Recently, I had the opportunity to test drive some of these fancy tools now available to monitor what people are saying on the web about you and your products. There is certainly some hesitation and ambivalence about putting one’s ear to the door to overhear something that may have never been said (or in this case written) for you. Nevertheless, I am rather cavalier and have learned that those of us who allow rain to bead off of our hides tend to live longer, happier lives and with fewer incidences of heart attack. At least, that’s the public health stats they fed me in graduate school.

Monitoring feedback about my wines was mostly positive. However, one negative comment warranted my attention. I have strong reservations about people who spend time commenting online about wines. It strikes me as a rather severe infatuation with the fuzz in one’s umbilical. Wine is inherently a social beverage and I suppose there is some credulity that people who share their wine notes online are seeking some sort of association and connection with far flung, anonymous (or in this case, a poster aka BEB) others who may have similarly imbibed a wine and thought to write about it online. But, I digress.

The comment was this: “This is the worst label I have ever seen. The graphics on the front label are very difficult to read and the font on the back label is probably size 4. A truly terrible label.” In response, I registered to post on this particular board where wine geeks commune and wrote this to the commentator:

I make the wine you commented on.
I thought I would let you know a bit about the wine label design you’ve decried.
If you’ve seen the back label, you may have noticed John Langdon’s name.
You can find out more about him here: http://johnlangdon.net/
It’s worth noting that John is internationally regarded for distinctive logo and art design and is the world leader in ambigrams. Don’t take my word for it, see his website and the breadth of work he’s undertaken for brands you’ll likely recognize. (brands like Aerosmith, John Mayer, Kelly Ripa, and the artwork in a small book/film sensation called the Da Vinci Code).
The front label is totemic, mirror image and symmetrical down the middle. The various mathematical and scientific approaches to presenting my long italian name play into the overall aspect of wine as both art and science. The rear label text is in the shape of a trullo, the same image you’ll find on the corks in my wines. Trullos are Unesco world heritage sites in Alberobello in Puglia, Italy where my grandparents are from.
I suppose that all of this is meaningless gibberish to someone who just doesn’t like the design, but I recall studying Byzantine and Renaissance art while in Florence as a college student. Much of the art from before Giotto, indeed room 1 at the Uffizi, was of no interest to me until I took the time to examine and appreciate the amazing story and development that singular room represents in the western cannon of art.
The wine is in fact sourced 100% from the Sierra Madre vineyard and is a pure expression of the fruit and the vintage from sandy soils with minimal intervention. 
It’s true the font is smaller than I’d like, and we’ll hopefully ameliorate that going forward. Wine labels are a small canvas to communicate such a personal product.

I know not whether my note will be received by BEB since his posting was some months ago and it’s highly unlikely I’ll be hovering around that particular posting board in anticipation of a response. It is amazing how tightly knit the world has become, but some things continue to ring true. Like when momma said, “If you can’t say something positive, don’t say anything at all.”

gm

PS: When I am forwarded or do come across people who post positive notes about my wines, I regularly extend special discounts to them for reorders.

Meanwhile, investors are betting on the U.S. wine market’s encouraging growth trends and are actively trying to expand their portfolios while the industry regains its footing and acquisition prices are relatively low. San Francisco-based private equity firm Bacchus Capital Management, which mostly provides financing to wineries but sometimes invests in them as well, purchased a stake in Sbragia Family Vineyards in October and is actively seeking out other deals. “The U.S. wine market is growing, so it’s a good place to be,” says Sam Bronfman, managing partner at Bacchus. “While the trend line dipped during the recession, it will go back up over time as people go back to buying higher-priced wines.” - from WineSpectator.com

If you’re not a member of this great new online wine site, here’s a reason to join. They’ve selected the Wanderlust Rhone blend from Demetria vineyard to feature today and tomorrow.
Check it out at lot18.com 

Pleased to Announce that the Agent Zinfandel was chosen by Lot 18 as a featured wine during their charitable wine week. $4 of each bottle purchased was donated to Concern Worldwide. Stay tuned as the wine will again be featured later this month.

Lot18 Review

—Eric Lawrence Brown

Happy holidays to all. As in year’s past, I’m offering an inventory clearance to friends and family. For $150 you’ll receive 12 btls of wine (regularly priced at $250). It’s Hobson’s choice, but you can specify how many whites or reds you’d like. Wholesale pricing means these wines are already 30-50% off regular pricing. Price includes shipping and tax in West Coast. Add $20 more for east coast shipping. Email Greg to order. 

Bring wine, you’ll need it. Apparently, Santa and his helpers prefer Martellotto Chardonnay.

gm

CDC Finds Moderate Drinking Leads To Longer Life; Buries Finding

Source: Forbes

Trevor Butterworth

Sep 20th

Sometimes, it seems as if the nation’s public health mandarins are the only responsible adults in a country swarming with perpetual teenagers; and, as with teenagers or children, sometimes the adults can’t risk telling the whole truth.

Thus did Thomas Frieden, the director general of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ever so subtly spin the results of a revealing analysis of the impact of four “low risk” lifestyle behaviors on health last month:

“If you want to lead a longer life and feel better, you should adopt healthy behaviors

So did that mean that moderate drinking actually improved your likelihood of living longer? Yes it did, even though Frieden couldn’t quite bring himself to say so. CDC researchers used data from the 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) to examine the impact of never having smoked, eating a healthy diet, adequate physical exercise, and moderate alcohol consumption on overall mortality and specific disease related mortality. They found that it pays to be good - or in the bloodless terminology of public health, it pays to follow “low-risk lifestyle behaviors:”

As the number of low-risk lifestyle behaviors increased, the risk of all-cause mortality and mortality from major cardiovascular disease and other causes decreased progressively. Compared with participants with no low-risk lifestyle behaviors, participants with 4 such behaviors were 63% less likely to dies, 66% less likely to die from a malignant neoplasm, 65% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and 57% less likely to die from other causes.

What happens if you take out moderate drinking? The study (published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Public Health) found that those people who reported one, two or three factors were 25 percent, 40 percent and 55 percent less likely to die (respectively) during the follow up period. Clearly, the contribution of moderate drinking to health was not trivial.

Though there are limitations to the NHANES data (there’s a lot of self-reporting), it’s the best health data we have on the U.S. population, and the findings tally with studies done elsewhere. Four, fairly basic factors, have a huge impact on health.

But it’s that fourth factor, the positive finding on moderate drinking (defined as two drinks for a guy, one for a gal, per day), that appears to be difficult for the CDC to swallow, leading to much throat clearing in the study itself about all the baleful effects of immoderate drinking, and then the evasive language in the CDC press release.

It will also upset those public health mandarins - notably New York City’s public health commissioner, Thomas Farley - who attack moderate drinking as being worse than excessive drinking and argue for polices to target moderation (yeah, sounds bizarre - but there’s a math to the madness, which you can read more about here).

At least one journalist was misled by the press release into a bit of righteous fulmination, until, that is, he read the study; but at least he was paying some attention: the CDC findings, released in the dead of August, have barely caused a ripple in the media. A blog post in Time and news pieces in Wine Spectator and the Times of Malta are among the few publications to report the findings - with the latter paper, perhaps given its Mediterranean perspective, headlining the news as, “Study recognizes moderate drinking.”

And there’s the irony: the finding on moderate drinking is precisely what makes this study striking, in terms of news; and if the CDC wasn’t so squeamish about saying out straight that moderate drinking was associated with a positive effect on health, it might have captured the kind of public attention this study deserved.

July 25, 2011 08:00 ET

The Vegan Vine Offers New Wines and Education on the Animal Products Used in Winemaking

Three New Vegan Wine Selections Now Available in Fourteen States and Direct From the Winery

SAN MARTIN, CA—(Marketwire - Jul 25, 2011) - Family-owned Clos LaChance Winery is pleased to announce a new line of California Central Coast wines: The Vegan Vine. The Vegan Vine has eliminated the use of animal bi-products that are common in the wine filtration process. In addition, the brand seeks to educate consumers (vegans and non-vegans) about the use of animal products in winemaking.

“Because the core ingredient in wine is grapes, many people do not realize that a number of animal products are often used in the winemaking process,” said Cheryl Durzy, co-founder of The Vegan Vine and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Clos LaChance. “We hope that the Vegan Vine can answer some of these questions and provide a viable option for vegans and non-vegans alike.”

The Vegan Vine offers three wine selections, including:

• The Vegan Vine Cabernet Sauvignon: With aromas of bright berry fruits, plums, tobacco and a wonderfully smooth finish. Retails for $14.99.
• The Vegan Vine Sauvignon Blanc: Has a nose of bright citrus fruits and is a refreshing Sauvignon Blanc that pairs well with spicy food. Retails for $9.99.
• The Vegan Vine Red Wine: Bright fruit flavors with a solid dose of acidity. Medium tannins round out this interesting blend of grapes (38% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Petite Verdot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 10% Zinfandel, 2% Cinsaut, 1% Carignan, 1% Mouvedre). Retails for $11.99.

Around the neck of each bottle is an educational brochure that discusses the use of animal products in winemaking. In addition to providing a great vegan wine at a good price, the winery seeks to provide wine consumers with all the appropriate information about vegan wines so that decisions can be made at the point of purchase.

“Making these wines vegan does not mean a sacrifice in quality,” adds Durzy. “We are getting great feedback and have already picked up a medal for the Cabernet in the Los Angeles International Wine Competition.”

A 2009 survey from the Vegetarian Resource Group, a non-profit group, reported that 0.8 percent of Americans identified themselves as vegan (eliminating the consumption and use of animal products). Each year this number grows.

“Our VP of sales, Cher Engelstad, has a vegan daughter. She began asking if our wines were suitable for her lifestyle,” said Durzy. “We realized our customers had a definite interest in a vegan option and education. Most of Clos LaChance’s Wines were vegan anyways, but it was not something we could legally explain on the bottle due to TTB regulations. Therefore, the concept of The Vegan Vine was born!”

In most wines, animal products such as isinglass (from sturgeon fish bladder), gelatin, egg whites, and caseins (a milk protein), are used as processing aids while fining the wines. These animal products help remove solids. Although typically filtered out of the wine before it is sold, the use of these animal ingredients makes many wines unsuitable for vegans.

The Vegan Vine is able to avoid animal products in wine production by allowing the wines to naturally settle out the undesirable particles. The grapes are sourced from Clos LaChance’s Estate Vineyards in the Northern Central Coast, where the wines have the benefit of a climate and terroir that creates a softer style wine naturally. The excess compounds are removed with sterile filtration, promoting freshness without animal products.

How We Fine Our Wines
Instead of animal products, the winery uses bentonite, a clay product, for protein and heat stability. The positively charged ions in the bentonite bind with the negatively charged proteins in the wine solution and precipitate them out. Gravity settles them to the bottom of the tank. The wine is chilled in the tank to 28 degrees Fahrenheit and sodium bitartrate is added, binding with the tartrates in the solution to settle them out and create a softer, more stable wine. Finally, the wine is sterile filtered down to .45 microns which pulls out all remaining particles.

Availability
The Vegan Vine is currently carried by distributors in the following states:

• California: American Wines and Spirits
• Delaware: DOPS, Inc.
• New Hampshire: Southern Wines and Spirits
• Maine: Nappi Distributors
• Maryland: DOPS, Inc.
• Massachusetts: Classic Wine Imports
• New Jersey: Testa Wines of the World
• New York: Testa Wines of the World
• Oregon: The Merchant of Vino
• Pennsylvania: Majestic Wine and Spirits, LLC (a subsidiary of Allied Beverage)
• Texas: RNDC
• Vermont: Farrell Distributing Corporation
• Washington: Click Distributing
• Washington DC: DOPS, Inc.