A Tale of Two Vodkas

Blue Ice American Vodka and Blue Ice Organic Wheat Vodka

See, I had a problem. I have long believed that the world of drinkers fell into two distinct camps: Those who enjoy the flavors of distilled drinks, and those that drink vodka. Vodka, to my mind, was a drink that served as the alcoholic equivalent of tofu; while possessing limited properties of its own, it nevertheless served the purpose only of adding meatiness to the existing flavors of the other ingredients. Vodka and cranberry juice did not become a different drink; rather, it became an enhanced cranberry juice that made cute girls in cocktail dresses talk to me, just as tofu doesn’t change the flavor of curry, it just makes it more filling.

Leave it to an Idaho company to change my mind.

Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, Blue Ice Vodka is crafted in Rigby, Idaho, by master distiller Bill Scott, using Idaho Russet Burbank Potatoes. This potato base puts it in an exclusive company: less than 3% of vodkas in the world are made from potatoes. Mr. Scott carefully controls the removal of contaminates, and uses a five-stage filtration process to ensure clarity, while carefully maintaining the delicate flavors. This effort shone through into the pure flavor when we initially tried the vodka.

Its smooth, well-rounded and slightly sweet flavor spoke to all of us. When we added an ice cube, it filled out even more with flavor. It was easy to see why the Beverage Testing Institute called Blue Ice Vodka the “Best American Vodka” in 2003. It was easily the most full-flavored and interesting vodka I had ever had. And yet, I still struggled with how to write about it. Because I was prejudiced. I couldn’t get over that vodka wall.

I tried consulting others: Curtis and Doug called it smooth and well-rounded. Sarah called it sweet and warming. Leon commented that it was mellow, with a nice finish, and didn’t hang at the back of your throat. No less experts than award-winning craft bartenders Shane Sahr and Mike McSorley at Tini Bigs showed excitement at the prospect of working with it. And yet, even knowing that it is a wonderful, flexible, smooth vodka left me with no idea how to write about it, except to recommend it to vodka drinkers, and to anyone trying to understand the appeal of real potato vodka (think difference between Bacardi and real Jamaican rum). I started, deleted, started, erased, wrote, re-wrote, and was about to throw in the towel until something biblical, something amazing, something so mind-blowing occurred that I had to sit down and write about it.

I tasted the Organic Wheat Vodka.

Négociants With A Mission

A look at Maison and Cork House wines

Up until about twenty-five years ago, the world wine market was largely dominated by négociants, wine dealers who bought grapes, must, or wine in various states of completion from smaller producers, and assembled it all into their own signature wine programs. Because individual producers couldn’t make enough wine, were too small to afford production equipment, or had limited access to consumers, they’d sell to a négociant who could make better use of it.

The last couple of years has seen a resurgence of négociants in the wine industry. It was bound to happen. In retrospect, the return of the wine négotiant seems inevitable.

The growth of the Washington wine industry has been nothing short of explosive. In 1999, there were a mere 160 bonded wineries in the State, and according to a report by the Washington State Liquor Control Board, there were 686 wineries operating with non-retail licenses in 2010. According to a recent report by the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers, grape production increased by three percent in 2010 from the prior year, which may seem small until you consider that this number represents a record high in Washington. We crushed 160,000 tons of wine grapes last year, whereas we were producing a mere 70,000 tons back in 1999. As far as bottling goes, we bottled 21,468,124 gallons (equivalent to about 81,265,690 1.5-litre bottles) of still and effervescent wine in 2010, and in 1999, we bottled just 6,815,620 gallons (about 25,799,924 1.5-litre bottles) of still and effervescent wine. And consumption? According to statistics from the Wine Institute, nationwide wine consumption was at about 2.02 gallons (about eight bottles) per person per year in 1999, and has increased to 2.54 gallons (about ten bottles) in 2010.

	1999	2010	% +/-
Washington Wineries	160	686	+328.8%
Washington Grape Production (tons)	70,000	160,000	+128.6%
Washington Wine Bottled (gallons)	6,815,619	21,468,124	+215.0%
U.S. Wine Consumption (gallons per capita)	2.02	2.54	+25.7%

The question, then, is where’s the limit? Wine consumption continues to grow, but it doesn’t appear to be growing nearly as fast as production. The law of supply and demand would dictate that either prices should fall to move more goods, or that supply should decrease to match the demand. What we’re seeing is a little of both.

With the economy in the crapper, we’re still seeing trends of increased wine consumption, but by and large, the increase comes from less expensive bottles. Some wineries have adjusted the pricing of their wines, and some, to protect the integrity of the brand, have released second labels with lower price points to generate revenue through volume rather than margin. Still more are simply bottling less. But, if you’ve got contracts on the fruit, or you’ve got an estate vineyard, bottling less means that you’ve got a bunch of leftover vino that you’ve already paid for with dollars and labor that becomes a financial liability. If you want to recoup your costs, you’ve got to liquidate.

That’s where the négociant comes in.

We’re all familiar with the Charles Shaw model (now a Trader Joe’s exclusive)–buying up surplus wine at pennies on the dollar, dumping it all in the hopper and churning out cheap wine by the tanker-full. Savvy business move, and occasionally even palatable, but as anyone who’s consumed any amount of Two Buck Chuck will tell you, you never know what you’re going to get. My friend Valerie once told me that she’d go to Trader Joe’s and buy one bottle of Chuck, open and taste it in the car, and if it was drinkable, go back in to buy a case.

Today’s négotiants aren’t peddling cheap bottles of plonk, though. On the contrary, we’re seeing talented winemakers buying up nearly-finished surplus wines from premium wineries and seizing an opportunity to blend tasty vino that can be sold at a value price. And some of them, like Paul Beveridge and Travis Scarborough, are also using négotiant wine programs  to pursue worthy causes.