The three vintners who challenged the law that said they could not donate and pour wine at a nonprofit fundraising event were honored last week by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, who presented them with copies of the signed legislation.

The trio — Bill Wolf of Eagle Eye, Ken Nerlove of Elkhorn Peak and Claudia Sansone of StoneFly Vineyards – had the courage to protest what was definitely a bad law, and their actions led the way to changing that law a year later.

Thousands of nonprofit organizations benefited from the change, as did about 500 vintners in Napa County and hundreds of others statewide.  

But only one managed to thank them for their efforts.

So, to avoid a good deed from going unnoticed, on behalf of all those agencies and vintners, THANK YOU, Claudia, Bill and Ken.

South African white zin

White zinfandel has made its debut in South Africa.

According to wine.co.za, Blaauwklippen Estate has released its version of white zinfandel, and it’s being promoted as “a gourmet wine, something for the connoisseur, and definitely not in the same category as many of the white zinfandels that are mass produced in America. We made it with some South African flair,” the winemaker said.

It’s made a little differently than the U.S. style. The winemaker drew off the juice immediately before any real skin contact, so “the result is a rich golden colour (sic) instead of the slight hue of pink shown by most American white zinfandels,” he added.

(Maybe it should be called “gold zin.”)

Pomace turns into energy

Inniskillen, the Canadian winery noted for its ice wine, is partnering with StormFisher Biogas (CQ) to turn 2,000 tons of pomace from its grape production into energy.

Decomposing pomace produces methane gas, which is then burned to produce electricity. StormFisher Biogas uses large industrial tanks called anaerobic processors to produce the methane. In addition to pomace, such other materials as cooking oils and cow manure can be used to produce methane.

(Yes, cow pies create methane gas, but using pomace sounds more glamorous.)

Another use for seeds

A small company in New Zealand has discovered a new use for grape seeds — turning them into cosmetics, vitamins and even food.

Tvnz.co.nz reports that the company extracts antioxidants in the seeds using only a water process and is selling the raw material to various companies that are producing the end products.

“The water extraction removes the antioxidants that occur naturally in the products, so … it doesn’t change the configuration of the extracts,” a company executive said.

They’re going to try the same process with other fruits and berries.

(From methane to cosmetics — are by-products from any other fruit as versatile as those from the winegrape?)

    

Australia may lose growers

Because of the drought in Australia, it’s reported that as many as 1,000 of Australia’s 7,500 wine grape growers may leave the industry.

Bloomberg.com quotes the Australian Financial Review as saying that many growers are operating with only 16 percent of their water entitlement.

(They have some cutesy labels, but this is no laughing matter.)

Expensive Champagne

A vineyard-designated Champagne has been introduced by Krug, and is expected to sell for $3,000 to $3,300 — that’s per bottle, not per case.

The wine is made entirely of pinot noir grapes from a village rated Grand Cru.

But the downside — wine-community.com says it won’t be available in the U.S. until spring 2008.

(Doggone — now I’ll have to revise my gift list for this holiday season.)

Wine blending kit    

Stuck for a gift for the wine enthusiast who has all the gadgets we’ve covered in this column? Try a wine blending kit.

Crushpad, the San Francisco-based company that allows people to make their own wine, has created “fusebox,” a kit that includes “six bottles of some of Napa’s best blending wines, a mystery wine for testing skill and playing an online game, a graduated cylinder with four pipettes, evaluation cards, tasting placemats, recipe cards, a vinography aroma card and  corkscrew. All for $120.

(On second thought, just go out and get a couple good bottles of wine.)

Pun of the week

“One evening King Arthur’s men discovered Sir Lancelot’s moonshine whiskey operation and shattered the still of the knight.” — Unknown author

Jack Heeger can be reached at jheeger@napanews.com.