When the St. Pierres began importing wine, after buying a Hong Kong shelf company called Asia Solutions Corporation, the also created a product of their own. The family was Canadian by birth, but St. Pierre figured, “God damn, let’s use our French name.” Chateau St. Pierre was California bulk red wine, bottled at a factory in Beijing. It bore a label with the stencilled image of a chateau, which the importers had copied from a coffee-table book. No bottle cost more than forty-five yuan–less than six dollars at the time.

At the beginning they also had a fantastically successful promotion selling two bottles of wine and tie gift boxes. Now they also import Gaja, Penfold’s Grange, and Guigal among many others.

The story provides a small window into wine consumption in China too. Red wine has been called “red liquor” if only to distinguish it from baiju, a “ferocious grain alcohol.” But in the 1990s, the authorities wanted to divert grain back to food production, the story reports, and upgrade the quality of domestic wine. Baiju was banned at ministerial banquets and wine import duties were lowered. But in this video on the newyorker.com, Donald St. Pierre, Jr. says culture of alcohol consumption write large often takes that the ultimate sign of respect for a guest is to down the drink in a single gulp, a tradition known locally as “ganbei.” And apparently for decades, Chinese wine was made in “enormous, state-run industrial wineries [that] blended grapes with chemicals and coloring.” Hmm, doesn’t sound like something worth sipping.

The picture to the right is of Don Sr via Grape Wall of China, an English-language site about the wine scene in China. (Update: Jim Boyce of Grape Wall posts some useful insights in the comments section)

When Gary Vaynerchuk asked me on the “thunder show” I was afraid. Not of him even though he’s an entrepreneur, wine retailer, dynamo, and internet phenom. No, I was afraid he would make me eat dirt. (As he made Conan do.)

In the end, that didn’t happen and there was nothing to fear. Not only is Gary a very nice guy, we had a fun conversation too. So if you have 33 minutes that you are wondering what to do with, check out the segment where we talk and taste three wines. (Or see it on his site.) Gary also has a couple of books out, 101 Wines and a business book called Crush It. If you don’t know about Gary you can check out profiles of him in Slate and NYTimes.com.

Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments as well as your answer to The Question: will you be pouring a magnum on Thanksgiving?

A friend living in the Veneto, Italy writes in with this comparison:

I thought I would share the work that our son brought home from his Montessori pre-school today: filastrocca del vino. A page of rhyming verse about making grapes into wine. Followed by pages to color about grapes + wine including a smiling Chianti bottle. Their fall learning unit was covering varietals through learning about grapes.

After the jump, find the text of the rhyming verse and a couple more pics (no joints).

Here is the rhyming verse (see more here and a loose translation here).:

FILASTROCCA DEL VINO

DALLA PERGOLA NASCE L’UVA:
PRIMA E’ ACERBA POI MATURA.
LA RACCOGLIE IL CONTADINO
E LA SCHIACCIA DENTRO IL TINO.
BOLLE IL MOSTO GIORNO E NOTTE,
POI FINISCE NELLA BOTTE.
NELLA BOTTE SI RIPOSA
FINCHE’ E’ VINO COLOR ROSA.
DOPO TANTE SETTIMANE
VA A RIEMPIR LE DAMIGIANE,
MA LI’ DENTRO NON VUOL STARE:
ORA E’ PRONTO DA INFIASCARE.
PER LA FESTA DI FAMIGLIA
PASSA POI NELLA BOTTIGLIA;
NEI BICCHIERI VIEN VERSATO
E DA TUTTI E’ BEN GUSTATO.

In late summer, The Moment blog at nytimes.com wrote a paean to lambrusco, the purple fizzy wine from Emilia-Romagna. The author had high praise for one in particular: “a rustic biodynamic beauty from Cantina Ceci, whose mild, deep fizz buoys its brooding purple embrace.” At least one New York City retailer also calls the $16 wine Biodynamic, a process of grape growing (and, to a lesser extent, winemaking) that goes beyond organic to synchronize some winemaking practices with the lunar cycle. Several other commentators have called it Biodynamic as well.

While the wine may be tasty, according to correspondence with Demeter Italy, the certifying authority in Italy, none of Cantine Ceci’s wine has ever been certified Biodynamic .

In the case of the Ceci lambrusco, it has the packaging of an artisanal product with twine around the neck and closure. Each bottle comes with a small booklet explaining the phases of the moon and how harvesting occurs while the moon is a mere crescent, as happens both when it waxes and wanes. The wine is called “La Luna,” meaning “the moon.” It does not appear on the producer’s web site.

In correspondence about La Luna, the wine’s importer to the US, Rosalie Sendelbach, said that the wine:

use to be Certified biodynamic until 2007, certification is based on testing each year and also costs quite a bit. its is also some what political. They are considered biodynamic and but did not certified this year. Minimum sulfite is used according to each vintage year and natural sulfite present in the wine during fermentation.

Demeter Italy said, in response to an email query, that no wine has been certified from Cantine Ceci. Three emails over a period of weeks to the winemaker Alessandro Ceci seeking comment about grape growing and winemaking practices at the cantine have gone without reply. Nor has the importer replied to a further request for comment about the response from Demeter Italy.

The wines from Cantine Ceci have received praise from Gambero Rosso Italian Wines and the Italian Sommeliers’ Duemila Vini: both list the Ceci estate and its many wines and consider it important, but there is no mention of organic or biodynamic production.

Jamie Wolff, a partner of Chambers Street Wines in Manhattan, a retailer that specializes in organic and natural wines, says “we do find more and more ‘green’ wines that make us raise our eyebrows.” He continued, “it’s important to get to know the people and visit so you get to know their intentions.” Chambers Street sells the “La Luna” lambrusco, which Wolff said was popular. They do not market the wine as Biodynamic.

Tom Maresca, a longtime observer of the Italian wine trade, had this to say when queried about the situation:

Italians by and large love Americans: they think we are warm and friendly. Unfortunately, some also believe that we are absolutely stupid about wine, and those people really think they can sell us anything. So this could well be a reputable company dealing with the American market as it believes it must be dealt with, and consequently seeing no harm in a little imaginative embroidery. Or it could be more consciously larcenous than that. Or, finally, it could be exactly what it says it is. I’m afraid I can’t really tell.

So what is a consumer to do? The shopper in a wine store can’t independently verify the provenance of every bottle she picks up. There needs to be some truth in marketing, but who can verify the claims? Independent agencies who extract fees? Government regulators? Wine shop owners? Critics? Bloggers?

Incidentally, I inquired with another Italian winery recently about their organic program in the vineyards. By return email within an hour, I had–without even asking–a copy of their certificate in my inbox. Three cheers for transparency.

* * * * *

The Ceci “La Luna” label text as per Google translate:
The ancients drew attention to two fundamental concepts: 1) when the moon is rising and is approaching the Earth, causing an effects-building plans on the bodies. 2) when the moon is waning on the contrary leaves the earth, causing an effect on the bodies of emptying. Therefore, anything that has to do to grow (seeding, births, etc. …) should be done at a crescent moon, whereas everything that causes death (cuts, crops, etc …) should be done at the waning moon. Wineries and Wine Company CECI bottles its wines which originate from natural cultures always and only: a CRESCENT MOON! That is why our wine can be delivered only after a month of ordering.

A retailer’s page showing the wine as Biodynamic:

The author, Leonard Mladinow, wrote a book last year called “The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules or Lives” (amazon; aff). In it, he has a brief section on inherent subjectivity and variation in wine descriptions and ratings. He points out the importance of aggregating several reviews and then expressing the standard deviation with the final score, as in “90 points, plus or minus 6.” Think that would fly in a sales email? Yeah, me either. But a site of user-generated reviews, such as cellartracker, could easily calculate a mean score and standard deviation from the reviews on any given wine in their database. It may not be ever-so-slightly more difficult to read than a single number but it would be a big score for accuracy in reflecting user experiences across diverse settings.

Anyway, check out the article. Here’s one quote for the candor file, from the publisher of a magazine that uses scores: “It is absurd for people to expect consistency in a taster’s ratings. We’re not robots.”

“A Hint of Hype, A Taste of Illusion” WSJ
(Image: a reduced size crop of an image credited to Chris Wadden that ran with the story)

SPIT: double standards
Speaking of the FTC, Blake Gray, former wine columnist for the SF Chronicle, has a lengthy post decrying the fact that the new FTC regulations come down harder on blogs than they do traditional media. [Gray Market Report]

SIPPED: funding freer trade
Frustrated by interstate shipping laws that thwart the ability to purchase wine out of state for 47 states? Consider bidding on wine lots in an auction to benefit the Specialty Wine Retailers Association, which fights legal battles for freer trade.

SIPPED: red wine
Chocolate milk, of all drinks, tries to muscle red wine out of the health news headlines: According to recent research as reported in the NYT, “flavanoid-rich cocoa” found in chocolate milk appears more effective at reducing inflammation that leads to atherosclerosis than regular milk! But the effects still aren’t as pronounced as with red wine. I can see it now: the choco-cabernet smoothie!

SIPPED: symbolic pricing
Joe Montana’s 500 acre estate that spans the Sonoma-Napa county line, is up for sale. The former 49ers QB, who also has a wine label, listed the property at $49 million. [WSJ]

SPIT: symbolic pricing
7-Eleven, the chain of 15,000 convenience stores, has announced their own wine label, Yosemite Road. Instead of pricing it at $7 and $11 a bottle for symbolic purposes, it will retail for $3.99. Aha! Maybe this will be the home of the choco-cabernet Slurpee? [AP]

SIPPED: another city winery
Hong Kong eclipsed New York City as the wine auction capital of the world this year, that we know. But this just in: Hong Kong has had a winery in the city limits since 2007. [CNN]

SIPPED: web voting
The website Foodbuzz recently distributed some blog awards and this blog won the category “blogger you would most want to be your personal sommelier.” Thank you for your votes but my question is, true to blogger stereotype, does that mean I have to pour wine in my pajamas? [Foodbuzz]

Applying this to wine:

1. About two-thirds of wine sold in America is produced in America, by volume. If you’re in the portion that drinks imported wine, what price would it take for you to consider switching to domestic wine? If foreign exchange rates fell to $2 to the euro (a decline of 33% from current levels) would that be enough to make you drink more domestic wines? Or, say, $3 to the euro, double the current rate? [shudder] Bear in mind too that FX moves are often parabolic since wholesalers and retailers seek to maintain the same markup even when the base cost rises. [Update: please see comment below from Matt S.]

2. Will domestic wineries start targeting overseas markets more? Apparently they already have since the Wine Institute reports that exports of US wine have doubled since 2002, when the dollar was at a high. But will American wines exported be more than Blossom Hill and white zinfandel?

3. With the rising price of gold, maybe that gold-encrusted Jerobaum of Champers wasn’t such a bad deal after all?!?

Related: “Why so few tasty American wines under $12? Wine importer Bobby Kacher“

So, which wine would you pair with these delicious, autumnal ravioli? I have some thoughts but will hold them for the comments.

To anticipate your comments, I didn’t call it “impossible” as is my wont, because it’s merely a tricky blend of sweet, salt, fat and herbs.

If you want an impossible pairing for this week, surf over to the WSJ and read Jonathan Safran Foer on eating dog. But apparently eating a low-fat diet will make you less pissy than eating a low carb diet, so maybe staying here and thinking about pasta will put you in a better mood.

I’ll be pouring seven great wines-–red, white and bubbly (including one tasty kosher wine!). We’ll talk party strategies, how to impress the boss with a gift wine, and good food pairings. NO prior wine education is necessary, just a willingness to try something new!

The session will be held at the White Wood House, a historic property on E. 29th St in New York City where the first floor is a space dedicated to wine education. Copies of my books will be available for purchase and I’d be happy to sign them–also good gifts!

So I hope to see you there on Thursday 12/10!
6:30 – 8:00 PM. Registration and details
(image)

Diageo Chateaux & Estates was a major buyer of Bordeaux futures for the better part of the last three decades. In fact, according to one California wholesaler quoted in an AFP article, their buying (along with Costco), created “an artificial level of implied demand from the US — the wine estates set their prices based on this perceived demand.”

But things changed. The wines of the rainy 2007 vintage received weak reviews on the whole and demand slackened for pre-buying during the recession. Diageo Chateaux & Estates had committed to the vintage as they had in the past. Now, they are left with a large inventory of wine that needs to be significantly discounted as it arrives in the US. According to the AFP story, they are dumping the 2007s and previous vintages on the US market to such an extent that trucks are even coming from Mexico to scoop up bargains!

While lower prices sounds like good news, the AFP story neglects the question of future vintages. The low prices of the 2007s may be fleeting because Diageo has now decided to get out of the Bordeaux futures business. As of the 2008 vintage, US retailers have had to pursue different, smaller scale strategies for buying Bordeaux wines as futures to the extent that there has been demand. Now the 2009 vintage has gotten huge advance praise and financial markets have rallied, replenishing the bank accounts of some Bordeaux consumers. So while the demand side for future vintages may be coming back, the economies of scale that DC&E had on the supply side have been removed making a tempting conclusion that prices will move higher.

However, if the Diageo demand was “artificial” as witnessed by the current dumping, the prices could remain lower for several years. And with so many lavishly praised recent vintages already available in the market, Bordeaux buyers may think twice about the need to buy futures on unbottled wine. Indeed, American buyers are “skeptical” according to a recent article on Dectanter.com.

For any retailers out there, what is your recent experience with Bordeaux futures and how will Diageo’s bowing out affect the way you do business? And for consumers, is it “game over” or “game on” for Bordeaux futures?

I recently led a tasting and we were able to put this question to the test. I poured the Domaine Grand Veneur, Cotes du Rhone, reserve, 2007 from a bottle (retail: $14) and a three-liter box ($45) and served them blind in two glasses. (search for this wine)

The assembled group couldn’t really discern one from the other. While everyone agreed that the wine was a good value, some people preferred one over the other but the reasoning was all over the map. Although this sounds like a non-finding, it is interesting that neither format outpaced the other even though one format is decidedly less expensive per ounce/glass.

I look forward to trying this experiment again but it is difficult to find the exact same wine packaged in two different formats. Domaine des Estezargues, Cotes du Rhone 2007 and apparently there’s one from Washington State; hit the comments if you’ve done a tasting like this or know of other wines in both formats for our further experimentation.

Related: “Forget the saber: try opening champagne with champagne! [video]“

I stopped by SD26 on a recent weeknight and things were hopping. The restaurant, opened on Madison Square in September to the tune of $7 million, boasts a wine bar in the front. Tony May, who previously owned the traditional San Domenico, told the New York Times that with SD26 “We aim for the cutting edge.”

Thus behold the 24 bottles in Enomatic, self-service dispensers. And no matter where you are in the large space, the wine list only comes in one form and–paper-be-damned–it’s digital.

It awaits on the bar, propped up by a little kick stand in the back, beckoning you with “SD26″ on the screen. The hostess said that if there were a paper edition it would be “too big” given the amount of wines available. I couldn’t resist and picked up the 9×5 tablet and started tapping the touch screen. First fields: red, white or bubbly? Then drill down: glass, half bottle or bottle? Then drill down again: a list of producers, regions and vintages.

Drill, baby, drill! But this tablet system is a dry hole. When you eventually arrive on a page you want, there is the option to sort by price or alphabetically. Despite having interactive capability, the digitized wine list remains merely a list. There are no descriptions of the wines. No ability to sort by style. Few images. No suggestions for pairings with items on the menu. No interactions such as the ability to rate the wine that you had after you tried it and then coming up with a short list of popular picks or sorting by user-generated rankings. No internet access. So you’re pretty much left where you were with a paper list: talking with the sommelier for a suggestion.

Although the inventory could be instantly updated, the wines probably don’t change too often: the server I spoke with in the front said that the 24 wines in the Enomatic machines have been there since the opening and will likely be there through the new year.

So, really, the substance of the wine list doesn’t appear to benefit form the style of the tablet. It seems to have been done just for the tech of it.

On one page, entitled “Drugs are trouble,” wine, beer, marijuana and cigarettes are graphically depicted in a cage making cat calls at children. Wine, marijuana; they’re both drugs! On the flip side, at least they differentiate between wine and illegal drugs–all while introducing the topics of crack and cocaine!

I can see it now: “Sonny, come help daddy pick out a nice wine for tonight’s dinner. Should we have a ‘47 Cheval Blanc or a ‘61 Lafite? Look, there’s your birth year wine over there that we can drink together when you turn 21. Oh, watch out–don’t step on daddy’s crystal crack pipe!”

In all seriousness, for six-year-olds? Come on. The whole discussion is not only heavy-handed but also grossly premature. (Checking on the web site of the company that produced the educational materials, I see topics such as “fighting germs” and “following directions” for first graders; drugs and alcohol are saved for fifth grade so someone at the school may have been overzealous.) We’ll just keep on having wine with dinner and our son is welcome to smell it whenever he wants.

For the parents out there, what have you seen about in your children’s schooling? How has wine consumption been framed, if at all, for your kids outside of the home? And what do you do if it clashes with your worldview?

Related: “Should kids be banned from wineries?
“Maine prohibits children from observing wine tasting at stores

I contributed a short piece to Forbes.com about wines that could serve as “ringers” in a blind tasting. Have you ever organized a blind tasting at home (or professionally) and thrown in a “ringer”? Or if you haven’t, which wine would you put in which lineup as a ringer in a future tasting?