Unfiltered

An inside look at the warehouse fire, the duel between wine and vodka, the $5,000 burger and the wine barrel's new role

Posted: November 2, 2005

• Three weeks after the massive fire swept through Wines Central warehouse in Vallejo, Calif., many of the vintners have finally had a chance to get a first-hand look inside. It wasn't a pretty sight: towering piles of burned cases, melted or broken bottles, thick layers of ash. However, some winemakers--those whose wines weren't nearest to where the fire started, in the section of library wines--say that things may not be as bad as they first feared. Winemaker Sean Thackrey, who had 4,000 cases of wine stored in the facility, reports, "A rather heartwarming percent of the wine I have there is clearly unaffected." His rarest and most valuable wines were largely spared, although he still can't locate about 1,200 cases of his popular nonvintage Pleiades blend. Steve Sherwin of Sherwin Family Vineyards had all of his 2003 production and the remainder of his 2002 wines in the facility, and he said there appeared to be little damage. He drank a bottle of the wine and it seemed fine. "I'm on the fence. I'm just going to have to let it sit for a while, and we'll see."

• Among the less fortunate was Justin Baldwin of Justin Vineyards in Paso Robles, who had 10,000 cases of wine in the warehouse, including a significant portion of his 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2003 Isosceles, the winery's flagship red blend. "What wine we did see wasn't encouraging," Baldwin said. Delia Viader of Viader Vineyards in Napa was hit particularly hard. "All of our production of the 2003 Viader in 750ml was there," she reports. "It was too close to the beginning of the fire. The shrink-wrap around the cases was clearly melted. There is no doubt that the wine got really hot." Viader also faces a problem common to many vintners who lost wine in the fire: Some of the wine was already sold to retailers, restaurants and mailing-list customers. While Viader will have no 2003 for release in January, she is advancing the release of the 2004 to September 2006. Tom Leonardini Sr., owner of Whitehall Lane, says all 5,000 cases of his 2002 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in the warehouse were lost. Opening a few cases, he discovered that the ullage level was down nearly an inch on most bottles. He said, "I think it cooked off like a reduction sauce."

• Most people don't confuse vodka with wine (unless they've consumed a lot of vodka). But the Swedish company that makes Absolut was worried enough about that possibility to take legal action against a small French winery labeling its wines Tinto Absoluto. Jean Beille makes 6,000 bottles of reds, whites and rosés a year in the town of Cabestany in Rousillon. Believing Switzerland could be a good market and noting the popularity of Spanish wines in Geneva, he gave his French wine a Spanish name, which means "absolutely red." Three months after filing trademark paperwork with the Institut National de Propriete Intellectulle (INPI), he learned that Swedish distiller V&S had filed an objection. "Brand protection is important to V&S as a means to protect the consumers," said spokeswoman Marika Hjelm Siegwald. "They should always know what they get." (Spanish winemakers have not filed any objections.) Cabestany's mayor mentioned the spat to a local newspaper, Beille started a Web site proclaiming "Vodka no pasara" (vodka shall not pass) and messages of support began flooding in. While awaiting resolution of the matter, Beille simply asks, "How could someone confuse a French red wine with a Swedish clear, hard liquor?"

Ante up for this burger: The only thing fast about this food is how quickly your wallet will empty.

• A few years ago, high-end hamburgers became all the rage when chef Daniel Boulud introduced a $29 burger stuffed with foie gras and red wine-braised short-rib meat. Others followed suit, such as Old Homestead, also in New York, which created a $41 Kobe beef burger. But leave it to Las Vegas to be a bit more extravagant than anywhere else. Best of Award of Excellence-winner Fleur de Lys, in Mandalay Bay, has introduced the FleurBurger 5000, which costs, you guessed it, $5,000. Chef Hubert Keller tops his Kobe burger with foie gras and black truffles and serves it on a brioche truffle bun with a special truffle sauce. The dish is accompanied by a bottle of Château Pétrus 1990, and you even get to keep the Ichendorf Brunello stemware, which is shipped home for you. Not to worry, you won't bring your bill up to $10,000 if two want the treat. "As soon as someone orders the FleurBurger 5000, and there is someone else dining with them, they can also have the burger for no extra charge," says restaurant general manager Philippe Tosques. The Pétrus and burger, he adds, is "a combination that really is flawless." Lest you think you need to get lucky at the poker table, the burger without the Pétrus is available for $75. And corkage is only $35, so if you have a Pétrus 1990 of your own, this might be a good occasion to pull it from the cellar.

• First the good news: Someone has finally taken the time to explore the mindset and knowledge held by the typical wine consumer. Now the bad news: there's no such thing as a typical wine consumer. Constellation Wines U.S. took the time to ask more than 100 questions of 3,500 wine drinkers for a study called "Project Genome: Understanding the DNA of the Premium Wine Consumer." The company found that wine drinkers fit into one of six categories. From the top down, they're the knowledgeable Enthusiast (12 percent); the trend-influenced Image Seeker (20 percent); the value-conscious Savvy Shopper (15 percent); the somewhat stubborn Traditionalist (16 percent); the White Zin-drinking Satisfied Sipper (14 percent); and the completely Overwhelmed (23 percent), the largest group of them all. The message to the rest of the wine world was simple: The best way to sell the most wine is to make sure that restaurant wine lists and store shelves contain brands for people in all six groups. We can see it now … an extensive selection of White Zinfandels at Per Se and three vintages of Haut-Brion at Bennigan's.

• Some people love the taste of oak in wine. Now they can have it in their dessert. San Francisco's renowned seafood Aqua Restaurant has introduced a crème brûlée that's infused with oak chips. Sonoma-based Innerstave, a supplier of oak-barrel alternatives, will also be serving samples of the dessert at the Unified Wine & Grape Trade Symposium in Sacramento in January. We've never met a crème brûlée we didn't like, but then again, we're talking about wood here, people.

Not just for aging anymore: The oak barrel is transformed.

• Speaking of barrels of fun … This year was Auction Napa Valley's silver anniversary, but the organizers of the charity fundraiser chose to celebrate 25 years with wood--oak, to be exact. The Napa Valley Vintners hold a barrel auction every year, but this fall they added an auction of barrel art. Twenty-five Napa wineries teamed up with 25 local artists to create artwork crafted from wine barrels, and the results were auctioned off on Oct. 14, earning a total of $101,000 to benefit various local nonprofits. The top lot was designed by well-known wine painter Thomas Arvid, whose ZD Barrel Collage, hosted by ZD Wines, sold for $40,000. Margrit Mondavi painted her barrel with whimsical Bacchus figures; titled Bacchus on the Loose, it sold for $5,000. David Huddleston adhered to the mantra of less is more and created a delicate flock of birds rising from a barrel top for Duckhorn Vineyards. His Courtship Flight sold for $3,500. While wine lots typically sell for far more at the auction's signature events, the barrel purchases, at least, can be enjoyed for a lifetime.

• Though California winemaker Richard Sanford is no longer at Sanford Winery, he's still admired widely enough in Santa Barbara County to merit a special tribute dinner. Held last Friday night at a local landmark, the chapel at La Pursima Mission, the candlelit dinner was the opening event in a weekend devoted to exploring the Santa Rita Hills AVA, where Sanford pioneered Pinot Noir plantings 30 years ago. The setting seemed irreverent to some (Sanford's protégé, winemaker Bruno d'Alfonso, a former altar boy, quipped, "You could never desanctify this place"), but any discomfort wore off as the wine-filled evening wore on. Sanford introduced Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir from his new "baby," Alma Rosa Winery (named for the nearby Santa Rosa hills and the former Rancho Santa Rosa on which his vineyard is planted). Guests praised Sanford, whose vineyards were the first to be certified organic in the county, for his enthusiastic work in preserving the environment. Local Sideways celebrity Frank Ostini, owner of the Hitching Post II restaurant, credited Sanford with inspiring him to go into the wine business. But D'Alfonso gave the best accolade of all, saying Sanford makes the "best margaritas I've ever tasted in my life."

Hillary Clinton and the chefs put wine and food to good works.

• It may take a village to raise a child, but several renowned chefs can help feed one. At the Share Our Strength benefit on Oct. 2 in New York, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton joined chefs such as Joachim Splichal of Patina in Los Angeles and Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern in New York to raise money to fight childhood hunger. The benefit raised more than $200,000, with $38,970 coming from a wine auction. There was not a village wine in sight. The top lot, titled "Bordeaux 1982: Need We Say More?" included one bottle each of Château Lafite Rothschild, Mouton-Rothschild, Margaux, Léoville Las Cases, La Mission-Haut-Brion and Gruaud-Larose. It sold for $3,900 and required Christie's auctioneer Lydia Fenet to say more: To calm the excited bidders, she auctioned off a duplicate lot for the same price.