Wonderfuls are known for sweet taste and health benefits, so Twin Pomegranates Wine has the best of both worlds. The wine produced by Twin Poms has not been pasteurized and does not have artificial ingredients added to change the flavor or color (as some grape wines do). It is said to help fight heart disease, high blood pressure, and free radicals. It also may help with premature aging as well as prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our 100 percent pure pomegranate wine is not a sweet wine,” Nick Davis says. “Since the wine is made from fermented pomegranate juice, it tastes and smells like pomegranate.”

It has residual sugar to balance the large quantities of citric acid in pomegranate juice, but not so much as to taste sweet. In fact, the wine tastes slightly tart. There are a couple other pomegranate wines in the market, but nothing like Twin Poms. Davis says other competitors’ pomegranate wines are sweet while theirs errs on the dryer side.

“Brian and I don’t drink too many sweet wines, therefore, we wanted to produce wine we like and would buy,” Davis said. “All our wines are first of their kind.”

Twin Poms has three varieties: Pomegranate Wine, Sparkling Pomegranate Wine, and Pomegranate/White Wine Blend. They first produced the 100 percent pomegranate wine in 2009. Ten months later, they introduced the pomegranate/chardonnay blend and, last year, the sparkling pomegranate wine was created.

“They are all my favorites but if I had to choose one, it would be the 100 percent pomegranate wine. It has an incredible amount of pomegranate character,” Nick Davis says.

It is a “virtual wine company,” so their wine is made by a winemaker at a custom crush facility in San Luis Obispo. They harvest their grandfather’s pomegranates in Madera, then transport them to San Luis Obispo for processing.

Once the wine is produced, bottled and labeled, the Davis’ then sell and market it in the Central Valley. After making their first batch, they approached Save Mart Supermarkets and were given the opportunity to sell Twin Poms in twenty two stores.

“Our wine sold so well, Save Mart told us they want to expand distribution into all their Save Mart stores and since it owns Lucky’s grocery too, they wanted to place it in all of Lucky’s too,” Davis said. “After selling wine for 16 months, we now have distribution in 243 stores.”

Davis says in the past couple years many consumers are spending less on wine due to the economy, so they’re able to cut out the middleman and sell the pomegranate wines at wholesale prices in the $10-$12 range.

Nick Davis has a degree in Oenology/Viticulture and Brian Davis’ degree is in Marketing, both from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The two came up with the idea of pomegranate wine in the summer of 2008 while thinking of how to get involved in the wine industry. Seeing how competitive and saturated the grape wine industry was, the two decided to make pomegranate wine.

Having a family in agriculture helps too; the brothers know firsthand how crops grow, and the challenges involved in agriculture.

“We know what it takes to get ag products to the store shelf where most people unfortunately, have no clue,” he said. “All this helps us connect with our fans on a deeper level.”

Davis says pomegranate wine is nothing like grape wine, but people compare it to grape wine all the time. Many often ask what it tastes like and are pleasantly surprised by its flavor after trying it. Customers even have started experimenting with using pomegranate wine in cocktail recipes.

For more information visit twinpomegranates.com.

by Kim Horg-Webb

Bodegas Grant is located in El Puerto de Santa Maria, southwest of Jerez on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. El Puerto is best known for its Fino and Amontillado sherries, as a coastal town is ideal for producing these fresh and delicately-profiled wines. A bodega’s vicinity to water creates a heartier flor – a layer of flowerlike yeast on the top of the wine – within the barrel to protect the wine from oxidization, maintaining the wine’s intended delicacies.

Grant’s fino, called “La Garrocha,” is distinctly floral, with bright meyer lemon and sea air on the nose. The palate grows in fresh fruit character for just a moment, before turning dry and  briny with just a touch of peach blossom to finish. It shows amazing balance between freshness, acidity and oxidation; its delicate playfulness makes me wonder if that’s why it is named after the dance– la Garrocha.

By Amy Murray of Cask SF

Viticulturists and soil go together like cats and catnip. They need to feel it, grind it up, smell it, taste it, and analyze it endlessly. And they have good reason: while no one has been able to prove it chemically, try convincing yourself that you can’t taste the white chalk in Champagne from the limestone vineyards, the volcanic rocks in a Sicilian wine, the big rocks in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the dollar bills in a Napa Cabernet. Chemistry, poetry, and cynicism aside, the structure of the soil is the most important factor in whether or not a grapevine is going to be successful. And when we talk structure in soil, we’re talking about water retention. A layer of clay will keep rain close to the surface. Sandy and loosely packed soil does the opposite, channeling the water away quickly and forcing rootstock to reach thirty feet down. Slate or limestone stress the vines by forcing roots to break cracks in them in search of water. Yes, you want stress — that’s what gets the most concentrated flavor out of grapes. Don’t like your dirt? Some folks try tilling, adding limestone, even blasting with dynamite, all in an effort to tailor the soil’s characteristics.

After tackling the soil, it’s time to plant some roots. Not intact vines, but just roots — all thanks to a six-legged pest called Phylloxera. In the 1860’s, some crazy Frenchman decided he wanted to experiment with a few American grapevines in France. Unfortunately, some of the bugs joined him for the ride over the Atlantic. Over the next twenty years, Europe saw most of its vineyards die a slow death of yellow, shriveled vines. Concurrently, American winemakers experimenting with French vines (which produce wines far superior to their native American vine brethren) also saw their vines die. It wasn’t until the end of the nineteenth century that they figured out the problem: Phylloxera likes to eat the roots of grapevines, but American grape species are immune. Ironically, Europe learned to cope with the foreign pests by grafting their own vines (Vitis vinifera) onto American roots (Vitis rupestris, known as St. George). This solution also allowed for American winemakers to successfully grow French grape varieties in the US. Fun fact: geneticists in the eighties created a rootstock called AxR1 that had one American parent and one Vitis vinifera parent and convinced most of California, Washington, and Oregon to plant vineyards with it. Billions of dollars were lost when they realized that the rootstock, even as a hybrid of the two species, was not resistant to these nasty little buggers.

Once a vineyard owner has decided on the (hopefully) phylloxera-resistant rootstock, it’s time to pick a grape variety. The vine will be grafted onto the chosen rootstock; if the vineyard is just being planted, this will be done in the nursery. If the grape grower wants to leave the roots and get new vines, then ‘field grafting’ can be done by taping the new vines to the old rootstock. Just getting to the point of grafting takes an exercise in research, chemistry, history and voodoo: one must assess the soil and microclimate to pick a variety of grape… and then the perfect lab clone of said grape that will work best in the vineyard. Grape species are very susceptible to mutation, resulting in countless different varieties, and variations of those varieties. Labs such as the one at UC Davis have been successful in isolating this mutation phenomenon, cataloguing the variations, and making clones of the most desirable variations available to grape growers. These clones come with creative names like 337 and UDC4. At this point you have your vineyard, your dirt, rootstock, and vines. Now the fun begins.

The anatomy of the grapevine presents even more dilemmas over the course of a vintage. It’s important to train the vines right away by arranging the shoots, leaves and grape clusters for the best sun exposure and protection from the elements. Over the course of a few years, some vines will start to look like gnarly old bushes, neat and orderly hedges tied to stakes and wires, or swamp monsters. Another way to combat the sun, wind, and even rain is through proper canopy management (a backyard gardener would call it pruning). Leave too many leaves and the grapes may not ripen, but get too aggressive and there won’t be enough left to perform photosynthesis and ripen the grapes. Pruning can also limit the number of shoots that spring up at the beginning of the season, determining how much fruit you’ll have at the end of the year.

If I could stop the article here, I would… but then we would miss out on the factors that ultimately shape what ends up in the bottle. We’ve discussed
all the things that a grape grower can do to carefully control and choose the exact grapes to grow in order to create a specific style of wine. Unfortunately, disaster seems to strike wine country with a rather high frequency. The plagues of Phylloxera, nematodes, glassy-winged sharpshooters, and moths can take down an entire region in one vintage. Even fire presents issues for a vineyard. In 2008, massive wildfires in Northern California blew smoke over a large portion of Sonoma’s Pinot Noir vineyards. ‘Smoke taint’ became an immediate issue, with a lot of the area’s prized pinots tasting like the burnt acres surrounding them. After trying chemical wizardry to extract the eau de campfire, a lot of Sonoma wineries just ‘declassified’ their wines, putting them into lesser labels and selling them off at a discount.

Rain can also break a vintage. Rains early in the spring help to wake up the vines and convince them to bud and flower. However, rains in the middle of
the summer can cause vineyards to turn into a moldy, rotten mess. Rain during harvest plumps up the grapes, making watery wines or, worse yet, splitting the grapes and introducing bugs and bacteria. Wind seems like a natural fix for all that ails a rain-drenched vineyard, but too much blows blossoms and clusters off the vines and rips vines from their training (vineyards in Australia utilize huge eucalyptus trees as windbreaks). Hail, common in Northern Italy and parts of France, can sweep through a week before harvest and literally bring down the entire crop. It would seem that sun is all good for vineyards, but that’s not the case. Grapes and leaves can sunburn, turning unripe grapes into shriveled green berries. The 2010 vintage in Northern California was a prime example: the cool vintage forced grape growers to prune away a lot of the leafy canopy to maximize sun exposure for the grapes, and an intensely sunny heat wave in August reduced the exposed fruit to a sunburned waste of California raisins that no one wanted to eat. No one was dancing.

From bottom to top, the anatomy of the modern grapevine is affected by soil, roots, vine clones, and disaster avoidance. The laundry list of things that
can go wrong reads like a list of biblical plagues … and to think that we’ve brought a lot of them upon ourselves with experimentation, replanting, and
environmental impact. The next time you’re talking to a winemaker or visiting a tasting room, just ask for their opinion of this year’s vintage, or whether or not their Cabernet Sauvignon is clone 337; not only will you sound like a smart-ass, but you’ll be opening up a can of worms.

Our favorite photo of Wilfred Wong, courtesy of SteveHeimoff.com

We had the pleasure of chatting with Wilfred Wong, BevMo’s cellar master, this week about his favorite wines of the year and what it’s like to have the best job in the business (seriously — he visits France, Chile, Argentina, and more every year and tastes thousands of wines on each trip).  He started at BevMo in August of 1995 as the import wine buyer and now, as cellar master, he scores about 8,000 wines/year for the retailer.  Bevmo shoppers will be thrilled to know that the ‘WW’ on wine ratings around the store is, in fact, a real person.

Wilfred gave us a quick primer on how he utilizes the 100 point scale to score wines in a systematic way. These top ten wines are all members of the illustrious “90+ point club,” which means that they all possess the characteristics of not only their respective grapes, but also of their appellations, vineyards, and even sections of vineyards.  And while many of the wines on this list don’t hail from Napa Valley, Wilfred said that he is seeing a positive shift in the quality of the wines coming out of Napa.  In a phenomenon he calls “so weird,” winemakers seem to be making their best wines ever, and not “cheating” by leaving residual sugar or making “koolaid” wines anymore (Mr. Wong tells it like it is, folks).

One more point before we get to this list: the BevMo team is very excited to be opening their new store in the Westgate Mall in San Jose. It opens today (December 9), and the first 500 guests will receive $25 gift certificates, with ten lucky customers getting a whopping $100 off of their holiday hauls today. Now, on to the list!

#10. 2007 Markham Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot

Ah, the much maligned Merlot. Despite Sideways’ slaughter of this noble Bordeaux varietal (“I’m not drinking any $%&#ing merlot!”), it can be delicious, though Napa’s recent attempts at the grape have been pretty darn shabby. That being said, 2007 was a great vintage in Napa and Wilfred Wong is absolutely blown away by this effort from Markham.

#9. 2010 Gina Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo

Mr. Wong actually first tasted this Italian wine in Germany, of all places, while working on the blend with its importer. He said it is an elegant, well-balanced wine that seriously out-performs its $12.99 pricetag.

#8. 2010 Chateau St. Michelle Columbia Valley Riesling ‘Eroica’

This wine is actually a partnership between Washington State’s Chateau St. Michelle and Germany’s Dr. Loosen. We’re big fans of both Chateau St. Michelle and Dr. Loosen’s individual offerings, so it’s not surprising that Wilfred really enjoys the Eroica. Only slightly sweet, this is a great wine for pairing with all of those holiday turkeys.

#7. 2007 Brown Estate Napa Valley Zinfandel

Wilfred calls Brown Estate one of the “great wineries of California,” run by a family that loves what they do and consistently turns out exceptional wines. Like the Markham merlot, this wine is another example of how 2007 was a vintage that made all of Napa’s grapes shine, not just the Cabernet Sauvignon.

#6. NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé

This wine is a huge favorite of sommeliers and wine buyers. While definitely priced for a special occasion, it’s a festive and ‘frisky’ wine that pairs well food.  It’s not a party unless there are some pink bubbles.

#5. 2009 Domaine Philippe Livera Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Villages Reserve Vieilles Vignes

Full of black fruit flavors, Wilfred called this the best Gevrey-Chambertin he has ever had. Enough said.

#4. 2010 Zinnia Santa Barbara County Reserve Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir is the result of a partnership between Testarossa Winery and BevMo.  While Wilfred might be a tiny bit biased on the scoring of this wine given the fact that he had quite a hand in its making, he made a point of telling us that this wine is actually a favorite of many of the wine specialists in the BevMo stores.

#3. 2008 Duckhorn Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Remember how we said that Wilfred is blown away by recent Napa Valley wines? Here’s proof.  He has been a fan of Duckhorn’s wines since 1978 (a thirty year winning streak is pretty impressive) and says that this one is one of the best he can remember.  It possesses amazing richness, and more of the secondary soil aromas and flavors than its Napa brothers and sisters.

#2. 2000 Gloria Ferrer Sparkling Wine  Carneros Cuvee

Wilfred’s ‘aha!’ moment with this wine happened at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair in a pairing with paella.  ‘Late disgorged,’ meaning the wine stayed in contact with the used yeasts longer than usual, it has all sorts of toasty, biscuity, creamy flavors. This is definitely a contender for our champagne flutes when we’re ringing in 2012.

#1. 2008 Altocedro Mendoza Gran Reserva Malbec

It was evening in Mendoza, at Altocedro (probably after a meal of so-tender-it-makes-you-cry Argentinian beef) that Wilfred sipped this wine, turned to his colleague, and said “I’m going to give this wine 99 points.” And he did.

Note to our non California/Arizona readers: while you may not be able to buy these wines at BevMo, you can certainly track them down at your local specialty wine shop. We recommend using wine-searcher to track them down!

Corkcicle $22.95- This little contraption is the answer for the age old question – “What do I do when a white wine is warm that should be cold now?” The corkcicle is a like an ice pack for your wine. To use, simply open the bottle of white wine, pour a small portion in a glass to create some room, and pop the corkcicle in the wine. The corkcicle is made up of a cork that has a long, thin freezer pack attached to it. Once inserted, the corkcicle will chill the wine from the inside out.

Wine Shield $9.95 (30 pack) – If your wine enthusiast isn’t the type to finish a whole bottle of wine in one sitting get them a wine shield. Basically, it’s a thin, multi-layered piece of plastic that you insert into the open bottle. The disc rests upon the remaining liquid and causes a shield (hence the name) for the wine from the air. Although it’s hard to get out of the bottle once it’s popped in, it is reusable.

Woozie (Wine Coozie) ($7.50-$40) – The Woozie is the perfect gift for the white wine drinker. These colorful/printed/specially designed coozies are made to fit around a white wine glass. Much like a beer can coozie, the Woozie works its magic to keep the glass’s contents cool. They also double as a way to identify whose glass is whose!

Bytox $2.99 – This hangover prevention cure is perfect for anyone likely to indulge in a little too much at their company’s Christmas party (but not you, of course). The patch totes many of the body’s essential vitamins that are often lost after a night of drinking. Simply apply the patch to the stomach before, after or during drink and watch it do its magic. Chances are, they’ll still need to hydrate, but at least the splitting headache will be lessened!

Beaujolais Nouveau isn’t the only 2011 wine currently on the market, though. In fact, an entire Thanksgiving meal can be enjoyed with solely 2011 releases. For starters, much of the Southern hemisphere – Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil – have already released their 2011 vintages, though without such fanfare as our friend Nouveau. Even in the northern hemisphere, the 2011 vintage of many wines have been released, which is an interesting concept considering some grapes have yet to be harvested (i.e. grapes used to make ice wine in Canada.)

In addition to Nouveau, here are a few other 2011 wines to try:

Cloudy Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2011: This wine is what you would expect from a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Bright acid, pleasant aromas of lemon and tropical fruits and a zesty finish on the palate – perfect as an aperitif.

Yalumba Y Series Pinot Grigio 2011: This wine is more closely crafted in the style of what one might expect from a wine labeled Pinot Gris over Pinot Grigio which is perfect for the Thanksgiving table. Bright fruits with a rich, full body to match.

Maipe Malbec Rose 2011: Made from 100% Malbec, this deep pink wine is full of red fruits of strawberry and cherry asserting the character of traditional Malbec, but follows through with a bright and refreshing finish. Good appetizer wine or even with the main course.

American consumers are drinking wine in larger quantities and with more ‘wine literacy’ than ever before, but that doesn’t mean everyone can afford first growth Bordeaux. The good news is that this fact, in conjunction with the today’s financial situation, has put an increased pressure on winemakers to craft inexpensive, but respectable and delicious wines.

As the holidays approach, you’re going to need to pick out a good wine for parties, dinners, and gifts. Here are some examples that are great value wines to help you through the struggle:

Charles de Fere Sparkling Rose Dry Reserve NV $11.99  

Made of a blend of red grapes from throughout France this light sparkling wine is a perfect party-pleasing sparkling wine for both its color and its flavor. Vibrant strawberries and raspberries with a slightly sweet finish.

Adega Condes de Albarei Salneval Albraiňo 2010 $10.00

This Albariňo comes from Rias Baixas and offers a pleasant profile of bright apples and a burst of citrus. Perfect as an aperitif or with light fare.

Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir 2010 $8.99

This wine has three different appellations available from Chile, California and Italy. All three are light, pleasantly fruity with a good amount of spice. Keep in mind that despite their similarities, though, each does have its own personality that really speaks of its region.

Piccini Chianti 2009 $7.99

If you didn’t know this wine’s price tag, you’d likely never guess it. Full fruit, slightly gripping tannins that could stand up to food and a truly mind-blowing expression of Chianti.

It has become increasingly common to craft household items from corks. Trivets, wreathes, bulletin boards – and suits- are just some of the modern-day creations craft-stars have concocted for sale (at a hefty price too.) These are nice trinkets, but there is actually a more meaningful way to utilize many of the corks you pop in your own life, albeit not as practical.

To what is this referring to? Memories.

Here’s how: next time you’re at a party or a fancy dinner and the bottle of wine you are drinking is cork enclosed, snag that cork, write the date and the occasion on the cork and throw it in a decorative vase. The vase serves not only as stylish decoration, but also as a time capsule.

Perfect for family occasions or when you need a pick-me-up, when you’re ready, simply pour the contents of the vase out and go through, cork-by-cork, to relive some of the best memories over again. That time you landed your dream job? That cork is there. The day your fiancé proposed? Got it. The last bottle of wine you sucked down in Italy before hopping on the plane? Yep, that’s there too.

Historically, wine is part of celebrations and fanfare and that hasn’t changed much in modern day life. Why try to relive those good times over and over again, even if you can’t drink the wine again?

Prohibition and the three-tier system. Prior to prohibition, the alcohol industry was very loosely regulated, and dominated by a few very large producers. Anti-competition practices abounded: if a brewery or distillery didn’t have its own bar, it ‘invested’ in bars by giving loans or furniture and, in exchange, demanded that no other brands be sold on the premises. These big, bad breweries also required increasing sales, so the bars forced drinks upon the innocent public. Thus the 18th Amendment was passed, and prohibition saved the righteous American families from the evil alcohol producers.

Without getting into the nitty gritty, prohibition didn’t work and along came the 21st Amendment. But the 21st Amendment made a decisive change in the way that alcohol laws were handled with Section 2: “The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.”

Basically, the power to erect alcohol laws now lived on the state level.  Remembering the gross exercise of power by producers prior to prohibition, most of the states erected the three-tier system. All accounts (retail, restaurant, bar, etc) had to buy from a distributor, and all distributors bought from a producer. In most states, producers could only name one distributor to avoid unnecessary competition, and they had to find a different distributor in each state. This provided transparency for taxation’s sake, the power of the producers was limited, and the distributors were advocates for social responsibility. Everyone lived happily ever after!

Not so fast. With fifty different bodies erecting their own alcohol laws, there were bound to be some exceptions. Enter Alcoholic Beverage Control States, which take on the roll of distributor (and even store, in some cases). Called ‘Monopoly States’ by detractors, these eighteen states completely control the distribution of alcohol within their borders; that means they also control the products that are available, and all pricing. These states come in many flavors, from Utah who says their control is a means “not to promote the sale of liquor,” to Pennsylvania whose running of both distribution and stores is a nightmare for producers and consumers alike, to Vermont who allows private liquor stores to sell but collects a commission (which one can only imagine is somehow passed along to the consumer).

For some producers, this works very well. As the number of distributors has dwindled due to a rash of mergers and acquisitions, the number of channels through which a producer can move their product has also decreased. A distributor is going to ‘push’ what is easy to sell: big brands that can cut discounts, give large volumes, and have huge advertising budgets. On the flip side, it is very easy for small brands to get lost. Put yourself in the shoes of a sales rep for a distributor: you need to make your quota for the month. Do you try to sell something like Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay, or a tiny artisan gem no one has heard of?

“But I bought this biodynamic Sauvignon Blanc straight from the winery!” you say. And there, you hit upon the most interesting issue that has sprung up since the 21st Amendment.  Prior to prohibition, the wine industry was very small, and hardly artisan. It wasn’t until the sixties and seventies that the movement really took hold in places such as California and New York, and the states took notice of these new potential tax revenues. They could collect the sales tax, and the producers would be able to get their full retail margins.  State laws were changed to allow in-state wineries (and breweries in some places) to sell directly to consumers, but in an effort to protect the in-state producers, out-of-state producers still had to go through the three-tier system.  In 2005, it was ruled in Granholm vs. Heald that such laws ran afoul of the the Commerce Clause, and states could no longer discriminate against out-of-state producers.

As one can imagine, this opened the floodgates, as far as legislation is concerned, for Direct To Consumer (DTC) shipping. An offshoot of three-tier laws, state DTC laws are even more varied and confusing, and are in a constant state of flux. Each state has different requirements that can include any or all of the following: licenses for the producer, licenses for each label, a fee for each producer and label, special shipping stickers, monthly sales reports, monthly tax payments, age verification, and bonds. It’s a lot of work, but again, totally manageable for the big brand who can hire a team of compliance specialists. For your favorite tiny winery with a team of six? This becomes quite a burden.

As with any large collection of legislation in the United States, the three-tier system is a largely partisan one (though the red states tend to want more alcohol regulation than the blue states, for what it’s worth). Wholesalers staunchly proclaim that they are keeping alcohol sales transparent, championing the producers, and protecting society.  Producers proclaim they are being squashed by big brands and pinched by shrinking margins. Consumers just want to drink what they want to drink, when and where they want to drink it.  For more information on both sides of the coin, I’d urge you to take a look at www.nbwa.org and www.freethegrapes.org.

Join us for the Drink Me’s Grand Tasting Party – filled with spirits, beer, wine and fun hats.  There is NO better party going on next friday.

WHERE: 111 Minna // WHEN: Friday, November 4th // HOW: www.DrinkMeGrandTasting.Eventbrite.com