Dec 6, 2012
Graphic Design has changed! When I entered the wine industry in 1990 at a small PR firm dedicated to serving wine clients, my first graphic design project was a newsletter for a client. I was pointed to a particular designer whose work was outstanding. Like most others, he did not use computers, laid out the design on a board, had film of the mock up made then passed it to the printer. It was a fairly long and detailed and…
Nov 12, 2012
A Saturday night dinner with friends at Bravas, the new Tapas restaurant in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, drove home to me the poverty of trying to explain the nuance of matching food and wine. It is a subject to which a great deal of time is spent in books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and elsewhere. Frankly very little time should be spent on this topic, and for good reason. First, the Bravas experience. As usually happens at good tapas restaurants, the…
Oct 31, 2012
Color me shocked. Shocked I tell you. A new study finding that Canadian Government-owned and run liquor stores offer consumers better prices than privately owned liquor stores as well as better adhering to government regulations was commissioned by the employees union representing workers at government-run Canadian liquor stores. The government employee-commissioned study finding that government employees do a fantastic job at government liquor stores comes as consideration is underway on privatizing government liquor stores. Amazing. Isn’t this a bit like…
Oct 2, 2012
I do love twitter. My tweet deck is open all day, chirping and chiming in the background as I go about my work. I check it regularly, primarily looking to see how clients are portrayed, looking for useful news and ideas and keep track of friends. And I use it too—to spread word of a new post I’ve written, to forward on posts by clients and to introduce my followers to news and ideas. It’s an amazing tool. However, many…
Sep 24, 2012
Yesterday, Brandt Snedeker, by winning the Tour Championship golf tournament in Atlanta, also came out on top of the season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs. His reward? $10 Million. And it got me thinking. If you want to bring new vitality to the world of wine competitions, take the simple step of replacing shiny medals with shiny coin…Lots of it!! Here’s what I’m thinking: “The American Wine Competition”. The producers of the best red, best white and best dessert wines are awarded…