Wine Producers, Growers, & Labels

What's an appropriate wine to serve at a Green Bay Packers themed party? What wine would be a good gift for a hard core Packers fan? The Green Bay Packers are unique in several different ways. They hail not from a big metropolitan area like New York or Dallas, but from a relatively small city in northeastern Wisconsin; Green Bay has a population of approximately 105,000 people. The team, a nonprofit corporation, is not owned by a prosperous businessman or consortium of investors but by 112,158 shareholders; they are people from all walks of life who share a love of football and are willing to buy shares that pay no dividends and cannot be sold in order to support their team. The Packers do not have official cheerleaders; they discontinued the cheerleading program in 1998 and use cheerleaders from nearby St. Norbert College and University of Wisconsin Green Bay.

Larry and Shirlee Londer of Londer Vineyards crafted their first wine in 2001. Since then, they have received critical scores from the top wine magazines for their Pinot Noirs. They helped Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley become a contender in producing high quality Pinot with the help of their first winemaker, Greg LaFollette. Originally from Denver, Larry practiced ophthalmology and Shirlee ran an optical shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico for 27 years. Their move to Northern California signaled their second careers. Today Londer Vineyards makes wine sourced from within and without Mendocino, but focus their attention on the Anderson Valley. Your focus is on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the lesser known region of Mendocino. Is that a hard sell given you compete with well-known Carneros and Russian River? Not really. You need to price the wine consistent with our own area and not try to price it like it was coming from Russian River. The blanket of fog that ordinarily curls up from the coast most summer nights and then burns off during the warm dry sunny days allow the vineyards to produce grapes that slowly develop and ripen. We are one of the coolest of the state’s so-called cool-climate wine regions. This is ideal for growing varietals such as Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, and Chardonnay.

The third Thursday in November is the date for a wine phenomenon each and every year. “ Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive ” marks the worldwide marketing campaign for this unlikely wine. What is Beaujolais Nouveau and how did we get here? Under the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) wine regulations of France, wine released in the year the grapes were harvested must be labeled nouveau or vin (de) primeur . Each AOC will determine the specific dates the wine may be released. These wines are fruity wines that have just barely made the change from grape juice to wine. They are made quickly, barely allowing time for the grapes to ferment. Some versions are sweet as they have not completed their fermentations and still have some residual sugar.

What's an appropriate wine to serve at a Milwaukee Brewers themed party? What wine would be a good gift for a hard core Brewers fan? The Milwaukee Brewers are named for the industry that made their city famous – and it definitely wasn't winemaking. When new owner Bud Selig rescued the bankrupt Seattle Pilots and brought them to Milwaukee after their 1969 debut season, he deliberately named the team for the brewers that create the city's well-known beers. Milwaukee baseball fans were thrilled to have a team once again (the Milwaukee Braves had moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season), and were especially pleased when Selig added popular, talented players like Hank Aaron, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount to the Brewers' roster. The Brewers' first few seasons were, predictably, less than stellar, but by the late 1970s the team was winning consistently, thanks to the efforts of Yount, Molitor, Ben Ogilvie, Cecil Cooper and several other strong players. In the strike year of 1981, the Brewers made it to the shortened American League Division Series, but lost to the Yankees. The next year, the Brewers were back, ready to finish what they had begun the previous season. They made it all the way to the 1982 World Series before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals, despite the excellent work of players like Pete Vuckovich and Robin Young.

Jerry Lohr is considered one of the pioneers of California Central Coast wines. In the late 1960s, he began investigating grape growing regions while searching for the ideal location for a vineyard. Raised on a South Dakota farm, his research led him to the Central Coast. He originally planted 280 acres in Monterey County in 1972 and unveiled his San Jose winery the following year. In 1987, he planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and other red varietals in San Luis Obispo County’s then little-known Paso Robles region. Today, in addition to over 1,300 acres in Monterey County, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines farms 2,300 acres of estate vineyards in Paso Robles, and 35 acres in the Napa Valley, and has tasting rooms in Paso Robles and San Jose. J. Lohr wines are available throughout the United States and in over 30 countries globally. In 2007, U.C. Davis honored Jerry with its Award of Distinction, and in 2008 he was named Wine Industry Person of the Year by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. There are over 6,000 bonded wineries in the U.S. from every state in the nation (not to mention fierce competition from abroad). Is the U.S. wine business currently saturated? I am very supportive of evermore wineries. More wineries mean more locations where people can have a wine experience. People always take pride in their local wine. Wine tourism has the best multiplier effect of any agricultural product. Anyone having a good wine experience then passes it on to friends. Word of mouth is great.

With more than 30 years of winemaking experience behind him behind him, David Hopkins still visits vineyards and winegrowers every week to taste grapes and begin to formulate his blends, something he has become well known for. An avid surfer and scuba diver, Hopkins oversees the 105 acre estate at Bridlewood Winery crafting blends and wines from the California Central Coast with fruit from Santa Barbara to Monterey County. What prompted you to pursue winemaking as a career? If not winemaking, what path would you have chosen and where do you think you would be right now? I happened upon winemaking somewhat accidentally. One Friday afternoon at Fresno State, my microbiology class ended early and my lab partner asked me if I wanted to help him rack wine barrels at the student winery. Four hours later, I emerged from the winery completely enthralled with the experience I just had. Monday morning, I was standing in front of the Enology department’s chairman asking him how to get a job in the wine industry. I think it was the unique combination of agriculture, food science and the art of wine tasting that really drew me into the world of wine, and I haven’t looked back since. If I had not agreed to help my lab partner that day, I would have likely pursued a career in floriculture, specifically in studying tissue culture for orchid production.

Ash Hollow Estate Vineyards and Winery is a boutique winery focusing on producing ultra-premium quality wines. Located in the Walla Walla Washington Wine Country, they offer a fun take on wine during this Halloween season that can be enjoyed year round. IntoWine recently caught up with Spencer Siever, Winemaker and Jennifer Gregory, General Manager from Ash Hollow to discuss winemaking and current trends. Spencer Sievers, Winemaker: Ash Hollow Ash Hollow Estate Vineyards and Winery What prompted you to pursue winemaking as a career? I was working at an illegal restaurant in Lawrence, KS and was introduce to some of the great wines of the world. I'd always been a big fan of wine, but it was a bottle of Penfolds Grange that really blew my mind. After some traveling with my family, we decided to try living in Portland for a bit, where I bought half a ton of grapes to ferment on my apartment. I fell in love!

Chef William S. Bloxsom-Carter has worked as the Executive Chef, and Food and Beverage Director for the Playboy Mansion West for over two and half decades. A frequent wine judge he constantly looks for wines to pair with his foods for the multitude of foods he presents to guest at the Mansion; this can mean an intimate dinner party of 12, or upwards of 1,200 people. Complementing his responsibilities for Playboy Enterprises, Chef Carter has prepared winery dinners in Sonoma County, Napa Valley, Paso Robles and the Santa Ynez Valley as well as special events for high-profile clients throughout the United States, focusing on the importance of food and wine pairings and extraordinary hospitality service. Additionally, Chef Carter is a recurring featured guest on numerous radio shows syndicated nationwide describing and promoting California wines and foods. You routinely plan food from appetizers to entrees for up to thousands of guests at the Playboy Mansion. With so many people, is it ever difficult to pair wines with the diverse variety of foods you prepare? When I’m evaluating and selecting wines for events, I take copious notes based on flavor profile, nose, finish, integration/body, visual clarity and any perceptible flaws. Depending on the demographic for an event dictates the food and wine selections. Like with food, seasonality also plays an important role when selecting wines. At the Playboy Mansion, I have the liberty to create and select food and wine based on many variables. Some may look at it as a challenge; I look at it as a way to offer every guest an impeccable hospitality experience based on the bounties of the harvest.

What's an appropriate wine to serve at a Tampa Bay Rays themed party? What wine would be a good gift for a hard core Rays fan? Florida's Tampa Bay Rays are one of Major League Baseball's youngest teams. They played their first season in 1998, as part of an expansion that also included the Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally named the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the team dropped the "Devil" from its name in 2008 and adopted a new logo with a yellow sunburst emanating from the word "Rays," which appears in blue. Interestingly, that very season, the team's fortunes began to improve drastically. In 2007, the Devil Rays finished last in their division. In 2008, the renamed Rays won their division and went all the way to the World Series, where they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Wines to Go Buy This Week: A Carneros Pinot Noir by Truchard and a South African Bordeaux Style Red by the (barely pronounceable) MR Mvemve Raats. As frequent IntoWine readers know, in November we are launching our own wine club, The IntoWine Club , in partnership with the California Wine Club (more info on the club here if you are interested). While there are a lot of moving parts, how it works is that the folks at California Wine Club ship me wine samples that are being considered for future club shipments and then I provide feedback and such about the wines that will be included in those shipments. Recently I received my first batch of samples and, let me tell you, I am thrilled about the quality of the wines. I simply can not wait for our club to launch in November. With this in mind, I give you this week's installment of "Wines to Go Buy This Week": Truchard Pinot Noir 2006 - Was going to wait to recommend this until our IntoWine Club launch the first week of November but I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag early. This Truchard Pinot Noir is one of the wines being considered and I could not be more pleased to share the news that this wine is going to be in the inaugural IntoWine Club shipment. So what about the wine itself? For me a tell-tale sign of a good wine is that it is delicious and easy to drink from the first sip to the very last and always leaves you wanting more . The Truchard Pinot Noir passes that test with flying colors. From the Carneros region of Napa, Truchard Pinot Noir is an ideal wine for anyone curious about discovering Northern California Pinot Noir. It's also reasonably priced at approx $35 retail. "Reasonable" is relative of course as some might say $35 for a wine is outrageously expensive. For a quality Carneros Pinot though, this is priced more than fairly as you can certainly pay much more than this for a similar wine. As for the IntoWineClub, you can sign up here if you are interested.