport to the East Bay Wine Trail

It’s that time again! The East Bay Vintner’s Alliance, presents the 4th annual “Passport to the East Bay” featuring 21 award-winning urban wineries pouring their wares at 6 winery locations. The East Bay Wine Trail wanders the concrete jungle of Oakland and Alameda, providing hours of imbibing and hors d’ oeuvres. You’ll get to sample the classics: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Pinot Noir, but also more intrepid varietals like Tempranillo, Touriga Nacional & Roussanne.Each ticket purchased ensures a wristband that guarantees free access to each of the six tasting rooms from 12pm to 5pm, an assortment of appetizers, and also a souvenir glass. Designated drivers will receive a complimentary coffee mug.Take advantage of the urban environment and use public transit. For your convenience, a shuttle bus between wineries, BART, and the Oakland Ferry will be provided by The Mexican Bus.

WHEN: April 2, 12pm-5pm

COST: $40 in advance or $45 at the door.
($10 ticket for designated drivers)

WHERE: 6 winery Locations

1) DASHE CELLARS & JC CELLARS
55 4th Street Oakland, CA 94607
*Additional wineries: Aubin Cellars, Eno Wines, Stage Left Cellars & Tayerle Wines.

2) CERRUTI CELLARS
100 Webster St Oakland CA, 94607

3) PERISCOPE CELLARS (at Linden Street Brewery)
95 Linden St. Ste 7/8 Oakland, CA 94607

4) ROCK WALL WINE CO.
2301 Monarch St. Ste 300 Alameda, CA 94501
*Additional wineries: Andrew Lane Wines, Blacksmith Cellars, Carica Wines, Ehrenberg Cellars, JRE Wines & R&B Cellars.

5) ROSENBLUM CELLARS
2900 Main St. Alameda, CA 94501
* Additional wineries : Prospect 772

6) URBAN LEGEND
621 4th St. Oakland, CA 94607
*Additional wineries: Adams Point Winery, Stomping Girl Winery & Urbano Cellars.

Wine Channel TV Visits Lush Wine Bar Chicago

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The Wine Bar and Restaurant – Aurora 4-8 Duporth Avenue Maroochydore by Brendan Ford

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Divine Wine Bar, posted with vodpod

China Sends Bordeaux Prices Soaring!

The French have a reason to be grateful to China. It seems that the Chinese may have saved the Bordeaux wine industry. China’s Bordeaux consumption increased 40% sending prices soaring. This was a Godsend since sales in the U.S., formerly Bordeaux’s #1 volume consumer outside of Europe, were down by 44%. Likewise, the U.K. and Belgium sales were down by 33% and 16%, respectively[1].

Historically, China has been more of a beer and white spirit consumer. However, given the government’s policy controls on the alcohol industry, the beer and liquor markets are shrinking[2].  Due in part to the lowered tariffs from 65% to 14% along with the rising bourgeois class, China’s consumption behavior is changing.  Though foreign wine consumption is rather small compared to beer and liquor, it still poses a threat to domestic wine consumption.

In addition to lowered tariffs, domestic wine producers are now subject to a government prohibition on half-juice wine which accounts for 40% of domestic production. This along with the lowered tariffs has created an opening for foreign wine producers to reap the benefits of a burgeoning market.

One of the downfalls of this new wine market is the rising fraud. Taking advantage of the novice Chinese wine market, fraudulent merchants are taking part in the en primeurs system where the most exclusive wines are sold as commodity futures 12 – 18 months prior to bottling[3]. The true impact of fraud won’t be known for a few years.

Bordeaux appeals to China’s burgeoning Nouveau Riche as it is a symbol of wealth, although most of China’s sales are concentrated on lower-end Bordeaux.  There is the potential that the influx of low end Bordeaux may erode the Bordeaux brand over time.

However, for now, the French give China a resounding, merci infiniment!

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[1] Mustacich, Suzanne. China Becomes Bordeaux’s Biggest Overseas Market. March 26, 2010. http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/42409

[2] Chen, Brian. French Wine in China. March 2, 2007. http://www.powershow.com/view/21706-MDBhZ/French_Wine_in_China

[3] Briskine, Sonya. Wine Fraud in China Alarms Top Sellers. May 3, 2010. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/34648/

Lights Out!

Buying Shares in Your Own Winery

VITALS
Enlightenment Wines CSA

website

You’ve never had a real chip in the wine game.

Sure, you’ve placed some interesting bets, sipped Assyrtiko from the volcanic island of Santorini and even sampled the full swath of exotic Long Island varietals.

But the time has come to prove you’re dead serious about fermentation.

Introducing Enlightenment Wines CSA, the state’s smallest legal winemaker, now offering you a piece of the action with a guaranteed ROI of 12 bottles delivered to your door four times a year.

All you need to do to get involved is register through the winery’s website and await your first delivery, scheduled for just a few weeks from now. But don’t expect any of the cabs, pinots or other Napa standards that fueled your earliest cheese pairings.

Actually, forget about the grape entirely. Enlightenment only deals in sparkling wines, handmade using old-school methods, from Hudson Valley apples and honey. And while it’s understandable that such ingredients might leave you fearing an overly sweet, cider-esque weirdness, we think you may be a little surprised by the vino—it’s crisp, it lives up to its 12% alcohol pedigree, and it has all the inhibition-lowering effects of your favorite bottle of Barolo.

And should you have strong feelings about flavors you’d like to see added to the wine (they’re constantly tinkering and adding things like currants, cherries and dandelions), you can send in recipe suggestions that the other investors will receive, and then rate you genius or madman.

Of course, truly great wine is often misunderstood in its own time.

A weekend in Lodi

What a weekend! Talk about hidden gems…I was fortunate to visit the Lodi appellation over the weekend.

Home of Robert Mondavi,  Lodi, CA, situated approximately 25 miles south of Sacramento,  is respected for its Zinfandel varietal.  However, on this wine trip, I found not only Zin, but a whole lot more.

First stop on the tour was Peirano Estate Vineyards.  Located  at 21831 North Hwy 99 in Acampo,  Peirano boasts Shiraz,  a proprietary blend  that they call Red Shorts,  and my personal favorite Old Vine Zinfandel.

Peirano’s 1999 Old Vine Zinfandel gets its name from the 106 years old vines from which its produced.   Dry with a bit of a smoky taste, Old Vine has its own uniqueness that’s better experienced via the palate.

Honorable mention: 2002 Shiraz

While tasting, I was referred to a couple of new wineries in the area, D’Art and Harney Lane.  

D’Art was an especially goo d find! Located at 13299 Curry Avenue, D’Art is owned by artist, Dave Dart and his wife Helen. Dave’s artwork is prominently displayed throughout the tasting room.   D’Art has an excellent line up:  2007 Petite Sirah, 2007 Zinfandel  (including Old Vine),  2007 Dog Day Red,  2005 & 2006 Cabernet, and Port.

My personal favorite, Dog Day Red, blends just the right amount of dryness, oak, and sweetness to make it simply divine!

Actually, you can’t go wrong with any of D’Art’s wines…its all an art form.

As for the Lodi region as a whole, you cannot go wrong with Old Vine Zin and Petite Sirah!

Note: June 13  & June 14, 2009 Peirano Estate Vineyards is having  a summer sale featuring 2004 Autumn’s Blush, 2002 Shiraz, 2004 Barbera, 1999 Old Vine Zinfandel, and 2006 Muscat Canelli at half off prices.  Stop by and pick up a case or more!

Building Brix

Your Personal Sommelier

Judging by all the parties over the last few weeks, it’s not a stretch to say that there’s a lot of wine to work through out there. And since about ten percent of it is actually worth drinking, we think weeding through it all is a chore best left to an expert. Which is why you’ll want to bookmark Brix26, a personalized online wine recommendation service helmed by Peter Langenstein, a French-schooled California wine expert who swigs the juice day and night to bring you obscure, limited-production California gems right to your doorstep. Think of Peter as your at-home sommelier. Say you’re cooking up some steaks (in other words, a romantic dinner) Friday night and need help pairing a few bottles of wine to set the mood. Give Peter a call (or email him), and he’ll hand-select just the right cult cab from his library that’ll make your rib-eye pop. He can even get his hands on hard-to-find wines, like the obscure, artist-labeled 2006 Eric Kent Pinot that tastes as good as it looks. Once he has you figured out, you might consider joining the Insider Club, a hybrid wine club that ships you a constantly changing personalized assortment of up-and-coming wines, before they’ve been discovered by the masses. After all, membership has its privileges. Brix26, 866-427-4926

Dan Akroyd

Dan Aykroyd is on a mission from god…to launch an SF-based series of wines called TheDan Aykroyd Discovery Series, in conjunction with DeLoach Vineyards. We sat down with the Renaissance man, Blues Brother and SNL alum to chat about wine, women and Ghostbusters III… UD: You’re an actor, comedian, writer, musician, restaurateur, spirits distributor and now wine producer…why wine? DA: I’ve turned the whole thing around—I don’t buy wine to complement food. I walk into a steakhouse, I’ll order the biggest boldest red, and then I’ll look at the steaks. UD: Red or white? DA: Red. But give me an ice-chilled white and a couple of chicken wings. It’s not that I don’t drink white, but my last bottle—the death house bottle—it would be a red.   UD: Chicken wings, eh? Which wine goes with four whole fried chickens? DA: Definitely Chardonnay.   UD: How about white bread toast, dry? DA: Cabernet Franc Icewine from Niagara.   UD: What kind of wine would Jake drink? DA: Jake would drink Stone’s Green Ginger Wine…If you ran out of antifreeze, you could put this in and the car would run.   UD: How about Elwood? DA: Elwood would be a Manischewitz guy. He had a lot of Jewish girlfriends.   UD: Would Joe Friday even drink wine at all? DA: Joe Friday’s a whiskey man. He’s about good company, good clean streets.   UD: In your opinion, what are the five top wineries in California, after DeLoach of course? DA: Coppola, Turley, Diamond Creek, Kendall Jackson. UD: Would you rather make a movie with Francis Ford Coppola or a wine? DA: That’s a very good question. I’d love to maybe make both—a movie about wine with Coppola called Noble Rot. It was one of Jim Belushi’s projects. Noble Rot is a story of the fungus that looks horrible and smells horrible, but it produces the best wine…   UD: Speaking of movies, which of your past movies would you like to see updated? DA: Spies Like Us, no question about it. I would reprise my role, Chevy would reprise his, and we’d train a bunch of new pups—the best of the best. UD: Any chance of a Ghostbusters sequel? DA: A very good chance, in fact. Two years ago I couldn’t have told you this. We have writers working on it right now. I hope to see a script at Christmas, and maybe shooting by the summer if you can believe that. UD: Do you still watch SNL? DA: Diligently. Every week. I think Kristin Wiig is a genius…an empire-builder, and Fred Armisen. I think we’re seeing talent that’s just as good right now. Today’s cast is as good as we were.   UD: You’ve played everything from Jimmy Carter to a Wild and Crazy Guy on SNL. Any one favorite? DA: Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute, absolutely…It’s a fantasy I could never live. The fantasies that never come true are the best ones. UD: After working together on three films, Jamie Lee Curtis called you the best onscreen kisser. DA: On or off, you know. UD: What’s your secret? DA: You’d have to ask the women. I don’t know. UD: When it comes to women, is it better to be a comedian or a musician? DA: Comedian, no question about it. It’s laughter first, then conversation, good food and wine, and then a hot tub… Dan Aykroyd will present the Dan Aykroyd Discovery Series Thursday from 4-6pm at the Jug Shop, 1590 Pacific Ave (at Polk), 415-885-2922

A Cut Above

Kobe and Cab at Your Front Door

When other people think delivery, they think pizza and chow mein. But you, you dream bigger. You think huge shipments of kobe beef and Napa estate wine. And now you can finally live it. Say hello to the Kobe and Cabernet Club, maybe the best thing to hit the delivery world since the milkman. The Club is a joint venture between two of your favorites, Snake River Farms and Signorello Vineyards. It pairs the Idaho ranch’s richly marbled, super-tender kobe-style meat with the Napa winery’s lush, full-bodied wines. (We know—some matches were made in heaven.) They’ll deliver both to your front door three times a year—around Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day—and all you do is pay per shipment (no signup fees here). Expect deliveries like the holiday package—a rib-eye roast that serves ten, paired with three bottles: the Estate Cabernet, the Padrone Reserve Cabernet and the club-exclusive Meta (50 percent syrah, 50 percent cabernet). For Valentine’s, you’ll get four tenderloin filets, a bottle of the club-only Uvaggio (a cab-merlot-cab franc blend) and two bottles of cabernet sauvignon. (If this doesn’t satisfy you and your sweetheart…you might need a new sweetheart.) And if you’re jonesing for a buttery filet or a hearty cab come July, you can place additional orders year-round. They’ll even cut you a deal. After all, membership has its privileges. size=”2″ face=”Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif”> Kobe and Cabernet Club from Signorello Vineyards and Snake River Farms, $390 per shipment, sign up here