Vinopanion

Ward Kadel – drXeNo: WineLog.net West Coast Ambassador & Staff Blogger

By now, all of us around the world are very aware of the devastation that continues to unfold in the nation of Haiti from the earthquake of January 12, 2010. The resulting aftermath and aftershocks have continued to pummel the small island nation and it requires every increasing levels of aid and resources. It is with these very concerns that have prompted the creation of an unprecedented, global online charity wine auction to directly support the recovery efforts in Haiti.

What happens when you get bunches of wine bloggers all together to take over a small wine country town? Mine cave-ins, death, destruction and mass group arrests! OK…that didn’t quite happen, but mass chaos, super amounts of fun and the realization that Calaveras County is an up-and-coming wine region with Murphys leading the charge as a boutique wine destination definitely DID occur. The Twisted Oak Winery Pre-WBC09 Murphys/CalaCo wine event had dropped, and there was no going back!

This past week saw another article of mine published at Palate Press: The Online Wine Magazine. I first mentioned Palate Press when it had its very successful launch earlier this year, as well as when my first article debuted, a comparison of crystal stemware. My second article is now posted, a wide-ranging review of the 2009 harvest across many of the appellations in Northern California.

I attended a most enlightening Bordeaux tasting a couple weeks back, courtesy of JJ Buckley Fine Wines, an outstanding online purveyor of wine based out of the SF Bay Area. The event was held at the well known French restaurant La Folie, which also provided the nibbles that were served alongside the wines that night. Tuesday Night Bordeaux aimed to prove to its lucky attendees that good to outstanding quality wine can be had in Bordeaux at affordable prices. All of the wines were $35 and under, with most falling into the $25 and under range.

One recent bright evening in San Francisco, The Lady and I had the opportunity to head below the border, as in below the Equator…to Argentina! A new wine label is set to drop on our half of the Earth called Espiritu de Argentina. Combining the efforts of the US-based Cecchetti Racke, Espiritu de Chile and Argentine winery Bodega Monte Real, it will feature a full line of affordable and Argentine wines. Lady and I met in front of the resto Destino, where we would have the lucky opportunity of getting a sneak peak at these quaffable wines paired with a one-time 7 course small plates meal, all courtesy of Balzac Communications.

What does a down-on-its luck, premium French blending grape varietal do after it’s been kicked out of its ancestral home for having the sniffles? It merely travels around the world and reinvents itself as the defining varietal of the newest and hippest wine growing nation, of course! Carmenère, say goodbye to Bordeaux and hello to Casablanca!

I am incredibly fired up for this new project that I’m working on with the CIVB (Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux). I’ll be a founding “Le Wine Buff” working with EnjoyBordeaux.com to reintroduce affordable, high quality Bordeaux wines back to your dinner table.

Sometimes life just nicely comes together. Sitting down at the end of the 2009 North American Wine Bloggers Conference in the sunny courtyard of Dry Creek Vineyard, I happened to sit across from one Jill Dever (Twitter). She being the Visitor Center Coordinator at Beaulieu Vineyard and the newly minted social media queen of all that is BV. We got to chatting and she mentioned that BV was really looking to expand its presence in social media, particularly with wine bloggers. A card swap, a few introductions and a new wine journey had begun!

Any vinopanion of mine can tell you that I love wines made from mountain fruit. Give me those highly structured, dark and angry-fruited wines any day of the week! They also might be able to tell you that I grew up in Napa Valley and so I have tasted quite a few wines from its many appellations. What they may not be able to tell you is that I grew up at the base of one of my top two favorite wine regions of the world…Mount Veeder. One morning in late August, I had the lucky opportunity to take part in an intimate escape to one of the few Mt. Veeder wineries that I had yet to visit, the craftsman Estate of Rubissow Wines.

As I mentioned in my last post, the new online wine magazine Palate Press has launched and with it today, my first article hits the virtual presses!