Here’s a surprising statistic:
70% of the 250 million cases of wine sold in the U.S. is controlled by families. This is an estimate by David Freed, chairman of Napa-based wine industry financer The UCC Group, quoted in the North Bay Business Journal report, “Wine Industry in midst of new wave of buyouts” (Jeff Quackenbush, Oct. 15, 2007). What makes that percentage so large? The huge wine mega-business, Constellation Brands, is family operated.
Two hand crafted reds from the Sierra Foothills Madroña Vineyards
Madroña 2006 Cardanini Vineyard Syrah
• This wine was recently bottled and has not yet been submitted to competitions or for review.
• A luscious mouthful of black fruit, including blueberries and blackberries. Nicely structured, its tannins are soft and invite another glass.
• All of the fruit for this Syrah was grown at the Cardinini Vineyard next door to Madroña. “We offered to tend the vineyard for Linda Cardanini several years ago, and it works out well,” notes Paul.
• After hand harvest, fruit was fermented at the winery just steps away. It underwent some extra time on the skins for color and texture.
• This Syrah aged nine months in neutral oak. “I believe wines focused on fruitiness, like Syrah and Zinfandel, need very little new oak character. It can muck up the balance of the wine very easily.”
• Madroña has bottled Syrah since 1997, but this is its first vintage from the Cardanini Vineyard.
• Excellent with peppered steak, sausage, or spicy stews.
• Enjoy now or hold 3-5 years. “If you have balance in the wine it will hold the wine together as it ages out. A wine with incredible fruit but without the balance will fall apart quickly.”
• Alcohol: 14.8%
Total Acidity: 0.52 gm/100ml
pH: 3.84
Cases Produced: 1298 cases
Bottling Date: October 22, 2007
Release Date: January 1, 2007
Madroña 2006 Estate Grown Zinfandel
• Like the Syrah, this wine was recently bottled and has not yet been submitted to competitions or for review.
• A Zinfandel with a heady nose of black and red berry fruit that introduce more of the same in your glass. Weighty in the mouth, with a friendly, smooth finish.
• This wine was grown at Cardanini Vineyard next door to Madroña as well. The vines were trained and tended by Madroña who used a trellising system like a vertical cordon, differing from the traditional “goblet” trellising for Zin. “There is great sun exposure all around the vine, and the fruit is gorgeous,” notes Paul. “It takes lots of hand work, but it’s worth it.”
• After hand harvest, fruit was crushed, cold-soaked, fermented and kept on the skins for 11 days. Paul gently irrigated the “cap” that formed over the wine “to soften the tannins and make a more approachable wine.”
• This Zin spent six months in neutral oak.
• A good companion with venison, a Jack cheese sandwich, spicy barbecue, eggplant lasagna.
• Enjoy now, or hold for 3-5 years. “This is a very ageable wine,” notes Paul.
• Alcohol: 15.6%
Total Acidity: 0.53gm/100ml
pH: 3.81
Cases Produced: 1292 cases
Bottling Date: September 19, 2007
Release Date: January 1, 2007
A loyal Rotta customer, Zoe, supplied this recipe to go with Rotta Cabernet Sauvignon. “I got the Baked Ziti recipe about three years ago, but it called for bottled spaghetti sauce and I don't do bottled spaghetti sauce, so I put it together my way. I have been making the pasta sauce for about 30 + years I tweak it from time to time. In fact, I just got a request to make it for my daughter's friend's baby shower.”
Baked Ziti
1 pound dry ziti pasta (or penne pasta)
6 ½ cups pasta sauce (recipe below)
6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
1 Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8
minutes; drain.
2 In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add pasta sauce, and simmer
15 minutes.
3 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream,
1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture.
Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4 Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.
Zoe’s Pasta Sauce
Note: For most robust flavors, make the sauce a day ahead of time, before you make the casserole
1 lb. Italian sausage (casings removed)
2 Tbl. Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbl. Italian seasoning
1 large can tomato puree (28 oz.?)
2 cans tomato paste (or 1 large)
1 Tbl. Sugar
2 bay leaves
½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 cups water + or - (or half water and half good red wine)
Brown sausage, add olive oil, onion and garlic – sauté until tender. Add remaining ingredients. Use amounts of water and wine to your taste and the consistency you like. Simmer (the longer the better) and remove bay leaves before use. Or – use two 26 oz. jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce,
Enjoy with your Rotta Cabernet Sauvignon. Salud!
U.S. Per Capita Wine Consumption Picks Up Speed
Though wine drinkers now outnumber beer drinkers for the first time in U.S. history, winemakers take heed: our wine train has been very slow to leave the station and lags far behind other countries.
1934: the year after Prohibition, just 0.26 gallons of wine were consumed per American.
1946: Consumption jumped to 1.00 gallons – but dropped back to 0.67 gallons the next year!
1967: Twenty-one years later, it reached 1 gallon again —1.03 gallons of wine per American. Maybe thank the hippies for that.
1980: We topped the 2 gallon mark at 2.11. During the decade, Americans went wild with 2.43 gallons of wine per year, but by 1989, dropped back down to the starting point, 2.11!
1990-1999: In 1990, we were each drinking 2.05 gallons, but kept drinking less through most of the decade. 1999 saw us drop to 2.02 gals.
2000 – 2004 The new century saw a steady uptick in wine consumption—in 2005, at 2.37 gallons. Still not as high as 1985, 1986, or 1987—but chugging along.
2005 – We break the 3 gallon barrier weighing in at 3.09 gallons. Maybe thank the “Millennials” for that, those 20-29-year-olds who have embraced wine enthusiastically.
Our Wine Train vs. Others
U.S. 3.09 gallons
Italy: 16 gallons per capita
France: 14 gallons
Australia: 5+ gallons
Two delicious wines from Rotta Winery, one of Paso Robles’ pioneer wineries
2005 “Paso Robles” Cabernet Sauvignon
• The ’04 vintage won a Gold Medal from the Beverage Testing Institute, but no awards were available for the ’05 at the time of publication.
• Dark berry aromas and flavors, and a touch of oak, greet the lover of Cabernet Sauvignon in this Paso Robles bottling. A lush creaminess on the palate leads to an easy first place finish in your glass.
• Fruit for this wine came from the Rainbow’s End Vineyard in the Paso Robles appellation 10 miles northeast of Rotta Winery. “We have sourced this vineyard for four years now,” notes Mike.
• Grapes were hand harvested from September 19th – 21st, 2005.
• Fruit was carefully sorted, then cold-soaked for two days before fermentation with Prise de Mousse yeast for seven days. The wine spent a total of 15 days on the skins to absorb maximum color, flavor and aromatics.
• This red completed malolactic (secondary) fermentation in stainless steel tanks and was then racked to French and American oak barrels for one year. It aged an extra four months in the bottle prior to release.
• ”Three percent Petite Sirah was added just before bottling for “color, firmness and backbone,” says Mike.
• Enjoy now or hold up to 12 years “if you can stand to let it go that long!”
• A great companion to hearty fare such as pot roasts, venison stew, meat lasagna.
• Alcohol: 13.12%
T.A.: 0.65 g/100ml
pH. 3.60
Cases Produced: 1,300
Bottling Date: December 20, 2007
Release Date: April 2008
2006 “Monterey” Chardonnay
• The ’05 vintage won a Bronze Medal at the Beverage Institute World Value Wine Challenge. This ‘06 was recently released so there are no awards or reviews available.
• Tropical and pineapple do a samba in the nose and on the palate of this classy Chardonnay. Oak does a little turn too, with crispness marking the beat.
• A dry-farmed Chardonnay vineyard in the Monterey County appellation supplied the fruit for this Chardonnay.
• Fruit was machine picked in the middle of the night to keep grapes cold.
• Winemaker Marco Caporale cold-soaked the fruit for one night before fermentation. Juice was inoculated with Geisenheim yeast and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Cold temperatures preserved the wine’s fruity character.
• All of the wine underwent malolactic (secondary) fermentation for a creamy mouthfeel.
• This Chardonnay aged six months on the lees in French oak barrels. This allowed it to extract more body from the lees.
• It was bottle aged three months prior to release.
• Oysters, crab salad, oven-baked halibut and fried chicken make this Chardonnay a star.
• Enjoy now or hold up to three years.
• Alcohol: 13.33%
T.A.: 0.68 g/100ml
pH. 3.59
Cases Produced: 1,300
Bottling Date: January 3, 2008
Release Date: April 2008
