May 9, 2008
I’m going to buy this wine…because I just think it’s terribly cool that a winery would honor one of the greatest jazz vocalists in the history of the genre. (Have you ever heard Ella sing "mack the knife"?!!?) However, I’m probably not going to drink this Domaine Carneros Sparkling Wine while listening to any jazz, including Ella. Here’s why. I’ve long believed that even given the range and the diversity of the Jazz genre, the absolutely most appropriate drink to…
May 6, 2008
Recently Hillary Clinton strolled into a Fort Wayne, Indiana bar and proceeded to very publicly throw back a shot of whiskey and chase it with a beer. Call me a political cynic but I’d take even money on the proposition that there was a fairly substantial discussion on the bus with her advisers prior to arriving at the bar as to whether or not the presidential candidate should drink…and if so, what she should drink. I’m willing to further bet…
Apr 28, 2008
James Conaway is wrong about Napa Valley: While at the California Preservation Foundation Conference in Napa Valley, Conaway said about Napa Valley (Quoting from the Napa Valley Register): "Conaway said the undoing of the Napa Valley may be the sprawl of boutique wineries by rich newcomers who would sacrifice our natural and architectural heritage in the name of “showing off.” First, would it be different if the sprawl of boutique wineries were being built by middle class, old-timers? Second, the…
Apr 21, 2008
Depending on your spiritual and moral disposition, there may not be anything too wrong with beating a dead horse. This post might reveal my spiritual and moral disposition. I wonder if the critical establishment surrounding wine is too unforgiving. I wonder if the predilection among the reviewing class is that it tends to oversubscribe to the notion that a wine can be too wrong, rather that right enough for those who will put up with its character. Oddly I was…
Apr 21, 2008
A variety of academic studies seem to have determined quite convincingly that the non-wine expert and even the non-wine interested don’t like the same kind of wines that the "experts" and those who have had wine training tend to like. The corollary to this is that the ratings of wine experts and wine critics seem may have little value for those who are not trained in wine. The most recent confirmation of this comes from a Working Paper published at…