Regular tasting-note posts seem pithy in the wake of natural disaster, so I wanted to write something more poignant that shows how the hurricane affected our sector of business in New York City. Most of the photos in this article were posted by my friends on twitter or facebook. These social media platforms proved to be incredibly useful and great ways to get breaking news in real time. See an interesting article about twitter's usefulness during Hurricane Sandy here. 

Preparation
It seemed that the vast majority of people did not immediately heed the magnitude of the approaching storm. Last year, the subways shut down and flood areas were evacuated for Hurricane Irene, and despite the damage by the storm, most people seemed to have the attitude that the government overreacted because the damage wasn't extremely severe. When warnings came for Hurricane Sandy, it appeared that much of the public had a lackadaisical attitude about storm preparation, especially after Hurricane Irene. But as it got closer and the subways shut down at 7pm Sunday night, people started to take it more seriously. Lines were out the door at supermarkets as people stocked up on essentials. There was a run on water, batteries, candles, and bread. 

At this point, I noticed something unusual-- there were dozens of twitter and facebook posts about wine. Maybe this is because most of my friends are in the wine business, but what surprised me was that even my cocktail and beer brewer friends were all posting about wine. So were my non-industry friends. "Settling down with some ramen and a bottle of wine to ride out the storm," one friend writes. Several others posted photos of what bottles they'd drink as they were confined indoors. And why shouldn't they? Wine is a useful, portable, and shelf-stable beverage that does not require short-term refrigeration. This aspect of wine, I think, is something that we overlook when we have instant and virtually unlimited access to every beverage we could possibly want. In times of emergency, wine's dependability and usefulness is highlighted: the beer may get too warm if the electricity goes out, there may be no ice to make the cocktail, the water may shut off, but the wine.... the wine is there and waiting. It's a ready source of hydration and nutrients. It's enjoyability does not directly depend on the functioning of the city's infrastructure.  

As the storm approached Sunday night and my friends hunkered down with their bottles, many restaurants stayed open, though most of the employees would have no way of getting home without public transportation or access to many of the bridges. To solve this, most people who lived in non-Manhattan boroughs were encouraged to leave early, and I heard about several restaurants that offered cab reimbursements or arranged/paid for service cars to drop off all of their employees at the end of the night-- bravo to these places. 

The Storm

The storm started off slow. My neighborhood in the Bronx usually has a boistrous soundscape that includes trucks honking down 95, the 6 train rumbling every 5 minutes or so, planes flying into La Guardia, dogs barking, and neighbors chatting to one another on stoops. Sunday night, things fell eerily silent as traffic stopped, airports suspended service, and everyone settled in. Light winds picked up, a drizzle began. On satellite images we could see Sandy spinning right toward us, just off the coast.  After hours of build-up the winds reached top speeds, ripping branches off trunks, pulling trees out by their roots, and blowing anything not tied down hundreds of feet away. Out my own back window the trees whipped back and forth, down my block the awnings on many businesses fell off and blew down the street. Trashcans were flying and slamming into houses, and electrical wires snapped to and fro like plucked strings. Sirens echoed in the distance. 

Eater kept a running list of which restaurants were staying open through the storm, calling it 'The Ultimate Hurricane Sandy Dining Guide." To those outside Manhattan, this may seem crazy, but keep in mind that many New Yorkers do not have kitchens, or have incredibly tiny kitchens in their tiny apartments. Lots of people here depend on restaurants as their main food supply, and so the stakes are higher when they all start shutting down. 

It seemed that everyone kept tabs on their friends through facebook and twitter. At first the posts were festive, with most people writing about how they were drinking that great bottle of wine and watching a movie as #Sandy whipped by. But the mood changed in an instant. Suddenly one friend wrote "Went out for a cigarette and watched the water rise to above the fire hydrants in less than 5 minutes!" "Power just went out...." Another mentions flooding in the lobby of their apartment building. Then this pops up: "30 windows in my building just blew out!" The NYTimes flashed updates about several fires around the city. Photos began to circulate of flooded cars in the Financial District.  

Then the unthinkable happened: the ConEd power transformers exploded, causing much of lower Manhattan to lose power (scroll ahead to 18 seconds in): 

Lower Manhattan went dark in the power outage, and our familiar skyline could barely be seen against the stormy skies-- the Empire State Building the only beacon. 

Immediate Aftermath
Subways remained shut down with police tape.

The MTA published this message: 
Statement from MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota on Service Recovery
The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night. Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region. It has brought down trees, ripped out power and inundated tunnels, rail yards and bus depots.  As of last night, seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded. Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line. The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel. The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel is flooded from end to end and the Queens Midtown Tunnel also took on water and was closed. Six bus garages were disabled by high water. We are assessing the extent of the damage and beginning the process of recovery. Our employees have shown remarkable dedication over the past few days, and I thank them on behalf of every New Yorker. In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now. All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal.

In the restaurant sector, Eater started publishing reports of restaurant damage almost instantly. The damages run the gamut of downed awnings, flooding, fires, and completely destroyed venues. 

Then the emails and texts began. 
"Are you ok?" 
"Everything all right up there? The news is painting a horrible picture of New York." 
"I have no water or electricity and haven't been able to even shower; not sure I can make it to work for another few days." 
"I walked 40 blocks uptown to get wi-fi to send this email." 
"I just walked over the bridge to Brooklyn so I could charge my phone." 
"I'm sleeping at the office because there is water and electricity here."
"If anyone needs a couch to sleep on, I have one, and I have power/water!"

With no power or wi-fi, communication began to break down as the batteries in phones and computers began to run out in the areas affected by the power outage. At my work (in the no power/water zone), the managers worked out a communication system where they would call someone in a wi-fi area from a pay phone.  The person receiving the pay phone call in the wi-fi area would then email status reports on the space to the rest of the staff. 

Cleanup & Team Spirit

To the left is a great photo (by Erin Winebark) of the dangling crane that has us all worried and is a constant reminder that there is still much to do to get back on our feet after this storm. 

Though the storm has passed, the restaurant industry-- especially those venues in lower Manhattan-- has so much clean up to do. Unfortunately, none of this can really get underway until we have power. The situation is worse for the kitchen staff than it is for the FOH & beverage teams (most beverage products such as wine/beer/spirits are shelf stable). Entire fridges of product in pretty much every lower-Manhattan restaurant have spoiled in the power outage. Restaurants will have to order massive amounts of food to get their par levels back to normal, which is difficult to do given the restricted delivery status of many of the food suppliers. This could cause many places to offer partial menus in the meantime. Kitchen staffs usually have 50-80% of pre-prepped food in their fridges, so a day's work involves preparing only 20-50% of food for service. But with empty walk-in fridges due to the mass purge of spoiled food, kitchen staffs will need to work overtime to prep enough product for service. 

The lack of water in lower Manhattan has left many restaurants unable to function (no water: no dishwasher, no hand-washing, no restroom use, etc.). The lack of hot water above midtown makes it difficult to run dishwashers. 

Staff and guests are having a difficult time arriving at restaurants due to suspended MTA service and gridlocked traffic (see photograph of traffic at the right). Today, several of my friends posted about how they had to walk miles to work this morning and arrived hours late. 

It's not just the restaurants that have to recover. Some wine warehouses and storage facilities were flooded, which damaged a lot of product and will cause a huge delay in getting product to venues. Wine delivery systems shut down for several days when the trucking lines that usually deliver to restaurants took several days of suspension due to flooded roads and closed bridges, and today they are having trouble delivering with the insane traffic. Many trucks are delivering product that was ordered last week, but are arriving to find that the restaurant still has not opened for business. 

The wineries on Long Island have also felt the brunt. Luckily, most of them have finished harvesting by now, but many wineries, especially those with young vineyards, have damage from uprooted vines and cellar flooding.  

Through it all though, the team spirit is amazing, especially in the hospitality industry sector. Everyone I know with an extra couch has offered up their space to friends and co-workers. Restaurants in midtown & above are allowing restaurants in lower Manhattan to use their freezer space. Ice companies are at the ready to send truckloads of ice down to lower Manhattan to help prevent food spoilage. Volunteer clean-up crews are forming to help clean up destroyed restaurants. Restaurant employees that live in Manhattan have taken on tons of responsibility to scout out the damage and plan clean ups, while many of their coworkers remain stranded in the boroughs. Some restaurants in midtown and above are offering the use of electrical outlets for phone charging and free drinks to those living in lower Manhattan. Several spaces have even offered up vacant areas for chefs in lower Manhattan to cook at pop-ups in the recovery time. 

This will take weeks of recovery, but we are well on our way. 

Ever wanted a delicious, yet creepy, wine to serve on Halloween? 

Here are a few of my favorites: 

Brokenwood "Graveyard Vineyard" shiraz (Hunter Valley, Australia)

Brokenwood is an iconic Australian producer that has helped put Hunter Valley semillon on the map. They also make great shiraz: This Halloween-perfect wine is their shiraz from a very special single vineyard called The Graveyard Vineyard. This land was originally designated to be a graveyard, and the old map hangs in the winery today. 

Anima Negra "Son Negra" (Mallorca, Spain)

Anima Negra is a winery on the island of Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. Their "Son Negra" cuvee is made only in the best years from three of their best vineyards. The grape varieties are 95% callet, 5% manto negre and fogoneu. The yields are very, very low (less than half a kilo per vine) which leads to dense and flavorful berries. Fermented in barrels, 17 months barrel aging. 

The winemakers have a special friendship with artist Miquel Barceló, who designs the Son Negra labels. 

Poe "Angel Camp Vineyard" pinot noir (Anderson Valley, California)

This delicious pinot noir from Anderson Valley has a great label that invokes Edgar Allan Poe's tales of woe-- in this case, The Raven. Poe wines, founded by Samantha Sheehan, produce a single vineyard chardonnay and a single vineyard pinot noir. This pinot noir is made to express terroir-- it's produced from low-yield vines and fermented on its own yeasts. 

Cayuse Vineyards "Bionic Frog" syrah (Walla Walla Valley, Washington)

This is a small production syrah and it's pretty hard to find. But if you can get your hands on some, it will be worth it. The inky brew is made in Walla Walla Valley, Washington at Cayuse Vineyards. All the vineyards are farmed using biodynamics, and the wine is dense, meaty, and complex. Plus, the label has so much personality it's almost as if the bottle wears its own costume... 

Some Young Punks "Monsters Attack" riesling (Clare Valley, Australia)

This label is reminiscent of an old pulp fiction novel, and is a great match with the ghouls and monsters that might ring your doorbell on Halloween night. It's made by the renegade winemaking group, Some Young Punks, who have become known for their over-the-top label designs and approachable wines. This riesling is from a small, family owned, organic vineyard in the Clare Valley.  It's slightly off dry (might remind you of your average spätlese), and is the perfect Halloween candy for adults of legal drinking age. 

I recently got to try these lovely Champagnes from Delamotte, one of the oldest Champagne houses in existence (since 1760), and the sister Champagne house to Salon. In 2012, they celebrated their 250th anniversary. 

History
The house was founded in 1760 by François Delamotte, most likely under the influence of his father-in-law, Antoine Burgundy, who was a Champagne producer in Ay. The house passed to his son, Nicolas Louis Delamotte, and then passed to Nicolas' widow.  The French Revolution (circa 1789) caused some of the wealthy farmers in the region to flee into exile, and Jean-Baptiste Lanson was one such man. He returned to France to run Delamotte in 1854. Things changed in the early 1920s when Marie Louise Lanson inherited Delamotte and purchased Laurent-Perrier at the same time. Her son Charles managed the house until 1988, when Charles' older brother, Bernard de Nonancourt, bought Delamotte and brought it fully into the Laurent-Perrier group. At the same time, he bought Salon, and ever since Delamotte and Salon have been marketed as sister Champagne houses. 

Wines
Delamotte owns only Grand Cru chardonnay vineyards, their estate fruit is about 70% of production, and chardonnay really defines their style. 

Delamotte Brut Rosé 

Though Delamotte Champagne house has been producing since 1760, they have only been making this brut rosé since 1988. 

This rosé is: 
80% pinot noir
20% chardonnay

Interestingly, these varieties are co-macerated together-- a technique used by relatively few producers. Co-maceration gives the winemaker less control over the final product, but it also gives the wine a special congruent, integrated flavor that is almost impossible to achieve with post-ferment blending.

The rosé has a lovely, light salmon color (see the first photo in this post for an extreme close-up). 

Delamotte Brut

50% chardonnay
30% pinot noir (added for texture)
20% pinot meunier (added for flavor complexity)

At Delamotte they believe that to really express itself, chardonnay needs 6-10 years of aging. In this Brut, the chardonnay doesn't quite get that old, so the pinot noir & meunier are added to enhance the complexity of the younger chardonnay. 

Delamotte Brut, Blanc de Blancs

This is the good stuff. Their chardonnay-- being the nucleus of their entire estate production-- receives much love and care from the company. To make this cuvée they blend together 4 villages (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Avize, Cramant) in the Côte des Blancs-- all Grand Cru fruit. It spends 5 years on the lees, and is pretty ridiculous to drink, especially with seafood. 

Champagne? Surely, you must....

Tasted this tonight!

Morey-Coffinet, Chassagne Montrachet 2010 "Les Houilleres" (Burgundy, France)

On the young side, but still dense and delicious, each sip so concentrated and full of flavor. This was perfect with oysters.

Welcome to Soalheiro, one of Portugal's top alvarinho producers in the Vinho Verde region. Soalheiro translates literally to "Sun Drop," and means something akin to "Sunny Place."  

Here in the foreground you see some of Soalheiro's alvarinho vines. Soalheiro sits right on the Portugal-Spanish border in the Vinho Verde subregion of Monção e Melgaço. The mountains in the background are Spain. 

The wine comes from 7 hectares of organically farmed, family owned vineyards, and they have some of the oldest alvarinho vines in the region. 

A brief timeline of Soalheiro: 
1974- João António Cerdeira plants alvarinho vines here
1982- João produces the first Soalheiro bottling
1986- The family transitioned to organic farming
1994- João's son, Luís Cerdeira, takes over the winemaking
2010- They celebrate their 30th vintage in bottle! 

Some residences mingling around the winery. 

Another view of the organically farmed vines (with Spain in the background)

Luis took a moment to explain the history of his family business, the climate of this region, and how these affect his grape growing. The climate in this region is great for alvarinho because of the Atlantic ocean influence-- he describes it as Atlantic climate but veering towards Continental. The summers get hot, but cool winds from the ocean blow in and help alvarinho maintain acidity. The winters are extremely cold. He explains that in hotter climates producers use a lot of oak on their alvarinho, but here, you don't see this trend so much.  Rainfall here is also on the high side, but Luis cites the granitic soils as the saving grace: "The rain filters fast through the granitic soil so the land can take more precipitation."

Alvarinho needs some shade to maintain the natural fruit characteristics, and so Luis devotes much of his vitivultural prowess into vine training and canopy management. He uses three different training systems-- two VSP and also some traditional ramada vines (high trained vines, similar to pergolas). Luis notices that the diversity of training systems contributes "more flavors in the wines." 

In this region of Portugal his biggest vineyard problem is mildew from the humidity. The mildew is also his biggest challenge to maintain his commitment to organic farming, but he works through it. The impetus to switch to organic farming came from a desire to see more biodiversity on the land. He noticed a big change when they converted, and as he puts it, "Birds, animals, and the vineyard say thank you." 

Next we drove a short way to his tasting room that also over looked some vineyard blocks. We could hear pigs a few hundred meters away-- his sister's pigs. She makes amazing charcuterie. 

The Wines

Soalheiro produces three main styles of wines. 

1. Classic- described by Luis as "fresh & fruity"
2. Primeiras Vinhas- "first vines," as in the first vines that were planted by his family. equivalent to old vines
3. Reserva- barrel fermented

he also makes some low alcohol sweeter wines, but very small production. 

Alvarinho Vertical

The tasting he did for us was pretty cool. This was a complete vertical of his Classic alvarinho 2004-2010-- an all-stainless steel wine. It was incredible to see the evolution, and to get a feel for vintage variation. It was also very generous of him, as he doesn't keep back stock vintages and really has only a few cases of the older ones lying around. 

Below, you get a sense of the slight color evolution. This is 04, 05, 07, 10

                              2004                                                2005                                                     2007                                                  2010

This is Luis' sister, Maria, some of her charcuterie, and a zoomed in photo of some of her pigs on a neighboring farm. 

<---This is alheira sausage (made by Maria)--a classic Portuguese sausage, with a fascinating history. During the Portuguese Inquisition many Jews were forced to convert to Christianity. If their conversion could be proved false, they risked persecution. One major give-away was the lack of consumption of pork.  To throw Inquisitors off the trail, many Jews pretended to smoke "pork" sausages that were actually full of bread and small amounts of other meats. Alheira sausage has since become a very popular national food, and nowadays many people make the bread-meat sausages with pork, despite their anti-pork historic origins. 

The charcuterie paired amazingly well with the alvarinhos-- especially the oak aged ones. After we tasted the vertical of the Classics he brought out some of the Primeiras Vinhas and Reservas to have with the charcuterie. 

The Reservas and the Premeiras Vinhas. 

A close up of the Classic vertical. 

This is a photo of Luis' small-production, low alcohol, sweet alvarinho. 

Luis took us on a small field trip to his nursery vineyards. Here, he has 1-3 year old baby alvarinho vines that aren't ready for production.  

Here you see eucalyptus trees tower over the vineyards. 

The granitic soil is so full of mica that it sparkles. 

Luis handed out alvarinho grapes as he expounded more on the local biodiversity, the soil type, and his wines. 

Arizona Wine Overview
Arizona has incredibly old winemaking history, but is a relatively new region to revive commercial wine production after Prohibition.  In the 1500s Spanish Jesuit priests planted grapevines to make sacramental wine. More recently Henry Schuerman arrived in Red Rock around 1884 and set up extensive orchards and grapevines. He worked with varietals from the Austro-Hungarian empire, most likely including zinfandel. Prohibition cut into his progress with grapes. (Johnson 2009:200)  Wine production nosedived during Prohibition, and viticulture didn't ramp up again until the 1970s. 

Arizona is hot and dry, and the state possibly got its name from the Spanish term "arida zona," arid zone in English.  Commercial winemaking in Arizona, interestingly enough, parallels recent breakthroughs in temperature control that enable winemakers to make a wide variety of wine styles that may not have been previously available to them 5 decades in the past.  I tasted some very light and pretty, lower alcohol wines (12/13ish) with high acidity that I wasn't expecting from such a hot place. 

In fact, the overall acidity of many of the wines was surprising to me, and is mainly due to diurnal temperature swings. Several producers mentioned the role that the chilly nighttime temperatures had to do with maintaining acid. But canopy management is equally important, and a huge focus in Arizona viticulture. There is also much experimentation with new ways to manage canopies to keep their grapes shaded from the fierce midday sun. 

The biggest issue that producers face in the vineyards are frosts, and sometimes even hail. Frosts often come just after bud break and can kill off over half of the potential bunches. In frost-kill years, the yields are incredibly low, and the wines are usually a bit more extracted. Producers are using large fans to combat frost by keeping the air flowing throughout the vines. 

Multi-Regional Blending

Because of Arizona's relatively new breakthrough on the national commercial wine scene, there are few acres of older vines in the state. There are many, many acres of new vineyards with vines that are 1-6 years old-- not quite ready for yielding high quality wine grapes. Page Springs Cellars, for example, has planted about 30 new acres of vineyards in the last 2 years. Thus, the industry is growing fast, and seems to be gearing up for a heavy focus on estate fruit, but currently finds a need to outsource fruit from other areas. Most producers who seek grapes out-of-state look west to California, and import juice or actually go there and drive back whole clusters to work with. Others sometimes look south to Mexico, but can run into issues when bringing the grapes over the border. 

Multi-regional blending is a major part of the current winemaking culture (reminding me of the philosophies of the large Champagne houses and Grange where blending leads to enhanced complexity), but--refreshingly--so is transparency. Every producer I visited meticulously listed the percentages of grape varietals in their blends, and the provenance of each varietal. A typical tasting room guide sheet or wine bottle label on a blend might read this way: 

Wine #1
85% cabernet sauvignon (AZ)
10% petite verdot (CA)
5%   roussane (AZ)

In some wine regions of the world, producers are hesitant to admit multi-regional blending (or even the addition of small amounts of an additional variety or two). This is not the case in Arizona. The transparency was great-- winemakers were quick to share their methods and techniques, and there were no secrets about what was in the bottle. 

Not all wines are multi-regional blends, though, and there tends to be a sense of proudness for the wines made from all-Arizona fruit. 

Some producers spoke of blending with California fruit to get that higher brix to balance out Arizona's high-acid fruit. I know-- at first you don't think that desert fruit would be high acid, but therein lies the power of those extra-cold nights.... 

The Wines

Right now, there are several wine styles and grape varieties that people are working with. At this time, it would be difficult to nail down (in terms of grape variety) what Arizona wine is all about. But if I had to narrow it down based on my observations, I'd say that viognier, chenin blanc, and unique aromatic white blends dominate the highest quality wines in the white wine market, and Rhone-style reds were also drinking quite nicely (the syrahs and the Rhone-style blends). 

Winemaking style is varied-- everything from light partial-carbonic reds to a few extracted tannin monsters.  But overall, the white styles were crisp and lean with high acid (I only tasted one or two rich, fat, oak aged whites). As one fellow poured me a flight of crisp and lean white wines he said, "I mean, we live in a desert. It's really hot here. The kinds of wines we like to make are refreshing because those are the kinds of wines we want to drink."  The crisp whites and lighter reds also go great with local foods that are based heavily on Mexican cuisine and local delicacies such as prickly pear cactus. 

Tasting Room Culture

There is a vibrant tasting room culture in the Cottonwood/Jerome area. Historic Jerome-- formerly a wealthy copper mining town-- has about 400 permanent residents, but attracts about 60,000 tourists each year. It makes sense that near-by wineries would want off-site tasting rooms in these heavily-visited areas. Cottonwood has several tasting rooms that line Main Street. This is part of a larger Wine Trail.  

Teamwork and Community

Above all else, I was struck by the sense of community, comradeship, and teamwork between various people in the wine industry. I visited Jerome, Cottonwood, and Cornville, and everyone I met (tasting room pourers, vineyard managers, winemakers, cellar workers, sales managers) seemed to give off a sense that they were part of something much bigger than their own individual wines and projects.   

At one winery, I was chatting with the guys who were working there, and it turned out that almost all of them had their own labels and could have been focusing on their own projects, but they were all helping out at this other winery. There seems to be a willingness among friends to share resources such as fruit sources, winery equipment, labor, and cellar space. I'm sure that the intra-personal relationships are much more nuanced and complex than my base observations, but for my first impression of this community, I found the sense of "we-are-in-it-together" quite inspiring. 
 

Arizona Stronghold 

Arizona Stronghold winery, founded in 2007 by Maynard James Keenan and
Eric Glomski, has the same name as the Arizona Stronghold Vineyard-- an 80 acre vineyard in southeastern Arizona from which the winery sources much of its fruit.  The oldest part of this vineyard was planted in 1983, and there are currently about 60-65 acres of active vines (various varietals), and several nursery blocks as well. 

I found the Site Archive Series from this producer particularly interesting-- this terroir-focused line within Arizona Stronghold is released to their wine club members, and it is single varietal expressions from different blocks of the Arizona Stronghold Vineyard. These individual wines are blended to produce many of the flagship Arizona Stronghold wines; for instance, the Arizona Stronghold "Nachise" 2011 rhone blend is a combination of the Site Archive syrah, the Site Archive grenache, and some petite syrah and mourvedre. 

In the big picture of things, Arizona Stronghold winery is special because it has had several wine labels break off as sister wineries. It is sort of like a Mother Ship that has quite literally seeded several new labels and projects that will grow over the next few decades to enhance the core of what Arizona wine is all about. Arizona Stronghold Vineyard is a current source of grapes for several of these related wineries. 

Caduceus Cellars / Merkin Vineyards

These wines are Keenan's project. The grapes are sourced from high elevation terroirs, and are comprised of mostly Italian & Spanish varieties. The bottlings all have thoughtful, provoking names. Keenan prefers carbonic maceration for the reds (in open tops) and whole cluster press stainless steel ferments for the whites. 

The Merkin label uses some multi-state blending, while Caduceus is Arizona based. Keenan's single-vineyard Caduceus "Judith" bottling is his top cuvee, named after his mom. 

Page Springs Cellars

Page Springs Cellars is located off a small road that passes through Cornville. The winery is nestled in a small valley with rolling hills on all sides. Page Springs (an artesian spring that bubbles up from the ground just off-site of the vineyard) meanders through the property and is the main water source for the winery (and obviously, it is also the winery's namesake). Young estate vineyards surround the winery, and the top floor houses a cozy tasting room with a deck that has a killer view of the vineyards. 

Page Springs was founded by Eric Glomski. He has inspired so many of his friends and co-workers to create their own wines, and has really had a hand in expanding what Arizona wine can be. He does great things with chenin blanc and syrah, and has interesting new plantings that I plan to keep an eye on-- including traminette & the famed US-indigenous Norton. 

Bibliography
Johnson, Hoyt C. (2009)  The Sedona Story: Settlement to Centennial. Arizona: AZS.
https://caduceus.org/
http://pagespringscellars.com/
http://home.nau.edu/%5Cahrrc%5Cstats.asp
http://www.azstronghold.com/
http://www.vvwinetrail.com/

I had this Sine Qua Non last night with dinner and it was fabulous. At first it was closed, but after an hour of decanting it opened up in the most amazing way. It's dense and extracted, with aromas & flavors of cacao nibs and green herbs. It paired perfectly with Tête de Moine cheese & chocolate, and it still has a lot of room to continue developing in the cellar.

My sister Blair & I arrived yesterday in Arizona to check out the wine scene here. Being from Virginia (and its amazing underground wine scene) we've been interested in domestic wine outside of the usual California/ Oregon/ Washington regions for a while now. We've heard a lot of buzz about Arizona, so here we are! 

First things first, this is a desert, and there are gigantic cacti at every turn. The diurnal temperature difference between night and day is stunning- we were sweating at noon and freezing by 10pm: a great situation for grapes to keep their acidity while ripening.  

We flew into Phoenix and then headed north to Cottonwood. There, we checked out some of the tasting rooms on Main Street. Then it was off to historic Jerome-- an old copper mining town-- and a gorgeous view of the desert. We went to the tasting rooms in Jerome and also saw some of the famous red schist up close. 
We finished up in Sedona for dinner (at Elote) and today we will visit Page Springs. 

Stay tuned for more detailed tasting notes!!! 

I'm Erin Scala, and I approve of this rosé. 

I recently got back from a trip to the Vinho Verde wine region in Portugal. The region is truly as verdant as its name suggests, with endless lush foliage and a great diversity of plant life. It amazed me to see whole forests composed of coniferous, deciduous and arecaceae (palm) trees-- I've rarely seen this kind of full-spectrum diversity, and it takes a special climate to allow them all to coexist. Many species of vines and ferns grew wild, and there also seemed to be a wide and interesting variety of local mosses and algae. In the organic vineyards insect life was pretty diverse as well-- lots of cool looking spiders and interesting grasshopper-like bugs. Here is a short photo vignette of the diverse greenery: 

To give you an idea of where this region is located, see the map below of Portuguese wine regions. The Vinho Verde wine region (in green on the map) is in the northwest, bordering the Atlantic ocean in the west and Spain (Rias Baixas) in the north. The famous Douro lies directly east (in orange on the map). To browse more maps click here. Also, here is a link to a great interactive map of Vinho Verde's sub-regions. 

Historically, this region has produced small quantities of dense red wines for local consumption-- lots of housemade and co-op juice. A lot of this has changed recently, but its vestiges are still to be found everywhere. Currently, 27K small growers farm 50K acres, with the average plot being less than 3 acres in size. Thus, while there are a few large producers pumping out grapes from hundreds of hectares, and a few mid-range production producers with 10-20 hectares, most of the growers have very small plots, and possibly just a few rows of ramada vines around their yard.

Corn and the Impact on Viticulture
The viticultural issues that Vinho Verde faces are linked to an agricultural product: corn. Native to Mexico, corn is a major local  product in the Minho, first introduced from the Americas in the 1500s. 

The real historical catalyst occurred in 1755 when King Joseph I of Portugal made Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo the "Marquês de Pombal" (essentially giving him the power of Prime Minister). Melo planned to increase Portugal's economic strength so they could better compete with Spain and he initiated the Pombaline Reforms to do this. Part of the Pombaline Reforms aimed at promoting corn as an agricultural product to feed the populous, and promoting port wine from the Douro. 

One way to help wine production in the Douro was to limit competing wine production nearby. Melo restricted vineyards in today's Vinho Verde region by decreeing that growers could only grow vines on the perimeters of their food fields. Farmers responded by making their average field smaller, so that they could have more perimeter space for vines. Farmers also planted their perimeter vines up high on ramadas (mimicking the vine's natural tendency to grow up trees) partly to make use of farming land beneath the vine. When Melo fell from power, the laws were not strictly enforced again until the 1800s when Portugal experienced a population surge. With the larger population to feed, the government began to re-enforce Melo's laws to ensure that farmers were focusing on large-yield staple crops such as corn (instead of wine grapes). 

To this day, there are hundreds of corn fields with ramada vines on the perimeter. Only recently have producers been starting to plant blocks of vineyards for larger-scale production. 

The brown colored bread to the left is the local cornbread that is served pretty much everywhere. 

---> Here, you get an idea of how blocks of land are hashed out for corn, cabbage, or vines, and how many of these blocks are outlined with high-trained ramada vines.  I noticed throughout the trip that several growers had ripped out the corn and planted VSP wire-trained vines, but still kept the ramada perimeter for either aesthetic beauty, or because they believed that certain varietals do better on ramada. 

This photo is of a more rural neighborhood (in the north, near the Spanish border), but even in the busier towns the backyards had square gardens of corn or cabbage, surrounded by ramada. Several locals talked about how they liked to regularly have dinner under the ramada. 

Economic Crisis Drives Export Style
As much as I want to paint a picture-perfect vision of Vinho Verde, I have to keep it real. Things started to get bad in 2008 with the global crisis, and then Portugual suffered another hit in 2010. Unemployment is now over 15%. The government is issuing special "austerity measures" and several economists are warning that Portugal could be the next Greece. In 2011 Portugal received a gigantic bailout from the EU, and they are still having difficulty. Luxury items are the first to be cut from household budgets, which affects travel, restaurants, and wineries. Restaurants are starting to offer inexpensive buffets to get people in the doors (see sign to the left, advertising a buffet they are offering specifically because of the economic situation). Wine producers are seeing drops in sales as people drink more beer, or downgrade from the 10 euro bottle to the 3 euro bottle. 

The Portuguese economic crisis is driving much of the business philosophies of various wineries, and having a serious impact on wine production. In this climate some companies/wineries are really doing what it takes to maintain the financial health of their businesses, even if that means that they cannot focus on premium quality wines at the moment. There are still some great, high quality wines being produced (a few of which I will mention later), but overall as a trend, some wineries are doing things like producing a special bottling that will only cost 2 euros to keep the general public drinking wine (memories of 2 Buck Chuck, anyone?). Wineries with the capacity for large production are finding that they can buy tons of grapes from small farmers at cheaper prices, and so they are not always focusing on the quality of estate fruit. Tactics like these don't necessarily translate to fine wine production, but they help to maintain sustainable cash flow for the winery in the midst of an economic crisis. 

What is needed is enough economic strength to sustain businesses through rough times when they have little cash flow and get individuals through a longer-than-usual period of unemployment. The government, businesses, and citizens recognize the need to get the country back on track for economic growth, and the way that the overall wine sector seems to be doing this is to focus on large-production wine that is aimed at thirsty export markets. Many of the large wine producers we visited discussed the great successes they are having with the specific export markets of Brasil, Angola, and the USA. With the average domestic person tightening up their belts and drinking less wine, these export markets are key to getting the sellable wine product in the country sold. 

Furthermore, the companies that are lucky enough to have lots of liquid cash during this period are finding themselves in a fortuitous position-- they can buy up vineyards and property at discounted prices. Mostly, it is the larger producers (1 million case+ production) having success in this period. The smaller producers (20-50K cases) are having more difficulty. Because smaller producers are having more difficulty, they are less likely to invest in non-essential business operations, such as massive advertising campaigns. Again, in this area, the larger companies find themselves at an advantage and it is obvious when walking through an airport or checking out billboards or Portuguese television which companies have liquid cash to further buttress their market share. 

Quality, Price & Perception
Another interesting factor regarding the economics of Portuguese wine in the global market is the link between price and perception. In Portugal the average person drinks 3-6 euro bottles, and a nice bottle of wine is 10-12 euros. Fine wines priced over 30 euros tend to hold price-steady across global markets due to international competition. 

In the US market, the scale is much different. A value bottle is $10-$13, a nice bottle is $25-$30, and the fine wine bottles priced over $45 tend to hold true across global markets. When someone from the US sees a nice bottle of Portuguese wine for 10 euros, the perception is that this is a budget wine; when really, if viewed through the Portuguese perception the bottle would be a bit of a splurge. Some producers are exporting their wines to US markets, pricing them at what they believe is a higher quality price, but what is actually perceived as a budget wine, despite superior quality. This, of course, is great for me because I can get quality wines at a great price, but is this the best thing for the overall economy of the region, and for the wine's perception in international marketplaces?  I believe the region has a bit of a ways to go to strike a balance between price and quality on the global stage.  

To further complicate things, savvy importers recognize this and see that they can import lower quality less expensive 2-4 euro/btl wines and price them higher at $10-$12, which meets US market perception of $10 bottles of wine, but also matches the price of quality Portuguese wines and obscures the price-quality relationship in the international marketplace. 
 

Regional Identity in Transition
In 1908 the Vinho Verde region was officially demarcated by the government. 1926 marks the founding of the Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verde (CVRVV)-- an association of farmers and traders who help regulate and guide the winemaking in the region. They establish and maintain quality levels, and created the Vinho Verde DOC in 1984. Pictured left are some of the CVRVV's test vineyards where they work with the local varietals and various training systems. 

1986 brought major change when Portugal joined the European Union. At this time, the CVRVV began to drive new initiatives in the region, encouraging growers to focus more on white grape varietals, change over to VSP training systems, and focus on expanding their presence in export markets. In the last 25-30 years these initiatives have been quite successful.  Exports, for instance, have risen from 7.8 million liters to 15.6 million liters between 2001 and 2011. 

There has also been a heavier focus on terroir. Almost every producer mentioned the uniqueness of the granitic soils; this is really a special talking point for these wines. Because of this shift toward terroir driven wines, there is a heavier emphasis on estate fruit, or at least on contracts with trusted growers. There are still many, many small producers that sell their grapes to co-ops of large companies, but the estate fruit mentality is growing. 

The CVRVV has also enforced quality levels of wine, which has the effect of regional branding because it tailors the wines of the region into categories in which consumers can have a reasonable expectation of what may be in the bottle.  Furthermore, several large wineries have special "brands" of which they make millions of cases from mostly contracted fruit (Casal Garcia, Gazela, etc.). The quality levels mostly relegate these wines to the "classic" category, creating room for quality distinction among the smaller terroir-focused growers. The CVRVV has created three distinct levels of wine: 

1. Vinho Verde "Classic"
Vinho Verde Classic wines are meant to be simpler and lighter than the Vinho Verde wines with subregions on the labels. The classic wines are different because they (1) do not list a subregion and (2) have stricter alcohol rules. Minimum 8%, maximum 11.5% actual alcohol (minimum 8.5% maximum 14% of total potential alcohol including RS). Right now, the large brands of Vinho Verde Classic wines seem to dominate the export markets. 

This alcohol restriction on Vinho Verde Classic keeps the alcohol level low and sometimes, the RS up. It was unclear to me if the minimum and maximum alcohol levels are regulated at fermentation or pre-bottling, so I'm not sure if reverse osmosis is allowed or commonly used to remove alcohol post-fermentation. Additionally, I'd like to know more about how most producers are stopping their fermentations at the "right" time. Are they picking early to keep sugar low, adding sulfur once the must hits 11.5%, or filtering out active yeast cells? I'm sure a variety of methods are being used, but my point here is that I'm concerned because this regulation seems to force a potentially unnecessary intervention.  I found the sulfur levels to be quite high (nostril burning) in a few of the classics, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was the result of stopping the fermentation to keep alcohol levels in check. 

2. Vinho Verde with subregion
Here the alcohol restrictions are less strict. The minimum actual alcohol is 9%, and the maximum potential alcohol is capped at 14%. There are several quality reds and white blends in the market that fit into this category. I believe that the export market share of this category will grow as key markets (NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney) that drive global drinking trends begin to highlight some of the finer producers. 

3.  Vinho Verde Alvarinho
Vinho Verde Alvarinho is the third type of wine. It is presented as its own category, but it sort of represents a small portion of wines in the Vinho Verde with subregion category, and it's easiest for me to understand this category by thinking about it as a sub category within Vinho Verde with subregion. Producers bottling 100% alvarinho from just the subregion of Monção and Melgaço can label their wines "Vinho Verde Alvarinho." This allows the high quality alvarinhos from this region to distinguish themselves from alvarinhos elsewhere in Vinho Verde. Some producers in other regions still make outstanding alvarinhos, but they must declassify to put alvarinho on the label. Vinho Verde Alvarinho has slightly different alcohol level restrictions than the Vinho Verde with subregion caterogy. Vinho Verde Alvarinho has a minimum actual alcohol of 11.5% (this keeps low-alcohol, sugary versions out of the marketplace and instantly distinguishes a higher-quality flavor profile from the Vinho Verde Classic wines). 

So, ultimately, this is a region in transition from red to white production, from co-op to estate production, from large brands to terroir-focused bottlings, and from local consumption to major global players. The changes are slowed by the current economic crisis, but they are there nonetheless, being shepherded through by the CVRVV. 

Grape Varieties
Click here for a fairly comprehensive guide to grape varieties in the region. There are many grape varieties in the region, but here I'll focus on just two: alvarinho and loureiro. 

Alvarinho
Alvarinho is definitely king in this region, especially in the North. 
As of right now, the CVRVV has regulated that only alvarinho from two sub-regions, Monção and Melgaço, can be called Vinho Verde and say alvarinho on the label. Alvarinho from other regions must declassify to use alvarinho on the label. 

Alvarinho has tiny berries and small bunches, so there is a very high pulp:skin ratio. The extra skin in the must gives the resultant wine lost of flavor, power, and character.

The photo to the left is of a baby alvarinho vine (2 years old-- in a nursery), not quite ready for wine production.  

Loureiro
If you love austere aromatic varietals like gewurztraminer, you might prefer the higher quality loureiros in the area. I must admit, I became truly enchanted by this varietal on this trip.

Loureiro has bigger bunches & larger grapes than alvarinho, so it isn't considered as high quality as alvarinho since there is not as much skin to pulp. But what is interesting is that the lovely aromatic aroma in the fresh grapes manages to stay through during fermentation and you end up with lush wines that have an incredible fragrance. When this grape is done right it is gorgeous. However, I did taste some over-worked heavily sulfured versions as well, and the special aromatics didn't come through.

Soalheiro- 100% alvarinho production, organic since 1986
Melgaço, Vinho Verde

Soalheiro is located in the north of Vinho Verde, just on the Spanish border. Run by Luís Cerdeira & his brother João. The brothers took over production from their father around 1994. They focus exclusively on alvarinho, farm on just 7 hectares and use three different training systems. 

They make three main types of wine: 
Classic- fresh & fruity style
Primeires Vinhas ("first vines" or "old vines")
Reserva- barrel fermented

Quinta do Ameal- 100% Loureiro production, certified organic
Lima, Vinho Verde

Pedro Aurajo (pictured left) at Quinta do Ameal makes amazing loureiros in the area. He makes two main cuvees-- both 100% loureiro-- one steel aged (Quinta do Ameal Loureiro) & one oak aged (Quinta do Ameal Escolha). 

He also produces small amounts of a "Special Harvest" and he makes a sparkling wine too. Both of these bottlings are about 90% loureiro and 10% arinto.

He is one of the few producers in the region that is really focused on what is happening in the vineyard; his dedication to organic farming really enhances the quality of the wines.

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Anselmo Mendes- loureiro and alvarinho


Anselmo consults and has his own label. He works mostly with alvarinho and loureiro; he makes several cuvees and uses winemaking techniques like small amounts of skin contact to add complexity, sometimes oak, some lees stirring. He uses natural yeasts, and some selected yeasts as well. He began making his own wines in 1998 and has been a driving force in the region ever since.

Afros/Aphros
Lima, Vinho Verde

Afros implements biodynamic agrigculture, and they make interesting, terroir-driven wines. They grow loureiro (white) and vinhão (red).

They produce several bottlings: notably a red vinhão, an unoaked loureiro, and an oaked loureiro. They also make rose and sparkling. 

Conclusion
Though several producers are clearly leading the region-- some by numbers (millions of cases sold) and others with artistic visions of wines, ultimately, this is a region in the midst of dynamic change-- some driven by EU agricultural visionaries, but most change is currently driven by the intricacies of the economic situation.  In my generic observations on a very limbic level, I felt that I was witnessing a massive overhaul of the region. It will be interesting to see how small & mid-range producers survive the economic crisis, how economic crisis will continue to drive certain wine styles, how viticultural and vinification styles will change once unemployment decreases and the average person has more liquid wealth, and ultimately, which high-quality producers will continue to emerge from all of this.