Brunello sticks to their roots...

As many winos may have heard in the news recently, an upcoming vote on the fate of Brunello di Montalcino drew to an end today, and I have the results, thanks to a subscription to vinowire... (You should get it, it's free!)If some readers don't know what I'm saying then let me give it to you in a nutshell:Brunello di Montalcino, a prestigous wine region in Italy, must be made of 100% sangiovese grapes. Around eight months ago, fake "Brunello" blends (read: not 100% sangiovese) were being sold as BdM- This was bad for Italy and bad for brunello. Some wine makers said they wanted to change strict, Italian DOC and DOCG wine laws to allow blends; this will help tailor the taste of BdM to foreign (read: majority American public) consumers who are not used to a power palate-boxer such as brunello.

So, here are the voting results:

Proposition 1- Are you in favor of changing the ampelographic (the study of identification and classification of grapevines) basis for Brunello di Montalcino? 662 voted NO, 30 voted YES

Proposition 2- Are you in favor of changing the ampelographic basis for Rosso di Montalcino? 540 voted NO, 162 voted YES

Proposition 3- Are you in favor of changing any other appellation rules? (yields, allowing the use of concentrated rectifiede must) 474 voted NO, 278 voted YES

Proposition 4- Are you in favor of grouping all appellations into a single "Montalcino" appellation? (Except for Sant' Antimo.) 684 voted NO, 6 voted YES

Proposition 5- Are you in favor of grouping all other appellations into a single "Montalcino" appellation? (Except for Brunello di Montalcino.) 572 voted NO, 118 voted YES

So as we may see in these results, it seems that wine makers stay proud and true to their traditions. Even though changing some of these DOC/DOCG laws may help business and harvest, the prestige of Bdm and all Montalcino's wine regions are more important than financial gain.

So next time some aristocratic, wannabe flaunts some expensive bottle at you, or you take a punch to the tongue from a truly bold and powerful brunello, thank the Italian wine makers; for keeping their class, sticking by their convictions and protecting traditions.

Cheers!
-Tatum
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Working the 25th Annual Maryland Wine Festival

I know what you guys are all thinking; "Maryland wine sucks!" and while not a lot of Maryland wine I drink really appeals to me, but my eyes changed when I worked the Maryland Wine festival in Westminster a week back.

I worked for Cove Point Winery- a small winery located in Lusby, Md. who is run by Tom and Shannon. Tom has dedicated his whole house to producing the wines they displayed at the festival, with new facilities up-and-coming. I was amazed at his wines! They were light, crisp, approachable. I loved the Bleufrankhish and he had a killer Cabernet/Syrah blend. His wines were very solid.

The festival was very solid as well. I got free admission for two days of wineing and it was great. Some notable wineries included Fiori Vineyards, with their Italian- approach to making delicious wines (the sangiovese sold me), as well as other wineries/vineyards of note that I need to look back up. On top of free admission, I got a free bottle of wine for both days of work! Without a doubt I picked up the Bleufrankhish. All this, and all I had to do for "work" was to pour wines to festival goers, chat with them about anything and have a freakin' blast.

All the fun I had this weekend really showed me things I've always been curious about in myself. I never knew if I had the mettle to be in the wine business. It's tough; wine requires dedication, determination and devotion. But last week I realized I had these things, and when combined with my strength, my interest in people, I saw a glimspe that maybe I could survive in a wine society...

Until next time,
Cheers!

-Tatum

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Spare a Dime?

To me, and probably most all of you out there as well, owning a vineyard is the biggest step you can take to becoming an oenophile, also known as a "wine enthusiast." Being the owner of a vineyard and making your own grapes not only requires massives amounts of cash, but also your life. You need to have time to moniter the vineyard, market it, make the wine, maintain the land. Basically, you can't get "a little" into owning a vinyard, it's all or nothing.

This brings me to a NY Times article on this very subject: people who have cash and passion for wine can now own their vineyard and have other people deal with the complexities of it. Basically, the London-Based firm called AIM Vineyards offers a service to give wealthy people a hassle-free way to get into wine and own their own plot of grape-growing land. I wish I could say I will ever be able to remotely afford something like this, so I am out of the picture, but I just want to know what something like this will do to the public perspective of wine making? Will we just have a whole bunch of rich people be able to "make" their own wine, and not know a thing about it?

As I have said many times, this summer I am venturing into the wine making process. Although I will not be buying out a vinyard and growing grapes, my main focus for this wine making is appreciation. I feel that if I get a hands on of making wine, I can learn more about the dedication and knowledge wine makers need to get a nice bottle of wine on our tables.

But I get discouraged when I see filthy rich people be able to just put down cash for all the gains. This could eliminate the passion, the strive for knowledge and the rite-of-passage from wine making itself. Wouldn't it be more satisfying to be able to say that you made your wine, not that you paid for your wine to be made? Isn't it more appealing to be able to explain why you initially fermented the wine three weeks instead of two? Why you used steel barrels instead of oak? All of the ins-and-outs that made wine making so romantic and so intriguing is now lost, because a wealthy chum can afford people to make his wine for him.

I guess what bothers me is the fact that if you do have money, you can do what you want. I can sit here and rant about how passionate about wine I am, how much I'm trying to learn, how much I gain from knowledge, but at the end of the day it doesn't seem to matter that much, because if I just had $20 million dollars, I can own a vinyard and get people to do that for me.

On the other hand, that is what determines me to make it through. My professional career is still a few years away, but wine is now. Hopefully I can work at a wine store and gain knowledge, and a deeper passion and appreciation for the wine I drink. I hope that my deep passion and enthusiasm of wine will help me to stride forth into the trade of wine, and show everyone that sometimes passion, knowledge and dedication is more than cash, investments and salary. Cheers!

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Wanted for Work: Mother Nature

Here is a lovely picture of picked grapes waiting to be crushed at a vinyard in Bordeaux, France. I thought this would be a beautiful way to get into what I will be talking about today.

This fall I am slated to venture into something completely new and unexpected- the making of my vary own wine. A few friends and I will be clearing out my garage to turn it into a mini-scale winery. I believe the term is a garagiste, an amateur wine maker who operates from a garage or a basement. In any case, this year we will start small, perhaps buying a few juice concentration packs or maybe crush packs if we can find them. My friend Brad, who has started getting more into wine, and my neighbor Ricky, who just likes to make anything alcoholic, will be helping me. If things go according to plan and we find that this is something enjoyable, we will then proceed to purchase a crusher and a presser so maybe we can get a mini-scale operation that enables us to take real grapes and turn them into wine. Crossing fingers....

All this efforts is in hopes to learn more about what wine makers do to get a nice bottle of wine on our tables. As much as I respect and appreciate these wine maker's life-long dedication and selfless contribution to this drink, making wine will only expand that appreciation into experience. If anyone wants to know more about how wine works, there are a few videos on YouTube that you might be intrested in. So far, this is the best one I've watched- taking through the wine making process from Winter Park Winery in Colorado. It isn't too long, it's very interesting and has great shots and not overly advertising their product. Have a look if you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6cfOhksYw

Hopefully that can help enthuse you more into the wine making process. It is truly beautiful; an art where man and mother earth work in conjunction to form and create the magic that is wine. Until next time, carpe vinum and cheers!

-Tatum
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