Wine in the News:
redwinebuzz.com brings you news from the world of wine. Our goal for this section is not to provide comprehensive coverage of an issue, but to make each entry a gateway to the complete story. The only exception to this is when we are the only source of the story. We seek out stories that are relevant and interesting - whether they are serious or not. Older stories are in our wine news archive.
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August 17, 2007
Foley acquires Firestone Vineyards - Santa Ynez.
As part of a plan to expand his portfolio of small specialty wineries up and down the western coast, William Foley II acquired Firestone Winery and surrounding 400 acres of land (300 acres under vine) yesterday. Alan Phillips, General Manager and Winemaker at Foley told redwinebuzz.com today that only the Santa Ynez Valley winery and surrounding vineyards will be changing hands. This property will belong solely to William Foley, whereas Kobrand Wine is a minority partner in his other winery holdings. The Paso Robles Winery, Firestone Walker Brewing and Curtis Winery, will remain in Firestone hands. Curtis Winery focuses on Rhône wines from Ambassador's and Crossroads vineyards (Firestone family owned, and retained in the deal) and Voglezang vineyard (independently owned).
The winery staff, including the winemaking team (with the exception of Andrew Firestone) as well as the current sales and distribution team for Firestone will remain unchanged. Andrew Firestone, will manage the family’s Paso Robles winery. Also staying in Firestone hands are the Jarhead Red and Rock Hollow labels. The deal adds the Firestone vineyards to holdings which consist of Rancho Santa Rosa (Foley's Sta. Rita Hills estate vineyard) with Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot gris solely for the Foley label) and Rancho Las Hermanas (formerly Gaia and formerly Ashley's Vineyard) which will supply Pinot noir and Chardonnay from 220 acres in the Sta. Rita Hills for the Lincourt label. The Lincourt property was the original Curtis winery and its 28 acres of vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley are planted to Bordeaux varieties.
"Bill's plan is to build a portfolio of small, specialty wineries." Phillips told redwinebuzz.com. He added: "He's aiming for a portfolio of 5 to 6 wineries". These are likely to be in Sonoma, Napa or the northwest (Washington and Oregon) "...to provide the Foley Wine Group with diversity and non-competition". There will be no stylistic or line-up changes at Firestone (with the exception of the two labels mentioned above), says Phillips: "Firestone produces good wines at a fair price. We don't want to make a $30 Firestone wine. Our goal is to make the best 15-dolar wine".
Christopher Weir of Mooncatcher Communications, Firestone and Curtis media relations representative, in a phone call later, stated that the deal had been brokered over a period of three months. The winery was never publicly offered for sale. Rather, the deal evolved organically. Addressing the Firestones' motivation for the sale he said: "They were interested in focusing on some of their other endeavors which have recently flourished: Firestone Walker Brewing which was started in 1996, Curtis Winery, started in 1995 and the Paso Robles winery opened recently". The sale price remains undisclosed. Full press release
August 17, 2007
Lucas & Lewellen receives "Judges Choice" award at the 2007 Ventura County Fair Wine Competition.
In a press release, Lucas&Lewellen announced that their Silver King Merlot Port received the "Judges Choice" award. "The Judge’s Choice award represents the best wine entered at the Ventura County Fair" month, the release states. “I entered the Silver King Port as an afterthought. When it won the top award, I was thrilled. I felt like I won the lotto. This proves that Merlot is back, and it never went out!” the release quotes Louis Lucas saying. Additional Lucas & Lewellen bragging rights include:
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2003 Cabernet Sauvignon - (Gold and Best of Class) - LA County Fair Wine Competition, Grand Harvest Wine Competition, West Coast Wine Competition.
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2005 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir - Hilton Head Winefest, Long Beach Grand Cru.
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2005 Hilltop Pinot Noir - Hilton Head Winefest, San Francisco Int’l Wine Competition, Ventura County Fair Wine Competition.
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2003 Mandolina Toccata Classico - Hilton Head Winefest.
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2004 Queen of Hearts Merlot -Orange County Fair Wine Competition.
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2005 Queen of Hearts Pinot Noir -Int’l Eastern Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru.
August 6, 2007
Clos Pepe Barrel Tasting & BBQ.
At the Clos Pepe Barrel Tasting/BBQ this past Saturday, a bottle of 1995 DRC La Tache was auctioned off by Wes Hagen to benefit the Cisneros/Reyes Families Fund. A subdued bidder took the bottle home for $1550. As a bonus, Wes's brother, Rob Hagen, matched the bid and graciously passed on the bottle raising the total amount to $3100.00. A quick check on Wine-Searcher, shows the wine currently retailing from $1150.00 to $2432.00. Another bottle will be auctioned at the second BBQ and Barrel Tasting on August 11th.
Barrel samples of upcoming 2006 Clos Pepe releases (planned release: February 2007) and their futures were the centerpiece of the event. The Chardonnay ('Homage to Chablis") is beautifully crisp, layered and lively and lives up to the name. The two Pinots - Estate and 'Vigneron Select' - are very desirable. The Estate blend is more forward, but age worthy, with rich fruit and hallmark spicy clone 667 notes. The 'Vigneron Select' is more structured and composed, offering greater complexity than the estate bottling. It also has more backbone to anchor the sophisticated aromas and flavors and give it the opportunity to integrate and evolve.
The event also featured library wines from Clos Pepe as well as Ken Brown and Summerland Winery offerings from Clos Pepe Vineyards.
August 6, 2007
For nearly a month, a brush fire has been devouring nearly 70,000 acres of wild land southeast of the Santa Ynez Valley wine country and northwest of Santa Barbara (and costing over $50 million dollars to date). Although it has crept dangerously close to wine country, the only vineyard to be threatened date is the Paradise Road Vineyard with the fire line about 5 miles from the vines on Saturday the 4th, according to David Mexico, Vineyard Manager. However, weather has been helping keep the fire moving eastward and, at this time, there is no imminent danger to the vines. Nevertheless, Highway 154 over San Marcos Pass has been closed to traffic and the evacuation of residents in the area of Happy Canyon Road and Baseline Avenue (east of Santa Ynez and east of Highway 154) had been ordered Friday. Just under 70% containment, the fire continues to menace the local population. A large plume of smoke cast a shadow and ash on Santa Barbara on Saturday as redwinebuzz.com visited the area.
New sun rises on Eos.
Tennessee - based Sapphire Wines LLC headed by Jeff Hopmayer, also CEO of Blavod Extreme Spirits (but not a subsidiary of the latter, also based just outside of Nashville) purchased EOS Estate Winery in the eastern part of Paso Robles. While the price of the sale remains undisclosed, and numerous sources suggest it was one of the largest deals in California, Jeff Hompayer told redwinebuzz.com today that Sapphire Wines acquired the estate winery as well as approximately 60 acres surrounding the property on Highway 46. The Arciero family owns a total of some 650 acres in the Paso Robles area. "We will honor the grape commitments. We also look to the freedom to explore some other exciting possibilities" for sourcing fruit, Hompayer said. Sapphire will continue the Eos line, famous for its Petite Syrah as well as the Novella and Cupa Grandis labels hoping to take their production from about 160,000 to 425,000 cases annually. While Hopmayer expressed a willingness to continue bottling the Arciero label for the family, Kayle Thornton, Sales & Marketing Assistant at Eos, states that the Arciero label will not be continued. "We look forward to working with them [Sapphire Wines]. They want to make Eos a premiere winery" Thornton said.
No Wine for you!!!
It appears that we had, unknowingly, forecast the demise of Disney's "Ratatouille" Chardonnay a month ago. Several sources report that the wine is not going to be released Both, the LA Times and Wine Spectator report that Walt Disney Co. will not be displacing Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar wines from Costco shelves. This comes after protests by the California Wine Institute that the label (bearing the movie's title cartoon character) violates ethical standards of labeling and marketing alcoholic beverages. The Wine Institute maintains that their protest had nothing to do with the wine being from France.
August 1, 2007
Although it is a real and serious phenomenon, global warming is not the only reason for the alcohol creep in wines of late. The creep has resulted in the TTB now proposing two separate serving size guidelines for wine based on alcohol content (nicely explained by Wine & Spirits Daily). In a commentary published several months ago, we had touched on the alcohol creep in wines and the subsequent "heat bombs" it creates. There has been a lot of buzz on this topic in the wine media in recent moths. In an article posted on appellationamerica.com, Alan Goldfarb tells of one wine maker's stand on the issue. In a letter to the wine media, he has challenged the whole industry to strive for wines below 15% alcohol.
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