Sep 22, 2011
There will be some that argue we've always been there. But I think the case can be made that now, today, the Information Age has transformed into the Age of Advocacy. And what I'm wondering is how wine information fits into an age when advocating for one's chosen cause appears to be the raison d'etre of publishing and broadcasting. I have to note what spurred this revelation. Yesterday, on the front page of the New York Times was an article…
Sep 16, 2011
Hello, my name is Tom Wark and I'm a binge drinker. I think I'm also a binge candy eater. It's also likely that I'm a binge golfer, but I can't find any support groups or studies to confirm these latter two problems. Binge drinking is, according to the Center for Desease Control: "a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above. This typically happens when men consume 5 or more drinks,…
Sep 15, 2011
Before we had "friends", we had mailing lists—and they weren't made public. We used to have to be careful when we followed someone for fear of being branded a stalker, rather than just being counted and sorted. I used to be wary of getting invitations because I knew it meant having to get dressed up, while now I can usually attend all the "events" I'm invited to in the comfort of my boxers and along with thousands of other boxer-clad…
Sep 7, 2011
If you see a disconnect between the picture on the left and the message superimposed upon it, the supporters of the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine initiative hope that disconnect will instead morph into a logical connection. The supporters of this initiative, who are in the process of trying to gather over 500,000 signatures and raise millions of dollars to put the marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot, are employing a fairly sophisticated messaging and branding campaign to help them. The…
Sep 2, 2011
A story in the NY Times today on the sorry state of the Gravenstein apple market in Sonoma County provided a reminder of the primary force that moves the wine industry. If you like seeing more Pinot on the market, don't thank the movie Sideways. If you worry over the proliferation of big, high pH fruit bombs, don't blame Robert Parker's palate or Jim Laube's preferences. If are trouble by the higher alcohol in wine these days, don't blame new…