Enobytes Wine Blog

February 2008 Wine Picks

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Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile (CTMV), a French shipping company created the world’s first fleet of sail-driven merchant ships to transport Languedoc wines. The initiative is to support a sustainable economic development project.

Since CO² emissions from transport are expected to rise by 50% in Europe by 2010, the Treaty of Amsterdam project was introduced to integrate environmental considerations into community policies.

Using fleet that support renewable energy and biofuels, CTMV acquired a set of sailing vessels which meets environmental requirements and supports the Treaty of Amsterdam project, with an expectation of saving nearly 5 ounces of carbon per wine bottle compared to traditional shipping methods. Additionally, CTMV uses the Canal du Midi to transport client goods on to the fleet, which, in itself burns five times less fuel than traditional shipping. The canal connects the Garonne River to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean.

CTMV’s first voyage from Bordeaux to Dublin is already in transit, expected to arrive in Dublin next month, and future ports of call including England, Sweden and Demark will certainly assist in the initiative to save carbon. Read the rest of this entry »

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As I was wandering the wine isles of a local grocery retailer the other day, I was happy that they were now carrying the Echelon label. When this label first came into existence in the late 90’s it represented above average quality wine from respected growing regions at below average prices and their Pinot Noir and the Merlot were standouts. My first instinct was to grab a bottle and check out the information on the label. Much to my surprise, the Pinot Noir lists French fruit but the wine is blended and bottled in California.

Many other American producers seem to be on this ‘source Pinot Noir from anywhere‘ mission. Beringer’s founders reserve Pinot Noir is now made from grapes coming from the Lombardy region of Italy. Pepperwood Grove’s Pinot Noir started this year with French Vin d’ pays grapes then it went to Chilean fruit, changed again to join Beringer bringing it’s grapes from Lombardy, Italy, only to change once again bringing the fruit from Australia.

Grapes from three different continents and four different viticulture regions all with the same label all within one vintage - I hope you Pepperwood Grove drinkers like change.

If you go to the Pepperwood Grove website after reading this article, you might be a little confused because the website lists the appellation as California. I have not seen any of their Pinot Noir from California on the shelf since 2006. Read the rest of this entry »

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Anyone that has traveled with their wine in hand has experienced some sort of problem along their route. Here are a few tips to consider when traveling by air, boat, train or bus.

If you are flying any time soon, be certain to read up on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Permitted and Prohibited items list. Rules seem to change often enough to require a quick review of the limitations before you travel. The 3-1-1 rule regulates carry-on liquids, and to date, the TSA will only allow each passenger a three ounce liquid limit (or less) stored neatly in a one quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag. So if you have a 750 ml bottle of wine,

expect to pack it in your checked luggage or leave it at home. There is one exception to the rule: Items purchased after the checkpoint have been pre-screened and are allowed on the plane so if you want to pay the airport prices, you can carry your purchase onboard. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hold onto your hat’s folks there is a storm a brewing down at the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC). Laws pertaining to how the retail wine outlets purchase their wine has changed dramatically this year leaving some of the wholesale distribution companies out in the cold.

These are not exactly the types of guys who get shut out so I would watch closely as the fur begins to fly; but before we get into this story I thought you might enjoy reading who is exempt from OLCC licensing requirements. During my research about this subject, I uncovered a few ORS statutes that left me scratching my head. Who Knew?

471.162 Persons exempted from license requirement. (1) Hospitals, sanitariums, convalescent homes, rest homes, retirement homes and facilities for the care of the elderly that have been licensed or registered by the state may sell and serve alcoholic beverages to patients, inmates and residents, and to bona fide visitors and guests of patients, inmates and residents, without a license issued under this chapter. Facilities authorized to sell and serve alcoholic beverages without a license under this subsection may not sell or serve alcoholic beverages after 10 p.m. except upon a physician’s prescription.

This provision is a little scary up until the inmates are mentioned then it gets a lot scary, even scarier after the 10PM cutoff unless the Doc say’s its OK is included. Read the rest of this entry »

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Welcome to our series, “Wine Regions of the World!” ©. As part of an ongoing series, we will take you on a journey throughout the world to learn about appellations and sub-appellations, region varietals and winery information, most of which will be graphically displayed with the use of satellite imagery, maps, terrain data and 3D buildings using Google Earth technology.

We have combined our talent for wine research with technology to bring you interactive maps, which will give you a comprehensive view of wine data for a particular region. Our maps display information including geographical terrain; tasting room and wine reviews, winery hours of operation & location information; road information, turn-by-turn directions, and real-time traffic and weather reports.

The information will be useful whether you are educating yourself about a particular region, involved in planning your next wine country trip or simply interested in looking at all of the great information our maps provide.

We actually started this research project out of frustration. A large amount of the data we found (on the Internet and other publications) was static and outdated. We wanted to make it easier for enophiles to learn about their favorite region without having to go through the agony of searching a copious amount of data like we did. After collecting all this data, we knew that sharing this information interactively would be much more interesting than writing a journal or publication.

We hope you enjoy and appreciate the "Wine Regions of the World" series. Check back often to review the latest and greatest region. Now on to our series.

About this Map

This map depicts wineries and tasting rooms within the Oregon Willamette Valley AVA. Here you will find a level of in-depth graphically displayed information never before offered on any other wine website.

The Willamette Valley Region Description

Established in 1984, Oregon’s Willamette Valley AVA (a.k.a. American Viticultural Area) is a concentrated appellation packed with many jewels within it’s sub-appellations. At 5,200 square miles at 150 miles long and 60 miles wide, it’s the largest AVA in the state, making it Oregon’s largest AVA which contains most of the state’s wineries. It runs from the Columbia River in Portland south through Salem to the Calapooya Mountains and has the largest concentration of wineries and vineyards in Oregon. The Willamette Valley shares the 45th parallel with the Burgundy region of France, and has fertile hillside soils and ocean-cooled climate conditions that make the Willamette Valley a perfect location to plant and grow varietals such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Approved American Viticultural Area(s)

The Willamette Valley consists of two major regions, which include North Willamette Valley and South Willamette Valley. The Northern part of the valley consists of six delimited grape-growing regions distinguishable by geographic features. The American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) include

the Chehalem Mountains AVA, Dundee Hills AVA, Eola-Amity Hills AVA, McMinnville AVA, Ribbon Ridge AVA and the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA:

What’s interesting about the demographics of the Northern versus the Southern Willamette Valley is that all of the approved Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) AVAs exist in the Northern part of the region.

Varietals

The Willamette Valley has a cool, moist climate, which makes a perfect climate to produce Pinot Noir, for which it is most recognized. There are approximately twenty-four known varietals grown in this region, but the most well known and dominating varietals include Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Marechal Foch, Merlot, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Syrah.

Vineyards and Wineries:

Launch Wine Regions of the World Series: Oregon – Willamette Valley with Google Earth (you won’t regret it, I promise). If you don’t have Google Earth, download the latest version by clicking on the green download button below. What is Google Earth? Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

Here is a sample of what you will find using our interactive maps:

The initial interactive start-up screen lists all wineries and vineyards in the Oregon Willamette Valley.

Navigate to a winery by clicking on the yellow and red grape icon. Details including winery location, hours of operation, winery URL and directions will appear. If Enobytes reviewed the winery, a link will appear at the top of the details page. Click on this link to get to the review information.

Once you decide where you want to go, you can use the left-hand navigational bar to turn on various layers of mapping information such as roads, turn-by-turn directions, shopping and services, geographic features, 3D buildings, sightseeing, gas, food and lodging, real-time traffic and weather reports among others:

For more information on how to navigate the maps, see Google Earth’s video demos.

Attention Wineries: If you do not see your winery listed, please contact us at info@enobytes.org so that we may work with you to get your listing added to our database.

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Welcome to Enobytes "Wine Regions of the World" © series. Our wine maps © outline appellation and sub-appellation information, region varietals, winery and vineyard information, most of which is graphically displayed with the use of satellite imagery, maps, terrain data and 3D buildings using Google Earth technology. To date, our list is small, but we will continue to build upon this list until all regions are covered.

The information will be useful whether you are educating yourself about a particular region, involved in planning your next wine country trip or simply interested in looking at all of the great information our maps provide.

We actually started this research project out of frustration. A large amount of the data we found (on the Internet and other publications) was static and outdated. We wanted to make it easier for enophiles to learn about their favorite region without having to go through the agony of searching a copious amount of data like we did. After collecting all this data, we knew that sharing this information interactively would be much more interesting than writing a journal or publication.

We hope you enjoy and appreciate the "Wine Regions of the World" series. Check back often as we reveal and release the next great region! To get started, click on one of the wine map regions below.

U.S.A.
New York – Finger Lakes
Oregon – Willamette Valley

Coming Soon: France, Côte du Rhône

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