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 *