| Shane's Wine Opinion's |
| My First Step Towards Greatness |
I have been reading the Wine Spectator Magazine for about five
years now and have had a subscription for almost as long. I usually
will read the “Letters” section of each issue and make comments to
myself on whether or not I agreed with the author of the letters. Most
of these letters are aimed at a particular article that was written in a
previous issue. Either they agreed with the writer or took issue with
something that was said.
This past summer, there was an issue of Wine Spectator that had an
article written by Harvey Stieman concerning proposed AVA’s in
Oregon for Pinot Noir wines. In laymen terms, what that means is
that a known region like Napa Valley for instance is broken down into
sub appellations like Stag’s Leap District, Oakville, Rutherford or
Howell Mountain. The point behind this is so the consumer that really
loves their Cabernet wines from Stag’s Leap can look at the bottle of
wine and see that the grapes were grown and sourced from Stag’s
Leap and make a more informed decision with regards to purchasing
wine. This is way they have been doing things in Europe, especially
Burgundy, France (Pinot Noir & Chardonnay wines) for centuries.
One of the leaders of this AVA movement in Oregon is Ken Wright,
owner of Ken Wright Wine Cellars. He is someone that I have come
to know through volunteering at The American Heart Association’s
“Cotes du Coeur” (A wine auction) the past three years. Ken has
donated his time, money and a whole lot of his wines for the cause
every year that I have been there and he is a warm, kind and humble
individual. He is a large part of Harvey Stieman’s article as he
explains what it is that he and other individuals in the Oregon wine
business are trying to accomplish by proposing these AVA’s. One
very harsh critic of these proposed AVA’s is the winery owner Josh
Bergstrom. He basically makes the claim that all these AVA’s will
accomplish is the ability of Oregon winery owners to charge more
money for their designated AVA wines. I found this somewhat ironic
since Josh sells some of his Pinot’s for more than $100.00 a bottle.
Outraged by these accusations, I did what any other angry reader
would do and wrote Wine Spectator a letter, defending the cause and
in particular, Ken Wright. The following is the exact letter that I
wrote them:
I would like to comment on Josh Bergstrom's comments in this
article. I am unsure if he was directing his "greed" claims towards
Ken Wright or just at all the proponents of the proposed AVA's in
general, but I can tell you that I know Ken Wright personally. I have
met and talked at length with him here in Dallas at the American
Heart Association's "Cotes du Coeur" silent wine auction the past
three years now. It is inconceivable to me that there is a more
likeable and humble man in the entire wine business then Ken. He
gives both his time and his wines to this charity event without any
fanfare and is an all around genuine person.
I find it somewhat ironic that a man that charges in upwards of
$105.00 for some of his Pinot's would be concerned that advocates of
the proposed AVA's just wanted more money for their wines. What a
farce! He is charging almost $50.00 more than Ken does for his
Pinot's. As far as the derogatory comments about the Burgundy
appellations is concerned, it is the incompetent and greedy Domaine
owners and vintners and not the appellations themselves that is
flawed. There are valid reasons these vineyard locations are
designated on bottles of Burgundy. Each of the soils are uniquely
different and represent a style of Burgundy that is pleasantly different
from the next appellation. As a consumer, one that prefers red
Burgundies from Clos du Veugot as opposed to say, Gevrey
Chambertin, I like knowing where my Burgundy wine comes from. I
have also noticed similar trends for my taste preferences in Oregon
Pinot's with regards to specific growing areas and vineyard sites.
Shea Vineyard and Yamhill comes to mind. Why shouldn't I be a more
informed consumer when buying Oregon Pinot's.
I for one hope that the obstacles are overcome and these proposed
AVA's are set in motion. This could really put Oregon's Pinot Noir
wines in the elite status that French wine regions enjoy and I applaud
pioneer's like Ken Wright that are championing the cause!
Well it took them a few months, but they finally published my letter in
the latest issue, the October 15th, 2005 called “The Best of
Australia”. Page 36 to be precise. As you will see, they edited a
significant portion of my letter to drop the negativity of my stance and
put a positive spin on it. I guess it is for the best, but at least you get
to see the differences of the two articles. Lost in all of this is the fact
that....Hey!!! I’m in the Wine Spectator!!! Cool!!!
Now if I could only get my own show on the Food Network!
years now and have had a subscription for almost as long. I usually
will read the “Letters” section of each issue and make comments to
myself on whether or not I agreed with the author of the letters. Most
of these letters are aimed at a particular article that was written in a
previous issue. Either they agreed with the writer or took issue with
something that was said.
This past summer, there was an issue of Wine Spectator that had an
article written by Harvey Stieman concerning proposed AVA’s in
Oregon for Pinot Noir wines. In laymen terms, what that means is
that a known region like Napa Valley for instance is broken down into
sub appellations like Stag’s Leap District, Oakville, Rutherford or
Howell Mountain. The point behind this is so the consumer that really
loves their Cabernet wines from Stag’s Leap can look at the bottle of
wine and see that the grapes were grown and sourced from Stag’s
Leap and make a more informed decision with regards to purchasing
wine. This is way they have been doing things in Europe, especially
Burgundy, France (Pinot Noir & Chardonnay wines) for centuries.
One of the leaders of this AVA movement in Oregon is Ken Wright,
owner of Ken Wright Wine Cellars. He is someone that I have come
to know through volunteering at The American Heart Association’s
“Cotes du Coeur” (A wine auction) the past three years. Ken has
donated his time, money and a whole lot of his wines for the cause
every year that I have been there and he is a warm, kind and humble
individual. He is a large part of Harvey Stieman’s article as he
explains what it is that he and other individuals in the Oregon wine
business are trying to accomplish by proposing these AVA’s. One
very harsh critic of these proposed AVA’s is the winery owner Josh
Bergstrom. He basically makes the claim that all these AVA’s will
accomplish is the ability of Oregon winery owners to charge more
money for their designated AVA wines. I found this somewhat ironic
since Josh sells some of his Pinot’s for more than $100.00 a bottle.
Outraged by these accusations, I did what any other angry reader
would do and wrote Wine Spectator a letter, defending the cause and
in particular, Ken Wright. The following is the exact letter that I
wrote them:
I would like to comment on Josh Bergstrom's comments in this
article. I am unsure if he was directing his "greed" claims towards
Ken Wright or just at all the proponents of the proposed AVA's in
general, but I can tell you that I know Ken Wright personally. I have
met and talked at length with him here in Dallas at the American
Heart Association's "Cotes du Coeur" silent wine auction the past
three years now. It is inconceivable to me that there is a more
likeable and humble man in the entire wine business then Ken. He
gives both his time and his wines to this charity event without any
fanfare and is an all around genuine person.
I find it somewhat ironic that a man that charges in upwards of
$105.00 for some of his Pinot's would be concerned that advocates of
the proposed AVA's just wanted more money for their wines. What a
farce! He is charging almost $50.00 more than Ken does for his
Pinot's. As far as the derogatory comments about the Burgundy
appellations is concerned, it is the incompetent and greedy Domaine
owners and vintners and not the appellations themselves that is
flawed. There are valid reasons these vineyard locations are
designated on bottles of Burgundy. Each of the soils are uniquely
different and represent a style of Burgundy that is pleasantly different
from the next appellation. As a consumer, one that prefers red
Burgundies from Clos du Veugot as opposed to say, Gevrey
Chambertin, I like knowing where my Burgundy wine comes from. I
have also noticed similar trends for my taste preferences in Oregon
Pinot's with regards to specific growing areas and vineyard sites.
Shea Vineyard and Yamhill comes to mind. Why shouldn't I be a more
informed consumer when buying Oregon Pinot's.
I for one hope that the obstacles are overcome and these proposed
AVA's are set in motion. This could really put Oregon's Pinot Noir
wines in the elite status that French wine regions enjoy and I applaud
pioneer's like Ken Wright that are championing the cause!
Well it took them a few months, but they finally published my letter in
the latest issue, the October 15th, 2005 called “The Best of
Australia”. Page 36 to be precise. As you will see, they edited a
significant portion of my letter to drop the negativity of my stance and
put a positive spin on it. I guess it is for the best, but at least you get
to see the differences of the two articles. Lost in all of this is the fact
that....Hey!!! I’m in the Wine Spectator!!! Cool!!!
Now if I could only get my own show on the Food Network!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |