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Time for another Twitter Taste Live! event.

I know what you’re thinking.

Will this herald yet another untimely celebrity death and bring twitter to an equally untimely end?

I sure hope not.  At the very least, I hope I have a chance to be buzzed before twitter takes a dump all over the Internet.

So onward we will press… This time around, wine twitter-maven and all-around ubiquitous (and hilarious) on-line wine goddess Thea (a.k.a. WinebratSF) will be leading us through a tasting of wines hand-picked for Summer enjoyment from venerable Napa producer St Supéry Vineyards. 

Proceedings will kick off at 9PM ET on Saturday, July 11.  You can read Thea’s energetic intro to the event here.  A run-down of the wines looks promising:

• Moscato 2008
• Sauvignon Blanc 2008
• Virtu 2006
• Cabernet 2004
• Elu 2004

I’ll be in attendance, as I can’t seem to achieve escape velocity for any TTL event… nor would I want to, come to think of it.  Hopefully, I’ll see you on-line as well (you can RSVP here).  In the past, I’ve tried to capture some of the twitter banter via plug-ins on 1WineDude.com, but TTL has now become so successful that there aren’t any plug-ins that can track and replay enough twitter accounts to make a replay worthwhile! 

As one of the few people who’ve been able to participate in TTL form the very beginning, and to watch it grow (and contribute a bit to its success) along with its generous founding members… well, in a way it makes me very proud and happy to see how far it has come. 

TTL is officially ROCKIN’ LIKE DOKKEN, baby!

On Saturday, I’ll be toasting to what will hopefully be many, many, many more TTL events.

Twitter Fail Whale be damned.

Cheers!

(images: tastelive.com, twitter.com… sort of…)

Crowds flee for their lives as “Gluttzilla” menace destroys theme park.
Tokyo defenses “only stir its already considerable anger.”

July 8th, 2009 – Tokyo
Inebriated Press

A powerfully alcoholic wine emerged from the basement depths of downtown Tokyo wine and liquor shop Tanakaya today, breathing fire and staging a level of destruction not seen in the city since 1954, when the lizard-like menace Godzilla attacked the city and died (along with all other nearby sea life) under mysterious circumstances in Tokyo Bay, reports the IP (Inebriated Press).

Hundreds of local residents are reported missing, and damage to city buildings, public transportation systems, and electrical infrastructure reportedly will “easily reach into the several billions [of dollars]” said  Japanese Defense Minister Hamada.

The rogue wine has been positively identified as the powerful and highly potent 2006 vintage of “Gluttony” Lodi Zinfandel from California wine producer Michael~David.  It’s unclear at this time if the monstrous wine bottle was angrily disturbed from its slumber by the passing of trains at nearby Mejiro station, or if it became enraged at receiving a 77 point rating in the June 30 2009 issue of Wine Spectator.

What is clear is that at approximately 1:35 PM Tokyo time today, the enormous Gluttony Zinfandel emerged from Tanakaya and began to destroy nearly everything in its wake, leveling buildings with ease and burning down an amusement part en route to the bay nearby, where “Gluttzilla” (as it has been dubbed by the local press) seemingly took refuge beneath the waves and has not been seen since…

During its rampage of downtown Tokyo, “Gluttzilla” razed at least 6 high-rise buildings, flattened a train depot used for industrial goods transport, felled several electrical towers, and burned down an amusement park using “alcohol breath that burned like a fire” as reported by one eye witness.

Almost as frightening as the wine’s alcohol volume is how quickly it managed to send the city into near-total chaos.  From the time of its emergence downtown until its disappearance under the waves of the bay, only 32 minutes had passed – during which the wine managed to cause billions of dollars of damage and sent scores of terrified Tokyo residents and visitors fleeing for their lives.

“Very little time was available to mount an attack against the wine,” noted Defense Minister Hamada during an emergency press conference held less than one hour after the attack.  “What military force we were able to bring to bear on the wine was not effectual and seemed only to stir its already considerable anger.  We are concentrating now on what to do to keep the city safe from a future attack.  Obviously, we had no forewarning.”

Hamada’s statement that Tokyo had little warning of the danger of the Lodi Zinfandel has been challenged in the press, particularly by wine bloggers.  One blogger from the United States, speaking under condition of anonymity, pointed out that “the Gluttony Zin is huge… it’s well known that it’s a bit of a beast, and at 16.5% abv… well, it’s only a matter of time before something like that breaks loose and causes damage.”

After the press conference, Japan deployed several destroyers on an intercept course to the Zinfandel’s last known location in the bay.

“We can only now wait, and hope and pray that the wine’s anger has subsided,” concluded Hamada.

Gluttony wine producers from Michael~David, so far maintaining silence and issuing no comments about the events in Tokyo, are believed to have retreated to a secret underground bunker in the CA foothills.

(images:  lodivineyards.com, prodos.com, mod.go.jp)

There is, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a time-honored and long-standing tradition that takes place every year.

I’m not talking about the February 2nd ritual of watching expectantly to see if Punxsutawney Phil will glimpse his own shadow, heralding six additional weeks of Winter.

I’m not talking about the amazing July 4th event that takes place in downtown Philadelphia, drawing nearly one million people together to celebrate PA’s unique place and status in the history of the United States’ liberty-based government.

No, I’m talking about the annual Harrisburg tradition that comes around every Summer, in which the PA state senate and governor fail to pass a budget in time for the next fiscal year. PA governor Ed Rendell has the dubious distinction of being seemingly incapable of herding PA’s senate into signing any budget into law before the state teeters on the verge of government program funding meltdown.

To put it kindly, the PA state budget is in a state of total crisis.  The Commonwealth now faces a budget shortfall of $3.2 billion, or roughly the GDP of Mauritania. That kind of deficit is basically a guarantee of missing end of fiscal year targets, since it’s unlikely that any Senate would be happy with the level of cuts needed to reign in such a monstrous shortfall.  This situation has the ability to self-perpetuate: When the state budget is not positioned well to weather a poor economy, the budget deficit grows; it becomes harder and harder to pass a budget due to the pressures of cutting programs that will piss of the state Senate’s constituents; the next year’s budget is then passed late due to the in-fighting, and thus faces more pressures and a potentially greater deficit, which means the budget is poorly positioned for the next economic storm… and the cycle starts all over again.  Which is more-or-less what’s been happening in Harrisburg.

And yet, the PA state government is sitting on a goldmine that could – relatively quickly – halve that deficit.  It simply lacks the courage and will to act on it.

The goldmine?  Wine…

More specifically, the sale of wine, and alcohol, to PA state residents.  Through its state-run monopoly, the state of PA is one of the largest players in alcohol sales in the U.S.   According to the Post Gazette:

“Pennsylvania has one of the most restrictive liquor control systems in the country, with retail sales of wine and spirits limited to the 623 stores statewide. The liquor is subject to a 30 percent markup, plus the so-called Johnstown Flood Tax that legislators put in place in 1936 to help Johnstown recover from a flood. The tax, originally 10 percent, is now 18 percent and amounted to $239 million last year.”

Understandably a windfall that the state wouldn’t want to give up, especially in a time of budget crisis.  And it woudn’t have to, at least not if you believe Nathan A. Benefield, director of policy research with Commonwealth Foundation, who was recently quoted in a PennLive.com article about privatizing PA liquor sales:

“…Pennsylvania would still reap the $102 million annually from sales taxes on booze, as well as the $251 million from the state’s 18 percent liquor tax, based on 2007-08 numbers.”

That same article details the potential pay-off that the state of PA could expect from the sell-off of its liqour control system:

“The Reason Foundation, a national public policy research and education institute, estimated in a 2007 report that full privatization of Pennsylvania’s wholesale and retail liquor structure could return $1.7 billion to state coffers in one-time sell-off payments.”

$1.7 Billion.  That’s over 53% of the current state budget deficit.

Bills calling for the sell-off of PA’s liquor control stake are not exactly new news.  They crop up just about every other year, actually.  But PA’s mounting debt and budget stalemates might be providing extra momentum to the turning tide against the state’s monopolistic alcohol control.

That the tide may be turning is evidenced by the fact that PA has seen recent challenges to its monopolistic, multi-tier alcohol distribution system upheld in appeals court.  State residents can now buy beer directly in some supermarkets – which goes against the grain of long-time PA liquor control board claims that state residents want them to control the flow of alcohol within the state (presumably, they only interview mentally insane residents).

Here’s hoping that wine isn’t too far behind…

Cheers!

(images: groundhog.org, bridgeandtunnelclub.com)

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Those of you playing along at home last week probably noticed the attempt to hold a Twitter Taste Live event meant to coincide with the culmination of Pinot Days.  The idea was to taste four California Pinot Noir wines, and (of course) ‘tweet’ about the experience of tasting them live on twitter and… ah, c’mon, do I really need to explain the TTL concept again at this point?  It’s wine, on twitter, it works, and it’s taking off like mad.

Anyway…

The Universe had other plans that day, and the unfortunate passing of Michael Jackson (r.i.p.) nearly dragged twitter to a grinding halt and caused us to abort the scheduled formal tasting.

[  I should note at this point that I’ve nothing more to add to the multitude of tributes to MJ that have flooded the ‘global interwebs’ over the last week, except to say that he was of course a member of the Jackson 5 which automatically makes him awesome. At least, it made his childhood stardom persona totally awesome.  Especially when he hit the high notes at the end of One More Chance (alllll I WANT!… All I NEEEEEEED!).  That stuff is THE BOMB, baby! ]

Anyway…

We did manage to hold a bit of a less structured tasting of the same Pinots the following day on twitter, during which I noted that while the wines on the whole were tasty, maybe they just weren’t meant for me:

Which got me thinking… if those Pinots aren’t my style of Pinot, then what is my style of Pinot?

Those of you who aren’t interested in knowing (way) too much about 1WineDude may want to stop reading at this point.  Because things are about to get a little… risqué.  Maybe even odd.  Maybe even oddly risqué…

You see, Pinot Noir is fundamentally a sexy wine.  So it’s natural to compare it to sex (natural for me, anyway).

At it’s hedonistic best, Pinot Noir is supple, fruity, food-friendly, aromatic, silky, complex… you get the picture.  And we already know that knowing your wine makes you sexier, and it’s even been suggested that Pinot Noir itself is strikingly similar to human sex pheromones.  It’s not a logical stretch to conclude that knowing your Pinot, then, makes you sexiest of all.  And me, well, I know my Pinot.

OK, not really.  But I at least know what I don’t like in my Pinot Noir (so there’s some hope for me!).  What I don’t like is Pinot that introduces itself on a bed of alcohol – that’s just comin’ on a bit too strong for me.

Anyway…

Back to my style of Pinot.  What’s my style of Pinot?

Volnay. Or Oregon (particularly Eyrie Vineyards).  To be blunt, I like my Pinot just like a like my sex – namely, a little bit ‘dirty’.

What I mean is, I want fruit, I want silky texture, I want a captivating, emotional experience, and I want just a hint of funky: earth, mushroom, wet leaves, whatever – I want a little bit of dirt to keep things interesting and complex.  Which is why the big, bad, massive Pinots just aren’t for me.  It’s not that they don’t have anything to offer – they do, they just offer it all up front, all at the same time, without any mystery or with limited (or no) subtlety.  And they’re afraid of keeping things a little bit dirty.

So… I’ve got a message for those big, bad Pinot Noirs: It’s just not working between us.  It’s not you, it’s me.

Ok… actually, as far as I’m concerned, it is you.

Cheers!

(images: antiyelp.wordpress.com, 1winedude, maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com)

Will a lack of diversity hurt the winemaking industry in the future?

Hey wine lovers and winemakers – Let me tell you a little about you.

Chances are, you’re white.  Or, I should say, chances are you’re not black – especially if you’re a winemaker in the U.S.

In fact, if you’re an American winery owner, there is a 99.9% chance that you’re not black, because African American winery owners represent roughly 1/1000th of the total number of wineries in the U.S.  That’s a staggering misalignment with the diversity of the American population.  If American winemakers held a dance party tomorrow, it would be a clinic in the world’s worst overbite-sporting dance floor moves, because it would be lilywhite.

Based on the numbers above, it’s not a stretch to say that the state of African American representation in winemaking is pathetic.

And frankly, given the racial divides that have been crossed in recent years, the American winemaking community should consider that an embarrassment.

It’s an embarrassment nearly on the same level of the U.S. space program, which spends billions sending people into Earth orbit (using a craft that is run by three 286 CPUs) to conduct experiments, circle the Earth a few times and come back – which one could argue is a huge waste of money and people potential when there is so much more we could be doing in terms of space exploration than basically duplicating what Sputnik did in 1957.

As for why we’re in this situation, I blame the winemakers – black, white, and every color in-between…

I’ve no doubt that African American vintners care deeply about making the best wine that they can, and I’d be willing to bet that many of the wines made by African American winemakers are superb.  But I do doubt how seriously African American winemakers are taking the matter of expanding the number of black winemakers.

Case in point: I contacted most of the six members of the Association of African American Vintners in preparation for this article.  After initial correspondence where they agreed to help and field my questions, the total number of responses I’ve had to my specific inquiries is ZERO.

Sorry, folks – that’s not trying hard enough, even if I am B-list blogger.

About this time last year, NPR ran a radio piece with then AAAV head and Esterlina Vineyards co-owner Stephen Sterling.  It seems that in the year since that interview took place, there hasn’t been a great deal of forward momentum for the black winemaking and wine appreciation community.  Speaking from personal experience, I’m starting to lament the homogeneousness of – and general lack of diversity in – the wine business in general.

Which could be exactly what the wine word doesn’t need right now.  Why? Because the people buying fine wine in the U.S. are no longer rich white people.  There is a growing population of affluent ethnic minority consumers who are becoming wine buyers.  Which means that U.S. winemakers, as a poorly diverse group, are well positioned to lose more customers, since it’s a long-established notion that diversity is good for business, increasing customers. market share, and overall profit, while lack of diversity does has the opposite effect on businesses.

What should be even more concerning for U.S. winemakers is that the lack of diversity in their ranks sets them up poorly to service the newest generation of wine drinkers, Millennials.  Millennials as a group are more ethnically diverse than the Baby Boomers who are buying most of the wine sold today. More importantly, Millennials think of themselves as more ethnically diverse and expect to be treated that way as consumers:

“Not only have they grown up in an age in which diversity was taught in school, but a full one-third of the Millennial generation identifies themselves as non-Caucasian. Because of this, they often question any marketing that is not inclusive, and doesn’t portray diverse races and genders. In addition, they are highly influenced by minority cultures, in terms of music, sports, dress and language. The marketing implication here is to show diversity in all advertisements, emphasize universal values, and consider focus on specific cultural values.”

I know what some of you are thinking.

The color of the winemaker’s skin shouldn’t matter!  What matters is what’s in the glass!!

And if we lived in a utopian society, I’d agree with you.

But the world simply doesn’t work that way.  If it did, we wouldn’t have had to wait so freakin’ long to get a person with President Obama’s background in the White House.  The bottom line is that race is still a struggle for many, and equality is a battle that is slowly being won in America – but not without effort.

The ‘wine crowd’ is still, by-and-large, the ‘white crowd’.

We all need to do our part to change that.  Winemakers… are you listening?

Cheers!

(images: outofcharacter.blogspot.com, whosthebeaver.com)

Pronunciation: \-jē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural et·y·mol·o·gies

Etymology: Middle English ethimologie, from Anglo-French, from Latin etymologia, from Greek, from etymon + -logia -logy

Date: 14th century

1 : the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language

2 : a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies

I’m not sure exactly when I fell in love with words.  I think it happened in high school; though I’ve been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember, I distinctly recall a time in the early Summer during the middle of high school where I became fascinated by the English language, obscure words, and their histories.  I vividly remember devouring books like The Endangered English Dictionary.  It just sort of… happened, not terribly different from how I fell in love with wine, actually.

Mind you, my love affair with wine happened well after high school, since I was of course too young to legally drink alcohol back them… ahem…

Anyway…

I was recently contacted by Charles Hodgson, an author and podcaster about receiving a review copy of his latest book, History of Wine Words – An Intoxicating Dictionary of Etymology and Word Histories from the Vineyard, Glass, and Bottle.  I’m sure that Charles wanted to send me a copy because of the blog (mine, I mean), and not because of my closet desire to be an etymologist, since there’s no way he could have known about that unless he’s also a clairvoyant (to the best of my knowledge, his podcast is about etymology and not long-distance cross-border mind-reading).

Anyway…

As is the case with most of my book reviews, things started out skeptically when I read the back cover:

“A stimulant at dinner parties, wine tastings and cocktail parties. Plus, as a gift, this book makes an excellent accompaniment to a housewarming bottle.”

Hmmm, I thought, you could say the same thing about marijuana. Or Viagra.

I’m happy to report that if you can get past the horrible back cover description, you’ll find History of Wine Words an absolute joy to page through. 

The book is laid out like a mini-dictionary, and even hard-core wine lovers will probably be surprised at how many interesting tidbits are contained in the entries.  Besides learning the probable origins of wine concepts like the British favorite claret (which probably started as a reference to ‘clear’ Rose style wines), you’ll also find History of Wine Words chock full of major-league wine word trivia (e.g., cultivar was coined by 4-H Club founder Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1923).

My favorite entries turned out to be the ones that were the most obvious but also the most ambiguous – namely, those used to describe wine and the act of tasting.  Take, for example, the entry on Body:

“People have long struggled to come up with language that could adequately describe the tastes and aromas of wine… To say a wine is full bodied is one of the more successful expressions of the wine experience, communicating a feeling of fullness and roundness in the mouth.  But even this expression is only a partial success; if you’re thinking “What does ‘roundness in the mouth’ mean?” then I’ve made my point.”

That is just so good.

Another fave for me – Palate:

“Someone with a sophisticated palate is able to pick out more nuances when tasting wine.  This sense of the word palate refers to a person’s taste and sense of taste, even though the part of the mouth called the palate contains no taste buds.”

You’ve got to love that.  Hodgson has done his homework in chasing down the history of the wine words and phrases in History of Wine Words, and his tone is just snarky enough to ensure the book doesn’t devolve into a purely intellectual exercise – we are talking about wine after all, right?

Cheers!

(images: amazon.com)

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Some of you out there reading this who may be in the wine trade will already know some of what I’m about to unfold here on the virtual pages of 1WineDude.com.  To those people I say this: chime in with some comments to help those who are soon to step into danger’s path.

Some of you, who are new to the trade, or are eager and enthusiastic consumers who are planning to attend a wine tasting event during which you may have the opportunity to taste upwards of 100+ wines in a short amount of time.  To those people I say this: read on and pay attention – it just might save you some pain.  Some real pain.

As the bards AC/DC said, “For those about to Rock – We Salute You!”

Anyway… I’m not talking about the fact that you need to pace yourself when tasting dozens and dozens of wines, or the hazard of your judgment becoming impaired due to absorbing alcohol through your mouth even if you spit all or most of your tastings.

I’m also not talking about the potential staining of your teeth from tasting a ton of red wine (though that is certainly an occupational hazard, though a temporary one).

Nope – I’m talking about something more… insidious…

I’m talking about the fact that wine tasting – red or white – at high volume absolutely wrecks your mouth, almost as raucously as AC/DC’s Angus Young wrecks your eardrums in concert with the insanely loud and blazing power of his Rock.

Almost.

To make a long story short, the low pH levels found in wine can cause your gums to recede (exposing sensitive parts of your teeth root structures) and tooth erosion – in some causes, eroding teeth instantaneously.

The effect of this varies based on an individual’s sensitivity and their normal amount of saliva, which acts to protect tooth enamel and help to mitigate the negative impact of acid in the mouth when pH levels get too low.  According to The Adelaidean:

“Wine makers, wine judges and wine marketers’ chosen profession puts them at a higher risk of tooth erosion, but it is a problem that can be reduced, according to Dr Diane Hunt, a senior lecturer in Restorative Dentistry at the University of Adelaide.

Tooth erosion can affect anybody’s teeth. It is an irreversible process, which rapidly occurs when acids, commonly from food and drink, are present in the mouth.

When these acids are present and the pH level of the solution that bathes the teeth gets below 4.5 teeth start to erode. The acids dissolve calcium and phosphate from enamel surfaces and expose the dentine, which is a very sensitive tooth material, causing tooth sensitivity.

Because the pH level of wines can range from 3.2 to 3.8, with sparkling wines as low as 2.8, instantaneous erosion can occur in susceptible people.”

This topic has been covered before by other wine writers, and I noticed that Alder Yarrow at Vinography.com has experienced the same thing I have after tasting lots and lots of acidic whites – severe tooth sensitivity.  I also find that wine tasting makes the inside of my mouth rawer than an Angus Young guitar solo, taking several days, at a minimum, to recover.

The Adelaidean article goes on to note that Dr. Hunt recommends that wine tasters not brush their teeth before bouts of serious wine tasting, in order to let an extra layer of plaque help to protect their teeth.  Strangely, I haven’t been able to find any serious tasters who back that view – in fact, they tend to recommend just the opposite.

Take George Miliotes, Master Sommelier and Director of beverage and hospitality for the Seasons 52 restaurant chain, for example.

“I brush my teeth several times a day” he told me recently during a dinner at Season 52’s new Cherry Hill, NJ location.  He was talking about how he keeps his palate from fatiguing and his teeth from aching when he works with winemakers during the blending process (George blends wine on location that make up two of Season 52’s exclusive by-the-glass pours, from the Mosel and Jumilla, respectively), during which he tastes hundreds of samples.

Which brings us to the Secret Weapon portion of our post.

What is THE tool needed to help stave off the nasty destruction of your pearly whites during an intensive wine tasting?  A damn good toothbrush.

Personally, my gums were in sad, sad shape a few years ago, to the point where my dentist was uttering phrases like “gum surgery” which sounded very, very painful.  I invested in an OralB electric toothbrush, and have never looked back (the gums are now in tip-top shape, by the way).

Probably not the advice you were expecting, but if you’re going to taste a ton of wine, it’s the advice that you need to hear.

For those about to brush – WE SALUTE YOU!

FIIIIIIRE! 

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Cheers!

(images: flikr.com, nataliedee.com)