Women Wine Critics Board

Feiring's Fantasy: Alice Feiring Saves the World from Robert Parker

The Battle for Wine and Love
or How I Saved the World from Parkerization

Author: Alice Feiring

The font of the title is pleasantly wacky, and the title itself promises a dream-like escapade in which Feiring daydreams herself “saving the world” and falling in love with a superhero winemaker. Not a bad concept.

This is not a journalistic effort like other recently released wine books, To Cork or Not to Cork, The Billionaire’s Vinegar, First Big Crush, Wine and Philosophy. This is a personal essay on a personal point of view. The book is a small-format book—hardbound, 5 ½ “ by 8”, 258 pages exclusive of acknowledgments and index, and can easily be read in a few hours.

In the introduction she says, “I am hoping to intrigue those who want wines that truly have a story to tell. Once people experience these wines and winemakers, once they know that wine truly does have soul and character, it will be difficult for them to cozy up to wines made by the numbers and not from the heart.”

I hope that this book fulfills her mission.

Unfortunately . . .

Inside a Wine Scam

Ever get one of those annoying scam emails asking you to accept stolen credit card numbers and send your product overseas?  Who are these scam artists?  Who are their victims?  Can they be stopped?

Dover Canyon Winery has just published a five-part series of articles called Inside a Wine Scam.  The series has resulted in FBI subpoenas for the operators accepting money transfers at a remote location in Oklahoma.  In a surprising twist, the 'front man' for the scam may herself be a victim of 'work from home' fraud. 

Part I: How the Wine Scam Works

Part II: The 'John Nelson' Letters

Part III: 'It Ain't TV, Lady'

Part IV: Who's in Your Wallet?

Part V: The Worm Turns

Update: Money Orders

Wine, Women and Lawsuits

Errol at Washington Winemaker in Bellevue, Washington relates the story of three women winemakers being threatened by the U.S. Olympic Committee for daring to use the name 'Olympic Cellars' for their winery, which is located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State'. 

Gee fellas, I think the Olympic Mountain range has been around longer than your trademark.  The mountain range name was made official in 1864 and was in common and published use before that. 

New for 2008: The Wine Book Club

From popular wine reviewer "Dr. Debs" at Good Wine Under $20:

"In the spirit of the New Year, a group of bloggers decided to start an online Wine Book Club. Many of us want to read more--hands up if you've got a stack of books sitting on your bedside table with an inch of dust on them . . ."

The first bi-monthly book is Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy, and the discussion will be hosted by Philadelphia retailer David McDuff at McDuff's Food and Wine Trail.

This online meme-slash-wine club will appeal, I think, to those seriously interested in exploring new horizons, the intermediate to advanced wine consumer, and those wanting to check out the latest wine books.  Not to mention it can be a delightful way to stay on top of current wine publications with like-minded eno-mates. 

Books will be chosen and announced every other month (January, March, May, etc.) and discussion will take place on the following month (February, April, June, etc.).  Discussions will take place on Shelfari and Facebook as well as winebookclub.org (which is still under construction). 

Visit Dr. Deb's site, Good Wine Under $20 for full details and reader comments.  Even if you decide not to order the current book selection, you will find some of the best wine writers and reviewers in the blogosphere engaged in discussion.  Be prepared to give your "Favorites" button some exercise.

Make Benefit Glorious Zinfandel

"Consumer Learnings for Make Benefit Glorious Zinfandel Future"

Christian Miller, owner of Full Glass Research—a wine industry research firm—chose this title for a presentation he gave in Paso Robles as a joking reference to the movie Borat.  (See the movie's wine episode here.) And it’s pretty appropriate, because depending on who you talk to, zinfandel means different things to different people. There’s an almost Babel-like confusion involved in the language of zinfandel.

Some people expect jammy wines. Some people expect spice and pepper. Some people don’t like it because they don’t know what to expect. Only 17% of hard core wine geeks would drink zinfandel with a "gourmet dinner at home," but 51% of the same group agree that zinfandel "complements a wide variety of food."

Zin winemakers reported that direct-to-consumer sales were the most important part of their marketing. But according to the study, consumers want to see more zinfandel in restaurants. One of the significant findings of the study was a difference in trade perception vs. consumer perception. In other words, wine drinkers are not seeing what they want on restaurant lists—versatile, food-friendly zinfandels.

Cool Links, Newsletters, Blogs and More

Women Wine Writers on the Web has an interesting library of links to women's wine newsletters, blogs, books and more.  Definitely a recommended stop.  And Jack and Joanne over at Fork & Bottle have a resource site with links to the best books, websites and wine maps.

To find wines you're reading about at a shop near you, try WineSearcher.  This free service  will show you which stores have your target wine in stock, along with the price and ordering options.  (A paid upgrade provides even more information.)

Don't have the time to read wine blogs?  But you'd like to stay on top of the hottest wine news?   Wine Life Today features the hottest wine blog posts on the internet.  Most of the referrals come from other wine bloggers, so when they toast an article, you know it's good stuff, and worth reading.  Interestingly, it's always the oddball stuff that wine bloggers enjoy . . . so don't expect to find the usual wine reviews and commentary.

Looking to upgrade your wine notes from lined school paper to something a little more . . . elegant and efficient?  We recommend CellarTracker.  This free online site lets you store your wine purchases, tasting notes, and more.  Additional features let you see fellow members' tasting notes.  And creator/owner Eric LeVine is very open to feedback and suggestions.

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ABOUT US

This blog is compiled and edited by Mary Baker, co-owner of Dover Canyon Winery in Paso Robles, California. Mary has considerable experience in the California wine industry, and the blog is open to all writers who are passionate about wine. It is updated at least three times per month with guest articles and wine news.

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Gunman Crashes Party, Leaves with Wine

Christina Rowan of Washington DC thought quickly and calmly when a gunman crashed a backyard barbecue and held a gun to a 14-year-old girl's head.  Moments later, the gunman left with a glass of wine and a smile.  Read the whole story.

From an AP newswire published on MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug.

It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That's when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses.

Tennessee Hypocrisy

As many of you know, one of the rallying cries of the anti-wine-shipping crowd has been "Protect Our Minors!"

In 2003, when the Federal Trade Commission first presented its study on the anti-commerce nature of shipping bans, the Tennessean published an article supporting open shipping laws.  But the article also conceded that:

"Whether Tennessee will follow suit is questionable, in large part because the state's politically powerful liquor wholesalers lobby has long supported the ban. John Jones, the chairman of the Alcoholic Beverage Commission, is another in favor of the current ban and is doubtful it will go away anytime soon.

Like many supporters of the ban, Jones said he is concerned the state would lose tax revenues if it allowed direct shipments of alcohol. He also is concerned that allowing direct shipments could make the products more available to minors."

Four years later, the ban is still in place.  And now steps are being taken to protect the minors of Tennessee from illegal purchases of alcohol.  Beginning on Sunday, all residents of Tennessee will be carded when they attempt to buy 'alcohol' according to a recent AP release.

"NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Comer Wilson hasn't had to show his ID to buy beer in a while. Maybe it's the 66-year-old man's long white beard. Starting Sunday, gray hair won't be good enough. Wilson and everyone else will be required to show identification before buying beer in Tennessee stores — no matter how old the buyer appears. "

How to Tell a Wine Geek from a Cork Dork

Recently, at a dinner with friends, one man's date turned to me and complained, "He's so boring.  All he ever talks about is wine.  All day long he talks about wine."

     I probably  looked hurt, because I was just as engrossed in our discussion of Syrah as he was.  Lorraine leaned toward me and whispered, "She's right, you know.  We're all hopeless wine geeks.  Look at us from an outsider's point of view."

In Harmony with the Land

Contributed by Katy Budge, freelance writer

During her presentation at the recent Hospice du Rhone event held in Paso Robles, California, Sophie Armenier of Domaine de Marcoux in Châteauneuf-du-Pape showed a striking close-up photograph of two hands, side-by-side, each holding a handful of dirt. One hand held a soil so fecund you could smell its earthiness; the other hand held a soil that could best be described as beige. Armenier did not elaborate on the image, but luckily, moderator Kelly McAuliffe pressed her on exactly what we were seeing.

Because it wasn’t part of the formal presentation she had prepared in her very able English, Armenier offered the information in French for McAuliffe to translate. My French was good enough for me to realize that these soils were from two different nearby vineyards, but I missed the kicker. The dark soil was from Domaine de Marcoux’ organically and biodynamically farmed vineyard, the other was from only five yards away.

Cover crops, in photo at right, at Wild Horse Vineyards in Templeton, California.

Cultivating a Life

Susan Sokol Blosser's account of building a life in the Dundee Hills of Oregon speaks to me on many levels--as a woman working in the wine industry, a woman working with her husband, a woman running her own business, and a mother. Susan turns her trials into triumphs and exercises a sense of humor along the way. From the Great Goose Experiment to the day her tearful son rides his bike all the way to school by himself, this is a story that will transport you into "The Life" of owning a vineyard and winery, with a judicial salting of reality and romance.

In At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life, Susan talks about their wild card decision to plant a vineyard in Oregon in the 1970's.  But it's also the story of a young, idealistic bride who has been groomed to "please" her husband and family.  Said bride is confronted with unhappy investors, disgruntled family members, distributor ennui, divorce, and disastrous vintages.  But along the way she collects some overly affectionate geese, useless peacocks, a three-legged cat, and some loyal staff members. 

By the end of the book, we see a woman who can confidently drive a vineyard tractor with her baby daughter strapped in beside her, navigate the corridors of politics, travel widely in support of her brand and her region, and take the reins as owner and CEO of her own company. 

If you dream of someday owning your own vineyard or winery, this autobiography should be part of your literary quest.  If you are a single, working mother you will resonate to young Alex' cry when he says, "Mom, why can't you stay at home and be a real mother like Wilma?"   But most of all, I was impressed by Susan Sokol Blosser's willingness to lay her heart on the table, to pour her sorrow, joy and fears into a glass.  It's one thing to critique a winegrower's wines.  Susan is offering her heart.

The Illusion of Objectivity

"Dr. Debs" at Good Wine Under $20 has written an insightful piece on the differences in wine writing between men and women . . .   Wine Writing and the Problem of Objectivity, or Is There Room for a Nigella Lawson of Wine Writing?

Here are some excerpts:

Here's what I think: wine points and the illusion of objectivity are related problems. The leading culprit for giving folks the idea that wine reviews are objective is, alas, the 100-point scale. This is not an entirely novel perspective, but I think it bears repeating.

So I began to wonder, is there room for wine writing that is unabashedly opinionated about wine, for a prose style that is flagrantly personal and marvelously evocative? Is there room for a wine writer who would do for wine writing what Nigella Lawson has done for food writing?

So I wonder, is there some reason why it's ok for a woman to rhapsodize about scrambled eggs but not sauternes? If so, what is it? Does it scream "undisciplined"? Does it smack of amateurism when we are striving for professionalism? Why do we put numbers on wine, but we don't grade other food products? Most important, can you help me figure out why we are ok with impassioned and highly-opinionated accounts of hamburgers but shy away from emphasizing the mysterious, subjective, glorious, and even alchemical properties of this elixir called wine?

To read the full article, click here. 

Are women "undisciplined" in their approach to wine?  Are they too "emotional," too "sensual"?

Men Are 'Wine Bluffs' According to UK Study

A new study in the UK News says Men 'Pretend To be Wine Buffs To Impress'.

"Almost one-in-four men try to impress friends or dates by pretending to be wine buffs, reveals a new survey.

However, most risk being exposed as buffoons according to the poll, which found knowledge of the drink is low despite soaring popularity.

The YouGov poll of 2,396 adults revealed more than two-thirds of people (69 per cent) do not feel they know enough about wine although many attempting to disguise their ignorance by pretending to be experts."

The article also says that, "Some are so sure of themselves that more than a third (35 per cent) of men refuse to let their partner choose wine in a restaurant because they do not trust their choice."

Men aren't the only ones guilty of bluffing--11% of the women surveyed admitted to bluffing about wine.

So, do tell!  Are you guilty of wine bluffing?  Did you bluff, or did you bomb?  Have you ever caught your friends or family bluffing about wine?

A Wine Amateur in France

Contributed by Jana Llewellyn

When my husband and I decided to book a trip to France last February, our main goal was to take in the country while sipping delectable and plentiful French wine, whether we were in Paris or the Burgundy region. I had come a long way in my wine journey—all the way from the fruitiest Arbor Mist in my wine-drinking infancy stage, to an interest in somewhat more complex flavors at a reasonable price. Having never been to France, I hoped my husband and I would fit right into the wine-sipping culture of the bistros and brasseries we’d heard so much about. We had heard that the French drink wine during lunch and dinner; that bottles cost only as much as soda or a jug of iced tea here in the States, and—perhaps the silliest of all—that wine gushes out of fountains in the center of Paris. Of course we didn’t believe this last rumor, but it was enough to convince us that we were in for a luxurious and relaxing trip. Among our more pessimistic expectations was the rumor of the snooty French, who we thought would sneer at our paltry attempts to speak their language, even though we had practiced "bonjour," and "Deux verres de vin rouge, s'il vous plaît," for a month or more. Through what I hoped to be a wine-induced haze, we wouldn’t be able to see their narrowed eyes, nor understand any whispered French insults.

NYT Times Article on Wine and Pregnancy

Those of you who enjoyed Daniel Rogov's thought-provoking piece on Wine and Pregnancy, will also want to read this week's New York Times  article, The Weighty Responsibility of Drinking for Two.

(This post is closed to comments, but please feel free to leave opinions and comments in the Wine and Pregnancy discussion thread.)

_______________________________________

Follow up:  As of December 1, The Weighty Responsibility of Drinking for Two is on the NYT top 5 "Most Emailed" list.

Also, Daniel Rogov, author of Wine and Pregnancy, Lies that Women are Told is now working on an article about the different ways that men and women perceive and evaluate wine.  Stay tuned for another stimulating discussion sparked by an excellent wine writer.

--Mary Baker, editor, Women Wine Critics Board

Make Up or Break Up

Wine Tasting: From Both Sides Now

Contributed by Nancy Commerdinger

My husband and I were given the opportunity to represent our friends and their winery at a recent large pouring. The organizers and staff of the venue did a wonderful job accommodating those pouring and those tasting, which made for an enjoyable experience for those on both sides of the table – which is the subject here: tasting experiences from both sides of the table.

Anyone who has spent any time tasting or pouring wine has their own stories and many are legendary. But during the days leading up to the pouring I found myself wondering why I had never seen any of these experiences written down – granted, maybe some of them should never appear in print, but you get the idea.

The vast majority of folks attend these events to try new wines from a region or appellation, see old friends, meet new ones, or just share a great afternoon with people who enjoy wine. Wineries attend these events to market existing wines, launch new wines, check up on the competition, do some tasting themselves or a combination of all the above.

So, believing this would be a good time and place to start, I set off to enjoy and experience the festival as a winery representative and as a consumer. What I saw and experienced was indeed surprising.

People of course have different styles of tasting and pouring. Some tasters swirl, some spit, some ask a lot of questions, and some say nothing at all. Some pourers only respond to questions, some want to tell you how their malolactic fermentation process is unique (?), and some want to tell you their latest scores in the industry press (of COURSE they do). It’s how these two groups interact that makes for these great stories. So here are some of mine.

Taster Experience #1 – The "tone" of tasting

A gentleman approached my table, refused to make eye contact, did not respond to my greeting and tapped the top of his glass against the neck of one of the bottles we were pouring, sending forth an A-flat note. I then asked if he wanted to try said wine and he chuckled and tapped his glass against the bottle yet again. Still an A-flat. At this point I was unclear how to respond. Options from "Are you in your church’s bell choir?" to "Relax, you may go to the tasting room tomorrow and buy 100 cases," coursed through my mind as I poured into his still reverberating glass. I looked to my fellow pourers who just shrugged.

Taster Experience #2 – Tell me everything

A father and daughter team approached the table and couldn’t wait to learn about who we were, what we did, what processes we did or didn’t use, what type oak we used, whether we racked or not, what the benefits of a Bordeaux bottle were, and what were the best food pairings for our various wines. They shared that they were just getting into wine and wanted to know as much as they could, as quickly as they could. They continued on, engaging the pourers on either side of us with more questions, and left talking with each other in excited tones. I looked to my fellow pourers and we all smiled.

When the pouring was about half over, I decided to venture out and try some of the highly touted wines that I had heard about from tasters. This too was memorable.

Tasting Experience #1 – A Cabernet Baptism

I approached a table, greeted the staff and asked for a tasting of their Cabernet. The pourer answered his cell phone while reaching for a bottle and proceeded to pour the Cabernet on my wrist, in my glass, and on his table, without missing a beat on his phone call, which he continued. I looked at the other pourers and tasters as I was wiping off my arm and glass. They just shrugged.

Tasting Experience #2 – We decided we’d make something new, what do you think of it?

I was happy to see that a winery I’m a big fan of had returned to the tasting circuit. I asked their charming and engaging representative for a sample of my perennial favorite. She said that my favorite wine was also one of hers, but she asked if I’d first like to try something related to my favorite choice, and new for them. I agreed to try some and now have another favorite. I looked at the other tasters and we all smiled.

The long and the short of it is this: You can have all sorts of experiences and all kinds of fun at these events. Each makes a great memory to share at the next one, but it’s like college, very little of what you learn occurs in the classroom. I’m glad I did it and I’ll do it again. After all, I live to have new stories to share with my fellow pourers and tasters.

_____________________________________________

Nancy Commerdinger and her husband Ted live and work in southern California, but frequently sneak away to Paso Robles to help pour wine and entertain customers at Midnight Cellars. One day when I was swamped with cellar and tasting duties at Dover Canyon, Ted waited on customers while Nancy and I rolled a delivery of barrels out of the truck. So much for sex stereotypes!

Red, White and Drunk All Over

This week we are joined by award-winning wine writer Natalie MacLean, who has just published her first book, Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass. Natalie joins us below for a Q&A session about her book, and if you have any questions for Natalie, please post them here!

From the book cover:

Natalie tastes sensuous pinot noir in the ancient cellars of Burgundy while discovering the mysterious tenets of biodynamic viticulture from such colorful characters as the tiny, ferocious Lalou Bize-Leroy, part-owner of France's acclaimed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. She pulls on sturdy boots to help with the grape harvest at California’s Bonny Doon Vineyards—and gets to the root of the anti-establishment philosophy of winemaker Randall Grahm, notorious for his experimental wine techniques, love for unfashionable grapes, and fondness for naming his wines "Cardinal Zin," "Heart Has its Rieslings," and "Big House Red" (whose grapes are grown just down the road from one of California’s state prisons).

Natalie takes a job as undercover sommelier at a five-star French restaurant, spends a day helping customers in a high-end New York wine shop, wades into a famous feud between Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson, two of the world’s best-known critics and, back home, invites friends over for a casual wine tasting. Along the way she teaches us—painlessly and often hilariously—how to face a telephone directory-sized wine list without fear, what questions to ask to get exactly the wine you are looking, what those scores out of 100 really mean, and how properly to expectorate (it’s best to start out in the shower!)

At the 2003 World Food Media Awards in Australia, Natalie was named the World's Best Drink Writer. The competition received more than 1,000 entries. Natalie has also won four James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards for her writing, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, in memory of one of America's greatest food writers. Natalie has also won an unprecedented five Bert Greene Awards for excellence in food journalism, presented by the International Association of Culinary Professionals, four awards from the American Association of Food Journalists, four from the North American Travel Writers Association and three honorable mentions at the National Magazine Awards. Natalie’s e-newsletter is read by 50,000 wine lovers in 36 countries and was twice named one of the three best food and wine newsletters at the James Beard awards.

Don't Call It "Pink"

Contributed by Daniel Rogov, wine writer

If there is a single wine that has come to be firmly associated with women that wine is the one thought of by may people as "Pink Champagne". It is probable that this association started somewhere during the heyday of the flappers, those young women who considered themselves so bold and daring during the 1920's, when the rage at Charleston and Black Bottom dance parties became something called Pink Champagne. Nothing could have given Champagne a worse name, for the probability is that the terrible half-sweet half coarse stuff that the flappers and their equally bold and daring dates were drinking had nothing whatever to do with France. If it did, it certainly had nothing in common with the great wine we know as Champagne, and was probably nothing more than a rose d'Anjou or far worse, a California bootleg "Burgundy" (remember, Prohibition lasted in the United States from 1920 - 1933, so the sale of wine was illegal) to which bubbles had been added by pumping in ample amounts of carbon dioxide.

Responding to all of this, producers in the vicinity of Reims and Epernay began to realize that there might be money to be made in giving the world, men and women alike, a true Champagne that was actually pink. If the truth be told, the first rose Champagnes (call it pink Champagne in France and you will probably be deported within hours and without ceremony) were not very good, made largely by adding cheap Pinot Noir to standard Champagnes in order to give them their pink-orange color. Starting only in the 1960s did rose Champagne attain its legitimate place in the repertoire of winemakers, and today some of the very best Champagnes are brut roses.

Elegance and the Spittoon

Contributed by Daniel Rogov, wine writer

Ever since Susan Anthony took to the streets, Americans have been talking about equality between the sexes. Despite enormous progress in both awareness and action there is only one place in which women and men have found true equality and that is in the humiliating use of the spittoon.

The question of spitting at wine tastings is one that haunts both men and women, professionals and amateurs alike. Let's start off with one given - spitting can never be elegant. But at wine tastings, especially if you are going to be tasting more wine than you would normally drink, it is one of the few ways of maintaining one's sanity, sobriety, and dignity. For professionals who sometimes taste 40, 50 or even 100 wines at a sitting, it is also a way of assuring that their livers, kidneys and brains will continue to function in some sense of normalcy until they reach a ripe old age.

Georges Duboeuf can spit into a spittoon two meters away from where he is sitting without getting a drop of wine on his shirt, the floor or his neighbor. There are not many, however, who have mastered that odd task. Nevertheless, there are several ways in which you can maintain if not elegance, at least a sense of dignity while spitting:

Do “Chick Wines” Really Exist?

This week we are joined by Christian Miller, proprietor of Full Glass Research and director of research for Wine Opinions.

"Chick lit" seems to have been a recent trend in literature, or at least in publishing house PR. I guess it’s another trend that I missed or didn’t really get. (Are the Brontes chick lit? Eudora Welty? Toni Morrison? They all bring a feminine perspective, but somehow I have a hard time thinking of them as chick lit). And the concept of "chick films" seems to get plenty of mention in popular culture from radio to critics to water cooler talk. So are there "chick wines" or is this another urban myth?

This concept has a fairly long cultural history in the U.S. wine business, from the notion that red wines are drunk by men and white wines by women to the idea that wine in general was a women’s drink and men preferred beer. These cruder and more basic notions have been generally discarded, but our preference for easy generalities still pops up in ideas about differences between what men and women want in wine. The fact that there are genuine biological differences in sensory perception between genders helps fuel these ideas.

We’re getting some answers and insights into this issue at Wine Opinions. Wine Opinions is a research company that has created a panel of over 2000 core involved wine consumers, geographically and demographically representative of the wine buyers who really drive the market for fine wines. We do market research for a variety of wineries, and grower/winery organizations. During the course of this research, we often look for patterns or trends by gender in consumer opinion.

Is Grappa Only for Men?

Contributed by Daniel Rogov, wine writer

Many years ago, during my first visit to Italy, and perhaps overly influenced by the memoirs of Italo Calvino, I was enormously impressed by those men who would start their days by standing at the polished brass bar of their neighborhood cafe, there to drink a glass of the brandy known as grappa even before they would have their first cup of coffee. It took several weeks to work up my courage, but one morning in Bologna I made the plunge and started my day with such a ritual.

I would never have admitted it then, but can now confess that my head was in a fog for the entire day that followed. I had no idea during those early days that the grappa adored by most Italians and served in the most popular cafes and bars in the country could be so absolutely vile. Fortunately, especially considering its increasing world-wide popularity, there are also some very good examples of grappa to be found.

"Grappa" is the Italian term for any brandy that is made from the residue of grape skins, stalks and seeds that have been left over after the grapes have been pressed to make wines. After this mass has been fermented it is matured in oak barrels to give it color and, with luck, a bit of flavor and finesse. Known in France as "marc" (don't pronounce the "c"), in Portugal as "bagaciera" and in Spain and most of South America as "aguardiente", most of this brandy is made by growers for their private consumption. Even though the poorer examples of these brandies are fiery, raw and highly alcoholic, Frenchmen, Italians and knowledgeable tourists have always enjoyed making pilgrimages, traveling from village to village in search of the best marc to be found.

Appellation America Selects Two WWCB Writers

We are pleased to announce that two WWCB writers have been selected as regional correspondents byAppellationAmerica.

AppellationAmerica is a new online publication devoted to promoting appellation consciousness across North America. In addition to articles and reviews, the Appellation Discovery Program seeks to identify threads of commonality and pinpoint terroir-based signatures in the wines of each appellation, if such commonality exists, or is developing.

Mary Baker will be covering the Paso Robles appellation with articles, wine reviews, roundtable discussions, and Discovery Panel tastings. Laura Ness is the regional correspondent for the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Appellation America is a comprehensive online wine portal providing access to every winery, grape varietal, and appellation on the North American continent. Its mission is to have the best wine writers in the wine business working in each region to discover and develop distinct wine region identities, and then build appellation consciousness in the broader wine consuming culture. From coverage of the bold, fruit-forward wines of Paso Robles to the elegant, complex style of Long Island wines, Appellation America provides relevant, useful information.

The regional correspondents also organize Discovery Panel tastings, designed to identify specific wine characteristics associated with the terroir and cultural traditions of each region. Wines that are determined by the Discovery Panel to best express the characteristics of their appellation earn AppellationAmerica’s "Appellation Signature" distinction.

A current Roundtable Discussion is open to everyone. The question on the blackboard is:

"Paso Robles is three times as large as Napa, geographically. Are there distinctive regions within Paso Robles?"

We encourage you to post your thoughts, observations and comments in the Appellation America Roundtable, and join this team in a journey to discover the individualistic stamp of our North American wine regions.

Score! Is Wine a Spectator Sport for Men?

Contributed by Laura Ness, Appellation America

Much is currently being made about wine and women, and I hope, song, as good things come in threes.

Most wine ratings have scores—men are obsessed with scores. It’s a sports thing. But does that mean there has been some secret conspiracy to keep women from enjoying wine to the fullest possible extent? It’s not like Scotch or cigars, or all those things men seem to have an innate affinity for, and for which they construct secret dark clubs in which to ensconce themselves and enjoy their sacred pleasures.

I love the fact that wine can be enjoyed in such a mundane, down-to-earth place as my kitchen. My biggest complaint regarding wine critics, and the way tastings are done at the magazines we so highly revere, is that the wines are tasted in a vacuum. Wine is meant to be consumed with food. But this never happens at major wine competitions or trade magazines.

The wines are mass-whiffed, mass-spit and mass-diagnosed, given a letter or a number, and unceremoniously relegated to a spit bucket. It’s a bit unnerving to see what goes on behind the scenes. I’ve been at competitions where people brag about how many chardonnays they zipped through, plus jamming in a flight of pinots so they could go to lunch early. Really, when winemakers work so hard, why do we give them so little time to be appreciated?

The best results come out of competitions where people take their time to interactively discuss the wines and perhaps even fantasize about what kind of food the wine might work with. Panels that have a diverse set of palates and backgrounds serve consumers best. Different styles will be deemed acceptable, and medals awarded for well-made, pleasing wines, even if they don’t ring everyone’s chimes equally. Judgings where there are no discussions, no interactions, where a score is simply scrawled on a sheet and handed to a ticket taker to rank—these competitions do poor service both to the wineries and the general public.

Do women need different information about wine than men? Do we taste and approach wines differently? Maybe. Sometimes. It depends on so many factors.

I’ve been on many panels where I was the only feminine palate, and for the most part, I am in accord with the group. Sometimes I find something to like where others don’t, an at other times, something hits me like a nose bomb and I’m not going to like that wine no matter how my fellow judges vote.

Wine Adventure: Breaking New Ground in Bringing Wine Information to Women

This week we are joined by Michele Ostrove, editor-in-chief of Wine Adventure magazine.  Michele discusses the concepts behind the creation of Wine Adventure, and her plans for the future.  Feel free to join in discussion about Wine Adventure by clicking the 'Comment' link below.

Wine Adventure, the first wine magazine for women, merges food, travel and style through the universal connection of wine. It’s all about enjoying the wine lifestyle and encouraging women to explore and learn in a friendly, approachable way. Each issue features wine country travel destinations, both far-flung and close to home; entertaining and lifestyle ideas; food and wine pairings; wine trends and know-how; interviews with personalities connected to wine; wine picks from an array of experts and much more – delivered in a fun, highly readable format.

We created Wine Adventure to meet a need that had not been previously addressed by wine publications – to speak directly to women with articles specifically of interest to them. It’s been my experience that average women wine drinkers (and I’m not talking about sommelier candidates here!) aren’t particularly interested in grape-growing conditions, terroir, winemakers’ philosophies, how many points a wine is rated or how many bottles they have in their cellar. They just want to enjoy wine with friends and lovers as part of an overall lifestyle, and discover new labels and varietals. Our goal was to make Wine Adventure a vehicle for expanding readers’ wine horizons in creative and fun ways. For example, we’ve got a new department called The Sensual Side, which is about wine’s role in seduction. I’m pretty sure that’s a topic that’s never been broached in a wine magazine before!

Of Blondes, Blow Driers, and Q-Tips

This recent article at Taste California Travel, The Women of Winter: Hot Wines from Women Winemakers (Taking the Heat in a Whole New Way) reminds me of a late night crush at Tobin James Cellars years ago, when I was sort of interning with Toby during a vacation from my full time winery office job.  Just before 2 am, the press broke down.  A gasket and plate separating the motor from the electronics had blown, so grease and oil sprayed all over the delicate electronic components.  At 2 am during harvest, we could not expect an electrician for at least an hour, maybe two, and meanwhile we were looking at two tons of half-pressed fruit attracting every fruit fly in twenty miles.

In my typically addle-pated logic, I figured that if grease wasn't good for microchips, maybe getting the grease off would help.  With nothing else to do, I borrowed his girlfriend's lemon-scented fingernail polish remover (acetate) and some Q-tips and proceeded to swab around the fuses and wires until it looked better.  Toby let me muck it out, although he seemed distressed by the "Lemon Scented" purple label.  After one false try, the press started up again.

Toby said, "Don't you dare tell anyone about this!"

So of course I am.

I also introduced the concept of latex gloves to the cellar crew at Wild Horse.  They were more adaptive when it was explained that mechanics use them to protect their hands from nicks and grease.  Winemakers' hands will sometimes get so blackened from working with tannic red wines during harvest that their skin will crack deeply and painfully. I showed Dover Dan how to soak his hands in raw yogurt to soften his skin and bleach the tannins out.  Among my other important innovations introduced to the wine industry is the use of those cute hose-diverter gizmos available in gardening centers, so the cellar crew could stop running back and forth between the barrels they were cleaning and the hose bib.

In the "Women of Winter" Laura Ness recounts a wine tasting adventure with a warm and fuzzy (but not frizzy) ending.

Chauvinism and Wine Tasting — Sex Role Misunderstandings

Contributed by Daniel Rogov, wine writer

There are two popular wine-related beliefs making the rounds these days, both of which deserve to be put to rest because they are nothing more than pure and unadulterated nonsense. The first of these would have us believe that men are better qualified to taste wine than women and the second that some wines are more appropriate for men and others for women.

At least since the 1950's, it has been well demonstrated that the ability to taste wines (or for that matter any other food or beverage) is determined entirely by the number of taste buds on the tongues and the density of scent receptors in the nostrils. Thirty years passed with no major research into the question of taste but starting in the mid 1990's, largely because major food producers were interested in determining to whom to direct their advertising campaigns, interest in the subject revived in Europe and North America several major research studies were undertaken. At Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Grenoble biologists came up with two sets of findings. The first, that had been more or less known by people in the food and wine industry for a hundred or more years, was that people fall into three broad categories—non-tasters, normal tasters and super-tasters, that is to say, people with limited ability, normal ability and extra-ordinary ability to discern the flavors and aromas in foods and beverages.

What amazed the researchers (who were mostly males) and the wine-tasting public (especially the male chauvinists among that group) was the second finding—that nearly 80 percent of super-tasters are women and not men.

In Defense of Downtrodden Merlot

Contributed by Katy Budge, freelance writer

Not since James Bond ordered "shaken not stirred" has a movie character had so much impact on a potent potable. In this case, I’m talking about Miles from Sideways, but I’m not talking about pinot noir. Indeed, his passion for pinot brought legions of the movie’s fans to make it their wine of choice, but arguably, his condemnation of merlot has had far greater impact. Once almost as ubiquitous as chardonnay, merlot has fallen from grace. It’s no longer cool.

Casting Calls for "The Wine Makers"

Producers of "The Wine Makers," a PBS reality series to be filmed in the wine country of Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo, will start casting for the show next month.

Set to premier in spring 2007, "The Wine Makers" follows six men and women as they compete for a chance to create and launch their own wine label. All of the contestants will be wine enthusiasts who want to start winemaking careers.

The first casting call will be during the Paso Robles 2006 Grand Tasting Tour on Feb. 1 in Atlanta's Fox Theatre. The event attracts vintners, the media and consumers and showcases wines from 25 wineries in the Paso Robles American viticulture area.

Additional casting calls are scheduled in Dallas, Austin, Texas, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

The series is a joint effort of Doc City Production producers Kevin Whelan and JJ Levine, and South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV). Whelan is the producer of PBS shows such as "Wine 101" and "Tales From the Vineyard," a wine-and-travel program. Levine has developed television series and films for Tri-Star Pictures, Columbia Television, The Walt Disney Co. and Turner Network Television.

Principal photography for the series will be shot in San Luis Obispo County starting in September. For any information regarding casting, e-mail the producers at casting@doccitytv.com