Justin Timberlake creates wedding cuvée

Adding another string to his already well-adorned bow, in addition to singing, dancing and acting, newlywed Justin Timberlake has proved a dab hand in the cellar, creating a bespoke red blend from Sonoma County to be served at his wedding to Hollywood starlet Jessica Biel in southern Italy last month.

As reported on db.com, the Timberlake-Biel wedding cuvée – 2009 Blue Ocean Floor – was blended from Alexander Valley Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition to being poured at the $6.5m reception, the wine was given as a gift to guests, including hip-hop producer Timbaland, who recently got in on the celebrity drinks act with a sparkling liqueur called LeSutra.

Jesse Katz, winemaker at Lancaster Estate in Alexander Valley, and a snowboarding buddy of both Justin and Jessica, made two barrels of the wine to mark the occasion. Trousersnake has been following 28-year-old Katz’s career progression with interest. A winemaker to watch, prior to Lancaster Estate, he made wine at California cult estate Screaming Eagle.

Timberlake played an important part in the blending process for Blue Ocean Floor and provided the artwork for the label, produced by Ellen Riendeau of Soda Rock Studios. A keen drinks enthusiast, Timberlake also has own ultra-premium Tequila brand, 901, made from triple distilled 100% blue agave and named after the area code of the singer’s hometown of Memphis. 

Napa’s first “dog winery” launched by Boisset

Pampered pooches prick up your ears – the ever-flamboyant Jean Charles Boisset has launched Napa Valley’s first “dog winery” featuring kennel spaces and wine-barrel dog beds in an ode to his beloved French bulldog. As reported on db.com, Frenchie Winery, named after the bulldog he gave to wife Gina Gallo (above), forms part of Raymond Vineyards; a St Helena winery Boisset bought three years ago.

Housed in a large white shed at the back of Raymond’s biodynamic garden, the winery boasts an enclosed play area for visiting hounds, and five individual kennel spaces for them to sleep, complete with luxurious wine-barrel beds. Above the kennels hang paintings of Frenchie in various historical guises, from Napoleon to Louis XIV, and even cross-dressing as Marie Antoinette.

The thoughtful Boisset has also installed a “Frenchie cam” in the shed, so owners can keep a watchful eye on their dogs while they’re in the Raymond Vineyards tasting room. “It’s like daycare, it’s awesome,” dog owner Elizabeth Schroeter said after a recent visit. “We treat the dogs the same as humans. I want to create tasting paces where people – and dogs – can have a blast,” Boisset added.

The Frenchie range comprises three wines: Marie Antoinette Chardonnay ($18), Louis XIV Cabernet Sauvignon ($30), and Napoleon ($30) – a red blend. The labels feature paintings of Frenchie dressed up as the three historical figures. Boisset’s move is shrewd, aiming to attract a portion of America’s 46 million dog owners that don’t want to leave their canines at home when they go wine tasting.

Dog-friendly wineries are already popular in California, with Napa Valley boasting 96 that welcome four-legged friends. Burgundy born Boisset looks after the American arm of Burgundy-based wine empire Boisset Famille des Grands Vins, founded by his father in 1961. In 2009, he married Gallo’s chief winemaker Gina Gallo, cementing one of the most powerful wine family unions in history. The pair have one-year-old twin girls. 

Mondavi teams up with Josh Groban

In yet another celebrity/wine hook-up, Robert Mondavi Winery in California is to collaborate with pop singer-turned-actor Josh Groban on an as yet unnamed Napa Valley wine scheduled for release next year. As reported on db.com, the union will also stretch to in-store displays promoting Robert Mondavi wines alongside Groban’s new album, to be released early next year. Downloads of Groban's latest singles will also be made available through the winery’s website.

“Fine wine and the arts are a natural pairing, so collaborating with the people at Mondavi to promote their wines and my upcoming album feels like an organic endeavor,” said Groban. The pop-classical singer recently performed at the winery’s 43rd annual Summer Concert Series, marking the beginning of the collaboration.

“Margrit Mondavi started the tradition of inviting visitors to the Napa Valley to slow down the rush of their daily lives and enjoy great wine, great food and great music. An artist with such talent as Josh, who shares this vision of an enriched life, helps us to communicate that message around the globe,” said estate director Carl Jaeger.

Groban will work closely with director of winemaking, Genevieve Janssens, and winery chef, Jeff Mosher, to combine the winery's values of wine, food, and the arts. The 31-year-old, Los Angeles-born, singer has sold 25 million albums worldwide. Last year, he appeared alongside Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell and Emma Stone in the film Crazy, Stupid, Love, and in the American version of The Office. 

Holly Valance made the face of Gallo Moscato

The world is going Moscato mad. Australian actress/singer Holly Valance has been made the face Gallo’s latest launch: Gallo Moscato. The 8.5% abv sweet and light bodied wine went on sale in the UK last week priced at £6.79. With the launch, Gallo is looking to build on the success of Moscato in the US, sales of which leapt by 73% last year thanks to name checks by the likes of Kanye West and Drake in their rap tracks, making it the country’s third biggest selling white variety. 

Asked by the brand what she eats to stay in shape, Valance, who is engageed to British-born billionaire property tycoon Nick Candy, said: "Gallo Moscato with a warm chicken salad or grilled turbot on a light truffle mash. It's the perfect drink for me; light, low calorie and refreshing." Channelling old Hollywood glamour, the campaign features Valance, 29, in a dressing room beside a “yellow” carpet wearing a yellow evening dress with a diamond strap.

Top 10 UK restaurants for California wine

From the weighty tome of the Vineyard at Stockcross to the Liquid Legends list at Goodman, the large format bottles at Bar Boulud and chef Wolfgang Puck's own Rutherford red at CUT, click on the link for my round up of the top 10 places in the UK to enjoy the finest wines of the Golden State. Article originally printed in The Drink Business magazine's 2012 California guide. 

Wines aimed at women “short on flavour”

Bloomberg’s wine and spirits columnist Elin McCoy has slammed wines aimed at women as “long on legs, but short on flavour.” As reported on db.com, sampling a selection of wines designed with women in mind blind, McCoy described the majority as tasting like “neutered commercial plonk.” 

“Only three wines stood out as barely acceptable chilled plastic cup party fare: 2011 Skinnygirl White, 2011 Skinnygirl Rose, and 2011 Be. Fresh Chardonnay,” she said. “For the US$10-15 that most of these cutsey bottlings go for, drinkers seeking an emotional connection with what they swill in their glass could have real wine made by real people – think Rieslings, Proseccos, Rosés, Beaujolais, Argentinean Torrontés and Malbecs,” she added. 

According to wine brand marketers, women pick wine to match moods, not foods. They also apparently crave an easy going, fruit forward flavor profile with an edge of sweetness. McCoy believes many of the female-targeted wine brands are getting it drastically wrong. “Aren’t Canadian winemaker Strut’s labels, featuring photos of long, shapely, perfect legs emerging from short skirts a guy fantasy?” she questions. 

Women account for nearly 60% of wine consumers in the US, according to the Beverage Information Group’s 2011 Wine Handbook. Hence the recent trend for start up wine brands targeted specifically at women, with most targeting women aged 21 to 34. Australian-based global wine giant Treasury Wine Estates recently launched four wines under the “Be.” label: Flirty, a pink Moscato; Bright, a Pinot Grigio; Fresh, an unoaked Chardonnay; and Radiant, a Riesling. 

TWE’s website describes the Pinot Grigio drinker’s mood somewhat patronisingly: “Your sunny disposition sets your soundtrack to the soothing sounds of a steel drum band as you flip flop through fabulousness.” 

In February, three low-calorie California wines from Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. hit US shelves under the Skinnygirl brand; the low-calorie cocktail brand made famous by American reality TV star Bethenny Frankel. A five-ounce glass of any of the Skinnygirl wines, which include a Syrah blend, a Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio blend and a Grenache/Syrah rosé, contains 100 calories, as opposed to the average 110-125 calories.

Mary Ann Vangrin, creator of Middle Sister, a wine brand with over 115,000 fans on Facebook, told McCoy that women look for wines that offer an emotional connection. “Women don’t want a wine that bites back. They like ripe, fruit-forward wines without a lot of tannin and oak,” she said. 

The 10-strong Middle Sister range has personality profile names like Drama Queen Pinot Grigio, Smarty Pants Chardonnay and the best-selling Rebel Red blend.  All, according to McCoy, share a “flavor-phobic house style.” Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits meanwhile, which brought Yellow Tail to the US, has launched its own female friendly wine; Flirt, a Syrah, Zinfandel and Tempranillo blend.

Fergie to launch her own wine

Pop star Fergie is to launch her own wine brand after buying a vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara, California. As reported on db.com, the California-born Black Eyed Peas singer will produce her own Ferguson Crest wines from the Santa Barbara estate, which will double as her father’s new home.

The Meet Me Halfway songstress revealed to Forbes Life magazine she’s been busy investing in a number of new property projects, including her vineyard venture. "It's an investment. I'm investing in real estate. Plus, my dad is going to have a great house,” she told the magazine. Grape growing at the estate will be overseen by Fergie’s horticulturalist father, Pat Ferguson.

The Ferguson Crest range, which includes a single estate Syrah, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Viognier, will be released in the US later this year. The wines will be small production – in the region of 1,000 cases of Syrah a year, and even smaller amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier.

Born Stacy Ann Ferguson, Fergie also has her own perfume – Outspoken, produced in collaboration with Avon, and is part-owner of the Miami Dolphins American football team. She is the latest in an increasingly long line of celebrity vintners.

Earlier this year, actress Drew Barrymore released her own wine – Barrymore 2011 Pinot Grigio, from grapes grown in the Veneto, Friuli and Alto Adige in Northern Italy. Last month, former Eurythmics star Dave Stewart teamed up with McLaren Vale estate Mollydooker to release Ringmaster General Shiraz 2010 to coincide with his upcoming album of the same name.

Pop icon Lady Gaga is also hoping to turn her hand to winemaking, and was spotted looking for vineyard land in Sonoma County this March with boyfriend Taylor Kinney. Director Francis Ford Coppola, classical singer Andrea Bocelli, and actors Dan Aykroyd, Sam Neill and Antonio Banderas all also have their own wine brands. 

Cannabis wine catching on in California

A number of California winemakers are secretly producing wines laced with cannabis, with Cabernet Sauvignon the grape variety of choice for the blend, thedrinksbusiness.com reports. “Pot wine is increasingly fashionable in wine country – much of the marijuana used for the wine comes from California’s weed capital Humboldt County,” Crane Carter, president of the Napa Valley Marijuana Growers said. “Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stag’s Leap district is thought to pair particularly well with pot,” Carter added.

According to Carter, pot wine delivers a quicker high than pot brownies, and the combination of alcohol and marijuana produces “an interesting little buzz.” He believes cannabis wine has a bright future in Napa, but for the moment, producers are making the wine in small quantities to be shared in “convivial moments with like-minded people,” according to wine writer Mike Steinberger.

Offered a cannabis cuvée at a Burgundy dinner in New York, Steinberger describes it as having “a pungent herbal aroma that called to mind a college dormitory on a Saturday night – that, or a Grateful Dead concert.” One Californian producer, who chose not to be named, said cannabis-laced wine is “the only truly original style of wine created in the New World.” He is just one of a number of winemakers on the Central Coast who are blending two of California’s most prized crops.

To make cannabis wine, one pound of marijuana is dropped into a cask of fermenting wine, which yields around 1.5 grams of pot per bottle; the better the raw materials, the better the wine. The alcohol from the fermentation process extracts the THC – the major psychoactive compound – from marijuana. Some producers opt for maximum extraction, keeping the wine in barrel for nine months before bottling it. In the ‘80s, weed wine was typically made with rosé, with bottles selling for more than US$100 due to the legal risk involved.

Today, possession of one ounce (28.5g) or less of marijuana in California is punishable by a maximum US$100 fine with no criminal record. Medical marijuana was legalised in the state in 1996. Cultivation of any amount of marijuana is a felony, though people who grow for personal use are eligible for diversion so long as there is no evidence of intent to sell. Would you be curious try cannabis wine?

Lot 18 goes live in the UK

The UK website of New York-based online wine merchant Lot 18 has gone live. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, Lot18.com, which launched in the US in November 2010, sources fine and rare wines worldwide for limited-time offers. Aimed at “aspiring wine connoisseurs looking to expand their knowledge,” the members only site, which raised US$45m in venture capital funding last year, has over 800,000 US members and 120,000 French members.

Working with over 550 wineries, offers on the US site typically last only 48 hours. Co-founder and president Philip James – who also founded wine ratings and reviews site Snooth.com ­– expects to build the UK site to 200 wineries in the next six months, but is keen not to inundate members with offers. “I thought it would work because your typical wine merchant is stuffy and intimidating for the average wine consumer. There’s also far too much choice. By telling us a bit about yourself we can cherry pick wines to suit your specific palate,” James told me at the London launch at Quo Vadis in Soho on Thursday.

“I chose the name because 18 is the legal drinking age in the UK – where I’m from, and it’s also considered a lucky number, meaning “lucky purchase” in Cantonese and “life” in Hebrew. I wanted it to evoke the excitement felt when winning an auction lot,” James added. With a constantly revolving stock, the site specialises in sourcing difficult-to-find parcels and prides itself on offering rare single bottles for sale.

Wines range from £10-100, but James (far left) calls the £10-20 bracket the site’s “sweet spot.” “We’re very much pushing the ‘get it while it’s hot’ idea to keep the excitement up. Our offers are only around for a couple of days, so when they’re gone, they’re gone,” he said. The UK site has launched with offers including Château Pontet Canet 1995 at £90 per bottle and Rubicon Estate Blancaneaux 2009 from Francis Ford Coppola’s Inglenook Estate in Napa at £42.50.

Wines from all around the world will be represented, with a strong leaning towards California, Washington, Oregon and the Finger Lakes in New York. The company’s buying team is made up of 15 sommeliers and Master of Wine students operating worldwide, who source wines for all three sites. James is looking to launch the site, which also offers gourmet food and epicurean-themed travel, in Germany, Spain and Northern Europe in the near future. Membership to Lot18.com is free.

Skinnygirl wine set for US launch

Low-calorie cocktail brand Skinnygirl, brainchild of entrepreneur and reality TV star Bethenny Frankel (above), is to expand the brand into wine next month. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, Skinnygirl will launch three low-calorie California wines – a Syrah blend, a Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio blend and a Grenache/Syrah rosé blend, priced at US$15 each. Each of the wines will weigh in at 12% alcohol and 100 calories per 5-ounce serving.

Frankel made her TV debut in American reality show Real Housewives of New York City, and went on to launch a reality spin-off series on Bravo, three books and a career focused on healthy living. Skinnygirl is one of the biggest US drinks industry success stories of 2011. It became one of the fastest-growing brands in the spirits industry on the strength of its flagship low-calorie ready-to-drink margarita, introduced in 2009.

The Skinnygirl margarita sold 90,000 cases in 2010, according to Impact Databank, leading to Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc.'s purchase of the brand in March 2011. Frankel, who remains the face of the brand following the sale, was influential in determining the final blends and flavour profiles of the new line of wines.

"I wanted Skinnygirl to taste approachable, not too dry and not too sweet, a very drinkable blend," she said, adding, "I'm not a wine snob – I've found great wines at Trader Joe's. I didn't want this brand to try to be something it's not.” The wines are made by the California-based Winery Exchange under the direction of winemaker Kurt Lorenzi, who worked closely with both Frankel and Beam to create the blends.

“Looking at wine categories that fit the Skinnygirl consumer – health-conscious women in their ‘30s, we settled on blends. It’s important that we set the blend style in the first vintage," said Lorenzi. The grapes for Skinnygirl come from all over California to facilitate creating a style that can be reproduced year after year regardless of vintage variations. The initial run will be around 200,000 cases.