WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE E7
This week we feature two California
cabernet sauvignons offering great
quality for $20 or less. One comes
from a major producer in Monterey
County celebrating a half-century of
grape growing; the other hails from
a coalition of independent
wholesalers bucking the trend of
consolidation. We also have a red
blend aged in bourbon barrels that
has me thinking more of Portugal
than Kentucky, a Napa Valley
homage to the white grapes of
northern Italy and — from northern
Italy — an amazing red that tastes
like a bouquet of strawberries.
— D.M.
GREAT VALUE
Craftwork Estate Vineyards
Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
(Excellent)
Monterey County, Calif., $15
Craftwork is a label of good quality,
affordably priced wine from Scheid
Family Wines, a major grower and
producer in Monterey County
celebrating its 50th anniversary this
year. (It also produces the low-
alcohol Sunny With a Chance of
Flowers line.) This cabernet is juicy
and straightforward with dark fruit
flavors. At first, there’s a bit of brown
sugar sweetness on the finish, but
that goes away with a little air to
reveal bright fruit and great balance.
Alcohol by volume: 13.5 percent.
BW: 660 grams (Average).
Distributed in the District and Maryland by
Artisans & Vines, in Virginia by Well Crafted
Wines: Available in the District at Cleveland
Park Wine and Spirits, Magruder’s, Old City
Market and Oven, Rodman’s. Available in
Maryland at Apple Greene Wine & Spirits,
Dunkirk Wine & Spirits in Dunkirk; Bella’s,
Wine Cellars of Annapolis in Annapolis; Beers
& Cheers in Germantown; Beer Wine & Co.,
Bradley Food & Beverage in Bethesda;
Bethesda Co-Op in Cabin John; Cheers &
Spirits in Arnold; Crescent Wine & Spirits in
Bowie; Decanter Fine Wines in Columbia;
Downtown Crown Wine and Beer in
Gaithersburg; Dulaney Wines & Spirits in
Towson; Fenwick Beer & Wine, Locavino,
Parkway Deli & Restaurant, Silver Branch
Brewing Co., Snider’s Super Foods in Silver
Spring; Foundry Row Wine & Spirits, Mill
Station Wine & Spirits in Owings Mills;
Franklins Restaurant, Brewery and General
Store in Hyattsville; Fulton Wine & Spirits;
Greenbelt Co-Op in Greenbelt; Grosvenor
Market in Rockville; Harrison’s Wines and
Liquors in Easton; Knowles Station Wine &
Co. in Kensington; Montpelier Liquors in
Laurel; Old Farm Liquors, Riverside Liquors in
Frederick; Rodman’s in White Flint; the
Winery on Kent Island; Vineyards Elite in
Pikesville; Wilcom’s Inn in Monrovia.
Available in Virginia at Byrd & Baldwin in
Norfolk; Fin & Tonic in Suffolk; Merrifield
Garden Center in Gainesville; Oxford Cellars
in Richmond; the Town Duck in Warrenton;
WineStyles in Montclair.
Beringer Bros. Bourbon Barrel
Aged Red Wine Blend 2019
(Good/Excellent)
California, $15
I’m not a fan of the trend to age wine
in bourbon barrels, but I confess I
rather liked this one. The bourbon
notes are not overpowering — they
accent the contribution that wood
gives the structure of the wine. They
also balance the wine’s inherent
sweetness. The overall flavor
resembles a ruby port without the
extra alcohol of fortification, an
impression enhanced by the old-
fashioned bottle. You can buy an
excellent ruby for just a few dollars
more, but this could be a suitable
weeknight option. Try it with spicy
pizza or a chocolate dessert. ABV:
14.5 percent. BW: 710 grams
(Heavy).
Distributed in the District and Maryland by
Breakthru, in Virginia by Virginia Imports:
Available in the District at 1 West Dupont
Circle Wine & Liquors, Angels Share Wines
and Liquors, Bloomingdale Wine & Spirits,
Exotic Wine & Liquors, Giant (various
locations), Safeway (various locations),
Sherry’s Fine Wine & Spirits, Streets Market
(Cleveland Park), Washington Wine & Liquor,
Watergate Vintners & Spirits, Zoo Wine &
Spirits. Widely available in Virginia, including
at various locations of Costco, Giant, Harris
Teeter, Safeway, Total Wine & More.GREAT VALUE
Boniperti Vignaioli Favolalunga
Vespolina 2018
(Extraordinary/Sublime)
Piedmont, Italy, $20
My first impression of this wine from
Alto Piemonte in northwest Italy was
solid, good quality red. So I stuck the
cork back in and moved on. By the
next evening, the wine had
exploded into a joyful profusion of
strawberry, raspberry, boysenberry
and wild herb aromas and flavors.
The color and body are light, but the
sensations are intense. Plan ahead
and decant it for a few hours, and be
patient. Vespolina is a progeny of
nebbiolo, Piedmont’s mainstay red
variety, and deserves to emerge
from its parent’s shadow. Extra
praise for the producer for using an
extra-light bottle. ABV: 13 percent.
BW: 370 grams (Light).
Imported and distributed by Le Storie:
Available in the District at Ace Beverage,
Calvert Woodley, Etto. Available in Virginia at
Brut Champagne, Grape + Bean in
Alexandria; Dominion Wine and Beer in Falls
Church; Vino Market in Midlothian; Wine
Warehouse in Charlottesville.GREAT VALUE
Seamless Cabernet Sauvignon
2019
(Excellent/Extraordinary)
North Coast, Calif., $20
This wine is a project of the
Independent Distributor Network, a
coalition of family-owned wine and
spirits distributors created in 2019
as a counterweight against national
consolidation in the wholesale tier.
Bright flavors of blackberries and
blackcurrants combine with fresh
acidity to give the wine a silky
mouthfeel and a lip-smacking finish.
ABV: 13.6 percent. BW: 640 grams
(Average).
Distributed by Prestige-Ledroit: Available in
the District at Batch 13, Magruder’s,
Potomac Wine & Spirits. Available in
Maryland at Fishpaws Marketplace in Arnold;
Grosvenor Market in Rockville; Orion Wine &
Spirits in Frederick; Shawan Liquors in
Cockeysville.Massican Annia 2020
(Extraordinary)
Napa Valley, Calif., $30
Massican is a boutique Napa Valley
winery from Dan Petroski, who left
his “day job” as winemaker at
Calistoga’s Larkmead Vineyards last
year. Petroski focuses on Italian
white grape varieties, though he
does make sauvignon blanc and
chardonnay as well. The Annia is a
blend of tocai friuliano, ribolla gialla
and chardonnay. It’s crisp, racy and
citrusy. There can’t be much tocai or
ribolla in Napa Valley, where
cabernet sauvignon is king. Tasting
Petroski’s wines, I wish there were
more. Massican is primarily aimed
at restaurants, though some is
available at retail. Petroski has also
done a white blend called Emilia
Bianca that is exclusive to Whole
Foods Markets, priced at $24. ABV:
12.5 percent. BW: 590 grams
(Average).
Distributed by Prestige Ledroit: Available in
the District at Albi, Sushi Nakazawa,
Weygandt Wines. Available in Maryland at the
Bygone, Pinehurst Wine Shoppe in Baltimore;
the Tasting Room in Frederick.Availability information is based on
distributor records. Wines might not
be in stock at every listed store and
might be sold at additional stores.
Prices are approximate. Check
Winesearcher.com to verify
availability, or ask a favorite wine store
to order through a distributor.RECOMMENDATIONSREY LOPEZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTFrom left, Craftwork Estate Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2018;
Beringer Bros. Bourbon Barrel Aged Red Wine Blend 2019;
Boniperti Vignaioli Favolalunga Vespolina 2018; Seamless
Cabernet Sauvignon 2019; Massican Annia 2020.
group said.
The National Association of
Wine Retailers, which advocates
for laws allowing retailers to ship
wines to consumers in other
states, was more sanguine.
“Little can be done at the
federal level to address the severe
levels of anti-competitiveness
that result from the
discriminatory and protectionist
state laws that are lingering
vestiges of a time and of
circumstances that no longer
exist in the U.S. economy,” the
association said.
The report’s authors at
Treasury do not sound optimistic
that significant change will come
at either the federal or state
levels. “As of 2017, alcohol
companies reported 303 lobbyists
in Washington D.C. and spent
nearly $12 million on state-level
lobbying,” the report said,
observing, “Lobbying is a feature
of our political system.”
And three-tier distribution is a
fixture of our marketplace.McIntyre blogs at dmwineline.com. On
Twitter: @dmwine.that tie a producer to a single
distributor and regulations that
restrict competition and keep
prices artificially high for
consumers.
Not surprisingly, interest
groups seized upon various parts
of the report as support for their
side.
“We are encouraged to see that
throughout Treasury’s report,
maintaining a strong,
independent wholesaler tier
remains critical to federal and
state regulators who work to
ensure the U.S. alcohol
marketplace is the safest, most
diverse and competitive in the
world,” the Wine and Spirits
Wholesalers of America said in a
statement that sounded like a big
sigh of relief. But then — deep
breath:
“Any federal or state legislation
that proposes a distribution
model outside of the three-tier
system introduces issues of
compliance, tax collection,
underage access, illicit product,
anticompetitive practices and
diminishes the effectiveness of
regulators,” the wholesalersreviving earlier efforts to change
labeling laws to give us more
information about what’s in the
bottle. So we may see a new
federal push to require nutrition
and ingredient labeling on wine
and other beverages.
Treasury urged states to
examine direct-to-consumer sales
as an end run around the
constrictions of the three-tier
system. Direct sales of wine are
allowed in some form by 47 states
and have been crucial for many
small wineries. Now craft
breweries and distilleries want to
ship you their wares by FedEx and
UPS, too. The report said there
was no evidence that direct wine
sales led to an increase in
underage drinking, but it noted
that beer and spirits may be more
attractive to minors.
As for the three-tier system
itself? “State legislatures might
consider if the benefits of the
three-tier system outweigh its
costs to competition and study
markets without a three-tier
system,” the report concluded
with a wink. It also suggested
states reconsider franchise lawsinnovation and inhibit
competition.
After the department
requested public input on the
executive order, I summarized
some of the hundreds of
comments from all sectors of the
alcohol industry in two columns
in September. Even then it was
clear Treasury might not be able
to effect dramatic change,
because most of the problems
inhibiting competition were at
the state level. Once again,
advocates of reform run up
against the 21st Amendment to
the Constitution, which repealed
Prohibition in 1933 and left the
primary responsibility for
regulating alcohol distribution to
the states.
The report cited conflicting
trends since the late 1970s: A
dramatic growth in the number of
craft breweries, wineries and
distilleries shows a vibrant,
competitive market. But
consolidation in the distribution
and retail sectors constricts the
path to market, like a narrow
funnel between all those products
and consumers. Smaller
producers — the vast majority —
have difficulty getting their wines
to market, and consumers often
cannot find those wines through
traditional channels.
Treasury’s recommendations
fell along the edges of the three-
tier system. It urged the Justice
Department and Federal Trade
Commission to continue
enforcement of antitrust laws,
with special scrutiny on large
producers gobbling up craft
brewers. In the wine markets,
federal objections over the past
few years led to significant
changes in a sale of several
brands by Constellation to Gallo
to preserve competition. The Feds
also blocked a merger of two of
the country’s largest distributors,
Republic National Distributing
Co. and Breakthru Beverages,
because they compete directly in
several markets.
The report recommendedquo that restrict our ability to buy
the brands we desire.
President Biden requested the
report in July in a wide-ranging
executive order to promote
competition throughout the U.S.
economy. He directed the
Treasury Department, which
includes the Alcohol and Tobacco
Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB, to
examine unlawful practices that
hinder competition,
consolidation in production,
distribution or retail (the three
tiers of the current system), and
restrictive regulations such as
labeling or bottle size
requirements that stifleOn Feb. 9, the
Treasury
Department
issued a report on
competition in the
beer, wine and
spirits markets.
Anyone hoping for
dramatic changes
to the three-tier
distribution system that evolved
after the repeal of Prohibition will
be disappointed. Treasury does
not recommend drastic changes
in the way beverage alcohol is
sold in this country, but the 64-
page report clearly recognizes
inherent problems in the status
Wine
DAVE
MCINTYRE
The way alcohol is sold is a problem, but don’t look to government for help
ISTOCK
Consolidation in the distribution and retail sectors constricts the path to market for small producers.FINE WINES & SPIRITS ★ LA CHEESERIE & INTERNATIONAL DELI★ ★ ★ ★PARK FREE ON OUR LOT★ ★ ★ ★SIGN UP TO
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