Episode 36: Adventures in Wine Travel!

Episode 36: Adventures in Wine Travel!

Allan Wright from Taste Vacations and Zephyr Adventures joins us this week and talks with us about cool wine trips, wine regions, and how you can get the most from your wine tour experience. Chile? Argentina? New Zealand? There are some exciting wine tours out there, and lots to taste so hang on! He also is the organizer of the annual Wine Blogger Conference and Wine Tourism Conference. We wrap up this episode by getting a little geeky (what else is new?) with our factoid about Champagne bubbles.

Val:  “Welcome back Wine-Two-Five listeners! Thank you so much for joining us for Episode 36! I’m Val, and I’m here with Steph, our “Public Relations department head, Communications and Marketing Director, Wine Heroine and Creative Cocktail Consultant” … and this week we’re talking with our guest Allan Wright.”

Steph:  “Thanks Val, AKA Producer, Director, IT Department, Chief Wine Diva (CWD), Italian Princess …  but before we dive in…we should chat a bit about what we’re drinking & start with our guest. Allan?”

Allan:  Bogle Vineyards Petit Syrah, Clarksburg, CA (between Sacramento & Lodi), 2013.

Steph: NV J. Lassalle “Cachet Or” Brut Premier Cru Champagne – ordered a case from Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants http://kermitlynch.com/our-wines/champagne-j-lassalle/

“One woman, one spirit, one style”  The last 2 generations of winemakers have been women. It was passed down from mother to daughter. Approximately 1/3 Pinot Meunier, 1/3 Chardonnay, 1/3 Pinot Noir ($35) RM = Récoltant-Manipulant = Grower Champagne”

Val: “OK, this is weird. I am drinking J. Lassalle Preference Premier Cru Champagne. This one is is about the same blend.  Just a little side note, this is a rare case of generations of women running a Champagne house. Jules Lassalle founded the house in Chigny-les-Roses in 1942, but died in 1982 & his wife and daughter (Olga & Chantal) took over. Since 2006 it’s been run by Angeline (Chantal’s daughter) now the winemaker! Kermit Lynch import as well, purchased at the Wine Seller for about $35 also. The brioche & stone fruit notes on this thing are ridiculous!”

Discussion: Interview with Allan

Steph:

“Allan Wright is the founder and president of Zephyr Adventures, which is intricately involved in the wine industry in many areas. The company has been running active hiking, biking, and multisport tours around the world for the past 18 years, including many wine focused tours such as their Hiking, Safari, and Wine Adventure in South Africa. Zephyr’s sister company Taste Vacations focuses on wine, beer, and food vacations, leaving the physical activity at home. Zephyr Adventures also organizes six conferences per year including the Wine Bloggers Conference and Wine Tourism Conference, as well as the national Wine Tourism Day consumer event. Allan lives in Boulder, Colorado where he spends his time working on his laptop, exercising on the local trails, and helping to take care of his two-year-old daughter.”

We talk to Allan about his tours in wine areas, the active tours, and some upcoming tours like Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Washington. They offer everything from active vacations and leisure vacations, as well as the hybrid for active people who still want to hike or cycle on vacation but want wine tasting to be the main focus.

He also told us that culinary and craft beer tours are also booming, as wine tourism is more established. While we don’t have as large a focus on Agriturismo in the US as in Italy, there is room to grow here. The biggest trend in wine travel in the US? Evolving out of the California nucleus of wine culture into other wine growing regions that are developing excellent tourism experiences, such as Texas Hill Country and Walla Walla, Washington.

The importance of wine tourism cannot be overemphasized, particularly when it comes to the full wine experience that many wine lovers want to have.  Allan seems to really have his finger on the pulse of how these experiences are of value to both the wineries and the tourism sector. He gives us some great insight into the Wine Bloggers Conference and the Wine Tourism Conferences that he organizes each year, and how these are key to the enjoyment of wine.

We do always ask our guests the compulsory question about silly wine stories, and Allan had a great one involving some well-known wine writers, including Andrew Jefford! Val engages in a brief gush over Mr. Jefford’s writing before we get back on track.

Our Factoid this week is: Chunky Champagne?

Val: “Did you ever notice that when you “clink” champagne glasses together they sound less “bell-like”? It’s almost more of a “chunk” than a “clink”. It’s not because your champagne is “chunky” – and ew. It’s because when the bubbles are rising (like in our video) the sound waves passing through the champagne are actually interrupted, thus, the resonance is different than if you were to “clink” glasses of another wine.” (Thank you to the French Wine Society’s Master Level Champagne Study Guide for that piece of cork dorky goodness!)

Shoutout:

Steph: “Applause for Stryker Winery! We opened a jeroboam (4 bottle equivalent) of 2004 Stryker E1K on Friday and it was breathtaking. Are you surprised it was the hit of the holiday party?! The E1K is a Bordeaux style red blend and E1K stands for Elevation 1,000. The grapes are sourced from 3 different mountain top appellations. Styker winery is a beautiful place to visit and the wines are elegant yet approachable.”

Wino Radar:

Steph: “FatCork.com – importer, online retailer, and a small, underground (literally) warehouse in Seattle dedicated entirely to grower Champagne. (100 exclusive cuvees) AND that’s what my sister-in-law will get for Christmas this year! Merry Christmas, Michelle, I bought you the Bachelor of Champagne membership. Guess the cat’s out of the bag…”

Val:  “I’m excited about Taittinger buying up some property in England to produce superior sparkling wine! Having gotten to taste a variety of pretty English bubblies back in August, I’ve been watching this category (along with South African and New Zealand sparkling, all classic produced), and am a fan of Domaine Carneros (also owned by Taittinger). Well, Stephen Skelton, MW and author of my much-loved Viticulture: An introduction to commercial grape growing for wine production book actually assisted in picking out the terroir for this! They’ve chosen similar chalky soils (which Chardonnay LOVES), south-facing slopes to plant Chardonnay, Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunier.

But what many folks don’t realize, there is a long, historical relationship between England and Champagne! Not only did Louise Pommery break into the “brut” category in 1874 in the English market (call it an English invasion); but long before that England was making sparkling wine “intentionally” as far back as the 1600s by importing casks of wine and adding things like molasses to the wine to make them sparkle (besides trying to improve their taste and alcohol content)

According to Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, they consider this “This is the conclusion of a long love affair between the U.K. and Champagne,”  and a way of “… expressing our gratitude to the U.K. market for what they have done for Champagne for the last three centuries,” but I think it’s just a continuation!”

You can listen to the entire episode here, including Allan’s funny wine story.