This week’s wine news: Peter Bell, one of the best winemakers in the country, retires. Plus, no “wine for dinner” ads and wine cellars under the Brooklyn Bridge
• Peter Bell retires: Peter Bell, the long-time winemaker at New York’s Fox Run and a riesling genius, has retired. He has long been a champion of Drink Local and will be much missed. I first met Peter judging the old International Eastern competition, where we did a particularly aggravating and seemingly endless flight of supermarket zinfandels. Peter patiently explained to me how these especially corporate wines were made – tannins and acidity removed, color darkened, and sweetness added all in an attempt to make them as boring as possible. That way, they wouldn’t offend anyone. And, whenever I taste one of those wines these days, I still think of that lesson. Thank you, Peter. You taught me a lot.
• No wine for dinner: An attempt to create a national wine marketing campaign, similar to the “Beef: It’s what for dinner” effort, has failed. The organizers of the WineRamp initiative announced last week that there wasn’t enough wine business support to fund the campaign. The proposal was controversial, even without the question about how to pay for it; many respected marketers said the idea, despite its good intentions, wasn’t far-reaching enough. My take? It would have been better than what wine is doing now, which is nothing.
• Under the Brooklyn Bridge: The Brooklyn Bridge, which connects Manhattan and Brooklyn over the East River in New York City, has a couple of wine cellars. They were built into the ramps leading to the East River on both the Manhattan and Brooklyn sides – and actually constructed for wine storage. The bridge cut through two liquor retailers when it was built, so the cellars were designed to make up space the retailers would lose. They aren’t used for wine anymore, though, and haven’t been since World War II. Today, New York City stores equipment in them.