The Feiring Line

Glyphosate, CO2, Climate Change and Wine

 

Let me start with a story; years ago, driving my mother home after a trip to her opthamologist I was listening to the news, which I found hilarious. She thought I was losing.

"What is so funny?" Ethel asked me as we were passing Canarsie.

"Scientists have determined that pesticides are harmful to humans." For this they spent money? Isn't it logical?

I'm not a scientist. My opinion, it seems is less than valid. Nevertheless, I'll still follow it and my instinct as well. That instinct has not only to tell me to get out before danger hit, but often what is edible in the forest and has told me to say no thank you to Roundup, and the vinekeepers who have told me, "We're organic except for Roundup."

So, I wasn't too surprised to see last week in the Huffington Post an article linking Roundup to birth defects.  One of the more stunning grafs in that piece was this:

"Exact figures are hard to come by because the U.S. Department of Agriculture stopped updating its pesticide use database in 2008. The EPA estimates that the agricultural market used 180 to 185 million pounds of glyphosate between 2006 and 2007, while the non-agricultural market used 8 to 11 million pounds between 2005 and 2007, according to its Pesticide Industry Sales & Usage Report for 2006-2007 published in February, 2011"

I'll repeat: The EPA estimates that the agricultural market used 180 to 185 million pounds of glyphosate between 2006 and 2007. Stunning. I would love to know what percentage of that belonged to the wine industry. 

I will note that Dr. Smart, in his address to the Climate Change and Wine conference did not address how using glyphosate is good for the environment or people. 

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In February Dr. Richard Smart of Australia posted a fervent article of support for conventional farming on JancisRobinson.com. More recently he parsed the sentiment at the Climate Change and Wine Conference, which seemed to serve as the model for his remarks as summed by Lucy Shaw. Short and powerful. Some of the remarks seemed so inflammatory that I emailed him to see if se got  his quotes correct. His response was that his quotes were out of context, yet he did say that biodynamics and organics need to defend  their being good for the environment. I was reminded how people who make wine without sulfur or yeast are called to defend themselves, but those who add any of the 200 allowed extras to wine (not to say  Reverse Omosis, etc,) get the free ride. The world is backwards. It is Alice in Wonderland all over.

Some people have called me a pot stirrer.  This is not a bad thing at all, I like getting things stirred up if there's a good reason. But unless I'm playing, I rarely say something provocative as a throwaway. And quite often what other people think is outrageous (like NZ sauvignon blanc or Screaming Eagle being overrated) I just think is my true opinion. But I have to wonder about Dr. Smart's motivation, other than sensationalism.

One of the strangest statements was this one: 

“When people buy food they don’t mind choosing products that have been grown on land treated with chemicals, so why should they care about how a wine has been treated?”

Odd? I mean, has the swell of folk careful about what they eat and the growth in the desire for food farmed with out chemical somehow side stepped the scientist? At least, on a level of taste alone, or call me silly but we care. We really care. This statement was so pot stirring that I had to wonder if he was just being silly or the older I get the more I see fewer people are rational.

Smart smartly defines conventional, (though seems to downplay it into 'sustainable.')

 "Conventional viticulture uses synthetic and/or manufactured fertilisers and pesticides.  A typical conventional vineyard in Australia and New Zealand would be drip irrigated, use herbicides to create a bare under-vine strip, and with an inter-row cover crop which may be sown or volunteer.  The vineyard is typically farmed to avoid severe stress such as from pest, diseases or drought.  Pesticide use is often reduced using Integrated Pest Management and also weather station based disease modelling. Conventional viticulture is the most common the world over, though for some regions cultivation replaces herbicide use."

 Adequately defines organic.

"This viticultural production system is more restrictive with respect of pest and disease control. No synthetic chemicals are used apart from limited amounts of copper (as Bordeaux mixture) and sulphur as fungicides.  Herbal preparations are often used to so-called “strengthen” the grapevine."

And not so smartly defines biodynamic  farming.

"Based on guidelines of the German philosopher Rudolf Steiner.  It is the most extreme and ideological of all approaches and might even be considered spiritual.  The soil is regarded as an integral part of symbiosis between planet, air and cosmos. Biodynamic farmers plan their activities according to the position of the moon and stars and time of year.  While Bordeaux mixture and sulphur are permitted fungicides, other agrochemicals and fertilisers are absolutely forbidden. Biodynamicisms?? three main viticultural preparations are dung compost to the soil, horn dung for the roots and horn silica to assist photosynthesis.  This system is often ridiculed as being non scientific but its proponents include just a few world-famous producers. This system appears to be the darling of many wine journalists."

  He also taps the winemakers shoulder, might a little herbicide help in reducing CO2? And should they not recapture C02 and put it back in the wine. Well, then, he should drink more natural stuff. Didn't M. Chauvet say we should't be afraid of a little gas in wine?(I'm joking, sort of.)"

We all have to do our part to cut back on fossil fuel use, but human beings exhale CO2, wine creates CO2, this is not driving us to the end of the world (waste happens); nuclear disasters like we've seen in Japan are. 

In both his speech and his piece for Ms. Jancis, Smart says/writes: 

"Gladly, I have never seen any journalist promoting wines from so-called “organic” vines as being more healthy for the consumer, that would be indeed an extravagant assertion, and one which would cause the majority of wine producers a great deal of anxiety."

I understand the anxiety. Big wineries are not wanting to have to change as farming without chemicals and making a more natural wine is contrary to large scale winemaking. He is right there. He is wrong though. I am one journalists who is happy to make that assertion, and I'm not pot stirring. Chemicals that the plant drinks in gets transfered to the drinker. In the winery, what about those added tannins, for example. I just deeply believe it that the less you mess with the food and the soil, the better. If you can use something in nature to combat nature rather than something synthetic, that is better. It is just common sense, no?  What's more they're more delicious (to me) as well. I can well understand the industry anxiety. 

 

** Wine writer colleague, Elin McCoy kindly forwarded me the  April 2008  PAN study on pesticides that find their way into the bottle.  Download Message_in_a_Bottle

Martha Stewart Radio Wines

To those who want to know the names of the wineries I talked about on Monday afternoon with Ryan Brockington on Martha Stewart Radio, here they are:

NPA, (local California drinkers only). Salinia. Arnot-Roberts Coturri. Lioco. AmByth Estate. Ant Hill. Edmunds St. John. Brockway. Donkey & Goat. Dashe Cellars. Bebame. Cathy Corison. LaClarine Farm.  Clos Saron.

Not easy to find, but try ordering from Chambers Street Wine in NYC, Calling the winery directly in California for help or delivery, or search wineaccess.com

Bummed @ Balthazar

 A night of lost instinct and (perhaps) bad storage. 

(an interlude before resuming the final Austrian posts)

Of late, when it comes to both interpersonal and wine choices, my instincts have been right but my actions have been wrong. I might as well be fifteen again, but supposedly more mature,  I don't wear it as well.

Take  last night for instance. On a night out with two out of town friends, we sauntered in at 10:30 into Balthzar and behold, there was a little table near the bar just for us.

Total score. 

I had been lusting after a $42 (?) dollar bottle of 2005 Montbourgeau Etoile, looking for the right gullets to order it with. Such a deal, right? So, I warn them, even though it's not extreme, it's not like anything they had. True enough. But it didn't sing. Not only that, the finish was not just salty it was like ocean water. Harsh, raspy and acrid. Not a great handshake from a great wine from great terroir. I wondered, storage? But I've never associated the harsh saline quality as a storage problem. I just thought, well, the 2006 vintage of it was brilliant. My mistake.

So we went to bargain #2; for $52 we could have (and did) '94 Domaine Aux Moines, Roches. The nose was gorgeous old chenin, but again the same salty  brackish swill on the back palate. I could see the friend from Toronto wonder what was the big deal about wine in the first place, enjoyment? Bring on the beer.

 I rationalized. I tried to show her some charm, but I was lying to both of them, and to me as well. 

Meanwhile, the lady from Toronto, with a Winona Ryder-like beauty,  was facing the table of three men behind me. We struck up a conversation; after all, three of them, three of us, Saturday night and all of that. I had heard they were drinking Gigondas.

When they heard I was a wine writer they said "pick us a wine." The caveat? The choice had to be one they'd love. How could we go wrong with the '05 Chandon de Briailles Ile des Vergelesses @ $96? Brackish. Thud. Clunk. And this, on a fruit day no less.

 My reputation was at stake. The main dude, an exec, was a Parker drinker, and he wanted me to impress him. Hell, I wanted to impress him. Being well-behaved, I wanted to keep it under $100, the 2009 Foillard or the 2006 Ganevat Trousseau?

My instinct whispered to me; go with the crowd pleaser. Foillard. Hadn't I seen that any wine with any age had been damaged during this evening? Yes, again, I suspected poor storage or wines at war with the wine fridge. It was more than possible. I had the proof in my mouth. The wines were not right. Instead I thought maybe they just were misbehaving, like a dog who won't perform tricks in front of company and you're there saying, "Paw!"              
getting nothing but quizzical looks, or in this case, a growl.

Ah, my self-destructive streak showed: I went for the Ganevat.

It's like putting faith that someone who has stood you up three times, won't stand you up the fourth.

The guys were good natured about it, but I slinked out, knowing even if Balthazar's storage was at fault, I could have averted a wine disaster if I had just listened. The wines were all between 40%-50% off. Their life had been snuffed out. Might have shown some spunk, but somewhat snuffed.

Moral of the story:  #1-if you've had good instincts all your life, learn to trust them. #2- when at Balthazar, buy the younger wines.

 

(please chime in if  you've better experiences with older wines at Balthazar. Perhaps the wines off of their Reserve list are handled better? Would love to know.)

Happy Biodynamics in Austria (#7)

(More random musings from my time in Austrian vines)

When I was sitting at the NH hotel at the Vienna airport I was happy to find some of the wines from Fred Loimer, the Zweigelt rose, a relief. That I could find something so enjoyable in what promised to be a wine desert, was fabulous. Both Loimer as well as Meinkling ( In Burgenland) are examples of happy biodynamic wines that are made on a wider scale that are very successful and even pleasing to a snob like me who is after the  small natural-minded vigneron. 

I was an hour late to Meinklang (previously known as Michlitz). Werner, who met me was gracious and was even grateful because as they are pretty out of the way the get few visitors. They are in the flat part of Burgenland, not far from the Hungarian border and for some reason, I felt more comfortable in this part of Austria as well as Slovenia, for one similar reason which actually had little to do with wine.

Meinklang's been making wine for a decade but they've been a biodynamic farm for twenty years, and now, alongside with wine, produces Biodynamic beer as well. Though the family has been in the biz for a while, there's energy here of new converts, and I wasn't that surprised when Werner brought me into the crypt that held his bioD preparations. Sorry for the iphone photo:

And then there was the extremely beautiful salad;  
which alone is an advert for bioD goodness, or at least artistry. 

This is a winery in search of itself but much of the wine is very drinkable and the prices are gentle. There needs to be more of this sort of thing. Wine for the people. Here I particularly liked the Graupert. Made from untended vines, this is particulary noteworthy as  I'm seeing more winemakers keeping a low-profile  on the vine clipping. What happens is that the grape bunches get smaller and more intense, and closer to wild grapes. Not economically viable, but interesting. 

In the cellar there was an army of those concrete eggs that I don't particularly love. They just seem too energetic.    
This is a very sustainable operation, as they don't buy from Nomblot but make their own. They are slightly larger than the Nomblots at 900l and many people liked them better. In fact they were so successful, Nomblot filed a cease and desist, so no more commercial egg making for them. Which is fine, Werner said, as he really doesn't see himself as an egg manufacture.

Another thing not for them is venturing into no or low sulfur: with their whites getting as much as 90 ppm. "We need to keep a clean profile," Werner added. 

There was something about Werner's embracing of biodynamics, talking about the pigs they slaughter, who go without fear, happy pigs...okay. I'm thinking, right, your pig is happy to die for the plate, I don't buy it. But never the less the happy pigs made me think of  Christine Saahs  of Nikolaihof another favorite sulfur-ed winery,

And they also make some quantity of wine, though not nearly so much as Loimer and Meingklang.(8,300 cases). Sadly, even the GV Hefeabzug or the Federspiel are more expensive than my pocketbook allows me to spring for (Buy books. Support my wine cellar!). And at  $60 for the Steiner Hund, really out of reach.

Biodynamic since 1971, I asked Christine (blessed with optimism that is adorable and ageless) about that sulfur; "We sulfur for the first time when they take the wine of of the lees. For me, it's better to have a little bit of sulfur to have this 'traditional' kind of wine." For us a problem is those who use enzymes and yeast, not sulfur. Years ago when they didn't have sulfur they made a spray from yarrow, which has a lot of natural sulfur."

I was supposed to have a three hour visit here, but it was cut down to one hour. I knew that David Schildneckt was in town, following my steps by a few hours and I wondered, was it David again messing around with my schedule? Never the less I got one request--I needed to go to see Steinherhund, where some of my most profound Nik wines come from.

This was in Steiner Hund, a vineyard I had to go to, for no other reason than if I love the wines from a certain place, I need to see where they come from.

Christine took me to this extremely steep vineyard, just beneath the road, high above the town of Mautern. "Happy vineyards," she said, "happy vineyards. Happy vines." She laughed. She was in love with those vines. They could have been children doing a happy sun dance, those were kittens at play. Unbelievable. The top soil,  soft, no more than 10 centimeters on top of primary rock. The vines were just in flower and gorgeous, "Smell," she said to me and then almost in a whisper," I like it."

Then she said, "When we drink a glass of wine we drink a glass of sunshine," take that, Anita Bryant.

When you see conventional vineyards, she says, the leaves are unnaturally green. They should be happy, reaching for the sky so their roots can go back down into the ground. The big difference between biodynamic and organic, is that no yeast allowed in biodynamic in Europe. Allowed in organic, however."

Back in 1971, we were biodynamic but we never used herbicides. Christine is an icon, for one her outlook but that also she is also deeply committed and observant. The coopting of biodynamics is making her lose sleep, "Today," she said sadly, "the big growth in biodynamic is just for marketing." It is as a key to life was given to the devil.

 

Listen up? I'll be on Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius Satellite for the Living Today show this coming Monday, June 27th @ 3pm, talking about the wine renaissance in California.

The key to getting cork(screwed) **

 Sommelier's are replacing the evergreen corkscrew with a wine key and it's difficult not to think of the way short shorts transformed into hot pants. Well, it's not quite the same, but I can't resist the analogy. Must be the Solstice.

I call this      one of my favorite devices, a corkscrew. Yet, wine key used instead of a corkscrew, has become trending. If you listen up, you'll hear it parsed everywhere there is a white cloth. It's in evolution and unless nipped in the bud, it will become the somm of its generation. (remember when it was sommelier?).  Our wine lexicon is changing with the speed of the carbon footprint.

But I forgot that I wanted to write about it until last week.

Shortly after my arrival in Bouilland,
contemplating the 2006 disgorged Selosse in the sink,
Russell,  poking a braised leg of something on the burner said, "What is this bloody thing about wine keys. Whatever happened to corkscrew?"

Russell was disgusted. He ( like me) is guilty of strong opinions, (he wasn't sold on the Selosse, I on the other hand....) and that might be why I love Mr. Hone so much. I just don't feel so alone. Someone out there resonates with me. I am grateful to him because he reminded me of this wine key thing. A few nights later I got on the job, when perfectly sweet Alex from DB Bistro confirmed that he too uses the term. "Because it unlocks a treasure."

 I immediately understood Russell's spume; treasure? Aren't we supposed to be over this fetishizing? Wine for the people, hip hip and all of that? Is a wine key only to be used on rare gargles? Only on expensive, bank-heist worthy bordeaux? Only on Houillon/ Overnoy?

 I did a little unofficial survey.  I always excused Pascaline calling her tool a  wine key, but I decided to ask her why.  She said, in fact, that wine key was the first words she ever heard of to describe this thing that pulls a cork from the bottle. But, I thought, you know that Clef du Vin, which of course is the French translation of wine key? This device supposedly pre-ages your wine to drinking perfection in your glass. A concept that bugs me, often to an excess of hyperbolic vitriolics. Wouldn't sommelier's want to avoid the unfortunate association? Then there is the Laguoile top of the line model, which is called Cle de Vin, even though it is under corkscrews. Perhaps this is the device referred to but, it is creeping into other styles and models of "waiter's friend."

Next, I emailed adorable Jordan Salcito who wrote back enthusiastically, "Wine key! I prefer the idea of "unlocking" what's inside the bottle."

Levi Dalton was a big surprise. "Wine key, " he wrote.  

He seems like such a corkscrew kind of guy to me. It just goes to show you. And I am sure I never heard him use the term, I think. No, I'm sure, but still he continued thoughtfully.  

 "Probably it was something I picked up working at DANIEL. I do specifically remember one of the other sommeliers there asking me if I had a wine key and not understanding what they were saying. This same experience happened in reverse 2 weeks ago when I went to a wine store and the young clerk didn't know what I was referring to. I think I use the term because the ready alternative, corkscrew, can imply something much simpler than I am looking to use or purchase. Like a corkscrew could mean just a worm with a T bar handle, or a worm attached to a Swiss Army knife, and I wouldn't be interested in using either of those."

A hedging his bets response was handed over by Michael Madrigale (in the employ of DANIEL), he takes the whatever it takes, approach. "Wine key in my opinion is an industry term. I think "key" denotes that it opens  more things than just a bottle of wine (beers, etc). Corkscrew is a tried and true term for everyone. More populist. I use the term "corkscrew" mostly but sometimes when I'm feeling like a badass I'll call it my "steel"" 

 Matt Reiser up in Massachussets, was with Jordan and PP, wine key!

Then, the strangest thing happend. I was positive Joe Campanale was going to tell me wine key. But what did he write to me?

"I still call it a corkscrew but everyone calls it a wine key."

 When you think of the thing that removes a cork, the words always seem so blantantly sexual. Tool, screw, pull, Ah-So! Pulling a cork out of a bottle is exactly that, sexual. It comes  (see?) out with a sigh.

When over mint tea and pastry at Bague de Kenza in Paris last week (yes, rubbing it in) I asked Linda Milagros Violago, sommelier to the stars, now in Paris, next stop the moon  she said, "What's the matter, are people afraid of using the word screw?"

 Where do you stand? 

 

(thanks to Mark Goldberger, or @Vinformative for this somewhat tweaked post title.)

Austrian Wine Surprises (Austria #6)

 Kremstalian Demeter certified Nicky Moser, makes a fine zweigelt and pinot. Yes, he was fascinated with a wine that was not his. This was something from the OTHER Salamon not imported into the US by TT, Fritz. "My wife will bring us down a bottle," he said.

 

He was far more interested in tasting me on his friends wines than his. When does this ever happen? The wine it turns out was a no -sulfur wine being made by Fritz since.....1995!!!

"I serve it by the glass in my restaurant," says Fritz, "They buy it because it's cheap. No one ever buys the bottle."

Yet is was that riesling that Nicky and I loved. Just loved. It might have been one of the most enjoyable swirl and spits of my visit. Butterscotch nose, seaweed, umami, smoky, tangy, brimming with piss and vinegar.Touch of honey and long lasting.  Admittedly, this was a very hard act for the Moser wines to follow. And Nicky is trying. He wants to go towards no -sulfur wines and Fritz is his inspiration. Hence his Minimal wines.  

Only sulfur at bottlings, 10 mg total. 

Best anfora wine I drank in Austria (Austria #5)

In a debate about wild yeasts , it was David Schildneckt who first  had told me about Bernhard Ott's  anfora gruner in the Wagram.

His thought? Amazing. Gruner? He wasn't sure.

This was a wine I had to taste so, Ott was the first stop right off the plane.  To greet me was fantastic bread, and a new lust object, shapely Zalto decanters, to spit in. 
 

Ott had his biodynamic conversion about three years ago through a consultant I'd never heard of, have you? Andrew Lorand.

And a conversion it was, because my only previous Ott wine was a 2006, relatively commercial. Yeast..etc. His new of Gruners  are different animals. Ott drank the biodynamic Kool-Aid and has taken certification with a group that is pissing Demeter off, something called Respekt.  And he is in love with his compost.

 

 

But never the less, his compost and his Kveri Gruner-V are to my taste the finest anfora Gruner I ever tasted, and my favorite of his wine.

 

The winemaking is simple. Carbonic with out the added gas. Throw the grapes in, cover it up, siphon off the clear juice. The 2009 was delicious, pepper, chamomile, slight skunk, angular and butterscotch. the 2010; add freshness, lemon, grapefruit and chamomile, very focused and lively.

Andreas Tscheppe + Weingut Muster (Austria #4)

 
Andreas, with the gorgeous bug labels had specific ideas, is up for all sorts of things like burying a barrel of sauvignon blanc to have the earth's influences. He loves old terraces and rebuilds them, not afraid of a little back breaking work.  Making some wine without sulfur. In fact he was testing me.

 He made me work for my tastes.Thank goodness I  ID-ed the unsulfured sauvignon (easy to do; sulfured wine was closed down, unsulfured had some butterscotch) and spotted the muskateller otherwise he'd kick me out of his porch where we were tasting his  salamanders, beetles and dragon flies.  

Personally, I'm not loving the chardonnay from this area, but the sauvignon is distinctive, piercing but not cloying, with high toned bits of wild carrots. One of the wines I loved the most was the  2005 Beetle; whole cluster sauvignon, three weeks on skins, pressed off, into barrels.  

A blue-eyed thinker, I thought for sure he was a virgo, turns out he's a Pisces. Fooled me! But his last sentence before we moved on revealed his true self; " I want to transport my feelings about the vineyards into the wines."  

Then his wife asked us if we wanted cake. I said no. She said, But this is Austria! I realized saying no to cake was heresy. I took cake. Espresso. Was not sorry.

Andreas is quite convinced he wants his group to go over to no-sulfur winemaking. And so they are all making experiments, as evidenced over at Muster in Leutschach.

 I kept on thinking I'd never seen more beautiful vineyards and then this comes along; 

And yet another amphora wine!  And another man who reduces the amount of sulfur by using whey in his copper mix. He too buried barrels, buried clay Georgian kveri, and likes the anfora as a way to "collect the earth's energy.' And here too white wines with 8-12 months on the skins...etcetc.

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Have I met an anfora wine in Austria that I liked? Yes! ---

Werlitsch: Lower Styria (Austrian #3)

 
 Once a seabed, this verdant countryside, somewhat reminiscent of the Jura, Lower Styria, is not the place for mono-culture.  All around Ewald Tscheppe's vineyards are cherry trees, fruits, vegetables, forest and even his brother's mountain bike. Ewald is long and lean, almost kid-like and gung ho on biodynamics. He started to make wine with bro, Andreas, but they decided even thought they worked the same grapes the wines they made were entirely different, so Andreas moved over the hill, the brothers still share winemaking equipment and affection. They are also both members of the little group of five vignerons who call themselves, Schmecke das Leben.

Ewald's got his  8h of chalky marl. He says because of the breakdown of the old shells, there is always some petrol aroma and taste in his wine. He says petrol, I say wild carrot, but yes, when we later tasted, I saw what he meant.

He took over in 2004 and here is planted to chardonnay (morillon here) and sauvignon and muskateller, never used synthetic fertilizers and only briefly flirted with herbicides. And what's more I can't believe how boring I'm making this visit, because it was not. The high points included going to his vines with a shovel, passing a shit load of cat nip growing wild, instant valium for redheads.  We sat down in between the vines as if it was smoking zero summer and a picnic was on the way , instead we dug up the earth,

 

applauded his earthworms and wild carrots, wild sage and general health, and I swear I have never been in vineyards that had more birds.

Werlitsch is the label. 

The wines? Quite good. More than good, interesting. They would fly in the states. And then there's that anfora wine. Everyone here seems to be influenced by Gravner. I've not seen one anfora NOT buried. And here is the crypt.  

Inside that buried boy is 90% welschriesling & sauvignon. Wild carrot, souce and eucalyptus. He bottles it in this ceramic jug, 

 I'm not going to give a run down on the wines because why bother. What is important is Ewald's wines, great, and part of the group's philosophy that the grape is utterly unimportant, what is important is the terroir. Also important are his thoughts such as, "Sulfur gives the wine a shape. It's like the bones in the body." 

 And with that, I went across the hill to Andreas.