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6 WINES&VINES August 2015 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. ADVERTISING Vice President & Director of Sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700 x 103 Midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 Northeast Marsha Tabb marshatabb@comcast.net (215) 794-3442 East Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 International Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 Advertising Manager Christina Ballinger ads@winesandvines.com DIGITAL EDITION All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QUESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. CONNECT WITH US CONTRIBUTORS Conor McCormack, a winemaker in one of the boroughs of New York City, doesn't have a lot of vineyards nearby to choose from. So he buys about 60% of Brooklyn Winery's grapes from other parts of the Empire State and 40% from the West Coast. He writes in his Viewpoint column on page 34 that a winery's distance from a vineyard is not a good way to determine how a wine is labeled. Yet TTB rules prohibit Brooklyn Winery from naming the vintage or AVA of its West Coast grape sources on the wines it sells outside of New York state. McCormack advocates changes in the rules to allow accurate and com- plete information on bottles of wine made from out-of-state grapes. Chris Stamp calls himself the "winemaker/owner/operator/pris- oner" of Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, N.Y. As a frequent contributor to the Wine East section of Wines & Vines, he has often shown the extent of the knowledge that comes with such a compli- cated title. On page 54 he investigates a topic that will be interesting to winemakers in any part of the world: the true cost of barrels. His methodology is thorough, and the calculator he created will help you make better decisions about barrel spending. Drs. Sharon Forbes and David Dean are senior lecturers in mar- keting at New Zealand's Lincoln University. Their report about the perceptions that consumers have of various wine brand names is featured on page 58 in the Practical Winery & Vineyard section. This report provides information that should be useful to any wine busi- ness choosing a new brand name for its products. ON THE COVER Lisa Mattson, director of marketing and communications for Jordan Vineyard & Winery, captured this month's cover image during a February 2012 supplier trip to Portugal, where she learned about the growing and harvesting of natural cork for wine closures and other uses. Read more about natural cork closures on page 36. QUESTION FOR AUGUST: What precautions do you take for cork closures? Alison Crowe Director of winemaking Plata Wine Partners LLC Napa, Calif. I work with a variety of cork suppliers, and we partner closely with them to review their protocols and QC procedures. Knowing how they source and store their corks is important. However, I have to say my favorite closures are not corks at all, but twist-offs. If you don't use cork, you don't have the problems associated with corks. Mike Sullivan Winemaker and co-owner Benovia Winery LLC Santa Rosa, Calif. It is important to have a good relationship with our cork suppliers to ensure that they understand our expectations for quality. We perform sensory screenings of different lots to select the corks that are most compatible with our wines. We ask for tests on residual peroxides, haloanisoles and TCA. Shauna Rosenblum Winemaker Rock Wall Wine Co. Alameda, Calif. Although one is always taking a gamble with TCA when using natural cork closures, there are measures to take to ensure maximum quality and sterility. Starting with the highest quality cork is important. Price is usually an indication of quality, and keeping the corks isolated in their bags away from con- taminants is also important.