Contents: Event and its region. Technical program highlights. New wine
consumers ending the era of dominant critics. John Haeger's new Pinot book.
Winery notes. Scuttlebutt.


Anderson Valley (AV), the northernmost California grape-growing coastal
river valley, is known for cool-climate varieties including Pinot Noir.
Though the valley's southeastern tip touches Sonoma County, it and the
grape-growing AVA subregions are essentially of Mendocino County. 2008 (11th
annual) Pinot Noir Conference and Festival this past weekend included an
intense technical program Friday, Saturday general tasting, dinners and
other events at area wineries. Less convenient than the mass wine tastings
at metropolitan convention centers, this event nevertheless draws hundreds
who brave the Dramamine road (see Scuttlebutt) to taste the wines literally
on their native soil. This conference also concentrates Pinot insight, just
as the valley itself yields serious wines disproportionate to its acreage.

Technical session talks included some very distinguished wine experts this
time, of international stature. I greeted Peter Marks (formerly of the Copia
food-wine museum, now at Icon Wines), an early US Master of Wine (and years
ago, bit of a mentor to me on Burgundies).

McGourty, county winegrowing and plant-sci advisor, quoted annual data and a
Darrell Corti quip from a Cabernet meeting the day before. To effect that
Mendo. County makes wines tasting refreshingly unlike "dry dessert wines."
(They'd been lined up next to some imposing French and Napa labels.) John
Haeger put Pinot production in broad perspective, estimating 160k acres now
planted worldwide (37-38k in North America, 27k California; Oregon almost 9k
and rising) with average metric yield 53 hl/ha, half the yield for wine
grapes in general. A pie chart also showed that most of the world's major
wine-grape plantings, in the Mancha plain for example, are varieties
"unheard-of" in US markets. Clone-speak and the "DRC syndrome:" improbable
number of selections claim prestigious pedigree. Large plantings of one
clone now underway in Lodi (Ca.) area, "with growers contracted to Gallo,"
so be prepared for "the $10 bottle." Annie Bones of the Wine Institute
reviewed current direct-ship rules, 49 different requirement sets for 49
states, changing constantly. Andy Walker, UC-Davis plant geneticist,
described research projects on rootstock pest resistance. The extreme
complexity of Phylloxera attacks (little understood despite more than a
century of serious research). Plant scientists Jessica Cortell and Ginny
Lambrix detailed soil's effects on grape chemistry, root behavior, flavors.
For semi-serious perspective, Lambrix profiled chemical contributions to
aroma, mouthfeel, etc. to obtain a hypothetical "98-point wine" in a
magazine's reviews. Supplementing theory with practice were two
presentations by featured wineries, Breggo Cellars (Anderson Valley) and
Scherrer Winery (Sonoma County). Winemakers explained their approaches and
the characteristics of their wines, already in sample glasses for us to
taste. At the session's close came news of Robert Mondavi's death.

If a consensus of diverse high-profile speakers is accurate, a _generational
shift in attitudes_ is underway among both new US wine consumers and
professionals coming into the business, aged in their 20s. This emerged from
a panel discussion about presenting Pinot Noir to consumers and the trade,
and audience questions about big, high-alcohol dark-red wines. US consumers
have a "bell curve" of preferences, one panelist replied, but most of them
dislike high-alcohol high-extract wines. "The era is now coming to an end,"
added another expert who studies wine consumer behavior, of "blind
obedience" to proxy tasters with big-wine palates. The core demographic that
follows those tasters is "50-somethings with wine cellars," with tastes and
assumptions the new consumers don't share. "The younger generation is not
thinking of wine" as their parents did -- another speaker -- "as a number,
or a prestige point." Asked for details by a confessed 50-something listener
(with wine cellar), that expert said the new consumers get wine information
from more diffuse sources -- new media, word of mouth, personal tasting. The
questioner recalled becoming seriously interested in wine around age 20 ("me
too," the expert said), and recalled seeing those numerical tasters arrive,
not so long ago, displacing earlier independent US wine-critic media, a
history often unknown or garbled among 50-something wine geeks who post
online. Implying that many of them came to wine enthusiasm later in life
than we did. (Agreement.) Why don't we hear more about this consumer shift?
Well, for one thing, the high-profile wine media don't talk about it.

Concerning another attitude shift, a speaker related a learning experience
while teaching a university-extension general wine class to more than 100
wine consumers, mostly young, of diverse backgrounds and means. This teacher
sought a show of hands: What bottle price would you readily pay, say within
the past week. $10, $20, $30, $40? Surprisingly, just a few of 100-plus
hands came down by $40. New consumers are more at ease with wine in general,
said the speaker; more secure in their tastes, and they willingly spend for
quality.

John Haeger, author of _North American Pinot Noir_ (2004), told me of his
new book _Pacific Pinot Noir_ (ISBN 0520253175), due for Autumn release.
It's a companion volume complementing his 2004 title (itself the main modern
treatment available on its subject). The new book surveys current producers
in what the earlier book labeled the "Pacific Pinot Zone."

Brief winery notes. I focus here on house styles more than individual
bottlings, and on one of two stylistic camps that roughly divide AV's
winemakers. I seek complex subtle wines that may need bottle age to show
those features, revealing minerality and silky textures in the process.
These also are characteristics of the Pinot Noir wines that made the grape
famous on its home soil of Burgundy. The term "old-world" style is heard,
even with California grapes, whose wines are not Burgundies even if inspired
by them. A sour-cherry fruit note is a local signature. The alternative is a
"new-world" or fruit-forward style, which some consumers prefer. Goldeneye
exemplifies a strong AV producer aiming avowedly for new-world style.

Saturday, a heat wave and windless day made the tasting tent an oven. Though
that didn't seem to hurt smell or taste sense, I didn't linger or
(consequently) sample all the producers I wanted to, and followed up with a
few winery visits. Baxter, Black Kite, Copain, Drew, Elke, Husch, Lazy
Creek, and others continue to make wines in styles I enjoy. Couloir was a
new producer with impressive barrel samples of 2007 from two local
vineyards. I caught what I called a Dujacy edge in the Monument Valley
sample and told the winemaker, asking if he deliberately included stems,
which he confirmed, pleased by the comparison. At Lazy Creek's winery, the
new 2006 estate Pinot (80% old vines, $39.50) was unusually concentrated,
hard, disjoint. Like Paul Draper's Monte Bello Cabernet 150 miles to the
south, this wine is becoming an article of faith sustained through past
experience. Josh Chandler now recommends "5-15 years" aging on the back
label. (His entry-level "Red Table Wine," a solid Anderson Valley MV Pinot
at $21, continues production though I haven't tasted the latest batch,
containing 1999 through 2007 vintages in a solera-type blend.)

Scuttlebutt: Big discussion one evening addressed the Disneyland threat, a
favorite topic (and term) among old AV hands. Basically, AndersonValley
looks much as I witnessed it 40 years ago, while NapaValley does not, some
folks even having labored to stick ostentatious villas amid former natural
vistas. Local consensus finds AndersonValley facing less of that threat, for
two reasons. First, AV is much less "near anything," being more remote and
mainly a corridor en route coastal destinations. Secondly there's the
Dramamine road. The long serpentine highway at the valley's hilly eastern
end is easy to joke about when you're not driving it. An esteemed
sparkling-wine maker and local wit still recalls his rude surprise driving
that road the first time, and its effect on children in the rear seat. (At
least, their mother remarked practically, they learned the skill of using
paper bags.) As a child I had a similar introduction to that road. Winemaker
proposed a combined advertising opportunity and vague warning. A road sign
or billboard: "Protected by Dramamine (tm)."

Max Hauser wrote:

> Anderson Valley (AV), the northernmost California grape-growing coastal
> river valley, is known for cool-climate varieties including Pinot Noir.
> Though the valley's southeastern tip touches Sonoma County, it and the
> grape-growing AVA subregions are essentially of Mendocino County. 2008 (11th
> annual) Pinot Noir Conference and Festival this past weekend included an
> intense technical program Friday, Saturday general tasting, dinners and
> other events at area wineries. Less convenient than the mass wine tastings
> at metropolitan convention centers, this event nevertheless draws hundreds
> who brave the Dramamine road (see Scuttlebutt) to taste the wines literally
> on their native soil. This conference also concentrates Pinot insight, just
> as the valley itself yields serious wines disproportionate to its acreage.

A masterful post Max. It makes me shake down to my toes at the thought
of all those young pop drinkers having so much influence on the wine
that I will be drinking in the coming years. There were some great
observations related in the conference.
As the alt.food.wine representative to the conference you seemed to
have avoided our old friend Rosaphila at Gabrielli. Congratulations.