Merlot
Merlot is back! For the past decade the step sister to Cabernet Sauvignon has been pushed to the back burner by the big, beefy California Cabs – but no more. Merlot has been brought to the forefront with the help of some great Washington wine makers and the perfect fruit grown in the Columbia Valley. In fact, the two finest places on the planet for Merlot are the Columbia Valley of Washington and Bordeaux’s “Right Bank” region.

From Sunset Magazine:
“Merlot is one of the most seductive wines in the world. It relies less on power and more on finesse, drifting toward red fruits (dark or sour cherry, raspberry) rather than the black fruits of Cabernet. Most important, its delicate balance and structure make it an incredible food wine.”

2006 Chateau Ste. Michelle Ethos Merlot
Deep red color. Aromas of dark cherries, plum and vanilla. complex wine with a hint of of oak. Long, creamy finish with firm but velvety tannins. $31

Hogue Cellars 2006 Merlot
The entry level – under $10, of the 3 product tiers for Hogue wines. Dark red color. Aromas of plum and cherry with a hint of smoke. Bright cherry flavors with a hint of vanilla and spice. Medium bodies with laid back tannins and a long, fruit-forward finish. $10

The perfect pairing: Washington State Merlot and Cedar-planked salmon. Recipe:

Cedar-Planked Salmon with Merlot Reduction
4 servings

Ingredients:
•    4 untreated cedar shingles, about 5 1/2 by 10 inches each
•    2 teaspoons vegetable oil
•    4 (8-ounce) salmon fillets
•    2 teaspoons Essence, recipe follows
•    Washington State Merlot Reduction, recipe follows

Directions:
Prepare a grill and light the fire. Rub 1 side of each shingle with 1/2 teaspoon of oil.

Season the fish on both sides with Essence. Place a fillet on each oiled shingle. Place the shingles in the center of a hot barbecue grill. Close the lid and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove the shingles from the grill using a long-handled spatula. If the shingles catch fire, sprinkle with a little water.

Put the shingles in the center of large plates. Drizzle the fish with the wine reduction sauce.

Essence (Emeril’s Creole Seasoning):
•    2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
•    2 tablespoons salt
•    2 tablespoons garlic powder
•    1 tablespoon black pepper
•    1 tablespoon onion powder
•    1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
•    1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
•    1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.
Yield: about 2/3 cup

Merlot wine reduction sauce:
•    1 (750-milliliter) bottle Washington State Merlot wine, or other dry red wine
•    1 small onion, quartered
•    2 celery stalks, chopped
•    2 carrots, peeled and chopped
•    1 bay leaf
•    2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
•    Salt
•    Freshly ground black pepper
In a medium saucepan, combine the wine, onions, celery, carrots and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain. Return to the pan, over medium heat. Whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time, until the butter is incorporated, being careful not to let the sauce break. Adjust the seasoning, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Cover to keep warm until ready to serve, whisking occasionally.
Yield: about 2 cups

Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar Collection
When he’s not touring with original band, Fleetwood Mac or his Mick Fleetwood Blues Band or his Island Rumours Band, drummer Mick Fleetwood is blending wine in California’s Lake County. Mick’s latest release is a series of wines made at Langtry Estate & Vineyards, formerly known as Guenoc winery.

Contract winemaking is common in the wine industry, where people who own neither vineyard nor winery can pay someone to make a single wine or an entire line of wines.

When Mick debuted his first wine, Mick Fleetwood 1998 Cuvee, in 2004, he turned to well known Santa Ynez winemaker, Mike Brown to produce his first release. A blend of 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, it was noted as an all-occasion wine, and considered an all-American red.

The Wall Street Journal did a blind tasting of more than 50 celebrity wines and awarded Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar “Best Wine by a Living Musician,” stating “Very Good. Smooth, velvety and elegant, with great fruit and nice acidity. Real stature. Great with a rare steak.”

Fleetwood and his wife, Lynn, became interested in wine because Lynn loves to cook and they enjoy trying different wines to match the food. When asked what his favorite wine was, his answer was an emphatic “Merlot. A 2002 Frog’s Leap,” to be exact. At their home in Lahaina, Hawaii, Mick and Lynn have a 3,000 bottle wine cellar. Now that’s a serious collection.

You can find the Private Cellar Collection at Costco $19-$20.

Music to match the wine:
Blue Again (Live) Mick Fleetwood Blues Band
Recorded live at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri in February of 2008.Fleetwood, who has teamed up on this recording with guitarist and lead vocalist Rick Vito, bassist Lenny Castellanos and keyboardist Mark Johnstone.

Many in the wine industry are always experimenting to find the perfect atmosphere that provides the ultimate wine tasting experience. This is the first of a 3-part report.

Part 1:  Can Music Influence the Taste of Wine?

Adrian North, a university professor from Edinburgh, working with Chilean winemaker, Aurelio Montes have published a “psuedo-scientific” study which concludes that different types of music stimulate different parts of the brain to change the way we taste wine.

The Idea:
The idea for the study was triggered by winemaker Montes, who already uses music in the production process, playing monastic chants to his maturing casks of wine in his Feng Shui-optimised barrel room.

The Study:
The study consisted of 250 college students who were offered a free glass of wine in return for answering questions about its taste.They drank the wine in one of five rooms, each of which played a different style of music – or no music – and were then asked to rate the wine’s taste according to set parameters.

The Results:
When a powerful piece of music such as O Fortuna from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana was played, the Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon was perceived as being 60% richer and more robust than when no music was heard.

Similarly, the Montes Alpha Chardonnay seemed 40% bolder and fresher when it was accompanied by pop.

The study recommends Blondie singing “Atomic.” I like listening to Blondie when I’m driving in the car, but Diana Krall singing “Peal Me a Grape” is so much nicer while sitting and enjoying a good Chardonnay. Below are some recommendations from the study. You decide.

MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE STUDY

Cabernet Sauvignon:
All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix), Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones), Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings), Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who)

Chardonnay:
Atomic (Blondie), Rock DJ (Robbie Williams), What’s Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner), Spinning Around (Kylie Minogue)

Syrah:
Nessun Dorma (Puccini),
Orinoco Flow Celtic Woman, Chariots Of Fire (Vangelis), Canon (Johann Pachelbel)

Merlot:
Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding), Easy (Lionel Ritchie), Over The Rainbow (Eva Cassidy), Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)

“Because of the cultural diversity of California’s growers and vintners, it’s only natural that the state would become a “melting pot” of varietal wines,” says Karen Ross, President of the California Association of Winegrape Growers,[1] who notes that today the state grows more than 110 winegrape varieties. “As winegrape growing passes from generation to generation, California growers’ understanding of which varieties grow best in their regions, AVAs and vineyards has increased exponentially, resulting in the introduction and resurgence of a wide range of varieties.”

“American wine consumers are branching out. They still enjoy their favorites – Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Merlot – but have become more adventurous and are more willing to try other varietals such as Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Petite Sirah to name just a few,” says Robert P. (Bobby) Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute[2], who points out that one of the best places to find out which wineries are producing these varietals is on Wine Institute’s web site at http://www.discovercaliforniawine.com/wineries where consumers can search California wineries by 43 different wine varietals and blends. This site’s database brings up producers of varietals such as: Grenache, 48 wineries; Gewurztraminer, 32 wineries; Muscat/Moscato, 57 wineries; Petite Sirah, 136 wineries; Pinot Gris/Grigio, 82 wineries; Pinot Noir, 234 wineries; Riesling, 41 wineries; Sangiovese, 98 wineries; Syrah, 315 wineries; Tempranillo, 36 wineries; Viognier, 123 wineries; and the listings are growing.

These emerging varietal wines are a natural outcome of California’s ideal yet varied climate and soil for growing winegrapes. A central fact of California winegrowing is the long Pacific Ocean coastline, stretching nearly 780 miles from Oregon to Mexico. With 108 American Viticulture Areas (AVAs), more than 4,600 winegrape growers and an estimated 3,000 bonded wineries, California grows winegrapes in 46 of its 58 counties. Its tumultuous geologic history yields more than 2,000 distinct soil types, and each AVA is distinguished by climate, soil structure, topography and elevation. The cooling ocean fog and breezes moderate the state’s steady sunshine. Combined with the north-south axis of the coastal mountains and inland valleys, these conditions create a temperate climate where winegrapes thrive. Unlike some Old World wine regions, California growers and vintners are free from regulations that dictate where and how certain varietals can be grown, enabling greater flexibility in matching winegrapes to the right soils and microclimates.

Restaurants in particular have been on the leading edge of featuring and promoting lesser-known varietals. “Restaurants find that putting unconventional varietals on the wine list is a competitive advantage; they use it to attract customers,” says Ronn Wiegand, MW, MS, and publisher of Restaurant Wine, who notes the trend has taken hold at fine dining establishments from coast to coast. “Like a chef always trying new ingredients, restaurants use these “discovery” wines to increase excitement about the dining experience.”
From: Wine Industry Report

The singer, 57, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, made the announcement at a public meeting called at Figline Valdarno, south of Florence, to “defend Tuscan agriculture and bio-diversity”. “Since January I have been round the world one and a half times,” he told the meeting. “When I get back here I take a deep breath and say to myself – I’m home”.

The singer, dressed in a grey jacket and T-shirt and sporting a full beard, said that from the terrace of his 16th-century villa, Il Palagio, which he bought in 1997, he could see the sun setting behind the Appenines – “a masterpiece” of nature. He said that he would market two kinds of wine: a Chianti DOC and a Tuscan red based on the Sangiovese grape.

The brand names remain a closely guarded secret. However Paolo Rossi, the estate manager, said that the “Sting wine” had been made two years ago, and the first bottles of the 2007 vintage would be on the market in September. It would amount to “rock music wine” with “a bit of swing and a bit of international pop thanks to the addition of Cabernet and Merlot grapes”.

Riccardo Nocentini, the mayor of Figline Valdarno, which is close to Sting’s estate and villa, said that the singer was not just a “welcome guest” in the region but also a serious farmer. Together with his wife, Trudie Styler, Sting markets “Il Palagio Sumner Family” honey and olive oil from his estate through Harrods in London and on the internet.
Continue…

Sting said that his concern for the environment, which initially took the form of a campaign to save the Amazon rainforest, had spread to the defence of rural Tuscany. “I always use traditional methods – no pesticides,” he said. He bought the vineyards and woods adjoining his villa grounds in 2002, and employs 15 estate workers as well as seasonal labour.

A percentage of all profits from the sales goes to the environmental causes the couple support, such as the Soil Association, which promotes organic food and farming in Britain, and the Rainforest Foundation, which they helped to found in 1989.

Italian fans who attended the meeting said that they would buy the new wine the moment it appeared. “We have always bought Sting’s honey and oil,” Giovanni Pollastri and Lidia Di Corato told Corriere della Sera. “In fact with all the money we have spent supporting his agricultural produce we deserve a free bottle.”

Sting spends much of his time in Tuscany when he is not touring, and recorded the album All This Time at Il Palagio after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The villa grounds, which he tours on a mountain bike, contain a circular swimming pool and a giant chess board. The nickname Sting derives from the bee-striped jersey he wore early in his music career with a band called the Phoenix Jazzmen.

Four years ago Mick Hucknall, the lead singer of Simply Red, introduced a wine called Il Cantante (The Singer), at his estate on the slopes of Mount Etna in in Sicily. He said that he had bought the vineyard after turning to wine to curb the wild drinking of his youth. He said: “My logic was I would drink less if the drink was better. So I became obsessed with fine wines.”

Gerard Depardieu, the French actor, owns a vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, where he produces “passito”, the celebrated local dessert wine.
From Times Online