Archive for the ‘Culture and Wine’ Category
For the longest time I tried to wrap my head around a simple idea: reading wine reviews that don’t include the price. I’d never thought about this until today when I came across two blogs that review wines, and do it well, but don’t include the price. There were descriptions of the wine including aromas, body, flavor. There were histories of the wineries included. There were ratings. And there were some pretty insightful ideas bandied about in these reviews that…
On the occasion of the 264th Birthday of America’s First Wine Lover, FERMENTATIONS is very happy to present this essay by James M. Gabler. Gabler is the author of Passions: The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson and An Evening with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson: Dinner, Wine, and Conversation. Gabler is the foremost authority on Jefferson and his relationship with wine. We highly recommend both books noted above to anyone with a love of wine, history or both. Thomas…
Ever thought about buying some dirt in Wine Country somewhere in the world and setting up shop with a vineyard? I have. If I were to get into the production side of the wine business and money were no object, I’d become a grower. But, as a wonderful new article in the latest issue of Wine Enthusiast by Roger Voss and Kathleen Buckley points out, money can be an object that gets in your way. "The Price of Dirt" in…
Nearly any topic, once explored, can lead an inquisitive mind into the realm of philosophy as topic eventually leads to issues of truth. Wine in particular strikes me as quite ripe a topic for philosophical exploration. It strikes State Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Kent Bach this way too. Dr. Kent is the philosopher behind the 2nd "Philosophy of Wine" conference at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on April 4. Among the varied topics that will be covered…
Mike Dunne of the Sacramento Bee has written a wonderful article on the Authentication Controversy swirling about the world of rare wine. The controversy came to the surface when a gentleman who paid $500,000 for wine thought to once to have been in the collection of Thomas Jefferson claims the wines are fake. He filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in New York claiming fraud. It’s a pretty fascinating and complex story which can be found at Bloomberg HERE, while…
