Entering Warwick Estate is like entering a reception for an elegant garden party. Before a guest even tastes the wine in the gorgeously designed tasting room, or in one of the many outdoor venues for a picnic, the stage is set for an afternoon experience.

A bit early for our appointment with winemaker Nic van Aarde, we settle into chairs around a garden-themed tasting table and take in the scene. Two very attractive young servers, apparently just hired for the busy summer season, are being trained in the various brands.

Norma Radcliffe, one of the first female winemakers in S. Africa and daughter of Warwick founder Stan Radcliffe, is the force behind the famous Bordeaux blend, Trilogy, popularized Cabernet Franc, and was instrumental in launchng the Pinotage society so it is natural that these wines are consistent award winners (though there are other award winning red blends, and Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc as well). Norma’s son Mike Radcliffe, Managing Director, had been instrumental in narrowing the offerings as well as seeing placement in China through various partnerships.

“Welcome,” says winemaker Nic van Aarde upon arrival, bringing us wines to taste. The whites are refreshing and crisp, and the reds … especially the Trilogy, has the kind of elegance and finesse one doesn’t usually find in new world wines. The Estate Reserve (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc) is aged 24 months in French oak, giving it incredible richness. But then again, Stan Ratcliffe purchased the farm in 1964 after an extensive search for the best ‘terroir’ in the Cape and soon discovered that the Cabernet Sauvignon vines produced high quality grapes. The Ratcliffe’s also have fun with some of the names of the brands … think Professor Black, The Black Lady and the notorious Three Cape Ladies.

Beyond the pleasures of the tasting room there is much to do here – one has a choice of several picnic areas, each with different theme, and one can also take a “Big 5 Wine Safari” – an opportunity to take a vineyard tour in our dedicated Land Rover Safari vehicles. This is a genuine 4x4 experience and is not for the faint hearted.
 

Warwick Winery

See all visits to S. Africa producers

"So what's the story with these gorgeous horses?" I ask Charles Hopkins, cellar master at De Grendel wines in Cape Town. It is a gorgeous day, and I am sitting in the bright white tasting room with Charles and Richard Theron, Sales & Marketing Manager looking out at sleek Arab horses, meandering sheep, and some healthy looking vines.

De Grendel means “the latch” in Dutch – this farm was historically the gateway on the route to the inland settlements of Durbanville and Stellenbosch which had to be opened to traverse the Tygerberg.

Charles explains that this winery (they are called farms in S. Africa, possibly because so many wineries started out as farms) has been in the Graaff family for three generations.

Today Baronet, Sir David Graaff, retired politician and leading wine farmer, continues the legacy left by his father and grandfather before him. Originally used for the breeding of Arab horses, the Graaffs also breed award-winning cattle and sheep as well as growing wines. The commitment to the wine program is such that now, after just a few years, De Grendel is a firmly established key player in the South African wine industry with a number of accolades to their name.

Before I discuss the wine, I really need to discuss this property which is only twenty minutes away from the "civilization" of Cape Town sitting high on Tygerberg Hill, with 270 degrees panoramics that include imposing Table Mountain, the city of Cape Town and the seaboard all in one landscape.

It is the only vineyard in the country that is 350m above sea level and only 7 km from the sea. This elevated position forms an integral part of the micro-climate that shapes the elegance of the wines (note: balance is often hard to achieve with the intensely hot weather. Here the vines benefit from the western-facing aspect and the close moderating effects of the ocean. According to Charles, the goal is the expression of the character of this distinctive position.

In the photo above, Charles is showing an aerial view of the vineyard - a satellite view showing where the vineyard needs more nutrition. It is an expensive process but one which is responsible for the elegance and balance of the wine. We try several wines, two Sauvignon Blancs, their signature Bordeaux blend called Rubaivat, a Merlot, a Pinot Noir, and all are incredibly delicious.

As a winery, De Grandel is taking what what Charles calls a "30 year approach" and building their brand with quality. The wines are in many top restaurants as a way of building the brand, and the winery has many exciting events for visitors. The events change with the seasons, and you can see them all at the website below!

http://www.degrendel.co.za/
 

... so on the trip, our group will also be stopping at the winery of Weingut Markus Schneider.

According to the web site (a rather creative and loose Google translation) Schneider likes to make fresh, concentrated wine with more mineral than fruit and works on the principle ("less is more.)

Red wine - which is the focus of this trip - is mascerated for long hours and aged with oak. The soil includes loamy earth, clay, crushed stone, gravel, sand, loess, sandstone, limestone, and rock and has deep, diverse geological formations. Weather consists of warm days and cool nights, which is great for ripeness and high acidity.

Very excited to meet him and taste through his wines!
 

"Now all we need are sun umbrellas!" said a friend recently at Brasserie Beaumarchais, a very fun restaurant with a lively club-style brunch.

The restaurant scene in St. Tropez is fairly wild and decadent with wealthy patrons spraying expensive champagne at one another and bikini-clad patrons dancing to loud disco music. The scene was more subdued at Beaumarchais, and decidedly more elegant with the gorgeous chandeliers, elegant red velvet curtains, and cool, clean style of the place. One visitor described it this way: imagine the most elegant restaurant your parents would take you to for a graduation lunch, only to see it turn into a club at the strike of three pm." 

If you are in the right mood  (and who wouldn't be?) it's impossible to imagine a more fun experience on a Sunday afternoon in New York. The champagne list is quite extensive, rose wine is served by the magnum, and you will find some excellent choice Bordeaux on the list.

What's most surprising about Beaumarchais, beyond the fine wine and champagne list, is how good the cuisine really is. With throbbing music and people dancing on chairs, excellent cuisine is a surprise. Executive Chef Nicolas Cantrel worked under the famed Alain Ducasse in Paris as well as one of my all-time favorite chefs, Daniel Boulud, here in New York. The space was most recently Bagatelle (reviewed here) which had the same Sunday party theme.

Beyond the great food and wine, you will find your usual club scene, including bikini-clad house dancers, a male dancer dressed as some sort of lizard-like creature, and lots of sparklers and commotion when patrons celebrating birthdays ordered expensive bottles of champagne.Fans of Club 55, one of the longest-lived and most popular of St. Tropez's beach cafes, will enjoy the shared platters, especially the fresh vegetable plate. Fun!

409 West 13th Street, (212) 675-2400.

Naked Wine by Alice Feiring
Reviewed by Marisa D'Vari

In this colorful narrative vaguely similar to Kermit Lynch’s Adventures on the Wine Route, Alice Feiring tackles “natural wine,” currently one of the hottest subjects in the wine world. Most people think that like buying the freshest produce in a greenmarket, the more natural the wine, the better. Yet many respected wine critics are against natural wine, and even some winemakers famed for their natural winemaking practices agree there may be limits to how “natural” a wine should go.

So what is natural wine, anyway? Basically, it refers to any wine made with natural yeast and a minimum of outside chemicals, including sulfur. Sulfur is a naturally occurring byproduct of the fermentation process. The problem is that in the past, producers across the globe have been too liberal in its use, adding a surplus of sulfur to keep oxygen and bacteria from spoiling the wine. Today – outside of large-scale commercial wineries, this is changing slowly due to the ‘natural wine’ movement.

Naked Wine centers on Alice Feiring’s journey to discover for herself and her audience the viability of a truly natural wine. Beyond prohibiting (or lessening) the use of sulfur, ‘natural wine’ to Feiring means letting grapes ‘do what comes naturally.’ This means no additions of any kind, even water to lower the potential alcohol of a wine grown in a hot region.

This narrative dramatizes Feiring’s quest to see, through her own winemaking experiments and in conversations with other winemakers, it is possible to make a natural wine. In the end, she ultimately discovers that the natural wine issue is not truly black or white.

The story opens as Feiring is presented with the opportunity of making her own natural wine in California, as in the past she had blasted the state for wine that is “overripe, over-manipulated, and overblown.” She is to make her own wine, in its own tank, from the tannic Sagrantino grape in Sonoma County under the guidance of a seasoned winemaking friend.

With enthusiasm, Feiring hand picks the grapes, drives the forklift that takes the grapes to the de-stemming machine, and begins to stomp the grapes with her bare feet over several days to start the fermentation process. The work is harder than anticipated, yet the wine ultimately begins to ferment. The only glitch is that Feiring wanted to make a low alcohol wine like the French wine she prefers, and the brix (sugar level) is so high her winemaking friend advises her to add 10 gallons of water to reduce the potential alcohol.

The very idea of ‘altering’ her hard-won natural wine with something as simple as water is deeply disturbing to Feiring, and drama ensues when she discovers that her friend performed this necessary task for her. The California experience seems to demonstrate that as much as one tries to be completely natural, winemakers are faced with situations like this (high alcohol) that force them to weigh the benefits of intervention.

Feiring then goes on an adventure in search of natural winemakers, both famous and those just starting out, to discuss the natural wine movement. First she travels to France to meet with pioneer Nicolas Joly, whom she calls the ‘Deepak Chopra” of wine dynamics. Joly made a name for himself in the 80’s by returning to his family’s winery after working a banker, and being one of the first to embrace biodynamics (winemakers treating the farm as a cohesive, interconnected living system).

Feiring is with Joly to judge wine for Joly’s Renaissance group, which awards stars to wines they accept in their traveling show. The basic entry requirements include no synthetic chemicals allowed in the vineyard, and no allowance for genetically modified or aromatic yeasts.

During the tasting, Feiring felt many producers misunderstood the requirements, as many wines from Germany reeked of what seemed to be factory-created yeast (versys indigenous) and excess sulfur, and some of the California Pinots tasted out of balance and overripe. When one California winemaker learned he did not make the cut, he retorted: “I had not known the group was looking for bacteria-ridden wines that were so natural six bottles out of twelve had to be thrown out. I don’t make that kind of wine. I have a business to run!”

And with that statement, the California winemaker reveals the crux of the natural wine controversy. In the course of this book, one discovers that it does seem possible to make natural wine, without any additions, in a perfect vintage with excellent terroir. The challenge is that few winemakers have the luxury of producing wine only in perfect vintages, and face tumultuous economic risks unless they can take some preventative measures (using a little sulfur, adding water, etc) to save the wine from heat, rain, rot, etc. In the course of Feiring’s many interviews with small ‘natural’ winemakers, many whispered in apologetic tones about how they had to add sulfur or risk losing the vintage … clearly feeling some shame in doing so.

Feiring’s colorful story introduces the reader to vibrant, real-life characters such as famed winemakers Nicolas Joly and Eric Texier, as well as the small, dedicated, winemakers we may never meet or even hear of, such as American Matt Kling and Amy Lillard, who moved to the Rhone Valley after meeting at Kermit Lynch’s wine store in Berkeley. Definitely recommended for readers who enjoy learning more about winemakers, the art of making wine, and the intricacies of the natural wine movement.

Naked Wine: Letting Grapes do What Comes Naturally, by Alice Feiring
Da Capo Press $24
ISBN 978-0-306 81953-7

"Help! Need the PERFECT picnic wines to suit many foods and many guests this July 4th. What to buy!?"

Pairing a wine to match a holiday theme, various 'outdoor' style dishes, and the tastes of guests who may be new to wine or have discerning preferences, can be a challenge.

Yet if you stick with a "red, white, and blue" theme you will please every guest and have an appropriate pairing for every Independence day holiday dish.

When it comes to holidays, parties of eight or more guests, and lighter, more casual cuisine typically served family style, variety is the spice of life. Just as Independence Day cuisine is usually fun, light, and casual, the wine should also follow this mode. The wines listed below are under $20, widely available, and delicious.

First, though, you will want to have an American sparkling wine on hand to welcome guests and to celebrate the day we won independence from the British. To this end, try NV Domaine Chandon Brut Classic. With its youthful freshness and aromas of toasted bread, ginger, and vanilla, this is a mouth-watering sparkler with medium body and a crisp finish guests will welcome as an aperitif.

The Whites

Warm, sunny days call for easy sipping wines that reflect the heightened perfumed scents of the season. Try these guest-pleasing aromatic whites:

Torrentes 2009 Michel Torino Torrontes Don David

This deliciously perfumed white wine has a lovely floral aroma of very ripe yellow fruit such as apricot and peach on the palate. This wine is an excellent to serve to guests as they arrive, and can also be paired with dishes like grilled shrimp or an entrée of flakey white fish.

Savignon Blanc 2010 Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Private Bin

Sauvignon Blanc, with its crisp nature and high acidity, is always a good go-to wine to serve as an aperitif or for salads and first courses. Villa Maria has lovely grapefrul, citrus, and lemon flavors with racy acidity and a great concentration of fruit.

The Reds

Gamay 2009 Louis Jadot Beaujolas-Village

Incredible richness of fruit and flavors of black mission fig that will pair well with ribs, steak, and other meats for the grill. Though light in weight, the  tannins pair with hamburgers and other grilled meats.

Syrah 2007 Dierberg Syrah Estate Grown Santa Ynez Valley (USA)

Syrah is the wine that offers the “blue” element of our national flag with its nose of blueberries, blackberries, and black dcurrant. There is a purple floral quality to this wine, as well as a spice element. An elegant wine for steaks on the girll.

"I strive for the perfect blend of art and science," says Jim Collins, who is the 'official' ambassador of Frei Brothers wines, and also holds the more illustrious title of Coastal Viticulture operations for Gallo wines in the region. As you may know, coastal regions in California are considered 'cool climate,' and 'cool climate' wines are premium quality.

Today Mr. Collins was visiting NYC and we had a chance to meet and taste some 08s and 09s, which are currently now in supermarkets, wine stores, and restaurants throughout the country.

The 2009 Russian River Valley Chardonnay was very Meursault-like with its aroma of melted butter, a touch of sweet oak, and very textured mouthfeel .... lush palate with sumptuous yellow-fleshed fruit infused with vanilla.

Equally fabulous was the 2009 Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc, with its exotic flavors of passion fruit and guava. The aroma was so intense it was hard to believe it had some oak maturation, yet it was older oak to give the wine more texture on the palate and could not be detected on the nose.

The reds were all fabulous, yet my personal fav ws the 2008 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which is heavily influenced by sun drenched days which gives the wine its ripeness. Care was taken during vinification, with the grapes destemmed yet not crushed, leaving a significant portion of whole berries for fermentation -- yet another 'extra step'  which leads to quality in the wine.

From the Dry Creek Valley comes the Merlot 08, a wine with many exciting layers of flavor such as black fig, plum, and vanilla, then some cocoa and strawberry jam on the palate. Then from Dry Creek (its spiritual home) the 09 Zinfandel, with its rich flavors of xmas spice and dark berry fruit.

It was exciting to taste the new vintage, and to discover more about the importance of coastal climates in terms of the production of quality wine.The proximity to the ocean brings the cool nights and the fog that are so crucial for the production of quality wine.

And it was also fun to meet Jim Collins himself, as he is so excited about bringing the terroir to winelovers around the world, both in terms of "his bottles" and also wine education. Mr. Collins speaks to consumers coast to coast about his wines, and also (and perhaps, more importantly) to his staff.

For example, hourly workers in the vineyard may not care about the nuances of wine, yet when Mr. Collins gives a lecture/tasting and explains why it is important to pick only the ripest fruit, the hourly workers can taste the difference between wine with improper canopy management (leaf arrangement) and wines with proper canopy management. The hope and reality is that these lectures make a difference in how the workers prune the vines, and that this translates to how the wine tastes.

Frei Brothers are truly fabulous wines in the $20 and under range. Salute!

Cristobal Undurraga Marimon is a member of the family known in the Chilean wine industry as “the pioneers,” who were among the first in the 1980s to bring the country’s fine, value-priced wines to the attention of the world. Recently I met him in New York to discuss the Undurraga family’s new wine label, Koyle, a Chilean Indian name of the beautiful purple native plant that grows next to oak forests and blossoms with a much-demanded fruit.

What's interesting about Christobal is that the family sold their original holdings in 1986. Free, Christobal (a trained enologist)   left his homeland to learn about winemaking in some of the most famousvineyards in the world, including Bordeaux, France (at Chateau Margaux in 2002),Barossa Valley, Australia (Rosemont Estates, also in 2002) and Napa Valley, California(Franciscan Estates in 2001).

In 2007his father, two brothers and sister asked him to return to Chile to oversee the vineyards and winemaking for  the Koyle project. 

You can find these wines, delicious and affordable, now in the US market.

Koyle Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Kolye Reserve Syrah
Koyle Reserve Carmenere
Koyle Royale Cabernet Sauvignon
Koyle Royale Syrah

“Welcome!” says Jeremy Steimer in perfect English, looking very fresh and crisp on this hot sunny day with his well-pressed shirt, light hair, and cheerful smile. We shake hands in the M. Chapoutier Caveau (showroom), a gorgeously decorated place where the special soils of Michel Chapoutier’s vineyards can be seen behind a glass case.

Would it sound strange if I tell you I am a bit thrilled by the soils? I actually stand over the glass floor display and compare how different all the soils seem to be, and how curious the vineyards are so close together. “Would you like to see the vineyards?” Jeremy asks. Eagerly, we say yes.
 

From reading about Michel Chapoutier in the new book Les Creatures Du Vin by Bettane and Desseauve, I learn Michel wanted to leave his mark on the wine world at an early age. He traveled extensively in the 1980s, took note of advances in technology, and when he came back to the family business thought the wines had too much alcohol and were too evolved because they were aged in chestnut barrels. He also saw that the Chapoutier image was falling in the wine world, and he took over the family business at the age of 24.

Now  as we walk along the narrow streets of the pretty village Tain to the Chapoutier vineyards, Jeremy tells us about the viticulture. He’s a remarkable young man, and I remember reading in Bettane’s book that Michel frequently hires “from within” and past Caveau interns have become top salespeople.

Biodynamic and Organic

Chapoutier vineyards are also biodynamic and organic, and Michel was much influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s biological agriculture. They make their own compost, use nettles to ward off insects, and many other practices that help the vines express themselves as naturally as possible. In the words of Michel, “Biodyamic is simply life in action.” Organic compost is prepared on-site, nettles are used to detour insects, and groves are dug by horse.

L’Hermitage

Finally we reach the the four red and three white wine areas at l’Hermitage, all with very different distinct soils. For that very reason (the soils) the wines deliver very different expressions. The plot selection speaks. With the same climate, fruit, viticulture practices and winemaking, the wines are different (as we later taste in the Caveau).
 

Winemaking

In the words of authors Bettane and Desseauve, Michel is a “maniac” for prolonged maceration. “The more you macerate the skins, the finer the tannins so that the wine changes texture and becomes silky. Michel likes to control the temperature during fermentation, fearing that with too much heat, one loses finesse, and too much cool can bring a vegetable character,” Michel says in the book.

Back at the Caveau

After a walk (climb?) up the steep vineyards, we went back to the Caveau for a tasting and a short film featuring Michel Chapoutier speaking about the wine. Between the film and the vivid, candid descriptions in the Bettane/ Desseauve book, I feel like I know him – or at least, can get a sense of his independent spirit and passion. Apparently in the 1980s he has been called “mad” and “wild” yet he was a pioneer in the organic and biodynamic space, and other producers in the area were of another generation and another line of thinking.

The Bettane/Desseauve book also talks about his early childhood – reading between the lines, it seems he felt an outsider and was most comfortable working with farming families herding animals and being in nature. The story about how he became the head of his family’s company at age 24 (the authors briefly mention issues with succession) and literally turned it around in short order can make a book on its own.

When you are in the N. Rhone, the Caveau is a wonderful place to stop and experience the magic of M. Chapoutier. You can find books, the soil samples mentioned, and find delicious wine. Very grateful to the entire Chapoutier team and very excited to continue to learn more about the vineyards here, and also Michel’s new vineyards in various parts of the world.

Exciting times!

You've probably seen the headlines in wine magazines and blogs, in which various professionals weigh in about restaurants using Ipads as a customized wine list, and if this will replace sommeliers.

Of course, it's a legitimate question ... how many times have you pulled out your Blackberry or iPhone to check on a vintage. And wouldn't it be fabulous to just touch a screen and instantly get an answer to your question?

So last night I went with a friend to Apriary, a cool restaurant  and good choice for a wine geek as they have a terrific list on their own (thanks to Wine Director Brett Feore, who I first met getting my Certified Sommelier degree from the Court of Master Sommeliers) and fab food thanks to Chef Scott Bryan, formally at Veritas.

Now I just happened to have my new Ipad with me so when my crackberry friend picked up his Blackberry,  I took the opportunity to figure out the soil components of a Chassagne-Montrachet I brought . Simple enough to tap the information into the iPad - but I couldn't stop there. I had to keep searching for more information about the producer and vintage and realized that a quarter hour had gone by. 

They are a novelty today in the competitive world of five-star dining, but they can never replace a GOOD sommelier, who above and beyond providing information about wine and wine pairing, adds considerable charm and heightens the wine purchase experience. 

Now, what do YOU think?