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Linda Murphy
Aug 17, 2010
Ehlers Estate in St. Helena has gone about its charity business rather quietly, without much fanfare, donating every penny of its profits to cardiovascular research conducted throughout the world. This philanthropy, along with the opportunity to produce Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from organically grown grapes from a single estate, lured Kevin Morrisey away from Stag's Leap Winery in 2009 to become Ehlers' general manager and winemaker.
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Linda Murphy
Jul 20, 2010
I am happy to say that things have changed dramatically at Jordan, so much so that I'm now a fan of Rob Davis' wines and of John Jordan, Tom's son, who took over as CEO in 2005. John, who left his law practice to join the business, has made enormous changes, including in the vineyards, the hospitality center and consumer outreach. Appointments are still required to visit, yet one doesn't need to know the password or secret handshake. Just call.
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Linda Murphy
Jun 22, 2010
Many California wineries are now producing dry rosés, yet some do it better than others. Too many -- most of them newcomers to the category -- have the notion that rosé should be more red than pink, and more tannic, alcoholic and gutsy than the European rosé models, in order to be accepted in the United States. These are the rosés I do not consider to be serious.
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Linda Murphy
May 25, 2010
Recent wine industry developments have me thinking about noble rot -- as in noble accomplishments and rotten deeds. Unfortunately, I must start with the bad before I get to any good. If HR 5034, a bill introduced to Congress by beer wholesalers and supported by wine and spirits wholesalers, is passed into law, it would greatly reduce consumer choice in the wines they purchase, and how they purchase them. It could also mean ruin for small wineries that rely on direct-shipping of their wines to consumers, rather than relying on a shrinking list of wholesalers to sell their wines.
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Linda Murphy
Apr 27, 2010
I don't pay a lot of attention to books on matching wine with food. I don't have anything against them, and many people find them useful and inspiring I just don't bother with them. Yet a new book on matching, from California master sommelier Evan Goldstein, not only caught my eye, it captured my interest.
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Linda Murphy
Mar 30, 2010
When the announcement came earlier this year that Vintage Wine Estates had purchased a share of Kunde Family Estate winery in Sonoma Valley, it seemed to be one more domino to fall, one more long-time producer needing a bailout. Yet my recent visit to Kunde, just outside the town of Kenwood, proved this was not the case. In fact, the Kunde family, which has grown grapes in Sonoma Valley since 1904, appears to be in better shape than ever.
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Linda Murphy
Mar 2, 2010
I've been thinking a lot about evaluating wines vs. enjoying wines -- and there is a big difference.
By day, I taste dozens of wines a week, sometimes hundreds if I'm judging a competition, and the task is to judge each one in some context. Yet by night, when it comes to choosing a wine I want to drink with dinner, or on a summer Saturday afternoon on the patio with friends, the bottle I open usually has little to do with scores or stars assigned to wines during the evaluation phase. I might give a wine 92 points if it's remarkable and well-made, then say to myself, 'But I don't want to drink it.'
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Linda Murphy
Feb 2, 2010
A former winemaker colleague of mine was fond of saying, 'Northing happens quickly in the wine business except mistakes.' Lambert Bridge Winery in the Dry Creek Valley of northwestern Sonoma County is proof of that - not because of any mistakes it might have made, but because the producer demonstrates just how long it can take to turn a moribund winery into one bursting with life and success.
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Linda Murphy
Jan 5, 2010
My heart sank when I pushed my shopping cart toward the checkout line at my local Trader Joe's store just before Christmas. There, facing the cash registers, was a huge case stack of wines from Sauvignon Republic, a serious Sauvignon Blanc-only brand based in Sonoma County and producer of wines made from grapes grown in Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, the Marlborough region in New Zealand, and Stellenbosch in South Africa. Not only was I depressed that these fresh, energetic wines were available at Trader Joe's (which has a reputation for being a clearinghouse for wines that don't find more lucrative homes), but also that they were priced at $6.99 per bottle. They normally sell for $18 to $20, so the Trader Joe's 'sale' meant only one thing: that Sauvignon Republic was Houdini, about to disappear.
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Linda Murphy
Dec 8, 2009
On the first day of Christmas
My true love sent to me:
A 3-liter of Screaming Eagle, praise be!
(Which I hope to sell, when the economy recovers, for thousands of dollars, to be used as a down payment on a used car, to replace my really, really used car. Or perhaps I'll use the proceeds to pay for a few months of health insurance premiums. Decisions, decisions …)
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Linda Murphy
Nov 10, 2009
I'm written dozens of wines-for-Thanksgiving stories, including one for the San Francisco Chronicle, which told readers where they could buy wine on Thanksgiving Day. I was surprised to learn just how many wine shops are open on the holiday, saving the day for procrastinating shoppers. This isn't that kind of column. Instead, I'm giving thanks -- and no, thanks -- for some wine-related developments in 2009 that had me thinking about more than just what wine to serve with turkey and fixings.
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Linda Murphy
Oct 13, 2009
Everything Italy's Marchese Piero Antinori and his winemaking family touches seemingly turns to gold: Chianti from Tuscany, the "Super Tuscan" Tignanello and Solaia wines, Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino, Guado al Tasso in Bolgheri, Castello della Sala in Umbria, Tormaresca in Puglia, and Montenisa sparkling wine in Franciacorta. So it is no surprise that the Antinoris, who have achieved phenomenal success in the 26 generations they have made wine, have yet another winning brand, one that debuted only in 2007, yet is as solid as the volcanic rock blasted to smithereens two decades ago to make way for the vineyards which supply it.
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Linda Murphy
Sep 15, 2009
On vacation in Sonoma County in 1987, the place flashed 'HOME' like a big Las Vegas neon sign. I was taken by the beauty of the area -- not just the vineyards, but also the rivers and lakes, the mountains, redwood forests, winding country roads and rugged coastline -- and with the friendly people who went out of their way to be helpful. I loved the fact that I could dine in a fine restaurant and be seated next to a grapegrower in jeans and dusty boots.
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Linda Murphy
Aug 18, 2009
While I am always looking for lower-alcohol, crisp white wines with energy and compatibility with a wide range of foods, I have concluded that California Chardonnay - at least the high-end stuff, produced from premiere cru-equivalent vineyards such as those Ramey sources -- needs to have some oomph: ripe fruit, oak contact, and a textural richness that comes from lees contact. By extension, they will almost always have significant, yet not over-the-top, alcohols.
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Linda Murphy
Jul 21, 2009
Richard and Thekla Sanford … Gary Farrell ... Brice Cutrer Jones … the Fetzer siblings ... winemaking icons all, yet they are no longer connected to the wineries they founded, and which still bear their names. But the most traumatic departure from one's own winery was that of Robert Mondavi and his family, after Robert Mondavi Corp. was sold to Constellation Brands in 2004.
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Linda Murphy
Jun 23, 2009
Petite Sirah can be such a monster that it is among my least favorite varietals. Like so many other wine competition judges, I cringe when I'm assigned the Petite Sirah category, because I know I'm in for a long, painful day of tannic assault and blueberry-syrup flavors. Yet for every one of me, there is a Petite Sirah fanatic, someone who loves the wine for the very reasons I don't. In fact, there is the 'P.S. I Love You' fan club, comprised of producers and consumers who are as devoted to their grape as members of the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers are to theirs.
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Linda Murphy
May 26, 2009
Montana, New Zealand's largest wine producer, celebrated its 30th vintage of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in March, an occasion so significant that Prime Minister John Key was there to unveil a monument marking the spot where the first commercial vineyard in Marlborough was planted, in 1973, by Montana founder Frank Yukich. At that time, Yukich declared, 'Wines from here will become world famous,' despite the fact that the region was previously known for its sheep ranches and fruit orchards rather than vineyards.
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Linda Murphy
Apr 28, 2009
I love a breaking wine story as much as anyone, and my pulse races when I acquire the odd bottle of California Vermentino or Tannat. Yet I have great appreciation and admiration for wineries that have been around for a while and do a consistently excellent job in bottling quality, and selling it for fair prices.
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Linda Murphy
Mar 31, 2009
With the economic disaster, workers getting pink slips, taxes soaring and some of us looking under the sofa cushions for loose change, drinking wine at dinner can be a comfort, helping to bring people together at the table for a deep breath and stimulating conversation. Even the most humble of dishes, such as hamburgers and macaroni and cheese, taste better when they're accompanied by a bottle of wine passed around the table. With so many tasty wines available for under $15 -- less than the cost of a large take-out pizza -- wine does not have to be seen as an unaffordable luxury
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Linda Murphy
Mar 3, 2009
Across America, the deepening recession has changed how most of us eat and drink. While consumers appear to be buying as much wine as before, they're trading down, buying less expensive bottles (or boxes). Oregon doesn't have a lot to offer in the $15-and-under category, where most of the sales action is during these trying times, so wine lovers with a $12 price limit will look to wines from other states and countries.
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Linda Murphy
Feb 3, 2009
For those who appreciate $20 wines that taste like $40, look to Chile, as I did on a recent visit to judge the Wines of Chile Awards in Santiago. Between the competition -- limited to wines priced $30 or less -- and tastings at wineries, I found a number of delicious Chilean wines that are available in the United States and suitable for serious but penny-pinching wine drinkers.
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Linda Murphy
Jan 6, 2009
I write about West Coast wines for London-based Decanter magazine. Its editors and many of its contributors live in the United Kingdom and are, naturally, Euro-centric in their tastes, having been weaned on Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. Wines made in the United States have to go the extra mile -- make that kilometer -- to impress them. After Decanter published its California Cabernet Sauvignon report in the January 2009 issue, based on tastings conducted in fall 2008 in London (which I did not attend), it was with some trepidation that I turned to page 82 to see how the 2005 California Cabs fared. Literary blood soaked the paper.
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Linda Murphy
Dec 9, 2008
Seldom do wine writers get the opportunity to taste aged California Chardonnay ... So I jumped at the chance to taste 10 Patz & Hall Chardonnays with some bottle age on them, the oldest from the 1999 vintage. Overall, the wines showed extremely well, yet it was the most senior of the group, the 1999 Patz & Hall Dutton Ranch Chardonnay from the Russian River Valley, that was the most alluring for drinking now.
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Linda Murphy
Nov 11, 2008
At a recent San Francisco tasting of selected red wines from the Penfolds cellar, guests were served 11 aged wines, including 1991 and 1998 St. Henri Shiraz, 2002 RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz, the fabulously well-preserved 1962 Bin 60A Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon/Kalimna Shiraz, and two vintages of Grange, 1990 and 1991.
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Linda Murphy
Oct 14, 2008
Tablas Creek general manager Jason Haas uses his blog not so much as a marketing tool for his wines, but as an information center on industry trends and issues. Any winery can blog blah-blah-blah about its medals won and 90-point scores; it takes thought and a commitment to serving the customer to create a blog that has something to say other than, 'buy my wine' or 'join our wine club.
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Linda Murphy
Sep 16, 2008
In 1986, Judy Jordan raised eyebrows when she and her father, Jordan Winery founder Tom Jordan, created J Wine Co. for the expressed purpose of producing sparkling wine. An infatuation with bubbly and visits to Champagne left Judy certain that fine fizz was her future. 'My first baby: Bubbles,' she says.
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Linda Murphy
Aug 19, 2008
For acid freaks like me, there are few places in the world better than Alsace for delivering white wines whose acidities take a layer off the tongue, get the drool going like Pavlov's dogs, and give new context to the phrase, 'hurts so good.'
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Linda Murphy
Jul 22, 2008
When I visited Healdsburg for the first time in 1987, it flashed "home" to me like a big Las Vegas neon sign. "Move here. Move here. Move here," it said. And I did, three years later, on nothing but blind faith.
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Linda Murphy
Jun 24, 2008
Lush, emerald-carpeted vineyards are still bucolic and green, wineries in chateau and redwood-barn structures remain charming and inviting, and the fine wines produced within them continue to ignite amorous sparks between people and the mating of food to wine. Winemaking and wine drinking remain seductive; it's the business of it all that can crush one's heart.
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Linda Murphy
May 27, 2008
The 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons are entering the market, though plenty of 2004s are still out there, including the exceptional Spottswoode St. Helena Napa Valley, Dominus Napa Valley and, fittingly, the Robert Mondavi Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons--three of the finest wines I tasted from the vintage. Anywhere.
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Linda Murphy
Apr 29, 2008
I got up on the wrong side of the bed one recent morning and stubbed my big toe when I tripped over a 4-pound bottle of Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon. That's approximately 2 pounds of glass holding 2 pounds of liquid. The bottle is so ridiculously heavy that it could be used as a doorstop, or a weapon for use on an intruder, or a dumbbell for reducing underarm flab.
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Linda Murphy
Apr 1, 2008
A stubborn insistence that red wine is the only wine that matters--especially sturdy, tannic Bordeaux and sensuous, elegant Burgundy--has been passed across the Atlantic from Europe to the United States and adopted by many Americans, who turn up their noses at any wines colored from pale straw to deep golden. Sadly, they're missing half the fun of drinking wine--and these are people who know wine, not neophytes.
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Linda Murphy
Mar 4, 2008
Kiwi Pinot Gris, Rieslings and Gewurztraminers are typically off-dry; winemakers leave a bit of unfermented sugar in the wines to balance the racy acidity and plump up the fruit character and texture of the wines. They're easy to drink, stylish, pair nicely with a wide range of foods, and--as winemaker after winemaker told me--they can't make enough to quench consumers' thirst.
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Linda Murphy
Feb 5, 2008
For those who are neither wealthy nor connected, tasting Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is a treat of the highest order. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti isn't just the superstar of Burgundy; it produces some of the finest wines in the world, and unquestionably some of the most collectable. I'll take DRC La Tâche over Chateau Latour any day.
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Linda Murphy
Jan 8, 2008
Siduri's Adam Lee is among the small number of vintners who understand that the U.S. Pinot Noir category will survive only if there are tasty, varietally correct wines made at lower price points. Helen Turley's Marcassin Sonoma Coast Pinot Noirs will always command whatever price her fans are willing to pay (they start at $75), and red-hot Kosta Browne will thrive as long as critics continue to adore the Russian River Valley- and Sonoma Coast-sourced wines. Yet the exclusivity and pricing of these stellar wines shut out all but a lucky few of the wine-buying public, so Lee has pledged to devote a portion of his Pinot Noir production to affordable wines.
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Linda Murphy
Dec 11, 2007
Since the road to hell is paved with good intentions -- and I meant to recommend the wines below much sooner, I swear -- I now ask forgiveness for pushing some bottles to the back of my mental cellar. I bring them forth now, and each is a winner, for the holidays and thereafter, for stuffing in stockings, stocking up by the case, or sending to the cellar for future drinking. I should have done this sooner, but hey, better late than never, yes?
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Linda Murphy
Oct 16, 2007
I've been thinking a lot about Zinfandel, and about how little of it I drink. I sample hundreds of Zins a year at tastings and competitions, and where I reside in Sonoma County, I'm surrounded by Zinfandel vines and the folks who turn the fruit into wine. Yet I spit more Zin than I swallow.
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Linda Murphy
Sep 18, 2007
Rodney Strong wines have always been reliable, yet almost always neglected by those interested only in 'serious' wines. If it can easily be found on a retail shelf, then these folks don't want it, and RSV's Sonoma County and estate bottlings have been just that -- good (but not great), accessible, affordable and available. The 'not great' part has stuck in the craw of Rodney Strong owner Tom Klein since he purchased the winery and vineyards from Guinness in 1989, and he's doing something about it.
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Linda Murphy
Aug 21, 2007
Seven members of ORCA, the Oregon Chardonnay Alliance, beached themselves at a restaurant a few weeks ago and demonstrated to me that at least seven Oregon wineries are producing gorgeous Chardonnays.
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Linda Murphy
Jul 10, 2007
You've heard the worn-out marketing lines before: 'Warm days and cool nights' … 'unique soils' … 'our wines express the terroir of our special sites' … 'We craft our wines to complement food.' Nearly every winery in California can say the above is true of its vineyards and wines, as the claims are so superficial. How warm is warm, and how cool is cool?
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Ehlers Estate: Winery with a Heart
