Venerable Champagne name buys Oregon stake
Ponzi Vineyards, a 40,000-case, pioneering Oregon winery, was sold to the Bollinger family, owner of Champagne Bollinger — the producer's first venture outside France. The Ponzi family retains 100 acres of vineyards and will continue to sell grapes to Bollinger under a long-term contract.
Bollinger CEO Etienne Bizot told the Wine Spectator the sale was predicated “on the latitude of this region and its climate similarities to that of Burgundy and Champagne.”
The Bollinger family has been producing Champagne since 1829, while the Ponzi clan arrived in Oregon in 1969.
Engineer Dick Ponzi was a home winemaker when he wasn't busy creating rides for Disney or helping to create the first Ford Mustang.
According to Patrick Vasseur, vice-president of the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture, an increasing number of vineyards in Bordeaux are switching to organic production methods after lagging behind other French regions for some time. Anecdotally, evidence indicates that around 300 vineyards a year are converting to organic.
Until recently, Bordeaux trailed well behind other regions, with only 11 per cent of vineyards committed to organic versus a national average of 14 per cent.
British Columbia's vineyards are upping their organic numbers with some calculations suggesting we could hit the 20-25 per cent mark by 2025.
B.C. WINE OF THE WEEK Phantom Creek Estates Pinot Gris 2017, Okanagan Falls $30.00 I 91/100
UPC: 626990348795
Phantom Creek winemakers worked with two vineyard blocks in Okanagan Falls to make their inaugural Gris. The wine was made by the now-departed winemaker Ross Wise, working with Alsace winemaker and consultant Oliver Humbrecht (his first work outside of his property) and Californian
Anne Vawter. It was painstakingly fermented to dryness over seven months using Indigenous yeasts. Forty per cent was aged in traditional oak casks, providing additional richness and intriguing spice notes. Alsace is very much the model here, and it carries the style with all the necessary opulence and complexity. Look for various floral and orange notes mixed with pears and spice that linger throughout the long finish. Very food-friendly.
WINE FOR THE CELLAR Zuccardi Q Malbec 2018, Valle de Uco, Tunuyán, Central Region, Mendoza, Argentina $24.95 I 91/100
UPC: 7791728001075
Q stands for quality, and it is how the best blocks are marked at Zuccardi. The nose opens with a touch of smoke and toast mixed with violets and minerals. It is both soft and generous but never sweet, showing ripe, peppery, blue and black fruits with dense but svelte tannins. The wine is native fermented and spends about three weeks on skins before going through a concrete and oak mix for 15 months. Food friendly and ready to drink, it will age with little trouble. Private wine shops only.