Jul 29, 2008
Have you ever sat down and started to tick off those people who have been instrumental to your career? Stopped and given some thought to who those folks are who actually made you substantially better at what you do? I could do this, and it would make for an interesting post, if not an interesting personal inventory of my own gratefulness. One of the folks on that list is Judd Wallenbrock, the President of Michel-Schlumberger in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek…
Jul 28, 2008
I finally had a chance to give serious face time to Tyler (Dr. Vino) Colman’s newest book: WINE POLITICS: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink. A book of this sort is so long overdue and I had been looking forward to it with such great anticipation that I nearly wet my pants when it finally arrived at my door. I cracked it open somewhere over Nevada on my way to the National Conference of State…
Jul 21, 2008
One of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s many great roles was his brilliant and intimate portrayal of the uncool Cream Magazine Editor and writer Lester Bangs in the Cameron Crowe film "Almost Famous". Hoffman portrays the perennially uncool Bangs who, in 1973, believes Rock n Roll is in its death throws due to the "swill merchants" that have taken over the business of rock n roll and only care about business. There is a wonderful line in the film where Bangs is…
Jul 18, 2008
Just who is reading wine blogs? Sometimes you get the impression it’s other wine bloggers and members of the wine industry. Well, I’ve always been fascinated by this question, and more specifically, who is reading this wine blog. The fact is, my readers are far more interesting than I am. What’s cool is that in using StatCounter to track my readership, unique visitors, page views, etc, I can also discover which Internet Service Providers are accessing FERMENTATION. Mostly it’s only…
Jul 15, 2008
I get both excited and that daunted feeling when I come across a wonderful, must-read wine blog that hadn’t caught my attention before. Excited because I honestly enjoy finding a smart, well-written, insightful project. Daunted, because now there’s one more blog to add to my ever-growing daily perusal regime. Nonetheless, Rational Denial, written and maintained by J. David Harden, falls into that category of must read wine blog! On the surface, Rational Denial is a fun, experimental, cheeky blog that…