Wine

This Mother's Day, Go Pink or Go Home

2008-05-08T20:13:30Z

By Courtney Cochran

With rosé wine enjoying an unprecedented level of popularity stateside - The Nielson Company recently revealed that sales of premium pink wine rose an astounding 53.2% this year - there's never been a better excuse to drink pink on Mother's Day. Indeed, from supermarkets to Costco to the nation's most tony wine merchants, bottles of pink are appearing on store shelves in greater numbers than ever before, leaving you no excuse not to go pink this Sunday.
]]> Because They're Worth It
Why the imperative? Because rosé wine - for so long derided as inexpensive boxed juice marred by cloying sweetness, perilously low acidity and a dull, one-dimensional flavor profile - has broken out from the mold in a major way. Indeed, today's premium pink bottlings are dry to the taste and boast lively acidity backed by pretty, spring-like aromas and flavors of flowers and ripe berry fruits. But in spite of this progress pink wines still face a serious stigma: many folks dismiss them as too "girly" to serve on a regular basis. And so in celebration of the most "girly" of all holidays, let's all drink pink this Sunday to celebrate both the fabulous women in our lives and the many fabulous - and underappreciated - pink wines on the market.

Tips For A Terrific Home Wine Bar

2008-05-06T00:01:34Z

Whether your taste is grounded or grand, a few essentials will ensure your home wine bar is primed for the long haul:

Temperature plays a crucial role in the life of your wines. If you do not plan on cellaring your wine, consider a refrigerated system from Sub-Zero. This will also take care of humidity, which should be moderate.

]]> Though it may be tempting to set up your wine bar near a lovely picture window, think again. Darkness is key for preserving and storing wines. Again, if you're cellaring your wines elsewhere, not a problem. But if you are storing your wines where you're drinking them, go for the shaded spaces.

Consider a spacious racking system so that you needn't disturb other bottles when getting at a particular choice.

East Bay Wineries Create Urban Tasting Experience

2008-05-05T21:20:07Z

By Robert P. Farmer

Most people rightly associate Wine Country - no matter which region you're talking about -- with the country. It's hard not to think about with Wine Country experience and not think about the bucolic countryside. It's the most common setting when one thinks about wineries and vineyards. But there is a growing trend in cities around the nation that is shaking that perception by its rootstock. The Urban Winery Phenomenon has recently been making more noise in the wine industry than a traffic jam in the heart of Market Street. And not only is it changing the way people taste wine, it's changing the entire concept of what constitutes a winery.

]]> One excellent example of the Urban Winery Phenomenon can be found in California's East Bay. Here, where Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda are anchors, urbanites are discovering that they can have a winery experience as fruitful as anything they would find in Napa, Sonoma, or Healdsburg. Here, all it takes is a BART train or ferry ride to find wineries of all variety. They can be found not nestled on a hillside among rolling vineyards but rather in such unassuming places as converted warehouses or in tasting rooms squeezed into the center of town.

Though it's a far cry from the Silverado Trail, the urban winery experience is not so different for those who appreciate wine as much for its merits as for its aesthetic. That philosophy is part of what drives the East Bay Vintners Alliance (www.eastbayvintners.com), a collection of 15 members wineries united in spirit and in practice to promote not only awareness of East Bay wines, but also of the urban winery concept. EBVA member wineries provide a decidedly different wine-tasting encounter, one marked by unpretentiousness and an eagerness to educate. And above all, it's fun.

One of the East Bay pioneers is Rosenblum Cellars, which has been in the area for two decades, and which has a stellar reputation for its zinfandel and Rhone-style varietals. With its roots making wine from the family home, Rosenblum moved its operation to Alameda in 1987 and began--however inadvertently--the urban wine experience in Northern California. Although Rosenblum continues to be the largest producer among the East Bay wineries, several others have now established themselves as serious wineries without the vineyards out back.

The list of wineries and tasting rooms in the East Bay includes labels that pride themselves on bucking trends in winemaking. In this part of the world you'll encounter a decidedly laid-back approach, with a welcoming vibe that sets the visitor at ease. It's as much a function of the eclectic warehouse aesthetic over the gracious Mediterranean manor as it is the prevailing urban hipness. It's also because the EBVA wineries share a common bond the reaches past their association membership. For instance, JC Cellars and Dashe Cellars, share the same Jack London Square-area digs. Periscope Cellars and the relative newcomer Urbano Cellars are both in the same Emeryville Warehouse. The cozy neighborhood proximities make for great wine community bonding, but also for a convenient wine-tasting experience.

As it happens, the East Bay wine-tasting experience is made even more convenient during the Urban Wine Trail passport event, scheduled for April 5. For the $35 at-the-gate price ($30 in advance online), you can explore the whole of East Bay Vintner Alliance member inventory. From Oakland to Berkeley and Alameda to Emeryville, each winery will feature "open house"-style tastings paired with food from local restaurants. It promises to be an urban experience that once upon a time was only available in Wine Country.

What's a Wine Cliché?

2008-05-03T11:14:12Z

By Robert Farmer

In the landscape of the written world, the dubious "cliché" is one of the most maligned creatures--something to be steered clear of, a menace to descriptive prose, ridiculed and frowned upon and, ultimately, often unavoidable. And since the written word also applies to wine labels, the loathsome creature frequently creeps its way onto that space as well.

]]> How many "hand-crafted" wines from "artisan-grown" grapes have you tasted? My guess is more than you think, because you haven't paid too close attention to labels where one frequently encounters prose as purple as the wine inside.

But help is on the way. Enter the so-called BATL (the Bureau of Awful, Trite Labels), as announced recently in a news article that tickled my funny bone. According to the great imagination of the author,* the Bureau is headed up by Rutgers University English professor Farnsworth Spellum, who has it in for clichés of all sorts, but has now turned his critical pen toward wine.He's got a mind to banish such phrases as "immediately approachable" and "great wines begin in the vineyard" (where, I probably don't have to point out, all wines begin).

This satire caught my eye and I thought it worth sharing because, in my estimation, much of wine description and discussion has edged dangerously close to cliché oblivion. The author also cites as offending the many and never-ending puns on zinfandel ("deadly zins" and "zinphomaniacs" to name a couple), but I would posit that cliché abuse goes well beyond attempts to be clever. When will we stop with the colorful "industry speak" and get down to what really matters: tell me if you like it or not, and if you care to, tell me why. More on this later. But for now, let me climb down from my soapbox, to use a cliché.

(*With acknowledgments to Ed Schwartz at the Napa Valley Register)

Press Club Debut in SF

2008-05-02T11:54:16Z

By Robert Farmer
For a time -before I saw the light - I was somewhat opposed to the multi-winery tasting room. My preference had been for a tasting room to be not only to focus on a single winery's vintages, but also to be attached to that winery. It makes sense, you have to agree. But as I'm sure you'll also agree, I am right in tossing aside that narrow-minded attitude and embracing the new-style tasting room, the likes of which are proliferating these days in unexpected places. And so you can understand that recently, the opening of the Press Club in San Francisco was happy new for me. Not just because I happen to live in San Francisco, but also because this is an exceptionally fine example of the concept. ]]> The Press Club, which opens this week in the city's SoMa area - on Yerba Buena Lane, to be precise - features the wines from eight top-caliber wineries in Napa. The Club combines the intimacy and information of a single-winery tasting room, with the social component of an urban wine bar and restaurant--the space is huge, some 9,000 square feet chicly designed and reflective of the urbanity of its location in the Four Seasons Hotel. The wineries on offer here represent an appealing cross section of wines from the Napa Valley, each with its own dedicated tasting bar. They are: Chateau Montelena, Fritz, Miner, Hanna, Saintsbury, Pahlmeyer, Mount Eden, and Landmark. Some of the wines featured at the Press Club--Landmark, for instance--are not readily available in the city, and will therefore be reaching a new audience. That, at least, is the hope of the participating wineries and club founders Andrew Chun and Jan Wiginton. The Club will also offer wine for sale and a menu designed complement the pourings. A full calendar of winemaker events is also in the works. I'll keep you posted as my visits become more frequent.

For more, visit www.pressclubsf.com

Tracking Bordeaux Across Borders

2008-04-25T13:02:48Z

By Robert Farmer
It seems fitting that on the heels of news recently that Robert Parker is still of the mind that European wines, on balance, are superior to American wines, that the Europeans might be more inclined to pursue remarkable and innovative ways for dealing with fraud. Yes, there is a racket in which swindlers endeavor to dupe would-be wine buyers into buying something that is not what it seems. And while it might not seem a big deal to the pedestrian wine buyer, when it comes to, say, buying a $7,000 bottle 1947 Cheval Blanc, the buyer is keenly interested in getting what he or she paid for. That's why news recently of fraud prevention innovations isn't so surprising. ]]> For instance, the fact that twenty-five members of the Italian military police have qualified as sommeliers so that they might better detect wine fraud would probably seem wasteful to Americans. But in Italy, where wine is a way of life, it makes perfect sense. And in France, some of the top chateaux in Bordeaux have turned to technology to combat fraud. The so-called e-provenance method of tracking wine from bottling through distribution and storage is catching on with such names as Lafite, Margaux, and Latour. Simply, the technique uses microchip technology to monitor the constant whereabouts of a bottle, from producer to consumer. The tracking process is capable of not just detecting fraud, but also potentially damaging temperature swings or other harmful handling during shipment.

It's all useful information to the interested collector or investor, and it's likely to become the norm in Europe. Which means, look for it in the United States before long.

My So-Called Grape Life

2008-04-24T21:52:55Z

By Courtney Cochran

Forward-thinking Napa vintners Susan and Duane Hoff have searched for ways to bring the experience of making wine at their bucolic Spring Mountain property closer to consumers since they founded Fantesca Winery (fantesca.com) in 2004. An industrious pair, the Hoffs ran through the typical canon of winery marketing shtick: they built a web site, hosted lavish harvest events for club members, and even created a MySpace page.

]]> Behind the Scenes

But it wasn't until they launched the Adopt-A-Grape foundation (adoptagrape.org) last year that they found a truly groundbreaking way to connect with their fans. Participants in the free, interactive web-based program are invited to "adopt" a grape from one of the Hoff's six hillside vineyard blocks, and are sent weekly updates in the form of pictures and videos documenting the grape's progress throughout the year. The videos - which include some of the best "behind the scenes" winery footage I've seen - chronicle key events in the grape's lifecycle, including bud break, flowering, harvest and fermentation. Add to the mix new footage narrated by Fantesca's standout winemaker, "first lady of wine" Heidi Peterson Barrett, and it all adds up to a stellar step towards bringing winemaking closer to those who aren't lucky enough - sigh - to live near Napa.

Motown Merlot

2008-04-24T13:16:14Z

By Courtney Cochran

When former Motown Records CEO Kedar Massenburg launched K'orus Wine (koruswine.com) in late 2007, he did so with a splashy launch party in Beverly Hills attended by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Vivica Fox. And while not the only wine launched with a celeb-studded fête in recent months , Massenburg's offering differs in a notable way - it's intended for African Americans.]]> Join the K'orus
Branded as "a fine French wine with an upscale yet approachable American style," K'orus is aimed squarely at what Massenburg claims is an underserved segment of the domestic wine market. Already on sale in nine states including California, the wine retails for around $13 and is available in Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, with additional varieties including Pinot Noir rumored to be released later this year. And in keeping with the "approachable" vibe of the brand, the wine is being marketed by way of a music video-like short on You Tube featuring a Rolls Royce, a young lass in a bikini and a handsome suitor who woos her with - what else? - a bottle of K'orus Chardonnay.

My only gripe: Would a guy who rolls in a Rolls Royce really drink $13 wine?

Cinematic Splash: Top Films for Wine Lovers

2008-04-23T13:02:01Z

by Courtney Cochran

In most films, the cast is comprised of seasoned actors who possess a vibrant screen presence and innate ability to charm the audience. But for a handful of movies in which wine itself plays a major role, we might as well add "mouthwatering" to the list of qualities a cast may claim. Encompassing major motion pictures, documentaries and even a mockumentary, our list of top films for wine lovers covers lots of territory - affording viewers plenty to digest when it comes to wine and the silver screen.
]]> Sideways
No list of top flicks for wine would be complete without Alexander Payne's 2004 cult classic, Sideways. Set amidst the rolling hills of So Cal's Santa Ynez Valley, the Academy Award-winning film (adapted screenplay) follows two friends on a raucous bachelor party through wine country. Punctuated by lush vineyard shots and plenty of footage of local wineries and restaurants, the film is credited not only with turning the once-sleepy region into a tourist hotbed, but with putting Pinot Noir on the map.

Mondovino
This famously biased 2004 documentary - which decries the evils brought on the wine world by a wine consultant whose "international" (read: homogenous) style of winemaking threatens to eclipse the integrity of terroir-driven wines everywhere - gives viewers a rare look behind the scenes at the lives of importers, retailers, wine writers and producers. Whether or not you choose to believe the hype, it's a fun, thought provoking ride through some of the world's most hallowed wine spots, including Napa, Bordeaux and Tuscany.

From Ground to Glass
An official selection of the 2006 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, From Ground to Glass follows director and past pro snowboarder Robert DaFoe as he creates his own wine for the first time. Made on a shoestring in and around the Santa Ynez Valley, the charmingly frank documentary intersperses footage of DaFoe's winemaking journey with insightful commentary from both up-and-coming and veteran winemakers including Au Bon Climat's Jim Clenenden and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' Warren Winiarski.

French Kiss
Kevin Kline's famously spot-on portrayal of a Frenchman in this underappreciated 1995 romantic comedy is reason enough to rent it. Add to the mix a fetching costar in Meg Ryan, an eventful journey through the stunning French countryside and a quirky subplot involving a smuggled grapevine, and you've got the recipe for a winning wine flick. Both actors were nominated for an American Comedy Award for their work, and Ryan's diatribe against the "452 official kinds of cheese" in France (her character is lactose-intolerant) is downright hilarious.

A Good Year
The film itself may be a bit disjointed, but the story is compelling and the actors on point in this picturesque 1996 adaptation of the Peter Mayle novel by the same name. Russell Crowe - supported by Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard - plays Max Skinner, a workaholic investment banker who unexpectedly inherits a château and vineyard in Provence. And though The New York Times dubbed the film "a three-P movie: pleasant, pretty and predictable," there's still plenty to appreciate in the sumptuous French countryside, mouthwatering food and wine shots and amusing vigneron-next-door subplot.

Corked
With its official debut at the 2008 Sonoma Valley Film Festival just behind it, this well-received send-up of the California wine industry has insiders chuckling and wannabe insiders half-seriously wondering why the wine business is so wack. Shot during harvest in 2005, the mockumentary follows a manic winemaker, a billionaire, a clueless winery manager and an incompetent rich kid - among other colorful characters - as they compete to win the fictional Golden Cluster trophy. So real at times it's scary.

A Walk In the Clouds
Keeanu Reeves' stiff performance as a chocolate salesman-turned-faux-fiancé in this cheesy 1940s-era love story doesn't manage to overshadow the stunning scenery and ebullient grape stomping that takes place during harvest at a fictional California estate called Las Nubes ("the clouds"). Shot on location at such well-known spots as Mount Veeder Winery, Duckhorn Vineyards and Charles Krug Winery, the film's splendid vineyard scenes are reputed to have inspired more than one real-life dreamer to plant vines.

Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

Bottle Shock
Slated to open August 15 nationwide, this highly anticipated film chronicles the events leading up to the watershed 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting. Shot on-location last year in Sonoma and starring Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman, Bottle Shock shows how the passion and unflagging commitment to quality shared by a maverick father-and-son winemaking team (Chateau Montelena's Jim & Bo Barrett) translated to a Chardonnay that trumped its French counterparts and put American wine on the map for good.

The First Emperor
Loosely based on Elin McCoy's 2005 biography, The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker Jr. and the Reign of American Taste, the film will follow the ascent of the infamously influential critic to - what else? - the fore of the world's wine consciousness. Producers say the film will feature little-known aspects of Parker's early career, and rumors peg Spanish Academy Award-winner Javier Bardem in the lead with Sideways star Paul Giamatti lending support as French wine consultant Michel Rolland.

The Jefferson Bottles
Word has it two Hollywood outfits have separately purchased rights to the story of oil magnate William Koch's dogged court battle to prove the provenance of several bottles from his collection purported to have once belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Though it's uncertain if either party will eventually make a film from the rights they've purchased - in the form of the book The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace and a recent New Yorker article, respectively - the recent success of other wine-related films (ergo Sideways, Mondovino, and perhaps the upcoming Bottle Shock) certainly bodes well.

California Wine an Earthy Choice

2008-04-22T13:03:10Z

By Robert Farmer

It seems that the state of California sometimes is fighting its own personal battle against global warming. The Golden State enacts initiatives that are separate and apart from the national programs - or even the national objectives. As the 8^th largest economy on the planet, I suppose it's important that the state makes an environmental policy that sets the bar for the planet. The same can be said of California's wine industry, which has provided the standard for environmentally friendly wine-producing practices for years. ]]> This month, as Earth Day anchors a month long series of news and events that place our delicate planet in the forefront, California's two largest trade associations - Wine Institute, representing the state's vintners, and the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), representing its winegrape growers - released their "Top 10 Reasons California Wines are an Eco-Friendly Choice," a somewhat gimmicky way to remind the rest of the world that the state is still at the leading-edge of sustainability. Gimmicky, yes, but the list is also an excellent awareness tool for the mass of wine consumers. Rather than provide you here, in Letterman-esque fashion, the Top Ten Reasons California Wines are an Eco-Friendly Choice, you can view the list and learn more about California's sustainable winegrowing practices at www.sustainablewinegrowing..org

Earth to Ukiah

2008-04-19T23:49:01Z

By Robert Farmer

It's fairly obvious that, although Earth Day is officially April 22, what is less known is that April is actually Earth Month. But what everyone ought to know is that every day is actually Earth Day. We have one planet. We have one chance to make it work. So it is that I continually bring up the subject as it relates to Wine Country. Because when it comes to the wine industry, the connection to the earth is top on the list of Things That Are Important.

]]> April has brought us many interesting events and ideas in Wine Country related to Earth Day, including one in Mendocino, where grapegrowers and winemakers officially adopted the slogan "America's Greenest Wine Region." That point may be up for discussion among the various eco-friendly winegrape growing regions in the country, but Ukiah is apparently walking the walk as steadily and as confidently as any of them.

"While other regions are scrambling to create self-certification programs and attending seminars on "going green", we're celebrating the fact that we were green before it became a marketing concept," Ed Berry, Jr., chairman of the Mendocino Winegrape & Wine Commission said publicly this month. "Our grapegrowers and winemakers, like the rest of the farming community here, have personal ties to the land that sometimes spans four or five generations. It has always been about sustainability and ensuring that family farms are healthy for the present and future generations."

And it is not just hyperbole. Ukiah's greed cred is borne out by numbers. Consider: Eighteen percent of Mendocino County's winegrapes are certified organic - that's more than 300% organic than any other region and fewer than 1 percent of Mendocino's 2.4 million total acres are under cultivation. Meanwhile, Mendocino offers many claims to green fame, including being home to the nation's first organic winery, home to the nation's first solar-powered winery, and home to first carbon-neutral winery in the U.S. Yes, in Ukiah and Mendocino County, Earth Day comes 365 times a year. To learn more, check out www.mendowine.com

Insider Trading

2008-04-18T17:51:01Z

By Courtney Cochran

When it comes to the financial markets, taking tips from insiders can get you into some serious trouble (remember Martha's little foible?) But - fortunately - when it comes to wine, there's nothing illegal about getting the inside track on some good juice.

]]> Insider Advantage

And now with K&L Wine Merchants' (klwines.com) brand new Insider's Advantage List, wine fanatics with a need to know about the latest and greatest vintages before the rest of the world can do just that. The new free service - which anyone can sign up for at the retailer's web site - is powered by K&L's team of top-notch wine buyers. They'll tip you off to hot wines before they hit the press (and become next to impossible to track down), tell you about bargains to be had from small and little-known wineries throughout the world and offer closeout pricing on rare wines pre-screened for quality.

It's a deal so sweet it ought to be illegal.

In The Wine World, It's Always Earth Day

2008-04-15T16:34:52Z

By Robert P. Farmer

When you're making wine, the term "earth day" has a different meaning than the one conjured up by what you see in the media at this time of year. Because when the earth is your office, every day is earth day. So each April, when the focus turns globally to the single day we've set aside to call attention to the fragility and splendor of the Big Blue Marble (don't we really need more than one day for that?), it's worth pointing out the ways in which Wine Country--by that I mean wine-producing regions across the globe--have quietly led the charge to be earth-friendly.

]]>
There may be no better place to start than in Oregon, a state that was "green" both literally and figuratively long before it was cool to fight global warming. While the city of Portland continues to set benchmarks for environmentally conscious urban living, the state's wineries have also set standards for sustainability. Oregon wineries are subsequently as well known for their sustainable practices as they are for their pinot noirs. The state's efforts in this area have been purposeful and well organized.

The organization known as LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology), helps keep its (strictly volunteer) member wineries on target toward their sustainability goals and also provides much-needed standards and metrics. LIVE provides guidelines to wine grape growers on everything from use of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, to harvesting techniques that mitigate topsoil erosion, to providing habitats for the native species on their farms. Each of the practices on the LIVE check-sheet are of course designed to keep the wine grower in harmony with his environment, while also crafting the best quality wines the wine maker knows how. Counting more than 150 wineries among its members, it's clear that LIVE, and organizations like it, are becoming the norm rather than the exception.

The practice is also alive and well in California--indeed most wine-growing regions have some sort of official-standards organization helping to make sustainable farming the commonly accepted practice. In Napa, 2008 got under way with the announcement by Napa Valley Vintners (the association of more than 300 Napa Valley wineries) that it would launch a new program called Napa Green Certified Winery (NGCW). With a stated goal of reducing the carbon footprint of its membership, and of instituting a set of green business practices for winery production in Napa County, NGCW will use a checklist for certification that has been in successful use for some time now by the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The checklist covers a vast array of sustainability efforts, from water and energy conservation to waste reduction and pollution prevention. Participating wineries must maintain compliance to retain their NGCW status and will be required to get recertified every three years. As with most such organizing efforts, one of the goals is to achieve success through shared resources and information. After all, a wine-producing region is only as green as its least-green winery. To that end, Napa Valley Vintners will feature regular workshops for its members that focus on current and emerging sustainable-farming trends, covering everything from how to reduce greenhouse gas emission to how to purchase environmentally preferable goods and services.

But in the end, all of these efforts must be shared with and accepted by the consumer. An educated consumer willing to reward green wineries for their efforts by purchasing their product is the final link in the evolutionary green chain. So it falls to the wine buyer to make the choices that support the wineries that support a better environment. And ultimately, that is what events like Earth Day are all about. It's an attempt to remind people about the obvious - an annual prompt to reset our compasses to the morally correct setting and to do the right thing, the unselfish thing, and make whatever small effort we can to help make the world a better place for everybody forever. And if we can enjoy great glass of wine in the process, well, that's even better.

(For more information on the organizations mentioned above, visit www.liveinc.org and www.napavintners.com)

Corked

2008-04-13T22:30:14Z

Blame it on Ravenswood. With their irresistible Zinfandel, Cab and Chardonnay flowing freely, the audience was well primed for 'Corked', one of the 75 films featured at this week's 11th Annual Sonoma Valley Film Fest. Created by local winemaking millennial/GenXers Russ Clendenen and Paul Hawley, Corked leaves no stone unturned in a hilarious spoof on the wine industry. While Sideways took aim at the wine tourist, this little gem nails the insider's perspective.

]]> Characters include 1) a fussy, pretentious young winery GM (perfectly played by Clendenen) who places a premium on image, wishing only to share the wines with the 'right' people; 2) a classic Sonoma winemaker who does every little thing himself, causing his wife to flee every harvest; 3) the high-energy, clueless son of a Texas billionaire who has just purchased a heritage winery, giving the son one last chance to prove his worth; 4) a beer-guzzling vineyard manager who blares jaguar calls through a state-of-the-art sound system in the vineyard to keep the birds and rabbits at bay; 5) the young marketing duo of Scott and Gary who, though they've never been to the wine country, have no problem buying bulk wine and creating labels targeting 'untapped' demographics; and 6) Richard Parsons, the untouchable all-important wine critic.

Having been in the wine industry for a decade, I wasn't sure if all the jokes made sense to those from 'the outside', but judging by the roars of the crowd I'd say they translated well enough. Though the film was about 20 minutes too long, the help from Ravenswood's great wines made the whole experience a wonderful and wild ride.

The Sipping Point

2008-04-11T17:43:33Z

By Courtney Cochran

Ever since a 2005 Gallup Poll showed that - gasp! - twentysomethings were drinking wine in notable quantities, marketers have been atwitter about "what to do" with these radical new (read: young) enthusiasts. And now, with the latest news that Millennials (those who've turned 21 after the new Millennium) prefer wine to beer, pundits seem unable to stop marveling at the revolutionary behavior of America's youth when it comes to their drinking habits.
]]> Pass the Priorat
But as a member of this group, I've seen my peers passing up beer for Brunello and eschewing cocktails for Cabernet for years now. And as far as harbingers go, the introduction of so-called foodie culture to mass media outlets (ergo, The Food Network is now a major fixture on cable, folks) was a fairly obvious signal that wine couldn't be far behind food in its popularity surge - especially given the media-loving nature of this group. It's also why what we're seeing today isn't so much a shocking shift in the drinking habits of young people as a natural progression in consumption customs among a generation enjoying the fruits of the almost unbelievably stellar quality of life in the Twenty-First Century.

After all, Miller Light doesn't pair nearly as well with premium grass-fed, free range beef as does an equally toothsome Napa Cab.