Aug 30, 2005
When I come across an example of the near reverential devotion that some wine lovers can develop to not just wine drinking and appreciation, but also to the act of winemaking, I’m want to dismiss it at no more than a bit of winsomeness for a career that only SEEMS so special and different and attractive. Yet the curious thing is, when I think about it, it is that it’s really my own familiarity with the wine industry that too…
Aug 24, 2005
I think it must be rare to have the opportunity to evaluate the work we each do in the form of a written publication. Much more rare at least than sitting back and evaluating the way we just made a sale or missed a sale or the way we got that plank to level or the way we were able to get a passing grade on a test. We think about these things, but rarely write down the process that…
Aug 23, 2005
I spent a good part of Sunday standing behind the Astrale e Terra table at the Family Winemakers of California Annual tasting pouring a mountain grown Cabernet blend and Syrah for anyone who wanted to taste it. And that was a lot of people. I’ve done this sort of thing before, many times, on behalf of numerous wineries. You have the opportunity to observe people pretty closely under these conditions. Specifically, you have a chance to distinguish the variety of…
Aug 8, 2005
One of my first full-time clients when I got into the wine PR business about 15 years ago was Lou Foppiano…He was an "old timer" then. Bob Sylva has written a wonderful little story in the Sacramento bee about that group of "old-timers" who are still alive and kicking today and still engaged in the wine industry. They are that remaining cadre of gentlemen who kick-started the California wine industry after Prohibition ravaged the industry and left it nearly dead….
Jul 13, 2005
It’s time to admit, on the occasion of the eve of Bastille Day, my favorite vice: PASTIS. I can safely say, after great amounts of experience, that after a fine dry rose, Pastis taken on the rocks is the greatest beverage ever invented by man or Gaul. For those sorry souls not familiar with this Drink of Provence, it is a licorice flavored spirit produced with star anise and a number of herbs. One usually mixes it with water. It…