Jun 6, 2014
In college I spent a good deal of time studying World War II, and the European Theater in particular. One reason for this was my father’s involvement. He flew a P-47 out of England during the war. I was thinking about my father today on the 70th anniversary of D-Day. I thought it might be good idea to re-post something I wrote 8 years ago on this blog in commemoration of the 62nd anniversary of D-Day. With gratitude to those…
May 9, 2014
My professional life has for 25 years revolved around wine, wine marketing and my clients. Every day I’ve risen thinking, “what next”, figuring out how to best pitch a story, sitting down to write a press release or press kit or something else to help tell my clients story. I’m a very lucky man. I remain pretty passionate about my professional life. In 2004, I added a twist and started FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog as another means to communicate…
Feb 19, 2014
I never appreciated the importance of the body of a wine until I stopped smoking cigarettes a few years ago. I realized then that while under the influence of smoke, so much of what I understood about wines was a result of appreciating the wine’s body and texture since my sense of smell and taste had been muted. I actually came to appreciate the beauty of wine by primarily appreciating the various bodies I encountered. To this day I still…
Feb 18, 2014
It was on the occasion of our good friends’ final night in town that saw us all dine at Torc yesterday evening. Torc is a new restaurant in downtown Napa. This experience left me thinking about the importance of pace and role it plays not only in a fine dining experience, but in so many other areas of life. “Pace” is a concept that is about more than just speed—slow, medium or fast, and often goes unappreciated and uncelebrated. I…
Jan 24, 2014
Listening to Alice Feiring’s interview with the late Joe Dressner, it got me thinking about a few people who I really miss. Joe is one of them. I never met Joe Dressner, the iconoclastic wine importer who never, ever held his tongue. I never missed reading anything that he wrote and to this day I am sorry I never met. He said some very nasty things about me, as well as saying some very gracious things about me. I did…