One of my favorite events each year involves the opportunity to sample some of the best wines that Napa produces in a given vintage. At Premiere Napa Valley, an auction that serves as the world’s most expensive “bake sale” to support the efforts of the non-profit Napa Valley Vintners Association, journalists like me get a chance to sneak a taste of hundreds of unique wines that are purchased by the nation’s top wine retailers at staggeringly high prices.

This year, as every year, 200 member wineries each crafted a unique auction lot of wine that in most cases represents the very best wine that they are capable of producing. Some bottle five or ten cases of wine from their best barrel and some make a unique blend from their two best vineyard blocks. No matter what their composition, each auction lot must be a unique wine that will never be available anywhere else, and implicitly, it must be as good as possible, to ultimately fetch the highest price.

So what’s the good in me tasting wines that neither you nor I will ever get a chance to taste again, let alone purchase one day? As I swoon over some of these wines, I often ask myself the same question.

Some of these wines can actually be purchased by the public, though they require persistence to track down, plus a cavalier attitude towards the price of wine. When the 5 cases of Shafer Sunspot Vineyard Cabernet that sold for $37,000 last Saturday eventually get sold, I shudder to think what the price per bottle will be. The event web site lists the buyer of each lot and their contact information if anyone really is interested in finding one of these wines.

Many of the lots are spoken for well before the gavel falls — purchased by wine retailers and brokers who essentially take orders (and bundles of cash) from their best customers, and then show up to invest, as if they are managing a wine hedge fund.

For the rest of us, apart from offering a ringside view on the uppermost echelon of California wine buying, the Premiere Napa Valley auction provides three main insights:

1. The measure of demand strength for the luxury end of the Napa wine industry
2. A gauge of the quality of wine that a large number of Napa producers can make when they really try
3. A broad sense of the qualities of a particular vintage — in this case, 2008

I attend every year for these insights, along with the fantastic food and laid-back camaraderie that accompanies the event.

This year’s event was a marked contrast to last year’s, which came hard on the heels of the recession. The room was packed, the energy high, and the bidding enthusiastic, if somewhat less extravagant than in years past. However, while the highest price that any lot fetched was $37,000, many of the final prices were higher on average than in many past years. This translated into auction proceeds of almost $2 Million, a significant jump from last year’s $1.5 million, and slightly lower than the $2.2 million raised in 2008 before the stock market crash. It can be dangerous to extrapolate anything about the larger wine economy from the bubble-like world of Napa, but that didn’t keep the optimism out of the room, nor the spring out of many steps. In general, it felt like a recovery.

As for the 2008 vintage in Napa, the best word to describe it is: massive. The wines are huge, brawny, and rich, but the best maintain a good acidity and balance that will make them truly tremendous by the time they are release 2 years from now. Some wines suffer from extremely aggressive tannins, though they are on the whole much smoother tannins than in 2006. My sense is that well balanced wines from this vintage, like 2007, will age extremely well.

The Premiere barrel tasting is quite a marathon, especially for a guy like me who sets out to taste literally every single one of the 200 wines on offer. I have to work my ass off in order to get through them all. This year, I tasted all but one. When I first got to Anomaly Vineyards’ barrel they weren’t yet pouring, so I skipped them and forgot to go back. Oops.

Despite being a several-hour-slog through a lot of big wines, I really enjoy the opportunity to sample fabulous work of 200 master craftsmen and women. This year included some real highlights, including another phenomenal late-disgorged sparkling wine from Schramsberg, the still cloudy late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Honig, and several Cabernets and Bordeaux blends, including the stellar offering from Spottswoode. And while I can’t get my hands on any of these specific wines, having tasted “the best they can produce” I am always reminded which labels to look out for as I’m in search of great reds from Napa.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2008 Barnett Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Cardinale Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Chateau Boswell Winery “The Fourth Estate” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Corison Winery “Premiere Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 HALL “Sacrashe Vineyard - Block 2″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2009 Honig Vineyard & Winery Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Rutherford
2008 Hourglass “36-24-36″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 J. Davies Vineyards “Jack’s Block, 96 Vines” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District
2008 Lang & Reed Wine Company “Parcel 33″ Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Lewis Cellars “Premiere Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 PlumpJack Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2007 Porter Family Vineyards “Duet” Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Schrader “Double Diamond Turbo X” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
1994 Schramsberg Vineyards “1994 Reserve - Late Disgorged” Sparkling Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Spring Mountain Vineyard “Vertical Gobelet Vines” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Staglin Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Venge Vineyards “Family Reserve, Oakville” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
NV ZD Wines “Petit Abacus” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Astrale e Terra Syrah, Atlas Peak
2008 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Blackbird Vineyards Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 BOND “Quella” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Cain Vineyard & Winery “Francois’ Pick” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Carter Cellars “Envy” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Clark-Claudon Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Cliff Lede Vineyards “Let It Be Layla” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Coho “SummitVine Ranch Upper Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District
2008 Coup De Foudre Winery “Upper/Lower Valley Love Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Diamond Terrace “Two Mountains” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Domaine Chandon “Barrel Select” Pinot Meunier, Los Carneros
2008 Duckhorn Vineyards “Three Palms Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Ehlers Estate “The Geomancer” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Fantesca Estate & Winery “Tastes Like a First Kiss” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Farella-Park Vineyards “Terrace Reserve” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Gargiulo Vineyards “OVX Estate Blend” Meritage, Oakville
2008 Gemstone “Essence of Gemstone” Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 Girard Winery “Mountain Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Hestan Vineyards “Stephanie Selection” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2009 Hill Family Estate Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Los Carneros
2008 Howell at the Moon “Knoll Vineyard Clone 4″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Husic Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Jones Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Joseph Phelps Vineyards “Backus Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Kuleto Estate “El Coyote” Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 La Jota Vineyard Co. Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Ladera Vineyards “Two Mountains” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Livingston Moffett Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 Martin Estate “Premiere Row” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Mi Sueño Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Newton Vineyard “Piece of the Puzzle” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Ovid Napa Valley “Block 1A” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Page Wine Cellars “Your Personal Stash” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Parallel Napa Valley “Two Hills” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 PEJU “P.S. We Love Rutherford” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Pillar Rock Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards “Premiere Napa Valley Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Realm Cellars “Premiere Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Reynolds Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Rocca Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2009 Saintsbury “Brown Ranch” Pinot Noir, Los Carneros
2008 Seavey Vineyard Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Shafer Vineyards “Sunspot Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Signorello Estate “Big Rock Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Silverado Vineyards “SOLO, Double Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Sodaro Estate Winery Petit Verdot, Napa Valley
2008 Stags’ Leap Winery “Ne Cede Malis Estate-Grown Field Blend” Petite Syrah, Stags Leap District
2008 Sterling Vineyards “Three Palms Vineyard” Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Swanson Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Terra Valentine “Fleur De Lys” Cabernet Franc, Spring Mountain District
2007 Tom Eddy Winery “Block One Plus” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 TOR Kenward Family Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Tuck Beckstoffer Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 White Rock Vineyards Petit Verdot, Napa Valley

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2008 Amuse Bouche Winery Merlot, Napa Valley
2009 Arietta “A-grec” Semillon, Napa Valley
2008 Ashe Family Vineyards “One Acre” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Barlow Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Behrens Family Winery “Cemetery Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Bennett Lane “Calistoga Appellation Lot” Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga
2008 Beringer Vineyards “Mountain to Valley” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Black Coyote Chateau Cabernet Sauvignon, Atlas Peak
2008 Bravante Vineyards Red Table Wine, Howell Mountain
2008 Buoncristiani Family Winery “Fratelli Fervor - Stagecoach Vineyard” Malbec, Napa Valley
2008 Cakebread Cellars Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Chappellet Winery and Vineyard “Heaven on the Hill” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Chateau Montelena Winery “Montelena Estate G Block Old Vine Finale” Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga
2008 Cimarossa “Poppy Flats” Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Conn Creek Winery “Lucky 13″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Continuum Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Cornerstone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Dyer Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Diamond Mountain District
2008 Elyse Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Etude “Vine Hill Ranch” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Far Niente “Martin Stelling Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Fontanella Family Winery Merlot, Mount Veeder
2008 Frank Family Vineyards “Winston Hill Block 5 (Heart Block)” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Frazier Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Frias Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Grgich Hills Estate “Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon” Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 Groth Vineyards & Winery “Core Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Hess Collection Winery, The Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder
2008 Hewitt Vineyard “Unique Hewitt Vineyard Blend with Petit Verdot” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2007 Hopper Creek Winery “Proprietor’s Private Estate Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 John Anthony Cabernet Sauvignon, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley
2008 Keenan Winery “Tribute Part 3: Grand Classique” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Krupp Brothers “Two Bald Heads Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Meander “The Twist” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Miner Family Vineyards Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Monticello Vineyards “Yewell Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder
2008 Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 O’Brien Estate Cabernet Franc, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley
2007 O’Neill Vosti Estates “3×3″ Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Oberon Wines “Hillside Reserve, Michael Mondavi Family Selection” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Paradigm Winery Cabernet Franc, Oakville
2008 Paraduxx Red Wine, Howell Mountain
2008 Raymond Vineyard & Cellar “The Final, Final” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Renteria Wines “Vintner’s Cuvée” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Revana Family Vineyard “Premiere Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Rombauer Vineyards “Proprietors Reserve Stice Lane” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Round Pond Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Rubicon Estate “Estate Clone 29″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Rutherford Hill Winery “Premiere Blend” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Schlein Vineyard “Schlein Vineyard Special Cuvee” Bordeaux Blend, Oakville
2009 Snowden Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
2008 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “The Alchemist” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Tetra “ARTET” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Thirteen Appellations Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Tierra Roja Vineyards “Katharine’s Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2009 Truchard Vineyards Pinot Noir, Los Carneros
2008 Viader Vineyards & Winery “Roaring Twenties” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Vineyard 29 “The St. Helena Special” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Volker Eisele Family Estate Bordeaux Blend, Chiles Valley District
2008 von Strasser Winery “Rudy’s Choice” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2008 Alpha Omega “Proprietary Red Wine” Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Ardente Winery “Organic” Cabernet Sauvignon, Atlas Peak
2008 Atalon Winery “W.S. Keyes Vineyard” Merlot, Howell Mountain
2008 Barbour Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Bouchaine Vineyards “Auction Select Best Barrel” Pinot Noir, Napa Valley
2008 CADE Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Clos Pegase “Tenma Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Coquerel Family Wine Estates Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
2008 Emblem Wines “Michael Mondavi Family Selection” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Faust “A Faustian Bargain” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Frog’s Leap “Galleron Vineyard” Petite Sirah, Rutherford
2009 Gamble Family Vineyards “Gamble Vineyard” Sauvignon Blanc, Yountville
2008 Ghost Block Bordeaux Blend, Yountville
2008 Judd’s Hill “Friends at Harvest / Lot 15″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Juslyn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Kenefick Ranch Winery Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Lail Vineyards “Henry” Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
2008 Larkin Wines “Pritchard Hill” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Long Meadow Ranch Winery “Spice Rack” Petite Sirah, Rutherford
2008 Louis M. Martini Winery “Premiere 254″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Madonna Estate “Barrel Selection” Pinot Noir, Los Carneros
2008 Merryvale Vineyards “St. Helena Estate” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Moone-Tsai Vineyards “Caldwell Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Oakville East Wine Company Red Table Wine, Oakville
2008 Oakville Ranch Vineyards “The Queen” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2007 Palmaz Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Paoletti Estates Winery Malbec, Napa Valley
2009 Pine Ridge Vineyards “5 x 5″ Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Robert Craig Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Robert Mondavi Winery “To Kalon Vineyard, Monastery Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 ROY Estate “Voix Basse (a whisper)” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Sequoia Grove Vineyards “She Walks in Beauty” Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Silver Oak Cellars “A Tale of Two Ranches” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Soñador Cellars “Dream Weaver” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Spelletich Cellars “Premiere Pinot” Pinot Noir, Napa Valley
2008 St. Clement Vineyards “Armstrong Ranch” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District
2008 St. Supery Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Steltzner Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Summers Estate Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Terlato Family Vineyards “Premiere Assemblage” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Trinchero Napa Valley “East to West Mountain Cabernet Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Turnbull Wine Cellars “Courage” Cabernet Franc, Oakville
2008 Twomey Cellars “SCR” Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Vineyard 7 & 8 “Collaboration” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 VinRoc Wine Caves “Koko’s Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 William Hill Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Zahtila Vineyards Zinfandel, Calistoga

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2008 Ahnfeldt Wines “Quid Pro Quo IV” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Antica Napa Valley - Antinori Family Wine Estate “Ante Up in ‘08″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Boeschen Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Chimney Rock Winery “Tomahawk Vineyard, Premiere Cuvée” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Clos Du Val Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 David Arthur Vineyards “Prima Annata” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Freemark Abbey “York Creek Cabernet” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Harris Estate Vineyards “Melange Magique” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Hendry “Vintner’s Barrel Selection” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 JAX Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Work Vineyard “Napa Valley Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Trefethen Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley

More: continued here

It’s not every day I get the opportunity to display my inner cynic. But I’m still cackling at the little bit of fear mixed with preemptive aggression that manifested today in the form of a web site called Wine Loves Glass.

Those who spend time in wine circles know a lot about the “threat” to posed to natural cork producers by the proliferation of alternative closures. In the face of shrinking market share and demand for their product (read: threat to their income streams) they’ve been striking back with a multi-pronged offensive, covering every base from carbon footprints to endangered species protection to the sheer lack of romance in a screwcap.

Who knew that the glass bottle industry was under such an equally imminent and pernicious threat? But of course, if you think about it, the reality is quite dire. Glass bottles are at least indirectly responsible for the biggest component of wine’s carbon footprint: heavy glass bottles require a lot of fossil fuel to move around the planet.

Everyone in the wine business that has half a brain has been looking to reduce their carbon footprint, if only to be able to tell their prospective customers that they are, and for many that means moving to lighter glass bottles that contain less…. glass.

That, combined with mainstream wine consumers’ resurgence in interest in more environmentally friendly and convenient packaging like bag-in-box and Tetra-Pak (think: kids juice cartons) must have the glass industry a little rattled. Or would that be “shattered?”

Enter WineLovesGlass.Com, where you can subject yourself to the desperate public relations pleas of an industry scrambling to regain some market share. Or perhaps less cynically, an industry trying to convince people that glass isn’t all that environmentally problematic. Witness the fabulously named “Truth in Packaging” or “Benefits of Glass” sections of the site, where in neatly composed prose you can learn that glass is superior in every way to every packaging method ever invented, or ever to be invented.

Now I’m no carbon footprint, environmental, or materials scientist, so I can’t critique the claims they’re making on the web site on those fronts, but I have to chortle at how glass bottles are compared with bag-in-box packaging: “Boxed wine is also not hermetically sealed, drastically limiting its shelf life. Wine in glass on the other can be preserved for any amount of time - allowing you to drink the wine of your choice days, months or even years after it’s been purchased.”

Um, where to begin? How about with the definition of hermetically, which means airtight, and which doesn’t describe a single bottle of wine ever made, considering they all come with a big hole in the top that is normally sealed (and almost never hermetically) with something that the glass industry doesn’t produce at all. Not to mention the fact that no one ever attempts to age wines sold in boxes, and that for the average wine consumer, a bag-in-box wine will last them much longer than wine in an opened bottle, because the (ahem) vacuum-sealed bags reduce the wine’s exposure to oxygen.

I don’t doubt that many of the facts and figures leveled in service of defending the glass bottle on this web site are true, from glass’ ability to be recycled completely, to the amount of energy required to produce a bottle. But couched in ridiculously patronizing language like “Glass vs. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET/Plastic): It’s a Matter of Safety” or “Glass vs. Multi-Layer Cartons: It’s a Matter of Responsibility” underneath animated montages of happy, beautiful, appropriately multi-ethnic people enjoying wine from bottles? Excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth.

This web site is a complete waste of money in my opinion, no matter how much fun some PR firm and design agency had making it. A huge swath of wine consumers would never buy wine in alternative packaging because none of the wines they want to drink come in such containers. A whole other segment of the population have tried wines in alternative packaging and come to the justified conclusion that 99% of the wines that come in such packaging are positively awful. And then there are the rest of the folks that are content to buy wine in boxes and bags and cans, half of whose minds can’t be changed and the other half of whom Fred Franzia’s Two Buck Chuck convinced to switch to wine in glass bottles anyway because they feel all “upscale” while doing it.

How about pouring this money into research to reduce the environmental impact of glass manufacture and recycling even further? How about funding some hot-shit materials scientists to come up with lighter, stronger glass that can weigh less but still look solid enough to be used by the classiest wines who want to maintain their image but reduce their carbon footprint? Or best yet, start lobbying the wine industry to use those nifty glass stoppers that I think are the best thing to happen to the wine industry in a long time, and the potential long-term replacement to cork (if there ever will be such a thing).

Like the campaign against the use of Champagne on American wine labels I lambasted last week, this is yet another example of an industry thinking defensively instead of creatively.

More: continued here

I spent most of the week playing hooky from my day job and pretending that the only thing that mattered to me was writing about wine. It was a lot of fun. Every one of the five years that I’ve attended the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers has been uniquely interesting, largely due to the group of attendees that joins us every time.

In past years I’ve been able to blog a bit more in the course of the event, but this year I found myself using spare time to catch up on other things, so here are some of the highlights from this year’s event.

What Wine Writers Need to Know about Winemaking
We were joined by Jeff Morgan, winemaker for, among other things, the kosher red wine Covenant. Jeff also has “done time” as a wine writer for the Wine Spectator and other outlets, so he seemed quite appropriate as a speaker. Unfortunately given only 45 minutes to cover a lot of ground, Jeff took us through the mechanics and chemistry of winemaking until several somewhat controversial statements resulted in a flurry of questions and debate that ate up the rest of his time.

The first thing Jeff maintained was that approximately 80% of California winemakers “water back” a practice that involves adding water to the juice prior to fermentation as a means of lowering the alcohol of the final wine. This practice was so common, he maintained, that journalists needn’t even bother to ask winemakers whether they did it or not.

Jeff also suggested that acidulation (the addition of tartaric acid) was nearly as common in all but a few of the coolest growing regions of California. He also went on to make points about the use of sulfur dioxide in winemaking or at least in bottling (important, he said for keeping wines from being “naturally awful”), and the current dance of yields, hang-time, and brix levels for the ripening of fruit.

Several members of the crowd brought up the question of alcohol levels and whether watering back was really just treating the symptom of a larger malaise and that’s where the debate got lively. Unfortunately we ran out of time before clear arguments could be made on either side.

The Evolution of the Tasting Note
Eric Asimov, chief wine critic for the New York Times, and Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible, presided over another interesting session focused on both the theory and practice of writing tasting notes. Eric introduced the session as a continuation of his talk last year which he entitled The Tyranny of the Tasting Note.

Here’s a summary transcript of his opening remarks.

“My point last year was that tasting notes were not merely comical, they are pernicious. They are the dominant mode of talking about wine in our culture. People read and hear tasting notes as they get into wine and think that they are the way they should talk about wine. But by focusing on enumerating every last flavor and aroma, tasting notes reduce wine to something certain, definable, and clinical. And wine is not so easily defined.

The more we know about wine, the more we find out it is highly subjective, contextual, and mysterious. Tasting notes tend to rip out mystery that is at the heart of a wine and replaces it with unambiguous solidity.

The tasting note way of talking or thinking about wine produces the kind of anxiety that pervades the culture of wine in America. People who drink wine casually and read tasting notes that include esoteric and definite flavors and aromas they don’t themselves experience think that there is something wrong with them. They chalk it up to their lack of experience, but not without a great deal of anxiety that ultimately prevents them from appreciating wine as it is meant to be appreciated.

Those few who manage to get past this anxiety and move on to real excitement about wine assume that tasting notes are the way to talk about wine, because that’s the dominant paradigm.

We absolutely need to describe wine to our readers. But I want to contrast the absolute definite specificity that you see in typical kinds of tasting notes, with the kind of note that I think is much more effective. Yesterday Frances [author Frances Mayes, the keynote speaker for the conference] called a wine “fruit basket fresh” yesterday. That communicates so much. You don’t have to know the specific flavor involved, yet you have a sense of the wine.

My thought in talking about wine and describing wines, is not to come up with a litany of flavors and aromas. But come up with characteristics that you say directly or to which you make allusions. Convey style, convey intent and convey achievement. People need to know what they’re going to get themselves into when they open a bottle, they don’t need an effort to pin down every last flavor in the wine. List characteristics rather than ingredients.

Before we start tasting wine, I want to distinguish between public tasting notes and private tasting notes. I’m talking about the notes we publish. As writers or wine lovers we also write notes to ourselves to remind us what we’re tasting, and to remember wines later on. For the purpose of a mnemonic device it doesn’t matter what you’re writing — whatever works for you is fine. But the private modes of communication that help you relive or remember the wine don’t work for public consumption. This is an effort to think again about how we describe wine and what it is we are going to communicate to readers.”

Karen MacNeil reminded us of the history of wine writing, and then treated us to a reading of one of the most amusingly convoluted and erudite tasting notes I’ve ever heard in my life, which was so complex I was not able to follow it enough to write it down.

The rest of the session was spent actually tasting wine blind and writing tasting notes which were shared and discussed. Some people took Eric’s suggestion of metaphor quite literally. The session got amusing as silk thongs and velvet condoms made appearances as descriptors. I’m not sure, however, if that is what Eric was getting at.

The Recession and What it Means for Wine
One of the most interesting presentations at the conference was given by Vic Motto, CEO of Global Wine Partners. He offered an extremely articulate argument for the notion that the sky is not, in fact, falling.

I’m sure I can’t do full justice to the many detailed points of his argument, but I can try to boil it down. He essentially wanted to convey that while these are certainly tough times at the moment, the wine industry in the United States is poised for significant growth in the future thanks to the inexorable and unchangeable nature of demographics. The single greatest guarantee of the successful future of the industry is the Millennial generation, a generation characterized by its size (70 million of them, 50% of which are just entering their 20s) and the cultural desire to drink differently than the parent generation (which means wine, not beer and spirits, at a rate twice any generation in modern history).

Combine this unavoidable train full of wine drinkers hurtling down the tracks with the increasing availability of channels to purchase wine and the ever widening selection of what is available as well as the increasing interest in lifestyle in general (with wine a big part of defining one’s lifestyle) and you’ve got a recipe for a big wine boom.

And that is just in the united states. According to Motto, 1.2 billion people have been added to the global middle class in the last 20 years, and in another 20 years, a full 50% of the globe will be considered middle class in terms of their consumption habits and wealth levels. If the evidence from China is any indication, this middle class will have a very strong interest in wine.

In short, there’s light at the end of the tunnel for sure, we’re just not sure how long the tunnel is.

Ethics and Income Streams for Wine Writers
Steve Heimoff of the Wine Enthusiast led a very interesting panel discussion that devolved into a larger group discussion on ethics for wine writers. The conversation was wide-ranging, and covered samples, transparency, relationships to PR and industry, junkets/press trips, advertising, and reputation, among other things.

His panelists were Michael Bauer, executive Food and Wine editor for the San Francisco, Chronicle; Heather John, Sr. Editor at Bon Appetit Magazine and blogger at The Foodinista; and Thomas Ulrich, a contributing writer for Wines & Vines Magazine and professor of Journalism at San Jose State University.

Ethics seem to be an endless source of lively conversations among wine writers, for reasons I can’t entirely fathom, and this panel did not prove otherwise. The most interesting aspects of the discussion for me came from Heather John, who, after suggesting she might need to go into the Witness Protection Program, served up the following bomb:

Wine writers have some of the worst reputations for bad ethics in the business.

She went on to explain that she knows a lot of people in the PR industry, and they constantly complain (or salaciously dish) about wine writers and their bad behavior. The kinds of things involved included requesting multiple bottles of samples; asking for free meals or free wine in restaurants; attending a free dinner and ordering the most expensive wine on the list; asking for the keys to winery guest houses or for free lodging; hitting on publicists; bad mouthing wineries to publicists; and in one particular case, threatening to write negative stories about a PR person’s clients unless they footed the bill for a trip the writer wanted to go on.

When asked whether the main offenders were print journalists or bloggers, she said print journalists without hesitation (I cheered). She went on to say, however, that in her experience and in the experience of her friends in PR, the two areas that bloggers seem to abuse are samples and what she called “seat warming.” — the practice of attending every press luncheon, dinner, or other free food function possible.

Michael Bauer offered an interesting point relative to the respective ethics of traditional and new media writers as the session closed. He suggested that print journalists borrow the reputation of their masthead, while bloggers have to earn their reputations as they go. I thought this was quite elegantly phrased as well as profoundly accurate.

Sadly the session ran out of time before we could have a discussion of the recent FTC rulings on the ethics of free samples, which I would have liked to hear the group discuss. Many of the “traditional” media wine writers I talked with at the conference were really appalled at the double standard in the ruling.

* * *

And there you have it. You can find additional coverage of the Symposium, including some of the sessions I did not attend at Steve Heimoff’s blog, OneWineDude.Com, AWineStory.Com, and at On The Wine Trail in Italy.

More: continued here