Jacob's Creek Cabernet, Shiraz, and Pinot Noir

A quickie. I was sent some samples of Jacob's Creek wines to taste earlier this year and finally got around to opening during our hot summer here in Oregon. Without too much fluff, here are the tasting notes and my impressions on each of the three wines I was sent.

2010 Jacob's Creek Reserve Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills: I wasn't a big fan of this one, but some might enjoy it. Smells a bit like eucalyptus mixed with cherry cough drops. Some dusty earth manifests too, but it's definitely muted. The pinot character clearly shines through in this, with bright cherries and cranberries, mixing with herbaceous flavors. As the evening progressed, I re-tasted this several more times and it seemed to just fall apart. The cough syrup notes take over and it becomes disjointed on the palate. Pinot Noir is  hard to do on the cheap though. Buyer beware. 13.6% abv. $10 nationally.

2010 Jacob's Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra: Smells dusty, dry, like the Outback. Notes of jalapeño pepper, green herb, dusty trail, and some red fruit. Drying on the palate, and rather soft for a young cabernet. Tart red fruits tend to dominate, but they're somewhat simple. I think this needs a cheeseburger to truly shine. After tasting this several more times through the evening, I concluded that it's a wine on the cusp of being tasty and fun, but it just doesn't get there. At the price point, you can find better.  13.9% abv. $10 nationally.

2010 Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz Barossa: Smokey, Barossa-y, spicy shiraz. I like this, especially for the price. It's got a really solid balance between ripe fruit - think plums and black cherry - and drying, astringent tannin. Definitely a wine to have with big foods like barbecued ribs. Easy to find nationally, well made, and very much a wine to drink year-round. Recommended. 14.1% abv. $10 nationally.







If you bat .300 or greater during a baseball career, you're pretty much guaranteed a Hall of Fame selection. Jacob's Creek did just that with these three wines. The shiraz is clearly the superior wine of the bunch and worth your consideration. I can't put my recommendation on the other two though, because while they may be inexpensive and easy to find, they're simply not wines I want you to drink.

These wines were samples for review purposes.

Beau Carufel

Australian Riesling from Jacob's Creek and Chateau Tanunda

Riesling isn't the first thing you associate with Australia, to say nothing of wine from Australia. There is a surprising amount grown on that continent though. I had a few samples from some bigger producers sitting around and decided to open them all at once to do a mini exploration of the Barossa region. Three wines isn't enough to form a working knowledge of Aussie riesling but it's still important to pay attention to similarities across each wine.

First, some history. According to historical records, riesling was first planted way back in 1838 in the New South Wales territory. From then until the 90's, it was the most planted white variety. Chardonnay took it's place during that decade. Figures. These days we can find rieslings at almost every price point from Australia, and the grape is finding success in the Eden Valley area, where the cooler climate helps keep that ever-important acidity alive.

One of the themes that carried through each wine was how the citrus elements - lemon and lime - dominated the flavor palette. My experience with German and Pacific Northwest rieslings has mostly held the citrus elements as more integrated, contrasting against stone fruit richness. Not so in Barossa, where these three all showed strong citrus with only the barest hint of stone fruit flavor.

2010 Chateau Tanunda Grand Barossa Riesling: Lemons and limes on the nose, flint, and a bit of white flower. Pleasantly dry on the palate with plenty of acidity that highlights flavors of lemon and lime, stone fruit, and a tiny bit of minerality. While not complex, this is still a fun, refreshing white wine that would pair nicely with lighter fare. 11.5% abv. $11.99 srp.

2011 Jacob's Creek Dry Riesling South Australia: Very simple aromatically. Citrus and hints of stone fruit with not much else. Similarly basic on the palate with bracing acidity. I liked the purity of flavor and the clean finish, which was decently long even. There simply isn't a lot going on here and it shows, but for the price it's certainly of good quality. 11.4% abv. $7.99 srp.

2010 Jacob's Creek Reserve Dry Riesling Barossa: Opens with aromas of petrol, struck match, lemon, and lime. Secondary aromas of white flowers come through after the wine has been open for a bit. I like the mouthfeel, dry but not straining to be austere. Plenty of flavor in the form of stone fruit, lemon, and lime all come through. Out of the three, this is the most complex and pleasing. 12.5% abv. $12.99 srp.







I wasn't sure what to expect with these wines but they pleasantly surprised me. I'd happily drink the Jacob's Creek Reserve because it's so fun and zesty. I admire Jacob's Creek for keeping quality high despite producing a veritable ocean of wine. If you are looking for inexpensive yet reliable riesling that is just slightly off the beaten path, these might be for you. Consider them a good introduction to one of the many facets of the grape.

These wines were media samples for review purposes.

Beau Carufel

#CabernetDay 2012, Graffigna, Jacob's Creek, and Owen Roe Come to Dinner

This past August, wine lovers around the world celebrated "Cabernet Day", as if one of the world's most popular grapes needed any more attention. It doesn't, but any excuse to drink cabernet-based wines is welcome. Up here in pinot noir country, I rarely get my hands on cabernet, though I've noticed an increasing thirst (see what I did there?) for cabs (to use wine-geek shorthand) of late. Perhaps my palate is getting burned out on pinot noir?

Rambling aside, Rick Bakas of..well..many things wine and food, started this two years ago to promote cabernet and cabernet-growing regions. Each year has seen the "buzz" grow, as well as more important metrics like the number of participants. I noticed tweets and Facebook posts coming from around the world as wine stores and wineries hosted special events, wine lovers hosted parties, and regular ol' wine geeks like me popped bottles of cabernet.

Participants communicated via Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, using the hashtag #CabernetDay. Of note, many people used the more traditional "face to face" method of communication. No, these weren't wine hipsters bent on being ironic, but wine lovers who realize the importance of sharing wine in person.

Like many bloggers, I was sent bottles as samples, with the hope that I would open and tweet about what I was having (and of course, use the #CabernetDay hashtag). Being a somewhat nice guy, I played along. It didn't hurt that the two samples I received were pretty tasty, or that the special bottle Becky and I opened was a stunning Washington cabernet from Owen Roe.

2009 Jacob's Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra: A nicely priced Australian Cabernet Sauvignon. Jacob's Creek makes a lot of wine, so this one is easy to find. Priced between $7 and $13, I found this to be a nice value for the money, especially at the lower end. The bouquet was full of ripe red and black berry fruit, eucalyptus, and leather. Once tasted, I found notes of the aforementioned fruit, along with oak, mocha, menthol, and dusty soil. It was very pleasant and the complexity surprised me for the price.

2008 Graffigna Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: An Argentine Cabernet with some age on it, now things are getting interesting. I was especially intriuged because I made the mistake of reading some previous reviews of this Cabernet Sauvignon before I got around to tasting it. Of those, Stephen Tanzer, whom I respect greatly, gave this an 88 points. To me, that's a fine score! After sitting open for several hours, I liked the black currant and cherry notes, leather, and wood smoke. It's a full-bodied wine, still drinking a bit young and unintegrated, but overall a fun, good quality cabernet. SRP $15.

2008 Owen Roe Cabernet Sauvignon 1973 Block Red Willow Vineyard: Becky brought this home to open, and we're glad we did! Here is my review from cellartracker.com: "Gorgeous wine. Absolutely gorgeous. The bouquet is full of anise, leather, mocha, and dusty mineral notes. On the palate it's rich and complex, showing plenty of black fruit, salted meat, and bittersweet chocolate flavors. Integrated tannin lends a supple structure, and a surprising amount of acidity helps keep the balance. I could see this wine improving for another10 years, easily. It needed a solid two hours in the decanter, but is now showing as one of the best domestic cabernets you can buy for under $100."







And there you have it, Cabernet Day 2012, as told from Forest Grove. Two fun, solid wines and one stunningly good expression of the grape.

The first two wines featured here were recived as media samples.

Beau Carufel

Occupy Syrah Day, Building Awareness For an Under-Appreciated Grape

December 7th is an auspicious day, on it we Americans remember Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sneak attack on America that plunged us into World War II. This day is one for rememberance and hopefully, one for looking toward the future as a time when perhaps we won't be fighting each other anymore.

Fast forward 70 years later, and December 7th was the first ever "Occupy Syrah Day", founded in part by Bill from Cuvee Corner Wine Blog and Shawn from A Wandering Wino. Riffing off the "Occupy Wall Street" theme may not have been popular with some people, but they're party-poopers and not worthy of our time. The point here was to build awareness, through social media, for a grape that here in the United States at least, has a bad rap.

Syrah, once destined to be the "next big thing" according to such prestigious publications as Wine Spectator, never has lived up to those prognostications. Pinot noir came along and kicked over the proverbial sand castle, relegating a grape made famous in the Rhone Valley to something whispered about by wine geeks and pumped out as commercial grade plonk by the Australians. Luckily, the past several years has seen a resurgence, led domestically by outstanding examples in Washington and California. Overseas, Chile and France have come on strong (France..again) while Australia has languished in a sea of  cheap shiraz. Unfortunate, but things are finally starting to change in the land of the Kangaroo, as the two selections I was sent will attest to.

2006 James David Cellars Syrah Central Coast: Medium-dark purple in the glass. Right away, aromas of campfire and bacon fat followed by earth, black pepper, and blackberry/blueberry. This is a big, bruiser of a syrah with tons of pepper on the front palate, leading into a core of dark fruit flavors and oak through the mid palate. The finish brings more crushed pepper and a firm dollop of oak as the this syrah winds down. It's clear that the 55 months spent in oak barrels are influencing the wine. The spices come back on the finish too, it's like swallowing a teaspoon of ground peppercorns. Nothing subtle about this syrah, it means business. Best paired with very full-flavored foods. 15.7% abv. $NA.

2008 Wakefield Estate Shiraz Clare Valley: Pours a dark red-purple in the glass. On the nose, a touch of brettanomyces leads into a bouquet of bacon fat, blackberry, smoked meat, blueberry, and vanilla oak. The palate profile consists of ripe black cherry, blackberry, eucalyptus menthol, tobacco, some peppery spice, and more vanilla oak. I like the tannic structure and in particular, the nice finish. This would be a pretty tasty summertime barbecue wine to serve with all manner of charred red meat. $15 is a good price for a shiraz that has a bit more complexity than we expect from that price point. 14.7% abv.

2008 Plantagenet Shiraz Mt. Barker: Pours a very dark red in the glass. Aromas of smoked meat, campfire, red berries, white pepper, herb, and a touch of heat form a pleasing bouquet. Dried basil and thyme, red cherry, menthol, subtle oak notes, and a bit of tannin create an excellent suite of flavor and texture on the palate. I am very surprised at how good this shiraz is, perhaps $20 is the entry for quality Australian shiraz. The balance is something unexpected and the wood doesn't clobber you over the head, despite it enclosing the wine for 20 months. No need to cellar this wine any longer, it's drinking extremely well right now. 14.2% abv. $20.

Participating in the #OccupySyrah day was a lot of fun. While some people lack a sense of humor and were not enthusiastic about the name, I feel it was a lighthearted stab at a topic which we all are aware of. Bill and Shawn did a good job spreading the word and I was pleased to see multiple PR and marketing groups send samples out for bloggers to sample and share. In a small but important way, that was indicative of the power of social media.

For my part, I'm going to keep drinking syrah, be it domestic or imported. I love the complexity that's possible with a well-made syrah, where you truly can feel the power, restrained. In 2012, I hope more wine lovers take the time to explore syrah and share it with their friends.

The wines featured here were media samples.

Beau Carufel

Robert Parker Makes Some Predictions

Just came across this article, written by Mr. Parker, on the FoodandWine.com website. He writes twelve wine predictions to take place between now and 2015. The list is an entertaining read, and I noticed a couple of intriguing items to touch upon.

His second prediction is this:
"2 The wine Web will go mainstream
Internet message boards, Web sites tailored for wine geeks and state-of-the-art winery sites all instantaneously disseminate information about new wines and new producers. Today the realm of cyberspace junkies and hardcore Internet users, these sites will become mainstream in 10 years. A much more democratic, open range of experts, consultants, specialists, advisors and chatty wine nerds will assume the role of today's wine publications."

It appears that Mr. Parker is giving a tacit nod to wine bloggers as a legitimate voice of wine criticism. He, who infamously called them (us) "blobbers", is basically saying that the role of wine critic, held today by wine publications like Wine Spectator, The Wine Enthusiast, and The Wine Advocate, will be taken over by a wide range of new voices. Obviously that includes wine bloggers.

This isn't surprising to me or my fellow bloggers, indeed we're already seeing guys like Joe Roberts and Alder Yarrow become more and more known as respected voices in the wine community. The aforementioned wine guys are moving beyond the digital domain by having their work exposed to a wider audience. That audience is not the wine-blog-reading type, rather, the people who may google a wine's name and then quickly scan the relevant (to them) article. Enough of the self-congratulations though, because wine bloggers do have a long way to go in order to garner the levels of respect accorded the print publications and critics.

Another prediction, the sixth:
"6 Spain will be the star
Look for Spain to continue to soar. Today it is emerging as a leader in wine quality and creativity, combining the finest characteristics of tradition with a modern and progressive winemaking philosophy. Spain, just coming out of a long period of cooperative winemaking that valued quantity over quality, has begun to recognize that it possesses many old-vine vineyards with almost unlimited potential. Spanish wineries recognize that they are trapped neither by history nor by the need to maintain the status quo that currently frustrates and inhibits so many French producers. By 2015, those areas that have traditionally produced Spain's finest wines (Ribera del Duero and Rioja) will have assumed second place behind such up-and-coming regions as Toro, Jumilla and Priorat."

On one hand, having just returned from Spain on a blogger trip, I agree that it is indeed ascendant because there is a lot of seriously good quality wine just waiting to make it here. I saw evidence of this in Navarra, where winery after winery was producing inexpensive, high quality, expressive wine that would appeal to a large part of our wine drinking population here.

However, Mr. Parker fails in that he notes a region already held in high esteem (Rioja) and a region that still is known for producing high priced red wine (Ribera del Duero) versus a more balanced selection. Instead, Parker needs to elevate Toro, Navarra, and La Mancha into the tiers of wine that we should be seeking out from Spain. First off, with Rioja, Parker completely avoids the fact that the stylistic framework of those wines is evolving away from his signature style. That style being a highly extracted, intensely fruity, heavily oaked wine. Momentum is shifting towards fresher, low-oak wines that have a lot more acid than your typical Rioja. A lot of his high scoring Ribera del Duero wines are the same way, as are the Priorat and Jumilla wines he gives those big 90+ points to. Big, overly extracted, heavily oaked wines that are borderline undrinkable.

Lastly, the 11th prediction:
"11 Value will be valued
Despite my doom-and-gloom prediction about the prohibitive cost of the world's greatest wines, there will be more high-quality, low-priced wines than ever before. This trend will be led primarily by European countries, although Australia will still play a huge role. Australia has perfected industrial farming: No other country appears capable of producing an $8 wine as well as it does. However, too many of those wines are simple, fruity and somewhat soulless. Australia will need to improve its game and create accessible wines with more character and interest to compete in the world market 10 years from now."

Once again, Parker sidesteps the fact that he helped create this fruity, soulless wine currently lapping our shores from Australia. He also completely misses the fact that this style of wine does and will continue to hold immense appeal to many casual wine drinkers. The kind of drinker who probably doesn't read any wine blogs, who buys Yellowtail because they've had it and it's easy to drink, and who thinks a 90 point score means the wine is good.

Another question I ask is whether Australia wants to be known as the world's best producer of $8 wine or not? I doubt it, because at the $20 and $40 level there are some wonderful Australian wines to be had. For $8, there are solid, unimpressive, good quality wines available, but if a consumer has only bought those wines before, what's the chance they'll risk it and take that $20 bottle off the shelf? I would argue that they would turn to France or Italy, even California, to buy that "expensive" bottle. Therefore, in the value-wine segment, I have a feeling we'll see Australia's role diminish from "huge" to more along the lines of California. It will take a concerted effort from the Aussies to make this happen though. Hmmm, maybe they should send me on a blogger trip down there?

What do you think? Care to make any predictions for the next five years?

Beau Carufel

Tasting Australian Pinot Noir and Shiraz From Wyndham Estate

Australia..Home of wine with kangaroos on it, and Penfolds Grange. To some people, a country that produces ridiculously over-ripe syrah (shiraz, mate!) and nothing else. There's far more to Australian wines than kangaroos and Penfolds though, from some wonderful white wines like semillion and riesling to an increasing focus on terroir-driven red wines. After suffering through a time when demand dropped almost off the table, we're seeing Australia's wine market make some effort to reset itself and better position it's products among the pantheon of wine producing countries.

I was sent some samples of wine from Wyndham Estate, their Bin 333 pinot noir and Bin 555 shiraz. Both can be found for under $10, so this was an exercise in evaluating the quality of admittedly cheap Australian wine that isn't called Yellowtail. Still, cheap doesn't always equate with horrifically bad wine, so I was intrigued to see if these wines showcased anything interesting (at their price points) that would make them potentially great values.

Wyndham has been around for a long time, George Wyndham planted the first syrah cuttings in 1830. His estate, located in the Hunter Valley of Australia's New South Wales territory, is considered to be the birthplace of Aussie shiraz.

2009 Wyndham Estate Bin 333 Pinot Noir
Very pretty color, pale ruby-red and clear all the way through. Looks like a young Burgundy or Dundee Hills pinot. Not a bad start, this is the first or second Aussie pinot that I have tasted this year.

Good aromas of wild strawberry, red cherry, and baking spice. There's a touch of green, stemmy scents too and I certainly don't mind the added dimension it brings. Plenty of acidity comes out on the nose too, making my mouth water and giving me the impression that this will be a highly acidic pinot noir.

That impression was confirmed with my first sip, lots of acidity but unfortunately not much else initially. There were a whole host of secondary flavors, cola, rhubarb, sour cherry, and spices but nothing ever came out as the primary. Also, despite the 13% alcohol, I felt it as a flabby, boozy weight across my palate, a clear indication of lack of balance. One positive was the impressively long finish, the sour cherry and spice notes tapered off quite nicely. That didn't make up for the boozy weight and hollow front-palate though. C+, PASS recommendation. There are better $10 pinot noirs out there, especially from Chile and California.

2008 Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz
I wish I had more to report on the color, the Wyndham Bin 555 is very much a shiraz, dark and opaque. Beautiful purple hue, but on the other hand we've seen this color before.

What I did enjoy was the nose, brimming with menthol, blueberry, dark earth, and black pepper. I  enjoyed how the menthol or eucalyptus aromas kept the ripe blueberry from dominating everything. Dark earth and black pepper were secondary but help up very well, enhancing the overall sense of this wine. Very, very pretty bouquet.

On the palate, strong flavors of eucalyptus and toffee show up first, followed by blueberry preserve and rounded out with a peppery spice. Wyndham's Bin 555 is lush, smooth, and very rich, a testament to the ripeness of the fruit and time spent in oak barrels. I would classify this is a "drink now" type wine, the tannins were silky and not out in force. Sweet ripe fruits made the finish nice and fun, without veering into the stewed-fruit part of the flavor spectrum.

A very solid effort and at around $10, worthy of a B and a BUY recommendation. The Wyndham Estate Bin 555 is a wine I'd happily open while sitting around and grilling up some steaks or burgers. Better yet, add bacon to the mix and explore the possibilities.

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The Australians are still making cheap wine, both of the Wyndham Estate wines are under $10 at most stores. They're imported by Pernod-Ricard, ensuring distribution across the United States. While neither are stunning deals, the Bin 555 shiraz offers a wonderfully budget-friendly summer red wine. The pinot noir needs work though, or may be just some time in the bottle. I hope to taste through the higher-end Wyndham Estate wines in the future, to see how good they can be.

These wines were media samples for review purposes.

Beau Carufel

A Great Way To Save Your Wine For Another Night

While at the Family Winemakers of California tasting in March, I met Kristina Irion, the rep for Sabemos Beverages. The company she represents is the local distributor of WineSave, a six liter can of argon designed to act as a barrier between the air and your wine. The can is about the size of a 375ml bottle of wine so it'll fit most places that your wine bottles will. On the back of the box we're told the WineSave works for about 50 applications (up to 50 bottles of wine, then). I'd estimate that over the course of the trial period I've used it about 25 times. At this point it still feels full to me though I have no way of knowing the level of argon inside.

Vinotech, the company making the WineSave, says that the gas inside is 100% argon, a pure, colorless, odorless gas that is heavier than air so it sinks to the top of the wine and stays there until it's disturbed by something like pouring yourself a glass...Or being careless and sloshing the bottle around. The point is that once you squirt the gas into the bottle, be a bit gentle and store that bottle standing up.

What are my thoughts then? I really like using the winesave, and by my highly non-empirical trials, it works like a charm. I've tried the product on red wine, white wine, and everything in between. Granted, it's pointless to use on sparkling wine but does work on dessert wines. I found the directions easy to use and as long as I didn't tip or otherwise overly upset the bottle, they tasted the same on days 2 and 3 as they had on the first day. Call it a success, and a product that does deliver on its lofty claims.

Priced at $39.99, I would recommend this to people who do go through a lot of wine (like wine bloggers) and frequently wish to taste over the course of a few days. It's been very helpful to me and I do think I'll be buying another bottle once this is exhausted. Previously I had used a vacuum system and that's always provided mixed results because the wine never is truly in a vacuum. I'd recommend the WineSave, a good way to save your wines for the next night without worrying about oxidation or spoilage.

I received this can of WineSave as a press sample from Sabemos Beverages.

Beau Carufel

Thursday Wine News Bits & Pieces

A couple of news articles caught my eye today. One, via Dr. Vino aka Tyler Coleman, seems to confirm something I've felt since before I got into blogging. The other was more wine-oriented and dealt with Foley Family Wines and their seemingly ceaseless acquisition activity.

The title of the first article: "Social Media Has Almost No Effect on Online Retail" may come as a shock to some or a kind of vindication to others. A report was issued by Forrester Research and GSI Commerce that showed, using hard data, how social media interaction rarely leads to online purchases. According to the data, less than 2% of online purchases were made from a social network. 2%..That's a minuscule number from a percentage angle but it does represent hard dollars, to a degree. What went through my head after reading the article was whether that 2% of sales would have taken place had it not been for the seller's social media presence.

As I thought about that, I also looked at my own online behavior and purchasing habits. Most of my purchases, wine-related or not, don't come from social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace. Hell, I don't even have a Myspace account anymore. The point is, and this seems to match with the report issued, is that a portion of my online purchases come from emails and the rest come from me going directly to the portal, be it Amazon, Ebay, or iTunes. Occasionally I'll see something on one of those networks that prompts a purchase, but even then I am likely to already know about said "deal" from email or the originating site itself.

So that led me to wonder if this report will gain any traction and what could happen if it does. All around us, companies are scrambling to establish social media teams and create Twitter accounts. Is it all for naught? Perhaps the views on social media's utility for a firm need to shift towards a more long-term approach, where the platform is used to spread the brand message and increase consumer awareness in the hopes of creating buzz and at least increasing the potential for future online (or offline) sales.

It's clear from the Forrester report that social media is not an instant-sales engine, but another channel to create relationships between brands and consumers. What exactly the outcome of the relationship is remains the $64,000 question...Will it lead to a sale (and increased revenues) or just a happy feeling because the company tweets a lot? I hope people like Gary Vaynerchuk and Joe Roberts respond to the report and it's implications.

Next up on the list was that the winery-buying-machine-known-as-Bill-Foley has set his sights on Australia. The article, posted here by Wine Spectator, reports that Mr. Foley has now bought a stake in Aussie wine company Wineinc. The wines that Wineinc makes are mostly low end value-priced, not the mid to high end wineries that Foley has been gobbling up here in California. Personally, I wonder if he'll run out of money..or time.

Does the guy want to own every winery on Earth? He's essentially steering the wine business into any other one, where mergers and acquistions are the name of the game. Granted, this did start in the 80's, but there's still something romantic about opening a bottle of wine made by a family-owned winery. The sentimentalist argues that wine should be made with passion, and selling your winery for a gazillion dollars to a mega-corporation is basically selling out...Like artists do in the music industry.

Foley claims that he plans to allow the Wineinc wineries to continue to operate independently, for the most part. I think he's lying and eventually we'll start to see operations at all of them streamlined to increase "efficiencies".. The premise is that Wineinc gets access to the Foley Family Wines distribution network here in the United States. I think there's more here than meets the eye but any changes he wants to make will take a few more years to develop.

Since he's obviously in the wine business to make massive amounts of money, the day could come when Foley makes all those great boutique producers use one single bottling plant and one single, giant facility to make the wine in. Within that gargantuan facility will be smaller-yet-still-massive aging rooms for each winery under the corporate umbrella. Sure, the vineyards will be spread out everywhere, as they always have been, but in the end the grapes will just be trucked to Modesto or someplace equally shitty in Australia and the wines will be created there. This is a bleak future, yet one that is not entirely outside the realm of possibility. Just look what Fred "I cheated once before and got caught" Franzia has been doing...

Anyways that's my rant, and the other side of the coin is that perhaps Mr. Foley's infusions of cash into the wineries will allow them to create better wines going forward. IF that is the case, I'll be happier than a college kid with a case of Four Loko.

Beau Carufel