Making Wine

Seattle is known for being a “tech city,” but Molly Ringe quickly learned that world was not for her.

“I love talking and interacting with people,” she said. “I left IT quickly. It was not my thing.”

Ringe has been in the wine community for most of her life, and after leaving tech, she went back to being a bartender, wine buyer and traveling. But a breast cancer diagnosis at 30 years old in 2001 would change everything — she was told she couldn’t drink conventional wine anymore.

“I started diving into why, and learned about all the things that are in conventional wine, especially here in the U.S. I was pretty distraught,” she said. “My livelihood was buying and selling wine at restaurants and fine dining.”

This led Ringe to natural wine — something she learned about while traveling in Europe. It allowed her to drink wine again.

“Finding it was possible […] was life-changing for me,” she said.

After nearly two decades in the natural wine community, she would ultimately end up opening her own natural wine store, Molly’s Bottle Shop, in 2019. Fast forward nearly two years and a pandemic later, Ringe now has two locations, one in Sunset Hill and one in West Seattle.

“This is my baby,” she said.

While Molly’s Bottle Shop could be simply described as a place to buy or taste wine, Ringe has created a place for the community to gather, connect and support local in a time when it was desperately needed.

So…what exactly is natural wine?

“Basically it’s wine that’s grown organically, mostly biodynamically, and it’s that – they pick the grapes, they let the grapes ferment and put it in a bottle,” said Ringe, noting this a very, very simplistic description of a movement that’s been around for thousands of years.

“I took a lot of classes, went to Washington State University and started learning about what was in not just the vineyards but the wine themselves,” she continued. “We as consumers buy into this idea that wine is natural, we pick the grapes and we make wine and we don’t understand that there’s over 100 allowed additives in making wine.”

While some are not as bad, many are harmful — which was why Ringe said her doctor told her she could no longer drink it after her cancer diagnosis.

She’s a big advocate for verifying the wines her shop carries through travel and research to make sure they abide by the following standards:

• Nothing in – nothing out = wine that is very literally made-in-the-vineyard
• Absolutely no herbicides, fertilizers or pesticides in the vineyard
• Only native yeast
• No additives in the winery

This is not only important to her personally but also to her shop’s credibility and the people who come to her for wine.

“I have a lot of customers, now friends, who couldn’t drink wine anymore. They were sad, right? They are now thankful. I’ve had people cry and hug me because they didn’t know they could drink wine again,” she said.

The opportunity to open Molly’s Bottle Shop quite literally almost came to Ringe in a perfect little package. She was working at Baker’s when she saw a For Rent sign in the window of the cute space next door. She knew the person trying to get out of the lease, she knew the person who owned the property and she’d always wanted to open a wine bar. The answer was easy.

“I opened it up on a credit card and savings account, and it was just so well received in the beginning,” Ringe said. “And then pandemic, and we pivoted as much as we could, and the community literally wrapped around me so powerfully that it was really intense and super cool.”

When the pandemic hit, they quickly got a store online and started delivering. They ended up getting approval for an outdoor pavilion where people could come and wine taste. They started hosting small events again (outdoors, of course) featuring local artists and artisans. They even have a wine and book club.

Molly’s Bottle Shop is much more than a bottle shop.

“[People] could hang out here in the pavilion, I had heaters, they could bundle up and have a glass of wine and meet their neighbors and have a conversation safe distance. It really turned into a community center,” Ringe said. “I want people to come here in five years and see the same faces. I want to be the place where nobody quits […] I want it to continue to be what it is.”

The Sunset Hill neighborhood is very community-driven, as well. Like how Ringe curates the natural wine list at Baker’s next door, for example. As we talked in the pavilion on a sunny afternoon in July for this interview, a handful of people stopped by to chat with Ringe about the new truck they bought or their latest art installation or just to say “Hi” and give her a hug.

“I was joking with someone that my new hashtag is going to be #communitynotcompetition,” she said. “I think that is so important. We are all so much better with the power of community.”

Molly’s Bottle Shop in Sunset Hill may only be about 200 square feet, but it makes a mighty impact. Ringe hopes the space stays and flourishes so she can continue introducing people to new kinds of wine and fostering long-lasting connections with her customers — or, as she likes to put it, her friends.

“There is nothing personal. Wine is subjective. It is completely up to you,” she said. “Let’s have this journey together. Let’s be open-minded.”

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THE brainboxes behind the questions on Mastermind have come up with 60 teasers exclusively for Sun readers.

The long-running BBC2 quiz show returns on Monday with Clive Myrie, 56, making his debut as host.

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Test your brains with our 60 question Mastermind quiz

And today we are giving YOU a chance to see how you might fare in the famous black chair.

Have you got what it takes to perform under pressure after hearing the familiar theme?

Try our general knowledge questions below, picked by the programme’s makers. Answers below . . . no peeking.

1. The name of what type of radiation is often abbreviated to UV?
2. Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie have all been members of which group?
3. What name is given to the assembly of cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church who meet to elect a new pope?
4. What is the name for the male part of a flowering plant that consists of a filament and an anther?
5. Who was the god of love in Greek mythology and the equivalent of the Roman god Cupid?
6. Omaha is the largest city in which US state?
7. Diarist James Boswell dedicated his Life Of Samuel Johnson to which celebrated English portrait painter?
8. The common pipistrelle is one of the smallest and most numerous native British species of what mammal?
9. Which country topped the medals table at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning 39 golds?
10. What five-day festival, celebrated in late October or November by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, takes its name from the Sanskrit for a row of lights?
11. Sir Ronald Ross won a Nobel Prize in 1902 for his work on what disease, spread by mosquitoes?
12. Who became the first performer to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice when the Irish entry Hold Me Now triumphed in 1987?
13. The word Bajan is a local name for an inhabitant of which Caribbean island?
14. What word for a shade of red is the French for “cherry”?
15. What corrosive acid was once known as “oil of vitriol”?
16. What is the name of the classic Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables deep-fried in batter and served with a dipping sauce?
17. Which future British king had ten children by his mistress, the actress Dorothea Jordan?
18. What multi-coloured diamond pattern, often seen on knitted socks, is based on the tartan of a branch of Scotland’s Campbell clan?
19. The Impressionist art movement took its name from the 1872 painting Impression, Sunrise by which French artist?
20. What is the name of the dome-shaped muscular structure that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity?
21. In which film does James Bond, played by Timothy Dalton, for the second time, hunt down the drugs baron Franz Sanchez?
22. The carambola fruit has what alternative name, a reference to its shape when it is cut into slices?
23. In the 1770s, which English naval captain commanded the first ship known to have crossed the Antarctic Circle?
24. The adjective “olfactory” relates to which of the traditional five senses?
25. What musical note, sometimes known as a half-note, is half as long as a semibreve?
26. In which TV series does Jodie Comer play a professional murderer called Villanelle?
27. What birds, closely resembling swallows, spend almost all of their life on the wing, feeding, drinking, mating and sleeping in the air?
28. In 2016, who became the first woman and the youngest person to be First Minister of Northern Ireland, serving in the post until 2017 and again from 2020 until 2021?
29. What denomination of Russian coin is worth one hundredth of a rouble?
30. What is the stage name of the American singer Montero Lamar Hill, who topped the UK singles chart with Old Town Road in 2019 and Montero (Call Me by Your Name) in 2021?
31. What is the term for the process in which a raw pastry case gets lined with greaseproof paper weighted down with dried beans and partly cooked before the filling is added?
32. Which town near Cannes is renowned for producing fragrances for the perfume industry and flavourings for food manufacturers?
33. Which Romantic poet was the father of the mathematician Ada Lovelace?
34. What is the common name for trees of the genus Quercus?
35. What nationality is Youn Yuh-jung who, in 2021, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in immigration film Minari?
36. Sir Richard Owen, best known for his studies of fossilised creatures, is credited with coining what word in 1841?
37. Which Olympic sport was originally known as aquatic football?
38. Which jazz trumpeter’s nickname “Satchmo” was short for Satchel Mouth?
39. The BCG vaccine is given to people to protect against which infectious disease?
40. In the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley in July 2021, which defender scored for England in the second minute of normal time?
41. Which singer, born Mary O’Brien, had success in the Sixties with the songs You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me and Son Of A Preacher Man?
42. Which island, the second largest in the Caribbean, is divided into the Republic of Haiti in the west and the Dominican Republic in the east.
43. What phobia is a fear of being enclosed or stuck in confined spaces?
44. What is the name of the author and illustrator, known for her creations Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort, who was Children’s Laureate from 2017 until 2019?
45. In plants such as the rubber tree, what is the name of the milky white fluid that oozes from cuts in the bark and coagulates when exposed to air?
46. Which Ghanaian diplomat served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006?
47. What is the name of the Italian brandy distilled from the skins, pips and stalks left over from making wine?
48. What nick-name of a tenth century king of Denmark is used for a common technology standard that enables short-range wireless communication between electronic devices?
49. In the 1942 film Casablanca, what song does Dooley Wilson play after Ilsa Lund’s often-misquoted request to: “Play it once, Sam. For old times’ sake”?
50. The World Economic Forum is held every January at which Swiss ski resort?
51. The hormones insulin and glucagon are manufactured in which organ of the human body?
52. Which French fashion designer created silhouettes called the A-line, the H-line and the Y-line in the Fifties?
53. In South Asian cuisine, a dish with the word “palak” in its name contains what vegetable?
54. The Kariba Dam, which supplies hydro-electric power to Zimbabwe and Zambia, stands on which African river?
55. The words of the Christm­as carol Silent Night were originally written in what language?
56. The young of what animal is known as a leveret?
57. What is the name of the electrical device used in an emergency to restore normal rhythms to the heart?
58. When the new polymer Bank of England £5 note was introduced in 2016, whose portrait replaced that of the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry?
59. The name of what creamy sauce comes from the French word for “Dutch”?
60. In AD 14, who succeeded his stepfather Augustus to be the second Roman emperor?

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Clive Myrie will present the iconic BBC quiz showCredit: PA

How many did you pass on?

1. Ultraviolet
2. Fleetwood Mac
3. Conclave
4. Stamen
5. Eros
6. Nebraska
7. Sir Joshua Reynolds
8. Bat 
9. United States
10. Diwali
11. Malaria
12. Johnny Logan
13. Barbados
14. Cerise
15. Sulphuric acid
16. Tempura
17. William IV
18. Argyle
19. Claude Monet
20. Diaphragm
21. Licence To Kill
22. Star fruit
23. James Cook
24. Smell
25. Minim
26. Killing Eve
27. Swifts
28. Arlene Foster
29. Kopek
30. Lil Nas X
31. Baking Blind
32. Grasse
33. Lord Byron
34. Oak
35. South Korean
36. Dinosaur
37. Water polo
38. Louis Armstrong
39. Tuberculosis (TB)
40. Luke Shaw
41. Dusty Springfield
42. Hispaniola
43. Claustrophobia
44. Lauren Child
45. Latex
46. Kofi Annan
47. Grappa
48. Bluetooth
49. As Time Goes By
50. Davos
51. Pancreas
52. Christian Dior
53. Spinach
54. Zambezi
55. German
56. Hare
57. Defibrillator
58. Winston Churchill
59. Hollandaise
60. Tiberius

Newsreader Lucrezia Millarini wins BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind

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Town & Country

The 12 Best Wine and Cheese Gift Baskets to Send For Any Occasion

Whether you’re looking for the perfect corporate gift to send out to colleagues and clients, a crowd-pleasing way to send your thanks or well-wishes, or something tasty to sate the hard-to-shop-for names on your list, it’s tough to go wrong with a delicious collection of wine and cheese. No matter if you’re buying for a group or satisfying a single snacker, each and every one of these curated wine and cheese collections is certain to delight. Filled with smoked gouda, summer sausage, crackers, cheese straws, and chocolate treats, not to mention a rich Italian red made with Sicily’s signature grape, the nero d’avola, it was practically made for a cozy night in.

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On a pleasant evening in October 2017, winemaker Alisa Jacobson and her friends picked the last of the Cabernet grapes at her friends’ winery in southern Napa. They were taking advantage of the cool evening temperatures, which help reduce damage to the fruit. Later that night, the pleasant evening air turned acrid—Jacobson was surprised to smell smoke wafting through her bedroom window despite only seeing wildfires on her radar to the far north, in Santa Rosa, CA.

Smoke from wildfires can make the skies an eerie yellow, as seen here over a Napa Valley, CA, vineyard in September 2020. The smoke’s effects on winery grapes continue to perplex growers, winemakers, and researchers. Image credit: Science Source/Peter Menzel.

A new fire had flared up—the largest in California’s history. Dubbed the Tubbs fire, it spread from Napa County to Santa Rosa, jumped across US Highway 101 in the middle of the night, and burned nearly 37,000 acres before it could be contained, killing 22 people and destroying more than 5,000 buildings, half of them homes. Winemakers like Jacobson, who is vice president for winemaking at Joel Gott Wines, felt the fire’s impact not only in the looming threat to their homes but to their livelihoods as well. Months after evacuation orders were lifted, the region inched back to normalcy. Then winemakers began to detect smoke in their wine.

Essence of Ash

Grapes exposed to smoke absorb chemicals that can alter—and sometimes ruin—the taste and smell of resultant wines. This so-called “smoke taint” has become a growing concern for the industry. Chemicals in smoke obscure wine’s flavor and fragrance, Jacobson says. “You can smell the taint on the aroma, like a campfire, and when you taste it it’s like an ashtray,” she says. “It lingers for minutes after you spit or swallow.”

But not all wines are so severely affected. Grape growers, winemakers, and researchers have been surprised by the complex, lasting effects of wildfire smoke. The vagaries of plant physiology and microbial fermentation and the influence of the wind and other elements all add up to make taint an unpredictable and elusive phenomenon. Precisely when smoke exposure will ruin a batch of wine is uncertain. “Just because you have smoke exposure in your vineyard doesn’t mean you’ll taste it in the wine,” says enologist Elizabeth Tomasini of Oregon State University in Corvallis. “Two wines that have the same amount of smoke compounds might taste very different. It’s tricky.”

Since 2017, nearly every year has brought record-breaking fires to the western United States. In 2019, Jacobson and other industry representatives teamed up with Tomasini and other researchers to form the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force. The group aims to develop tools to test, treat, and ideally prevent smoke taint from ruining wines. Perhaps the biggest surprise thus far has been the complicated nature of that taint. Trusted winemaking techniques, such as filtration or using egg whites to remove unwanted chemicals, have failed to remove traces of wildfires. “There are lots of techniques for other problems in the winery, so I thought we’d be able to fix it,” Jacobson recalls. “It was a surprise that smoke taint was so difficult to remove.”

A Problematic Pairing

Australian researchers have been trying to solve the problem of taint for more than a decade. On a visit to a winery approximately 15 years ago, enologist Kerry Wilkinson at the University of Adelaide in Australia first heard from winemakers that their wines tasted ashy after fruit had been exposed to smoke from a nearby prescribed burning. “Some told us the grapes themselves seemed fine, and the juice didn’t smell or taste of smoke,” Wilkinson recalls. “But once they began to ferment it, this distinctive odor and ashy finish emerged.”

Wilkinson had studied other kinds of burnt odors in wine, ones deliberately introduced by aging wine in toasted oak barrels. The process of toasting breaks a woody polymer named lignin into volatile compounds. Fermentation reactions tack sugars onto those aromatic chemicals to convert them into soluble forms known as glycosides, which create spicy clove- or vanilla-like notes in finished wine. “Knowing that chemistry raised the idea in my mind that something similar was happening with wildfire smoke compounds,” Wilkinson says.

Indeed, she found similar chemical processes at play in grapes themselves. Wildfires burn lignin in trees and produce volatile phenols that can be toxic to plants. To protect themselves, grapevines react by coupling these aromatic compounds to sugars. Once bound, these conjugated chemicals are soluble in water and can be metabolized or transported out of cells. The bound versions of smoke chemicals are no longer volatile, so they can be tough to detect via smell or taste—meaning a smoke-tainted grape may seem no different from one not exposed to smoke. But during fermentation, yeast enzymes can break these bonds, releasing the phenols once more and causing an ashy, smoky finish to wines.

The process of binding phenols to sugars is surprisingly quick—an hour or two of exposure can result in smoke taint, Wilkinson says. And smoke doesn’t just deposit a residue on the fruit’s surface. Even after the skins are removed, as in the process of making white wines, sugar-bound phenols in the flesh of grapes can prove problematic. Wilkinson and her student were the first to find that smoke could have a significant impact on the grapevines in the field and the wine they produced (1). Longer durations of smoke exposure also resulted in a heavier taint, they found.

Although the enzymes that bind smoke compounds to sugars are common across plant species, the problem of taint appears to be unique to grapes. It’s possible that the chemical reaction occurs differently in other plants, or that the fruits or vegetables are already harvested by the end of summer, when wildfires usually flare up. “No one’s ever said they’ve got smoke-tainted cauliflowers or oranges,” Wilkinson says. “We’ve done experiments applying smoke to strawberries and cherry tomatoes and haven’t seen the same taint.”

At a winery in West Kelowna, British Columbia, overlooking Lake Okanagan, analytical chemist Wesley Zandberg and his team study the effects of simulated wildfire smoke on Pinot Noir grapes. Image credit: Matthew Noestheden (photographer).

Complex Chemistry

Exactly how and when the wildfire-induced chemicals infuse that noxious taint remains something of a mystery.

Wine contains hundreds of flavor-producing compounds that vary depending on grape varietals, soil, growing conditions such as warmth, the fermentation process, and more. These factors can introduce the same chemical markers currently associated with wine taint, particularly in wines such as Syrah or Shiraz. “These grapes naturally make very high levels of phenols,” says analytical chemist Wesley Zandberg at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. “Wine experts might call the flavors peppery or spicy, and it’s considered an attractive feature in these varieties.”

Identifying the “normal” levels of these naturally occurring chemicals is critical to knowing whether levels are elevated after a fire. “We don’t have good baseline data,” Zandberg says. “What’s normal for each variety or region? Now, we’re looking at data to understand whether the levels are normal or elevated—and if it’s elevated, is it enough to cause a problem downstream when making wine?”

Wilkinson’s studies have identified certain markers of smoke taint, such as guaiacol and 4-methyl-guaiacol. But there’s no comprehensive list, she says. Because these compounds are also naturally present in untainted wines, it’s possible that smoke is problematic not because it adds volatile compounds but because increased amounts block other flavors, says Zandberg, who is studying the chemical changes in wine caused by smoke (2). “Maybe the smoke exposure does put smoky flavored compounds into the wine,” he says, “but maybe it also prevents the formation of beneficial flavors that would otherwise be present.”

Smoke markers may vary because of wildfires, too. Although all wood contains lignin, its structure can vary by species, so the tree type can affect the smoke’s chemistry. Moisture in the air, the temperature of a fire, wind direction, distance from a fire, and other factors influence whether a particular wildfire will result in smoke-tainted wine. In 2020, for instance, catastrophic fires swept across the winemaking regions in California and Oregon, and the smoke drifted far north into vineyards in British Columbia. But even in Napa, certain pockets remained unaffected, explains enologist and analytical chemist Anita Oberholster of the University of California, Davis. “Topography, wind direction and other factors all play a part,” she says. “It’s very difficult to predict.”

Fresh smoke from a recent nearby fire poses the greatest risk to wines. Volatile phenols begin to decompose in the atmosphere within a day, reducing the risk of taint. Zandberg is currently comparing smoke-tainted wines and grapes from the United States with those in British Columbia to understand how the age of smoke and the distance it traveled altered how wines in both regions were affected.

In Oregon, Tomasini examines the sensory piece of this puzzle. If wines naturally contain the same phenols that smoke carries, is there a tipping point at which the concentration of these flavors makes the product unacceptable to a consumer? They are currently developing experiments that involve controlled taste tests of wines exposed to smoke and wine samples spiked with smoke markers to identify when an expert taster might deem a wine “tainted,” Tomasini says.

Their team couples this sensory analysis with chemical tests to pinpoint the molecules that create problematic flavors. Analyzing both the sensory aspects and chemistry together in this way is critical, Tomasini says, because the problems of tainted wine are as much about perception as chemistry. “It’s not just about smoke compounds, but everything else in there,” she says. “Wine is a beautiful combination of art and science.”

Screening for Solutions

An industry desperate for answers is hoping to find ways to predict when these factors converge. Contracts between growers and winemakers cover other kinds of problems such as fungal contamination, Jacobsen says. But there’s currently no way to know for sure whether a batch of grapes will yield tainted wine. As a result, growers might find over-cautious winemakers rejecting fruit because there was smoke in the area. Or winemakers might buy a batch of fruit and later find their wines unsellable.

“It’s not just about smoke compounds, but everything else in there. Wine is a beautiful combination of art and science.”

—Elizabeth Tomasini

In 2020, another historic fire season started in mid-August, when most grape varieties had yet to be harvested. Oberholster was inundated with requests from winemakers who wanted help analyzing grapes and wine samples for evidence of smoke taint. “Given the timing and the severity of the fires,” she says, “the extent of the problem was just enormous.”

Even as fires raged nearby and the pandemic took hold, Oberholster and her colleagues analyzed thousands of samples by using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, expensive and laborious methods that require 30 minutes to an hour to process a single sample. Oberholster also conducted dozens of informational sessions on Zoom to help those affected understand the problem and what they could try to mitigate taint. Many believe, for instance, that turning on sprinklers to wash the grapes during smoke exposure will help. But Wilkerson and others have found that dousing the grapes likely only makes a difference to ash deposits—not smoke taint. “These compounds get into the grapes so quickly that even washing during the exposure doesn’t help,” Wilkerson says.

Nor does removing smoke-exposed skins—and anyway it’s not a viable solution for red wines, where the skin imparts the drink’s ruby hues. Experiments with different yeast strains haven’t yielded much success either, Oberholster says. Some filtration techniques familiar to winemakers can help, including membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, and treatments involving activated charcoal or milk proteins, which are already used to remove bitter compounds from wine. But these treatments remove more than just smoke taint chemicals. “These methods work well if wines are not severely affected, but they lack specificity,” Oberholster says. “Even if you remove the smoky flavor, they reduce the overall quality of the wine.”

For now, the best solution for the industry remains a sensory one, according to Oberholster. She recommends that growers make small-scale batches of wine to test whether grapes will yield smoke taint—and use their results to inform discussions with winemakers on whether to harvest and approaches to mitigate the flavor of fire.

Wilkinson, Zandberg, and others are experimenting with coating compounds such as a clay named kaolin, which essentially coats grapes to help prevent smoke from penetrating skin. These are commonly used on cherries, apples, and other produce already, but the researchers have only had limited success with smoke-exposed grapes thus far.

Remedies will be essential, Jacobsen says. When wildfires loom, industry workers scramble to protect their lives and belongings; they often can’t reach their fields, let alone work on them, to protect or harvest grapes. “We have to figure out how to make wines without smoke taint,” she says, “But we also have to figure out how to live and work with the threat of wildfires.”

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The family’s wines have won medals at other competitions across the United States.

During his education, Marty Sell learned the drumlin land formations on their property, left by glaciers that traversed Dodge County, created ideal grape-growing soil conditions. Marty completed an online grape and wine program from Missouri State University. Through the online class he was mentored by master winemaker Domenic Carisetti, who comes to the Sell property a couple times a year as a consultant.

Several family members are involved in the day-to-day operation of the winery.

In addition to providing 25 cases of wine for the State Fair, the Sells volunteered to help pour at the association’s building on one of the event’s main streets. Word spreads quickly and exposure at the state fair is already paying off.

“We’re kind of out by ourselves here in Dodge County,” said Sell. “Our nearest neighbor wineries are in Ripon, Prairie du Sac and Cedarburg, but we’ve already had people stopping out last week who had seen us at the State Fair. More people are discovering us and our wonderful wines every day. Last weekend alone we had a couple hundred people here. That’s more traffic than we had in a month when we first started.”

Edwin Brix Vineyard is open for tastings from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information go to edwinbrix.com.

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“ Sultanas, sometimes referred to as golden raisins, are golden-colored raisins made from various varieties of seedless white-fleshed grapes. The skin of these fruits is initially pale yellow in color, but unlike raisins, it does not darken the same when it dries. Compared to raisins, sultanas also easily absorb liquids, but are smaller and slightly sweeter. Sultanas are used in the same way as other raisins.”

The updated report on the Sultana (Raisin) market gives a precise analysis of the value chain assessment for the review period of 2021 to 2027. The research includes an exhaustive evaluation of the administration of the key market companies and their revenue-generating business strategies adopted by them to drive sustainable business. The Food industry report further enlists the market shortcomings, stability, growth drivers, restraining factors, opportunities for the projected timeframe.

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The top companies in this report include:

SIMIN TAK CO, Tunhe, Turpan Raisin, Aditya Corporation, Fruits of Turkey, Silu, West Orchard, Antan, Farzin Group, Xinjiang ACST Food, Loulanmiyu, Gulsan A, S, Tianshan Jiayuan

The Global Sultana (Raisin) market is expected to register a notable market expansion of 4.7% during the review period owing to the largest market value in 2019. The market study provides a measure of the effectiveness of the product, real-time Sultana (Raisin) market scenario, along custom ease. The study further offers market analysis, strategies and planning, R & D landscape, target audience management, market potential, due diligence, and competitive landscape.

Market Segmentation

Segment By Type

Natural Dry, Artificial Dry

Segment By Application

Direct sale, Making Wine, Deep Processing

Scope of the report

A thorough analysis of statistics about the current as well as emerging trends offers clarity regarding the Sultana (Raisin) market dynamics. The report includes Porter’s Five Forces to analyze the prominence of various features such as the understanding of both the suppliers and customers, risks posed by various agents, the strength of competition, and promising emerging businesspersons to understand a valuable resource. Also, the report spans the Sultana (Raisin) research data of various companies, benefits, gross margin, strategic decisions of the worldwide market, and more through tables, charts, and infographics.

The Sultana (Raisin) report highlights an all-inclusive assessment of the revenue generated by the various segments across different regions for the forecast period, 2021 to 2027. To leverage business owners, gain a thorough understanding of the current momentum, the Sultana (Raisin) research taps hard to find data on aspects including but not limited to demand and supply, distribution channel, and technology upgrades. Principally, the determination of strict government policies and regulations and government initiatives building the growth of the Sultana (Raisin) market offers knowledge of what is in store for the business owners in the upcoming years.

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Geographic analysis

The global Sultana (Raisin) market has been spread across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and the rest of the world.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

The pandemic of COVID-19 has emerged in lockdown across regions, line limitations, and breakdown of transportation organizations. Furthermore, the financial vulnerability Sultana (Raisin) Market is a lot higher than past flare-ups like the extreme intense respiratory condition (SARS), avian influenza, pig influenza, bird influenza, and Ebola, inferable from the rising number of contaminated individuals and the vulnerability about the finish of the crisis. With the rapid rising cases, the worldwide Sultana (Raisin) refreshments market is getting influenced from multiple points of view.

The accessibility of the labor force is by all accounts disturbing the inventory network of the worldwide Sultana (Raisin) drinks market as the lockdown and the spread of the infection are pushing individuals to remain inside. The presentation of the Sultana (Raisin) makers and the transportation of the products are associated. If the assembling movement is stopped, transportation and, likewise, the store network additionally stops. The stacking and dumping of the items, i.e., crude materials and results (fixings), which require a ton of labor, is likewise vigorously affected because of the pandemic. From the assembling plant entryway to the stockroom or from the distribution center to the end clients, i.e., application ventures, the whole Sultana (Raisin) inventory network is seriously compromised because of the episode.

The research provides answers to the following key questions:

• What is the projected market size of the Sultana (Raisin) market by 2027?
• What will be the normal portion of the overall industry for impending years?
• What is the significant development driving components and restrictions of the worldwide Sultana (Raisin) market across different geographics?
• Who are the key sellers expected to lead the market for the appraisal time frame 2021 to 2027?
• What are the moving and arising advances expected to influence the advancement of the worldwide Sultana (Raisin) market?
• What are the development techniques received by the significant market sellers to remain ahead on the lookout?

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A vineyard near Waipara, in North Canterbury, New Zealand. Photo / 123rf

Marlborough may have sauvignon blanc. Central Otago may have pinot noir.

But North Canterbury has top quality variety to dazzle your taste buds and keep them guessing. Oodles and oodles of it.

As you bounce between vineyards you might be offered a syrah, a pinot noir, a riesling, or novel varieties like a Saint Laurent.

The reasons are two-fold.

A unique landscape with soil profiles that change within just a few kilometres. And that landscape being dotted with vineyards that are truly independent, family-run affairs, willing to experiment with new flavours and techniques.

As we bounce down a gravel road to one of them, we miss the entrance on our first pass. On the second try, we spot it – George’s Road Wines, a discreet sign into their eight hectares of vines.

Their specialities include pinot gris, syrah, and rosé, all of which are delightful. But some of the truly special moments come when you get a peek behind the scenes.

Kirk Bray from George’s Road Wines, with some fermenting Pinot gris. Photo / Ben Reed

The fermentation vats, usually tracked with a combination of numbers and letters, here have names; “Mum”, “Dad”, “Jo3” (a son), and “Oscar” (the cat).

It’s a peaceful family atmosphere that the big outfits couldn’t imitate if they tried.

For those who want to keep the peace and tranquillity going just a bit longer, George’s Road has the Wine pod onsite.

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After the staff have left for the day you can stay behind in the tiny house, complete with a deck with views of the vines and rolling hills, or a hot tub from which to stargaze.

The view from the Winepod hot tub. Photo / Ben Reed

Just down the road is Boneline, another family affair that packs a unique flavour punch.

They offer the blend “Iridium”, a truly special drop for a wine enthusiast who craves a new experience. The cabernet franc blend is deep and rich – the scent alone is worth turning into a candle.

What these smaller operators have learned is they can’t compete with the wine giants offering plonk for $10 in the supermarket.

What they offer instead is a unique flavour profile, cultivated over the years under the guidance of a family-owned business, designed to win over the customers who want to try something they haven’t experienced before.

On that, Iridium is a big success.

Iridium from Boneline is one of the unique offerings of the area. Photo / Ben Reed

And while plenty of wineries offer the chance to tour the property and vats, Boneline lets you truly get under the skin of the grapes.

You can walk around their property to see the different blocks and varieties of vines planted on each one.

Information signs tell you how the different heights, soil types, and temperatures influence which grapes they’ve planted in each spot, and the wines they’ll become.

When you come back to the tasting room, you might be lucky enough to get the company of one of the family dogs.

Just a stone’s throw away is Greystone, where once again the wine-making philosophy takes a sharp turn to try something new.

Their restaurant features seasonal and foraged foods, perfect for enjoying alongside their wines.

Greystone Wines experiments with many new ways of making wine, including their not-to-be-missed Vineyard Ferment. Photo / Ben Reed

When it comes to the wines, the star of the show has to be their Vineyard Ferment Pinot Noir.

Yeasts are key to the winemaking process, and constantly float through the air around us. That means they have a big impact on the flavour profile of the wine, yet are difficult to control.

So when Greystone’s head winemaker told the owners he wanted to try a different location for fermenting, in order to control these yeasts, he was given the green light before he had even worked out what he was going to do.

He decided he wanted to ferment some of the pinot noir at the same spot it was picked, amongst the vines where it had grown, so there was no chance of being influenced by other grapes back at the winery.

Dining at Greystone, Waipara Valley. Photo / Supplied

The grapes are harvested, destemmed, and fermented all on the same block where they were grown.

It’s a careful labour of love that produces a truly unique and smooth glass of wine, one that’s only possible after years of experimenting and tweaking the process.

Just when you think you need a break from all the wine tasting, and to maybe lie down on the grass to stop your head spinning, you happen upon Iron Ridge Quarry.

Nestled among the vineyards, this former quarry is now transformed into a sculpture park that’s just as whimsical and unique as the local wines.

Raymond Herber and his prized steel horse sculpture. Photo / Ben Reed

Owner and sculptor Raymond Herber has transformed the area with stainless steel sculptures inspired by the windswept trees, as well as kinetic sculptures two or three times the height of a person, that shift gently with the wind.

Herber takes metal that was discarded and turns it into something new and beautiful, from a small fantail posed mid-flit that’s perfect for the urban garden, to a powerful muscled horse that dominates the landscape, and that he refuses to sell.

He offers forging demonstrations, or simply a peaceful moment to soak in the tranquillity and digest the wine.

Raymond Herber with a kinetic sculpture that dominates the former quarry. Photo / Ben Reed

A small operator, just like the local vineyards, he pitched in with two of the neighbouring wineries to buy a sign together, pointing curious tourists off the main road and towards their businesses.

It’s a community that works together, trusts each other, and takes the time to craft something that they’re truly proud of.

The results show in an experience that’s different from one moment to the next, and yet always true to the North Canterbury roots.

For more New Zealand travel ideas and inspiration, go to newfinder.co.nz and newzealand.com

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Nate Bentley of Old Salt Cellars in Salem is taking the phrase “putting out fires at work” to heart. Bentley is quitting winemaking to fight actual fires.

In 2014, Bentley left a promotional career at Tinderbox Music to work at Witness Tree Vineyard with winemaker Steven Westby. When Witness Tree was sold to a group of investors in 2016, Bentley moved on to other local wine jobs, including a three vintage stint as cellar master at Harper Voit Wines in McMinnville.

For six vintages from 2014 to 2019, Bentley made his Old Salt wines on his own time. That streak came to a dramatic halt early last fall.

Bentley was driving to work while September wildfires choked the Willamette Valley with dense smoke.

“It looked like hell out there. I literally asked myself, ‘Why am I making wine when the world is on fire?’” Bentley said.

Oregon’s devastating 2020 wildfires convinced Bentley it was time to trade barrels and bottles for a hook-and-ladder.

“Everything I read says these fires are going to get worse because of climate change,” Bentley said. “As a small producer with limited resources, do I want to slog it out fixing smoke-contaminated wines? I just want to develop a skill set for a harsher world.”

Bentley, an Oregon City resident, recently completed the physical abilities test for firefighter candidates. He now faces an uphill struggle to land a firefighting job.

“Municipal firefighting is a very competitive market, so I’d be happy to end up with a paramedic position,” Bentley said.

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you are unfamiliar with the wines of Old Salt Cellars. Bentley didn’t make a lot of wine, and he always put his work for winery employers ahead of self-promotion. Even though it is my job to keep up on wineries, I didn’t stumble across Old Salt until recently.

The Old Salt name was inspired by Bentley’s childhood obsession with pirate stories. That passion may have something to do with the fact Bentley’s father was a deep-sea wreck diver. Bentley, a highly successful competitive collegiate swimmer, said water had always been a significant part of his family’s life.

The wine that led me to Bentley is called “The Shell,” named in honor of his wife, Michelle. The front label has striking black, red and white images relating to Bentley’s life, while the back label features a love poem to his wife that would have made Blackbeard misty-eyed.

“The Shell,” which is the only Old Salt wine Bentley has left for sale, is an unusual blend of pinot noir, dolcetto and gamay noir. The pinot noir and dolcetto grapes came from Witness Tree Vineyard in the Eola Amity Hills. The gamay noir grapes were picked at Chemeketa Community College’s instructional vineyard, which is also located in the Eola-Amity Hills.

I never had the opportunity to try Bentley’s other wines. If they were all as good as “The Shell,” the Oregon wine industry has lost a talented winemaker.

This wine demands your attention, from its deep garnet color to its winning combination of lively acidity and enough tannic structure to rough up the roof of your mouth. The sweet and savory aromas of blackberries, thyme and seared pork fat command you to open a second bottle. Flavors of cassis and grape hard candy join forces with white peaches to shout you down if you try to argue the point.

My advice: invite friends over if you plan to pry this “Shell” open. Then make a toast to Bentley and, hopefully, his new career.

The 2016 Old Salt Cellars “The Shell” Red Blend is available at Witness Tree Vineyard’s tasting room near Salem and Portland stores 45th Parallel Wines, Mom & Pop Wine Shop and Blackbird Wine & Atomic Cheese.

While the suggested retail price for “The Shell” is $24, prices may vary.

— Michael Alberty writes about wine for The Oregonian/OregonLive. He can be reached at malberty0@gmail.com. To read more of his coverage, go to oregonlive.com/wine.

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As the world continues to adapt to the pandemic, many people are looking for new travel memberships and elite experiences to indulge in.

Luckily the answer for these individuals is two simple words: The Vines.

After 15 years of turning wine lovers into winemakers in Argentina, The Vines of Mendoza has launched The Vines: a membership-only program designed for wine enthusiasts.

Created in early 2020, The Vines is an exclusive explorer’s club and the first worldwide community dedicated to winemaking.

The idea was to get to know the world by making wine – to have outposts at select vineyards where members could make their own micro-labels by building relationships with the most inventive, celebrated growers and winemakers.

Initiation fees are $100,000 and annual dues are $1,500- $3,000 per quarter. Winemaking costs per barrel range from $7,000 to $37,000 based on site.

Even if you’re a multi-zillionaire and can afford this, memberships for The Vines are by invitation only.

See Also: A Look Inside New York’s Most Exclusive Members-only Clubs

The club has outposts and partners in seven regions around the world, including Champagne, Mendoza, Montalcino, Napa Valley, Priorat, The Mosel, and Willamette Valley, and they continue to expand to other areas around the globe.

Each of their terroir-focused producer partners represents a distinct approach to craft, drawing from local varietals and traditions to create wines that truly capture the unique spirit of their region.

Members have the opportunity to travel to the world’s most coveted wine regions, learn the art of winemaking with master practitioners, and even create their own unique blends.

Winemaking is what brings members together, but their curiosities and interests are sparked by the culture that surrounds the wines.

Members get to know each region intimately by cooking with world-renowned chefs, learning from world-class musicians and artists, and engaging with local authors and astronomers.

Beyond great company and conversation, the vibrant Vines community makes for next-level collaborations that expand thinking about wine, travel and living life to the fullest. And of course, you get to drink epic wine with your fellow hedgefund-owning friends.

A few of The Vines curated experiences include the Annual Members Homecoming with famed Argentine chef Francis Mallmann; dinner at James Beard award-winning chef Nancy Silverton’s Los Angeles home; a Master Class in label design with legendary artist and brand designer Cey Adams; a private wine tasting with Grammy-winning Norah Jones, followed by her concert; private film screening with Wes Anderson, and their annual gathering, accompanied by 100-point wines, at Franklin Barbeque BBQ in Austin.

Over the course of the next five years, The Vines plans to offer winemaking in 12 different regions, as well as expand beyond winemaking, offering members a series of pop-ups like making Sake in Japan and Mezcal in Mexico.

So, where’s my invitation?

Photography by: Sourced from Berk Communications

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The Wine Foundry works with a selection of California vineyards in Napa, Sonoma County, Mendocino, Livermore and Santa Barbara. A full list of vineyards is written on a map that can be seen in the tasting room, but it includes prominent vineyards such as Stagecoach in Napa Valley and Rodgers Creek and Catie’s Corner in Sonoma.

Once clients select the grape varieties and vineyards, The Wine Foundry team helps to formulate a plan and develop a creative brief that establishes the brand, the style of wine desired, and the story behind the label.

The Wine Foundry provides status updates throughout the growing season and once the grapes have been picked, individual clients can help  Saboe with the winemaking, from sorting and crushing to fermenting, punch downs, and pressing.

Each customer works with Saboe and his team to create the final blend with the flavors and textures desired. And, once the wine is ready, The Wine Foundry has a packaging guide to assist with everything from the glass, cork and capsule, as well as label design.

To make a single barrel, or 25 cases, of non-commercial wine to share with friends, the cost will range between $5,500 to $14,000. To produce a commercial wine, a minimum of two barrels, which makes 50 cases, is required and the cost is between $18,000 to $30,000.

“We believe that our program creates a unique opportunity for a wide variety of individuals and groups to explore and enjoy winemaking at the highest level — an experience normally reserved for those who come from winemaking families or who have rather exceptional financial means,” Valerie said. “We are excited to see our model has invited people of all backgrounds and we enjoy a richly diverse clientele, which is all too unusual in the wine industry.”

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