Antonio was most recently Sommelier and General Manager at Catalan Restaurant in Houston, managing one of the most exciting wine programs in the country. Previous to Catalan, Antonio managed the extensive Italian wine program at DaMarco in Houston.

Antonio lives in Houston with his lovely bride, Melissa.

Please join me in welcoming Antonio Gianola to the team of Mosaic Wine Group.  Antonio can be contacted at antonio.gianola@gmail.com.

WHAT IS MOVEMBER?
Movember is the month formerly known as November, and has become an important month for raising awareness and funds for cancer research that afflicts males – specifically testicular and prostate cancers, which affects 1-in-6 men. During the month of Movember men across the globe will be growing mustaches, hosting events and raising money for this important cause.

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia to help raise awareness towards cancers that afflict males, specifically testicular and prostate cancer. The movement has spread globally, and to date Movember has raised over $47 million for this important cause. Mosaic Wine Group has launched its own team, MO’BETTA, with a goal of spreading the good word and raising funds and awareness. The Lance Armstrong Foundation is one of the primary beneficiaries of Movember, and Mosaic Wine Group is honored to be a part of this movement.

WHAT DOES MOVEMBER MEAN TO ME?
Earlier this year my father, Ron Redman, was diagnosed with colon cancer at 68 years old. This news was devastating to my family, given what little we actually knew about cancer. That was when a good friend of mine, Chris Brewer, from the Lance Armstrong Foundation came to the rescue. He put us in contact with the foundation, who flooded my family with information on cancer, treatments and recovery, which armed us with knowledge that my father could beat this thing! Having long been a supporter of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, now I have a vested interest in supporting the cause to help find a cure.

MOVEMBER EVENT AT PARKSIDE RESTAURANT
Monday, November 23rd, 2009.  7-10pm
Parkside Restaurant
301 East 6th Street (corner of 6th & San Jacinto)
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 474-9898
www.parkside-austin.com
$25/person

To purchase tickets, or simply to donate money to the cause:

Please bring a copy of your receipt to the event (your name will be on the guest list at the door).

For more information on Movember and to join the cause and/or donate to MO’BETTA, go to http://us.movember.com/register/17912.

Reservations required, space limited.

space is filling up fast and there are
just a few spots left!

To reserve, please call (512) 465-9282 or email jeff@vinovinotx.com.

DON’T MISS THIS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
to meet wine industry legend and
singer-songwriter KERMIT LYNCH!

Man’s Temptation:

An Evening with Kermit Lynch

Monday, November 9

@ Vino Vino, Austin, Texas

listening party and wine tasting
singer, song-writer, and wine industry legend

Kermit Lynch plays cuts from his new album Man’s Temptation (Dualtone) and talks about his music,
his life, and his wines

Monday, November 9, 2009, 7 p.m. (doors at 5 p.m.)
$20 (ticket price includes 1 glass of wine)

Vino Vino
4119 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78751-4222
(512) 465-9282

All currently stocked Kermit Lynch wines will be available by the glass and available for sale retail.

In addition Chef Esteban Escobar has created a 4- course prix fixe menu inspired by Kermit’s travels. $40.00 per person. All menu items also available a la carte.

Menu

Califlower Soup, hazelnut brown butter

~

Root Vegetable Salad, grain mustard viniagrette

~

Snapper, eggplant, Provencal relish

or

Boudin Blanc, purple hull peas, fennel, poached egg

~

Grenache Cake, marigold mint ice cream

Legendary wine importer and singer-songwriter Kermit Lynch has been in New York this week for the release of his new album, Man’s Temptation (Dualtone). Kermit rarely travels these days outside of Europe and so his visit and appearances in the Big Apple have caused quite a stir! It seems that every blogger and wine writer has been covering his time in the big city. Here’s what New York Magazine had to say today:

Venerable wine importer Kermit Lynch is a legend in his trade for championing French producers who express terroir — wines that embody where they come from. But before he opened his first wine shop in California in 1972, Lynch had a band. “Those were drug days and it was hard to keep a band together and keep everybody conscious,” he says. Better for the future of European wine in America than the music, Lynch’s shop took off during a recession, when he scored devalued wines like Echézeaux Grand Cru Burgundy, previously retailing for $60 a bottle, and sold it for $60 a case. His sleeper singer-songwriter career didn’t fully resurface until last month, when he released the album Man’s Temptation. He describes his blend of blues, country, and rock as “rootsy American.” In town to promote his dual loves — and visit with his daughter at NYU — Lynch slips in other oenophilic descriptors in this wine-lover’s edition of New York Diet. Keep an eye out for “juicy risotto.”

Check out what Kermit and entourage have been eating and drinking while in New York here.

How friggin’ cool is it that Kermit is coming to Austin!!!!!????

Kermit Spins his new album Man’s Temptation

Monday, November 9, 2009, 7 p.m. (doors at 5 p.m.)
$20 (ticket price includes 1 glass of wine)

Vino Vino
4119 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78751-4222
(512) 465-9282

with a menu inspired by the wines and travels of Kermit Lynch

All currently stocked Kermit Lynch wines will be available by the glass and available for sale retail.

Reservations required, space limited.

To reserve, please call (512) 465-9282 or email jeff@vinovinotx.com.

Well, the Rutles aren’t actually coming but one of them is: Ricky Fataar, who played character Stig O’Hara in the Rutles’s movie, a Grammy-award-winning spoof on the Beatles, All You Need Is Cash.

Ricky will be joining Kermit Lynch on Monday, November 9, at Vino Vino for the Kermit Lynch listening party. Kermit and Ricky will be spinning tracks from Kermit’s new album, Man’s Temptation (Dualtone), and talking about the genesis of this tasty, rootsy record. Ricky produced the record and has worked closely with his good friend Kermit since the wine guru relaunched his career as a singer-songwriter some years back.

Fataar (that’s him, above, center) has worked with the best of the best in the business: he’s played and produced for the likes of John Scofield, Bonnie Raitt, The Beachboys, and Boz Scaggs, just to name a few, and he is one of the original members of The Flames.

Ricky and Kermit met through their shared passion for wine (they were introduced by mutual friend Boz Scaggs) and with Man’s Temptation, they have come together in their shared passion for music.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet Kermit and Ricky November 9 at Vino Vino!

Monday, November 9, 2009, 7 p.m. (doors at 5 p.m.)
$20 (ticket price includes 1 glass of wine)

Vino Vino
4119 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78751-4222
(512) 465-9282

with a menu inspired by the wines and travels of Kermit Lynch

All currently stocked Kermit Lynch wines will be available by the glass and available for sale retail.

Reservations required, space limited.

To reserve, please call (512) 465-9282 or email jeff@vinovinotx.com.

Above: food legend Alice Waters rocking out to the music of Kermit Lynch earlier this month in San Francisco.

Man’s Temptation: An Evening with Kermit Lynch

Monday, November 9 @ Vino Vino, Austin, Texas

listening party and wine tasting

singer, song-writer, and wine industry legend Kermit Lynch plays cuts from his new album Man’s Temptation (Dualtone) and talks about his music, his life, and his wines

Monday, November 9, 2009, 7 p.m. (doors at 5 p.m.)
$20 (ticket price includes 1 glass of wine)

Vino Vino
4119 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78751-4222
(512) 465-9282

with a menu inspired by the wines and travels of Kermit Lynch

All currently stocked Kermit Lynch wines will be available by the glass and available for sale retail.

Reservations required, space limited.

To reserve, please call (512) 465-9282 or email jeff@vinovinotx.com.

Man’s Temptation: An Evening with Kermit Lynch

Monday, November 9 @ Vino Vino, Austin, Texas

listening party and wine tasting

singer, song-writer, and wine industry legend Kermit Lynch plays cuts from his new album Man’s Temptation (Dualtone) and talks about his music, his life, and his wines

Monday, November 9, 2009, 7 p.m.
$20 (ticket price includes 1 glass of wine)

Vino Vino
4119 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78751-4222
(512) 465-9282
jeff@vinovinotx.com

with a menu inspired by the wines and travels of Kermit Lynch

All currently stocked Kermit Lynch wines will be available by the glass and available for sale retail.

Reservations required, space limited.

To reserve, please call (512) 465-9282 or email jeff@vinovinotx.com.

Rocker Interrupted: Kermit Lynch finally yields to temptation

Singer-Songwriter Kermit Lynch releases Man’s Temptation (Dualtone), a collection of ballads, rockers, and ditties, spanning forty years of faith, temptation, and musical salvation (produced by Ricky Fataar).

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
—Oscar Wilde

From the opening lines of Man’s Temptation, singer-songwriter Kermit Lynch cinematically sets the backdrop for the multi-layers of his life as a singer, writer, and wine Svengali:

Paris and my mind is breaking
Paris, I’m in a railway station
Gare de Lyon…

But just when you think that the gravelly, smoky voice behind the old tube-driven microphone is about to head out to Lyon to taste wines with a Beaujolais producer, the melody of the track rises and steers the listener in another and entirely unexpected direction. The singer is in a railway station,

Gare de Lyon, on my way to the next concert stage.

Man’s Temptation was recorded just last year in Nashville, Tennessee with some of the great country music players in the business today but the album represents a journey that began more than forty years ago in Berkeley, California.

Lynch was born in Bakersfield and grew up of the son of a teetotalling itinerant preacher who traveled the upper reaches of the San Joaquin Valley in search of souls to save. The setting was straight out of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, as Lynch puts it, and the souls were southerners who had fled their native land and sought out the same California Cottonfields that Merle Haggard’s father dreamed of as he tilled his rundown, mortgaged Oklahoma farm. It was there that Lynch discovered his first love of music (and grape juice, since no wine was to be had): Jimmy Rogers, Hank Williams, and the country recordings of Jerry Lee Lewis were the first cuts he would hear, the same music his father’s congregants listened to when not singing at church.

By 1966, Lynch had landed in Berkeley, at the height of the music scene. He began writing songs, started a band, and gigged around. But a first trip to Europe and a drummer’s cocaine habit interrupted and deferred the rockstar dream. Disillusioned by the flower power scene, Lynch decided to focus on making a living and turned to a second passion: wine.

Hit pause and fast forward: forty years later, Kermit Lynch is one of the most successful and respected names in the business and he is considered one of the world’s greatest wine writers, a pioneer in reshaping the American wine palate with wines that speak of place and the people who make them.

Hit play: forty years later, Lynch has delivered the album he lived and wrote all those years ago and in the lifetime that followed, a collection of ballads, rockers, and ditties that speak to the weaknesses and the strengths of man and his temptations.

From the original tracks like ballad “Gare de Lyon,” the Beggars Banquet-inspired country waltz “Backstreets of Moscow,” and the rocker “Buckle-Up Boogie” to covers of classic Dylan like “Girl from the North Country” and classic country like “Take These Chains from My Heart,” the verve, pathos, and fun of Lynch’s voice play counterpoint to some of the most bad-assed, finger-lickin’ pickin’ you’ve heard since the last time legendary session man George Marinelli (Bruce Hornsby, Bonnie Raitt) tuned up his git fiddle. The fresh analog-driven tones of the band provide an earthy palate of colors for the tableaux vivants painted by Lynch, whose face is probably slightly less wrinkled than his heart and whose voice is as gravelly and dusty as the vineyard roads of southern France that led this voice astray some forty years ago.

Kermit Lynch, rocker interrupted, is now waiting at the Gare de Lyon, getting ready to board a train on his way to the next concert stage.

Score: 90  POINTS – Wine Spectator

“Big, rich and darkly colored—these are the descriptors for the best red wines from the Cahors district of southwest France. The leading grape is Malbec (that’s right, there was Malbec before Argentina) and now a small group of quality-oriented producers is pursuing a higher profile for Malbec in its homeland. Tannat and Merlot can also used in these blends. Besides an array of dark fruit flavors, the following wines from Cahors offer plenty of muscle and dense structures. They beg to be drunk with a juicy rib-eye or a roasted leg of lamb. There’s a good sense of elegance to the well-defined, concentrated flavors of dark cherry, blackberry and plum, followed by notes of sage, dark chocolate and tobacco leaf on the long, powerful finish. Drink now. 5,000 cases imported. — Kim Marcus“

Philippe Bernéde is a renaissance man whose interests range from cooking, to sports, aviation and a few patented inventions. Winegrowing is his passion, however, and it shows in the quality of his wine. This 55 hectare estate spreads over a stretch of land on the alluvial valley floor, along the meandering Lot River. The soil, which consists of gravel, silica clay and limestone, is particularly well-suited for vines. Because the vineyards face southwest, they are protected from the cold winds that blow from the Causse upland plateau. This also allows the fruit to achieve full ripeness early in the season.

The domaine has been in the family for six generations and is planted to the traditional varietals of Cahors – Malbec (locally known as ‘Cot’), which provides deep color, structure and tannin and Merlot, which softens the young wine and improves the bouquet. The wine is aged in large oak foudres before being bottled unfiltered. Although it can be enjoyed young, it ages very well.

“Incredibly bright color, like the skin of a ripe black cherry, the aroma captivates. There is a suspicion of new oak, a jumble of black fruits (cherry, cassis, blackberry), plus a little corner of blueberry, plus a subtle smoky nuance, and a fleeting suggestion of black truffle. And the perfume is only the opening salvo. The palate is rich, loaded with delicious fruit. It is round, and tannic with superb balance and structure.” – Kermit Lynch

Dan & Melinda Redman of Mosaic Wine Group with Kermit Lynch

Dan Redman of Mosaic Wine Group and the Grand Master of Wine Zen

I had the opportunity to work with Randall Grahm and Bonny Doon Vineyard during their monumental climb of brand equity and consumer recognition, with the rise of Big House Red, White & Pink. Having sold off those ‘industrialized’ wine labels, he has focused his sights on streamlining his portfolio to create wines of great substance and character, through biodynamics. Randall first introduced me to the ways and means of Biodynamics at a Bonny Doon National Sales Meeting several years ago in California, when he invited one its pioneering forefathers, Nicolas Joly of Coulee de Serrant, in the Loire Valley of France, to speak to a room full of farmers and winemakers. It was that day that the lightbulb turned on for me, regarding biodynamics, and I have immersed myself in learning as much about this ‘natural’ style of farming in order to help educate the masses to its benefits.

Randall Grahm is back, and he’s better than ever! Known for his razor sharp wit and intellect, he has a new book, titled ‘Been Doon So Long’ being released next month, which chronicles his life, his stories and his penchant for making world class wines in California. I hope to have Randall back in Texas soon when he tours the country on a national book signing tour.

Here is a letter that Randall authored, which is going out to the trade channels of Texas.

Dear friends and fine wine buyers of Texas -

Randall Grahm here, speaking to you through the magically realistic medium of words. I’m writing to tell you about some very significant changes chez Doon.  You have, perhaps, heard of our divestiture of the Big House and Cardinal Zin brands?  No need to get into the convoluted psychological mechanisms that motivated the sale[1] of the brands and significant restructuring of the company,[2] but suffice it to say that we are now calibrated to a truer compass, becoming ever more congruent to our deepest values and aesthetic sensibilities. We have cut our production 90%, and reduced the range of wines produced similarly.

The Bonny Doon portfolio is now much smaller and more focused, deeply committed to vins de terroir. It is our aim to move as quickly as we can to utilizing only Estate grown fruit, but this process, of course, does not occur overnight.  At the moment, we are farming 125 eclectic acres biodynamically in Soledad, CA, and the third commercial releases of these wines – Albariño and Muscat most notably – were released in February.  They are pure,[3] mineral-intensive wines and a great harbinger of things to come.  Since 2007, they are also certified Biodynamic® by Demeter. These wines, along with an extremely distinctive Sangiovese (also farmed biodynamically in the slightly warmer climes of San Benito County) will be sold under the Ca’ del Solo label.

Until our new Estate vineyards are producing, we have greatly upgraded all our grape sources[4] – all killer, no filler, as it were, and are working primarily with biodynamically grown fruit. From the 2008 harvest, we sourced about 70% of our fruit from biodynamically farmed (working towards certification) vineyards.

The core of the Bonny Doon portfolio remains the Cigare family – Le Cigare Volant, Le Cigare Blanc, Vin Gris de Cigare and Le Vol des Anges;[5] this was the starship that brought us here (and will presumably take us back some day).  As a complement to the meridional Cigare, we also produce a septentrional[6] Syrah, “Le Pousseur,” from the Central Coast. We will plant a large (100ish acre) Estate Cigare vineyard in the area in the coming year, with the aim of producing a Truly Great Cigare.  I believe that we have seen a great breakthrough in the quality of Cigare in recent vintages, and if you have been following our wines, this is not really news to you.[7]

The most germane news that I have to report is that in addition to Pioneer Wine Company, Bonny Doon wines are now also being represented in Texas by Dan Redman’s Mosaic Wine Group.  We are very excited to be working again with Dan. He is a particularly passionate wine person; if you aren’t already cognizant of this truth, I promise you that it will be a great pleasure for you to work with him.

Dan Redman, Mosaic Wine Group
P (512) 904-9463
M (713) 398-2604
F (512) 401-3101
dan@mosaicwinegroup.com
9120 Edwardson Lane
Austin, TX 78749

Pioneer Wine Company
North and East Texas, Dallas (214) 461.7600
Central, South & West Texas, Austin (512) 895.0558
Greater Houston Area (832) 778.5743

Best wishes,

Randall Grahm
Winemaker & President-for-life

[2] The most salient changes: Big House and Cardinal Zin brands were sold to The Wine Group (i.e. no longer Bonny Doon products) and we are phasing out certain products (viz. Eurodoon wines and others) to make the line more coherent.  The Pacific Rim brand, while I still own will be a quasi-autonomous entity no longer managed by Bonny Doon directly, nor sold by the Bonny Doon Vineyard sales team.

[3] Is purity really a virtue in this town?  All of the wines from our Ca’ del Solo vineyard, at least, were fermented this year with indigenous yeast; use of enzymes and other technical aids were eschewed, as was acidification and virtually all of the winemaking tricks upon which we winemakers have grown so reliant.

[4] We have changed too many practices to really enumerate here, but the biodynamic bit has really made the largest difference.

[5] “The Angel’s Flight.” A new dessert wine for us, botrytised roussanne, which should set everyone free.

[6] Referring to grapes grown below or above the 45^th parallel, but in fact signifying a Southern and Northern Rhône style respectively.

[7] Certainly we were somewhat distracted by the Big House sideshow and all of the marketing schtick that attended it, but we have been on the path back to Our Roots, as it were, for a few years now.

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful winederful summer. With consistent triple-digit temperatures and no foreseeable end in sight, may we recommend some cool, crisp, aromatic white wines, rosés and (of course) sparkling wine!

Jeff Feinberg and Dan Redman of Mosaic Wine Group blind taste sparkling wines in the vineyards at Laetitia.

May we suggest the following quaffable wines for your summer wine needs?

Bubbles:

• Laetitia Brut Cuvee
• Laetitia Brut Rosé
• Bisol Jeio Rosé
• Bisol Crede Prosecco

Lucio Mastroberardino of Terredora di Paolo is well known for his crisp, aromatic white wines

Whites:

• Terredora di Paolo Falanghina, 2008 (Campania, Italy)
• Domaine du Salvard Cheverny, 2008 (Loire Valley, France)
• Bonny Doon Albariño, 2007 (Monterey, California)
• Bonny Doon Dry Muscat, 2007 (Monterey, California)
• Groom Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 (Adelaide Hills, Australia)
• Patz & Hall Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, 2006 (Sonoma, California)
• Neyers Carneros District Chardonnay, 2007 (Carneros, California)
• Abbazia di Novacella Kerner, 2007 ( Alto Adige, Italy)
• Arizona Stronghold ‘TAZI’, 2008 (Cochise County, Arizona)

Rosés:

• Cantele Negroamaro Rosato, 2008 (Puglia, Italy)
• Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare, 2008 (California)
• Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre Rosé, 2008 (Loire Valley, France)
• Arizona Stronghold ‘Dayden’ Rosé, 2008 (Cochise County, Arizona)

Chateau Trinqueuedel Tavel Rosé,  Domaine du Salvard Cheverny Rosé, Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre Rosé
and Argiano L’O Rosato (clockwise from top left)

Light-to-Medium Bodied Red Wines:

• Marcel Lapierre Morgon, 2007 (Beaujolais, France)
• Capestrano Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, 2007 (Abruzzo, Italy)
• Laetitia Estate Pinot Noir, 2007 (Arroyo Grande, California)
• Patz & Hall Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, 2007 (Sonoma, California)

CHEERS!