Jun 29, 2006
I got my invitation in the mail today for August’s Family Winemakers of California Tasting. Based on the preliminary list of wineries that have committed to pouring at the event, it appears there will be upwards of 400 California wineries at Fort Mason in San Francisco on August 20 and 21. Most of them will be relatively small wineries too. The question for anyone going to this event is how to attack it. After all, we are talking about a…
Jun 27, 2006
While I know my position on the immigration debate in the U.S., I don’t claim to know exactly HOW the ultimate outcome will affect the wine industry. Wine is an industry that employs a number of migrant workers, a great many of which are surely illegal. However, this little tidbit found at the California Farm Bureau Federation website is very interesting:"Meanwhile, Joseph Ramazzotti, owner of Ramazzotti Vineyards & Wines in Geyserville, told the "San Francisco Business Times" last week that…
Jun 26, 2006
As a follow up to Friday’s post about the question of buying a few weeks in St. Barts or a case of 2005 Bordeaux, I’ve been alerted to this fabulous website that documents the details of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage at the top chateau as well as gives current pricing of the 2005 vintage as well as projected increases in pricing over both the 2004 and vaunted 2000 vintage. Lots of interesting and illuminating ideas at this website if you…
Jun 23, 2006
The word on the street is that while the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is quite good, the pricing of the top wines is, well, quite ridiculous. Decanter has the story. But consider this: First tranche pricing of only a portion of Chateau Lafite’s 2005 bottling was announced at $375 per bottle for negociants. The negociants are selling a bottle of the wine to merchants for around $465. And we aren’t even at the marked up price for you….the consumer.If you are…
Jun 23, 2006
Is Wine.com necessary? I mean to ask, does the Internet really need Wine.com the wine store? Apparently someone thinks so. It appears that Wine.com will receive another $12 Million in venture funding, a seventh visit to that trough that has been filled with upwards of $200 Million over the past 8 years or so. In addition, it appears Wine.com is getting yet another CEO. And in all this time, after all this money, after all the fine leaders of the…