Dec 17, 2012
Only a few days remain in 2012 and that means it’s as good as time as any to look back at the biggest wine stories of 2012. Some years produce lots of monumental events in the wine world. Some, not so much. I’d have to characterize the import of 2012’s wine news as middling to average. Still, there were developments that were of great importance whether measured by the talk they generated or the economic impact they will have. Here,…
Dec 10, 2012
Wine Critic Robert Parker Jr.’s recently reported move to sell the controlling stake in the Wine Advocate to a Singapore-based group has the potential to turn The Wine Advocate into a publication of far greater importance and power than ever before. The move could address the issue of the Wine Advocate having left a great deal of value on the table all these years. Bottom line: it’s a very good move. Consider that in the U.S. Market the top wine…
Nov 26, 2012
Press releases are interesting tools. They are, even within the wine industry, almost in every case a matter self-aggrandizement. One rarely sees a company issue a release informing the media that “XYZ Winery Sales Suck” or “Administrative Chaos Reigns at XYZ Wine Company”. Rather, press releases are almost always issued to point the media and readers to a virtual smiley face the company issuing the press release has drawn. What follows is a tale of one such smiley face and…
Nov 18, 2012
Day 4-Hanalei Bay
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…