Robert Mondavi

Robert Mondavi died on friday at age 94. He is credited for having led the growth for California wines. Born in 1913, he attended Lodi High School and studied Business and Economics at Stanford University. After persuading his father to acquire Charles Krug winery, he founded the winery bearing his name in the late sixty's. The rest, as they say, is history...

• In addition to great wine, the winery sponsored great educational programs that included great music acts, as well as chefs (Julia Child, Alice Waters, Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon);
• he worked with great winemakers including Warren Winiarski (Stag's Leap Wine Cellars), Zelma Long (Zelphi, Vilafonte), Mike Grgich (Grgich Hills) and more;
• Launched Opus One with Baron Philippe de Rothschild (of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux);
• Partnered with well-known winemaking families including the Frescobaldi family in Italy, Eduardo Chadwick of Viña Errazuríz in Chile, and Rosemount in Australia;
• Launched, in 2001, Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts;
• He and his second wife, Margrit Biever, launched the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis --as well as the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at UC Davis.

Wine's Carbon Footprint

Interesting read: http://www.drvino.com/2007/10/30/calculating-the-carbon-footprint-of-wine-my-research-findings/

SoBe Wine & Food Fest

Ready for the seventh "Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival" showcasing wine producers, chefs, and foodies? It is hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida and Florida International University (FIU) to benefit FIU's Teaching Restaurant and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center, both located at FIU. Make sure your bring "the official card" or deep pockets!

PBS | The Grapes of Math

Tonight's episode of PBS' Wired Science will skim the surface of the use of technology and science in the vineyard/winery (see "The Grapes of Math" preview below). It should be an interesting program.

What do you think?

eSkye Sold!

Constellation Software Inc., a Canadian firm that provides software and services to a variety of industries, announced on October 1 that it has completed the acquisition of the business assets of California-based eSkye Software, LLC.

See the CSI press release here.

“The acquisition of eSkye’s winery software division provides CHS and Constellation the opportunity to enter a new vertical market and apply our proven operational models and strategies” said Bernard Anzarouth, VP, Business Development of Constellation. “While not a large platform acquisition by Constellation standards we are excited that we have been able to establish a toehold in yet another interesting vertical market."

No Match Program on Hold

A U.S. federal court judge today extended an order preventing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from launching their program to root out illegal immigrants in the nation's workforce.

Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for Northern California, after a two-hour hearing, extended a temporary restraining order for 10 days while he prepares a decision on the legality of the department's efforts.

Breyer's order also blocked the Social Security Administration (SSA) from sending out 140,000 letters to employers with employees whose names don't match their Social Security numbers.

Full Reuters story here.

Key Biscayne Wine Tasting

We're happy to announce the 3rd Annual Key Biscayne Wine Tasting will be held on Wednesday, October 10th from 6-9 PM in Key Biscayne. The evening’s proceeds will benefit the Key Biscayne Rotary Club Foundation, Key Biscayne Community Foundation, and its affiliated charities.

Southern Wine & Spirits of South Florida is sponsoring the event, and providing the opportunity to sample wines from California, South Africa, Italy, Autralia, and France. Click here for more information.

Bullish US Wine Executives

Robert Smiley, from UC-Davis' Graduate School of Management, released his annual report on the state of the US wine industry at the Wine Industry Financial Symposium.

The survey found respondents optimistic about the state of the industry, given the growth of the US wine market. It also found exectives concerned about the long-term impact of climate change.

[See the UC-Davis press releases for 2007, 2006, and 2005 for the evolution of optimism].

I hope the good news will prompt some of the participants to (1) explore the increased competition from markets whose domestic markets are shrinking, and (2) focus on immediate actions to understand and mitigate climate change.

No time to be complacent.

Friday Funny

© RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch

Harvest now; immigration later...

Growers do not have to worry about becoming the enforcement arm of immigration policy, yet.

The US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arm issued a rule called the "Safe-Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter" which was to take effect on 9/14/2007.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA) which enjoins and restrains those agencies from implementing the aforementioned rule. A hearing to consider an injunction that would extend this stay is scheduled for 10/12007.

This is a good time to learn more about the implications of this rule.

One of the most compreshensive sites I've found is UC Berkeley's Agricultural Personnel Management Program. Their procedures page offers links to SSA, ICE, US District courts, and broader analyses of of the regulation.

Another great resource is AgSafe.org, a non-profit coalition that is holding informational sessions on the regulation throughout California (Napa, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Fresno).

Wine Wedge*

A buddy gave me a "Wine Wedge" set. I thought I'd toss them in our kitchen's catch-all drawer, until my wife pointed to the four bottles of wine cluttering the counter. (She probably wanted them put away; I thought she was suggesting I should lay them flat).

I don't think wedges are going to put the cellar-builders out of business, but they do make for a practical "on-the-fly" solution to stack wine bottles on the kitchen counter, or in the fridge.

Kudos to the folks that made a simple and practical solution that taps into our desire to stack things, like bottles, into pyramids.

*Not wedgie, mind you - though here is a good one from Scrubs on YouTube.

Miami Int'l Wine Fair

Did you know Florida's wine industry is a $1.8 billion market?

The 6th Annual Miami International Wine Fair will open its doors at the Miami Beach Convention Center to thousands of wine trade professionals and avid wine aficionados during the second weekend of September 2007. The event is presented by Infiniti and will benefit the American Red Cross.

This has become one of my favorite events to find boutique wineries from around the world. See you there!

Business 2.0 | Fred Franzia

"The Next Disruptors" is the Business 2.0 cover story for September 2007. Coincidentally (?), page 84 has an article by Joel Stein entitled, "Two Buck Chuck Takes a Bite Out of Napa." The article's intro:

"Fred Franzia, the man behind America's favorite bargain vino, has a big mouth and an even bigger winemaking empire -one that's scaring the bejeezus out of his elitist rivals."

Check out the article (interesting contrast to this May 2006 article in Inc.). As the fourth largest US wine company, Bronco Wine Company is a quite a force.

Growers as Homeland Security Agents?

One more thing to worry about.

Employers, including many grapegrowers, are now the link between immigration compliance and the Social Security Administration.

Under the Department of Homeland Security's August 10th reforms, employers are liable for fraudulent documents and must fire employees unable to clear up problems with their Social Security numbers. Employers who fail to comply will face fines and sanctions.

In the past, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sent employers a "no match letter" to inform employers of discrepancies between an employee's name and Social Security Number. These letters are now considered constructive knowledge for an employer to conclude that the employee lacks legal status --and follow procedures to resolve the mismatch, or terminate the employee.

See this summary from Saqui and Raimondo for more detail.

Doddaballapur Wine

A New York Times article ("India’s Whiskey-Drinking Elite Make Room for Wine") reminded me to look up the name of a wine a techie-friend tried on a trip to Bangalore, India.

The recommendation was for Grover Vineyards La Reserve, a Cabernet Sauvignon / Syrah blend made by a family that has been growing winegrapes in India for nearly twenty years.

Grover Vineyards seems to be doing quite well. They've been advised by Michel Rolland since 1995, affiliated with Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin of France since 1996, and have grown to nearly ~200 acres.

Flat world...

Harvest is Coming!

The nice folks at Cork Board have a nice entry on "Five ways you can tell the annual grape harvest is near."

We have a list from the Vitechculture (viticulture + technology) perspective... which really becomes different interpretations of the "deer in the headlights" look of our grapegrowing friends.

Why? They're trying to figure out -using our application, calculators, papers, and toes- when to harvest what... Our report, dubbed the "o5heet" (for obvious reasons), tells many of our users what their gut has told them all season; you can't process twenty tons if you have the capacity for five...

In any case, this is a great time to write about our users, as most of them don't have time to read silly blogs. They're too busy using the application at 2:42 AM on Monday morning trying to sort out where the crews and bins need to be. Read email? Answer the phone? Sleep? Fuggedaboutit!

So, if you see any of these brave and disoriented souls in the next few weeks, offer them some coffee, walk them back to their trucks, and point 'em back to the vineyards...

SLWC Sold!

Wow!

Warren Winiarski announced on Monday the sale of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars to a joint venture between Marchese Antinori and UST, Inc (NYSE UST), owners of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. The $185 million sale price was disclosed yesterday.

The acquisition, although characterized as a small by Reuters, is big news in the wine industry. It is also the most surprising sale, following similar news this week from Duckhorn Wine Company and William Hill Estate.

For greater detail, please see this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Da Wine!

A Chitown buddy of mine recently gave us a bottle of 2005 Mike Ditka's "Kick Ass Red," made in partnership with the Mendocino Wine Company.

I won't offend our readers with my simplistic review of the wine. Instead, I point you to a January 2007 blind tasting by the Chicago Sun Times of the 2004 Mike Ditka Kick Ass Red against a 1998 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon.

Is this fair?

It is when you consider the "unbiased" panel included columnists Mark Brown, Elliot Harris, David Roeder, and Paige Wiser. The 50-50 vote leads us to one conclusion; you'll have to try Da Wine! yourself...

The truth about blogging

From Hugh McLeod on GapingVoid

CNN Money | Entrepreneurial Vintners

I was happy to see a CNN Money.com article yesterday featuring two of my favorite CA wine producers: Hall Wines and Michael-David Vineyards. Read article here.

The article described the advantages of operating a small wineries. I particularly liked the emphasis that both groups place on grassroots marketing.

A visit to the Hall Wines website shows how a small winery can have a huge presence on the web. Another strategy is explained by David Phillips, "We're constantly on the road, spreading the message."

Good luck to both, and keep making great wine!