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Eureka! California Wine Institute brings Golden State wineries to China

Posted on | October 22, 2008 | 1 Comment

Dozens of Golden State winery reps poured for distributors, restaurateurs, journalists, and consumers as the California Wine Institute held a two-hour tasting last Friday at 1949: The Hidden City in Beijing. My notes will take time to decipher, given they look – as Ring Lardner might have put it – “like the output of a 3 yr. old child with a satisfied craving for brandy.”

For the moment, a few observations:

- The event featured about 70 California producers, some of which were strictly there to find potential distributors, and it required a steady pace to hit every table in two hours (alack and alas, I fell behind).

- I found the alcohol levels high in quite a few wines, including several Chardonnays. This might be related to an Australian tasting I joined that morning, though some of those wines were also big, but in any case I found a lot of “hot stuff.”

- The booklet provided about California wine needs to be updated, as for example the most recent export statistics are from 2004, but this bilingual publication is otherwise useful, with plenty of info on wine regions, appellations, output, and variety plantings (more than half of the whites are Chardonnay, while Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel are tops for reds).

- Given California’s music and movie industries, and the fruit bombs that hail from there, I’d expect meatier slogans than “Taste the sunshine” and “Enjoy the way we live in the wines we make.” Why not use the state motto: Eureka: Discover California Wines or Eureka: Discover the Golden State (kind of evokes the Gold Rush, no?). Anyway, “Taste the sunshine” doesn’t do it for me and evokes Spinal Tap’s “Smell the glove” album (which I guess is OK if the wine has hints of leather).

Again, my notes are messy, but I remember liking the Schramsberg Rose Sparkling Wine (60 percent Pinot Noir, 40 percent Chardonnay), the Lockwood Sauvignon Blanc (lots of fresh grass, decent acidity) and  a few Zinfandel that were big but balanced and had so much zingy fruit they almost vibrate in the mouth. Bogle Chenin Blanc 2007 also impressed a good number of people.

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The wineries as listed on the invite:

Adler Fels / Annandale /Austin Hope / Balletto /Bogle / Bear Republic / Buffalo Grove / Castoro Cellars / Chalk Hill / Cuvaison / C.G. Di Arie / Cool Fish / Darioush / Decoy / Dierberg Vineyard / Dog Tail / Duckhorn Vineyards / Ehlers Estate / Estrada Creek / E. & J. Gallo Winery / Ferrari-Carano / Fife Vineyards / Flowers Winery / Galante Vineyards / Geyser Peak / Goldeneye / Hall Wines / Hayes Ranch / Highlands Winery / Honig / Ironstone Vineyards / J Vineyards & Winery / JAQK Cellars /Jordan / Justin / Kenwood Vineyards / Kendall-Jackson / Landmark / Leaping Lizard / Leaping Horse / Liberty School / Mandolin / Mahoney / Martin & Weyrich / Madrone Vineyards / Maple Ridge / Miner Family Winery / Meyer Family / Neil Bassetti Vineyards & Wine / Nichols Winery & Cellars / Paraduxx / Peachy Canyon / Pezzi King Vineyards / Rodney Strong / Rosenthal: The Malibu Estate / Round Hill / Rutherford Ranch / Rosewood Cellars / Ravenswood / Robert Mondavi Winery / Summerland Winery / Silver Fox / Soleil & Terroir / Stonehedge / Surfrider / Stone Valley / Schramsberg / Star Lane Vineyard / The Meeker Vineyard / Treana Winery / Trefethen Family Vineyards / Valley of the Moon / Wente Vineyards / Whitehall Lane / Waterstone / Z52

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Note: Hat tip to Zeon Chow of Rutherford Bench and Napa Reserve for the heads up about this event.

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Comments

One Response to “Eureka! California Wine Institute brings Golden State wineries to China”

  1. Link sul vino del 26 ottobre 2008 : Vino24
    October 26th, 2008 @ 6:10 am

    [...] in Cina: quelli dell’Argentina che il 13 ottobre hanno fatto una degustazioni a Shanghai; quelli californiani che hanno fatto una promozione a Pechino; segnalo inoltre questo articolo Foreign wine enterprises [...]

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