Las week I came across a grocery store wine sales report that outlined the main varietals and the main wine regions sold in US grocery stores (note the data does not include sales from restaurants and other non grocery stores). The grocery store data is very indicative of what is going on in the market place but not all perfect (big disclaimer). Nevertheless, let me tell you that Washington and Riesling are looking pretty good (we like that at Pacific Rim) – the data is for the past 52 weeks total dollars sold:

Main Wine Regions:

- Big #1: California: $3,000M

- Next three: Australia: $429M, Italy: $305M, Washington: $257M

- Next Six: Chile: $87M, France: $85M, Argentina: $55M, Germany: $55M, New Zealand: $52M, Spain $42M

I know this is only grocery, but look at WA, not bad at all in this channel no?

Main Varietals:

- Big #1: Chardonnay: $942M

- Next three: Cabernet: $558M, Merlot: $423M, Pinot Gris/Grigio: $332M

- Next Six: Pinot Noir: $252M, Sauvignon Blanc: $195M, White Zinfandel: $229M, Riesling: $136M, Syrah: $136M, Zinfandel: $118

Well, looks like Riesling is about to -or will soon-  pass Syrah. Next “varietal” to beat is White Zinfandel!

Now is the time to look at yields and estimate the size of the harvest. We are practically done estimating at Pacific Rim and we think we will have a normal yield with some vineyards affected with some shatter (shatter = less berries per cluster due to bad fruit set). All in all we are happy with the size of harvest and the cooler weather which will probably delay harvest 8 to 12 days.

I have also received today a crop estimation from the Washington Association of Grape Grower (hence the post) and it confirms the delay in ripening due to cool weather. The current estimate for total crop for Washington is 156,000 tons (10 million cases) which would be flat to slightly up vs actual 2009 harvest. Chardonnay would still be #1, Riesling #2, Merlot #3 and Cabernet #4. All top four varietal would be slightly down except Merlot (be ready for some cheap Merlot out there!). Major growth in volume is projected to come from Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah (Syrah is struggling in the market place, so expect bit of oversupply) and Cabernet franc (what in heaven is going on with Cab Franc +1,500 tons?).

The data monster is coming out of its cave again after chewing on a great report released by Gallup looking at alcohol consumption in the USA (full article here). Plenty of fun data in this report highlighted below:

• 67% of american drink alcohol, 33% do not. The archetype of the non drinker is over 55, has less than a high school degree, makes less than $20K/yr, attend church weekly and is Protestant – can’t wait to meet you Mr non-drinker. The classic alcohol indulger is young, college educated, seldomly go to church, make more than $75/yr and is agnostic – you sound a bit better Mr indulger but you sound too much like Gordon Gekko.
• Beer is still the #1 preferred alcoholic drink in the USA (wine is #2, spirits #3). The archetype beer drinker is male, under 34 from the midwest while the archetype wine drinker is female, 50 and older, from the East coast (guess who I am hanging out with? hint: I am more comfortable at the Opera than at a Rodeo). Women from the south also ranks the highest for spirit consumption – go southern girls!

Harvest is approching and it is time for us to look at our grapes sourcing and make sure all is in balance (i.e. we have just enough of everything for each wine we make). Below is a synopsis of what harvest will look like for us:

- 3,181 tons of grapes or 203,000 cases of wines – our largest harvest yet

- 92.2% Riesling, 97.1% White grapes (Gewurzt and Chenin). We have a little Gamay coming this year (plus our usual Barbeara, Sangiovese and Primitivo blend)

- 1/3 of our Riesling from Wallula 2/3 from the lower Yakima Valley

Next week I will be touring all our blocks to confirm quality and volume. Ready, set, Go!

Last week end was the biennium pilgrimage at the Riesling Rendez vous in Seattle hosted by Chateau St Michelle and Loosen wines. The event is a great oppotunity to meet many Riesling producers and to talk Riesling for three days. Of course there is much host propaganda during this event, but overall it is genuinely a good thing for Riesling in general.

The who’s who of the Riesling world was attending with some of my Riesling heroes: Clemens Busch, Andre Ostertag, Egon Muller, Etienne Hugel, Fred Loimer, Nik Weis, Stuart Pigott, Bruce Sanderson, Bruce Schoenfeld, Anne Trimbach and many more… So many great folks sharing one passion: Riesling.

I had many favorite wines but here are some of the highlights for me:

- GERMANY/MOSEL: Clemens Busch GG 2008 Marienburg: Some botrytis, acacia, very fruity and young, clean, very Mosel though quite dry ++++

- GERMANY/SAAR: Sankt Urbans Hof okfener bockstein: honey, jasmine, sl reductive, very complex, my type of wine +++1/2+

- GERMANY/MOSEL: Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten 2008: bit tight, botrytis, high end kabinett style, some greaty potential, sweet +++1/2+

- NEW ZEALAND/MALBOROUGH: Framingham 2009: Very nice, clean, jasmine, pleasant, sweet, german in style with a new world twist. Medium Sweet +++

- GERMANY/NAHE: Schafer Frolich Felseneck 2008 Spatlese: Sweet and wild ferment like, leather, cane sugar, elegant and racy. Very unique and modern. medium sweet. +++

- AUSTRIA/WACHAU: Domain Wachau 2008 Smaragd: Very floral, Austrian by birth, almost Gewurzt like, yeasty, hot and dry ++1/2+

- NEW ZEALAND/MALBOROUGH: Villa Maria 2009 Reserve: sl dusty, mineral, yeasty, very nice acid, on the sweeter end of dry ++

- FRANCE/ALSACE: Hugel 2004 “Jubilee”: buttery, some age and showing Alsatian, yellow hue, clean, some petrol, complex, dry ++

Those were the top wines but many more were great. Our Biodynamic Wallula showed very well in the Organic/Biodynamic panel!

Glorious day last week for a picnic at Wallula Vineyard with a nice group of friends from Texas. A refreshing menu of fresh cheeses, orzo mint pasta salad, bread from the excellent Ken’s bakery in Portland, cold cuts and a fantastic pate de campagne. Of course, plenty of Rieslings but, one small problem we forgot the glasses! Never mind, the team started cutting plastic bottles! We ran out of bottles to cut, so I had to use a bottle of Riesling made from Organic grapes for a glass – a fine container for a hot lunch under the tent!

Spring should almost be over on the West coast of the United States but we are witnessing a fairly cool 2010 influenced by the infamous El Nino slowing down our growing season – this is a particularly good thing for us Riesling producers (we like cool germanic weather). Physiologically our vines are now blooming and we are probably about two weeks behind a normal season – This is also great for Riesling because delayed maturity promote long hang time and long hang time = better flavor development. I still expect harvest to be starting in 14 weeks or so.

Below is the GDD chart (for more on GDD http://rieslingrules.com/the_book/winemakers-blog/vineyards/2009-vineyard-update/ - you will also see the 2009 chart in comparison)

We were hosting a biodynamic tasting at our offices in Portland. Pacific Rim was pouring a vertical of Wallula Vineyard Biodynamic Rieslings (picture above). This was an opportunity for me to taste through the first three vintages (2007-2008-2009) of the magnificent Wallula Vineyard and reflect on our winemaking and our progress. Remember that those wines are biodynamic wines (vs made from biodynamic grapes) which is pretty rare as I saw yesterday where most of the producers present were pouring made from biodynamic grapes wines. Nothing is added to those wines (no yeast, no acid, no nothing) and they are certified biodynamic. Wallula is probably one of the most thoughtful Riesling planting in the USA with a special trellis system, German clones and all biodynamically farmed (http://rieslingrules.com/the_book/about-our-wines/biodynamic-winemaking-at-pacific-rim/).

2007 Wallula Riesling BioD: It was our first year and were still learning about selecting the best rows and We might have picked a bit late. The resulting wine is very nice though may be missing some acid and it is rich in alcohol. It is rebalanced by a very low residual sugar (0.7%?). Overall a great wine but not the best we have made I would think. Would love to taste this in 5 years to see how it is aging.

2008 Wallula Riesling BioD: This was a cool vintage and also the first vintage we started to pick the grapes at different time (fractionnal picking). The wine was difficult to ferment and stuck at 1.2% residual sugar. It is a more complex version with some serious aging potential.

2009 Wallula Riesling BioD: Whao, may be our best vintage. It is zippy (we picked quite early) with a lower ethanol content (12.5%). We started to stop the fermentation early for a fraction of the blend so we could use that fraction to blend back into a dry fraction aged on lees. This technique  seems to be very appropriate for our conditions. This is a complex and hedgy wine. Very interesting and thoughtful.

Overall this was a solid line up and I could taste the vineyard through each wine. The common thread reflecting the site was the lovely floral nose of each wine. The  importance of the picking date and the amount of fractionnal picking (picking the same vineyard at different rippeness levels) really had a tremendous impact. I can’t wait to do a 10 year vertical with the press to taste what I think is one of the most thoughtful Riesling in North America.

The latest fantastic review of our 2007 Selenium Vin De glaciere by Wine and Spirit (92 points and one of the best Riesling in america), prompted me to open a bottle of this divine beverage last week end. It was a bit of a last minute thought but I had a piece of Fourme d’Ambert in the refrigerator (this is a great blue cheese if you do not know it) and this sounded like the right opportunity to rediscover an old classic pairing. The fourme I’ve unwrapped was not old so it was quite creamy and soft. The pairing was just superb, I highly recommend this classic pairing if you want to impress your friends and show them why pairing food with the right wine is a life changing experience.

Nicolas

The recent 89 points score in the wine spectator for our 2009 Sweet Riesling gave me the impulse for tasting through a vertical of Sweet Riesling from 2006 to 2009 (4 vintages). This would be since we’ve started making this wine. The inspiration for the Sweet Riesling came from German sweeter Rieslings that few people have been making in the US. We had to put a US twist on the wine due to our growing conditions (more sunlight, more heat…). I must say I am a bit curious to find out how they are holding up with age…

2006 Sweet Riesling – rated 88 points Wine Spectator (Harvey Steiman): Great pale color still for this older wine, nice nose, fresh as can be. Great acidity on this wine, aging very gracefully, still very young. This has still California fruit in it by the way so it has no appellation on the front. This is still a very serious Riesling – impressive and complex. pH: 2.96, TA: 0.81, RS: 7%

2007 Sweet Riesling – rated 89 points Wine Enthusiast (Paul Gregutt): Our first wine in our new winery in Eastern Washington. Color is quite gold, some more age character, nose is still fresh, very Riesling like, nice honey, feels a bit more phenolic. Not as nice as 2006, more Washington in style – less Germanic. Probably my least favorite right now. This is the first year we also lowered our total sulfite content – may be some correlation between the way it ages and the amount of preservative? pH: 2.97, TA: 0.81, RS: 6.8%

2008 Sweet Riesling – rated 89 points Wine Enthusiast (Paul Gregutt): Interesting nose, on the floral side, color is going the way of the 2007 but not quite golden yet, lively mouthfeel that makes the wine quite refreshing. In the same vein than 2007 though may be a tid bit more lively. Finishes quite dry with notes of botrytis. pH: 3.03, TA: 0.80, RS: 6.5%

2009 Sweet Riesling – rated 89 points Wine Spectator (Harvey Steiman): Great color, loaded with apricot, a very fine and fruity nose, fresh, nice acid, this is a dynamite wine, great acid, whao – Did we make that? pH: 2.99, TA: 0.72, RS: 7%

Overall I am very impressed with how those wines are holding. The 2007 is probably on its way down but the 2006 is still very lively (would be interesting to see how it will evolve in the next 12-24 months). I must say that 2009 is a very nice vintage and drinking just amazingly well right now. Fun exercise to line them up all like this – I’ll do that again soon with the Dry Riesling.

This week I gave a small talk in front of a group of importers at the winery in West Richland. One of my assignment was to give them an idea of where Washington fits in the Riesling world. I went on to describe what in my mind the major characteristics of most Rieslings are. As I was doing this, it came to my mind that I could use a frame work to place Rieslings in some type of matrix and that it would help me to relate where Washington fits in comparison to other regions. Here is the way it came to me after the fact:

1- Riesling’s purity: Riesling’s elegance can be rather quickly destroyed by a heavy handed style. Riesling has a form of compulsive shyness and as soon as it put in contrast with another aromatic element it leaves the stage (“sorry, you are big and obnoxious, you have fun without me”). It appears that Riesling does not respond well to oaking (the oak overshadow the fine aromatics of Riesling), Riesling does not like malo lactic fermentation (the milky/buttery tone resulting from this fermentation is also overpowering) and Riesling does not like to blended. Usually most Riesling in the world rank high in purity. I will use a scale from 1 to 3 (1 is low purity, 3 is high purity).

2- Riesling’s fine aromas and a few twists: In general Riesling’s aromas are very dependant on the harvest date. During the ripening season, Riesling’s primary aromas evolve from early citrus tones to floral notes to a ripe stone fruit pallet. The primary aromas can be altered by two very important factors in Riesling. The first one is the amount of Botrytis at the time of harvest that would introduce waxy, honey like flavors. The second one is the propensity for some Riesling to develop a gasoline/petrol nose as it ages.  A minor third one would be the possibility for the winemaker to do some lees aging introducing some yeasty notes and somewhat increasing the weight of a given Riesling. I will use a scale from 1 to 3 (1 is citrus, 2 is floral, 3 is stone fruit), I’ll add a B for Botrytis, P for Petrol and a Y for Yeasty.

3- Sugar – Acid tension: Riesling is a bloody tart varietal and often requires the use of sugar to rebalance the acid in some fashion. They are many styles of Rieslings that tilt that acid/sugar balance toward super dry or super sweet with everything in between (that is why we make 10 different Rieslings at Pacific Rim). This is where the International Riesling Foundation scale comes handy. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here, so I will use the IRF scale’s and rank wine from 1 to 5 (1: Dry, 2:Medium Dry, 3:Medium Sweet, 4:Sweet, 5:Dessert).

Now if I am to qualify some of our wine here is the way I would go:

- Dry Riesling: 3 – 2Y – 1. A pure Riesling with floral notes and some yeastiness tasting Dry.

- Sweet Riesling: 3 – 3 – 3: A pure Riesling with stone fruit notes tasting medium Sweet.

Now if I have to make a broad categorization of Riesling regions:

- Australian: 3 – 1P – 1. Pure Rieslings with citrus note, often some petrol, very dry

- Alsatian: 3 – 2P – 1. Pure Rieslings with floral note, often some petrol, dry

- Mosel: 3 – 2B – 3: Pure Riesling with floral notes, fair amount of Botrytis influence, medium Sweet

- Canadian Ice Wine: 3 – 3B – 5: Pure Riesling with stone fruit nose, botrytis influence, dessert style

- WA classic style (think Wallula, Poet’s Leap, Eroica): 3 – 2 – 2: Pure Riesling, floral aromas and medium Dry

- WA old style (Johannisberg): 3 – 3 – 3: Pure Riesling, stone fruit and medium sweet

Here is to my new nomenclature!

Just reviewed the lastest Nielsen data ending March 6th and Riesling is still the fastest growing varietal in the US in dollars (+10.7 % over last 13 weeks, +8.7% over last 52 weeks). It is ahead of Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon in growth. Riesling is also gaining ground on Syrah (it is now 80% as big as syrah vs 77% a year ago) and could overtake Syrah as the #8 varietal in the country. I’ll let you guess who is #1 through #7! #10 is Zinfandel. GO RIESLING!

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From the tri-city herald — Lava flows that helped shape the sprawling Columbia River Plateau occurred faster than geologists previously believed and likely contributed to massive climate changes, said a Washington State University researcher.

Steve Reidel, research professor of geology at WSU Tri-Cities, British researcher Tiffany Barry and others studied so-called Grande Ronde basalt lavas in the plateau region, which covers much of eastern and central Washington, northeastern Oregon and parts of western Idaho.

Their studies indicate the Grande Ronde flows, which include at least 66 percent of the basalt in the Columbia River plateau, occurred over a period of about 420,000 years and between 15.6 million and 16 million years ago.

That’s faster than what geologists previously believed. And at least 110 eruptions occurred during that time frame, according to a paper Reidel co-authored with Barry for the international geological journal Lithos.

The researchers said the frequency and size of the eruptions likely had a widespread impact on the environment. Just one of the lava flows could have covered much of Washington with nearly 10,000 cubic kilometers of lava, which is about 10,000 times the volume of ash produced by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, according to WSU.

“We realize with the eruptions of these basalts that there was a lot of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and chlorine that went into the air that had big environmental consequences,” Reidel said.

A single flow could have been as hot as 2,000 degrees and could have taken up to 50 years to cool. Reidel said that could have created monsoon rains in the Northwest and emitted plenty of heat and sulfur to alter the climate.

One result could have been the extinction of some plants and animals that lived at the time, although there has been little fossil evidence uncovered from lava flows to date aside from petrified wood.

“People are now starting to look for extinctions in the rock of this period in the Pacific Northwest,” Reidel said

Reidel said the flows likely were slow-moving enough for animals to outrun it and escape to higher ground in the Blue Mountains or Cascades.

“This was a golden age for horses, but there haven’t been any fossils found yet,” he said. “Petrified wood couldn’t run, but horses could.”

The belief that species were extinguished is based on evidence from other lava flows that occurred in the world millions of years ago, Reidel said.

For instance, a large extinction occurred during the end of the Triassic Period about 200 million years ago that coincided with lava flows coming from what is now northeastern South America and eastern North America, according to WSU. And gases from lava flows on India’s Deccan plateau initiated a mass extinction about 65 million years ago.

Reidel, who has been studying local rocks for years, and Barry — of Great Britain’s Open University — began collaborating more than five years ago. They got basalt samples from Hanford and outcroppings between Vantage and Lewiston, Idaho.

Grande Ronde basalt lavas were found stacked on each other with little or no accumulation of sediment, suggesting the succession of lava flows occurred quickly geologically, according to the manuscript to be published in Lithos.

Barry also compared argon isotopes in the oldest and deepest levels of the basalt to younger and shallower levels, and used the decay rate of the element to determine the relative ages of the rock.

Measurements of Grande Ronde basalt show it ranged from about 1,640 feet thick in some areas to almost 2.4 miles thick in others, producing enough basalt to sink the earth’s crust and create the Columbia River Plateau, according to the manuscript.