WINE

This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register.
The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards took place this past week. The celebrities were out in full force, dressed in their very best, for a night of glamour and recognition. Naturally, with all the celebrating, there were a lot of toasts being made. And with each toast, the glasses were filled with Ferrari Trento sparkling wine, adding a touch of Italian style to the night.
Italy’s most awarded bubbles, Ferrari Trento was the Official Sparkling Wine of Emmy® Awards season for the third consecutive year. Named the “European Winery of the year” by Wine Enthusiast in 2015 and the “Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year” at The Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships, Ferrari Trento understands what it is to be the best. Featured in world-class restaurants around the world, Ferrari Trento is also partnered with luxury brands Zegna and Maserati. After all, Ferrari Trento is a brand the celebrates the “Italian art of living.”
But Ferrari Trento is a family-owned business. Ferrari Trento was founded by Giulio Ferrari in 1902 who had studied in France, where he learned about Champagne and the metodo classico (Champagne-method). Returning to Trentino, Giulio Ferrari was the first person to understand the potential of the Trentino mountains and was the first to bring chardonnay and pinot noir to the area. Giulio Ferrari ran the winery for 50 years and every bottle he produced was a work of art.
Unfortunately, Giulio Ferrari did not have any heirs so he decided to sell the winery and selected Bruno Lunelli, a wine merchant in Trento, as successor. The Lunelli family took over in 1952 and today, President and CEO Matteo Lunelli is the third generation to run the winery.
28 September, 2017
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. When you think of German wine, you most likely think riesling. And when you think of riesling, you probably think sweet wine. Yes, there are sweet styles but not all riesling is sweet. In fact, there are many dry rieslings, and dry wine is what the German people prefer to drink. So, how can you tell when a riesling will be sweet or dry? By the labeling. The labeling of German wine that you might be most familiar with, and the most confused by, is their Prädikat wines, which are based on ripeness level designation, such as kabinett, spatlese, auslese and beerenauslese. But in 2002, and then updated in 2006 and again in 2012, the VDP, an association of Germany’s best producers founded in 1910, established a new classification system based on the Burgundian system of Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards. Germany has four tiers – Grosses Gewächs (Grand Cru vineyards), Erste Gewächs (Premier Cru vineyards), Ortsweine (village level) and Gutsweine (estate wines). Gross Gewächs vineyard sites are where the best dry riesling comes from, and they are noted on the bottles with an embossed GG. The small region of Nahe, as I discovered on a recent trip to Germany, has a vast array of dry rieslings. Nahe, located between the Mosel and the Rhine Valley in southwest Germany, used to be part of the Rhine but was declared an independent region in 1971 and started to get interest 20 years ago. Located at the 41-45 parallels, Nahe is more northern than Canada. The temperature in Nahe is mild, with lots of sunshine and low rainfall, allowing the grapes to fully ripen and be vinified dry. What sets Nahe apart from other regions is its geological diversity. There are 180 different soil types within the 4,000-hectare region. This wealth of soil types includes quartzite and slate in the lower valley near the Rhine, porphyry, melaphyre and colored sandstone in the central valley and weathered soils and layers of clay with sandstone, loess and loam in the higher valley.
27 September, 2017
I have enjoyed thirty-six meals at Maude over the past four years and while every menu has been very good, with some dishes being great, a few months have just been a home-run with each and every bite being as good, if not better, than the last one. September's melon menu is one of those months. Melon is a quintessential summer ingredient. With the bitter-sweetness of summer ending, the sweetness of the melon was a perfect ingredient to feature. A relative of the cucumber, summer melons include cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon, as well as many others. Maude explained on their website that "summer melons include those with a raised cross-hatched pattern or netting on the rind. The Charentais variety is characterized by the green ribs on the rind. Its tender, apricot-orange interior and gorgeous fragrance, make it the perfect dessert melon. Muskmelons are known as cantaloupe in the U.S. Their pale orange flesh is juicy and sweet. The Galia is a honeydew-cantaloupe cross. Spherical and small, the creamy, light green flesh is spicy-sweet. The Ambrosia is a hybrid muskmelon with a highly-perfumed scent, best enjoyed fresh. The popular Spanish variety, Piel de Sapo, has a rough, dark green exterior and crisp flesh and pairs well with salty, smoked meats. And we'd be remiss to exclude the watermelon, the largest of the melons. Barrel-shaped with bright, pink flesh, which can also be yellow or white." For this menu, we decided to do the wine pairing created by the Maude team. And, like most meals at Maude, we started with champagne - Vazart-Coquart Brut Reserve Blanc de Blancs Champagne.
26 September, 2017
Located on a yet-to-be-developed street in Virgil Village in Silverlake, Vinovore is a brand new specialty wine shop. The store is not very large, about the size of a comfortable living room, and is home to approximately 150 different wines, with plans to grow to 250 in time. But there are two unique elements to this wine store that set it apart from anything else in Los Angeles and that is why Vinovore is the Please The Palate pick of the week. Vinovore is co-owned by Coly Den Haan, a sommelier who previously owned The Must and Perch in downtown LA. With her partner Dean Harada, a developer, they own Hot Hot Food just up the street (and really the only other business currently on the street). The first thing that makes Vinovore unique is that 90 percent of the wine selection happens to be made by women winemakers. With a strong emphasis on female winemakers, there are wines from California, Washington, Oregon, Finger Lakes, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia. I think it is wonderful that there are so many female winemakers out there and at this store, I will be introduced to more than the ones I already know! While it is important to note that wine is not any better because it is made by a woman, I think it is wonderful to highlight female winemakers in an industry that is still rather male-dominated.
23 September, 2017
This story originally appeared in Wine Industry Advisor. Across the entire wine industry, there are significant challenges, stated Robert McMillan, executive vice president and founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division at the recent forum of Santa Barbara’s wine industry. Premiumization is the dominant trend, but continuing consolidation of distribution is significantly limiting wineries access to consumers. To address this issue, McMillan stressed the need for direct-to-consumer sales. While direct sales are not necessarily more profitable than through wholesalers, explained McMillan, “it is more about necessity.” However, direct to consumer sales have their own constraints and require an investment in hospitality to attract consumers and make the emotional connection. “In the past year, I’ve seen firsthand the impact of regulations gone haywire. They are frustrating family winery owners across the country, increasing the cost of doing business and reaching the point where some of the regulations will put family-run wineries out of business. The problem can’t be ignored, and it’s not going away by itself.” McMillan wrote in his State of the Wine Industry 2017 report (p55).
21 September, 2017
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. Miguel Braga was 10 years old when his father, Mario Braga, purchased Quinta do Mourão, as well as four other properties, in the Douro in Portugal.
It was 1972 and Miguel spent every summer working on the farm. As much as he loved being out on the farm, he went to study economics and, as guided by his father, went to work in economics. Miguel worked as a financial holder but every September he would return to the Douro on vacation to work harvest.
In 1999, Mario Braga passed away, and Miguel worked his first harvest without his father. Until then, they had been making what Miguel called “generalist” wine. They owned their own vineyards and made Port that they would then sell to one of the larger producers to blend into a final product.
But Miguel realized that they would be able to get a better price on selling bottles instead of selling the juice. In 2000, he decided to produce and bottle wine, and to honor his father and he named it Mário Braga Herdeiros, translated to “the Heirs of Mário Braga.” Miguel made his first dry wine in 2001 and came to market in 2003. By 2004, Miguel left his job as an economist and devoted himself full-time to the winery.
20 September, 2017
The number of food and wine events that take place are numerous. And most of these events support worthwhile causes. But there are a few food and wine events that stand out above the others and one of them is An Evening on the Beach. After all, when you have your bare feet in the sand as you enjoy good food, good wine and good cocktails all for a good cause, then you have a night of good fun. And that is why this week's Please The Palate pick of the week is the annual event An Evening on the Beach. As it still feels likes summer, An Evening on the Beach is the perfect event for a summer evening. The 8th annual event returned to the Jonathan Beach Club in Santa Monica where two dozen restaurants, more than a dozen wineries and a handful of spirits were joined by 700 guests, everyone with their feet in the sand.
16 September, 2017

This story originally appeared in California Winery Advisor. Head to Wine Country in Style with JetSuiteX Who hasn't dreamed of living a life of luxury? Have you...

14 September, 2017
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register.
For 700 years and 30 generations, the Frescobaldi family has been an iconic name in the wine industry. With an eye on celebrating the diversity of Tuscany’s terroir, the family owns six estates in Tuscany and produces what some consider to be some of Italy’s finest wines.
One of these wines is Luce della Vita from the hill town of Montalcino. A region famous for its Brunello di Montalcino, Luce della Vita was the first winery to blend sangiovese and merlot. The idea was to produce a wine that blended the Old World and New World together, with the traditional sangiovese offering structure and elegance and the non-traditional merlot adding roundness and smoothness. Luce Della Vite, “the light of life”, is a winery that is steeped in tradition while embracing the future.
Luce della Vita was created in 1995, initially as a collaboration between two great winemaking families, Marchese de Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi. Today, the winery is under the sole proprietorship of Lamberto Frescobaldi. The Luce della Vita estate is located southwest of the medieval town of Montalcino. The first vineyards were purchased in 1996, with additional vineyards purchased in 2001 and 2016. Today, there are 88 hectares planted to merlot and sangiovese on southwest-facing vineyards with mixed-clay, sandy schistose and sandstone soils.
13 September, 2017
I have been traveling so much this year that I have had to keep a running list of Los Angeles restaurants that I want to try when I am home. So finally, I made it to The Ponte in West Hollywood, which opened in February. Replacing Terrine, owner Stephane Bombet has partnered with Chef Scott Conant to offer a casual contemporary Italian restaurant. My first introduction to Scott Conant was at a food and wine event in Beaver Creek. I was blown away by his pasta dish. At that time, he was based in New York so when I would travel to New York, I would go to his restaurant Scarpetta. I was thrilled when he opened Scarpetta in Los Angeles and that is where I fell in love with the seasonal mushroom boscaiola with polenta that just melts in the mouth and his infamous pasta al pomodoro. I was sad when Scarpetta closed in 2016 and then Terrine closed suddenly at the end of the year as well. Two months later, Scott Conant was back, along with his Executive Chef Freddy Vargas as The Ponte opened. One of the best parts of The Ponte is the space. The outdoor patio is one of the best in Los Angeles. Seating is centered around the large tree in the middle of the space with lights dangling from above. The interior is also lovely, with a softer and more neutral look than Terrine. But if you can, sit outside!
12 September, 2017
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