This week, I enjoyed two more wines that were selected for me by Steve Nelson of The Wine Guy in Asheville, NC. So far, I’ve enjoyed the wines that Steve picked for me.

First, I tried a Columbia Valley, WA, Chardonnay. The 2006 Powers Chardonnay, priced at $10.99, was one of the best Chards I’ve had in a while. There was plenty of fruit, such as kiwi and nectarine, with a nice mineral quality. There was some oak, but not much, as far as my palate could tell, which was complemented by vanilla flavors. The nose jumped right out of the glass and the finish was smooth and nice. I don’t think that I ever would have selected this bottle on my own - I just don’t know that much about Washington wines - so I sure am glad that Steve brought it to my attention. After doing some research online, I’ve discovered that they’re now packaging their Cabernet Sauvignon in a 3-liter box for $22.00. I’ll have to see if Steve can get it for me (on sale) and discuss it at a later date.

The second wine that I tried this week was the 2003 Badissa Salice Salentino, from the boot heel of Italy for $8.99. This is made from the Negroamoro grape variety, whose name literally means “black and bitter.” It had lots of dark red fruit, and was big and bold. For me, it wasn’t a great sipping wine, but I used some of it to braise beef short ribs, and they were so good! This was my first experience with a Negroamoro wine, so I can’t say whether this wine is a good representation of the variety. I’ll have to ask Steve the next time I see him.

It’s where it begins for true success…

I wish I had penned that bit of wisdom, because it’s brilliant. Alas, it was penned by another, and I don’t take credit for someone else’s words of wisdom. So, credit to the universe.

When I read it, I didn’t make note of the author. The words, however, have never left my mind.

Another great bit of knowledge that I’ve found is by LAD Communications, penned by Anne Louise Bannon (May 2002 issue of Wines & Vines): “Which may mean that even when you’ve gotten big enough to hire someone to do your publicity for you, you’ll still be doing much of your own PR. But that’s what telling your story is all about, and that’s what sells wine.”

This is very important information when you’ve decided to hire a PR agency or person to represent you. In the wine business, how many brands are out there? I’d love an exact figure, but I don’t have it for this world-wide market. It’s not outside the realm of possibilities that there could there be as many as 10,000 worldwide?

It’s not like the peanut butter business, let’s say, where you’ve got less than a dozen brands. Those stories are very easy to tell. Nobody cares who started the company, and nobody’s going to oogle over the flavors. It’s pretty straight forward, “Is is smooth or chunky?”

With wine, your flavors will stand on their own, against the other 10,000 in the world.

So, what’s going to really sell your wine to a wine writer who could be thinking to him or herself? “Who are the characters behind the scenes, tell me everything you can about this person or people, and when may I talk to him or her?”

So, PR 101 is really what my mom drilled into my head ever so long ago, “God helps those who help themselves.”

PR people are just the missing link in the process to bridge the gap between who you are and getting that story into the hands of a writer. PR people open the door for you, and your job is to then step-up and be willing to tell your story, when the opportunity arises. And remember, opportunity only knocks once.

Cliche? Yes.

Good advice? You decide…

Melanie Hoffman

My favorite kind of wine tasting is when I have a sample, a chair and a little bit of quiet. I do enjoy a fun tasting room, but for technical notes, not having a winery representative hovering is choice.

On April 25, 2008, the Wine Literary Award Foundation hosted its 18th Annual event honoring Charles L. Sullivan in San Francisco. I had the honor of an invitation to something I had never quite experienced. An ocean of wine to taste with nothing more than my own thoughts. I didn’t know where to start. Of course my palate leads me to the lighter fare, but with close to a thousand wines to choose from I had to pace myself.

I do love Sauvignon Blanc, I think it might just be my favorite white wine with a close second being Dry Riesling; something about the oily petrol nature has always turned me on, but I digress. In this ocean of wine my eyes are drawn first to Black Sheep, 2007 California Sauvignon Blanc. Now I might be giving myself away a little here, but it takes one to know one is what I have always been told.

In all I tasted five Sauv Blancs, I had a mind to keep going with 29 to choose from, but that would have been self-indulgent. The five I chose did not disappoint.

Black Sheep, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, California ~ Ripe melon and lychee nut aromas open the bouquet of this easily approachable quaffer. Citrus and mineral develop upon a second sniff that lead way to fragrant orange blossoms. Complex palate offers ample freshly cut grass flavors with added notes of kiwi. Nice acid to fruit balance. Trailing flavors of figs and Myer lemon finish this clean, fruity and delicious wine.

Hall Wines, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley ~ Bouquet of nectarine and peaches that lead way to tropical notes of pineapple and papaya with hints of lemongrass at the close of the nose. Slightly sharp palate that softens as it lingers. Peach and nectarine flavors follow the bouquet with added tangerine that lasts.

Langtry, 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Lake County ~ Soft bouquet of mineral and sweet spice. Added notes of mango and gooseberry in the nose with the essence of fresh strawberry. Palate is equally soft, an easy summer sipper. Palate follow nose with added juicy flavors of Spring Rainer Cherries.

Manzanita Creek, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Lake County | Oak Ranch ~ Sporting the Zork! cork. Subtle creaminess with hints of cinnamon on the nose. Flowery aromas continue with the addition of passion fruit. Balanced wine has good acid and nice fruit flavors. Palate shows more passion fruit flavors that are up front and last all the way through. Subtle mineral flavors exhibit themselves mid-palate with soft Genoa fig flavors that add to the tropical flavors in the finish.

McNabb Ridge, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Mendocino County ~ Bright nose pops! with a soft creaminess at the close. Apricots, honeysuckle and fresh grass upfront with an easy vanilla appeal at the end of the bouquet. Palate offers super delicious flavors; I had an “oooooh!” moment. Lots of fruit, more apricots and an essence of clover honey. This wine finishes with nectarine flavors and trailing vanilla bean that lingers.

I then turned to some different whites; pinot gris, trousseau gris, verdelho, gewurztraminer, dry riesling. An eclectic mix that made my mind swirl and my senses dance with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning.

Swanson, 2006 Pinot Gris, Napa Valley ~ Very floral bouquet offers bright notes of apricots, lemongrass and Cattelaya orchids with subtle smoke in the close of the nose. Palate has a dominant blood orange appeal. Nice acid and fruit. Myer lemon and gooseberry flavors with a lasting apricot finish.

Carta d’Imbarco, 2006 Pinot Grigio ~ Floral and fruit aromas, a certain 50/50 bar, orange and cream nature. Starfruit fragrance and marmalade finish the bouquet. Bright palate follows nose with more orange and cream and starfruit with added peachy notes in the finish.

Fanucchi Vineyards, 2005 Trousseau Gris, Russian River Valley ~ Lemon cream nose with added notes of pear and nutmeg. Mineral elements add to the complex nature of the wine. Trailing wisps of white smoke finish the bouquet. Delightful palate offers ginger and more pear flavors. Tropical notes of pineapple linger on the palate.

Barreto Cellars, 2006 Verdelho, Lodi ~ Aromas of tangelo, melon and an earthy nature in the bouquet. Added notes of vanilla and cranberry orange close the bouquet. Very citrusy palate has notes of lemon curd upfront and in the finish. Clean wine finishes light and fruity.

Husch, 2006 Gewurztraminer, Anderson Valley ~ Enticing nose of cantaloupe and star jasmine. Subtle aromas of petrol and mineral. Fairly dry wine (.6% R.S.) offers flavors of rose hips and spicy apple pie with a warm honey finish.

Wollersheim Winery, Dry Riesling | NV ~ Stelvin Closure, very nice. Classic riesling aromas; petrol upfront with hints of sweet nutmeg and ginger spice and a flowery hibiscus aroma. Palate is juicy and delicious. Gentle peachy flavors give way to an elegant honeycomb finish.

At this point I realized, I still had many more wines to taste and I decided to jump to my favorite red wine, Pinot Noir. A truly great Pinot Noir is classy and elegant, yet sturdy and plump. I found some worth mentioning.

J Lohr, 2006 Pinot Noir, Arroyo Seco | Fog’s Reach Vineyard ~ Huge nose, big cherry pie aromas, toasty vanilla oak and lots of plums in the bouquet. Palate follows nose with more juicy plums and a basket full of cherries. Added notes of worn leather and cocoa powder round out the finish of this wine.

Moshin Vineyards, 2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley | Lot 4 Selection ~ Ripe nose, very fruit forward. Subtle vanilla oak with the addition of plums, leather and cherry blossoms. Rich palate features a mouthful of cherries and vanilla. Soft finish of cassis and hibiscus tea.

Porter-Bass, 2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley ~ Bright nose of plums and cherries, additional aromas of sweet pepper jam adds to the gentle nature of this wine. Soft leather and vanilla close the nose. Palate opens with big cherries and more leather. Soft tannins make this wine an easy drinker for tonight, a wine for a reason. Cherry flavors continue to the long, lingering finish.

Turner Vineyards, 2005 Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, ~ Cherry blossom aromas with added caramel and cedar notes. Bouquet continues with red currants and a sexy white chocolate nature. Palate has more red currant flavors with an added cherry pie quality with a brown sugar finish. Nice tannin structure.

I now turn to Cabernet Franc, a wine that is less appreciated than it should be. When everyone turned to Merlot, I turned to Cab Franc. I tend to stay away from Merlots, they have become watered down versions of their characteristic jammy and fruity variety. They just don’t have enough fruit and structure for my tastes. Cab Franc on the other hand, in my opinion, tends to have lots of fruit and awesome structure. Cab Franc is not just a blending grape. And this little Bordeaux variety is a best kept secret that I wouldn’t mind letting the cat out of the bag about.

Casa Nuestra, 2005 Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley ~ Huge bouquet exhibits blackberry pie and trailing vanilla aromas. Very fragrant. Delicious mouthfeel, medium to full body. More blackberry flavors on the palate, a basket full of them. Added easy oak, vanilla and coffee bean flavors but the blackberry lingers forever. Gosh that is a good wine!

Eaton Hill Winery, 2005 Cabernet Franc, Yakima Valley - WA ~ Complex nose, a little horse saddle funky upfront that leads way to plentiful jammy aromas of mulberries and loganberries, with a vanilla finish to the bouquet. Velvety palate features more mulberry and vanilla bean flavors. Lingering blueberry jam finish.

Thumbprint, 2005 Cabernet Franc, Alexander Valley ~ Lots of new leather and mulberry jam aromas. This CF has a slightly meaty quality, almost an apple wood bacon nature. Bouquet closes with cassis aromas. Very jammy palate displays more mulberry jam, cassis and smoky meat. Very balanced, nice tannins and good acid.

At this point I realized I needed to take a break and have a bite to eat. The event supplied a sumptuous feast provided by the chefs of the California Culinary Academy, a special tour-through-the-kitchen luncheon provided by the Culinary Academy students. Copious amounts of cheeses, smoky meats, poki salad, seared ahi, marinated beef, green salads, and the list continued. The dessert display was a towering confectioner’s delight. The lunch was as much fun as the tasting of wines. The folks at the Wine Literary Award Foundation know how to host an event. I can only hope the dinner and award announcements in the evening were as much of a success as the writers’ tasting during the day.

Left to right: Elliott Mackey of the Wine Appreciation Guild and Charles L. Sullivan.

There’s a fondness in my heart for Charles Sullivan. When I asked him once about the history of Irish winemakers in the United States, he told me that he hadn’t researched that area in depth (yet), but there are logical inferences that can be deduced from historical facts that would present themselves upon further investigation.

“Logical inferences…” That’s stayed with me as long as the memory of visiting with Roz (his wife) and him in Los Gatos a few years ago. Charles is as much a historical treasure as are the books for which he’s authored. This award has been a long time coming and so deserved.

According to a press release from the Wine Literary Award Foundation:

Charles L. Sullivan, the famed wine historian’s career was celebrated at a gala banquet and award ceremony in San Francisco, California, this past April 25, 2008. The Wine Literary Award is administered by the Wine Literary Award Foundation, which seeks to advance wine writing and wine knowledge through gifts of academic scholarships for excellence in wine writing in the various fields of eonology.

Charles L. Sullivan accepted wine literature’s top prize in front of a sold-out audience of admiring wine industry notables, among them keynote speaker Andrew Beckstoffer (right), who thanked the wine historian for the breadth of his contribution to the historical knowledge of the Napa Valley and the performance of his work.

“A lot of writers use Napa Valley for one reason or another. To cause division and scandal…to exploit the Valley by exaggerating controversy. Charles didn’t use Napa. He gave it a gift of insight. For that, on behalf of the Valley, thank you.”

In his acceptance speech Sullivan said, “Most historians are loath to make predictions about the future. But sometimes we can’t help expressing a sense of foreboding or optimism, given the state of the moment. For me the latter is my sense of the future of wine for all of California.”

Since his 1978 article on the origins of Zinfandel in California appeared in the California Historical Journal, Charles Sullivan’s work has established him as, in Charles Olken’s words, “the single most important wine historian alive today.”

Image to the right is Warren Winarski of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars fame, who is featured in many of Charles’s stories.

In 1982, Sullivan published the first scholarly history of a California wine region, Like Modern Edens, which focused on the Santa Clara Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains. The next year he coauthored Late Harvest, a history of wine growing in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In 1988 he penned another first, the highly acclaimed Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present. His 1998 book Companion to California Wine, a historical encyclopedia of the wine industry in California, won the Julia Child award for best wine book of that year. In 2003, Zinfandel: A History of the Grape and its Wine won Sullivan the Veuve Cliquot award for best wine book of the year and was a James Beard award finalist. A second edition of Napa Wine is due to be published in May 2008, and Sullivan is currently working on a three-volume, comprehensive history of the California wine industry.

“Those of us in this room,” said speaker Dan Berger, “know that there are two aspects of wine that help to determine its intrinsic quality: terroir and history. These two elements of wine must necessarily be a part of what’s in each glass, and they are at the heart and soul of what Charles Sullivan has done with his investigation into wine over the decades.”

Wine Literary Award Laureates include Hugh Johnson, Robert M. Parker, Jr., Harry Waugh, Leon D. Adams, Dan Berger, Jancis Robinson, Gerald Asher, Tom Stevenson, Gene Ford, Michael Broadbent, Robert Lawrence Balzer, Andrea Robinson, Kevin Zraly, and Karen MacNeil.

Create a panel, and they will come. And so they did at the Florida Winefest & Auction.

A wine writer asked me at this event, “Don’t you think this audience is going to be too snobby for this panel?” To which I quickly responded, “The room’s full.”

It was standing room only, and we were turning people away… Snobby? I think not.

Perhaps the immense draw is because of the following:

• The variety’s been shrouded in mystery since its inception, and isn’t easy to completely comprehend
• Although everyone seems to have a favorite, there’s no true quintessential benchmark for this cultivar yet established above all others, although there are a few favorite “pets”
• So many vintners are consistently willing to load yet another panel with diverse talent for adoring fans
• There are so many wine makers that must focus on other varieties for their proprietors in order to have an easily marketable item; but, behind the scenes they’re working their passion; i.e., Petite Sirah

This all seems to be true, as I watch and study this particular grape variety more than any other, as the director of the PS I Love You advocacy group, which I’ve been doing since February 2002. It’s put me into a role of being the “go to gal,” when anyone has a question about who’s producing it, by how much, how many acres there are, etc.

It’s also made me the person that gets fed information by others who are in love with this variety. What would I do without Patrick Fegan of the Chicago Wine School? Each year, as acreage statistics are released, Patrick feeds me the information. California acreage is available through the California agricultural industry, but just try wading through their Website to get it. Patrick makes my life delightful by not only freeing up that reseach time, but he’s also got worldwide stats that I’ve yet to try to find. He remains faithful to this self appointed task that I’d surely miss if it ever went away.

Left to right for the above panel: Louis Foppiano (Foppiano Vineyard), Jim Concannon (Concannon Vineyard), Mike Phillips (Michael-David Winery), Miro Tcholakov (Trentadue Winery’s winemaker and Miro Cellars’ proprietor/winemaker), John Monnich (Silkwood Wines, proprietor/winemaker).

When I create a panel opportunity, it instantly becomes loaded with talent. And even though this might seem like a one trick pony, we’re immediately invited back. The above very charming gentleman talking with Jim Concannon, who attended the PS panel at Florida Winefest & Auction, thanked me the day of our panel once it concluded. The following day - after having slept on it - he returned to say that he loved the panel because it was both entertaining and educational.

Because this isn’t a grape variety that’s this side of intimidating, we can have fun with it… And we do. “Is there any better way to present anything,” I pondered… remembering the days when I was responsible for teaching “sternocleidomastoideus muscle of the neck,” and having a student fall right out of her chair onto the floor as she laughed uncontrollably. She got the answer right when tested, as did the entire class.

Anatomy can be fun. Anything can be fun. And, Petite Sirah is proving itself to be fun, regardless of all else.

Limited production by most of the producers (300 to 400 cases a year for about 80 percent of all wineries who make a Petite), hard to find on a wine list or a wine shop shelves, and consistent high quality by those who produce it - because it’s their “pet” project…. All of these things add up to “cult.”

• It’s had its own Petite Sirah Symposium for six consecutive years produced by Foppiano Vineyards, so winemakers could discuss how to better understand it, work with it, and maintain uniqueness from each the attendees.
• It’s had unusual road trips for wine trade people, all sponsored by Concannon Vineyard and other wine companies who immediately came on board (Bogle, EOS, F. Teldeschi, Foppiano, Guenoc, Mettler, Parducci, Pedroncelli, Robert Biale, Rosenblum, Silkwood, Trentadue, and Vina Robles). We merrily traipsed across the country in a motor home from coast to coast, and then did the same thing in Patrick Henry’s luxury railroad cars… All the while singing Johnny Cash’s, “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man” and “On the Road Again.”

Now, with the latest Florida Winefest Petite Sirah panel being planted in our historical travels, adding to “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man,” we look to what will be the next Petite experience. This is going to be in Sacramento this coming November, with the American Wine Society. Educating the educators will be David Mounts (Mounts Family Wines), John Monnich (Silkwood Wines), Miro Tcholakov (Trentadue Winery), George Moskowite (Moss Creek Winery), Jim Concannon (Concannon Vineyard), and Louis Foppiano (Foppiano Vineyards).

Petite Sirah continues its tortoise and hare race… Pulling up the rear, but constantly moving forward as an American Heritage cultivar. One must never forget that in the 1960s, Napa Valley was planted to Petite Sirah by 60 percent. While that will never return - and frankly, no one wants that to ever happen - it will find its rightful place as a wine grape of great merit in the California scheme of things.

Final thought from Appellation America:

What’s Hot:

1. Cabernet Sauvignon
2. Pinot Noir
3. Zinfandel
4. Chardonnay
5. Riesling
6. Syrah | Shiraz
7. Malbec
8. Pinot Gris | Grigio
9. Merlot
10. Petite Sirah