Wednesday, August 1, 2007 11:59 PM PDT

Five Calistoga wineries have been chosen to pour their wines at the 45th annual Napa Valley Library wine tasting Aug 12. Each year a different varietal is featured — this year it’s cabernet sauvignon, and these wineries have been selected: Chateau Montelena, Robert Pecota, Seps Estate Storybook Mountain Vineyards, Summers Estate and Vincent Arroyo.

A varietal seminar on “Napa Valley Appellations and Their Cabernet Varieties” will be presented the previous day, Aug. 11, and a seminar on “In the Vineyard” will feature Sloan Upton, of Three Palms Vineyard in Calistoga.  

Disney backs out of wine biz

A few weeks ago we wrote about Disney Studios and its entry into the wine business as part of the promotion for “Ratatouille,” the story of Remy, a rat who aspires to be a chef. Disney planned to release 500 cases of a white French wine to be sold at Costco.

Latimes.com reports that the deal has fallen through. The Web site quoted a Disney spokesman: “The California Wine Institute has been relentless in trying to make this an issue” that it’s a French wine. “But the entire movie is based on a French restaurant and French food and wine.”

But a Wine Institute spokeswoman said it would make no difference if it was a California wine. The institute protested because the concept violates its code of advertising standards which bans the use of advertising that appeals to children.

Disney’s spokesman said the deal was cancelled to avoid a possible controversy over underage drinking.

(Looks like Remy will have to settle for a glass of orange juice.)

Heroes of the wine bill

When the governor signed the bill allowing all vintners to pour wine at charitable fundraising events, the real winners were the nonprofits who rely on the small wineries who help draw people to the events.

But the heroes are the three vintners who were cited last year and decided to appeal rather than just pay a fine or accept a suspension. They did so, not because they believed they were innocent, but because they believed the law was wrong.

Bill Wolf of Eagle Eye Wines, Claudia Sansone of StoneFly Vineyards and Ken Nerlove of Elkhorn Peak Cellars had the courage to challenge an unjust law, then rallied fellow vintners and nonprofits to join with them and persuaded major industry organizations to go along, and it was their efforts that convinced Assemblymember Noreen Evans to introduce the bill.

Had they not fought the unjust law, who knows whether the law would ever be changed or what might have happened to all the services that Napa Valley’s nonprofits offer?

(Congratulations and thanks to Bill, Claudia and Ken.)

Naples Wine Auction has spectacular lots

The Naples Winter Wine festival, which has become the top money-raising auction in the U.S. in just six years, announced some auction lots that will be offered at the 2008 event Jan. 25-28.

Topping the list is a space trip on Virgin Galactic, which also will include astronaut training. Then there’s four tickets to the Academy Awards and the Vanity Fair Oscar party, and a walk-on role on the suspense series “24.”

But it’s still a wine festival and 14 Napa Valley vintners are listed on the Web site as participating.

(With the recent stories about drunk astronauts on the Space Shuttle, we hope there will be no wine included in the space trip lot.)

New meaning of wine flights

Wine flights have a new meaning, according to Luxist.com.

Chandelle Winery in Sonoma County, which takes its name from aviation terminology meaning a 180 degree change in direction and increase in altitude, produces wine with aviation art on the labels. The newest release is in celebration of the 80th anniversary of Charles Lindberg’s famed New York-to-Paris flight and includes a chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.

A portion of the proceeds go to the Lindberg Foundation, which supports technological solutions to improve the environment.

(This could also give new meaning to the Spirit(s) of St. Louis.)

Closure carbon footprints

A research study conducted in France showed that screwcaps produced a greater carbon footprint than synthetic closures and corks, according to decanter.com.

The research showed production of screwcaps produced 22 pounds of CO2 per ton, compared to only 5.5 pounds for corks. The composite closure was in the middle, producing 9.5 pounds per ton.

The study was conducted for a French company that makes closures, but lest you think the results might be tainted because of that, the company, Oeneo Bouchage, makes all three types.

Everything has a carbon footprint — the item said a typical cheeseburger produces 6.75 pounds of CO2, including transportation of the raw materials and the cooking process.

(Just think of the guilty conscience you’ll have if you have a cheeseburger with a screwcapped bottle of wine.)

Machine detects TCA

A UC Davis chemistry professor has helped a New Jersey restaurant develop a machine that can detect 2-4-6-trichloroanisole (TCA) taint, and, unfortunately for the restaurant owner, it found that of 31 rare and expensive bottles tested, only 11 passed.

The machine, without penetrating the cork or capsule, collects molecules on the cork and capsule and analyzes them. According to winespectator,com, the scientist, Matthew Augustine, said it’s “basically the same concept as the puffer machines you may have walked through at airport security. Just like they are looking for specific compounds, we have our machine set up just to look for TCA.”

(If they use the machine when you bring your own wine, would they have to charge TCA-age in addition to corkage?)

Quote of the week

“He who loves not wine, women and song remains a fool his whole life long.” — Martin Luther

Jack Heeger writes about wine for The Weekly Calistogan and can be reached at jheeger@napanews.com.