Archive for the ‘Culture and Wine’ Category
I don't know if "old vine" vineyards produce wines of any specific characteristic. I've tasted a whole bunch of them over the years and walked through a number of such vineyards. But I just can't say what to expect from any vineyard labeled "old vine". However, I can say with some surety that the historic character and implications of these vineyards to California and to the wine industry is more valuable than anything one can say or experience about the…
One is never too far from Thomas Jefferson when in Charlottesville, Virginia. His greats works surround the city in the from of Monticello and the University of Virginia. He is the city's apparent mascot and his name helps promote many an idea, service and product in this neck of the woods. But for those at the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference Thomas Jefferson must be of great symbolic importance. Jefferson's love of wine and promotion of the beverage so early in…
What I've learned at the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference…So Far 1. The choice of Charlottesville for the location of the conference is an inspired one. Not only is it a town filled with gracious and proud folks, but it oozes history. And for a long-time student of American history, it's actually kind of difficult to explain the thrill to walk amongst that history. 2. Jancis Robinson, the first keynote speaker at the Conference, might be unique among practiced and established…
Why is it that when states and Congress consider laws and regulations concerning consumer access to wine, the actual consumers are never consulted? Producers are consulted. Restaurants are consulted. Regulators are consulted. And wholesalers are consulted. But never consumers of wine. Why? The reason is so remarkably simple: Wine Consumers don’t have a voice through which their interests can be communicated. Anyone who has ever dealt directly with issues of direct shipping of wine, wine in grocery stores, blue laws,…
Somehow the conversation strayed into "wine and literature." A crew of us wine geeks were gathered for the purposes of enjoying our geekishness when one of our gathering was provoked to ask: "Can someone tell me why there is not really good literature that has wine as its focus or at least as its setting?" This led us to think if the premise was correct and we decided it was. But the answer to the question couldn't be that it…
