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[wine] TN 2B or not 2B Bordeaux at Bobino 3-3-05

by russellmccandless＠frontiernet.net

2B or Not 2B Bordeaux Bobino 3-3-2005 Good food provided by the new chef. Bubbly touch of SO2 on nose at first, clean, minerally fresh, pleasant. Haton Brut NV (Champagne). I haven't been a fan of this wine in the past, but the batch currently in town is quite attractive. (It's on sale at Surdyk's for $17.99.) W1 deep gold, petrolly nose, very dry mouth entry, aromatic grape of some sort, don't think it's riesling, perhaps Alsatian pinot gris or Condrieu?? Full, honeyed finish, very good indeed. 2001 R. H. Phillips EXP Viognier, Dunnigan Hills. W2 corked. 1.1 dark, currant and bell pepper nose, tastes a touch sweet/cooked, good dark fruit flavor though, light to medium body, hot finish not the best feature, decent wine. 2002 Alexander Valley Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley. 1.2 medium color showing a touch of age at rim; nice acidic bell pepper nose, faintly stemmy but attractive; medium body, astringent red fruit flavor, well structured with just a touch of acid still to integrate; smooth transition to a true finish, could wish for more power but this is very good. Delicious, and that's a word by which I usually mean a much sweeter-tasting wine. 1990 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley. Still wearing the Surdyk's price sticker from 10 plus years ago, $13.49. (Suggested retail on the 2002 version of this wine, reportedly a success although I haven't tasted it, is about $25.) 1.3 medium dark young-looking wine; alcohol and fruit on nose, smells of no particular varietal, not a lot of flavor and finishes briefly compared to the preceding two wines. Just a sound red wine without special qualities, although of course it's tough to ask it to follow a 15-year-old wine that has turned out well. 1998 Gallo of Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County. 2.1 dark; bashful nose, big dark fruit and sweet oak midpalate, very new world, finishes a bit hollow and alcoholic. 2001 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley. 2.2 medium color, another bashful nose, tannic and lacking in flavor, hot finish. 2001 Newton Claret, Napa Valley. Overall impression not as bad as my uncomplimentary notes suggest, but this particular bottle of this well-reviewed wine didn't seem to show very well. (According to the winery, "mostly Merlot, with quite a bit of Cabernet Franc and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon.") 2.3 dark color, maple currant nose, full, round and sweet in the mouth, needs a little time in bottle though? Finishes aromatic and very long, excellent. 2001 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley. (Same wine as 2.1; this was much the better bottle of the two.) 3.1 dark; considerable depth on nose but not a lot of aromatic volume; full, round, astringent black fruit midpalate; finesse in spite of size; finishes aromatic and long, touch of alcohol, good balance overall. 2001 Solaris Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley. 3.2 medium dark; full, sweet nose; smooth mouth entry, then astringent, very large, mucho fruit, great big finish, outstanding wine. 2001 Chateau Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley. 3.3 dark color; nose emphasizing the vegetal side of the Bordeaux spectrum; weighty in the mouth, high-toned flavors, earth and vegetables with the fruit; good length. 1997 Sant'Elena, Isonzo de Friuli (Italy). According to the label, 60% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot. This improved a great deal with time in the glass. Dessert 1999 Mendelson Pinot Gris, Napa Valley. Interesting rosy gold color. A bit nondescript by itself, but quite attractive with the desserts, even the chocolate. 15.5% alcohol and 158 g/l residual sugar, according to the winery web site.

20 years, 9 months

[wine] Que Syrah Sirah at Auriga

by Jim L. Ellingson

----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)ME.UMN.EDU> ----- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 16:32:30 -0600 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)ME.UMN.EDU> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Que Syrah Sirah Greetings, Off to the newly remodeled Auriga, in search of Syrah/Sirah. Thursday, 6:30. NW corner of Hennepin and Franklin Auriga Rest. 1930 Hennepin Ave, Mpls, 55403 612-871-0777 Very nice food at Bobino. Parking tip for next time. Off street lot meters have 4 hr. limits. 75 cents per hour. Not sure who owns these. Street meters are 2 hr limit, are enforced until 10:00 Best wag at who's coming: Bob Bill Lori Betsy Nicolai Jim (assuming I'm over this bloody head cold) Russ Annette Cheers, Jim Syrah Superstars | November 2001 Back Syrah Superstars By MARK MAZUR We asked producers to submit two Syrahs.one priced $20 or less, the other priced over $20. Last month, in Part One, we reported on the under-$20 set. This month, we sink our teeth into the upper crust. This is the big leagues, the upper division finals. Wine Enthusiast.s intrepid tasting team, palates well-seasoned by Part One of our World Cup of Syrah, confronted a global selection of 200 wines priced over $20.some well over $20. Regardless of price or place of origin, these players are in this game for one reason.all were at least 75 percent Syrah, in conformance with ATF labeling regulations. In Part One (.The Next Big Thing,. October 2001), we covered the history and legends of Syrah as well as the less expensive bottlings. This month, we.ll get straight to the juice. For starters, what do you get when you taste at the top? For sure, you get quality. Overall quality was significantly higher than in Part One.although not uniformly. In marked contrast to last month.s dearth of 90-point scores, this month, 56 wines.more than 25 percent of the wines reviewed.received scores of 90 points or higher. What Price Performance? We sampled Syrahs from a very broad price range (from $21 to $145).the most expensive wines were priced almost seven times higher than the lowest-priced wines. The top price could have gone higher, too, had we not already reviewed Penfold.s Grange, which carries a suggested price of $185 and usually retails for more, earlier this year. Flights were grouped in comparable price and geographic groupings, so wines were not blind-tasted against competitors costing twice or thrice as much, or directly against wines of vastly differing origin. After .Is it good?. the inevitable question is .What does it cost?. Everyone is interested in the bang-for-the-buck factor. Wines at the lower-end of the price spectrum, those costing $28 and less, perhaps relate more to wines from Part One of our survey than the upper-end wines covered here. The strongest performers in this range are our Top Values. Top Value is a qualification awarded to wines that retail above our normal Best Buy range, but are notable for their positive price-quality rapport. We only use the Top Value designation in our tasting features. We list 17 Top Values in the sidebar. Many other top-scoring wines were priced just above our defined cut-off points for Top Value in this survey. These warrant serious consumer attention, especially if discounted this holiday season. Enthusiasts should remember that price, quality and rating are not necessarily related factors. Price is most often a factor of the scale of production.a wine made in small quantities will almost always cost more. We hope these wines will be excellent, but there.s no guaranteed correlation. Price is also the product of specific marketing decisions, a factor that has no impact on our panelists. estimation of a wine. In tasting feature flights, samples are tasted blind. Reviewers do not know which wines, or the cost of the wines, they are tasting until after a rating has been assigned. Where is the good stuff coming from? From all over the world.and also from a few select places. In the U.S., winemakers have taken to this Rh�ne variety, planting it just about anywhere grapes will grow. In California, although no single region stood out, we found a wealth of quality Syrah from all parts of the state. Further north, Washington turned in an impressive performance.evidence of just how important this grape may be to the future of the wine industry there. Not surprisingly, we found a lot to like in Australia. Top wines came from many subregions, but South Australia, and especially the Barossa Valley, were strong performers. Predictably, France.s Rh�ne Valley.and, less predictably, the Languedoc.yielded great wines in numbers out of all proportion to the number of offerings tasted. Other parts of the world are producing Syrah, too.with growing success. California: Quality all over the Place It was hard to associate excellence with place in the assortment of top-ranked Californian wines. Two of our top wines, Sine Qua Non.s 1998 E-raised Syrah and Martella.s 1999 Hammer Syrah, bore the broad California AVA employed on many of the state.s least expensive wines. But sourcing fruit from different regions of California can afford winemakers a wider palette of fruit character to employ in blending, regardless of price. In Martella.s case, Sierra Foothills Syrah is blended with Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. UNITED STATES 94 Dehlinger 1998 Syrah (Russian River Valley) $35 93 Sine Qua Non 1998 E-raised Syrah (California) $75 92 Dunham 1999 Lewis Vineyard Syrah (Columbia Valley) $45 92 L.Ecole No 41 1999 Seven Hills Vineyard Syrah (Walla Walla Valley) $34 91 Columbia Crest 1998 Reserve Syrah (Columbia Valley) $28 91 Garretson 1999 The Finn� Alban Vineyard Syrah (Edna Valley) $60 91 La Crema 1999 Syrah (Sonoma County) $24 91 Lewis 1999 Syrah (Napa Valley) $55 91 Martella 1999 Hammer Syrah (California) $24 90 Arcadian 1999 Gary.s Vineyard Robert O.Fleming Cuv�e Syrah (Monterey) $50 90 Artesa 1999 Syrah (Sonoma Valley) $28 90 Beckmen 1999 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah (Santa Ynez Valley) $35 90 Castle 1999 Syrah (Sonoma Valley) $22 90 Chameleon 1999 Syrah (Napa Valley) $31 90 Daniel Gehrs 1999 Syrah (Santa Ynez Valley) $25 90 Gary Farrell 1998 Syrah (Russian River Valley) $32 90 Hagafen 1999 Syrah (Napa Valley) $27 90 Io 1998 Red Wine (Santa Barbara County) $60 90 L.Aventure 1999 Stephan Vineyard Syrah (Paso Robles) $36 90 Limerick Lane 1999 Collins Vineyard Syrah (Russian River Valley) $36 90 McDowell 1999 Reserve Syrah (McDowell Valley) $24 90 Midnight Cellars 1999 Nocturne Syrah (Paso Robles) $24 90 Paloma 1999 Syrah (Spring Mountain) $36 90 Perry Creek 1999 Cellar Select Syrah (El Dorado County) $24 90 Ridge 1999 Lytton Estate ATP Syrah (Dry Creek Valley) $30 90 Rockblock 1999 Seven Hills Vineyard Syrah (Walla Walla Valley) $40 90 Sierra Vista 1997 Five Star Reserve Syrah (El Dorado County) $60 90 Three Rivers 1999 Boushey Vineyard Syrah (Yakima Valley) $35 90 Voss 1999 Shiraz (Napa Valley) $25 89 Bridlewood 1999 Winners Circle Selection Syrah (San Luis Obispo County) $24 89 Epiphany 1999 Stonewall Vineyard Syrah (California) $45 In California, excellent Syrah.like June in the song.is bustin. out all over. .Not long ago Syrah was scarcely acknowledged beyond a handful of growers and winemakers in California,. observes Mat Garretson wryly. The Paso Robles winemaker should know, as originator and organizer of the Hospice du Rh�ne, the world.s largest gathering devoted to Rh�ne grapes and wines.including, of course, Syrah. .When we started, there weren.t many people to invite. Now it seems California is virtually exploding with Syrah. My winery is 100 percent devoted to Rh�ne grapes, none more than Syrah, and I work with a dozen different Syrah vineyards throughout the state. I.m honestly amazed by the grape.s strength and adaptability, its diverse, beautiful expressions from a wide range of soils, climates, elevations and exposures. In comparison, try growing Cabernet Sauvignon where it.s too cool.or Pinot Noir where it.s too hot.and see what you get.. Such wines as the complex and ageworthy Garretson 1999 The Finn� Alban Vineyard Syrah, from Edna Valley in San Luis Obispo County are a testament to his commitment. From nearby Paso Robles, check out L.Aventure.s dark and solid 1999 Syrah, or the handsome (and handsomely priced) Midnight Cellars 1999 Nocturne Syrah. Santa Barbara County is becoming a hotspot for California Syrah.evidenced by the number of top-rated wines from this region and its subappellations of Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley. The darkly elegant Io, a Rh�ne blend containing (this year, anyway) enough Syrah to qualify for our survey, is from Santa Barbara County; Beckmen.s 1999 Purisima Mountain Syrah and Daniel Gehrs. 1999 Syrah both come from Santa Ynez Valley. For all the success of the south-central coast, northern California wineries are also turning out fine Syrah. The top-rated American wine was Dehlinger.s 1998 Syrah from the Russian River Valley. Tom Dehlinger.s excellent Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have previously impressed our tasters, and his Syrah does not miss a beat. But finding it.like the Sine Qua Non, another very limited-production wine.may be tough. These are wines to buy from restaurant wine lists, as they will hardly ever be found at retail stores. Besides Dehlinger, other excellent Russian River Valley Syrahs include offerings from Limerick Lane and Gary Farrell. Sonoma County.s many other AVAs are proving fertile for Syrah as well: La Crema.s 1999 is from Sonoma County, Castle.s 1999 is from Sonoma Valley and Ridge.s 1999 Lytton Estate ATP Syrah is from Dry Creek Valley. Napa, too, deserves its due.the 1999s from Lewis, Chamleon, Hagafen and Paloma are all excellent efforts. McDowell.s 1999 Reserve Syrah shows Mendocino also can produce head-turning Syrah. >From California high country, the El Dorado AVA in the Sierra Foothills gives evidence of a positive future for Syrah there, with such offerings as the formidable Sierra Vista 1997 Five Star Reserve and the appealing, affordable Perry Creek 1999 Cellar Select. Washington: A Power Performance In a surprisingly strong.and admittedly unexpected.performance, three of the top five American Syrahs were from Washington. Washington State growers have been putting Syrah in the ground virtually as fast as the nurseries make plants available.and in a variety of locations. .The nature of Syrah to reflect individual terroirs affords the ability to make a diverse assortment.or combination.of styles, as desired,. says Washington winemaker Eric Dunham, echoing observations heard earlier from California.s Garretson. .The impact of specific sites on the quality and taste of fruit is dramatic. Separate blocks within a vineyard can have vast differences. I try to reflect what I love about both the Aussie and Hermitage styles of Syrah, and blend to that end. .If a single vineyard really stands out in a year, I.ll release a vineyard-designated wine,. Dunham continues. .However, most Dunham wines will be blends of fruit from contracted vineyards and from our own estate. I think year to year it makes a better wine.. This year, the Dunham 1999 Lewis Vineyard Syrah from the Columbia Valley tied for top Washington honors with the L.Ecole No. 41 Seven Hills Vineyard Syrah from the Walla Walla Valley. Widely available Columbia Crest turned out a dense, flavorful 1998 Reserve. Australia: A Southern Constellation of Stars You can field a full team of top wines from South Australia, Oz.s most productive wine region, and the one that accounts for almost half the country.s output. Among the 26 wines in the entire tasting rated 91 and above, 10 came from this state. The Barossa Valley, perhaps the most famous of the South Australian GIs, provided five of these 10. Most South Australian wine comes from GIs (not soldiers, mind you, but Geographic Indicators, Australia.s equivalent of France.s appellations and the U.S..s AVAs) around the city of Adelaide. AUSTRALIA - BEST BUY - CELLAR SELECTION - EDITORS' CHOICE 95 Barossa Valley Estate 1998 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz (Barossa Valley) $80 94 Grant Burge 1996 Meshach Shiraz (Barossa Valley) $145 93 Elderton 1997 Command Shiraz (Barossa Valley) $62 93 Jim Barry 1998 The Armagh Shiraz (Clare Valley) $100 92 Oliverhill 2000 Jimmy Section Shiraz (McLaren Vale) $33 92 St. Hallett 1997 Old Block Shiraz (Barossa Valley) $40 92 Yalumba 1997 Octavius Shiraz (Barossa Valley) $80 91 Frog Rock 1998 Shiraz (Mudgee) $25 91 Paracombe 1998 Shiraz (Adelaide Hills) $28 91 Tatachilla 1996 Foundation Shiraz (McLaren Vale) $40 91 Wynn.s Coonawarra Estate 1997 Michael Shiraz (Coonawarra) $49 Great Syrah on a budget? Yes, it.s possible. We generally award Best Buys to wines priced under $15, so there were no candidates in a tasting starting at $21. However, we definitely found wines that represent plenty of .bang-for-the-buck,. and that.s where our Top Value qualification comes in. It.s our way of identifying outstanding values in a price-defined tasting like this one. Here are 17 super Syrahs that make the grade. 91 Frog Rock 1998 Shiraz (Mudgee) Australia $25 91 La Crema 1999 Syrah (Sonoma County) California $24 91 Martella 1999 Hammer Syrah (California) $24 91 Paracombe 1998 Shiraz (Adelaide Hills) Australia $28 90 Castle 1999 Syrah (Sonoma Valley) California $22 90 Daniel Gehrs 1999 Syrah (Santa Ynez Valley) California $25 90 Fern Hill 1999 Shiraz (McLaren Vale) Australia $22 90 McDowell 1999 Reserve Syrah (McDowell Valley) California $24 90 Midnight Cellars 1999 Nocturne Syrah (Paso Robles) California $24 90 Perry Creek 1999 Cellar Select Syrah (El Dorado County) California $24 90 Reilly.s 1998 Dry Land Shiraz (Clare Valley) Australia $25 90 Voss 1999 Shiraz (Napa Valley) California $25 89 Rosenblum 1999 England-Shaw Vineyard Syrah (Solano County) California $21 89 Russian Hill 1999 Syrah (Russian River Valley) California $22 89 Santa Barbara Winery 1999 Syrah (Santa Ynez Valley) California $22 89 St. Andrews Estate 2000 Ceravolo Shiraz (Adelaide Plains) Australia $22 89 Te Awa Farm 2000 Longlands Syrah (Hawkes Bay) New Zealand $21 .Barossa has a climatic profile that suits the Shiraz grape,. observes winemaker Natasha Mooney, maker of the Barossa Valley Estate 1998 E & E Black Pepper Shiraz, which tied for top honors in our World Cup Part Two with France.s J.L. Chave 1998 Hermitage. .The warmth of the growing period and little rain during the summer allows even ripening of both fruit flavors and tannins,. she continues. Previous vintages of E & E have also rated well (the 1996, 91 points and the 1997, 90 points), and the great 1998 vintage has yielded a truly superb wine. Other impressive wines from South Australia included Oliverhill.s 2000 Jimmy Section Shiraz and Tatachilla.s 1996 Foundation Shiraz from McLaren Vale. From Clare Valley, Jim Barry.s 1997 The Armagh; from the Adelaide Hills, Paracombe.s 1998 Shiraz; and from Coonamwarra, Wynn.s Coonawarra Estate 1997 Michael Shiraz round out South Australia.s lengthy list of star performers. France: Old and New Strengths France.s Rh�ne Valley set the original standard for quality Syrah and continues to do so. Six of our top-rated wines are French, despite France.s many fewer entries than Australia or the United States. The J.L. Chave 1998 Hermitage tied for top overall honors. It.s totally different from, but equally as impressive as, the Aussie with which it shares the top spot. The intense, fabulously expressive bouquet, beautiful balance and structure of this wine promise great life, and follow more than a decade of steady, fine performances from this estate. And with this family background, why not? The venerable Chave family has been engaged in viticulture since 1481.before Columbus sailed to the New World. FRANCE - BEST BUY - CELLAR SELECTION - EDITORS' CHOICE 95 J.L. Chave 1998 Hermitage $100 94 M. Chapoutier 1999 Les B�casses (C�te-R�tie) $75 93 Alain Voge 1998 Cuv�e Vieilles Vignes (Cornas) $45 92 Domaine de Nizas 1998 Coteaux du Languedoc $28 91 Abbotts 1999 Cumulo Nimbus (Minervois) $35 91 Paul Jaboulet A�n� 1999 Les Jumelles (C�te-R�tie) $68 90 No�l Verset 1998 Cornas $45 90 Rene Rostaing 1998 C�te-R�tie $55 88 Bernard Chave 1999 T�te de Cuv�e (Crozes-Hermitage)$21 87 Delas Fr�res 1997 Marquise de la Tourette (Hermitage)$58 87 Perrin 1999 Crozes-Hermitage $24 Other impressive Rh�ne offerings include M. Chapoutier.s 1999 C�te-R�tie Les Becasses, Alain Voge.s 1998 Cornas Cuv�e Vielle Vignes (generally deemed the lesser of his two cuv�es) and Paul Jaboulet A�n�.s 1999 C�te-R�tie Les Jumelles. As you might expect, they are less forward and fruit-driven than almost all of the New World offerings. But all are wines of great substance and depth, with fine aging potential. Many C�te-R�ties contain a small percentage of white Viognier, which can contribute unusual, frequently impressive aromatics. Syrah has become important beyond the Rh�ne.in fact, all across France.s southern growing regions. The Domaine de Nizas 1998 Syrah from Coteaux de Languedoc is made by Bernard Portet, the French-born winemaker at Napa.s Clos du Val winery. .For me, this was a fantastic opportunity to close a life-circle,. comments Portet. Having grown up in a French wine family (his father worked at Ch�teau Latour), Portet says, .I came to Napa 30 years ago with the intention of making California wine with a French accent. I have now returned to supervise winemaking at an estate close to where I went to school, to learn to make wine.. The property, largely run-down, is undergoing extensive renovation and replanting. Fifty acres remain of the 120 planted when it was purchased in 1998 by John Goelet, a Clos du Val partner. .We.ve kept the best of the older vines, and will be replanting at about 10 acres per year over the next decade. The potential at Nizas is just fantastic, and very energizing,. says Portet, during a break in harvest at Clos du Val. Another attention-getter from France.s south was Abbotts 1999 Cumulo Nimbus, from Minervois. The Global View: Up-and-Comers Everyone wants in the game, and there.s tasty Syrah coming from all over the world now. South African growers and vintners have made a serious commitment to the grape, mostly.but not uniformly.called Shiraz there. Though not yet fully realized, the grape definitely has an important place in that nation.s winemaking future. The Abraham Perold 1996 Op Die Berg from Paarl was our top-rated South African entry, with Slaley.s 1999 Hunting Family Shiraz from Stellenbosch and Fairview.s 1999 Cyril Back close behind. GLOBAL - BEST BUY - CELLAR SELECTION - EDITORS' CHOICE 90 Abraham Perold 1996 Op Die Berg (Paarl) South Africa $145 89 Mills Reef 1999 Elspeth Syrah (Hawkes Bay) New Zealand $28 89 Slaley 1999 Hunting Family Shiraz (Stellenbosch) South Africa $28 89 Te Awa Farm 2000 Longlands Syrah (Hawkes Bay) New Zealand $21 89 Varramista 1997 IGT Toscana Italy $51 88 Fairview 1999 Cyril Back Shiraz (Paarl) South Africa $24 88 Spice Route 1999 Flagship Syrah (Swartland) South Africa $30 87 Montes Alpha 2000 Vi�edo Apalta Syrah (Colchagua) Chile $22 87 Rust en Vrede 1998 Shiraz (Stellenbosch) South Africa $22 86 Saxenburg Estate 1998 Private Collection Shiraz (Stellenbosch) South Africa $30 86 Simonsig 1998 Merindol Shiraz (Stellenbosch) South Africa $45 Australia may have the experience and the market jump, but in New Zealand, the plucky Kiwis, too, are taking to Syrah. Hawkes Bay is the region with the most promise.Mills Reef.s 1999 Elspeth Syrah and Te Awa Farm.s 2000 Longlands Syrah demonstrate the possibilities for Syrah in this other Pacific island nation. South America is perhaps a step behind, but is hustling to catch up. Top performers from our neighbor continent to the south were Chile.s Montes Alpha 2000 Vi�edo Apalta Syrah from Colchagua and Argentina.s Finca La Anita 1996 Syrah from Mendoza. More, better wines are coming as growers and winemakers increase their familiarity with Syrah. In Italy, where Syrah is now a legal component of Chianti, there is interest and achievement. The 1997 Varramista from Tuscany impressed our tasting panel as a sign of great potential. Surely more is to follow. Conclusion There.s a tremendous amount of delicious wine available at many prices, from many places, to the prospective Syrah buyer. Our World Cup of Syrah has confirmed our sense that Syrah.or Shiraz, whatever your preference.is poised to be the ascendant red wine of this decade. This is the grape the growers and winemakers have put their markers on. Happily, there is already a dazzling selection of quality offerings to choose among, and a rosy.er, a dark red, aromatic, deeply fruited.future ahead. We reviewed over 200 Syrahs for this tasting, but didn.t have the space here to reprint them all on the Web. For the complete listing of all the Syrahs we tasted (plus tasting notes), see the print version of the November 2001 issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

[wine] Que Syrah Sirah

by Jim L. Ellingson

Greetings, Off to Auriga, in search of Syrah/Sirah. Thursday, 6:30. NW corner of Hennepin and Franklin Very nice food at Bobino. Parking tip for next time. Off street lot meters have 4 hr. limits. 75 cents per hour. Not sure who owns these. Street meters are 2 hr limit, are enforced until 10:00 Best wag at who's coming: Bob Bill Lori Betsy Nicolai Jim (assuming I'm over this bloody head cold) Russ Annette Cheers, Jim ----- Forwarded message from The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> ----- Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 14:05:00 -0500 (EST) To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu Subject: 30SecWineAdvisor - WT101: Syrah, Shiraz, Sirah From: The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> THE 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR, Wednesday, March 2, 2005 ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSORS: * CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB Wine Sale Going on Now! http://www.cawineclub.com?Partner_ID=winelovers * WINE CENTURY CLUB Join me for dinner March 16 in NYC. http://www.delongwine.com/century.html ________________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE * WT101: SYRAH, SHIRAZ, SIRAH Get ready to compare and contrast in this month's Wine Tasting 101 * BOGLE 2002 CALIFORNIA PETITE SIRAH ($9.99) A taster-friendly introduction to the Petite Sirah style at an affordable price. * ADMINISTRIVIA Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________________ SYRAH, SHIRAZ, SIRAH Big, peppery, earthy and robust, or soft, fruity and slightly sweet? Rough and tannic, demanding cellar time, or slurpy and simple, meant for drinking now? Depending on circumstances and the bottle you choose, Syrah can meet either of these seemingly contradictory descriptions ... and that's before we've even started talking about Shiraz or Petite Sirah. This month in WINE TASTING 101, we'll sort out the differences among these familiar names. Today, let's touch lightly on all three, setting up the framework that we'll fill in with tasting and talking during March. SYRAH, by most reckonings one of the world's handful of truly "noble" wine grapes, may reach its pinnacle in the Northern Rhone, first and foremost in Hermitage but also memorably in Cote-Rotie, not to mention Cornas, St.-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage and more. It's also an important player - most often in blends - in the Southern Rhone, Languedoc and Provence; and it's a hot variety in California, where it leads the market category jokingly called "Rhone Rangers." It's gaining recognition in Spain, Italy, South Africa, Washington State and just about every other world growing region. And it's the leading grape of Australia under another name ... more about that in a moment. Syrah, according to legend, was brought back to the Rhone from ancient Persia by a French Crusader, Gaspard de Sterimberg, who is said to have put down his sword and shield, planted a vineyard atop a beautiful mountain above a sweeping curve of the Rhone, and declared the place his "Hermitage." The French name for the grape took its name from the Persian city of SHIRAZ, where the Crusader is said to have found it; and by happenstance, when cuttings were shipped to the new colony of Australia in the early 1800s, the grape took back the Persian name. Syrah in France, Shiraz in Australia, but it's the same grape, even if local custom and vinification practices might make it seem like two different wines. South Africans, by and large, have adopted the Australian name, although curiously, a handful of New Zealand producers who are experimenting with it - largely on relatively mild Waiheke Island near Auckland - prefer to call it Syrah, perhaps in a gentle jab at their neighbors to the west. A minority of California producers also use "Shiraz," perhaps to signal that their wine is made in a fruit-forward Australian style. Finally, PETITE SIRAH, a completely different grape, confuses the issue with a similar name that was almost certainly chosen in hope of being mistaken for the more respected variety. A California pioneer, it's still found in some ancient vineyards, intermingled with other varieties, that can make some of the state's most interesting wines. Actually the same as the low-rent Southern French grape called Durif, it's a 19th century cross between true Syrah and another little-known French variety, Peloursin. Some tasters find a superficial resemblance to Syrah in the inky, fruity if rather one-dimensional wines that Petite Sirah makes; good examples can survive for decades in the cellar, staying little changed until they finally start to develop interesting complexity after 20 years or more. You're encouraged to taste the Syrahs, Shirazes and Petite Sirahs of your choice this month, the drop in to WT101 to share your tasting reports and talk about your impressions. For those who enjoy comparing notes with others who've tasted the same wines, I have selected three New World "benchmarks" in the relatively affordable $10 range. Prices shown are those I paid in Louisville at a national-chain wine shop, Cost Plus World Wines, and may vary in other parts of the world: * Cline 2002 California Syrah ($13.99) * Yalumba 2002 South Australia Shiraz ($10.99) * Bogle 2002 California Petite Sirah ($9.99) ________________________________________________________________________ PRINT OUT TODAY'S ARTICLE Here's a simply formatted copy of today's Wine Advisor, designed to be printed out for your scrapbook or file or downloaded to your PDA or other wireless device. http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor1/print050302.html ________________________________________________________________________ TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE Remember, you're encouraged to participate actively in WT101, our free online wine-education program that's aimed at sharing information, and gaining experience reporting your wine-tasting experiences, in a friendly and supportive community of online peers. http://www.myspeakerscorner.com/forum/index.phtml?fn=7 If you prefer to comment privately, feel free to send me E-mail at wine(a)wineloverspage.com. I'll respond personally to the extent that time and volume permit. ________________________________________________________________________ Let's leap right into the WT101 action with a quick tasting report on this month's "benchmark" Petite Sirah. This widely available bottling gives a good sense of the grape in a rendition that's full of lip- smacking fruit, ready to enjoy right now. BOGLE 2002 CALIFORNIA PETITE SIRAH ($9.99) Very dark purple, black in the glass, with a day-glo violet edge. Attractive black-plum and blueberry aromas, fruit-forward with hints of smoke, seem typical of Petite Sirah. Ripe and juicy black fruit and tangy acidity meet on the palate, so fruity that there's a brief impression of sweetness, but so tart and powerful with nearly 14 percent alcohol that it seems to finish dry. Tannins aren't perceptible, but good structure and balance elevate it above a mere "fruit bomb." (Feb. 28, 2005) FOOD MATCH: Bold enough to call for robust fare. Red meat or sharp cheese would be welcome; it went nicely with a more offbeat dinner choice, fettuccine alla carbonara made with American smoky bacon. VALUE: Very good value for $10. U.S. prices for this wine range from $8 to $13, so shop around. WHEN TO DRINK: Although it lacks the tannins of top-rank Petite Sirahs, there's no reason to believe that this one, like its varietal kin, won't last for many years in the cellar and eventually develop aged-wine character. PRONUNCIATION: Petite Sirah = "Peh-teet See-rah" WEB LINK: Here's Bogle's fact sheet on the 2002 Petite Sirah: http://www.boglewinery.com/factsht.htm#petite_sirah02 FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: Find vendors and compare prices for Bogle Petite Sirah on Wine- Searcher.com: http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Bogle%2bPetite/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=W… ________________________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: * WineLoversPage.com RSS Feed (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/rss/ * 30 Second Wine Advisor, daily or weekly (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/index.shtml * Wine Advisor FoodLetter, Thursdays (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/foodletter.shtml * Wine Advisor Premium Edition, alternate Tuesdays ($24/year) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/premium.phtml ARCHIVES: For all past editions: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor1/thelist.shtml CONTACT US E-mail: wine(a)wineloverspage.com SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: For information, E-mail wine(a)wineloverspage.com ________________________________________________________________________ ADMINISTRIVIA To subscribe or unsubscribe from The 30 Second Wine Advisor, change your E-mail address, switch from weekly to daily distribution, or for any other administrative matters, click to http://www.wineloverspage.com/admin.php?id=20970&cs=7d1109b668af1f87d36d12e… We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry. Wednesday, March 2, 2005 Copyright 2005 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

[wine] [zemo@BUYVICTORY.COM: igourmet offer]

by Jim L. Ellingson

Cross posting this from the Chicago Beer list. FYI. ----- Forwarded message from Zemo <zemo(a)BUYVICTORY.COM> ----- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:10:23 -0600 Reply-To: Zemo <zemo(a)BUYVICTORY.COM> From: Zemo <zemo(a)BUYVICTORY.COM> Subject: igourmet offer To: CBS-HB(a)LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Precedence: list Once a year igourmet offers Free Shipping for One Day Only. Check out www.igourmet.com and below. NAJASC Z HOW TO GET FREE SHIPPING: 1. Order a minimum of $75 worth of igourmet products this coming Tuesday (3/8/2005), with all items shipping to a single address. 2. Type in the Promotion Code 4C79 during online checkout or mention it when ordering by phone (toll-free 877-446-8763). 3. igourmet will ship your package using the most appropriate shipping method, regardless of the shipping method you choose during checkout. 4. Your order will ship to arrive no later than ten business days after the date of purchase. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

[wine] Brdx at Bobino

by Jim L. Ellingson

Greetings, Mostly an update, and an article on Fr. wine. ----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> ----- Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:11:05 -0600 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Brian's Brdx Bash at Bobino (CORRECTION) Greetings, We're going to Bobino, to check out the new chef. Thanks for the correctors and the responders.... Cheers, Jim ----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> ----- X-MessageWall-Score: 0 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:02:12 -0600 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Brian's Bordeaux Bash at Erte Greetings, A quick correction. The 510/La Belle Vie deal is far from done. 510 will most likely remain open until a new tenant is found. LBVie says they are looking at "several Mpls locations." This week, we're trying to pull Brian back into the group. So we're doing Bordeaux wines at BOBINO , 6:30 on Thursday. Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome. Bobino 222 E. Henne 612-623-3301 Note that the meters are no longer "Free after 6:00". Rates vary. Who: (mostly guesses) Wine Pro Bob Wine Pro Lori Betsy Russ and Sue (mostly whites and bubbles) Bill Janet Ruth G. Jim Nicolai Karin Brian Big S sale starts soon/tomorrow (3/1 [vip] - 3/19). Thomas Liq sale starts today. Aurora in Chaska starts today (?). Cheers Jim -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * WINE & SPIRITS Who's killing the great wines of France? Facing a crisis, the French wine industry is finally forced to loosen its grasp on tradition. By Corie Brown Times Staff Writer March 2, 2005 The notion that French wine has fallen into the hands of philistines is sure to find an audience when the documentary "Mondovino" is released in L.A. theaters April 29. Director Jonathan Nossiter belabors that idea for two hours, 17 minutes and 11 seconds, cutting back and forth between crusty traditionalists in worn sweaters and suspendered trousers who absolutely love terroir and their spiritual opposites: chain-smoking pragmatists in fancy cars who hawk modern methods of manipulating wine. "Mondovino" is a lot of things; subtle, however, isn't one of them. The French wine industry is in crisis. More comfortable basking in tradition than questioning it, French winemakers are rethinking the rules governing how they make and name their wines, the grapes they grow and how they are grown. Even the look of their wine labels is being reconsidered. The French government is scrambling to promote its wines in America, even . gasp . considering a Madison Avenue advertising campaign. (Champagne already has one, and it's the one French region for which sales are actually climbing.) The debate central to "Mondovino" . one that's raging across France's storied wine regions . only appears to be a tug of war between art and commerce. Those stark contrasts grow fuzzy in the gray light of the real issue: The world is not buying enough French wine. Market forces aren't known for encouraging individuality . Velveeta sells better than Taleggio. But for the first time in the history of French wine, the demands of the global market are an unavoidable fact. "It has taken a while for our producers to understand that there is a problem," says Christian Berger, the agricultural counselor with the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. And even now that they have accepted that fact, "there is no unanimity at all on what should be done." Wine looms large on the French economic landscape. Representing 12% of France's agricultural production, it accounts for $9.9 billion of the country's gross domestic product. French wine sales worldwide have been gradually eroding for years. The situation became a crisis last year when wine exports (excluding Champagne) fell 6.7% in volume and 9.2% in value on the heels of 2003 sales, which were considered dismal, according to the French Federation of Exporters of Wines & Spirits. Making matters worse, French wine consumption has dropped to historic lows, with the country drinking half as much wine per capita as it did in 1960. An aggressive federal campaign against drunk driving is part of the reason, according to Berger. Strict new standards, more stringent than those in California, have the French thinking twice before having a second glass of wine with dinner. But the real problem is there's too much French wine. Hoping for a quick fix in the region that appears to be hardest hit, the government is paying grape growers in Bordeaux to rip up marginal vineyards and turn surplus wine into industrial alcohol. So far, however, only 475 acres of a targeted 25,000 acres of vineyards have been plowed under. The government plans to distill a whopping 250 million liters of wine from the abundant 2004 vintage into alcohol, 10 times as much wine as would be distilled in a typical year; most of it is labeled Appellation d'Origine Contr�l�e (AOC). Still, it won't be enough to sop up all of the surplus. * Altering the structure Ultimately, it is the structure of the wine industry that must change, according to Ren� Renou, a Loire Valley winemaker and the current president of the powerful National Committee for Wine of the AOC, the organization charged with enforcing the country's strict regulations for the making of premium wines. Renou has proposed a radical overhaul of the country's winemaking rules . the most sweeping changes since the AOC was codified in 1929 . to give winemakers greater latitude in how they make and sell their wines. "People say I am burning the history of France," quips Renou. But perhaps the better analogy is religion, he says, "like when they changed the way the priest says Mass," referring to the Catholic Church's decision to abandon Latin for modern languages in the 1960s. French wine sales are suffering, he says, because France has failed to modernize its winemaking industry. Renou advocates producing less AOC wine. Perhaps 10% of it isn't up to minimum standards, he says. "We can't anymore tell the nice wine story to people and not have it correspond to what is in the bottle," he says. When pressed about how much wine he'd like to see taken off the market, Renou backpedals. "We're France. If you push too far, winegrowers will riot. They go on strike and shout in the streets. The politicians don't like it." While there is no formal schedule for considering Renou's proposal, he says the French government could enact it as early as this year. It likely will take longer. "France acts as if it still has a monopoly on wine and can insist that consumers learn our complicated wine story," says Renou. "We have lived for centuries where the only problem was to make the wine producer more comfortable. Today our problem is to make the customer more comfortable. They buy whatever they like." And they are buying American, Australian, Chilean, Argentine and South African wines along with improved wines from Spain and Italy. For $10, these wines may not equal fine French wine, says Renou, but they can be very good. And from the point of view of the American consumer . Renou likes to refer to a grocery store shopper in Little Rock, Ark. . they are infinitely easier to comprehend. "A second way to understand wine has been created by the New World. It's about the grape type, the color, the sugar," he explains. In other words, it's easier to understand Pinot Noir than to memorize the appellations of Burgundy. "In Little Rock, wine is a quick, immediate pleasure, no dream, no story, no explanation. The New World is more efficient. The French are not prepared for this world," he says. America matters because the U.S. spends more money on imported wine than does any other market in the world. And while French wine sales have fallen in America, overall consumption here is inching up. Americans now annually consume roughly 10 bottles of wine each, up from seven bottles 10 years ago. Compared with the French, who drink an average of 77 bottles a year, there is plenty of room for the American market to grow. The falling value of the dollar . a 40% shift over the last three years . is making the American market more and more difficult to navigate. What was a $10 bottle of French wine in 2001 now costs $14, taking into account the shifting exchange rate. Wines from outside Europe haven't experienced the same currency fluctuation, or the resulting price increases. Most French vintners have cut their prices to try to keep their wines competitively priced, according to American importers. But often that's not enough. "With the 2000 vintage, I sold thousands of cases of Bordeaux wine for $7 a bottle," says Steve Winfield, a Los Angeles-based importer who sells only Bordeaux wines. "I'm scouting for wines with the 2003 vintage that I can sell for $7, and they are hard to find. Everyone's margins are squeezed." There is no crisis for the best French wines, says Berger. "At the top of the market, prices are a bit crazy, rising higher and higher every year with no problem selling the wine. The difficulty is for the middle and lower end segments. The global market for wine is more competitive there. There are plenty of new producers." And for these wines, America is the most important market. "The bulk of the market is new to wine," says Berger. "They don't know much about it, and they apparently like wines that are fruity with a lot of sugar. Our product is not as well suited to this market as, say, Australian wine. French wine is more subtle. We have no big brands. Our labels are difficult to read." Bordeaux winemakers, says Berger, have been the most outspoken critics of the changes proposed by Renou. After record sales of its celebrated 2000 vintage, "it has been hard for them to come down to earth," says Berger. "The situation is very tense in Bordeaux." * Two branches of AOC? Renou has proposed bifurcating the AOC into a higher and a lower level, or, he says, they can be considered "the complex and the simple." A new "excellence" category would require winemakers to follow more stringent controls on wine grape growing and winemaking than current AOC rules demand. The top 20% of current AOC winemakers likely would opt for this "excellence" category, Renou estimates. This is the luxury market for traditional wines, and "it must be protected," he says. A second level of AOC wines, what Renou refers to as "normal" wines, would be allowed to disregard many of the current AOC rules. These are the ones that must compete with emerging international wines, he says. Winemakers who opt for this category should be allowed to consider any grape-growing and winemaking protocol. "Winemakers would propose their ideas to the National Committee for Wine, and we would decide if those ideas would be permitted," says Renou. "Everything is open for discussion, while today it is prohibited to even talk about these ideas." That means the question of when or how to irrigate vineyards or what grapes to plant . variables that are tightly regulated now throughout France . would be considered. There would be fewer restrictions on what grapes could be blended together in particular wines as well. While Bordeaux and Rh�ne blends would remain tightly controlled for the "excellence" AOC, second-tier wines could have broad latitude with what could be considered for their blends. In appellations in which blending is not now allowed, it would be permitted in the second tier. Rules also would be relaxed concerning blending grapes harvested from different parts of a region or even across regions, among other things, according to Renou. What about allowing the addition of oak chips during barrel aging to exaggerate certain flavors, as is practiced in the U.S. and Australia, for instance? "Why not?" says Renou. "We have to allow people to make decisions for themselves about their own wine." At the same time, Renou would like the French wine industry to police itself more aggressively on quality. Producers who ignore vineyard yield limits, a common occurrence today, says Renou, should not be allowed to call their wine AOC. This overproduction "must disappear," he says. "If we want to say we are the best, each bottle must be checked." Renou's proposal also would relax AOC labeling rules to allow varietal names and other New World conventions. While there are AOCs (such as Alsace) that use varietal labeling, most don't. Winemakers have to opt out of the AOC, labeling their wines simply vin de table, to do these things now. The French government isn't waiting for the AOC rules to change. It is taking small but significant first steps to help French producers sell their wines in the United States. "We didn't usually attend wine events in America," says Berger. "Now we are going, asking for advice on what we should do to improve sales. The idea is to give our producers a higher profile." Last month, the government sponsored its first five-city sales tour . Miami, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles . for producers eager to find American importers. It's the kind of dog and pony show the Spanish and Australian wine industries have been taking on the road for at least a decade. In Los Angeles, 30 vintners poured wine tastings for distributors. "We decided to be proactive," says Charlotte Selles-Simmons, a producer whose family has been making wine in Beaujolais and Burgundy since 1820. She recently redesigned the domaine's labels to make them more appealing to Americans. "We make it so difficult to buy French wine," she says. "Especially for the $10-and-below wines. Showing the varietal name on the labels at this price point is crucial. Then they don't have to get out their reading glasses, they don't have to ask for help." It's also about looking modern, she says. The bottle has to stand out, which isn't easy in a crowded grocery store wine aisle. New World wine regions have been doing it for years. Even Italy and Spain are sprucing up their labels. If you don't do it, there is no hope of creating a brand name that consumers will remember, Selles-Simmons says. Selles-Simmons sells her wines through Trader Joe's, but she would like to find a traditional distributor as well. The model for Selles-Simmons? E.& J. Gallo's Red Bicyclette. Gallo is showing us the way, says Berger. "Joe Gallo has the guts to believe in French wine, to put his money there to make something happen. We are very thankful for that," he says, noting that the Gallo wines produced in France are increasing the sales of French wine in America. Gallo, the savior of French wine? The chasm separating the French government from the traditional vintners in "Mondovino" just got a little wider.

20 years, 9 months

[wine] Brian's Brdx Bash at Bobino (CORRECTION)

by Jim L. Ellingson

Greetings, OOOOPS.... We're going to Bobino, to check out the new chef. Thanks for the correctors and the responders.... Cheers, Jim ----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> ----- X-MessageWall-Score: 0 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:02:12 -0600 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Brian's Bordeaux Bash at Erte Greetings, A quick correction. The 510/La Belle Vie deal is far from done. 510 will most likely remain open until a new tenant is found. LBVie says they are looking at "several Mpls locations." This week, we're trying to pull Brian back into the group. So we're doing Bordeaux wines at BOBINO , 6:30 on Thursday. Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome. Bobino 222 E. Henne 612-623-3301 Note that the meters are no longer "Free after 6:00". Rates vary. Who: (mostly guesses) Wine Pro Bob Wine Pro Lori Betsy Russ Bill Janet Nicolai Karin Jim Brian Big S sale starts soon/tomorrow (3/1 [vip] - 3/19). Thomas Liq sale starts today. Aurora in Chaska starts today (?). Cheers Jim -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

[wine] Brian's Bordeaux Bash at Erte

by Jim L. Ellingson

Greetings, A quick correction. The 510/La Belle Vie deal is far from done. 510 will most likely remain open until a new tenant is found. LBVie says they are looking at "several Mpls locations." This week, we're trying to pull Brian back into the group. So we're doing Bordeaux wines at Erte, 6:30 on Thursday. Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome. Erte Restaurant. 329 13 Ave NE, Mpls 55413 612-623-4211 Who: (mostly guesses) Wine Pro Bob Wine Pro Lori Betsy Russ Nicolai Karin Jim Brian Big S sale starts soon/tomorrow (3/1 [vip] - 3/19). Thomas Liq sale starts today. Aurora in Chaska starts today (?). Cheers Jim Harvest report form the Wine Enthusiast. France It.s been a return to normal, a classic year. French growers have breathed a sigh of relief that this vintage did not mirror the excesses of 2003. In Burgundy, "it was crazy," says Michel Laroche in Chablis. "We were harvesting one month later this year than in 2003." As to quality, "the reds from the C�te de Nuits will be astonishing," says Fr�d�ric Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin, "while the whites from Chassagne-Montrachet are excellent." In Bordeaux, the huge quantity of fruit caused problems. Some vineyards were never harvested because there was no room in the cellars. Producers who severely cut the quantities in August have made reds with deep color, tannins, acidity and structure. Overall, the Merlot has been the success, with great wines out of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion. Cabernets were caught in the weather change in early October. The Rh�ne.s harvest was smaller than usual. The successes have been with the whites in the north (Condrieu and Hermitage Blanc) and with concentrated reds in Ch�teauneuf-du-Pape. Champagne and Alsace both had a great harvest. For Champagne, "it was one of those rare years when abundance and ripe grapes came together for an exceptional harvest," says Jean-Baptiste L�caillon of Champagne Roederer. In Alsace, the harvest brought out the aromatic characters of its grapes, especially Gew�ztraminer, Sylvaner and Pinot Gris. For the Loire, the year has been more mixed. In the Muscadet region, rain nearly ruined the harvest. Chenin Blanc in Vouvray and Sauvignon Blanc in Sancerre have fared better, and 2004 is an average to good year. Few sweet wines will be produced. .Roger Voss -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

[wine] TN Pinots 2-17-2005 and Bubblies 2-21-2005

by Russell McCandless

Herewith notes from dinner Thursday night of last week, apparently our last dinner at 510 (alas), and from a very good sparkling wine tasting at Solo Vino this past Monday night. Pinots at 510 - 2/17/2005 W1 - fresh fruit, floral notes, and plenty of oak on an attractive nose; full, round and fruity chardonnay midpalate; clean mineral finish, excellent quality. 1999 Rully (blanc), Bouchard Pere & Fils. W2 - fresh citric acid nose suggests NZ; full, clean and acidic midpalate, focused flavor continues right thru the finish, is there an extremely faint off odor or is that my imagination, very good though. 2003 Pinot Gris, Adelsheim. (Oregon; I failed to note the specific appellation, if any.) W3 - oak and mineral spirits on nose; soft, flavorful, chardonnay taste strongly suggests wine #1 but lacks that wine's structure and minerality, alcohol showing on finish. 2002 Bourgogne (blanc), Roulot. W4 - deep brownish gold; a touch maderised on the nose but not unattractive; midpalate is over the hill though, wine is too old. 1992 Pinot Gris, Eyrie Vineyard. (Again, not sure if there was an appellation more specific than Oregon. This wine wasn't dead yet, and must have been very fine quality in its youth.) W5 - (bubbly) 1995 Royal Cuvee, Gloria Ferrer, Carneros. 1.1 - forthcoming autumnal nose, interestingly funky, midpalate of smoothly structured spicy unsweet fruit, lovely if lightweight finish, an outstanding start to the line-up of red wines. 2000 Groote Post Pinot Noir, Coastal Region (South Africa). Personally selected and imported by Betsy! 1.2 - brownish and not 100% clear; small maply nose suggests inexpensive Bourgogne to me; herbal vegetal midpalate, cooked finish. 1989 Reserve Pinot Noir, Eyrie Vineyard, Willamette Valley. (A distinguished producer, but 1989 was just an OK vintage in Oregon, and it's asking a lot for the wine to show well at age fifteen plus.) 1.3 - cooked, dirty, alcoholic nose; midpalate much better, unsweet fruit, tannic; finish is decently fruity, it's a reasonably attractive lightweight but to my personal taste this lacks pinot character. 1998 Bourgogne, Jean-Marc Boillot. 1.4 - corked. 2.1 - cloudy; sharpish reduced nose; initial mouth impression is a closed up wine, solidly midweight, fruit coming up as the wine is held in the mouth; disappears on the finish, though. 2000 Edmeades Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley. (Age four and a half can be very awkward; if you have more, perhaps it should be retasted a year from this Fall?) 2.2 - brilliant light to medium color; bashful nose; lovely mouthfeel but no flavor, can't find the fruit here, closed up?? 1999 Mark West Pinot Noir, Sonoma County. (Retasted toward the end of the next flight, this wine had improved substantially with air.) 2.3 - dark color; sizable nose emphasizing the black fruit end of the spectrum, a touch cooked; tastes similar to nose; the cooked flavor prominent on the finish. 2002 Bourgogne, Mugneret-Gibourg. (This one improved a lot with air too, although air emphasized the alcohol as well as bringing the flavors into better balance.) 2.4 - dark color; bashful nose; full, smooth and fruity midpalate; aromatic finish with considerable fruit; very tasty if not outstandingly varietal. 2000 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley. 3.1 - Coca Cola nose, including the carbonation; plenty of oak; reductive cola and red fruit taste, very long though. 2002 Nuits St Georges 1er Cru, Les Damodes, Lechenaut. (Retasted at the end of the evening, the wine had changed a great deal, mostly for the better. In principle, this wine should age well into the two thousand teens, and it seems to have been quite heavily sulfured at bottling to protect it on its journey through time.) 3.2 - extremely dark; weird sharp pruney nose; sweet fruit and oak; young wine, needs time, pretty disjointed tonight. 2002 August Briggs Pinot Meunier, Napa Valley. (The nose is less strange once you know it's not pinot noir, but this needs at least a year to settle down.) 3.3 - sharp red fruit nose; taste similar to the nose, quite tannic; OK finish; not special. 2002 Bourgogne, Pillot. 3.4 - very dark, cloudy; smells of dark fruits and earth; full, surprisingly sweet midpalate, smooth and tasty finish; very old world sort of flavor despite the sweet oak. 1997 Morey St Denis, Lechenaut. 4.1 - dark color; big alcoholic sweet dark fruit nose; structured red fruit midpalate, quite different from the nose, light to midweight, aromatically forthcoming finish, very long, attractively medicinal, this is quite good. 1997 Cameron "Arley's Leap" Pinot Noir, Abbey Ridge vineyard, Willamette Valley. (A triumph in this indifferent vintage.) 4.2 - extremely dark; outsize raspberry sherbet nose, big full sweet midpalate, intriguing vegetal tones and herbs; warmly aromatic and forceful finish, long, excellent quality, delicious tonight. 1998 Argyle "Nuthouse" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley. 4.3 - quite dark; smells bretty and acetic, is this bottle off? 1996 Cote de Beaune-Villages, Leroy. Bubbly Tasting at Zander - Solo Vino, 2-21-2005 The wines were tasted nonblind and accompanied by excellent goat cheese, strawberries and crackers - thus, tasting conditions were most pleasant but nonrigorous. Tasting notes are relative to the wines' price points and, more than likely, relative to my preconceived expectations of their quality. Some notes are phrased in uncomplimentary ways, but all wines were sound and attractive with the exception of one corked bottle that was swiftly identified and, one may hope, shipped to Wine Spectator senior editor James Suckling to recognize his continuing advocacy of bark corks. Prices stated are Solo Vino's quoted discount prices for those attending the tasting. Wholesaler is Wine Company on all these wines. 1999 Marques de Gelida Brut Cava. Fabulous brown sugar nose; full midpalate, distinctly Cava, rather sweet but dosage is well balanced by the wine's acid structure; great finesse for Cava; this is excellent. Not nearly as good if you let it warm up, however. 35% macabeo, 30% xarel-lo, 20% parellada, 15% chardonnay. The 2000 vintage was announced in the paperwork, but the 1999 was actually poured; probably Wine Co is in process of switching over. $8.49; good value. NV Baumard Brut Cremant de Loire, Carte Turquoise. Clean but shy nose (too cold at first), showing a freshly acidic quality with anise notes as it warmed; attractively structured midpalate; finishes on the rough and short side. Chenin blanc and cabernet franc. $15.99. NV Col Vetoraz Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze. Micro-production prosecco from a tiny appellation; who knew there was such a thing? Powerful, extremely floral yummy prosecco nose; midpalate full, balanced and delicious, with major fresh ripe pear notes arriving late and continuing through an extremely long finish. $25.99. Champagne that costs two and a half times normal vintage brut tends to taste like something rather different, but this tastes like normal prosecco with the flavor volume turned way up. 2000 Iron Horse Classic Vintage Brut, Green Valley, Sonoma County. Sizable nose emphasizing the chardonnay; a full, round, structured midpalate emphasizing the pinot, very dry, rather severe; forceful finish; much more approachable in its youth than was the 1999 version of the same wine. Tastes nothing like Champagne, but very good quality. 60% pinot noir, 40% chardonnay. $26.99. NV Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Premier Cru. Rather dilute floral aroma and flavor; based on the washed-out 2001 vintage?? Decent but way short of this producer's better versions of this wine. 40% pinot noir, 40% meunier, 20% chardonnay. $30.49, since the dollar's in the dumper. NV Jean-Noel Haton Brut Rose. Plenty of SO2 but that should go away with a little time in bottle; midpalate impression is that it lacks structure and dosage is on the high side; good length; impression is that I've had better rose from Haton, but the SO2 from the recent disgorgement may be killing the fruit a bit. 30% chardonnay, 35% meunier, 25% pinot noir, plus 10% pinot noir as red wine. $27.99. Needs retasting in a few months. Incidentally, we shared the current release of Haton's regular (white) NV brut Champagne with friends on Valentine's Day and it was extremely pleasant, the best such wine I've had from this producer. NV Alain Robert Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Selection, Grand Cru. Intriguing raw meat nose, fantastically structured attack, sweet midpalate with the reserve wines clearly in evidence, tremendous finesse, runaway truck aromatic finish. Essence of Le Mesnil Champagne. Outstanding. $45.49 and worth it. 1998 Veuve Clicquot Vintage Reserve. Attractively full floral nose despite plenty of SO2 being in evidence, some anise; full and structured, lacks the fruit of the 1996, good though; transition (to finish) rough, dosage obvious, needs time, strongly acidic finish a good sign for further aging, good quality overall. Rather disjointed at the moment. $56.49. 60% pinot noir, 10% meunier, 30% chardonnay. NV Krug Grande Cuvee. (New labels.) Freshly acidic and very large nose; massively citric midpalate tasting strongly of Avize tangerine; on the transition, total finesse to the point of delicacy, the wine seems to disappear without being swallowed, combined with huge flavor authority, the wine gets bigger and bigger for many tens of seconds after it leaves the mouth, extraordinary. No real aroma or flavor trace of the oak, nor of the reserve wines; this will get better for years in the bottle. $142.99. Hard to suggest actually buying it at this price, but not irrational to do so. Krug is Krug. NV Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec. Most attractively fruity sweet Champagne aroma. Not tasted, since we were going on to dinner. $42.49. 40% pinot noir, 40% meunier, 20% chardonnay.

20 years, 9 months

[wine] Taking a week off.

by Jim L. Ellingson

Greetings, The group isn't meeting this week. Some folks are going to I Nonni aka Buon Giorno for a dinner. Others are doing presale tastings. Liq. Depot sale starts today. Free tasting from 5 to 7. Big S pre sale tasting is at the Milenium Hotel, 12xx Nicolet Mall. Spotlight is $65, starts at 5:30 Regular is $35, starts at 7:00. Lots of local rest. news. 510 will be closing, will be the new home of La Bel Vie... Parasole will be running an uptown fish place in the "Prime/Tonic" location. Stella's Fish Cafe and Prestige Oyster Bar.... The SF Gate Chronicle did a piece on Merlot today, since merlot is no longer cool and since everyone else is running a piece on the Sideways phenom. Bang for the buck goes to the top rated Sebastiani 2000 Sonoma Merlot. They de-classified the 2000 Cab w/ makes up 15% of the '00 merlot. "Varietals that we normally eschew" have made for some very interesting tastings in the past. Maybe a Merlot night could be fun. maybe.... Cheers, Jim Top 10 California Merlots - W. Blake Gray Thursday, February 24, 2005 California has 58 counties, and Merlot is commercially grown in 45 of them, according to the Wine Institute. Nobody keeps records on how many wineries in the state make Merlot, but the Wine Institute says it's in the hundreds. I didn't taste all of them, but I did taste all of the stars. I consulted with sommeliers and read media reports before rounding up California's most esteemed Merlots to sample. From that exalted group, I present this list of the 10 best California Merlots. It's possible that a small producer who was not included among the more than 100 wines sampled for this list is making a superior Merlot. But if you've heard good things about such a Merlot, I probably did, too, and tasted it. The rankings are purely my own, and personal tastes vary. I want Merlot to taste like Merlot: good fruit, gentle tannins, complex but easy to drink. I like Merlot's occasional chocolatey flavors, and I like the tang of tobacco some Merlots develop after they spend an hour or so open. And just because it says Merlot on the label doesn't mean it has to be meek. As you can see from my notes, many of California's best Merlots are full- bodied, with rich flavors and intense aromas. Gripping tannins, on the other hand, are a big turnoff in this varietal. One press release for a $34 Merlot started with: "Big and fruit forward, this wine will appeal to even the most diehard Cabernet drinker." If I want a Cabernet Sauvignon, I'll buy one -- there's no shortage. Some of these Merlots are very limited in production and may already be allocated to mailing-list customers. Your best chance of tasting them is in restaurants. Contact the wineries for information, as they often have a list of stores and restaurants that stock their wines.. 1. 2000 Sebastiani Sonoma County Merlot ($15) -- Delicious wine that's exactly what a Merlot should be. Nice aroma of dark cherry, chocolate, vanilla and black plum with hints of bacon and sage. Very smooth, sensuous mouthfeel, with rich flavors of blueberry, vanilla, black plum and cocoa bean. Develops a lingering tobacco tang with air. Gentle throughout the medium-length finish. Part of the reason this wine is so wonderful is that Sebastiani declassified its estate Cabernet Sauvignon production in 2000 because of rains that hit after the Merlot grapes were harvested; that usually exalted Cab makes up about 15 percent of this wine. 2. 2001 Duckhorn Vineyards Estate Grown Napa Valley Merlot ($80) -- Complex aroma of cherry, blackberry, lavender, coffee, graphite, cola, brick and milk chocolate. Initially tastes of cherry, red plum and tobacco with some milk chocolate and licorice; nice balance of acidity and very smooth tannins. After 30 minutes, violet flavors come out and the finish lengthens; licorice taste is stronger after an hour. The best of several excellent Duckhorn Merlots. 3. 2002 Lewis Cellars Napa Valley Merlot ($50) -- Rich aromas of juicy cherry, violet, roasted almond, vanilla and baked chocolate/raspberry tart. Juicy cherry and blackberry flavors with somewhat firm initial tannins that soften on mid-palate. Hints of chocolate and violet. Elegant. Less than 200 cases made from a small vineyard on Pritchard Hill. 4. 2001 Artesa Napa Valley Merlot ($20) -- Appealing aromas of blackberry pie, chocolate, vanilla, cola, black plum and cigar box. Flavors of blackberry and tobacco, with some leather and a hint of chocolate. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and strong acidity, but nicely balanced. Medium-long finish. 5. 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa County/Sonoma County Merlot ($52) - - Aromas of blackberry, violet, milk chocolate, orange peel and coffee. Juicy and complex on the palate, with blueberry, violet, coffee and milk chocolate. Tobacco flavor increases with air. Soft but recognizable tannins; medium-long finish. Winemaker Bob Foley says the aromas are partly the result of California laurel trees that grow throughout the vineyard atop Spring Mountain. The Napa/Sonoma county line cuts through the vineyard, hence the unusual dual appellation. 6. 2001 Hartwell Vineyards Stags Leap District Merlot ($65) -- A big, complex wine, with aromas of black cherry, blackberry, sage, rosemary, white pepper, green bell pepper and raw meat. A wall of black fruit and black fruit- scented tobacco on the palate with black licorice and black pepper. Firmer tannins than some, but well integrated. Medium-long finish. About 500 cases made by Robert Mondavi's next-door neighbors. 7. 2002 Duckhorn Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot ($45) -- Aromas of ripe cherry, leather, tobacco, milk chocolate and violet. Flavors of ripe cherry with some leather and tobacco on mid-palate. Plush tannins. Cherry flavor deepens on medium-length finish. 8. 2001 Geyser Peak Reserve Knights Valley Merlot ($41) -- This wine rewards patience. Dense, intense aroma of horse sweat, graphite, brick, barnyard, chocolate, sage and some blackberry. Initially acidic, with red currant and raspberry on the palate; tannins are subdued. After an hour, it opens, revealing juicy raspberry, violet, milk chocolate and lavender. The longer you sip it, the more it grows on you. 9. 2001 Merryvale Reserve Napa Valley Merlot ($32) -- Aromas of ripe raspberry, cherry, violet, milk chocolate, leather and cherry tobacco. Mature entry of leather; cherry and raspberry build mid-palate, with hint of milk chocolate. Very smooth tannins. Bright fruit and violet on medium-long finish. 10. 2002 Blackstone Napa Valley Merlot ($17) -- Solid, likable wine from a winery that made its name with Merlot. Dark cherry, rich dark chocolate and vanilla with hints of herb and forest floor on the nose. Somewhat shy blackberry/cherry flavor with black currant and a little milk chocolate. Nice acidity. All blackberry fruit on the medium-length finish. Page F - 6 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/24/WIGGQBFGBF1.DTL �2005 San Francisco Chronicle -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

[wine] 1 in 12 bottles is corked.

by Jim L. Ellingson

Cork taint found in 8 percent of wine bottles - Cyril Penn Thursday, January 27, 2005 One out of every dozen cork-sealed wine bottles judged during the 2004 Macquarie Bank Sydney Royal Wine Show was affected by trichloroanisole -- better known as TCA -- according to results released ahead of the 2005 judging, set to begin next week. TCA occurs in wood materials such as cork and is the unpleasant-smelling compound associated with "corked" wine. The study was carried out for the first time during show judging in February 2004. The 2,161 wines judged formed the sample for the research. White wine under cork was particularly vulnerable, with 9.68 percent of white wines affected by TCA. The study found: -- 82.1 percent of all entries were presented under cork -- 8.45 percent of cork-sealed wines were affected by TCA -- 9.68 percent of dry white wines under cork were affected by TCA -- 7.86 percent of red wines under cork were affected by TCA -- 14.95 percent of all entries were sealed under screw cap -- 1.48 percent of all entries were sealed under plastic cork A 25-member panel of judges chaired by Brian Croser, founder of Petaluma winery in Piccadilly, South Australia, assesses about 180 wines per day. Each judge tastes approximately 540 wines. N.Y. direct shipping proposed: New York Gov. George Pataki's budget proposal, a draft of which was released last week, includes good and bad news for wineries outside the Empire State. Pataki is proposing language that, if adopted by the state legislature, would legalize interstate direct shipments of wine, but also proposes a wine excise tax hike, with a portion of the money ($3.5 million) earmarked to promote New York wineries. The proposed budget would raise the wine tax from $0.05 to $0.28 per liter, projected to raise an additional $37.7 million in 2005-2006. Pataki proposed making New York a reciprocal direct-shipping state a year ago, but the proposal went nowhere. If the proposal flies this time, New York will become the 27th state to pass legalized direct shipping. New York, the nation's second-largest wine-consuming state and third-largest wine-producing state, allows in-state wineries to ship directly to consumers but not out-of- state wineries. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether the Constitution forbids states like New York from discriminating in favor of their own businesses. Arrowood, Byron for sale: Constellation Brands, the mega-wine company that purchased Robert Mondavi Corp. late last year for $1.36 billion, is going ahead with the sale of Arrowood Vineyards and Winery and Byron. Mondavi put the wineries up for sale prior to the merger with Constellation as part of a plan to divest luxury properties and concentrate on "lifestyle" brands. Industry sources told Wine Business Insider that both wineries are expected to go to a single bidder and that a deal appears close involving investors connected with Legacy Estates, the group that owns Freemark Abbey winery in St. Helena. "We're in the process of selling Arrowood and Byron but we never disclose details of transactions that are in the process of being negotiated," said Mike Martin, a spokesman for Constellation. Richard Arrowood, who at one point hoped to regain control of the eponymous Glen Ellen winery he founded in 1986, declined to discuss the transaction other than to say he is likely to continue in his role as "winemaster" when it closes. Byron winemaker Ken Brown could not be reached for comment. Brown founded Byron in 1984 and was named winemaker and general manager when Mondavi purchased the winery in 1990. Legacy Estates chief executive Calvin Sidhu did not return calls seeking comment. Roche files Chapter 11: Roche Carneros Estate Winery last week filed a Chapter 11 reorganization petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa. The filing follows the termination of an escrow for the sale by the Roche family of 1,650 acres of unimproved property. Joseph Roche said the $15.25 million sale would have paid all of the secured and unsecured debt. The Roche family intends to retain ownership of the Sonoma winery facility and 925 acres of land, including 125 acres of vineyard. The winery remains open for business as usual. "Like many wineries, we began an expansion program in the late 1990s. The stock market decline in March of 2001, followed by the terrorist attacks on 9/11, had a significant impact on our business," Roche said. "As a result, we needed to sell some of our holdings to pay off the debt we had incurred to fund the expansion. Filing the Chapter 11 will give us more time to complete a sale or sales that will pay off all creditors." Scheid builds winery: Scheid Vineyards plans to break ground next month on a new winery facility to be located at its vineyard headquarters just off U. S. Highway 101 on Hobson Avenue near Greenfield. The winery will make wine on a custom-crush basis for other producers, and will have the capacity to annually process about 10,000 tons of grapes, though plans call for eventually expanding it to process 25,000 tons. The first phase of the project is expected to require an investment of $18 million to $20 million. The zoning administrator of Monterey County has approved a use permit for the project but building and other permits are still needed. In 2004, Scheid Vineyards processed more than 6,000 tons of its own grapes into wine using third-party winery facilities, both within and outside Monterey County. Much of the wine grapes grown in the county are shipped out of the area for processing, and Scheid executives see a need for additional local winemaking capacity. Scheid Vineyards operates approximately 5,600 acres of vineyards, mostly in Monterey. It sells in bulk to wineries and makes small lots under its own label. Who's who and where: Sterling Vineyards named Mike Westrick vice president of winemaking, responsible for leading the Sterling winemaking team and overseeing wine production. Prior to Sterling, Westrick held the position of winemaker for Solaris, a wine brand launched by Sterling corporate parent Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines last year. Westrick replaces Rob Hunter, who left the winery to work on other projects. Before joining Diageo, Westrick spent 12 years at Stonestreet Winery, where he became head winemaker in 1996. John Levenberg has joined Bedell Cellars in Long Island, N.Y. as associate winemaker. Levenberg was previously associate winemaker for Paul Hobbs Winery in Sebastopol. Wine Business Insider is produced by Wine Business Communications, Inc., which also publishes Wine Business Monthly and Wine Business Online (winebusiness.com) E-mail Cyril Penn at wine(a)sfchronicle.com. Page F - 2 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/27/WIGP7B0EOG1.DTL -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

20 years, 9 months

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