As you may have heard, Amazon.com is poised to enter the online wine world with a launch slated for October. The company is presently in discussion with various wineries, including many from the Napa Valley, to sign up to participate. The Napa Valley Vintners organization has been presenting seminars to assist their members with this process.

Amazon plans to sell wine to consumers in 26 states, given the legal restrictions for shipping wine in the others. In this regard, they have partnered with New Vine Logistics, which has wine shipping expertise, to fulfill orders.

Further along the fulfillment issue are the shipping & handling charges. I generally purchase wine online through local retailers, thus avoiding shipping charges. However, Amazon has stated that it will waive shipping charges if customers participate in their Amazon Prime program, which costs $79.00 annually. This benefit is a huge savings for consumers given the high expenses usually associated with shipping wine due its weight and neccessity to use particular carriers to ensure compliance with interstate shipping laws. E-tailer Wine.com charges a base rate of $9.95 plus $1.25/bottle, making the shipping expense for a case of wine $24.95.

Amazon’s suggestions as to which products a consumer may also like based on their current selection may not work in the wine sector as people’s taste preferences are so varied. But, perhaps it may nudge consumers to try new wines they might not buy otherwise.

Currently, online wine sales account for only 7% of the $2.8 billion in retail wine sales. With Amazon as the largest global online retailer, it will be interesting to watch whether these statistics increase dramatically as a result of their market participation.

In my post yesterday, I wrote about a California port wine that I had tasted at the Dancing Bear Cellars’ tasting event. I made a snide comment about the wine being labeled as "Port" despite it not being from Portugal. It is a pet peeve of mine for wines to be labeled with geographically specific names when that does not reflect their true origin, i.e. the term Champagne used on sparkling wines produced anywhere other than the Champagne region in France. Thus, I would have preferred the wine in question to be labeled California Fortified Wine and not California Port.

While my attempt at humor did not go over well, it was never my intention to mislead or misinform, nor was it to cast aspersions on anyone or their integrity. I apologize for these unintended consequences and wish to state publicly that everyone I have met in connection with Dancing Bear Cellars has been both ethical and knowledgeable about their wines (and I presume everything else in their lives), most especially Susannah Gold, whom I have known for the past two+ years. Mea Culpe.

To set the record straight:

The Meyer Family California Port is produced from old-vine Zinfandel grapes, which are initially fermented as with any wine. Before all of the sugar from the grapes has been converted into alcohol, the fermentation is brought to a halt by the addition of a grape spirit (in this case, a Pot-Still Alembic Zinfandel Brandy). The wine is then blended and aged in a modified solera method. The solera method, which is primarily used for Sherries, is a process of aging and fractional blending by which younger wines are fractionally blended with older wines and the older wines blended with still older wines, until the wine is sufficiently matured. This wine has an averages of 8 years of aging prior to being bottled and sold.

The issue of labeling is an important one, so much so that wine regions around the world are banding together to help protect their place names from being misappropriated, including Napa Valley, Champagne, Sherry and Port. The Center for Wine Origins has been instrumental in bringing this issue to the attention of consumers, as well as working to get legislation passed to more formally protect these names, not only in the U.S., but globally.

Certainly, the Meyer Family port is not the only wine out in the marketplace using the semi-generic term Port, which I believe is no longer legal for new labels seeking approval from the U.S. government. Nor do I mean to vilify the wine itself (it was actually quite good). However, as a wine educator, I do think that it is important that I inform people about this issue so that they can better understand the importance of location/origin in winemaking. I just need to do it less snidely.

While I do not know the Meyer family personally, they are the founders and former owners of the highly regarded Silver Oak Cellars, and established Meyer Family Cellars in 1987. Silver Oak Cellars produces two specific wines — an Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, underscoring the importance of appellation and grape origin. Accordingly, it is somewhat surprising that they would continue to use Port on their labels, but they may find that consumers don’t understand the meaning of "fortified wine," but do recognize "port." I would suggest that as we are an emerging nation in terms of our wine consumption, we need to do a better job in educating consumers, rather than catering to them, but then, I am not in the business of selling wine.

With the start of the new semester underway, I met up with several of my colleagues from my previous employer. Prior to my departure, a few of us had started meeting up at a wine bar to hang out and discuss higher education issues. However, the impetus for our initial get-togethers was the trip I took to Kansas City, MO with two colleagues. On that trip, I had dined out with Maureen and Mijin, who both enjoyed the mini wine lessons I provided to them during the meal. Upon our arrival home, they asked if we could continue to meet up and talk about wine, to which I agreed. Thus began our impromptu group.

We made these plans several weeks ago and I had suggested that we meet at Terroir, since, at the time, I had not been there yet. In the intervening weeks, I actually went to Terroir with a wine colleague, but chose not to alter my plans with my friends.

Despite the September date, it was still the Summer of Riesling, but given the heat and humidity I was happy to select such a white. As it was just 5:00 PM, I was able to take advantage of the Happy Hour special and ordered the German Riesling of the two listed Rieslings from the Happy Hour menu. However, when the server began to pour the wine, I noticed that the bottle was not German and halted his pouring. Fortunately, the practice at Terroir is to pour a small amount for guests to taste before a full glass is poured, so only a little bit of wine was wasted.

The server went back behind the bar to retrieve the correct bottle of wine, but could not locate it. Accordingly, he offered me a similar German Riesling in its place, at the same $6.00 price. I tasted the wine and agreed to the substitution.

My friends arrived a short time later and solicited the server’s help to select one of the three red wines on the Happy Hour menuk, all of which were Spanish Monastrells (aka Mourvedre), but from different regions within Spain. He suggested the medium-bodied wine, which they both tasted and enjoyed. A third friend arrived somewhat later and joined in with a glass of the same. Around this point in the evening, I was ready for a second glass and ordered a taste of the Chinon, having tasted from my colleague’s glass back in August. It was as lovely as I remembered. And, again, I was very impressed with the servers’ knowledge of wine both through my direct interaction and what I overheard with other patrons.

We left the bar around 7:30/8:00 by which time there were several people waiting for our seats and a few more hanging out outside. It was quite a contrast to my initial arrival when I was the only one in the place. Clearly, the bar is well received and is doing brisk business.

While we spent a lot of time talking about wine, particularly in terms of my ventures in it since they last saw me, I didn’t actually do any "teaching." So, school may be back in session, but the students haven’t quite shown up just yet. 😉

As the morning in the vineyard with Todd wore on, it was time to turn our attention off Chardonnay and onto the red grapes. With the exception of Pinot Noir intended for sparkling wines, these grapes still had time to hang out on the vines. Our first stop was a vineyard near the Frank Family propery, where the owner grew Pinot Noir, which Todd purchased. The fruit was looking good and the owner noted that he and his wife would be dropping the green bunches in the next day or so.

Leaving Pinot Noir behind, we drove north and into the AVA of Rutherford, checking out Cabernet Sauvignon grapes being grown on the Valley floor. These grapes were quite large and deep in color, but it was evident upon tasting them that the tannins were underripe and the seeds provided further evidence. The vines themselves were quite bushy and it was expected that some additional leaf thinning would be needed to ensure that the grapes would achieve full ripeness.

Our final vineyard stop was a hillside vineyard called Winston Hill. Also in the Rutherford AVA, Winston Hill is located on the hillside of the Vaca mountain range, providing exquisite views of the Napa Valley and, more importantly, high quality Cabernet Sauvignon fruit for the Frank Family Vineyards flagship wine of the same name. A small amount of Sangiovese is also grown here.

After spending the day getting down, but fortunately not too dirty, in the vineyards, Brad and I had learned so much about viticulture and its partnership with winemaking. It was clear that the winemaker must be keenly involved in the day to day vineyard management to ensure that the grape that arrives at the cellar door is the fruit he or she wants. Furthermore, key decisions such as when to pick require careful consideration and can ultimately affect the quality of the finished wine.

Luckily for us, Todd knows what he is doing on this front, as evidenced by the quality of the Frank Family Vineyards’ wines, which was had the opportunity to taste over lunch. Sitting outside on the VIP porch of their tasting house, we first sampled the 1997 vintage Brut sparkler produced from a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, which was showing beautifully. We next tried the Reserve Chardonnay before switching to the red wines — Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Winston Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese and Zinfandel. Needless to say, we were a bit late getting back for the afternoon’s lecture on sustainable agriculture, but, when it comes to learning, nothing beats hands-on experience.

As noted, I spent a week participating in the Napa Valley Vintners’ Wine Educators Academy in August 2008. It was a magical experience due in large part to our exposure with the vintners themselves.

On Wednesday morning of the week in question, all participants were to be ready and waiting in the hotel lobby at 7:30 AM (yes, you read that correctly — an early morning meeting). As vintners arrived, they pulled a name or names out of a hat (well, actually out of a ziploc bag, but you get the point) and thus, we were paired with vintners for the day.

My colleague Brad and I had the good fortune to be matched with Todd Graff of Frank Family Vineyards. Todd is a Valley veteran, having grown up in the neighboring county of Sonoma and working for a number of other Napa Valley wineries before taking the helm at Frank Family. With a degree from UC Davis, Todd is formally trained as a vintner and also spent time abroad, further adding to his wealth of wine knowledge. We were delighted to spend the day with Todd.

We began the morning with a visit to Carneros, the most southerly of the sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Carneros is interesting for a number of reasons, it spans both the Napa and Sonoma Valleys; and it is the coolest, being also the closest to the San Francisco Bay. Given this climatic condition, Carneros is known for producing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as both still and sparkling wines.

On this day in particular, Todd wanted to determine whether or not the Chardonnay grapes destined for his sparkling wine were ready for harvesting. Consequently, we assisted him in collecting data to make his decision. First, we tasted the grapes to check for overall sugar and acidity levels as well as phenolic compounds and flavors. For sparkling wines, you want to preserve the bright acidity and avoid overly ripe grapes, so they should taste a little underdone.

Brad used the refractometer (a device used to measure the sugar levels in grapes), adding a grape and checking its Brix every so often. Meanwhile, I carried a bucket, lined with a plastic bag, into which Todd cut off random clusters of grapes, making a zip-zag motion as he traveled down the rows. These grapes would provide a good overview given that we were picking from different sides of canopy, and thus, different sun exposures, to get a more comprehensive view of what was going on in the vineyard.

Later, upon our return to the winery itself, located in Calistoga, Todd dropped off the grape clusters with one of his colleagues in her lab. She then proceeded to crush and press the grapes to force them to give up their juice, which was then inserted into a high-tech machine to obtain more complex and formal readings on the grapes. The results of the test indicated that the grapes were near peak for sparkling wine and would be picked later in the week.

In fact, they grow grapes in every state of the U.S. They even make wine there, too. Of course, I’m not running out to secure my allocation of Alaskan wine, but it is nice to know that there is a burgeoning wine region in all 50 states.

Given the diversity of our statutory climates, vitis vinifera, the European species of grape, is not the only progenitor of American wines. In many states, it is joined by the indigenous vitis labrusca, which thrives in the cold winters and thus survives more easily in cooler climates and at higher altitudes. Hybrids, those grape varieties created from a vinifera parent crossed with a labrusca one, also do quite well.

Elsewhere we find wine produced from FOTG — fruit other than grapes. Since all you need to produce "wine" is sugar and yeast, the sugar from any fruit will do. Hence, we have pineapple wine in Hawaii, cranberry wine in New Jersey and blueberry wine from Maine. I’ve even tasted wine made from carrots in Florida — don’t ask : )

At the Long Island Wine Symposium held earlier this month, I had the opportunity to make the acquaintence of Lucien Wilkins from North Carolina. A retired physician and current real estate developer, Lucien is owner of Spencer Mountain Vineyards, where he planted 1,000 vines last year in the mountains of Boone, NC, coincidently only one week prior to our own planting. With Sauvignon Blanc as his vinifera pick, Lucien also planted hybrids Seyval Blanc and Marechal Foch in his vineyard. And he is not alone. Today, , there are more than 350 vineyards and 70 wineries in the state.

A member of a fledgling wine region, Wilkins is determined to see his area succeed. To that end, they recently established the High Country Winegrowers Association, which held its first meeting in July of this year. The meeting was held in the wake of a study on wine tourism issued by Appalacian State University on behalf of the NC Wine & Grape Council. In this vein, Lucien mentioned plans for a collaborative venture featuring a microwinery, microbrewery, organic garden and artisan coffee roaster. I questioned whether the wine and beer yeasts might co-mingle and wreak havoc on the other’s fermentation process, but that’s a discussion for another day. For now, we’ll just wait for Lucien’s grapes to grow.