Farmstead Wines are finally for sale in the US. Shipping for the rest of April is just $0.01 And, you can order tasting bottles to sample the wines.

When we decided to introduce rare, sustainably farmed and exceptional wines from Europe the US market a couple of years ago, we had a big vision and some spectacular wines, but no idea how we would manage to sell wines across a modern platform awkwardly regulated by Prohibition-era restrictions.

It has been quite a journey as we’ve run through different business models, distribution and fulfillment partners and other ideas — all in an effort to deliver direct to consumers via the Internet some of the world’s most unique wines.

Wines you cannot buy in a store or restaurant in the US.

Today, we are pleased to announce a new partnership with TastingRoom.com which we believe provides the best model for delivering our unique products to wine lovers across the country.

Our biggest asset has been our greatest challenge — our wines are rare.  They are so rare — some of our wines were produced in releases of less than 100 cases — consumers don’t know them.

Now, using TastingRoom’s unique process, our wines are available in “sampler” size and you can try before you buy!

Check us out today on TastingRoom.com (http://tastingroom.com)!

Thank you again for your steadfast support of Farmstead Wines, and we look forward to continuing to deliver artisan wines to you through TastingRoom.

To actually taste wine like a pro, you just need to practice. Which is to say, taste ALOT of wine. This is distinct from just drinking alot of wine, in that you have to engage your brain-which is usually the opposite of drinking alot of wine.

But, aside from the need to practice, which should develop both your palate and your vocabulary, here are two tips for looking like a pro while tasting:

1. Get a decent wine glass and practice swirling. You really do need to add oxygen when you’re tasting.

2. Stand in your bathtub and practice spitting. In some tastings you’ll have buckets, but in the good ones, you’ll be standing in a wine cellar and need to be able to accurately hit the drain from a bit of distance.

Sure to be tasty wines represented in the US by importer Louis/Dressner.

Interesting article in the NYT a few weeks ago about an Italian family, Barbera, who make artisan fabrics. They use traditional methods, age the fabrics for months, work by hand and are struggling to make ends meet. Much like a meaningless cellared in Canada law or the fact that wines made with organic grapes only need to be 70% organic, Luciano Barbera has to deal with a new Made in Italy law. This is the usual watered-down, corporate lobbyist style law that looks good but is merely a facade. Luciano knows battling against corporate interests like Versace is difficult to say the least and supports a simpler solution- transparency. But much like companies opposed to clearer food labeling laws, Santo Versace argues that a clear label would confuse consumers.

“In a phone interview, Mr. Versace noted that there was no “Made in Italy” rule before the law he co-wrote, which means his rule is a huge improvement on the free-for-all that had existed. Yes, his company makes less expensive products, like jeans, in countries like Croatia and Turkey, but he said every luxury brand does the same.

“Never our top stuff,” he said, through an interpreter. “All of that is made in Italy.”

He sounded skeptical about one of Mr. Barbera’s ideas: a label that simply lays out the origins of a garment, stating where its fabric was made, where it was constructed, and so on.

“You can’t make a label too complicated,” said Mr. Versace. “You need a simplified label. Otherwise you can’t sell things.”

I was musing about how backwards the world of food is and came across this post by Alice Feiring on Saignee. I already knew this, but wine is bizarro too.

“Now, if there is a wine without artifice does someone else make artificial wine?


Yes.


If there is natural wine, does that mean others are unnatural?

Yes.

Any wine that deploys aromatic yeasts, enzymes, bacteria, new oak, toasted oak, oak additives, tannins, gum arabic, reverse osmosis for concentration or alcohol removal, spinning cone, excessive sugar, mega-purple thermo-vinification, cold-soaking, anti-foaming agents, ultra-sulfuring and god knows what else, in any combination, is far from natural. To argue the point is being combative, or desperate.

This is an unstoppable story, and the plot line gets juicier. California is returning to native yeast. We have our clutch of natural winemakers, are own band de cinq! The reliance on additives is being challenged. But industrial wine will not go down in the rip tide. Lots of people just like thick wine they can depend on year after year. However, to make sure they don’t lose market, brands looking for the loophole will squirrel a way to natural wine flavor extensions just the way Häagen-Dazs has their (actually decent) Five Ingredients. (“Because we make Häagen-Dazs products in the most natural way possible-…. .” Yes, natural IS problematic, but so what?) A name and definition can’t prevent the inevitable dilution and commercialization.” ~ Alice Feiring, posting at Cory’s 32 Days of Natural Wine.

Listen to Anthony Nicalo of Farmstead Wines on At the Root of It with Erin Fitzpatrick