Impact of wine-grape growers and wineries on California economy

As wine drinkers, when we savor our glass of liquid sunshine, we enjoy the health benefits from drinking wine. But most of us only have a vague notion of the economic impact of California wine industry to California economy. According to the Economic Impact of California Wine and Grapes 2009 released by the Wine Institute and CAWG, the wine industry has a 61.5 billion impact on the state as a whole. The report’s numbers illustrated that the economic impact of the wine industry stretches far beyond the vineyards and tasting rooms. For example, in 2009 Napa County had a gross payroll of 79 millions and 319 millions for vineyard and winery-related jobs and 533 millions in tourist dollars and Sonoma had a gross payroll of 73 millions and 235 millions for vineyard and winery-related jobs and 263 millions in tourist dollars. Even more impressive, Statewide allied industries such at tourism, trucking, packaging, printing, labs, research and more account for 28,546 jobs with total wages of $921,421,000.

Although I was not surprised to see the economic benefits that Napa, Sonoma and a couple other well-known wine regions in California have reaped from their vineyards and wine businesses, I was shocked by the astronomical dollar amounts. Furthermore, the numbers from the rest of the counties listed in the report really surprised me, from Alameda to Tulare, the economic impacts were huge and significant.

I noted that San Diego county’s numbers were not highlighted in the economic impact report. What a shame, considering that San Diego county has much to offer compared to other counties such as Riverside. But yet, Riverside county was listed, thanks to the commercial success of Temecula wineries. This lack of representation was not a surprise as the wine industry in San Diego county has not grown much in the last 20 years.

I’ve recently had an interesting conversation with a wine-grape grower in Ramona who used to live in Sonoma County for 20 years. He and his wife decided to move to Ramona to be close to their children who live in San Diego. He told me that in the 80’s, the Healdsburg/Alexander Valley/Dry Creek area had about a dozen of wineries. Now, Healdsburg has so many wineries that one cannot possibly visit all of them in one weekend. Although it’s hard for any of us to imagine that San Diego County wine industry could ever achieve the economic numbers that other counties have done, this eye-witness account and the 2009 economic impact report tell me that nothing is impossible if we have public policy and American entrepreneur spirit work hand-in-hand.

The conversation about Sonoma county's wineries reminded me of the movie, Bottle Shock, which told the story of the historic Judgment of Paris in 1976, and the Napa vintners, Bo and Jim's struggles and ultimate victory as the owners of the Chateau Montelena winery who made the winning Chardonnay. This movie was based on a true story. Chateau Montelena took the top prize in the white wine competition. As a winemaker, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie not just because of the characters but also the story and history of the struggles that California wineries had to go through to make a name for themselves 30 yeas ago against the formidable French wineries. I highly recommend this movie to wine-grape growers, winemakers and wine drinkers who love wines and have an appreciation for the hard work that goes into grape growing and wine making.

In a nutshell, the economic impact report helps us hold on our hopes that our winery would someday reach its full potential and become a viable business. As for now, when our balance sheets are filled with red ink, we have to remind ourselves of an old adage, to keep ourselves from being depressed and discouraged, “It’d take a big fortune to make a small fortune in wine business” while hanging on to our dreams for a better future.

PIDWS = Exercise+Wine+Friendship

What do winemakers do in their free time to release stress besides drinking wine? For me, regular exercise is the best thing for releasing stress and keeping our body strong and healthy at the same time. I always feel great after exercising.

I am fortunate enough to have a group of friends who have been in the same aerobics class with me for several years. Our love for aerobics exercise and staying fit helped create a strong bond. Then, of course, our love for wines and each other's company helped seal the deal! One thing lead to another. One day, one of our classmates suggested that we should get together on a quarter basis to have a wine tasting party so we could enjoy each other's company in a more relaxed environment. What a great idea! Who could have said no to that? Our first wine tasting party was an instant hit! We had so much fun. Lorraine, who loved to entertain and had a perfect house and backyard for entertainment, even had a game night and invited all of our significant others to join. She was like a combo of Julia Child and Martha Stewart in one package! We were treated to a fabulous gourmet cookout and games! I felt like I was in one of those reality cooking/entertainment show. PIDWS was born and there was no turning back. PIDWS stands for Pumping Iron and Drinking Wines naming after our group's love for pumping iron and drinking wines. We have had many get-together's since then and also established our own annual Christmas get-together with a full-blown gourmet wine-food pairing and ornament exchange. It takes efforts and work to make these get-togethers happen as all of us lead such busy lives. But our love for one another keep these PIDWS get-together's going. I love the PIDWS. They have added much joy to my life. Life is short. Enjoy!

Year of the Tiger

Yesterday, we celebrated Tet, the Luna New Year, which fell on Valentine's Day this year! Our house was filled of red roses and red gladiolus flowers. For Valentine's gifts, besides the red roses, I also received a bottle of French champagne and a bottle of Italian Prosecco, along with a new treadmill machine, was it a subtle hint about my expanding waistline, I wondered.

We gathered at my aunt Lily's house in LA for the big family dinner. "Bring your best bottles of wines," was the marching order from Aunt Lily, not second best, but had to be the best, LOL. Since eating good food is the main reason for living in our family, our aunts and uncles created a great and healthy gourmet meal to go with our wines. Although it was an unusual pairing, but the eel and mushroom soup actually tasted great with our 2007 Zinfandel. Our White Zinfandel was an excellent choice with the green papaya and beef salad. There were so much food and so many wonderful and favorite homemade dishes that my taste bud was overworked, but very satisfied. Needless to say, our Red wine was heavenly with the red velvel cake that my cousin bought from her favorite French bakery.

So what should we expect in the Year of the Tiger? In the past, the year of the Tiger was often associated with turbulence and massive changes. I predict that the Year of the Tiger will be a wild year full of unpredictability!

From what I've read so far, well, 2010 is going to be a rather turbulent but exciting year, as Tigers are known to be unpredictable, volatile and dangerous. So be flexible for possible changes in your life and get ready for an exciting and wild rollercoaster ride in 2010! My personal advise is to stock up on good wines from your favorite winemaker for those times when you'd need a good glass of wine to calm your nerves. Cheers!

Good Luck and May the Year of Tiger bring you Love, Happiness and Exciting Adventures!

Pruning Season

This weekend weather could not have been more perfect for pruning our grapevines. Over the years, it has become an event we both dread in some ways and look forward to in others. It is a bit of an endurance test like running a marathon. You start out pruning one vine correctly then multiplying that times a few thousand. Each vine is similar in some aspects and completely different and unique in others. Pruning is a series of very quick decisions which cannot be undone, there is no ‘undo’ button and a mistake may take a few years to correct. Incorrect pruning can result in a severely reduced crop or a high volume crop which lacks many quality characteristics, and every variation in between.

Learning to prune is best started with a text book, then try your hand in the field and as my vineyard mentor John Schwaesdall says “Listen to everyone, then make up your own mind about how to proceed based on your conditions”, I’ve found this to be sound advice.

Pruning has basic principles which are true in all situations; however there are nuances which are specific to your varietal, microclimate, personal preference, wine-making technique and wine style. There are a few absolutes, but not many. Start out by speaking to someone in your area growing the same varietal successfully, this conversation and the peak at the freshly pruned vines is worth gold.

Here's to a Healthy New Year!

People often ask us how we stay fit and not become alcoholic, considering the fact that we are afterall wine drinkers who also love food and love to pair our wines with food.

On the one hand, we are thankful for having good metabolism and a certain amount of will power that helps keep us from over indulging ourselves too much. On the other hand, we believe that the physical aspects of grapes growing, maintaining a vineyard, harvest work, grape processing and winemaking work are plenty to keep us in good shape. Working on wine and pruning the grapevines during this winter season hopefully would help us take off some of the weight gained during the holidays.

Some diets do not allow wines. We would never go on those diets! We believe that having wine with dinner in moderate amount is a healthy habit, unless one has medical conditions that prohibit alcohol consumption.

Here is our final secret for staying fit in 2010: Keep eating wholesome and natural food grown by local farmers and drinking good wine made by your favorite local winemakers from locally grown grapes!

Salut!

Mahogany Mountain wine-food pairing event

Our Winemaker's Dinner at Barona Steakhouse was a huge success. It was sold-out! We had almost double the number of guests than originally planned for the private dining room. The gourmet dinner that Chef Duncan prepared to pair with our wines was excellent. Our wines received rave reviews from the dinner guests. The food was beautifully presented with artistic flair. I was too busy with the guests to take pictures of each course, now I wish I had because each course looked like a piece of art. I am thankful for the pictures that Holly, Michael's sweet and beautiful cousin, took for us while we were busy.

Let me savor one more time the delicious meal that was served. For a muse bouche, we had a salmon mousse in a puff pastry. It was paired well with our white wine and white zinfandel.

Then we had a surf-and-turf carpaccio of Ahi steak with olive tapenade and avocado. We paired it with our 2007 Zinfandel. The Ahi was fresh and delicious. The spiciness and rich fruit flavor from our Zinfandel went down so well with the rare Ahi and the olive tapenade. I will definitely take a bottle of our Zinfandel next time we go to Hawaii.

While I was still savoring the Ahi with our Zinfandel, the mixed green salad with warm St. Andre cheese was served. I still had some white wine left in the other glass and decided to drink with the salad. It was a perfect choice.

Then the server started to pour our 2007 Merlot. I had a sip of the Merlot and remembered why it has repeatedly been a sold-out wine at the Barona Steakhouse. The richness of the Merlot fruit blended beautifully with the natural oak flavor, as a result, the wine is balanced and smooth on the palate. I need to save a few bottles for next year wine competitions. Maybe, it will win some medals.

I hope I can find a similar recipe for the Roasted Buttersquash and Heirloom Apple soup. We all loved it so much. Surprisingly, it paired so well with the white Zinfandel and the Merlot too.

By the time, I finished the soup. I was half-full already. It was time to get up and started the raffles and prizes. The two tables in the main dining room kept winning all of the prizes! Teri and Sherry were two lucky ladies as they celebrated their birthdays together.


We were then served with the main course of our choice. I had the NY steak because I remembered how good the steak was last time we ate at the steakhous. It was perfectly prepared as I had requested: Medium with bright pink in the middle and no running blood. It was divine with our 2007 Syrah and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon even though we had intended to pair with the 2007 Zinfandel. I told Shari and Mike who live next door to us that our Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon were planted right next to their property line. The rest of the guests loved our 2007 Zinfandel. Two tables each asked to order one bottle extra to have with their dinner. All of the red wines that we featured at the dinner had really nice color, nice leg and their aromas were beautifully released as I inhaled the fruit character of each wine.

Even though the servers were kept busy the whole evening pouring one wine after the other and exchanging wine glasses continually, we only allowed 1-oz pour for each wine and a moderate amount of wine during dinner. So nobody in our party had too much to drink. Everyone tried to keep their head clear for some chance at the slot machines or blackjack tables after dinner.

I had to get a doggie bag for the rest of the steak with the incredible baby potatoes, carrots and winter vegetables because I wanted to save some room for the dessert. The chef had informed me that he would use a bottle of our Port wine to make the grilled fig tart.

For the grand finale, the servers brought out tiny dessert wine glasses. These people really know how to get to my heart: they use the correct glasses for our Port wine! When the dessert plate was presented, I was in heaven. The fig tart was so fresh and with perfect sweetness from the fruit and the Port wine. The fresh fig halves were delicious. The vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce that was drizzled around the fig tart completed a picture of perfection in food artistry. I didn't detect any extra sugar in the tart. Its sweetness was so natural without any hint of added sugar. Do you think the pastry chef would be willing to share the tart recipe if I asked?

The evening flowed like a dream. Before we knew it, it was almost 10 pm! We started at 6 pm. Time flied when we had so much fun. It was simply the best wine-food pairing dinner that we ever participated. We pinched ourselves to make sure it was our OWN winemaker's dinner featuring our very own Mahogany Mountain wines.

I feel extremely humble and grateful for the excellent efforts that the Chef, Sous-chef, pastry chef, the restaurant manager and the three servers have put into the dinner. They represented the finest and the best in their profession. What a team! They made the evening a magical culinary and wine tasting event for all of us. I am so glad we have such a fine-dining place to go to in the back country!


Have a Happy Holidays! May you have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year surrounded with lots of Love (and good wine!).

Winemaker's Dinner featuring Mahogany Mountain wines!

The winemaker's dinner that we are planning is coming along nicely. The chef finalized his wine-food pairing selections. The menu reads like a culinary dream! The chef is going to make a dessert using our Port wine. I know I will be in heaven when I taste the dessert knowing that our Port wine is one of the ingredients!

We are gratified that our dearest friends, co-workers, fellow winemakers, Ramona's vineyard association members, neighbors and Michael's cousins are all coming! It will be a huge turn-out! A lot more people have RSVP'ed than I had imagined in my wildest dreams. I told the chef and the restaurant's manager at Barona that I have built up their expectation and that everyone was so excited and they could hardly wait until next Friday. The chef calmly assured me that everything would be fine and they would be ready for us. Wow! I am so excited!