Arête Wines

Why do people suck?

I turned 32 recently. 17 of these 32 years have been spent in the glorious industry known as service.

Working my way up through the ranks I have encountered thousands of guests, hundreds of co-workers and countless managers. In these 17 years I have had some wonderful, enriching jobs as well as some horrendous, nightmarish jobs. It comes down to the leaders. The wonderful, enriching jobs have outstanding leaders while the horrendous, nightmarish jobs have incompetent and petty leaders.

My question is two fold. Why do people suck? What is the difference between the incompetent and petty leaders and the outstanding leaders.

Baby Tastes Post Script

In my previous post I spoke a bit about the book Wine Trials. I know this is old news but it still gets to me a little. This book brings to light two glaring factors that must change in order for us to begin to move away from the bastardization and homogenization of wine. The first is that we must change the way we as consumers approach wine. Find producers who are picking for balance, striving to let the land speak, and then let the wine choose its own course. Once you have found these wines approach the wine as a student seeking to understand the tastes and flavors, even if they are at first difficult to appreciate and comprehend.The whole point of terrior is that all wines should taste different. This means that there will be wines you like as well as wines you dislike, but that does not mean the wine you like is a good wine and the wine you dislike a bad wine...it is simply a DIFFERENT wine. That was the main point of my last column.

The second point is that there is no longer a correlation between price and quality. There is a symbiotic relationship between the consumer and the winemaker. This relationship over the years has been damaged by greedy men and corporations seeking to produce the next "cult" wine and rape the American wine consumer to fatten their own pocket. If this rift is ever going to be repaired winemakers must start charging reasonable prices for their wines. Below is a great article I discovered that breaks down exactly what it costs to make a $100 bottle of wine. Taken from the website Vine Sugar I would like to thank Brendan for this truth.

Baby Tastes

Over the course of the last year I have read several blogs that have written about a new book that has been published. The name of the book is Wine Trials and the premise involves 100 wines under $15 that when brown bagged and placed in front of normal everyday people they preferred them to $50 and $150 wines. I know that several people have written on this already, but none of them seem to understand why this represents all that is wrong with the majority view of wine in this country, and our approach to understanding. I have to admit that I have not read the book and may be speaking out of my arse, and if that is the case someone please let me know, but I do not really think that I need to read it. I am pretty sure I know what it is going to say, first that normal everyday people prefer cheap wine and second that there is no correlation between price and quality. Shocker...I could have told you that without writing a book. We are all missing the bigger picture.

Proper Vine Stress

Wow. December already. If I were a vine it would be off into dormancy. Probably the most important season of all. Lets pretend for a moment that I were a vine. How would my vintage of this past year rate? At first glance I would have to say it was a tough year. It was a year that did not see much rain and the vine was very stressed. A small crop that was harvested at just the right time with perfectly ripe grapes. In my mind a stellar year. Why? Because of stress. I believe that proper stress to the vine and small crop loads are the keys to our ripening dilemma.

As I have been studying wine and viticulture these past few years it has been much more than an obsession. It has been a journey of discovery about myself and of those around me. I have often equated the vine with people and personified it as myself. I believe there are many lessons to be learned from studying the vine and it is a journey I would suggest everyone embark upon. Many of my beliefs and understanding about wine come from years of studying and trying understand people. 

Phenolic Ripeness

Below is an article I stumbled across that is the most accurate description of "phenolic ripeness" that I can find. "Phenolic ripeness" is the latest buzzword in the wine industry for those seeking to defend elevated alcohol levels in wine. The problem with "phenolic ripeness" is two fold. First of all there is no way to test "phenolic ripeness". The grapes are "physiologically ripe" when the grower decides they are "physiologically ripe". There is no right or wrong. This leads to a wide range of thoughts and opinions as to when the grapes really are "physiologically ripe". The second problem is that the majority of winemakers and consumers alike have been influenced by one person as to what a "ripe" grape must taste like. It is no secret that Robert Parker generally gives higher scores to higher alcohol, super ripe, hedonistic wines. Everyone has been influenced by this trend. Customers rely on his points to buy wine and winemakers rely on his points to sell wine. We have an endless merry go round of thoughtlessness. This goes not only for Robert Parker but also for the publications that merely imitate his system and his palate. There will be more to follow on this subject, but for now please enjoy someone elses take on this dire situation. This article was written by Matthew Citriglia and can be found at Wine Geeks. 

Numbers that Matter and Wine Label Laws

We have established that points are meaningless. They tell you nothing about what lies beneath the cork. Until you buy the wine and try it you never know if you would even like the 98 point must have that Parker or some other so called expert has just rated. Points are a system designed to keep you enslaved to the points. You will never be able to really learn about wine unless you free yourself from those shackles.

I will be the first to admit that the reason for this is as numerous as their are different palates and different taste buds. A lot of people do not appreciate the wine I enjoy and vice versa. The same goes for food, and coffee, and anything else that varies in taste and in the perception of said taste. This presents a very tough situation for the wine drinking novice and experienced taster as well. How do you sift through all of the selections that are presented to you and find what you really enjoy? Is there a way to truly understand wine?

I believe I have found the true path to understanding. It involves numbers, but not the kind we are used to. It involves the numbers that matter. Numbers that reveal the sugar content and also the acid levels of the infant wine as well as the finished product. I believe that these numbers as well as how many tons per acre harvested and the appelation or appelations the grapes were harvested from will tell you exactly what is inside the bottle and through trial and error you will begin to discover which wines you enjoy and which wines you do not. Granted their are other factors involved, but I believe that these are the core elements and by them you can learn as much as you need to know to tell you whether you would enjoy said bottle of wine before you ever try it.

The True Vine

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

These words spoken by Jesus Christ in the gospel of John chapter 15 have been penetrating my heart and mind for the last 11 years.I believe that Jesus is the only Son of God and that He took on human flesh to live a perfect life and die as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. We are all born into a state of sin. The sin in every ones life varies, but we have all fallen short of the perfection that only God knows. It started with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and has been passed down to every one since that time. Because of this fallen state we are in bondage to our sin.

I wrote a post entitled the Beautiful Vine in which I stated that wine was God's way of telling us he loves us and wants us to be happy. This may have been true at one point in time, but through sin all good things have been tainted except one. Jesus Christ is God's way of telling us He loves us and wants us to be happy. He is the true vine. Only through faith in Him and a sacrificial life lived in love to Him can one truly be satisfied.  Only he can set us free and deliver us from a life lived in bondage to sin. He is the way, the truth, and the life!

A New Direction

So I just recovered from a 6 month coma. I was out camping when suddenly I was cornered by hungry mountain lions. They backed me up to the edge of the cliff, their teeth glaring at me as they snarled. While I was contemplating what the best scenario outcome would possibly consist of I could not help but think of my poor blog. What would happen to it while I was gone? Would I lose all of my readers? Would people even care or notice that I was gone?

Then I woke up. Awakened from this awful dream I sat back for a second to recover my sanity. Pausing to ponder for a moment the meaning behind all my fears, I discovered the closest thing to reality in my dream was that I just woke up from a 6 month coma. A writing coma, but a coma nonetheless and almost as devastating. It is a funny thing; the human mind. I wanted to write, but could not come up with anything that I did not instantly erase. It has been a couple years since I have experienced such a block of creativity. But there was nothing I could do about it. I know from past lapses that it would return. It always does. It comes back with a haunting reminder of everything I learn during these momentary setbacks. 

A lot has happened in the last 6 months and it has all been painfully wonderful. While I was away I took my first trip to San Francisco, turned 30, celebrated 3 years of marriage, went sober for 30 days, questioned my current career path, spent a lot of time with my son,spoke with many winemakers, watched as my Paso Cab turned 6 months old in barrel, started selling wine for a distribution company, wrote a few songs, spent a lot of time with God, battled some demons, tasted a lot of wine and was reminded why I got into this in the first place.

There will be more to come and I pray that the shift I am beginning to see in the wine industry will continue to progress. It is all about farming and it is all about picking balanced grapes. That is all you need to craft a wine with soul, depth, and personality. It is so simple, and yet no one seems to notice or care. The revolution is coming. Start to question everything. Dig deeper and you will find the truth.

The Beautiful Vine

"Beer is God's way of telling us that He loves us and wants us to be happy."

                                                                                                                     -Benjamin Franklin

While I love this quote and believe it to be true, I find that wine is an even greater example of this truth. All of my beliefs and philosophies concerning wine revolve around the beauty and simplicity of the vine! Wine is unique among other alcoholic beverages in that it is meant to be made. If you look at the composition and makeup  of the grape you must believe that God's intention for grapes were to become wine. This also lends to the fact that understanding wine really is simple. Yes it requires time and effort to seek out the best wines, but at its essence it really is not that complicated.

The grapevine is a weak-steamed climber that grows on every continent except Antarctica. It is the worlds most important fruit crop and produces in excess of 60 million tons of fruit every year, with 80% of that destined to become wine. God has provided the grape with everything it needs to produce the wonderful beverage we know as wine. Possessing the perfect balance of acid and sugar this fruit has a bloom that catches yeast and there they wait for the skin to be broken so that they can begin their mission of converting the sugar into alcohol. That is all wine is. If you traveled down the road to your local grapevine and took a bucket full of grapes and crushed them in a few days they would begin to ferment and turn into wine. Naturally. Granted it may not be very good wine, but it would be wine nonetheless. Its simplicity is its beauty. 

I had the opportunity to make wine this year. I took a half ton of cabernet grapes, crushed them and put them in barrels and allowed nature to take its course. Fermentation started naturally and then I added a small amount of cultured yeast towards the end of fermentation just to make sure it finished dry. Once fermentation finished I added a small amount of So2 to stabilize the wine and then added bacteria to start malolactic fermentation. Since then I have done nothing and after 7 months I have to say that the wine is tasting great and that all my theories have proven true.

If the right work is done in the vineyard and the grapes are harvested with balanced levels of sugar and acid then no science is needed. I wish the domestic wine producing community would take a step back and look at what wine really is in its essence and simplicity.

Terry Theise Manifesto

Inspiration is hard to come by right now, and I am suffering a major bout of writers block as I am dealing with many day to day work and life issues. I do not want to just disappear as that would be a disservice to those of you coming back for more. Forgive my lack of writing. There will be more to come.

Beauty is more important than impact.

Harmony is more important than intensity.

The whole of any wine must always be more than the sum of its parts.

Distinctiveness is more important than conventional prettiness.

Soul is more important than anything, and soul is expressed as a trinity of family, soil, and artisanality.

Lots of wines, many of them good wines let you taste the noise, but only the best let you taste the silence.

                                                                                                      -Terry Theise

Disillusionment

The state of our domestic wine scene is worse, in respect to natural wines, than I thought when I began this quest. I did not think that I was seeking something that would allude me to this extent. If you are out there I pray that somehow you will find me. These are the wines I am seeking...

• Yielding less than 5 tons per acre
• Grapes harvested before sugar levels reach 24 brix (unless you are creating a late harvest wine)
• Fermentation started naturally
  
• No additives (cultured yeast, So2, malolactic bacteria fine in small amounts)
  
• No alterations
• Minimal So2
• Family owned and operated
• Farmed with a respect for the land
• Minimal oak influence
• Owner involved in all aspects of wines life
  

Noble Storm Wines

As is most often the case in my life just as I was beginning to lose faith I was given a little glimpse to what is peeking out over the horizon. Two and a half years ago I met a young, up and coming vintner from South Africa. Ernst Storm was working for Firestone Vineyards and Winery at the time, but told me about a project he and his wife were working on called Noble Storm. They wanted to work with the most prized vineyards in the area and attempt to craft minimal intervention wines with grapes that were picked for balance seeking to portray the fullest expression of each vineyard. I remember being very excited about their project and instantly took a liking to this starry eyed couple.

I moved away from the Santa Ynez Valley not long after that and unfortunately lost touch with Ernst. You can imagine my excitement when he contacted me at the restaurant a couple weeks ago. He had been talking to another vintner I had recently met with and thought it would be a good idea to get together and taste his wines. Of course I had no objections.

Wine Yeasts: The truth about spontanious fermentations

This article was taken from Science Alert

Tuesday, 05 August 2008

University of Auckland Wine is the result of a competition between microbes for nutrients, research suggests. Scientists at The University of Auckland studying yeast used in winemaking have discovered the reactions that turn grape juice into wine are a mechanism to ensure the yeast secures many of the nutrients from the fruit. The results are published in leading international journal Ecology, and one of West Auckland’s wineries, Kumeu River, is pictured on the front cover. The researchers studied the microbes present on grapes from the field to the cellar at Kumeu River Winery, and discovered very low levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast required to convert sugar to alcohol, naturally present. However, it created a warm, high alcohol - low oxygen environment which is toxic to all other yeasts and microbes during the fermentation process allowing its numbers to rapidly increase. This environmental-engineering is wasteful for the yeast, as it is more efficient to completely metabolise the fruit sugar to water and carbon dioxide, but the fermentation releases ethanol and heat and ensures S. cerevisiae is the sole survivor.

The System is Flawed

4 years ago I was working as the understudy wine director at a large resort in Florida that boasted an incredible wine cellar. Part of my "job" as the understudy was to taste as much as possible. In addition to the double blind staff wine tastings that were held at every friday and saturday lineup my boss chose a bottle a week for me to take home and study. Talk about accelerated learning. The blind tastings helped hone my palate and also taught me to look for a sense of place in wine. Taking home bottles and spending time with them is what helped me to really understand what I was drinking. I started keeping a wine journal with all my notes and even began scoring the wines. I was still using the major publications as my reference point and supplication for wines, but over the course of my drinking and learning increasing exponentially I would begin to see flaws in the current evaluation systems.

Alcohol Levels in Wine: Are they trivial?

In my previous post I touched briefly about disappointing experiences drinking wines from Santa Barbara County which are crafted from grapes grown in biodynamic vineyards. My research over the last year and a half for this little project has involved extensive tasting across the Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Ynez Valley, and the Santa Maria Valley AVA's. Within those AVA's there are three vineyards that have been certified biodynamic. These three are Presidio, Purisma Mountain (Beckmen), and Ampelos respectively. I have had the opportunity to taste the majority of their offerings and as stated in my previous post have been dissapointed. There is so much potential, but it is hidden under all the alcohol. If biodynamic farming is the true path to discovering terrior as Nicolas Joly and most of his followers believe than they must somehow address the sugar levels at harvest among these wines.

Problems with Biodynamic and Organic Wines

I am a huge believer in and supporter of Biodynamic and Organic viticulture. I did not come to feel this way because of any trend in marketing that has happened over the last couple years. Rather I discovered it through my course of learning. As I learned more about the wines I had been drinking I realized that some my favorite wines up to that point had been produced with biodynamically or organically grown grapes, even though I did not know it at the time I was enjoying them.

Robert Sinskey was the first winery in California that I truly fell in love with. The first taste of their pinot blanc and I was smitten. After experiencing the vin gris of pinot noir, still the most beautiful rose I have ever had the pleasure of putting to my lips, I would have signed a commitment to drink only RSV for the rest of my life. If you have never tried a wine from Robert Sinskey Vineyards I would say drink them all for they are all delicious. Their slogan, if you will, is stated on the bottle..."Fine wines from organic vines" and they are indeed fine. I stumbled upon RSV 5 years ago and it was the begining of a journey and obsession that will never end.

Momentary Setback

The train has derailed.

 I started this little project because I wanted to write and because I enjoy writing about wine. My intention was never to change the world, or dethrone Parker, or even to make money. I write because I enjoy it. I enjoy learning and I enjoy sharing the knowledge I gain with others. I love wine and what it can and should mean in our lives. It is a work of art not because of anything man does, but what the vine and grape achieve by way of yeasts through the fermentation process. Man gets the privilege of helping, but that work is in the farming. How dare we ever consider it OUR work of art. The vine was there for us, not the other way around. Pruning and nurturing the vine to achieve it fullest potential in a beautiful dance between the farmer, the soil, and mother nature should be our role. We are lucky enough to be entrusted to help along the way, but should be wary of taking credit.

The finished work of art is then presented to us as a gift to enjoy this life. It is not to be enjoyed selfishly or tucked away as some trophy to show off to people you are trying to impress. It is to glorify the vine by being enjoyed with friends as a celebration of life! This is the beauty of wine and this is the Arete of Wine.

I do not matter. My philosophies do not matter. What matters is the vine. The beautiful vine. Without it all of this would simply be an afterthought. I will simply continue to learn and continue to write.

Trust Your Palate

I never want to come off as an arrogant prick. There are many who know more about wine than I do, and I consider this one of my life's works. As a life work, it will take a lifetime to conclude and I hope that it will bring me as much joy as it does now and that I will continue to learn until that last day. That being said, I know what I enjoy and I know what my palate considers to be a great wine. This has come from years of tasting and learning, but also from asking questions and seeking to understand what lies beneath the cork. You must trust your palate, but you also must learn about everything that goes into the wine you enjoy. This is the only path to understanding wine no matter what your taste preferences. This is the key to a true knowledge of wine and the key to moving beyond points and vintage charts. Ask questions. Talk to the vintners. The road may be long and arduous, but it is well worth the journey.

Gary Vaynerchuk and the Bandwagoneers

Sounds like a cool band, but I for one am tired of the same old tune. I do not like the noise they are making and just wonder why people are so attached to points and meaningless descriptors. I was reading Alice Feiring's blog earlier this week and I noticed something that she wrote about the blogger's conference last week. What caught my attention was the fact that Gary Vaynerchuk  stated if a blog was not making 6 figures from its site than it was not successful. I guess its time to wrap this little project up because according to the almighty dollar and master Gary I am a failure. I have to say that over the last 6 months of writing I have felt like a failure at times, but that is because I feel like the only person in this country that cares about the authenticity of wine. By authentic I mean real, and by real I mean balanced, food-friendly, elegant, complex and made with nothing more than grapes, yeast, bacteria, minimal SO2, and a storage vessel.

Overspeculation in the Wine Industry

I have already stated that greed will be the downfall of domestic wine and I believe the meltdown of our domestic wine landscape is not to far around the corner. All it will take is the right set of labeling laws and everyone will lose faith in what they thought to be an honest forthcoming industry.

I had a conversation with one of my guests at the restaurant last night about all the things that were being done to wine these days. I brought up concentrates that can be added to a wine to make it taste more varietally correct. He could not believe such a thing exists, but oh it does. Not only does it exist, but I am sure we would all be shocked to find out how many wines we have drunk that contain these concentrates or any number of other additives available to winemakers. His next question was if Parker had ever rated such wine. I told him most likely yes, because like most major publications Parker does not care how a wine is made and does not have the time to find out when he blind tastes 300 wines in a day. His response was that he would lose all faith in scores if this were the case.

He is close to realizing what is really going on in our wine industry today. Charging outrageous prices for wines that are not really authentic or naturally made can only last so long. Sooner or later what is being done in the darkness will come to the light and it will be the same kind of backlash that we have seen on Wall Street. Kudos to those who are already striving to make wine in an authentic manner and are not trying to pull the wool over the eyes of those of us who love and support the domestic wine scene.