Apr 8, 2010
There are few "wine personalities" that have earned national fame here in America. You can probably count them on the fingers of one hand. Karen MacNeil would lay claim to one of those digits. It takes quite a few paragraphs to outline her accomplishments and accolades. But let's not allow that to stop us. Karen is probably most famous for writing one of the most important wine books of the past 20 years. "The Wine Bible", published in 2001 is…
Apr 5, 2010
Is it possible for a wine critic to engage the true art of criticism? I wonder about this because lately I've been exploring the state of criticism within various disciplines. It seems across the board, whether talking about film, dance, art, architecture or any other creative pursuit, the consensus on criticism is that it is in bad shape. The primary culprit in the demise of literary criticism, many believe, is the Internet and specifically the citizen or amateur critic. This…
Mar 29, 2010
There are treats to be had by working in the wine industry and I'm not talking the food and wine that does indeed flow so copiously. Rather, I'm talking about the opportunities I'm fortunate enough to have to share ideas with colleagues and learn from the best. I had such an opportunity last week when I spent time in Seattle at TASTE Washington. I was invited to sit on a couple seminar panels at the annual celebration of Washington wines….
Feb 18, 2010
My great Washington Wine Epiphany came a few years ago when I attended Wine & Spirits Magazine's Top 100 tasting in San Francisco. The tasting of top wineries W&S had encountered over the past year was set up by region—Germans over here, Italians over there, Australians in that corner, etc. The Washington wineries were on the top floor of the venue and I got to them last. Last is not where you want to be at a tasting. And yet,…
Jan 15, 2010
This was lots of fun. It’s always nice to obtain your 30 seconds of fame. However, the discussion of the similarities between wine and marijuana discussed in this CNBC segment to which I was asked to contribute (see 40 seconds in..) raises a lot of questions. The most interesting issue raised is that of “Dope Critics”. Were it legal to buy and sell Marijuana in California, would a crop of “marijuana critics” rise up and flood us with their opinions?…