Aug 13, 2018
Tom: Hi, this is Tom Wark. I was calling about my colonoscopy scheduled for Wednesday. Nurse: Yes, we have you for 10:30. Did you get the prep from the pharmacy? Tom: Yes, that’s all taken care of but I had a question. It says a liquid diet the 24 hours in advance. Nurse: Yes. Tom: Does that include white wine…Riesling in particular? Nurse: As a matter of fact it does. In fact, you can have red wine too. Tom: Really?!!??…
Jun 5, 2018
Wow…talk about being a victim of success: “Forty-six percent of Bay Area residents surveyed said they are likely to move out of the region in the next few years — up from 40 percent last year and 34 percent in 2016, according to a poll released Sunday by business-backed public policy advocacy group the Bay Area Council. The numbers show a disturbing trend in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets: Workers desperate for a better quality of life…
Nov 30, 2017
On this date, 13 years ago, this wine blog was born. That comes out to exactly 3,100 posts, 22,800 comments and more than 2.4 million trapped spam comments. In reviewing what I’ve learned in those 13 years of blogging about the wine business, wine politics, wine culture and wine PR I can list the following with a high degree of confidence: All wine blogging is wine writing, but not all wine writing is wine blogging Write and blog with a…
Oct 31, 2017
I haven’t done an “update” of me or this site for readers in some time. Almost ever. So, it was about time. Here’s how to navigate and understand this blog and me: About the Fermentation Blog I mainly write about the wine business, wine media, and the link between wine and culture. I love to get story pitches and often respond well to them, but It’s best to keep the pitches aimed at the topics above. I don’t accept paid…
Dec 18, 2016
The days are becoming quite short here in Napa Valley, again. We’ve also had unusually chilly weather. It’s nothing like what our friends in the Upper Midwest and eastward are confronting. There they get industrial grade cold. No, it’s merely unusually chilly here. Low 30s. High 20s. Still, the cold and the short nights, along with the barren vines, remind us we do in fact live through seasons and winter is one of them. For me, the physical onset of…