Nov 26, 2012
Loam Baby: A Wine Culture Journal is a very familiar thing provided in a very antiquated package. Loam Baby (Vol 1) arrived at my home by mail because it is in print form. Yet, upon opening this little black volume and reading it cover to cover, I felt like I was reading a wine blog. Its contents, a collection of interviews, ruminations and location guides covering 66 pages of pulp could have easily been delivered digitally in the form of…
Nov 12, 2012
A Saturday night dinner with friends at Bravas, the new Tapas restaurant in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, drove home to me the poverty of trying to explain the nuance of matching food and wine. It is a subject to which a great deal of time is spent in books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and elsewhere. Frankly very little time should be spent on this topic, and for good reason. First, the Bravas experience. As usually happens at good tapas restaurants, the…
Nov 8, 2012
Anyone who has ever spent any leisure time in Las Vegas must have noticed that it is a creation of monumental uniqueness: a city dedicated to promoting and encouraging excessive sinning where common sense and traditional ideas of decorum really have no place. It’s no surprise either that alcohol plays a central role in its presentation of the excessive lifestyle. Throughout the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Vegas was considered the “Black Hole of Fine Wine”, the place where…
Nov 7, 2012
Napa vs. Sonoma. It’s a theme I’ve enjoyed exploring over the years on FERMENTATION. Mostly I’ve compared the two counties for the benefit of travelers and in the context of wine production. However, yesterday’s election and all the talk of where a state’s Democratic and Republican votes come from, ethnic breakdowns, etc, provided an interesting backdrop for looking further at these two wine country counties. For the record, I’ve lived in both and currently reside in Napa. The first thing…
Nov 5, 2012
It almost feels like a dream come true. But when I look at the calendar I’m assured it’s true. After more than two years of being constantly subjected to announcements of exploratory commissions and announcements of new candidacies, of constant campaigning, scores of debates, ludicrous campaign promises, and poll after poll after poll, the campaign for President of the United States appears to finally be over tomorrow. If anything was cause for a drink, it’s the end of the presidential…