More notes, quotes and anecdotes from the Web:

Sounding the alarm in Napa: Not sure what to call this – screed? jeremiad?  locker-room speech? — but it is indicative of rising concern  in Napa over the marketability of the wines made there, particularly for restaurants. A new high-end restaurant just down the road in San Francisco has no Napa wines, and it’s far from alone. Reaction: That restaurant ship has sailed. Napa is locked into big, bold, extracted varietals that aren’t very versatile at the dinner table and are generally quite spendy. The wines are well made, often spectacular, and have their place; it’s just going to be less and less at your local eatery. Napa’s marketing should be focused on their wines’ suitability for special occasions or just regular outings (as “cocktail wines”) with friends.

Wark logic: OK, now this is a screed, and a good and timely one, from Fermentation’s Tom Wark. The merger of two ginormous distributors is not the end of the world, but Wark is correct in noting that it is absolutely worth monitoring by consumers in general and the government in particular. Reaction: The three-tier system works OK in states such as Minnesota, which has dozens of distributors of all sizes; but some states have only a handful, and wine lovers there are the poorer for it.

Box-tastic: An op-ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times addressed, and advocated, the steadily increasing viability of wines in a box. Reaction: Boxed wines do last longer and leave less of a carbon footprint. But it’s what’s inside that counts, and as that continues to improve, boxed wines will gain even more street cred.  

Going great grapes: This article (very slow to open) is not about wine per se, but it’s an interesting yarn about the fruit of the vine. That’s almost $30 per grape, btw. Reaction: A bottle of wine made from these grapes would cost more than a case of La Tache, by my reckoning.

Tasty connection: Former Twin Citian (and Strib wine guru) Russell Bevan continues to make waves, and tasty wines, in California. This link does not include the photo of Bevan that ran in the print edition, but it has some mighty kind words for his Dry Stack sauvignon blancs. Reaction: Bevan’s Dry Stack Marie’s Block Syrah was one of the best reds I’ve tasted recently, huge and stout but also nuanced. Can’t wait to sample his sauv blancs.

I found the movie, which opens today at the Edina Theater, quite enjoyable, but I came to it more as movie geek than wine geek. I expected a few misrepresentations and omissions, some playing fast and loose with the facts, and the film did not disappoint there. It is Hollywood, after all.

“Bottle Shock” is a very engaging reverie on Wine Country, almost literally sweeping you there from the outset. Yes, I wish Chateau Montelena’s actual winemaker, Mike Grgich, had been represented in the film — although early reports that Danny DeVito would portray Grgich were hardly encouraging. Much as I like DeVito, it would have been impossible to see him onscreen here and think “that’s Mike Grgich” rather than “that’s Danny DeVito.”

That’s what happes with Alan Rickman in this role as Steven Spurrier. Rickman is such an indelible actor that most any viewer will be going ”that’s Alan Rickman, in his own imitable fashion.” I’ve spent some time with Spurrier, and he’s a dapper delight, and not nearly as priggish as Rickman portrays him, but this is not a performance that maligns the esteemed wine critic.

Spurrier is not happy about the film in general, but the primary complaint he seems to have about his character — and it’s a legitimate one — is that Rickman is 28 years older (and looks every bit of it) than Spurrier was back in 1976.

The movie gets most of the wine details right, from the way barrel tastings work to particular bottles and even the spitting. I especially like Jim Barrett’s declaration that “if one succeeds, we all succeed,” which by all accounts was the general feeling in Napa at the time (and to some degree still is). And “West Wing” fans will really enjoy the small but pivotal role Bradley Whitford plays.

The humor is broad, especially with a Paris character played to extreme comic effect by Dennis Farina. A loud man with even louder clothing, he takes a big ol’ whiff of a white Burg and comes up with … bacon fat. Zing!

Not every movie — wine-themed or otherwise can be as smart and sharply drawn as “Sideways,” which might be my favorite movie of the ’00s. Those expecting a similar gem, or a completely accurate account of the events of 1976, are simply setting themselves up for disappointment.

That’s one of the reasons I love the Internets. They allow us to break out of the space confines endemic to traditional newspaper and pass along good material that doesn’t fit within those confines. Ergo, and without further ado, here are some cool cuts from Ryan Opaz:

*On those who dis bloggers: “Robert Parker is a wine blogger without a computer, he’s an amateur. He had no training, just started up, learned his [stuff] and started writing. And people took him seriously. The problem that everybody says they have with wine blogs is that, oh, these are amateurs. Well, even if they are, amateurs know a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of amateurs who can build a car from scratch, but they’re not mechanics. And your parents, your friends, they’re all amateurs, and you take their advice because you have trust.”

*On tasting notes: ”I never read them anymore because they bore the hell out of me. … If you want a mathematician to explain string theory to you, do you ask to look at the equation? And tasting notes are equations.  … I used to have customers come in and read the back of the label and say ‘Oh, I don’t like blueberries, I’m putting it back.’ What may be blueberry to the person who wrote that is not necessarily blueberry to this consumer. Your blackberry is my blueberry.”

*On the trendiest Spanish wine region: “Priorat is international, but they got Parker-itis. They’re sought after so much [because of high ratings from Parker and other critics], everybody who opens a vineyard there wants to make 10 bottles and sell it for $1,000 apiece. I love the wines, though.”

*On other trends in Iberian wines: “Montsant [region] is also making some great wines. …  Verdejo’s stating to come in where albarino used to be, one of the best white grapes in all of Spain. … The Touriga Nacionals [still wines made with the grape used for Port] are so elegant. Some people have a little problem with it because it’s so floral. But when it’s done right, it’s one of my favorite grapes. It’s got a lot in common the phenomenon of petit verdot that’s going on in Spain right now. Every winery right now is growing petit verdot. Even Luzon makes a good one.”

*On Spanish food in the U.S.: “There isn’t a lot of Spanish food in Spanish restaurants here. Like when you have a tapa, it’s anything on a small plate, it could be a pile of spaghetti on a small plate.”

And here’s one of my favorite quotes from Ryan’s wife and business partner Gabriella, on how their marketing business is going: “Very well actually! We are very pleased with the quality and number of clients that we are both working with and attracting. As you can imagine, starting up an Internet marketing business in Spain is sort of like a Spaniard opening up a bar that only sells fried pig’s ears in Nebraska — essentially, it’s a tough sell.”

*Talking about China groves: One of the country’s best wine writers, Slate’s Mike Steinberger, delivers this timely account of the Chinese wine industry. Actually, it deals mostly with the rapidly growing interest in wine by Chinese consumers and its effect on prices, then delves into the past, present and future of viniculture and viticulture in that populous land. Reaction: If I still actually could afford first-growth Bordeaux or Napa cult cabs, I’d be more concerned about what that newfound Chinese money was doing to the market. Now if they start getting fascinated with wines from the Rhone or Priorat or Piedmont …

Baby, it’s warm out there: Whether you believe in climate change or not, a lot of wine-industry folks do. This article by another of the country’s finast wine scribes, Dan Berger, is a nuanced look at a sticky situation, where cool nights can offset hot days and it’s all a matter of timing. Reaction:  It’s going to be awhile before the Germans pull up their rieling vines and replace them with cabernet, but the climes, they are a-changin’. Just ask the Aussies.

Blog-errific: My column later this week is a profile of Ryan Opaz, a longtime Minnesotan who moved to Spain and now has a great blog, CataVino. More importantly (at least from a financial standpoint), he and his wife Gabriella have started a business helping wineries set up their own websites. He told me that clients often come to him and “say ‘we want a blog, but we’re not sure.’ I say, no, you want a website with a blog engine.”

Wineries stateside have had mixed succes on the blogging front, with the standard, best I can tell, being set by Tablas Creek. Whether writing about the controversy over AVAs, examining wine sales in a struggling economy, or sharing a really cool satellite weather photo, this is one swell bookmark. Reaction: Tablas Creek’s blog is a lot like its wines — thoughtful, quirky and fascinating.

Drinking less and enjoying it more: Americans are consuming less alcohol but more wine, this report notes. Money quote from David L. Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine Prevention Research Center: ”[during] recent decades, the messages about alcohol have increasingly emphasized the potential to derive both pleasure and health benefits from wine, provided the dose is prudent.” Reaction: Cin-cin!

But I digress (and I will be writing more about the film in next week’s paper). I’m actually here to talk about the hue and cry that have accompanied the recent sales of the two wineries that shocked the vinous world by besting the best of France back in ‘76: Chateau Montelena and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

Last month, an interesting article (with a fabulous illo) at Appellation America lamented the loss of iconic Napa wineries to mega-lo-conglomerates. It’s hard to argue that point: An era has passed with the sales of those two wineries (Montelena’s happened after that article appeared, btw) and Robert Mondavi before them.

But a lot of Napa’s icons are still on the scene, with Warren Winiarski still serving as a Stag’s Leap’s advisor and Bo Barrett part of Montelena’s new winemaking team. And it should hardly be a major concern when an estimable French winery such as Château Cos-d’Estournel takes over a California counterpart such as Montelena. (The struggles of certain Mondavi brands are another matter.)

But it’s hard to do much boo-hooing over any of this (and to be fair, the Appellation piece was more wistful than whiny). After all, there’s more great wine being made in California than ever before, and new icons are emerging — although a much smaller percentage of them are in Napa, as Sonoma and the Central Coast continue their emergence as near-equals.

Via mailing lists, I get a good bit of wine made by folks who I’m fairly certain will eventually be revered figures a la Winiarski (who still has a twinkle in his nearly 80-year-old eyes when he sticks a peacock feather in your shirt pocket and exclaims “it expresses the way my wines spread out beautifully on the palate”).

I’m talking about Carlisle’s Mike Officer, a former software guru who makes superb syrahs, zins and blends at astonishingly affordable prices. And Sine Qua Non’s Manfred Krankl (sorry, no website), whose profound and pricey Rhone-style wines are justifiably craved from coast to roasted slope. And David Ramey, who makes everything he touches better. And even Bo Barrett’s wife, Heidi Peterson Barrett, who made Screaming Eagle the most coveted of the “cult” wines and recently added Fantesca to her lengthy list of clients.

I would add Pax and Sea Smoke, but their winemakers — Pax Mahle and Kris Curran, respectively — recently departed, so we’ll (anxiously) await what happens at both wineries.

Point is, there will always be talented up-and-comers with something to prove in the wine world. A lot like the real-life characters Bo Barrett and Gustavo Brambila in “Bottle Shock.”

I might get my act together enough to pull that off at some point, but in the meantime consider this the first Ward Wine of the Month ramblings.

A few notes: There are a lot more whites than reds because of the season. As for the description themselves, I continue to bounce around a lot of ideas about how to do helpful tasting notes and how to classify wines (suggestions are welcome). Last week, I decided to put wines in three categories. The rules are neither hard nor fast, but weeknight wines will generally be $15 and under, weekend wines $15-$40 and special-occasion wines $40 and up.

WEEKNIGHT

Clos du Bois California Pinot Grigio – I expect pinot grigios to be crispy critters, friendly and quaffable. This puppy, though, was ripe almost to the point of lushness but with enough citrus to provide some backbone. A vibrant surprise.

Chateau Lamothe de Haux Bordeaux Blanc – I’m writing about inexpensive French whites his week, and this was one of my favorites. But I’m also listing it here because its fizzy smoothness makes it almost like a cocktail. I recently blogged about another ever-quaffable spritzer-like wine, New Age,  and just happened upon a third spritely fizz-meister, Juliet Primo Amore.

Konyari Loliense Sigillum – This Hungarian white blend was lean and mean (in a nice way), beaming through the palate and lingering with lemon, peaches and minerality.

Montes Cherub Rose – Found in many restaurants, this raspberry-tinged Chilean rose with the Ralph Steadman drawing on the label might be the most readily available of a dozen-plus swell roses I sampled this month. I dare you to find a food this wine won’t go with. More great pink stuff: Elk Cove, Evesham Wood Tempranillo, Pietra Santa Rosato, Le Font du Broc Cotes de Provence and the Commanderie de la Bargemone that was a Wine of the Week.

Paul Jaboulet Parallele 45 Cotes du Rhone Rouge – This tasty blend might just supplant longtime favorite La Vieille Ferme as my go-to bargain red from Provence. It’s fresh and smooth with that dry French finish, great with grilled rosemary chicken or lamb chops with a lavender-mint rub.

Irony Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs – This is my New-ish Winery of the Month, making juice that’s laden with ripe fruits and with a light touch on the oak. They’re delicious and have enough acidity to work wonders at the dinner table, on the patio or indoors if the ‘skeeters descend.  (Some will have prices that boost them into the “Weekend” category, where they fit just fine.)

WEEKEND

Do Ferreiro “Rebisaca” Rias Baixas – There were all manners of fruits in this Spanish blend (75 percent albarino, 25 traixadura), meaning it’s all over the place till the balance clicks in somewhere between mid-palate and the finish. At the same dinner, we enjoyed the smooth but stout Pazo Senorans Albarino; in fact, my wife liked it more than the Do Ferreiro.

DeLoach Durell Vineyard Chardonnay – I’ve tried like crazy to keep an open mind about the California chards of the uber-buttery/oaky ilk, but I had two expensive ones in July that were, for me at least, virtually undrinkable (no names, but they rhyme with “Beaujolais” and “boardin’”). The Ritchie Vineyard Chard from DeLoach was butter-laden but decent. The Durell, however, tended toward the tropical-fruit, spicy end, tasty and more food-friendly than most of its brethren. I also thoroughly enjoyed the J. Lohr “October Night” chard, with layers of fruit but a lean, Burgundian edge.

Dry Creek Ancient Vines Zinfandel – For me, zins from the Dry Creek region, including of course its eponymous winery, have the most distinctive, recognizable “terroir” of any California varietal. This nicely structured, dark-fruit-laden, briary offering is a supreme example.

SPECIAL OCCASION

Pride Mountain Viognier – One of the best, if not the best, expressions of this grape in California. When we took a big ol’ whiff, we felt like an arbor draped in honeysuckle had suddenly appeared above us. A superb, integreted offering from a great winery.

David Ramey Sonoma Coast Syrah – On the same night as the viognier, we had this splendid effort from one of the Western world’s very best winemakers. Like a lot of wines in this group, this opulent, plush and peppery bottle is hard to find unless you’re on the mailing list or snap it up when the limited release hits the shelves or Web. Same holds for:

Bergstrom pinot noir – Yum. Who’d-a-thunk this earthy, herby pinot would match up with upscale Mexican food? Well, my astute friend Jim did, as he brought it to a dinner at Masa and wowed the entire table. The multi-vineyard bottling we had is no longer available, but all of Bergstrom’s pinots come with a resounding recommendation here.

Pierre Amadieu Chateauneuf-du-Pape – Fabulous, rich and deep, this wine is a relative bargain for its region at around $40. Pass the grilled meat and pour me another glass, please.

Napa cabs – I wish there was more distinctiveness, pairing versatility and variance in these pricey puppies. But I have to admit they are almost universally very well-crafted and impressive (careful with the ’03s, though). The Ehlers St. Helena 2005, Chappellet Pritchard Hill 2004 and Shafer Hillside Select 1999 were all big and lush, great expressions of this (too?) singular grape.

*Off-sweet news: At an event called the Riesling Rendezvous — hated to miss that one — the International Riesling Foundation proposed that all bottles of the varietal have a “taste scale” to denote the level of dryness/sweetness in simple terms such as, well, “dry” and “sweet,” according to this report. Reaction: While some might see this step as dumbing down, it would be most welcome news here. Anything that clarifies matters for consumers and potentially lures more customers to this splended grape works for me.

*Down and dirty: A proposed law would make wine Web sales illegal in France by basically placing it in the same category as porn, says this article. Reaction: I basically agree with one of the responses on the comments thread: “Considering that no national barriers have been successful in curbing pornography on the internet presumably the same will apply to wine on the internet.” 

*Pax-less: One of my favorite wineries is in turmoil. The latest salvo in the legal battle over Pax, which makes exceptional Rhone-style wines (available here only to lucky mailing-list members) has found majority owner Joe Donelan firing founder/part-owner/namesake Pax Mahle. Reaction: What a mess. The good news is that Donelan hired one of the rising stars in California’s winemaking world, Tyler Thomas of HdV Vineyards.

*Midwestern whites shine: Wines from New York, Michigan and Wisconsin (Wollersheim’s Seyval Blanc) impressed judges mightily in the sweepstakes for Best White Wine at the recent Riverside (Calif.) International Wine Competition. Reaction: Can Minnesota’s rapidly improving bottlings be far behind?

These “cocktails” were as likely to induce a headache as a gurgle of delight, and the reason  was simple: The wine usually was plonk, or close to it. Since then, not only have we learned that there’s no substitute for good ingredients — and no compensating for bad ones — in any food or beverage, but there have been extraordinary improvements in grape-growing and winemaking.

Still, it’s not time to hail the return of the wine spritzer per se. Instead, let’s celebrate the wines that themselves are like spritzers. The increasingly popular vinho verdes from Portugal, with their low alcohol levels and touch of effervescence, are better wine spritzers than most anything that was concocted in the 1970s or ’80s. Ditto some of the slightly fizzy white wines from the Loire and other parts of France (such as a Chateau Lamothe de Haux white Bordeaux we enjoyed over the weekend).

Recently, I came across another swell sipper in this vein. Nick Nadeau, proprietor of one of my favorite wine stores, 1st Grand in St. Paul, mentioned that a lot of customers were enjoying an Argentinian white wine called New Age, served on the rocks with a bit of fresh lime juice.

As usual, Nick was right. This is a delightful, sensuous summer beverage — the lime is essential, btw — that goes down almost too easy. The alcohol, blessedly, is 9.5 percent.

A 50-50 blend of sauvignon blanc and malvasia, New Age is a swell beverage for summer entertaining. Serve it “blind,” and it might just evoke some hilarious or misbegotten (or both) memories of those spritzers of yore.  

                            ****

Another of my favorite local wine people, Annette Peters, will be in her element big-time at an upcoming dinner that I’m extremely bummed to be missing. Peters, the import director at World Class Wines, will be treating diners to wines from some of her favorite little-known family vineyards in France (capped by an Oremus Tokai w/ dessert; yum). The five-course dinner at Spasso in Minnetonka begins at 6:30 p.m. on Aug 5 and costs $70, which includes tax and gratuity; call 952-224-9555.

Because they’re smart.

The inconsistency of these wines — from vintage to vintage, producer to producer and even bottle to bottle — and their hefty price tabs are a daunting combination for most consumers, present company included. Yes, it’s profound beyond words to sip on a red Burg at just the right time; the prhase “better than sex” can come to mind when savoring one of these wines. Unfortunately, it’s almost as difficult to discern when to drink a bottle as whether to buy it in the first place.

And it’s just about as easy to get burned at the lower price points as the higher ones. There are very few under-$20 pinot noirs from any locale, much less Burgundy, that are good values.

Which is what makes the Domaine de Saint-Pierre Sancerre Rouge such a revelation. Yes, Sancerre, bastion of wonderful sauvignon blancs, is also home to a bit of vin rouge. And if this wine is any indication, they should be growing more of it on the eastern end of the Loire region (actually not terribly far from Burgundy).

It’s a fresh, lively wine, dry but refreshing. It’s more quaffable than transcendent, a surprisingly suitable wine for summer or fall, for a fried-chicken picnic or roast-chicken indoor dinner, sipping on the patio or later in the evening by the fire pit. It’s under $20, and a fantabulous introduction to French pinot noir, even if it’s not from the place where that grape makes us crazy — in both good and bad ways.