Since your scribe first alerted you to the growing popularity of virtual tastings these new wine seminars have really taken off. Seems now like the old days of appointment television is back only updated. Every day features some interesting program you need to tune into to educate yourself on wine. Luckily many of them are being saved for later viewing on websites and on YouTube. Many of them are listed for your old TV Guide reference on a useful virtualwineevents.com website.

One eye opener event last week was the inspiring interview of Greg Lambrecht the inventor of Coravin by Antonio Galloni on Vinous Live. Greg’s background is physics and business school with an early medical tech job in using needles under the skin for chemotherapy treatments. Greg developed an early interest in wine with “a labor of love” reason to find a way to sample some great bottles. His first Coravin was back in 1999 using a trumpet valve. Much testing with refining followed including using various needles plus different gases from nitrogen to carbon dioxide to finding the magical argon before the first Coravin was marketed in 2013. He tells good stories about some wine professionals still not believing it works until they do a blind test with at least 4 glasses of the same wine (some with and without the use of Coravin). He thinks it could be an inherent bias against “in your head as the placebo effect” until you do an actual blind test to prove validity to yourself. He has kept bottles after Coravin use for 14 years that still are in good shape. Recommends if used on cold bottles or very old ones to leave standing up to seal the hole in the cork (“like blood clotting”) before lying down for longer storage. Stresses the importance of press & release to save argon plus cleaning your Coravin when finished for the night with hot water so no cross-contamination results next time. His exciting Model Eleven (that number used because he can’t count like in “Spinal Tap”) was released last year the first of the new digital series. Overall sales are up as consumers stay home sampling their wine collections of special bottles even though restaurants which are heavy users are closed. Check it out.

For more information check out the Vinous Live interview of May 15, 2020 on YouTube and an excellent detailed article of September 16, 2019 by Evelyn Lok Deputy Editor of lifestyleasia.com in their Food & Drink on Coravin founder Greg Lambrecht.

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Question: Is climate change affecting vineyards differently in the north and south hemispheres?

Answer: Seems the answer is definitely yes. Virtual tastings over the last few months always ask the guest winemakers how they are being affected by climate change. All the wineries situated in the north hemispheres feel they are seeing big changes. However those in the south less so. Research at the University of Queensland Australia are monitoring greenhouse gas, bushfires, hailstorms, floods and other events on climate change. Results show there is less land mass nearer the south pole than the north and more open Southern Ocean that affect the uptakes of carbon dioxide. Last week directly from the winery Zuccardi in Argentina Sebastian Zuccardi stated “seeing less snow in the mountains over the last 10 years but is this a cycle or climate change?” He believes “Southern hemisphere is less affected because of their vast oceans so it is presently hard to know about climate change.”

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As this lock down due to the Covid-19 pandemic persistently continues more restaurants have ventured into this take out mode which have reached all-time records. In Vancouver lots of innovative approaches are being tried and even starting this Wednesday iconic John Bishop of his eponymous Bishop’s is entering the game. This after announcing on March 3rd his retirement effective August 1 of his popular 35 year old Kitsilano spot he seems to have had a change of heart. There has been a national celebration of #TakeoutDay on Wednesdays with on line live concerts organized by Canada’s Great Kitchen Party. In the USA tagged everywhere on social media are meals of #TheGreatAmericanTakeout. Everywhere in the world is the same. A favourite restaurant of ours in Paris is Akrame in the 16th arrondissement of Michelin starred chef Akrame Benallal. The teams of his 3 restaurants have united to bring you home cooking by delivery at akramehome.com. As well as focusing on “optimal hygenic conditions” they promote use of “electric or bio-methane powered vehicles to minimize the carbon footprint” and “packaging of the dishes will be biodegradable.”

Certainly have viewed a lot of different take out dishes in person, on line, and from enthusiastic diners sending photos. Some are most impressive indeed. Your scribe is awarding his most intriguing presentation seen so far to Vespertine in Culver City LA California a 2 star Michelin with talented Chef Jordan Kahn known to be expensive but an “otherworldly” dining experience using unique quality ingredients. Some entertaining reviews on dining in including the NY Times, Eater, & by Jonathan Gold in the LA Times. However now a rather reasonably priced $59 for something special to take out. They have been pulling out some rolling theme menus to challenge themselves in the kitchen and to give interesting variety to their customers featuring Carolina Lowlands, New Orleans Cajun, and most recently Yucatan cuisine. Look at the attractive packaging and interesting dishes provided with exciting educational insights. Well done. Let’s see more of these innovative menu ideas from everybody in the Take Out World! Please support take out in your own community.

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Question: Opened and liked a bottle of 2018 Saignee of Culmina Family Estate Winery from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. What is a Saignee?

Answer: Saignee comes from the French “to bleed” and is a popular method for making Rosé. Culmina bleeds off a portion of the juice from their best reds (including flagship Hypothesis) for Saignee while still in fermenters following 2 to 6 hours of skin contact for completion in small 100% stainless steel tanks and casks. The 2018 was a blend of all Golden Mile Bench fruit of Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties as 53%/25/16/6. Just tasted their excellent 2019 Saignee $24 using the same respective grape varieties but in different proportions of 31/32/26/11 that is so charming with only 1.42 residual sugar.  

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Your scribe enjoyed an interview on Saturday May 2nd from Napa Valley Valley Academy on Facebook Live by Peter Marks MW of Fiona Morrison MW. My first connection to Fiona goes back decades to rather frequent wine meetings with her in London, Bordeaux, and America often in connection with my position as Chair of the IWFS Wines Committee. Always liked her outgoing personality plus respected her outstanding knowledge and reasoned analysis on all things vinous. Since then she has earned her Master of Wine in 1994, married in 1997 to Jacques Thienpoint of Chateau Le Pin in Pomerol, and gone on to become an award winning wine writer. It was a pleasure to connect with her again virtually. Pleased to learn she authored another interesting book titled 10 Great Wine Families A tour through Europe. Fiona had the remarkable experience of actually spending some days with each of these ten families and sets out her personal insights about them over four seasons listed in Contents as follows:

SUMMER:

1. Familia TORRES – Penedes, Spain: Regeneration in Catalonia

2. Marchesi de’ FRESCOBALDI – Florence Italy: Wine saves a medieval dynasty

3. Weingut Emmerich KNOLL – Wachau, Austria: A phoenix rising next to the Danube

AUTUMN:

4. Famille THIENPOINT – Bordeaux, France: Belgium colonizes the Right Bank of Bordeaux

5. Descendientes de J PALACIOS – Bierzo, Rioja, Priorat, Spain: Pilgrims, pioneers and matadors

6. NIEPOORT Ports & Wines – Douro Valley, Portugal: A varietal uprising in the Douro

WINTER:

7. GAJA -Barbaresco, Italy: Maestros and earth goddesses

8. EGON MULLER – Scharzhof, Moselle, Germany

SPRING:

9. LIGER-BELAIR – Burgundy, France: Restoring a Grand Cru heritage

10. Famille PERRIN – Rhone, France: Family collaboration

The interview highlighted many insights into all the families including the enormous hours they all worked with their drive to succeed. All focused on long term but problems because of succession laws and dependence on nature. Difficult to plan with climate change and your crop could be wiped out by frost. Two vintages no Le Pin was produced. Sounded like there was a future possibility of a second one including wineries in the world outside Europe that would certainly include Catena in Argentina and Henschke in Australia among others. Even more likely might be an update 10 years on as as to how these ten iconic wine families are doing. Fiona made some quips about these present unique family principals which I am sure must make this book a most interesting read. She stressed the importance of having her photographer next to her to capture her behind the scenes visits. This is not a book review but was inspired to buy and look forward to learning more from reading it.

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