Excerpts from the article By Daniel Altman for The New York Times
"Mention Salta to an Argentine, and the response is often the following: 'Ah, Salta the Beautiful.' That this northern province isn't better known to the rest of the world is an injustice. The road south from the province's eponymous capital to Cafayate, home to a cluster of vineyards, boasts breathtaking scenery, with cliffs of many hues shaped by water and wind. With the addition of tasty food, a rich musical tradition and powerful wines, the place should not be missed.<\/p>
The city of Salta used to be known only for its colonial charms, like the late 19th century cathedral whose pink and custard facade looks down on the orange trees that line Ninth of July Plaza. But modern Salta has carved out a place as the leading city of Argentina's norhtwest.<\/p>
The wines from Cafayate are strong and flavorful because of the area's microclimate, which can expose the grapes to a temperature difference of over 35 degrees in one day, said Fabian Mirando, an oenologist at El Esteco. Marco Etchart, whose family owns San Pedro de Yachochuya, added that Cafayate wines have an intense color too: 'The wines of Mendoza may be more refined, but here they have luminosity and power.'"
<\/p>";
tickBrief[211]="
Why I Love Cigare Blanc<\/strong> - by Randall Grahm <\/span><\/p>The winemaking got better - very careful pressing to avoid astringency - and the wines, whether by chance or design, received some good bottle ageing. And then suddenly I found that I no longer needed to shuffle my feet and vaguely apologize for the wine, but found that it was now blowing minds and thoroughly delighting palates. And most extraordinarily, it was selling, especially in fine dining restaurants with the capability of doing wine pairings. (I am told that white Rhônes in general as a category, are now seriously fashionable.) For Cigare Blanc is a gastronomic wine par excellence<\/em>, a great foil to dishes with a little bit of fat - butter and cream sauces, even the generalized richness one finds in a lobster. There is a wonderful suggestion of autumnal fruit in Cigare Blanc - quince and perhaps Asian pear - the skin of the pear to be precise, possessing a most haunting fragrance. There is a lovely herbal, almost minty note - spearmint(?), a beautiful foil to the ripe succulent pome fruit aspect. I can't say that Cigare Blanc pairs with everything, but I did have it recently with sushi rolls served with fresh<\/em> wasabi, and everyone at the table just went nuts with the felicity of the pairing. If you have the opportunity to find a bottle of Cigare Blanc with several years of age, you will be thrilled with its great complexity, and thankful for the cloud of ignorance that has surrounded this wine (and those of its ilk) for so many years.<\/span> ";
tickBrief[210]=" Written by Sean Sullivan for www.wawinereport.com<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> L'Ecole No. 41<\/strong> K Vintners<\/strong> Walla Walla Vintners<\/strong> 2009 and 2010 Northern Rhone - Robert Parker<\/strong>
2008<\/a> & 2004<\/a> in stock; inquire about 2006 & 2007 vintages
There has always been a received wisdom in the wine business about various "third rails," i.e. wines, no matter how great, the commercial prospects for which are believed to be essentially impossible. Alsatian white wines are generally believed to fall into this category (and their reds, well, hello!) And then there are white Rhônes, of the homegrown or expatriate ilk. Even the greats, the very greats - Chave, Chapoutier, Château Grillet, were believed to be largely unsaleable for many years. Against this backdrop and with the extreme predilection for lost but noble causes, we began making Le Cigare Blanc in 2003. On the one hand, it seemed to make perfect sense. We would use the principle grapes of white Châteauneuf-du-Pape - Roussanne and Grenache Blanc and create a companion bottling for our flagship, Le Cigare Volant. The first years were tough going, truth be told. The wines were generally not so prepossessing in their youth. (Roussanne has a fairly astringent skin - it is a russeted grape - and the young wine can be slightly tannic.) But we eventually got the hang of things. More intervention in the vineyard to get the two sides of the grape to ripen more evenly, better restriction of yield. I persuaded the grower of Beeswax Vineyard - the most aptly named vineyard from whence Cigare Blanc derives (there is an unmistakable beeswax character to the wine with a little bit of bottle age), to adopt an unorthodox irrigation style that promotes very deep and wide ranging root-system development. (That practice plus the use of biodynamic sprays and compost has really helped to accentuate the wonderful mineral aspect of the wine.)<\/span><\/p>
It can sometimes be difficult for established wineries to garner the attention that the upstarts do. But there’s nothing like reintroducing yourself to your customers to change that.
2011 was a good year for L’Ecole No 41<\/strong>,<\/a> one of Walla Walla Valley’s oldest and most highly regarded wineries. It included a successful label change, website redesign, and overall rebranding. The results have helped energize sales nationally and bring the winery additional attention. To cap things off, L’Ecole landed a spot on Wine Spectator’s annual top 100 list – at No 41 no less.
<\/a>
The reason for L’Ecole’s continued success is, of course, it’s commitment to continually producing high quality wines. Tasting through the lineup, the consistency in quality is amazing, as is the quality to price ratio on the wines.
The current releases include some fun wrinkles. Note that, with the rebranding, the Recess Red is gone and is now listed as Red Wine. “I figured that if Quilceda Creek had a Red Wine, we could too,” managing winemaker and co-owner Marty Clubb says jokingly. One of the standouts in the current releases is the 2008 Seven Hills Vineyard Cabernet. The fruit came from the 20th<\/sup> leaf from this section of the vineyard, and this 100% Cabernet is a compelling expression of valley fruit.
In other news, the Perigee Red Wine has all five Bordeaux varietals for the first time. Finally, the winery produced a wine called L’Erudite, with all proceeds going to Whitman College. This Bordeaux style blend is half from Seven Hills and half from Pepper Bridge and is a fascinating comparison to the winery’s single vineyard bottlings from these sites. “We wanted it to be a really special wine but be uniquely different,” Clubb says. As usual, they have more than succeeded.<\/p>
<\/strong>Abeja<\/strong>
Who makes better Cabernet than John Abbott at Abeja<\/a><\/strong>?
I have to confess that many times when I feel like having a Cabernet Sauvignon, the wines from Abeja are the first that come to mind and I find myself asking this question. Abbott has a knack for the grape and year after year makes some of Washington’s finest. It’s also worth noting that the price of Abeja’s Cabernet has remained steady for a number of years, while his peers’ prices have increased. “I want to deliver a lot of value for what we are,” Abbott says, and indeed the winery does.
Standouts from the current lineup also include a 100% Merlot from Heather Hill and Bacchus vineyards as well as a 100% Cabernet from Heather Hill. This is the first vineyard designated wine from the winery’s estate vineyard, and it’s clear tasting this bottle why it was time.
Heather Hill is located in the southern section of the Walla Walla Valley AVA, east of Seven Hills Vineyard, in what I fondly refer to as ‘the occupied area’ of the valley. The vineyard was planted in 2001 and Abbott credits much of the site’s accelerated development to the sustainable farming practices used (the vineyard is certified LIVE and Salmon Safe). With the vineyard showing this well at less than ten years of age, the future is bright.
<\/p>
K Vintners<\/a><\/strong> continues to make some of Washington’s most compelling, uniquely styled wines. The 2009 vintage releases reviewed below are no exception.
Each year some of my favorite wines to try from K are ones that use Cayuse Vineyards<\/strong><\/a> fruit, such as the Roma Red Wine from En Chamberlain Vineyard. This Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah blend provides an interesting contrast to Cayuse’s En Chamberlin Syrah.
Among his many offerings, winemaker Charles Smith has helped shine a light on the Wahluke Slope AVA with vineyard designated bottles such as ‘The Deal’ Syrah from Sundance Vineyard. These wines also continue to offer some of the best values in the K lineup.
Of note, Smith recently opened a tasting room in downtown Walla Walla – the worldwide headquarters – where the K Vintners and Charles Smith wines are poured. The K wines also continue to be poured at winery facility east of town.<\/p>
What can I say about Walla Walla Vintners<\/a> <\/strong>that I haven’t said before (read previous posts about the winery here<\/strong><\/a>)? Gordy Venneri and Myles Anderson continue to make top quality wines at prices that just don’t budge. To wit, here’s a look at the winery’s price for its Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in recent years:
2007 <\/span>$35
2005 <\/span>$35
2003 <\/span>$35
2001 <\/span>$35
2000 <\/span>$35
I think you can guess what the price of the 2008 vintage, sampled below, will be.
That’s right; across nine vintages Walla Walla Vintners has not raised its price on this wine one single dollar. In 1997 the wine cost $32 – a full fourteen years ago. People must have been scandalized when it subsequently increased three dollars.
This can only mean one of two things. Either this is benign neglect where Venneri and Anderson keep forgetting to increment the price year after year, or it is a deliberate decision. For anyone who has met the two, there can be no question which it is. This is a winery that prides itself on continually over delivering on quality for the price and always succeeds.
Now someone out there is probably thinking, “These are terrible business people. How could they do that?” However, the rate at which the winery’s first ever wine club filled up earlier this year would dispute that (the only reason Venneri and Anderson didn’t start one sooner is they didn’t want to seem gimmicky).
Walla Walla Vintners has a large and devoted following. And it’s not just because they’ve held their prices. It’s because their wines are consistently fantastic. Who could ask for anything more?
<\/strong> <\/p>";
tickBrief[209]="NY Times - International Herald Tribune
THE FEMALE FACTOR
Growing Beyond the Fields
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: January 3, 2012
PONTINIA, ITALY — On her tiny farm in a former marshland reclaimed under Mussolini, Tiziana Lauretti grows plums and favetta di Terracina, the bright red, sweet strawberry celebrated in this patch of central Italy.
But oscillating demand for her crops and volatile food prices have pushed Ms. Lauretti to adopt the survival tactics typical of many small farms in Europe.
These days, visitors to this family owned homestead can gawk at a motley crew of farm animals, as well as two tetchy peacocks, the most recent addition to the menagerie, or buy homemade prune or strawberry jam. During the school year, she said, classrooms of children “who have never seen an egg outside of a supermarket” get their hands covered with flour while baking pizza in a small wood-burning oven on the farm, which covers just three hectares, or about seven acres.
If Ms. Lauretti’s experience is typical of small farmers scrabbling to make a living in an increasingly globalized economy, it is also typical in another way: Women, who manage one-third of Italian farms, have been particularly open to branching out the core business, what operators call multifunctional agriculture.
“I couldn’t make a living only by selling strawberries and plums,” Ms. Lauretti said. “Either you have a large farm, or you diversify, like we did.”
Andrea Segrè, dean of the faculty of agriculture at the University of Bologna, said women were finding “lots of space” in multifunctional areas like agricultural tourism, farmers’ markets, organic farming and direct sales.
And agriculture schools across Italy have seen an increase in enrollment, particularly among women, he said. “The agriculture of the future is very much female, as it has always been,” he said. Preliminary 2010 census data, issued in July, showed that the number of Italian farms had decreased by 32.2 percent in the previous decade, but fewer women than men had decided to throw in the towel.
The Italian experience is by no means unique, but the female farm work force is significantly higher here than elsewhere in Western Europe. In the most recent Eurostat figures available, from 2007, Italy had a female farm labor force of 1.3 million, well ahead of comparably sized European Union nations like France and Germany, neither of which reached even 340,000.
Even another traditionally agricultural country like Spain only had 660,000 female workers, half those of Italy. And for all these countries, the profile was similar for women who manage farms.
Mara Longhin, president of Donne in Campo, or Women in the Field, part of the Italian Farmers’ Confederation, said women “are way ahead of the curve” in diversifying, noting that most small farms cannot sustain themselves through crops or livestock.
The involvement of women in multifunctional agriculture has helped society in important ways “like food security, rural development and the safeguarding of the natural landscape,” she said. Increasingly in Italy, too, farms have begun to offer day-care services in rural areas “where there isn’t a lot of support for working mothers,” said Ms. Longhin, who runs a dairy farm in Campagna Lupia, near Venice.
Silvia Bosco, who follows women’s issues for Coldiretti, another farmers’ confederation, said government support for women in business was “practically nonexistent.”
“There’s a lot of talk about equal opportunity,” she said. “but in practice it is limited.”
Women are vastly underrepresented at a political and institutional level, added Susanna Cenni, a member of the Democratic Party who sits on the agricultural committee of the lower house of Parliament.
“There is an enormous distance between the reality of women working in agriculture and their representation” in government or boardrooms or research and economic institutes, “even if they are competent,” she said. “Unfortunately, politics count, and in politics, men are the first pick.”
Agriculture Minister Mario Catania said in an interview that the economic crisis had sharply diminished public spending, meaning that “there are no resources to put on the table” for female farmers. In any case, Mr. Catania said, earmarking money according to sex is “not simple to enact.” Italy would do better, he said, to improve family services like day care to help more women join the work force.
Not all the farms run by women are mom-and-pop operations, of course. In various sectors, like cheese-making and especially wine, “there are many names that count,” said Veronica Navarra, president of the Italian Observatory for Female Enterprise and Labor in Agriculture, a government-run organization.
“The world of agriculture in Italy used to be very male-oriented, but now there’s been a reversal,” she said, thanks in part to a few institutional and grass-root networks that offer both financial and moral support to women.
Gaetana Jacono is the sixth-generation descendant — but first woman — to manage Valle dell’Acate, a 100-hectare Sicilian wine estate that produces about 400,000 bottles a year. The business now exports 70 percent of its production, thanks to Ms. Jacono’s foresight. She said that in Sicily, the top-selling women wine makers, of which there are several, “are tight” and often travel together.
“We have great respect for each other’s work, I think more than men do,” she said. “Women can work together, we have this in Sicily and it only gets stronger as time goes on,” she said, adding that discrimination, “which certainly exists,” had been a strong bonding agent.
<\/strong>
Such hurdles include trying to get credit. In June, Ms. Lauretti inaugurated a homey five-room bed-and-breakfast here, crafted from a hulking barn that once housed 20 dairy cows. But before she could get a loan to do the work, she said, her husband, who works for the state railroad, had to offer a guarantee, “even though I owned the land and the house.”
She is the third generation to take over the farmstead, just a short drive from Sabaudia, a popular beach midway between Rome and Naples. Her grandmother, Maria Fia, now 91, still shuffles through the farmyard with the help of a cane.
Ms. Lauretti’s 16-year-old daughter, Giulia, is studying for a pedagogical high school diploma so she can open a day-care center on the farm when she graduates, “even though there’s a lot of bureaucracy involved in that,” Ms. Lauretti said.
And she is still unsure that the gamble will pay off. “It’s taken a lot of money, and a lot of hard work,” Ms. Lauretti said.
Her mother and co-farmhand, Iolanda Di Girolamo, echoed that sentiment: “Sacrifices, many, many sacrifices.”";
tickBrief[208]="
Chateau de Saint Cosme 2009 Cote-Rotie<\/a> 92pts
Chateau de Saint Cosme 2009 Crozes Hermitage 91pts Sold Out
Chateau de Saint Cosme 2009 Saint Joseph<\/a> 90pts
Rene Rostaing 2009 Coteaux de Languedoc Puech Noble 90pts 2007 In Stock
<\/a>Rene Rostaing 2009 Cote-Rotie Cote Blonde 95pts 2006 In Stock<\/a>
Rene Rostaing 2010 Cote-Rotie Cote Blonde (93-96) 2006 In Stock
<\/a>Rene Rostaing 2009 Cote-Rotie Cuvee Classique 90pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Rene Rostaing 2010 Cote-Rotie Cuvee Classique (90-92)pts 2008 In Stock
<\/a>Rene Rostaing 2009 Cote-Rotie la Landonne 93pts TBA
Rene Rostaing 2010 Cote-Rotie la Landonne (91-94)pts TBA
Rene Rostaing 2009 Condrieu la Bonnette 95pts TBA
Argentina: A summing Up - Jay Miller<\/strong>
BenMarco 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon 90pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>BenMarco 2010 Malbec 90pts 2009 In Stock<\/a>
BenMarco 2009 Expresivo 92pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Bodini 2011 Chardonnay 89pts 2010 In Stock<\/a>
Bodini 2011 Malbec 88pts 2010 In Stock<\/a>
Crios 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon<\/a> 87pts
Crios 2011 Chardonnay 88pts TBA
Crios 2010 Malbec<\/a> 87pts
Crios 2011 Rose of Malbec 87pts 2010 In Stock
<\/a>Crios 2010 Syrah/Bonarda 87pts 2008 In Stock
<\/a>Crios 2011 Torrontes<\/a> 90pts
Graffito 2009 Malbec<\/a> 91pts
Ichanka 2010 Bonarda 87pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>Ichanka 2010 Malbec 88pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>Ichanka 2011 Sauvignon Blanc 89pts 2010 In Stock<\/a>
La Posta 2010 Cocina Malbec 87pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>La Posta 2010 Malbec, Angel Paulucci Vineyard 90pts 2009 In stock<\/a>
La Posta 2010 Malbec, Pizzella Vineyard 90pts 2009 In Stock<\/a>
La Posta 2011 Cocina Blanco de Blancos 88pts 2010 In Stock<\/a>
Luca 2009 Chardonnay<\/a> 92pts
Luca 2010 Malbec 93pts 2009 In Stock<\/a>
Luca 2010 Pinot Noir 88pts 2009 In Stock<\/a>
Luca 2009 Beso de Dante 94pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Luca 2010 Laborde Double Select 92pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>Mapema 2011 Sauvignon Blanc<\/a> 87pts
Mendel 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 92pts TBA
Mendel 2009 Malbec 91pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Mendel 2009 Finca Remota 94+pts TBA
Mendel 2010 Lunta 90pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Mendel 2009 Unus 92pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Mendel 2011 Semillon 90pts 2010 In Stock<\/a>
Susana Balbo 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon 92pts 2008 In Stock
<\/a>Susana Balbo 2009 Malbec<\/a> 92pts
Susana Balbo 2009 Malbec Late Harvest 91pts 2008 In Stock
<\/a>Susana Balbo 2008 Brioso 93pts 2007 In Stock<\/a>
Susana Balbo 2008 Nosotros 94pts 2007 In Stock<\/a>
Susana Balbo 2010 Torrontes Late Harvest 91pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>Tikal 2010 Amorio Malbec 91+pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>Tikal 2010 Natural Malbec<\/a> 91pts
Tikal 2009 Jubilo 92pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Tikal 2010 Patriota 91pts 2009 In Stock<\/a>
New Releases from Napa Valley - Antonio Galloni<\/strong>
Bryant Family Vineyards 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 96+pts Please Inquire<\/a>
Bryant Family Vineyards 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon (94-97)pts Please Inquire<\/a>
Bryant Family Vineyards 2009 Bettina Bryant Proprietary Red Wine 97pts TBA
Bryant Family Vineyards 2010 Bettina Bryant Proprietary Red Wine (94-96)pts TBA
Bryant Family Vineyards 2009 DB4 93pts Please Inquire
Fisticuffs 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon<\/a> 88pts
Fisticuffs 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon (87-89)pts 2009 In Stock<\/a>
Hourglass 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 87pts Please Inquire<\/a>
Hourglass 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Blueline 87pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Lewelling Vineyards 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 93pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Lewelling Vineyards 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Wight Vineyard 95pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Maybach 2009 Amoenus 92pts TBA
Maybach 2010 Amoenus (91-93)pts TBA
Maybach 2009 Materium 94pts Please Inquire<\/a>
Maybach 2010 Materium (94-96)pts Please Inquire<\/a>
Rivers-Marie 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 94pts TBA
Rivers-Marie 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Panek Vineyard 95pts TBA
Rivers-Marie 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Panek Vineyard (92-94)pts TBA
Rivers-Marie 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Roberto Corona Vineyard 93pts TBA
Rivers-Marie 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Roberto Corona Vineyard (91-93)pts TBA
Tu Tu 2010 Pinot Grigio<\/a> 87pts
Australia's Wine Values of 2011: Better than Ever - Lisa Perrotti-Brown<\/strong>
Aramis 2009 Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 89pts TBA
Aramis 2009 White Label Shiraz/Cabernet 87pts 2008 In Stock<\/a>
Blackbilly 2010 GMS 90pts 2009 In Stock
<\/a>Elderton 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Friends (Eden Valley) 87pts TBA
Elderton 2010 Shiraz Friends (Eden Valley) 89pts TBA
Hill of Content 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 87pts TBA
Hill of Content 2007 Grenache/Shiraz Old Vines<\/a> 89pts
Hill of Content 2006 Shiraz<\/a> 88pts
Wishing Tree 2011 Unoaked Chardonnay<\/a> 87pts
Wishing Tree 2008 Shiraz<\/a> 89pts
Tir Na N'og 2008 Grenache 90pts 2006 In Stock<\/a> <\/p>";
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Salta: Wind-Carved Land of Strong Wine";
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