Sep 21, 2011
OK…This has got to be the funniest thing I've seen produced about wine in years. The folks at Red To Brown Wine Reviews blog have outdone themselves. It has some naughty words in it, but if you are in the wine business, if you are Robert Parker or Antonio Galloni or James Suckling or a high scoring California winery, or if you have ever given any thought to the nature of wine marketing and you don't find this funny, I…
Sep 6, 2011
I spent a decent amount of time Labor Day thinking about whether Sam Kim is an unethical wine critic, whether he gives all wine writers a bad name and whether or not his brand of pay-for-review wine criticism ought to have gotten him ostracized from from a Wine Writers association. In the end, I came to the conclusion that Mr. Kim, rather than being the scourge to wine criticism many of his colleagues believe him to be, is instead the…
Sep 2, 2011
A story in the NY Times today on the sorry state of the Gravenstein apple market in Sonoma County provided a reminder of the primary force that moves the wine industry. If you like seeing more Pinot on the market, don't thank the movie Sideways. If you worry over the proliferation of big, high pH fruit bombs, don't blame Robert Parker's palate or Jim Laube's preferences. If are trouble by the higher alcohol in wine these days, don't blame new…
Aug 22, 2011
Can we trust that the reviews and ratings on the various wine reviewing peer sites are authentic and not paid for? This question stuck with me over the past few days after reading the New York Times front page story, "In a Race to Out-Rave, 5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5". The expose of paid for good reviews on sites like Amazon.com, Yelp and TripAdvisor began with this: "In tens of millions of reviews on Web sites like Amazon.com, Citysearch,…
Aug 15, 2011
In crafting the FERMENTATION Reader Survey, I gave those taking the survey the chance to say and write in anything respondents wanted to about this Blog. Many readers had something to say. I thought it only fair that I take the time to respond to a few of these comments. After all, readers took the time to to write the comments. AND BY THE WAY, THE READER SURVEY IS STILL UP AND RUNNING FOR ANOTHER DAY. PLEASE TAKE THIS 2…