Subject: Wine Kulers Sparkles

Dear Friends and Wine Lovers,

TOPIC 1
This week, I offer you special bonus content, a glossary of sweetness terms for sparkling wines, available only for e-newsletter readers. No need to thank me. Your undying adoration is enough.

TOPIC 2
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the wine completion won by Yonah Mountain Vineyards. I received a fair amount of mail, most of it positive and reaffirming. There were some non-believers out there. I thought I'd reprint one of these letters and my response for you:

Dear Mr. Kulers,

While I have read many of your columns, this is the first time I have ever contacted you. Let me say that I appreciate and enjoy most of your writings concerning wine and am grateful that we have somebody local with a passion for such an endeavor. I am a former owner of a restaurant that was in Lawrenceville until 2009. Our wine program won several awards including The Wine Spectator award of excellence. If I may, I would like to share a few comments concerning the tasting you published.

I have met Bob Miller and was thrilled with his stated goal of producing wines that are the equal or exceed those of the finest of California. To not only strive for that goal, but to publicly state it and to be held accountable is admirable indeed. I have not tasted the Ghost Horse Vineyards Cabernet, so I cannot speak about it at all. But I have tasted all others involved and find the results a little puzzling. Jordan and Genesis, in my opinion, are two completely different wines. The Jordan Cab is truly not an example of a great California wine. It has tremendous name recognition, but I do believe that's where its greatness ends as it really is just a run of the mill offering. Genesis is nice, but its structure is out of balance and overdone. I do hope that they continue to refine and improve upon the wine and feel certain that they will exhaust all measures to do so.

In regards to the chardonnay tasting, I cannot see how the results were arrived at. Kistler, unlike Jordan, is a standard bearer of California Chardonnay in both name and product. Their Dutton Ranch offering is a fine example of the varietal and quite frankly the Yonah just is not its equal. This is not to say that Yonah is a bad wine. I have purchased it in both support of Mr. Miller's endeavor and because it is a nice wine. I just cannot see how it bested the Kistler offering unless there were certain criteria used that were not published which would explain the outcome. I truly wish the Millers great success and I hope this email comes across as intended, which is with complete respect for all parties involved. Thank you again for your work.

Sincerely, Bob Johnson

Dear Bob,

Thanks for reading and thanks for your thoughtful comments.

As for comparing two, somewhat dissimilar wines in the Jordan v. Genesis, we used the 20-point UC Davis scale, which is one of the most scientific approach to a very subjective process. The Genesis scored higher, which means it was closer to the 20-point, optimal score than the Jordan. AND, as I explained, this was found to be the case on a majority of the score cards. I should also point out that these were not mere consumers making this determination. There were some serious palates there. Speaking for myself, I have a very high level certification and have passed extremely hard tasting certification tests. The point is the wines were professionally evaluated. Of course, the wines were tasted blind. I have a feeling that if you were sitting in my seat, you may have come to the same conclusion.

I will absolutely not argue your appraisal of Jordan Cabs. I like 'em OK, but you can't deny that it is the no. 1 best selling wine on wine lists for wines over $40 (or something like that) because it is. That's not a bad bellwether to shoot for.

I should also point out that I did not conduct this tasting. I was just a participant. All my column did was report on the unbelievable news.

As for the Chards. I absolutely love Kistler Chards and the Dutton Ranch is among my faves. I am quite familiar with these wines and was particularly stunned that I missed it (you gotta love/hate blind tastings some time). I don't know what else to say here, except that knowledge of labels, regions and prices has an undeniable impact on our perceptions. Blind tastings do not lie. And while they can be rigged, I happen to know that this tasting was legitimate.

Sincerely,

Gil Kulers