Archive for the ‘Culture and Wine’ Category
It's always a bit odd for me when I find myself securely in America, yet surrounded by a foreign language to the point of having english squeezed out of the picture. Of course one is accustomed to and expects this when traveling in another county where English is not the native language. And even in the Napa Valley, one occasionally gets caught in a passing cloud of French when walking down the streets of Saint Helena or Yountville. But eventually…
"The largest selection of Italian wines under one roof anywhere in America." The "Roof" is the Waldorf-Astoria, the "anywhere" is New York City and the "selection" is VINO 2011: ITALIAN WINE WEEK. When I was called and asked to moderate a seminar panel for the Italian producers and wine marketers attending Vino 2011 next week, I jumped at the chance. Having been invited to attend this event before and sit on a seminar panel, I became well aware that the…
There are many reasons why America is not the kind of nation and Americans not the kind of people that can be singled out as a "Wine Drinking Culture". You can look at our country's early religious experience or our proximity to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and the subsequent cheap rum it provided early on or the inability of traditional wine grapes to do well in the Colonies in the 18th Century or numerous other reasons. But I…
Leo McCloskey is a very smart man. He probably knows more about the chemical composition of great wine than anyone else alive and he puts this information to use through his consulting firm, Enologix. He is also a keen observer of market condition in the wine industry. He’s also a very creative man with a variety of fascinating notions. Recently McCloskey issued a press release that did not get the attention it deserved. In the November press release, McCloskey outlined…
For twenty years now Americans have heard alcohol wholesalers and members of the prevention community explain how the direct shipping of wine will put minors in harms way; that minors will use the Internet to obtain alcohol and get all liquored up and hurt themselves and others. And for twenty years, the use of direct shipping has continued to increase as wine in particular—in its now numerous diverse forms—has caught the attention of American imbibers. But what of those minors…
