Jan 16, 2007
It appears that word is out that 2 in 100 (2%) of screwcap-closed wines are infected with the smell of sulfur…or "likened by some to burning rubber, spent matches or even a schoolboy stink bomb." This is still a rate of bottle taint that is at least half that of cork-closed bottles. The news accounts that covered this discovery make note that the smell blows off. However, many folks are advising to stay away from RED wines closed with screwcaps…
Jan 15, 2007
If you aren’t reading the Atlantic Monthly on a regular basis…well, I’m just ashamed of you. It is one of the top five magazines in America. This month’s issue is terrific and something in it caught my eye: The Great P.J O’Rourke’s article on where Big Ideas will come from in the near future. Besides O’Rourke’s always witty prose, the writer uses some very interesting maps to demonstrate where in the world conditions exist that will promote innovation in the…
Jan 5, 2007
America’s system of appellations, known as American Viticultural Areas (AVA’s), is, I admit, problematic. In some cases it’s VERY problematic. All you have to do is look at the "central coast" or "Sonoma Coast" AVAs to understand this. While we have some fairly intriguing and terroir-based AVAs like Green Valley, Anderson Valley, Rockpile, Stag’s Leap District and Atlas Peak, they are, in most cases, lines drawn on a map that represent the desires of the marketing mined. Yet, given the…
Jan 2, 2007
It’s a big question for wine industries in states other than CA, OR and WA. Their wines are very, very good. Their winemaking institutions and winemakers are sophisticated. They are learning quickly what grows best where. People in their home states are beginning to discover and support these industries. So, what’s an industry to do to build on this expansion and surge in recognition? One answer is go Mass Media. That’s what, according to this story, the Ohio Grape Industries…
Dec 26, 2006
I’ve thought about it. Winemakers have and most certainly wine marketers have: Do women perceive wine differently than men. Not "do women react differently to wine packaging than men?" Not, "Do women serve or use wine differently than men"?" Rather, when women smell and taste wine do they have a different reaction than men would to the same wine? This appears to be the question that Women for Winesense, a national organization of women wine professionals, are attempting to answer…