Many Americans ill-informed about Red Wine, Sea Salt: Survey

Most Americans have heard that red wine has health benefits, but many don't understand the need to limit consumption, finds an American Heart Association survey. The majority of respondents also mistakenly believe that sea salt is a low-sodium alternative to table salt, the survey found. The poll was conducted to assess awareness about how wine and sodium affect heart health.

Of the 1,000 adults polled, 76 percent agreed with the statement that wine can be good for your heart, but only 30 percent knew the AHA's recommended limits for daily wine consumption.

Consumption of any type of alcohol should be limited to no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. In general, that's about eight ounces of wine for men and four ounces of wine for women.

Drinking too much of any type of alcohol can increase blood pressure and lead to heart failure, stroke, irregular heartbeat, cancer and obesity.

"This survey shows that we need to do a better job of educating people about the heart-health risks of overconsumption of wine, especially its possible role in increasing blood pressure," AHA spokesman Dr. Gerald Fletcher, professor of medicine - cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Fla., said in an AHA news release.

The survey results, released Monday, also indicate that most respondents don't know the primary source of sodium in their diets and are confused about low-sodium food choices. Consuming too much sodium can increase blood pressure and boost the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Forty-six percent of respondents incorrectly said table salt is the primary source of sodium in American diets. In fact, processed foods such as soups, canned foods, prepared mixes, condiments and tomato sauce account for up to 75 percent of sodium consumption in the United States.

Sixty-one percent of respondents believe that sea salt is a low-sodium alternative to table salt. But sea salt and Kosher salt are chemically the same as table salt (40 percent sodium).

People should consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day, the AHA says. In order to limit sodium intake, read nutrition and ingredient labels on prepared and packaged foods, experts advise.

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Wine for mommy sets off trademark fight

Rival wine sellers targeting overworked mothers are fighting over use of the word "Mommy" on their wine labels, according to a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court.

In the suit, filed on Monday, California-based winery Clos Lachance Wines asked the court to declare that its "Mommyjuice" does not violate the trademark of "Mommy's Time Out," which is marketed by a New Jersey distributor.

"Mommy is a generic ord that they don't have a monopoly on," said KC Branch, an attorney who represents Clos Lachance. The owner of "Mommy's Time Out" declined to comment on the lawsuit. To succeed in a trademark violation case, a brand owner must show it is likely that a rival's mark will create confusion in the minds of consumers.

The front label of Mommyjuice features a drawing of a woman juggling a house, teddy bear and computer. The back label advises moms to "tuck your kids into bed, sit down and have a glass of Mommyjuice. Because you deserve it." The wine is available in a white Chardonnay and a red mixed blend.

The front label of "Mommy's Time Out," an Italian wine sold in red and white, shows an empty chair facing a corner. A wine bottle and glass sit on a table next to the chair. Trademark conflicts between winemakers are relatively common, said Richard Mendelson, a California vintner who teaches a course on wine law at Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley.

"For a wine coming out to market, it's hard to find a name that's not in use," he said. Mendelson also noted that wines with "fanciful" names have proliferated as marketers try to reach new categories of customers. In recent years, vintners have launched wines like "Fat bastard," "Cleavage Creek" and a red wine featuring a rooster called "Big Red Pecker."

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Woolies takeover could lead to hangover for drinkers

One competition expert says the decision allows Woolworths to concentrate its power and produce its own home brand wine leading to a bad mix for consumers. Only last week Woolworths announced the liquor arm of its business, which includes the Dan Murphy's and BWS chains, helped boost its $13 billion quarterly sales total.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's acting chairman Michael Schaper was unavailable for interview but the ACCC released a statement on its reasons behind the decision. "The proposed acquisition would be unlikely to substantially lessen competition given the presence of several significant competitors in wine retailing, production and associated services," it said. "Woolworths and Cellarmasters are both retailers of wine but with minimal overlap in their retail channels.

"Woolworths has an extensive network of bricks-and-mortar liquor retail stores but negligible existing online liquor sales. "Cellarmasters operates an online and direct wine sales business, with no bricks and mortar retail operations."

Competition and fair trade law expert Associate Professor Frank Zumbo from the University of New South Wales says today's decision is disappointing because it will adversely affect consumers over time. "[This is] for the simple reason that it will allow Woolworths to vertically integrate," he said.

"It will allow Woolworths to extend its market power through the wine supply chain. "It will lead to increased concentration in the liquor market, and we see that when there is increased concentration there are fewer players and prices go up."Professor Zumbo says it allows Woolworths to have not only retail shops and an online presence but also the ability to produce its own branded wine. "Clearly the strategy is for Woolworths to increase its presence in home brand wines," he said.

"All this together spells danger for competition and consumers. "The concern with Woolworths increasing its share of the home brand market is that it will reduce product choice for consumers over time. "We've seen it on the supermarket shelves - as the home brand products have increased their presence in supermarket shelves - the branded products are pushed off the shelf and we will see that also in the liquor market with home brand wine pushing branded wine off the market.

"Over time that will reduce product choice for consumers and the real danger is that prices will go up as that competition from branded wines falls."The ACCC's public competition assessment has not yet been released. A spokeswoman for the watchdog says it will be issued in due course.

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Wine tourism most lucrative sector

Wine tourism was one of the fastest growing and most lucrative sectors of the global tourism market, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday. “In South Africa, our wine industry plays an important role in terms of its contribution to specifically regional and rural economic growth and job creation,” he said at a stakeholder workshop at the Spier Estate outside Stellenbosch.

“In 2009 wine tourism contributed an estimated R4.3 billion to our country's tourism revenue, and we believe there is still great potential for growth in this regard.”Van Schalkwyk said increasing its revenue from tourism could help the South African wine industry offset international volatility caused by factors such as foreign currency and demand fluctuations.

Wine and gourmet tourism could also play a role in terms of South Africa's goal of increasing the geographic spread of tourism as it provided additional options for tourists. “Wine tourism is a vital product offering in South Africa's tourism product as it helps improve the country's competitiveness against destinations like Brazil, Australia, Kenya and Thailand,” he said. “We believe stakeholder inclusivity and alignment is fundamental to the adoption and implementation of a winning wine tourism strategy.”

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Cheap wine 'good as pricier bottles' - blind taste test

The blind test at the Edinburgh Science Festival saw 578 members of the public correctly identify the "cheap" or "expensive" wines only 50% of the time. They tasted a range of red and white wines including merlot and chardonnay. University of Hertfordshire researchers say their findings indicate many people may just be paying for a label.

Two champagnes costing £17.61 and £29.99 were compared, alongside the bottles costing less than £5 and vintages priced between £10 and £30. The other varieties tasted were shiraz, rioja, claret, pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc. The participants were asked to say which they thought were cheap and which were expensive.

By the laws of chance, they should have been able to make a correct guess 50% of the time - and that was the exact level of accuracy seen. The findings demonstrate the volunteers cannot distinguish between wines by taste alone, the organisers of the test say.

Lead researcher psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman said: "These are remarkable results. People were unable to tell expensive from inexpensive wines, and so in these times of financial hardship the message is clear - the inexpensive wines we tested tasted the same as their expensive counterparts."

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Kiwi pinot rated the world's best

Sacrebleu. A $200 bottle of New Zealand pinot noir has beaten a $7000 bottle of French burgundy in a blind tasting in the US. Martinborough Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir 1998 triumphed over one of the world's most prestigious wines, 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache, to take No.1 ranking in the World's Top 20 Pinot Noirs competition in Pasadena, US.

Twelve judges blind-tasted 20 wines from New Zealand, the US, France, Germany and Australia. The competition was based on the 1976 Judgment of Paris, which caused a sensation when a Californian wine was chosen over famous French wines. As well as being ranked No.1 overall, the Martinborough Vineyard wine also received the most No.1 rankings - from three of the judges.

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Wine makers see red over Prohibition-era law

The Vancouver-based broadcaster and former Much Music personality is going to load a case of Okanagan wines into his car and drive east to Alberta. When he crosses the border, Mr. Mulligan will have broken a federal law.

The crime? Violating an obscure 1928 legislation that makes it illegal for consumers to transport even a single bottle of alcohol across provincial boundaries. To be sure, it’s a publicity stunt – Mr. Mulligan even plans on alerting the RCMP in advance, and the deed will be filmed for good measure. But it also highlights a growing battle in Canada’s wine industry, which has long blamed the Prohibition-era law for stunting its growth.

“If they don’t charge me, then the law is useless, it is stupid and we should just throw it out,” said Mr. Mulligan, who hosts Tasting Room Radio on the CKUA Radio Network and co-hosts TV wine-and-travel series Hollywood and Vines with actor Jason Priestley. He is also a former Mountie and recently sold his ownership stake in the Black Hills Estate Winery in Oliver, B.C.

The original purpose of the 83-year-old Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act – and ensuing provincial and territorial laws – was to give cash-strapped provinces a monopoly over alcohol sales and, thus, a new source of tax revenue. It’s just one example of provincial governments setting up trade barriers in an effort to protect their own businesses. The result has been a sprawling, powerful and sometimes obscure set of rules that the MacDonald-Laurier Institute public policy think tank last year calculated costs Canadians up to $8-billion a year.

The effects of such barriers to trade reach beyond the wine industry: Ontario and B.C. have different standards for bus brakes, for instance. Alberta hay cannot be trucked to B.C. unless it’s unloaded and repacked. And in a landmark ruling last October, a federally appointed panel determined that Ontario’s ban on a margarine-like spread made in Western Canada violates the 1995 Agreement on Internal Trade that committed the provinces to dismantle barriers between them.

But now, unable to readily access a long list of award-winning Canadian wines, industry and consumer groups are putting pressure on federal election candidates – especially those in the vineyard regions of Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia – to turn their focus on wine.

“It's crazy that it is legal for me to bring two bottles of wine home from Argentina but I’m threatened with a federal record that includes fines and potential jail time for bringing wine to a friend’s cottage in Quebec or home from a visit to B.C.,” said Shirley-Ann George, president of the Alliance of Canadian Wine Consumers.

People like Ms. George have found at least one political ally in Ron Cannan, the Conservative incumbent MP for Kelowna-Lake Country. In November, he tabled a motion to amend the law to allow consumers to purchase wine directly from out-of-province wineries. Motion 601, however, died on the order paper when the election was called. Mr. Cannan has vowed to reintroduce it if he’s re-elected and is optimistic about garnering all-party support.

For Canadian wine makers, the law is a major challenge as they fight for shelf space against cheaper, international brands.

“How do we grow an industry … when you can’t even have somebody pick up the phone in Vancouver and say ‘Send me a case of wine from Ontario?’ ” asked Seaton McLean, co-owner of the Closson Chase Vineyards in Prince Edward County, Ont. “It is hard enough trying to sell wine to the United States or Europe. We can’t even sell it to ourselves.”

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, one of the world’s largest alcohol retailers, said it sold more than $1-million worth of wine from other provinces, the vast majority from B.C., through its private order service during 2010. It usually takes about three weeks to fulfill an order unless a customer is willing to pay for rapid shipping.

Reform has already taken place in the United States, where wineries in 37 states can legally ship to out-of-state residents, representing roughly 1 per cent of total wine sales. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that states must apply the same shipping rules to both in-state and out-of-state wineries. In doing so, it struck down New York and Michigan laws that prevented out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to consumers (by forcing them to sell their products through licensed wholesalers) even though their in-state counterparts were free to do so.

Dan Paszkowski, chief executive of the Canadian Vintners Association, says Canada ought to consider replicating that model since small wineries have a hard time convincing provincial liquor boards to sell their products.

“I think it could become an election issue,” he said, adding not a day goes by when he doesn’t hear from frustrated consumers and vintners. “E-commerce is taking off and the wine industry in Canada may be one of the only wine industries in the world that can’t take advantage of it.”

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Promising Kosher Wine

You don’t have to unroll too many scrolls of the Torah to find the mention of vineyards, winemaking and wine. After all, the first thing Noah did after his voyage was plant a vineyard. Why? Wine holds a special place in many Jewish life and religious traditions, from the celebratory Purim to the weekly Shabbat dinner, when a prayer is said over wine to sanctify the meal.

But as every mischievous and curious Jewish kid knows, Passover is the big wine night. Everyone gets four servings of wine, including children some of the time. The rub, of course, is that the wine is sickeningly sweet kosher wine (It’s no wonder why Elijah takes such small sips).

Wine’s preeminent position in Judaism has as much to do with geography as it does with God’s law. The land of Abraham and Isaac is a great place for grape growing and it has been long before Jacob dug his well. Barring divine intervention, however, if Moses found the Promised Land in Norway, wine would not, could not, find its place of importance in Jewish rituals. The abundance of winemaking grapes in the eastern Mediterranean made following Kashrut rules possible.

So why aren’t we all enjoying fruits of the vine from Israel, which boasts several ideal grape-growing locations? You’ll have to skip back a couple paragraphs to the “K” word for your reason. In the minds of most wine consumers (including Jewish wine consumers, who, oye vey , should know better), kosher wines conjure up visions of Manischewitz Concord Grape Wine.

Whether it’s kosher, kosher for Passover or the scary mevushal (“boiled”) wine from upstate New York (the current and ancestral home of Manischewitz’ winemaking operations), kosher wine has a bad name among wine consumers. This is a problem for Israeli winemakers.

You might think that all the 250 wineries located in Israel are kosher; you’d be wrong. Merely 30 of the 250 are kosher, which, by the way, does not automatically imply awful, sweet or tasteless wines. In the past decade, Israel’s younger, forward-thinking winemakers have tried to put quality above utilitarian sacramental wine, often forgoing the kosher stamp of approval…even though they could qualify for it.

Israeli winemaking wandered in the desert, if you will, for a long time. Back in the 1960s, you could more or less cast Israeli wines in the kosher-but-characterless pot. The vast majority of the grapes (90 percent) were grown in the desert climates, which produced an abundance of flavorless grapes. Today, less than half of the country’s production comes from the hot, low-lying areas. Over the past 10 years, ambitious winemakers looked up, not to the heavens, but into the mountains of Galilee and the Judean Hills. There they found promising land: well-drained soils and cool nights, perfect for producing wines of character.

Recanati, Yarden and Tulip are a just a few of the quality-first Israeli wines you can find on shelves. These may or may not be kosher, but that’s hardly the point. They are good, solid, enjoyable wines.

Driven by small producers, this “wine fever,” as one Israeli wine writer describes it, has made a huge impact on the big producers. The largest 10 wineries (Carmel, Barkan, Golan, Teperberg, Binyamina, Tishbi, Galil Mountain, Recanati, Dalton and Tabor) control 90 percent of the market—and are the ones you’ll likely see in the U.S. They have bought into the quality movement, too. The key here is that these 10 are all-kosher operations.

Good news for all wine drinkers, but especially for those sitting down for Seder dinner in a couple of weeks. While traditionalists may want to re-create the syrupy sweet Seder dinners of old, the faithful have alternatives.

A word of warning: Before you bypass the inglorious Manischewitz-style wines, please know the new-and-improved wines from Israel have a bit of alcohol, as much as 14.5 percent, in them. This more than two times the amount you’ll find in a bottle of Manischewitz. According to Thomas P. Balázs, a semi-pro Talmudic scholar (also a full-time English professor at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and friend of mine), each cup must have at least three ounces of wine in it and each guest must drink at least half of the cup for the blessings to count. In total, this amounts to a generous glass of wine you’d get at a restaurant. But, as Balázs can attest, some people drain all four cups. “I had a friend who thought he was drinking six percent and really got hammered one year because it was full strength, so to speak,” Balázs said.

The Seder dinner has its solemn moments, but it is more of a celebratory affair, commemorating the Hebrews’ escape from slavery. It’s no surprise that a Seder dinner features so much wine, as it is the official festive drink of the past 8,000 years for many peoples. Seder attendees toast God’s redemptive powers and love for his people. It seems more fitting to raise a Seder cup of wine made in the Promised Land that you would rather not put down so fast.

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Fogarty celebrates 30 years of winemaking

When Dr. Thomas Fogarty was looking for land to grow grapes more than three decades ago, there was little property to choose from in and near his hometown, Portola Valley. The acreage he ultimately bought on Skyline, above Portola Valley and near the Skylonda community of Woodside, "was the last of the (available) agricultural lands in town," he explains.

The renowned cardiovascular surgeon and inventor planted the hilly terrain in the late 1970s, intending to grow grapes to make his own wine. But after the vines were in, it became clear that Skyline's climate, soil and terrain were not the most hospitable if what you're looking for are ease of growing and abundance of fruit.

What might then have looked like an unwelcome challenge, however, revealed itself to be fortune's kiss, because the aspiring winegrower also discovered that the Skyline terroir with its cool, marine-influenced climate and undernourished soil -- was exceptionally well-suited for growing the grapes he was most determined to turn into great wine: pinot noir and chardonnay.

Serendipity? "A lot of things were serendipity," Dr. Fogarty said in a recent phone interview. "You can't take credit for everything."

Thirty-year partners: One of the things Dr. Fogarty can take credit for, though, is his choice of his first winemaker, Michael Martella, whose work at three wineries after earning a degree in food sciences/viticulture at Fresno State University provided broad, real-world experience in winemaking.

He was hired in 1981, and as Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyards celebrates its 30th season, Mr. Martella is able to declare to a group of tasters at a recent Woodside event: "I've been lucky enough to be there for every one of them."

Mr. Martella met his boss through a friend who had heard that Dr. Fogarty was looking for a winemaker for his new enterprise. "We hit it off ... and in my own mind, I was perfect for the job," Mr. Martella recalls.

He obviously was able to convince his potential employer of that, and three decades later, Dr. Fogarty says, "Based on the quality of the wine and his work ethic, he was."Nathan Kandler was hired seven seasons ago as assistant winemaker, and has since been promoted to associate winemaker.

The wines: Most Fogarty wines are made with grapes grown on the Winery Estate property or the winery's second property, Gist Ranch, which is about 17 miles south of the estate. In addition to pinot noir and chardonnay, Fogarty bottles cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, merlot, gerwurztraminer, and a few dessert wines.

The winery sits at about 2,000 feet above sea level, although there's a broad range of elevation on the properties. Mr. Martella says there are a multitude of mircroclimates, even within specific vineyards, and the grapes ripen through a "cool, long growing season."

Although many of the wines have won praise -- and many fans -- pinot noir is Fogarty's flagship wine, according to Mr. Martella, who notes that the winery was the first to grow pinot noir vines on Skyline.

The soil of both properties "features a layer of low-vigor loam on top of sandstone, shale and marine deposits," according to the winery's website. Mr. Martella describes the soil as "thinner and less fertile -- it's mountainous, lean soil."

All of these factors -- the many microclimates, the "lean" soil and steep terrain, the cool climate -- add up to the land's terroir, which is essential to express in the glass, Mr. Martella says.

Because of the cool climate, grapes mature slowly. "We have to work at attaining ripeness," Mr. Martella says. The range of mircroclimates has led to "microharvesting" practices, because grapes in any single vineyard ripen at different times.

Mr. Martella and vineyard manager Julio Deras walk the vineyards tasting the grapes during harvest season, picking them only when they taste ready. "We may pick only 12 rows of a vineyard at one time," coming back to taste and determine when to pick the remainder, depending on ripeness.

Although they pay attention to the Brix scale reading, which measures the sugar content of the grape and is used religiously by many viticulturists to determine when to harvest, Brix measurement is secondary. "There's not a magic number," Mr. Martella says. "We have a Brix ballpark we like to be in, but after that, we like to pick by flavor."

Over the years, California winemakers have increasingly harvested grapes when they're very ripe and have a high sugar content. This can make for some flavor-intense wines -- some would call them "fruit bombs" -- but, according to Mr. Martella, "it doesn't suit expressing the terroir." When the grape is too ripe, he adds, "the fruit expresses itself instead of the terroir."

The Fogarty winemaker also makes wine under his own label -- Martella -- buying grapes from growers he knows, including his brother. Those grapes come from sunnier climes, and the wine they become can be more fruit-forward as a result.

Fogarty wines, Mr. Martella says, "have a stronger expression of soil versus sun" -- with more minerality, structure and complexity. They are characterized, he adds, "by finesse and elegance."

Over the 30 years of Fogarty's existence, knowledge of growing vines and making wine has expanded significantly, and Mr. Martella and Mr. Kandler, the associate winemaker, are ever on the alert for new information on winegrowing practices.

Next year, the Windy Hill Vineyard at the Winery Estate will be replanted, with a reorientation of the vines for better exposure. That vineyard has produced premium pinot noirs over the years, but it seemed the right time to make a change, Mr. Martella said.

Helping with the Windy Hill Vineyard replanting is Tommy Fogarty, Dr. Fogarty's son, who is a major player at the winery these days as overall manager, helping oversee the day-to-day operations. Tommy Fogarty says he was only about 11 when the first vineyard was planted on the estate. "We learned a lot from our first planting," he says.

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Has the Indian wine bubble burst?

First the bad news: The Indian wine industry is facing the biggest challenge of its young life – it desperately needs to sell more wine. Wine consumption is increasing year over year but is not close to meeting the relentlessly optimistic forecasts – unquestioningly bandied about by the press and government officials for years - that lured many entrepreneurs into the field.

Maharashtra accounts for the vast bulk of Indian wine production. By our estimates, the installed wine-making capacity in Maharashtra is nearly three times annual national consumption. Not surprisingly, nearly half of the 50-odd wineries in the state are on the block, either privately or publicly. Many of the others would entertain conversations about strategic options. Some have stopped production altogether since their tanks are full of unsold wine from previous vintages.

How did all this come to pass? Probably the biggest reason was the Maharashtra government’s well- intentioned but misbegotten attempt to add value to the state’s large table grape crop. Through a combination of subsidies and low interest loans, the government virtually pushed several farmers into wine production. But this was naïve on the part of all concerned. Wine is not simply grape juice and it does not sell itself. Meanwhile, the hype and the easy money from the state caught the attention of some who wanted to make a quick buck and also of large industrial production-oriented concerns. Now they are looking for graceful exits and periodically imploring the government for bailouts.

The shining exception to this dire situation is Sula Vineyards. Using a canny mix of marketing and production management, Sula now sits atop the pyramid. Indeed, in some circles, Sula is synonymous with Indian wine.

And, there is other good news. A new breed of wine-makers, focussed on quality and market development is attempting to establish a presence. That wine breeds passion is evident in their approach. Now they have to infect that passion onto their suppliers, their sellers and, ultimately onto a consumer public.

They face a myriad challenges
First is that making good wine requires good wine grapes. Wine grape production is not well suited to some of the rich deep soils of the Nashik Valley that have sustained high-yielding table grapes for over a century. Wine grapes need poorer soils to create the kind of fruit that adds complexity to wine. That limits production to specific locales in the Valley. And, grapes for wine need viticulture practices that are new to the local farmers. The recent cut backs in wine production have hurt farmers who invested in wine grape cultivation. Many have gone back to table grapes, further exacerbating supply problems. The change in weather patterns is also a concern. The longer the rainy season, the bigger the potential for plant diseases.

Once the wine is made, there is the problem of getting it to the consumer’s table in good shape. Storage and transport conditions border on the primitive and much wine is destroyed before it is sold to the drinker. But even here there are changes. Some distributors are moving to temperature- controlled warehouses and many of the specialty wine stores exercise good care of the bottles in their possession. A spate of new gourmet food stores has added exemplary cellars to their sales locations.

Ultimately there is the issue of finding a market that can appreciate their efforts. Wine is not a traditional part of the Indian table. Few Indians have ever had a glass of wine. They don’t know what wine was supposed to taste like, or if the wine they were having was spoiled or not. If they have had wine of dubious quality – probably an execrable concoction called “Goa Port.” They don’t know – and probably don’t care - that wine can be synergistically paired with food.

This, too, is changing. With Indian culture opening itself to Western influences, more and more middle-class people are exploring wine and forming their own opinions. No longer are they looking only for sweetness, but are beginning to appreciate the complexity of taste sensations that are inherent to wine. They are beginning to appreciate wine and food pairings, though they remain skeptical that wine can enhance Indian cuisines. A wealth of new medical literature about the benefits of wine is stimulating some of this exploration.

Finally, these new wine entrepreneurs need to deal with local and national governments. On the one hand, the Indian wine industry operates under the protectionist umbrella of the national government, which attempts to impede the sale of imported wine through the exercising of huge customs levies. This is not going to last and, in any case, does little for competitively stimulating the quality of local production. But on the other hand, governments do nothing to enable the widespread, efficient distribution of wine. Each state exacts arbitrary and almost punitive levies for entry, basically making interstate wine commerce prohibitively expensive. From personal experience, as a Maharashtra-based wine producer, we know that it is far simpler to export to the USA, than to neighbouring Karnataka and the more distant New Delhi.

Still, the woes of the wine industry are not insurmountable. Wine demand will grow. But wine- makers will have to scale back their ambitions to focus on quality, value and market development. The “gold rush” is over, but new, patient approaches will prevail.

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Big Dog Vineyards: Winemaking in Milpitas

Most wine lovers in the Bay Area are familiar with the vineyards in Napa. However, in this year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, a “Best of Class” and Gold Medal winner was from the South Bay: Big Dog Vineyards. How can a family operated vineyard in the South Bay successfully compete with those big vineyards in a nationwide competition? Please follow me into the hills just east of Milpitas to find the story of a special winemaker, Mark Capalongan.

From Engineer to Winemaker: In the mid-1990s, Mark Capalongan bought a ranch with 50 acres in the hills east of Milpitas. One day, a friend of his, who has been making wine for 30 years, came up to his place, looked around, and said that this location would be perfect for growing grapes. Soils and weather data were sent to UC Davis, the biggest wine school in California. The results confirmed this as a perfect location for growing Cabernet wines. Convinced by his friend, Capalongan planted a total of five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc mostly on the hilltop pasture behind the house. Over the years the vines have been carefully tended for quality over quantity and the low-yielding hilltop vineyard produces much of the quality contained in the finished wines.

Capalongan has been growing grapes since 1996. In 2001, he brought in his first grape harvest, and sold it to his winemaker friend. The resulting wines were surprisingly good, so after that, Mark built a small winery to make the wine on location.

Making wine takes a series of processes, such as de-stemming, crushing, fermentation, barrel aging, and bottling. Mark learned how to make wine from a variety of sources including UC Davis and other local winemakers, but mostly from his own personal experience. He feels that every vineyard is different, and that each has its own personality, just as people do. The subtleties of some varietals may sometimes take years to discover. Each year he learns something that helps him the following year, in both the way he grows the grapes and the way he makes the wine. “The process evolves with time and that ongoing experience is part of the unique terroir of this vineyard,” he said.

Winemaking is fun for Capalongan because, first, it is quite different from his regular job. Second, making wine involves process and analysis as well as sensory evaluation. For instance, how does one control the flavor or bouquet of a wine? There are lots of measurements to be made. One example is the acidity. In finished wine, there is a balance between sugar and acid. Mark makes measurements of acidity, so he can adjust it up and down to achieve a certain ratio. But the ratio is something he learned from a book, which is still only a reference point. In Mark’s opinion, how the wine expresses itself in terms of the aroma and taste is more important. His wife Sandy, who has a very good palate and sense of taste, also assists this part of the process; she helps with some of the final winemaking decisions.

A Fun Place for Local Residents: The vineyard not only brings enjoyment to Mark’s family, but also to local residents. The first weekend of each month, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., there is a free wine tasting at Mark’s ranch where the wines are available for purchase directly from the source. During summer, he also invites some local bands to play at his patio, for entertainment and even dancing. When harvest season comes, friends and customers sometimes help with the harvest. You can volunteer for bottling if you want to learn more about how to make wine.

This is the first weekend of April, and the winery is open. It is a great time to invite some good friends and try this year’s “Best of Class” Port Wine and “Gold Medal” Cabernet Sauvignon at Mark’s patio. World-class wines are as close as the hills of Milpitas.

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