California Chardonnays sometimes get a bad reputation for being overly oaky. While big, oaky Chards definitely have their place, especially with richer foods, an unoaked Chardonnay can offer a light and fruity taste that is perfect for summer. Summers Estate Wines in Calistoga has released their "Le Nude," a limited-production un-oaked Chardonnay which is fermented in stainless steel and produced from grapes grown in the Alexander Valley. This is the first time Summers Estate Wines has produced a "naked" Chardonnay. The wine is made from grapes grown in the Alexander Valley and has flavors of tropical fruit and yellow flowers. This wine sells for $24 and has a screw cap, making it an easy choice for outdoor picnics.

One of the most respected names in winemaking, Heidi Barrett, has announced her first new project since leaving the famed Screaming Eagle, she will be working with Fantesca Estate & Winery. Barrett, called the "The First Lady of Wine" by the "emperor of wine" critic Robert Parker, Jr., is the only winemaker ever to have received five perfect scores from the top wine critics in the country.

We've covered Fantesca for their Adopt A Grape project before, which offers an inside look at winemaking through a series of films. They will be capturing the entire growing season with bi-monthly high definition films. Heidi Barrett, Vineyard Manager Jim Barbour and owners Susan and Duane Hoff will take the viewer from bud break through harvest on adopt a grape. Visitors can also adopt a grape from one of Fantesca's seven vineyard blocks following it in films, photos, and written updates.

If you are looking to sell the family winery you might want to think about doing it soon. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that a recent study indicates that between 500 and 1,000 family-owned wineries in California, Oregon and Washington could be sold in the coming years. The major reasons for this mass sell-off is that the next generation is either unwilling or unprepared to take the reins from their winemaking parents.

Financier Bill Price, a vineyard owner and co-founder of Texas Pacific Group ttold a wine conference in Santa Rosa on Wednesday that if they want to sell they should do it soon. He cited a study conducted by Silicon Valley Bank which showed that 88 percent of wineries in the United States were founded after 1975. Over half of those surveyed, 51 percent, were planning to transition ownership of their business in the next ten years but 45 percent of those said they don't have any one willing to take over. This function of our Baby Boomer culture could lead to a a cycle in which early sellers will get premium prices but those sellers in the heart of the cycle when everyone is selling will have trouble getting their top price and may have to wait until the end of the cycle when the supply plummets and prices start to rise again.

Last fall I mentioned that Paul Newman was entering the wine business with the launch of Newman's Own 2006 California Chardonnay and 2006 California Cabernet Sauvignon. Now we've got pictures. To create the wines Newman worked with Rebel Wine Company and the wines are made from grapes in California's coastal vineyards, including ones in the Napa, Sonoma and San Luis Obispo counties. The labels feature Newman's face as well as drawings of two hats that Newman wore as Butch in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." A cowboy hat is on the Chardonnay label and there is a bowler hat on the Cabernet label. Newman does many great things, money generated from the products has allowed the Newman's Own Foundation to donate more than 200 million dollars to thousands of charities, but I still question whether or no the $16 retail is too high for these wines. I guess the proof will be either in the taste or in the power of Newman's fan base.

The Rutherford appellation in Napa Valley is looking for a little respect. In an effort to help educate consumers about the region the Rutherford Appellation Wineries have created their first Passport weekend on December 1-2. A $50 passport gets you access to 13 participating wineries which will offer special pourings, tastings and entertainment. The list of destinations includes the Swanson Salon, Peju, Beaulieu and Grgich Hills. Each winery is organizing unique offerings such as Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s at Beaulieu Vineyard, exclusive access to Alpha Omega's state-of-the-art tank room and artisan cheese and antipasto with your wine at Honig Vineyard & Winery. Profits from the event got to the Rutherford Dust Restoration Team, a group of vintners and growers working to improve the health of the Napa River as it passes through the Rutherford AVA.

Following in the footsteps of Martha Stewart, Paul Newman becomes the latest celeb with a wine label. Newman's Own 2006 California Chardonnay and 2006 California Cabernet Sauvignon will be released next March. In the press release, Paul Newman notes that he originally bottles his first product, his salad dressing in old wine bottles with parchment labels, so the brand is coming full circle. Since that beginning 25 years ago Newman's Own has grown into a major brand offering pasta sauce, lemonade, salsa and more. Money generated from the products has allowed the Newman's Own Foundation to donate more than 200 million dollars to thousands of charities.

Newman worked with Rebel Wine Company, which also makes True Earth organic wine which we have previously profiled. The Newman wines are made from grapes sourced from coastal vineyards and are expected to sell for $16. An article in AdAge mirrors a question I had which is whether $16 is too high a price for wine's that have a celebrity name but not a lot of celebrity input. The True Earth wines sells for around $13 and Martha Stewart's wine is expected to sell for around $15. Newman's products generally seem to be a little pricer than others and consumers have been willing to pay a little more knowing that it goes to a good cause. Wine lovers, however, tend to purchase based on a complex variety of factors (including terroir and the recommendations of wine bloggers and critics) and might be a tougher nut to crack as they expect a lot from a bottle that veers toward the $20 bottle range.

For certain winemakers, what is on the label rather than what is inside is the main selling feature. We've seen it recently with the wines that put Jesus and infamous dictators on the bottles and we are seeing it again in the new 2005 Mamietage wine which features images of aging bombshell Mamie Van Doren. Like the Marilyn Monroe wines we have seen before, this wine features nude pictures that are covered by peel-away stickers. The are three 1.5 liter bottles, two images of Mamie today (heavily Photoshopped, we hope, although for someone born in 1931 according to IMDB she looks fabulous) and one of Mamie at age 21. Should you choose to partake of the wine you will find a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Syrah and Malbec from the Alexander Valley bottled by the Armida winery which is located in Healdsburg, CA. A set of all three bottles sells for $300.

[via Wine Spectator]

To honor Jimmy Mancbach, the longtime director of fine wine for Southern Wine & Spirits, who died earlier this year, Southern Wine & Spirits and Wine Spectator have partnered up for a unique auction. Throughout the month of October, lots of rare wines and travel and food packages will be auctioned off in order to establish the Jimmy Mancbach Memorial Scholarship Foundation. Proceeds of the auction will help fund young wine professionals to work side-by-side with renowned winemakers during harvest. The auction is a one-time event and it is hoped that the money raised will hep fund the program for many years.

The auction includes 450 cases of magnums available in the auction and several "lifestyle" lots. Some wine lots are available for bidding now and bidding on the lifestyle lots will be opened on October 15. The auction includes Signature Cuvees from Au Bon Climat, Loring Wine Company, Schrader Cellars, and Soter Vineyards, large rare bottles, vertical collections and special selections from Jimmy's personal cellar. The list of wineries donating lots is a who's who of California wine including Colgin Cellars, Grace Family Vineyards, Hanzell Vineyards, Kistler, Marcassin and Screaming Eagle. The lifestyle lots feature dinners with chefs such as Emeril Lagasse and Daniel Boulud, winery tours and dinners, vacation packages and VIP tickets to popular wine event. All in all, it's a very fitting tribute to a beloved bon vivant of the wine industry.

[via Wine Business]

White Rocket Wine Company, the wine company created by Kendall-Jackson's Jess Jackson to create wines to attract the attention of younger wine consumers, has launched a new wine, Silver Palm Cabernet Sauvignon. The winemaker is Meliss Bates, who has worked at wineries such as Rutherford Hill and Sebastiani. The grapes are primarily from Napa and Sonoma and the first vintage is the 2005. The wine has been aged in French and American oak barrels and has dried cherry, black currant and peppercorn flavors. It sells for $30 per bottle or $10 per glass and will only be available on-premise. Sexy bottle and it seems to me that the name might also lure people who might have heard of Silver Oak...

Often when people first get into tasting wines, they feel that many wines taste alike but then as they get deeper into tasting various varietals they begin to notice the differences. But are the differences between the varietals began to disappear in order to satisfy the demands of marketing wines? Roger Dial has written an interesting piece for Appellation America about varietal distinctiveness. In order to test whether or not various red wine varietals are starting to taste alike he gathered a bunch of wine enthusiasts for a tasting of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Syrah. All the wines were Californian from designated AVAs, and as far as they knew 100 percent varietal. The blind tasting included one relatively high, and one relatively low alcohol version of each variety.

The results were interesting. The Pinot Noir won out with 100% recognition but even with the Pinot included in the stats, the overall varietal distinctiveness score from the expert panel was an unimpressive 43 percent. Without the Pinot in the equation, the varietal distinctiveness factor of the four remaining varietals shrunk to 29 percent. So what does this mean? Are California reds all blurring into one taste profile, a slightly sweet high alcohol fruit bomb? It may be that in the desire to make wines that appeal to a wide variety of palates that some individuality has been lost. It does make a fun tasting game to try at home with friends and see if you can determine which varietal is which. It also raises the question of whether or not varietal preference (as expressed most vehemently by Miles in "Sideways") has become more a question of brand recognition than of actual taste.

Giving a new meaning to the words wine flight, the Chandelle Winery specializes in wines with aviation art. The Sonoma winery takes its name from an aviation term used to describe a 180-degree change in direction and an increase in altitude. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's New York-to-Paris flight, the winery is offering a special limited edition labeled wine called The 19th Hour, The Spirit of St Louis. The 2004 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Chardonnay Sonoma County wines have a label created by aviation artist Keith Ferris as well as a special 80th anniversary medallion. A portion of the sales will go to the Lindbergh Foundation, which supports technological solutions to improve the environment for a sustainable future. A three bottle box of two 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon and one 2005 Chardonnay Spirit of St Louis 80th Anniversary Edition sells for $70.

[via General Aviation News]

Grgich Hill Estates celebrated their 30th anniversary on July 4 with a unique production, their first biodynamically produced wine, a limited-production 2006 Sauvignon Blanc called Essence. An article in Wines and Vines reports that Grgich Hills owns 366 acres, which are all certified organic and farmed biodynamically. The Grgich Hills website has a great slideshow and FAQ on biodynamics. The process, which was derived from lectures by Rudolf Steiner is more than just going organic,although both practices use compost. Biodynamics treats the soils with a variety of preparations to bring microbial life and nutrients to the soil. The preparations seem a bit wacky at first and include cow manure packed in a cow how, a stag's bladder stuffed with yarrow flowers and stinging nettle tea. The planting, harvesting and other tasks are timed in harmony with the earth's natural cycles. How biodynamics works is a bit of a mystery but more and more wineries in the U.S. and in Europe are finding that it makes for better wines.

The grapes for the Essence wine were hand-harvested at night Sept. 13-22 so they arrived at the winery cool and intact and were aged for seven months in large oak casks. The wine has notes of citrus and kiwi with the classic Sauvignon Blanc minerality. It sells for around $40 and 374 cases were produced.

I never knew that the Jacuzzi family , famous for the Jacuzzi spa also made wine but they do. In fact they have just opened a lavish new winery in the Sonoma Valley in partnership with the Olive Press. The two businesses are setting up shop on Highway 121 in an 18,000-square-foot Italian stone villa on 190 acres along Highway 121, directly across the road from Cline Cellars. red Cline is the maternal grandson of Valeriano Jacuzzi, one of the five brothers who took part in the creation of the Jacuzzi Spa. Fred and Nancy Cline also own Cline Cellars. The wines so far are from separate vineyards but according to an article in Sonoma News the two labels may share some vineyard sources in the future.

The new winery takes its inspiration from the Jacuzzi family home in Italy and has stone buildings assembled around a central coutryard. One wing is devoted to the Olive Press which makes high-end olive oil. The Jacuzzi winery uses "Green String" biodynamic farming practices with no chemical pesticides or fertilizers. The winery produces Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Nebbiolo, Primitivo and others at prices starting around $20.

The new Hayman & Hill Interchange wine from Cellar Door intrigues me because it has a bumper crop of white varietals. Interchange is a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat, Malvasia Bianca, Semillon and Gewürztraminer grapes. The grapes are meant to represent the diverse terrain of Santa Barbara county. The wine is described as having a floral nose and a tropical palate with just a hint of oak.

Hayman & Hill is named for its winemakers, David Hayman and Dennis Hill. David Hayman has seventeen years of strong international winemaking experience and is Blackstone Winery's Senior Vice President of Operation. Dennis Hill has over twenty five years of winemaking experience with many leading Sonoma wineries and is the Chief Winemaker for the Blackstone Winery. The Interchange wine is priced at $13.99.

I've sung the praises of the Cuvée Julia from Delectus vineyard before. The pricey Cabernet-heavy, Bordeaux-like blend sells out each year since only 200 cases are made each year. Each year's vintage also has a distinctively adorable label that relates to Julia, winemaker Gerhard Reisacher's beloved daughter. Now you can pick up a vertical of the vintages 1999 through 2004. The winery is selling 40 wooden six-packs. on a first-come, first-serve basis. The collection sells for $1200 retail or $960 for their wine club members.