One thing I hadn’t planned to do much with this blog is review wine. I have a decent palate and all and I’ve tasted a few wines in the past 15 years, but the fact is there are bloggers out there who do a great job of uncovering gems. That said… Is Gary Farrell the best winemaker in Sonoma County? Absolutely everything this man lays his hands on turns into nectar. The cool thing about being Gary Farrell is your…

Roger Voss, a really wonderful wine writer, has an interesting article (assault?) on the poor labeling requirements when it comes to wine. His point is we have a right to know what goes in the bottle and what makes up the wine. Given the interesting additives that some winemakers use to “buck up” their wines, I really don’t see the industry getting behind any call for truth in labeling. Here is the article Voss wrote for the Wine enthusiast: “Wine…

“Commerce Clause, Santa Claus versus wine-by-mail law” From the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Read the whole article here

So, I’m fishing around the Wine Spectator Ratings Search online. I’m doing some research for a client. In particular, I’m trying to get a handle on the reputation of a particular appellation based on reviews from a number of publications. When I start to think about not which wines are the highest rated, but rather, which wine, according to the Wine Spectator’s rating system might be called the worst value on the planet. So here’s my search: Wines over $80,…

There aren’t that many unique business models in the winery business: Make and sell direct, Make and sell to wholesalers, Make lots at low margin, make little at high margin. All these models have one thing at their heart…make the producers a living. So, when a new business model (really a new reason for a winery to exist) comes along you have to appreciate the ingenuity behind it. And in the case of Humanitas Wines, you have to appreciate the…