‘Dynasty’ meets ‘Falcon Crest’ in wine industry marriage

Laura Ness "Her VineNess"

Just read that Jean-Charles Boisset, scion of France’s third-largest wine company, and Gina Gallo, granddaughter of Julio Gallo, and the very public face of E&J Gallo, America’s largest winery, married Sept. 26 in a private ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

This reminded me of two of my favorite shows from the ’80s, “Dynasty” and “Falcon Crest,” the latter of which was filmed in Napa. These two modern-day near royals sit together atop the current wine-and-food chain: Their respective companies are doing a Pac-Man-like gobble on properties in the United States and France.

Boisset just purchased Raymond Vineyard (a fifth-generation winery from Napa) as well as renowned Burgundian producer Antonin Rodet.

Gina is head winemaker at Gallo Family Vineyards, the upscale arm of E&J Gallo, which continues to make acquisitions throughout California. Gobble, gobble.

And in the real world…

Regional manager for Wine Warehouse, Michael Scanlon, who spent 14 years at Shadowbrook in Santa Cruz, tells me he’s never seen the wine market impacted so heavily. The entire market is experiencing a pricing “correction.”

He observes that people are buying cheaper wines and spending more on wine at retail shops than in restaurants.

And people are bringing their own wines when eating out: I’d look for corkage fees to go up while by-the-glass and bottle prices start to come down.

“People are willing to try some new varietals, since the price of the more popular wines such as Chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet tends to be higher,” Scanlon said. “The more established brands are doing well in many cases, because people have confidence in them and perceive them to be a good value.”

Radicchio rules

Now is the perfect time to experiment with radicchio: The bitter red leafy vegetable loves pears, tomatoes, citrus, olives, figs … anything that happens to be in season. It’s a great underpinning to any salad and is fun to pair with wine. Check out the Royal Rose radicchio Web site for great recipes.

Toss chopped radicchio, butter lettuce, tomatoes, roasted corn and chives with honey-sweetened white balsamic and lemon-infused olive oil. Top with minced parsley and lemon thyme. Add some Greek feta, some chopped salami or spicy sausage, and you have a divine one-dish meal that fires on all cylinders.