But assuming I do manage to leave the country, I'm headed to the wine regions of Victoria and South Australia, thanks to the help of the folks at Wine Australia and Tourism Australia who are paying for the trip.

More specifically, I'm headed to the Yarra Valley, the King Valley, Beechworth, and Heathcote near Melbourne. Then I'm headed farther south to Adelaide, where I'll wander around the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, and the Barossa.

I'm quite looking forward to a number of things about the trip, including a focus on some of the emerging biodynamic producers in Australia, checking out a few really small outfits, visiting with some of the icons of the industry, getting a look at some really really old vines, and talking with a lot of folks about the future of Australian wine in America, given the general sense that the country has fallen from favor recently with U.S. consumers.

As usual, I'll be posting as I go. Assuming I can get there.

If you've got any recommendations of restaurants or fun things to do in Melbourne and Adelaide, let me know. My itinerary is pretty set at the moment, but if you've got any favorite producers in the regions I'm headed to, I'd love to hear them.

The Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting in San Francisco is certainly one of the Spring highlights for wine lovers in the Bay Area. Held at Fort Mason, like all the other big tastings, Rhone Rangers offers the change for wine lovers to taste through a vast field of Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, and many other varietals and blends that fall under the general banner of Rhone-style wines.

I adore these wines, and this is always a great tasting event. I highly recommend it to anyone, especially those that might be stuck in a Cabernet rut (or a Merlot, Chardonnay, or Sauvignon Blanc rut for that matter). There's a lot more out there in the wine world, and this tasting will provide a heck of an education to anyone looking to explore alternatives to such varieties.

And of course, for those who are crazy for Rhone-style wines, then there's a whole weekend of activities, including seminars, a winemaker dinner, and of course the grand tasting on Sunday morning. Complete details can be found on the event web site. The site also includes a list of wineries that will be pouring.

2010 Rhone Rangers Grand Tasting
Sunday, March 28th
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Fort Mason Festival Pavilion
Buchanan Street and Marina Blvd
San Francisco, CA

Tickets to the grand tasting are $65 in advance, and should be purchased online.

And remember my tips for optimum enjoyment at public tastings: wear dark, comfortable clothes; get a good night's sleep; come with food in your belly; drink lots of water; and SPIT !

For some people, the most important step is finding the right piece of ground, and for anyone looking to start a winery, it is certainly the first step. It's really important. If you get it wrong, the rest of the stuff doesn't matter.

At least, that's the way that winemaker Robert Brittan approached it when he packed his bags and closed the chapter of his life that might have been entitled Man Meets Cabernet: 25 Years in Napa.

Brittan first started making wine for the same reason many do: to get chicks. He was a physics major at Oregon State University, and like many in the same situation, he couldn't get a date. But one day he noticed that the guys across the hall had removed all of their furniture and replaced their couches and chairs with two important items: a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a still. They'd brew a batch of whiskey during the week, and on the weekends their room would be crawling with girls.

Brittan couldn't afford to compete with free everclear and a Harley, but the envious and enterprising young man thought he might just do one better by going highbrow: he would make wine instead. So Brittan got a 2.5 gallon glass demijohn and started fermenting everything he could get his hands on, wrapping his electric blanket around the jug to keep the fermentation going. And wouldn't you know it, the first time he actually managed to make something drinkable, he got a date.

Of course, then he had to take it to the next level. Thinking that if he made better wine, he might get better dates, Brittan took a job for a harvest in California's Central Valley, and not only learned a thing or two about how to make real wine, but discovered, as he puts it, "an entire lifestyle that I immediately knew I wanted."

It was 1974, and California wine was at an inflection point in its growth that would forever change the state, the country, and even the world. Some of the legendary winemakers of Napa were still plying their craft, and people like Robert Mondavi were busy convincing a generation of Americans to drink wine instead of martinis.

"It was just an exciting time to be in the wine business," says Brittan. "There was the whole science aspect of it that appealed to my monkey mind, and then the creative component that felt very artistic, and then there was this lifestyle -- a way of living that wasn't about getting rich, but was about living really well."

Brittan enrolled in U.C. Davis, and upon graduating, began his career as a winemaker, eventually ending up at St. Andrew's winery at the very southern end of the Silverado Trail in Napa. When the winery was sold, Brittan agreed to stay on for the new owner, but his heart wasn't in it. Brittan had passing fantasies of heading back north to Oregon. But then what was just going to be a casual conversation with Carl Doumani about a new vineyard that he had acquired turned into a job offer and a 16-year stint as the winemaker for Stag's Leap Winery.

But after those 16 years, Brittan found himself wanting a new challenge, and decided that he wanted to try his hand at Pinot Noir, a grape that he had flirted briefly with in his career, but never fully explored.

So in 2004, after looking as far afield as France and California's Central Coast Brittan and his wife Ellen returned to Oregon and fell in love with a windy, overgrown knoll in the McMinnville AVA (American Viticultural Area) of the Willamette Valley. There Brittan found an exposed, cold 128 acres with nutrient-poor soils that he thought would be perfect for Pinot Noir. An 18-acre vineyard had been planted, but only about nine acres was still alive and salvageable. Coddled, nurtured, and coaxed, those nine acres yielded their first wine in 2006.

The grapes are picked when Brittan thinks they're ready. He believes in the concept of physiological ripeness, but is quick to admit that the phrase has been used to the point of cliché. He tastes, and when they taste ripe, he picks. Simple as that. The fact that his grapes are lower in sugar when he picks (compared to most of his neighbors) he simply chalks up to having found "the right piece of ground." The grapes are crushed and given a five-day cold soak before fermentation is started. After the wines have fermented dry they are racked into French oak barrels, of which roughly 35% are new, and aged for approximately 9 months following the completion of a secondary fermentation.

The combination of lower sugar levels and relatively minimal exposure to new oak give the wines a more classically Burgundian complexion. The 2008 wines top out at around 13.5% alcohol, and are relatively pale, even for fine Oregon Pinot Noir. Perhaps most compelling, this lack of extraction and oak-driven facade means that the wines clearly show vintage variation -- not in wild swings of quality or character, but in the subtle accents that show a little more sun here, a little less rain there. This kind of honesty and transparency in the wines makes them as endearing as they are delicious.

At first, Brittan struggled to come up with a name for his winery, and resisted his wife's suggestion that he call it Brittan Vineyards. He'd been around the block enough times to know that putting someone's name on the label was a no-no from a brand perspective because it makes the winery impossible to sell. "So you have plans to sell?" asked his wife. And that's when Brittan realized he didn't have to think like a businessman anymore. He could think like someone who makes it his life's work to figure out a little patch of ground, and make the best wine he possibly can from it. And so the wine now bears his name, and Brittan is clearly well on the way to unraveling the puzzle of his little piece of earth.

TASTING NOTES:

2006 Brittan Vineyards "Basalt Block" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet cherry-cranberry jam with a floral perfume and a hint of greenish bark. In the mouth it offers rich cherry and raspberry fruit with notes of cedar and a dark underlying earthiness. The wine has a piercing depth to it and a nice tanginess in the finish. 600 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $45. Click to buy.

2007 Brittan Vineyards "Basalt Block" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of wet redwood bark and raspberry and cranberry fruit. In the mouth it offers tart cherry and green willow bark flavors with a nice dark earthiness to it. Great acidity means this wine will age quite well. 780 cases made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $45. Click to buy.

2007 Brittan Vineyards "Gestalt Block" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of wet bark and sour cherries with a deep earthiness under it all. In the mouth it is incredibly well balanced with a dark earthiness and plum and cherry flavors that narrow to a nice tartness that lingers in the finish. Great acidity and a wonderful stony mineral aspect leave a lasting impression. 312 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $45. Click to buy.

2008 Brittan Vineyards "Basalt Block" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine has a delicate nose of cherry and floral aromas. In the mouth it comes across as exceptionally delicate with a gorgeous silky texture and cherry and cranberry flavors that are airy in their dryness with a very nice perfume. Wonderfully light and, dare I say, Burgundian, with that gorgeous dusty earthiness that Willamette does well when it is firing on all cylinders. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $45. Not yet for sale.

2008 Brittan Vineyards "Gestalt Block" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells sweetly of cherry and bright raspberry aromaswith an incredible floral perfume that hangs in the background. Gorgeously silky in the mouth this wine has a really amazing presence and poise on the palate with cherry, raspberry, and redcurrant flavors swirled with a redwood duff undertone that is stunning. The wine is beautiful like a classic painting is beautiful. Captivating, through the entire long, long finish of cedar and freshly turned potting soil. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $45. Not yet for sale

That's exactly what I thought to myself when I found out about the upcoming San Francisco Vintners Market. It's a farmer's market, but for wine. Simple as that. Walk around, taste a bunch of wines, and buy the ones that you like. So incredibly straightforward it took years for someone to come up with the idea.

But now all you gotta do is show up. Think of it as a tasting room that you don't have to drive to. Or a big wine tasting you can go to and finally not have to worry about finding some retailer somewhere that carries the wines that you fell in love with at the tasting.

Perfectly timed for the recession, this event is about helping smaller wineries sell their wines to the public. And with tickets priced at a mere $25 the event is perfect for wine lovers on a budget.

Nearly 200 wineries will be pouring and selling their wares from all over California. It's definitely worth checking out.

First Ever San Francisco Vintners Market
Saturday and Sunday April 10th & 11th
12:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA

Tickets are $25 if purchased in advance (prices go up at the door). You can also purchase a VIP ticket for $60 and get access to a room of $50+ wines.

Luckily a lot of smaller wine regions are realizing that one way to improve the market for their wines internationally is the "wine roadshow" where a bunch of producers heads off to major target markets and with the help of a PR firm, puts on a tasting for the trade and media in a big city.

I find such events incredibly interesting, and valuable in the education of my palate. So when I got the invitation to a recent such tasting focused on the wines of Cahors, I jumped at the chance to go. Having only had maybe three or four wines from Cahors in my entire life, I was excited to clearly establish in my own mind "what Cahors tastes like."

The answer turned out to be rocks, wet dirt, leather, and a hint of cassis.

Cahors is a small wine region about 100km to the east and a little south of Bordeaux, centered around a town of the same name. Rich in history, the Medieval town has long been a center of wine production -- much longer, in fact, than Bordeaux itself. The Cahors appellation, or AOC, is focused on the production of a single red wine, which must be at least 70% Malbec, or as it is known locally Côt, Côt Noir, or to some, Auxerrois.

Once a critical blending grape in most Bordeaux wines, Malbec has largely disappeared from those wines, aided greatly by the Phylloxera epidemic that wiped out nearly all the vineyards in the early part of the 20th Century. Cuttings from these vineyards, shipped to Argentina in the late 1800's before this disastrous event, are responsible for that country's rise to prominence in Malbec production.

Indeed, the larger wine world might not know much of anything about Malbec were it not for Argentina, which has done a remarkable job of making inroads with American consumers especially, who have fallen in love with the fruit forward, rich Argentinean Malbecs that appear in increasing numbers on grocery and wine store shelves.

Now thanks to the much greater awareness of the grape internationally, the Cahors region seems to be taking the opportunity to wave its flag and remind people that Malbec came from somewhere else before it hit Argentina, and that Cahors would like some attention. With this in mind, the region has undertaken a branding campaign under the straightforward tagline, "Cahors: The French Malbec." Some producers are even starting to put the word "Malbec" on their labels.

It's an admirable effort, but after my experience at this tasting, I fear it is doomed to fail, at least with American consumers.

The reason is simple: Cahors wines taste absolutely nothing like Argentinean Malbec. And what's more, they don't taste like what most American consumers want from their wine.

I found the vast majority of the wines to be quite austere: granitic and earthy with often very aggressive tannins that left the mouth dry. The cassis and blue fruit notes that I associate with Malbec thanks to my exposure to an awful lot of Argentinean stuff, were very faint and in the background as aromatics mostly.

Now I should be clear that I think the worst thing in the world would be for Cahors to taste like Argentinean Malbec. It's from a different place, so it should taste different. But it should also be pleasurable, and to be frank, I struggled to find much in the wines I tasted last week. Even the few examples of aged wines, where the tannins had time to mellow, and secondary aromas time to emerge, still were angular and tart compositions of liquified rocks, leather, a hint of smoky meatiness, and a few nice notes of anise.

Having said that, the better wines were quite interesting for all that minerality, and showed remarkable variation across soil types, those grown in limestone offering a different character to those grown in the more red clay soils.

While the AOC regulations stipulate that the wines must be at least 70% Malbec, the ones on offer at this tasting were either 85%, 90% or 100% Malbec, with the balance being made up of Merlot (most often) or Tannat (rarely). Interestingly, many of the wineries made several styles of wines that often bore common (though to my knowledge not officially regulated) names. Wines labeled "Tradition" were usually fermented in steel, and not aged in oak at all, but rather bottled young for early release. Wines labeled "Prestige" were usually fermented entirely, or at least a portion in oak, and then likewise aged in (usually old, or neutral, but occasionally with a portion of new) oak for some period of time. In addition to these two wines, which many wineries offered, most also had a top wine that was aged in a portion of new oak barrels.

As I said, I struggled to like the majority of these wines. Struggled because on the one hand, I don't think any wine region should give up its traditional styles or methods of winemaking easily, but on the other hand, I didn't want to drink most of these wines, and I don't think most American wine lovers would either.

Of course, that may be fine for a certain set of wine lovers -- not much competition for these wines. But for a bunch of the wineries of Cahors, who clearly are out to try to capture more attention and market share in America, the road is going to be long and hard.

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9

2005 Le Bout du Lieu "Empyree," Cahors. $35

2007 Château les Rigalets "La Quintessence," Cahors. $n/a
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of farmyard, leather, and blackberry fruit aromas. In the mouth it offers lush, but firm tannins that envelop flavors of cassis, woodsmoke and black pepper that all dangle above a wet granite floor.

2007 Château St Didier "Prieure De Cenac," Cahors. $28
Medium garnet in color, this wine smells simultaneously of smoked meats and a stone outcropping in a rainstorm. Aromas of cassis and black cherry sneak in with some more air. In the mouth the wine has a supple leathery quality, with flavors of cassis and black cherry and an incredibly stony minerality that gives way slightly to some cherry notes that emerge again on the finish.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2005 Château Armandières Malbec "Ancestral," Cahors. $12
2007 Château les Rigalets "Prestige," Cahors. $n/a
2007 Château St Didier "La Vierge," Cahors. $40
2007 Château St Didier "Château De Grezels," Cahors. $20
2008 Château St Sernin, VDP du Lot $??
2002 Château Vincens "Les Graves de Paul," Cahors. $30
2006 Château Vincens "Prestige," Cahors. $20
2006 Le Bout du Lieu "Orbe Noir," Cahors. $23
2007 Mas Del Périe "Les Acacias," Cahors. $40
2007 Mas Del Périe "Les Escures," Cahors. $16
2007 Mas Del Périe "La Roque," Cahors. $23
2007 Métairie Grande du Théron "Prestige," Cahors. $25
2008 Métairie Grande du Théron "Prestige," Cahors. $25

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2002 Château Armandières "Diamant Rouge," Cahors. $24
2007 Château Armandières "Diamant Rouge," Cahors. $24
2008 Château Cayx Malbec. Cahors. $48
2006 Château Cayx, Cahors. $24
2006 Chateau d' Eugénie "Tradition", Cahors. $10
2006 Chateau d' Eugénie "Reservee De L'Aieuil," Cahors. $20
2002 Château Paillas, Cahors. $n/a
2006 Château Pineraie Malbec, Cahors. $14
2007 Château Pineraie, Cahors. $12
2007 Château Pineraie "Authentique," Cahors. $40
2008 Château Vincens Malbec, Cahors. $13
2007 Le Bout du Lieu, Cahors. $14
2007 Les Roques de Cana "Sanguis Christi," Cahors. $50

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2008 Château Cayx "Cuvee Majeste," Cahors. $70
2006 Chateau d' Eugénie "Pierre Le Grande," Cahors. $15
2004 Château de Cénac "Eulalie," Cahors. $30
2006 Château de Cénac "Prestige," Cahors. $??
2007 Château de Hauterive, Cahors. $12
2005 Château Paillas, Cahors. $n/a
2009 Château St Sernin Rosé, VDP du Lot $??
2006 Domaine du Prince "Lou Prince," Cahors. $38
2005 Domaine du Prince, Cahors. $10
2006 G. Vigouroux "Pigmentum," Cahors. $10
2007 Les Roques de Cana "Le Vin de Noces", Cahors. $30

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2005 Château Bovilla, Cahors. $??
2006 Château du Port "Prestige," Cahors. $15
2008 Château Haute Borie "Prestige," Cahors. $25
2000 Château St Sernin "La Tour St. Sernin," Cahors. $30
2005 Château St Sernin "Prestige", Cahors. $18
2004 Domaine du Prince "Le Chene Du Prince," Cahors. $13
2005 La Coustarelle "Eclat," Cahors. $n/a
2008 Métairie Grande du Théron "Tradition," Cahors. $15

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7.5
2005 Château de Hauterive "Prestige," Cahors. $18
2008 Château de Hauterive, Cahors. $12
2009 Château Haute Borie "Tradition," Cahors. $15
2008 Château Haute Borie "Tradition," Cahors. $15
2007 Château Paillas, Cahors. $n/a
2008 Château St Sernin "Varua Maohi Mana" Malbec, Cahors. $18
2006 La Coustarelle "Tradition," Cahors. $25

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7 AND 7.5
2007 Clos De Troteligotte "La Fourmi," Cahors. $11
2006 Clos De Troteligotte "La Perdrix," Cahors. $18
2006 G. Vigouroux Chat "Haute Serre," Cahors. $22

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
2006 Clos De Troteligotte "CQFD," Cahors. $38
2006 La Coustarelle "Grande Cuvee Prestige," Cahors. $45

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6.5
2005 Domaine du Prince "Rossignol," Cahors. $n/a

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2005 G. Vigouroux Chat "Mercues Prestige," Cahors. $50

The Golden Oak
One of my favorite features of Northern California vineyards are the majestic oaks that shade many of them, breaking the regularity of the vine rows with their grand reaches -- Alder Yarrow

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Public tasting events are one of the chief ways such wine regions are producing this visibility. These events are not only a lot of fun to go to, they are a wonderful education. While visiting the region is the best way to understand the wines, not everyone has the time, the energy, or the means to visit many of California's wine regions. Even those who do can't visit more than five or six wineries in a day's tasting. But at these large tastings, the curious consumer can taste the efforts of twenty, fifty, or a hundred different wineries, and very quickly get a read on a specific region.

Which brings me to the little tasting going on in about a week at Postrio Restaurant here in San Francisco. Twenty-four wineries from El Dorado County, a small AVA nestled into the Sierra Foothills, will be coming to San Francisco to showcase their wares.

This very manageable tasting offers the opportunity to taste some excellent Zinfandel, among other things, from some of California's off-the-radar producers. If I wasn't going to be out of town, I'd definitely be there to calibrate my palate on the good, bad, and otherwise of this little wine region.

The tasting will include passed hors d'oeuvres like Moroccan braised short ribs, proscuitto-wrapped squab and hamachi crudo, as well as live Jazz. Classy!

Wineries that will be pouring include:

Auriga Wine Cellars
Boeger Winery
Busby Cellars
Cedarville Vineyards
Chateau Rodin
Colibri Ridge Winery & Vineyards
Crystal Basin Cellars
David Girard Vineyards
Fenton Herriott Vineyards
Fitzpatrick Winery & Lodge
Gold Hill Vineyard
Granite Springs Vineyards
Holly's Hill Vineyards
Latcham Vineyards
Lava Cap Winery
Madroña Vineyards
Miraflores Winery
Mount Aukum Winery
Narrow Gate Vineyards
Perry Creek Vineyards
Sierra Oaks Estates
Sierra Vista Vineyards & Winery
Single Leaf Vineyards & Winery
Windwalker Vineyard

El Dorado Winery Association Tasting
Saturday March 20, 2010
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Postrio Restaurant at the Prescott Hotel
545 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Tickets for the event are $38 per person and should be purchased in advance online.

My usual tips for such tastings apply: get a good night's sleep, drink lots of water, don't taste on an empty stomach, wear dark clothes, and spit if you want to learn anything.

Congratulations on your purchase of Empire Distributing, and roughly 25% of the wine and spirits distribution business in Georgia and North Carolina that came with it. And welcome to the wine and spirits world -- we need more enlightened business people in this industry.

I can't say that I've followed your career with precision, but I've read a decent amount about you, and try to read the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report every year. After all, I'm one of your shareholders, and I learn a lot from you and Charlie Munger.

In everything I've read, you strike me as someone who appreciates fairness, competition, and above all, the power of the marketplace to improve everyone's situation if it is left alone to work well. Given the choice between heavy handed regulation and deregulation, you strike me as a deregulation kind of guy, especially when it frees consumers to vote with their dollars.

I'm sure it hasn't escaped you that the wine and spirits distribution marketplace that you just bought into is seriously screwed up. For instance, we can start with the fact that you can't get any more than 25% of the market share in Georgia because of their particular state liquor franchise laws -- regardless of whether you offer better products, better service, and better prices to your customers.

Likewise you'll find yourself hobbled as you move into other states, and completely prevented from moving into others, thanks to state-run monopolies on liquor distribution, sweetheart deals that are designed to keep out competition, and all manner of regulations that will keep you from being able to serve wine and spirits drinkers that would certainly like to broaden their horizons and have access to different kinds of products that you might offer.

Of course, those facts can't have escaped you any more than the fact that in the past 20 years we've gone from roughly 7000 different wine and spirits distributors in this country to only 700. I'm not sure whether that was part of the growth potential you saw in Empire when you picked it up this week, but I imagine it factors in somewhere.

So let me get to the point. I think you now have the opportunity, and the obligation, to get on board with those of us who think the time has come to throw out the prohibition-era, antiquated laws we've got on the books and put something rational in place that benefits both consumers and business owners like yourself.

In short, I urge you to renounce membership to the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, and instead support the efforts of those like Free the Grapes and the SWRA who are trying to turn this country into a real wine and spirits marketplace. We need a marketplace where companies can compete to meet consumer demands without meddling by state bureaucracies and cronyism. We need businesses more interested in growing the overall market, than using scare tactics and BS to protect their little slices of it.

All the analysts say that with this purchase you're betting on the Millennials as the largest wine drinking generation in decades. That seems like a pretty good bet to me. And since these young wine drinkers are more interested in a diverse, wide range of products and services, I hope you'll join those of us who want to expand choice and buying opportunities in the market.

Raising my glass to you,

Alder Yarrow

Recently I've been watching with fascination as the mainstream press does its usual unraveling of some recently released research results focused on wine drinking in women and weight gain. Specifically, I've been giggling at the complete lack of understanding we seem to have of the difference between correlation and causation, combined with the creative liberties of headline writing:

Moderate Drinking 'Can Keep Women Slim': The Chosun Ilbo

Glass of wine may keep women from gaining weight: New York Daily News

Bottoms up for skinnier bottoms: Independent

Women Who Consume Alcohol Gain Less Weight: Study: Huffington Post (blog)

A drink a day could help keep the pounds away: Globe and Mail

Cheers, Ladies! A Drink A Day May Keep the Pounds Away: ABC News

Moderate Drinking Linked to Weight Control: WebMD

Red Wine Lessens Obesity Risks In Females: Oneindia

Moderate drinking may curb pounds on women: Boston Herald

Women who drink moderately less likely to gain weight: USA Today

Glass Of Red Wine A Day May Keep Pounds At Bay: NPR (blog)

Study: Women who drink are less likely to gain weight: CNN

Study: Women who drink moderately tend to gain less weight in midlife: Los Angeles Times

Study: Women Who Drink Tend to Be Thinner: TIME

Why a glass a day WILL keep the doctor away...: Daily Mail

Women who drink more gain less weight: Washington Post (blog)

Alcohol 'can help women stay slim': The Press Association

Women who drink wine gain less weight?: Toronto Sun

Light Drinking Might Help Keep Women Slim: BusinessWeek

Wine may help women keep weight in check: Reuters

Moderate drinkers gained less weight than abstainers: Boston Globe (blog)

A tipple a day keeps obesity at bay: study: AFP

Women who drink wine 'less likely to gain weight': BBC News

Women who drink gain less weight than teetotallers: CTV.ca

Cheers! Wine refines the waist: Herald Sun

Wine isn't fattening, ladies!: Hindustan Times

Red wine drinkers 'gain less weight': Ireland Online

Wine doesn't make women fat, report claims: Telegraph.co.uk

Female wine drinkers at lower obesity risk: Times of India

Drink up girls: wine isn't fattening: Times Online

Wine: The new weight-loss miracle?: The Week Magazine

Wine Doesn't Make You Fat: That's Fit

Cocktails ward off the bulge: Science News

Light-to-Moderate Drinking Keeps Women Slim?: ShortNews.com

Alcohol & Weight Gain In Women: NewsChannel 9 WSYR

Regular and Sensible Alcohol Intake can Curb Obesity: Recent Study: eYugoslavia.com

Red alert: A few glasses of wine are good for your hips: CultureMap

Study shows women can control weight with alcohol: Examiner.com

Drink wine for slim waistline: ABH News

Women Drinkers Less Likely To Gain Weight: Visit Bulgaria

Another addition to Moderate Drinking Benefits: Weight Control: NY Breaking News.com

Moderate Drinking Could Control Weight: Tech Jackal

Daily Buzz: Want to Stay Thin? Have a Drink.: Woman's Day (blog)

Occasional drinking may help women keep weight down: 6abc.com

Study: Some Drinking Women Less Likely To Gain Weight: Ozarks First

How could boozing help you lose weight?: New Scientist (blog)

Female Drinkers Less Likely To Gain Weight: WBAL Baltimore

Females Who Drink Moderately, Gain Less Weight: Study: TopNews United States

Study: Women who drink some may weigh less: WHDH-TV

Study Shows Women Who Drink Wine Lose Weight: Portfolio.com (blog)

Drinking alcohol prevents overweight/obesity?: Food Consumer

Moderate drinking keeps women slim--study: The Money Times

Wine isn't fattening for women, study finds: decanter.com

Female Moderate Drinkers Gain Less Weight Over the Years: TestCountry.com (blog)

Drinking Alcohol May Keep You Slim: dBTechno

Alcohol Keeps the Weight Away: ToTheCenter.com (blog)

Light To Moderate Drinking Linked To Less Weight Gain In Middle Aged Women: Medical News Today

Womens' obesity risks lowered with daily drinks, study finds: McClatchy Washington Bureau

Alcohol May Help With Weight Control: FitSugar.com (blog)

Women Who Drink Moderately Gain Less Weight Than Abstainers, Study Shows: AHN | All Headline News

Wine Does Not Lead To Obesity, Research Reported: TopNews United States

Lose Weight...By Drinking Wine?: CNM News Network

Moderate alcohol link to less weight gain: Irish Health

Wine consumption reduces fat accumulation in females: TopNews

Female wine drinkers have lower obesity risk: Celebrities With Diseases

Drinking Alcohol Can Slow Weight Gain In Women: Best Syndication

Wine Keeps Women Slim, Study - Red or White Diet?: National Ledger

Moderate Drinkers Gain Less Weight, but Not Advised for Diet Plan: eMaxHealth

To your health! Women who drink red wine less likely to get fat: Examiner.com

Women who drink: Investor's Business Daily

Women Who Drink Gain Less Weight: Bru Direct

Drinking Alcohol May Help Women Stay Thin: AOL News

Women Who Are Moderate Drinkers May Gain Less Weight Than Those That Are Sober: BETTER Health Research

Study Finds Women Who Drink Wine Gain Less Weight: WDIV Detroit

Red wine may help women shed pounds: 14WFIE.com

Drinking Wine May Help Women Keep Their Figure: eFitnessNow

Alcohol can affect woman's ability to lose weight: ABC7Chicago.com

Alcohol May Help Fight Weight Gain In Women: Wine Spectator

Women Who Drink Gain Less Weight: PsychCentral.com

How to Lose Weight While Drinking: Tonic

Wine and women's weight: NHS Choices

Study Finds Wine Won't Make Women Fat: RedOrbit

Women Who Drink Moderately Seem to Gain Less Weight: CalorieLab Calorie Counter News

Women Who Drink Moderately May Gain Less Weight than Non-Drinkers: The Ledger (blog)

Moderate Drinking in Women Linked to Less Weight Gain: Medscape

Study: Red Wine Keeps Pounds Off: myGLOSS

Women Who Drink Gain Less Weight: New York Times (blog)

Wine 'unlikely to make women gain weight': Netdoctor

More good news for wine drinkers: The Economic Voice

Less weight gain by moderate-drinking women: CBC.ca

Laughable. Strange. Scary. I don't know who said it, but it's true that a little bit of information can be dangerous.

Professor Magali Delmas and PhD candidate Laura E. Grant conducted an analysis of 13,426 wines from 1,495 California wineries for eight consecutive vintages from 1998 to 2005. The two tracked correlations between the scores of the wines, their prices, whether they were made from certified organically grown grapes, and whether the wineries broadcast their organic certification on the label.

An overview of the study published last week in Science Daily suggests they found some very interesting results. Wines made with organic grapes during the time period they studied scored higher in the Wine Spectator by a point, on average, than wines made with conventional grapes. Whether this means, in fact, that organic wines taste better is open to some debate, but the statistics seem quite clear.

Perhaps the more interesting finding, however arose when the researchers looked at the price of those wines that were "eco labeled" and those that were not. The wines that chose to prominently display their certified organic status sold for 7% less than those that didn't. The prices used to define this gap were the suggested retail prices published alongside the scores in Wine Spectator magazine.

Assuming you believe in the economic principle that prices are set in the marketplace and reflect supply and demand, the conclusion you might draw here is that there is a significant negative value to labeling your wines as organic. Meaning, in short, that consumers don't want to pay as much for wines labeled as such.

Economists are often let of the hook, understandably, for explaining exactly why things are the way they are. Exactly why an eco-label is a penalty rather than a plus hasn't been determined, but I think some of it may have to do with the residual damage that early organic wines did to consumer perceptions when they hit the market in the 1980s. Many of these wines were very poorly made, and then their quality was further compromised by the lack of added sulfur dioxide, which meant that many consumers opened their bottles to find the wine fermenting for a third time. A rash of lousy wines prominently labeled as organic created a sweeping set of negative connotations that apparently the wine industry nor the American consumer has yet to leave behind.

For now, the right approach as an organic winemaker seems clear. Farm your grapes organically to make better wines, but for heaven's sake, don't tell your customers.

The study summarized in Science Daily was originally published about two years ago as a working paper by the American Association of Wine Economists.

None of us makes a living tapping away in our respective little corners of the internet, so, apart from the enthusiasm of our individual readers, such awards are among the few bits of official validation we receive for our efforts.

If you enjoy Vinography, I'd be pleased to receive your vote -- as would any of the other nominees you feel inclined to support. Unfortunately in order to vote you need to register with your e-mail address, but thankfully I believe the registration includes the option to opt out of further e-mails from Saveur.

The voting is open until April 2nd and the winners will be announced on April 5th. Please be sure to check out the food blogs that are also up for awards, as the list contains some of the best out there.

Thanks for your support.

For those unfamiliar with the Gambero Rosso, it is essentially an organization focused on the promotion and evaluation of Italian food and wine. Each year the organization publishes a guide by the same name. The Gambero Rosso is the Italian Wine bible, and in my experience, it is the most thorough and high-quality guide to any wine region that exists in the world. The guide covers a dizzying 14,000+ wines each year from the incredibly diverse regions of Italy.

Each year the Gambero Rosso guide awards one, two, or three "Bicchieri" (or "glasses") to wines of exceptional character and quality. From tens of thousands, there are usually a couple of hundred Tre Bicchieri wines, and every Spring Gambero Rosso brings many of them to San Francisco for the media and the trade to taste.

While I don't love all the wines at this tasting, I am constantly amazed by the quality and individuality of these wines. I leave the tasting every year pining for many of these wines, and wishing I had the means to add them to my collection, though invariably, there are always some fantastic $15 wines that are easy to seek out and find. It's quite a contrast to attend this tasting merely a week or two after tasting 200 barrel samples of Napa Cabernet. Comparing Napa Valley to the whole of Italy is quite unfair, of course, but the adjacency of the two tastings definitely provides the opportunity to reflect on how narrow an experience one would have if they only drank wines from Napa.

This year I was particularly taken by a number of 2005 Barolos which are hitting the market after the much vaunted 2004 vintage and not getting the attention they deserve, in my opinion. I also fell head over heels in love with yet another wine from the flanks of the volcano -- my next trip to Italy absolutely must include a pilgrimage to Etna.

Without further ado, here's what I thought of these wines.

Whites

2008 Cantina Termeno A. A. Gewürztraminer Nussbaumer, Alto Adige. $45
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a beautifully fragrant nose of classic rose petal aromas. In the mouth it is rich and silky in texture with flavors of rose petals, orange blossom water, and a mixed bouquet of flowers that rise through an incredible finish. Click to buy.

2008 Donnafugata Passito di Pantelleria Ben Rye, Sicilia. $25
Medium gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of freshly cut cedar and orange blossoms. In the mouth it is thick and sweet but with bright acidity that buoys flavors of candied orange peel, honey, and white flowers through a beautiful finish. Wow.

2007 Livon Braide Alte, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $45
Pale blonde in color, this wine has a wonderful nose of green melon and floral aromas. In the mouth it offers rich silky textured flavors of star fruit, cucumber, and delicate white flowers that linger in a very long finish. The foundation of the wine is a deep rainwater minerality that is faint but persistent. Excellent.

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5

2008 Marisa Cuomo Costa d'Amalfi Fiorduva, Campania. $42
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of peachy and vanilla aromas. In the mouth it is zingy and floral with orange zest and rose petal flavors, which morph to more citrus notes in the very long, clean finish. Delectable.

2008 Venica & Venica Collio Sauvignon Ronco delle Mele, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $40
Palest gold in color, this wine practically explodes out of the glass with what may be the most incredibly floral set of aromas I've ever smelled on a wine. In the mouth it offers an incredibly delicate bouquet of mixed white flowers, from Lilly of the Valley to jasmine, all doused with rainwater and fresh green apple juice. An altogether disarming and beautiful wine. Click to buy.

NV Nino Franco Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut Rustico, Veneto. $18. Click to buy.
2000 Ferrari Trento Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore Brut, Trentino. $70.

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 La Vis/Valle di Cembra  Ritratto Bianco, Trentino. $16
2008 Cantina Produttori San Michele Appiano A. A. Sauvignon St.Valentin, Alto Adige. $45
2006 Cantina Terlano A. A.Terlano Pinot Bianco Vorberg is., Alto Adige. $30
2008 Cantine Lunae Bosoni     Colli di Luni Vermentino Cavagino, Liguria. $??
2008 I Campi Soave Cl. Campo Vulcano, Veneto. $25
2005 Il Mosnel Franciacorta Satèn, Lombardia. $??
2007 Jermann Vintage Tunina, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $50
2008 Nino Franco Valdobbiadene Grave di Stecca Brut, Veneto. $28
2008 Planeta  Cometa, Sicilia. $??
2006 Terre Cortesi Conero Vign. Del Parco Riserva, Marche. $??
2007 Villa Sparina Gavi del Comune di Gavi Monterotondo, Piemonte. $50
2008 Volpe Pasini COF Pinot Bianco Zuc di Volpe, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $32

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Ca' Rugate Recioto di Soave La Perlara, Veneto. $??
2008 Cantine Lunae Bosoni Colli di Luni Vermentino Etichetta Lunae Nera, Liguria. $??
2007 Cusumano  Sàgana, Sicilia. $20
2007 Gioacchino Garofoli  Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Cl. Sup. Podium, Marche. $20
2008 Ottella Lugana Sup. Molceo, Veneto. $16
2008 Pietracupa  Greco di Tufo, Campania. $25
2008 Prà Soave Cl. Monte Grande, Veneto. $30
2006 Terre Cortesi Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Cl. V. Novali Ris., Marche. $??

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2008 Ca' Rugate Soave Cl. Monte Fiorentine, Veneto. $23
2002 Cesarini Sforza Trento Aquila Reale Brut Ris., Trentino. $90
2004 Guido Berlucchi & C. Franciacorta Brut Extrême Palazzo Lana, Lombardia. ?
2007 Ottella Lugana Sup. Molceo, Veneto. $25
2006 Perticaia Montefalco Sagrantino, Umbria. $50
2007 Sergio Mottura Latour a Civitella, Lazio. $18
2008 Sergio Mottura Grechetto Poggio della Costa, Lazio. $18
2008 Tenute Sella & Mosca  Vermentino di Gallura Monteoro, Sardegna. $??
2008 Vitivinicola Broglia Gavi del Comune di Gavi Bruno Broglia, Piemonte. $36

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2005 F.lli Giorgi OP Pinot Nero Brut Cl. 1870, Lombardia. $??
2002 Cavit Trento Altemasi Graal Brut Ris., Trentino. $49

Reds

2005 Batasiolo Barolo Boscareto, Piemonte. $75
Light ruby in the glass this wine has a wonderfully floral nose of dried flowers, herbs, and redcurrants. In the mouth it offers redcurrant and raspberry flavors that mix with dried flowers. You could call the wine delicate but for the muscular tannins that underlie the gorgeous fruit and floral qualities that linger with excellent balance in the finish.

2004 Elvio Cogno Barolo V. Elena, Piemonte. $110
Light ruby in color, this wine has an incredibly aromatic nose of cherry and cedar aromas with hints of the floral. In the mouth it is beautifully juicy with cherry, leather, cedar and redcurrant fruit supported by firm, leathery tannins and enlivened with great acidity. The wine finishes long and airy. Outstanding.

2007 Palari Faro Palari, Sicilia. $65
Light ruby in color, this wine has a nearly otherworldly nose of dried flowers and a perfect summer's day, with an underlying brightness of fruit. In the mouth it is nothing short of stunning, with near perfect balance and acidity cradling delicate flavors of redcurrant, cherry, and again that heavenly floral quality. The faintest of tannins give some grip and body to the wine, and they have an incredible sweet aroma to them that is quite unlike any other wine I've had. Remarkable and compelling.

2005 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Cl., Veneto. $60
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a rich beautiful nose of violets and cassis fruit. In the mouth the wine offers the light sweetness of dried cherry fruit with rich chocolate covered cherry cordials and violets. The wine has an incredibly long finish that incorporates hints of spices. Stunning.

2004 Palari Faro Palaro, Sicilia. $n/a.

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2005 Castellare di Castellina I Sodi di San Niccolò, Toscana. $70
2005 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Sarmassa, Piemonte.
2006 Allegrini Dedicato a Walter, Veneto. $120
2006 Barone Ricasoli Chianti Cl. Castello di Brolio, Toscana. $58
2005 Batasiolo Barolo Cerequio, Piemonte. $75
2005 Ettore Germano Barolo Cerretta, Piemonte. $80
2007 Fattoria Carpineta Fontalpino Do Ut Des, Toscana. $35
2006 Fattoria di  Felsina Fontalloro, Toscana. $??
2007 Fattoria Petrolo Galatrona, Toscana. $120
2001 Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito V. La Delizia, Piemonte. $110
2004 Giancarlo Travaglini Gattinara Ris., Piemonte. $??
2006 Isole e Olena Cepparello, Toscana. $70
2005 Malvirà Roero Renesio Ris., Piemonte. $60
2004 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. Campolongo di Torbe, Veneto. $120
2006 Michele Chiarlo Barbera d'Asti Sup. La Nizza Court, Piemonte. $55
2004 Oddero Barolo Mondoca di Bussia Soprana, Piemonte. $60
2007 Palari  Rosso del Soprano, Sicilia. $35
2005 Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato, Piemonte. $109
2006 Podere Le Berne Nobile di Montepulciano, Toscana. $33
2006 Podere Sapaio Bolgheri Sapaio Sup., Toscana. $45
2005 Prunotto Barolo Bussia, Piemonte. $90
2004 San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino Ugolforte, Toscana. $65
2006 Velenosi  Rosso Piceno Sup. Roggio del Filare, Marche. $54
2005 Vietti Barolo Lazzarito, Piemonte. $150

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2005 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Cl., Veneto. $90
2006 Benanti Etna Rosso Serra della Contessa , Sicilia. $??
2005 Brezza & Figli Giacomo Barolo Sarmassa, Piemonte. $75
2006 Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Asili, Piemonte. $??
2007 Cantele    Amativo, Puglia. $??
2007 Castello Monaci   Artas, Puglia. $35
2006 Donnafugata Contessa Entellina Milleunanotte, Sicilia. $90
2006 Fattoria Colle Allodole Montefalco Sagrantino Colleallodole, Umbria. $90
2006 Feudi della Medusa  Gerione , Sardegna. $80
2007 Feudo Maccari  Saia, Sicilia. $??
2004 Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito V. La Delizia, Piemonte. $110
2005 G. D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole, Piemonte. $??
2007 Giovanni Almondo Roero Bric Valdiana, Piemonte. $55
2007 Guerrieri Rizzardi Valpolicella Cl. Sup. Ripasso Poiega, Veneto. $??
2006 Melini Chianti Cl. La Selvanella Ris., Toscana. $25
2005 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio, Piemonte. $99
2006 Nino Negri Valtellina Sfursat, Lombardia. $45
2006 Nino Negri Valtellina Sfursat 5 Stelle, Lombardia. $70
2006 Pelissero Barbaresco Vanotu, Piemonte. $65
2007 Pietradolce  Etna Rosso Archineri, Sicilia. $35
2007 Rocca di Frassinello Baffo Nero, Toscana. n/a
2006 Serafini & Vidotto Montello e Colli Asolani Il Rosso dell'Abazia, Veneto. $60
2006 Tenuta Mazzolino  OP Pinot Nero Noir, Lombardia. $??
2006 Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d'Asti Sup. Nizza, Piemonte. $40
2006 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia, Toscana. $150
2007 Tormaresca  Masseria Maime, Puglia. $40
2006 Valle Reale  Montepulciano d'Abruzzo San Calisto, Abruzzo. $38

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Antinori Tignanello, Toscana. $95
2004 Antonelli - San Marco Montefalco Sagrantino Chiusa di Pannone, Umbria. $??
2006 Argentiera Bolgheri Sup. Argentiera, Toscana. $??
2007 Barone Ricasoli Chianti Cl. Brolio, Toscana. $22
2006 Barone Ricasoli Casalferro, Toscana. $51
2005 Benanti Il Drappo, Sicilia. $??
2004 Canalicchio - Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $??
2006 Cantine Lunae Bosoni     Colli di Luni Rosso Niccolo V, Liguria. $??
2006 Castello di Cigognola  OP Barbera Castello di Cigognola, Lombardia. $??
2006 Cesarini Sforza Chianti Cl. Villa Cafaggio Ris., Toscana. $28
2005 Còlpetrone Montefalco Sagrantino Gold, Umbria. $85
2006 Conti Zecca   Nero, Puglia. $??
2007 Di Majo Norante Molise Aglianico Contado Ris., Molise. $18
2006 Famiglia Cecchi Coevo, Toscana. $60
2007 Feudi del Pisciotto  Nero d'Avola Versace, Sicilia. $33
2004 Greppone Mazzi - Tenimenti Ruffino Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $75
2007 Librandi Cirò Rosso Duca Sanfelice Ris., Calabria. $23
2004 MezzaCorona  Teroldego Rotaliano Nos Ris., Trentino. $39
2006 Nino Negri Valtellina Superiore Mazer, Lombardia. $35
2004 Podere La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $??
2006 Poliziano Nobile di Montepulciano Asinone, Toscana. $??
2006 San Patrignano  Colli di Rimini Cabernet Montepirolo, Emila Romagna. $??
2006 Tenuta La Fuga Nozzole, Toscana. $??
2007 Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto, Toscana. $40
2005 Tenuta Sant'Antonio Amarone della Valpolicella Campo dei Gigli, Veneto. $125
2007 Terre del Principe Centomoggia, Campania. $??
2006 Umani Ronchi  Pelago, Marche. $99
2006 Umani Ronchi  Conero Cumaro Riserva, Marche. $52
2006 Villa Medoro  Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane Adrano, Abruzzo. $??

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Cantina Convento Muri-Gries A. A. Lagrein Abtei Ris., Alto Adige. $??
2007 Castello di Cigognola  Barbera Dodicidodici, Lombardia. $??
2008 Ermete Medici & Figli Reggiano Lambrusco Concerto, Emila Romagna. $21
2005 Guerrieri Rizzardi Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. Villa Rizzardi, Veneto. $??
2007 Tasca d'Almerita  Cabernet Sauvignon, Sicilia. $70
2004 Tenuta La Fuga Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $65
2006 Tenuta La Fuga Cabreo il Borgo, Toscana. $50
2004 Tenute Sella & Mosca Alghero Marchese di Villamarina, Sardegna. $??
2006 Villa Vignamaggio Vignamaggio, Toscana. $97

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2007 Bricco Maiolica Diano d'Alba Sup. Sörì Bricco Maiolica, Piemonte. $??

Wine writers love Jake Lorenzo's stuff; many wish they could write like him, or more precisely, get away with writing like he does. It's not so much the sheer literary quality of Jake's "mostly true stories of the wine business," the book's subtitle; it's the vantage point and the audacity.

Jake Lorenzo is the rare wine writer who views the wine world from inside the industry, not as an outside observer dispensing judgments and scores. Better yet, he freely admits that he and his friends love to get hammered--common enough among wine writers, but rarely the subject of one essay after another. This book will not tell you which vintages of what Barolos to invest in, but it may well make you want to get ripped.

Compounding the fun, Jake is a man of mystery on two levels. He's a "wine detective," looking into what's really going on under the surface and why things work the way they do. But he's also a fiction, a nom de vin for Lance Cutler, a veteran Sonoma winemaker (including a long stretch at Gundlach-Bundschu) and wine writer (often for technical- trade magazines). Jake's "mostly true tales" involve not only his family and various true-life wine industry folks but his imaginary eating-and-drinking buddy Chuy Palacios, chef/owner of the Burrito Palace, and Dr. Iggy Calamari, a certifiably mad scientist and inventor of the wine-powered heart pacemaker.

See why the rest of us wish we had Jake's/Lance's gig?

The 60 or so short pieces that make up this collection, Jake's third, originally appeared in Wine Business Monthly, for which Lance also writes techie winemaking articles. The book is dedicated to "cellar rats and wine salesmen," without whom "there is no wine business." Several pieces celebrate the endless hard work that goes into harvesting, crushing, fermenting, pressing, barreling and bottling hundreds of thousands of tons of grapes every year; the sheer manual labor of winemaking often escapes the folks whose hardest job is handling obdurate corks. Several pieces revolve around rants against high wine prices and extravagant restaurant markups.

Jake really gets going when he's popping corks and sitting down to eat. Several gargantuan eating and drinking marathons are recounted in loving detail. One piece is a kind of ode to the three-hour lunch; another furnishes the Burrito Palace Emergency Preparedness Basic Provisions Kit, which includes, among many other things, masa flour, pinto beans, Bombay Sapphire gin, Centinela Reposado tequila, rendered duck fat, canned escargot, and two changes of underwear.

After all the bouts of wretched excess, Jake ends up with more hangovers than a Philip Marlowe detective. Jake's wine consumption may help explain why one particular essay about the exploits of a transcontinental society of hedonists shows up twice, in two different sections of the book, under two titles. It's a good enough read, and certainly creative editing.

Few topics fit the conventional wine writing mold. Several are set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of New Orleans; Oscar Peterson's piano wizardry gets mentioned more than once. Unexpected or far-fetched analogies drive many of the pieces; my favorite was the association between ballplayers pumped up on BALCO steroids and the claims of biodynamic farming.

Continued Surveillance won't help with your studies for that Master of Wine exam. But it could convince you to adopt the motto that appears on the home page of the Wine Patrol Press website: "Two bottles a day, that's all I ask."

Continued Surveillance: Mostly True Stories of the Wine Business is available exclusively through Wine Patrol Press; email jake@winepatrol.com or call Wine Patrol Press directly at (707) 996-5730.

Tim Patterson writes for several wine magazines, blogs at Blind Muscat's Cellarbook, and co-edits the Vinography book review section.

Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries about an hour into the session (it ran about 15 minutes longer) so apologies for the abrupt ending.

TIPS FOR VIEWING:

When you click the frame below you'll be taken to a streaming media site that hosts the video (sorry, no embedding capabilities ).

The site gives you the option to watch in HD or SD (standard definition). If you have a DSL or slower connection, I recommend switching to SD to watch.

Feel free to add your comments or questions below !

Consequently, whenever I do come across something that comes close, I feel almost obligated to share the find. It's been some time since I visited the wines made under the brand TAZ, but a couple of bottles arrived recently and went into the tasting lineup and they showed extremely well.

TAZ is one of the many wine brands that are part of wine and spirits conglomerate Fosters USA. Originally a part of the Beringer-Blass portfolio, it has been subsumed, like many others, in the wave of consolidation that has swept through the California wine world in the last five or ten years.

The wine brand is named after winegrower Bob "Taz" Steinhauer, who earned the nickname due to his resemblance to a certain cartoon character. Despite being part of one of the world's largest wine corporations, the TAZ brand is operated with a certain degree of independence. The wine continues to be made out of a winemaking cooperative in Santa Barbara, under the guidance of winemaker Natasha Boffman, who took over from the original winemaker John Priest in 2005. Boffman's prior credits include winemaking stints at Stags' Leap and Meridian Vineyards as well as some time spent down under in Australia's Coonawarra region.

The winery produces several wines from Santa Barbara County, Steinhauer's stomping grounds, with a special emphasis on Pinot Noir from several sites, including Steinhauer's most well known property, the Fiddlestix vineyard (which sites next to the well known Sanford and Benedict vineyards).

This particular wine is made from fruit from the North Canyon Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, as well as the Fiddlestix vineyard in Santa Rita Hills. After destemming and fermentation, the wine is aged in French oak barrels of which about 25% are new.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine has a nose of sweet cranberry fruit. In the mouth it is beautifully soft and juicy with cranberry and raspberry flavors that stay lively thanks to good acidity and very judicious oak. Not incredibly complex, but hard to dislike in all its bouncy juiciness. Delicious.

Food Pairing:
This wine showcases its fruit beautifully, and will complement anything earthy and savory I think. I'd love to drink it with mini chicken pot pies with bacon and marjoram.

Overall Score: between 8.5 and 9

How Much?: $17

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.