T O O RDER M ORE F EA T URED W INES C ALL 1-800-823-5527 T ODAY ! Volume 23 Number 4 The ©Vinesse Wine Club 2015 The SKU 24530 GrThe Officiala NewslepTTer fOrevine ViiNesse wiiNe club MeMbers Macrostie Estate House: Setting a New Standard in the Russian River Valley IT CAN BE DONE: PAIRING WINE WITH VEGETABLES TODAY’S WINES: TOO MUCH FROSTING ON THE CAKE? WHY VINTNERS CHOOSE TO FILTER THEIR WINES G E T Y OUR D AILY D OSE O F W INE N E W S A T http://blog.vinesse.com 2 • The Grapevine • Visit vinesse.com OUR MISSION: To uncover and bring you wine gems from around the world, which you’re ediTOr’s JOurNal not likely to discover on your own, and which enhance your wine enjoyment. YOUR GRAPEVINE TEAM: Big Globs of ‘Icing’ Can Intrepid Wine Enthusiast, Chief Taster and Winehound: Martin Stewart Make for Clunky Wines Chief Operating Officer By Robert Johnson (aka “The Buck Stops Here”): Lawrence D. Dutra was talking with one of California’s top winemakers the Editor: I other day. I’m not going to tell you who it was because Robert Johnson he would not want to offend any of his fellow vintners Wine Steward: with his observation that I’m about to share with you. Katie Montgomery The Grapevine is published by Vinesse, What I will tell you, because there frying and glazing or frosting donuts, 822 Hampshire Road, Suite E, Westlake are quite of a few of them around, making turnovers (apple and cherry), Village, CA 91361; 1-800-823-5527. Copyright by Vinesse, LLC. Printed in USA. is that he is a disciple of Andre and icing the cupcakes that had been No responsibility is assumed for loss or Tchelistcheff, a legendary vintner who, baked earlier in the morning. damage to unsolicited materials. during the harvest season, depended We had four types of cupcakes in all: more on his gut and experience than 1) chocolate cake with chocolate icing; Be good to the planet on sunny day counts and fractometer 2) chocolate cake with white icing; 3) readings. To Tchelistcheff, making white cake with chocolate icing (my RECYCLE wine was as much about art as it was favorite); and 4) white cake with white about science. icing. At one point of our wide-ranging To the top of each cupcake, with CHARTER MEMBER conversation, the topic turned to a spatula, I spread a layer of either BENEFITS: big wines — Cabernet Sauvignon, chocolate or white (buttercream) icing The Grapevine Newsletter Cab-based blends, Zinfandel, et al. — a very thin layer. The icing, as my That’s when he made the observation Dad explained it, was intended to Premium wine selections at members-only prices that has stayed with me ever since complement the cake, not be the main because I was able to relate to it ingredient. Wine tasting as a participant immediately. Today, however, cupcakes with thick on VINESSE’s Gold Medal “A lot of big wines today are gobs of icing are all the rage. And to Award Panel clunky,” he said. “Too much frosting my palate, the flavors are totally out of Complimentary subscription on the cake.” balance. to VINESSE’s Cyber Circle As soon as he’d said it, I was Just like those “clunky” wines my Community transported to the 1970s and the vintner friend was describing. In his Random giveaways of wine bakery that my parents owned and opinion… and I agree… too many and accessories operated on the Balboa peninsula winemakers now choose bombast Wine Finders Reward — in Newport Beach, Calif. It was over balance, and in-your-face over identify a future wine selection not a franchise or part of a large finesse. and earn a reward conglomerate; it was a family In winemaking, as with cupcake Perfectly matched recipes for business, and as such, every member frosting, too much of a good thing can featured wine selections of the family pitched in. be… too much. Complimentary wine tasting The year I was in the sixth grade, my before-school duties included Visit vinesse.com • The Grapevine • 3 2 Schools of Thought on Filtering Wine ne of the most common practices in winemaking comes very near the end of the process. OIt’s called filtering, and it has both supporters and detractors in the vintner community. Filtering is one of the tools in a know that what they are about to taste is winemaker’s tool box that can be used to what the winemaker intended them to taste. bring a beautifully hued wine of great clarity Those who support the filtering process to the marketplace. That’s important because explain that, over time, it’s possible for an even though a wine that appears slightly off-flavor to develop in a wine bottle — a cloudy normally has no flaws, it may appear flavor that could have been avoided had “not right” to the consumer. filtration been undertaken. When it comes to how a bottle of wine is Often, commerce plays a role in presented on a retail shelf, and how the wine determining whether a wine undergoes in the bottle looks, that old saying definitely filtration. As one veteran winemaker applies: Appearance is everything. noted, “You’re much more likely to see Let’s take a closer look at the two schools an ‘Unfiltered’ wine that’s made in limited of thought in regard to wine filtration. quantities — a few hundred cases or less. Those who do not support use of the process say that it That way, if something does go wrong in the bottle, the may remove certain natural compounds that contribute to loss is sustainable. the wine’s aging potential, its strength and its flavor — in “At the other end of the spectrum.” he added, “you’ll a word, its personality. never see an ‘Unfiltered’ wine that has production of a few Vintners who believe strongly that filtration can be hundred thousand cases. It’s just too much of a risk for a harmful often will have the word “Unfiltered” printed on winery to take; if the winery is under-financed, one bad the front label of the wine bottle. They want the world to vintage could put it out of business.” EACH SHIPMENT WINE COLOR MIX: INCLUDES: Reds, Whites, or Both ­­— • 4 bottles of the best finds It’s Your Choice! FEATURED WINES MADE from California FREQUENCY: IN CALIFORNIA EXCLUSIVELY! Approximately • Detailed Tasting Notes • Napa • Sacramento Delta for each wine Every Other Month • Sonoma • Amador County PRICE: • Santa Ynez • Mendocino Only $15-$17 average per bottle plus shipping • Monterey ... and More! To learn more about this Club, call 800-823-5527 or visit www.Vinesse.com 4 • The Grapevine • Visit vinesse.com Forchini Winery: A True MacRostie Estate House: American Success Story Setting a New Standard ÉLEVANT SOCIETY™ IT’S NOT FOR EVERYONE. IS IT FOR YOU? Vinesse created the Élevant Society to meet members’ demands for super-premium wines. While virtually all ver the past three decades, MacRostie Winery and members of the original Vineyards has established itself as one of the Sonoma Coast American Cellars Wine Club O of California’s defining wineries, and a leader in a bright, were very satisfied with their balanced and age-worthy style of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. monthly selections, some wanted more, and they Today, MacRostie is guided jointly by To achieve their vision, MacRostie were willing to pay for it. winery founder Steve MacRostie and and his team sought out three of the talented up-and-coming winemaker, the most creative and acclaimed Heidi Bridenhagen, who together are firms in the business: Gould Evans making the finest Chardonnay and for architecture, Roche+Roche for EACH ÉLEVANT SOCIETY Pinot Noir bottlings in the winery’s landscape architecture, and Grant K. SHIPMENT INCLUDES: storied history. Gibson for interior design. Because Using grapes farmed by legendary they were able to create the Estate • 2 or 4 bottles — your choice — winegrowing families — including House from the ground up, every of super-premium wines, mostly the Duttons, Sangiacomos, Martinellis detail was thoughtfully considered. big and bold red varieties or and Bacigalupis — as well as from Both aesthetically and experientially, blends MacRostie’s own Wildcat Mountain the MacRostie Estate House is warm, • Detailed Tasting Notes for each Vineyard, the Sonoma Coast wines welcoming and beautifully open in its featured wine from MacRostie have established design. themselves as benchmarks, offering Located just five minutes from the a rare intersection between labor- intensive small-lot winemaking and the FREQUENCY: complexity that can be achieved only by working with the finest vineyards. Approximately Monthly And now, there is a new place where wine drinkers can learn about PRICE: and savor these special wines: the $85.99 average per MacRostie Estate House in Sonoma shipment including shipping County’s Russian River Valley. The unveiling of the Estate House is the culmination of a lifelong dream for To learn more about MacRostie, who founded his winery in 1987. Many are saying that it sets this Club, call 800-823-5527 a new standard, bringing something or visit www.Vinesse.com elevated, new and gorgeous to Russian River Valley wine country. Visit vinesse.com • The Grapevine • 5 Healdsburg Square, on a picturesque hillside, the Estate House is surrounded by beautiful vineyards and meadows. This setting was a key inspiration for Gould Evans, providing a backdrop for the gracefully modern architecture. The Estate House features multiple indoor venues for seated wine tastings, throughout the Sonoma Coast. and three expansive patio terraces And now, with its numerous indoor with beautiful valley and vineyard and outdoor venues, and multiple WINES THAT MATCH views.