New Wine, New Bottles

On Feb. 20--the first day it was legal to do so--Merlion Winery began shipping wine to market in 500-milliliter-size bottles. The shipping date came exactly 90 days after the government certified the bottle as a legal size for wine.

Merlion president George Vierra, who petitioned the government to legalize the size and gotten hundreds of backers for the idea, bottled 1,000 12-bottle cases of the Napa winery’s 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon in the half-liter bottle. In mid-May, Merlion’s 1989 Chardonnay will be available in the new bottles.

The 500-milliliter bottle is two-thirds the size of the standard 750-milliliter bottle. Vierra said the Cabernet will sell for $11, exactly two-thirds of the $16.50 price of the same wine in a 750-milliliter bottle.

“We’ll take a little loss on these first shipments because the bottles cost us a little more,” he said. These 500-milliliter bottles, acquired from a French company, cost 64 cents each; standard-size bottles run less than 40 cents.

However, Vierra believes that as the 500-milliliter bottle catches on, more and more producers will be seeking bottles of that size. “There are three glass companies waiting for orders,” he said.

George’s brother Gary Vierra, marketing director for Merlion, reported good reaction to the idea from hotel restaurants and restaurants that do a heavy luncheon business, even though none of the bottles had been available to look at. “The wait staffs feel it will appeal to some of their customers for whom a full bottle is too much and a glass is not enough,” he said. “I think the potential in the marketplace is excellent.”

George Vierra believes that the 500-milliliter size is perfect for a couple dining out who may be concerned that a full bottle is too much and who now have little alternative. (Fewer and fewer wineries are making the old “half bottle,” containing 375 milliliters of wine.)

Larry Williams, director of marketing for Jordan Vineyard and Winery, said Jordan believes strongly in the concept of the 500-milliliter bottle and will produce both its Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in the smaller bottle--7,500 cases of the Cabernet and 4,500 cases of the Chardonnay.

“I feel strongly that the 500-milliliter bottle will be for the wine industry in the coming decade what White Zinfandel was in the last decade,” said Williams. “People want to know what the next ‘White Zinfandel’ is going to be, and I don’t think it’s going to be a varietal wine, it’s going to be packaging. I think this presents us with a new idea for the consumer.”

The proprietors of the famed Chateau de Beaucastel in France’s Rhone Valley are partners in a vineyard project in the Paso Robles area aimed at making a classic Rhone-style wine in California.

Charles Falk, a minority partner in the Tablas Creek Vineyard Partners, confirmed that Jean-Pierre and Francois Perrin of Chateau de Beaucastel are in equal partnership with Robert Haas, principal of the national wine marketing firm Vineyard Brands.

The land acquired by the partners is west of Paso Robles, west of where the former HMR winery was located, “away from the windy region, where the land has ridges and peaks, and where there is no direct marine influence,” said Falk, who is president of Falconer Wine Marketing in San Rafael.

“Bob Haas was the motivating force behind this, but it’s not a new thing,” said Falk. “We were talking about it for at least three years, and we looked all over California, and that search went on in desultory fashion until we discovered the South Central Coast.”

Falk said the partners were looking for an area with the proper soil for the Rhone varieties, as well as one warm enough to ripen the stubborn Mourvedre, a red wine grape not widely planted in California.

“But the thing we looked primarily for was soil, and that limestone soil there in Paso Robles has a lot of similarities to that at Beaucastel. As luck would have it, it is limestone from the same geological era as the Rhone Valley, the Miocene era.”

The partners bought 125 acres, none of which has ever had vines planted on it. Rhone vine stock is being imported by the partners so the various selections will be identical to those at Beaucastel, he said. Seven grape varieties will be planted. The four red wine grapes are Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and Counoise; the three whites are Marsanne, Rousanne and Viognier. The partners are even bringing in their own rootstock for the varieties.

Initially, a small experimental vineyard will be planted, “something to play with while we’re waiting for the primary wood to come in,” said Falk. That wine will never be released to the public; it’s purely a “toe in the water” kind of wine.

Main planting is scheduled for 1994 and 1995 and will continue through 1999, the first to be made in 1997. The earliest a wine could be released will be about the year 2000.

“If we ever release a wine,” he said. “There is no certitude that the Perrins will want to make a wine ,zfor release.”

Twelve major Champagne makers in France are suing a small winery in Upstate New York, attempting to prohibit the producer from using the name Chateau de Rheims on his wines.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rochester, N.Y., says Philippe Guermonprez, owner of the Hammondsport, N.Y., winery, was trying to mislead the public that its products are from France.

Reims, France, which once was spelled Rheims, is one of Champagne’s major cities. Guermonprez, a native of France, lives in the village of Rheims, N.Y., which is adjacent to Hammondsport. His winery was founded in 1987; today Chateau de Rheims makes about 8,500 cases of wines.

Giles Beeker, food and beverage director at the Sunset Marquis Hotel & Villas, has been elected president of the Sommelier Assn. of California.

Wine of the Week

Quinta do Infantado Port L.B.V. 1983 ($16.50)-- This is not a vintage Port but a Late Bottled Vintage Port, a ruby Port made like a tawny. The wine was aged in oak casks for 4 1/2 years (by Portugese law LBV Ports must be aged between four and six years). The wine has good cassis-like fruit and richness, with a faintly nutty aroma, like a fruity tawny Port. Infantado may not be a familiar name to Americans, but the firm was founded in 1816. It was illegal to estate-bottle wine in Portugal before 1979, but when the law was changed to permit growers to ship their own wines, Infantado began to ship wine to the United States. This is the first Infantado LBV available in this country. It represents good value. Infantado also makes an attractive Tawny Port at $10.75.