Archive for the ‘Wine Consumers’ Category
Since 2005 when the Supreme Court issued its Granholm v. Heald ruling on wine shipments and the Commerce Clause, a significant black market in wine has arisen. This black market in wine allows consumers in 35 states to easily and illegally purchase wine from out of state sources that according to these states’ laws is illegal. Law breaking is a risky business. The potential law-breakers must weigh the consequences of getting caught versus the benefits of successfully avoiding detection of…
I keep coming back to the issue of wine tasting rooms on the Sonoma town plaza, I think, because this “controversy” that continues to brew in this fine town highlights two of the things I truly detest about local politics: Know-nothings posing as authorities and demagoguery masquerading as reason. The concern among some that there are “too many” tasting rooms on the Sonoma Plaza has caused these two very distasteful things to collide and fold up upon one another and…
You know that digital and internet technology has thoroughly taken over sales and marketing in the wine industry when you can point to the simple act of pouring a glass of wine for someone, asking them if they like it, then selling them a bottle of that wine, and call this an innovation. Yet, consider the innovation of the San Francisco Vintners Market. Now follow me here. This might get tricky. Get a whole of bunch of small, artisan wineries…
It was on the occasion of our good friends’ final night in town that saw us all dine at Torc yesterday evening. Torc is a new restaurant in downtown Napa. This experience left me thinking about the importance of pace and role it plays not only in a fine dining experience, but in so many other areas of life. “Pace” is a concept that is about more than just speed—slow, medium or fast, and often goes unappreciated and uncelebrated. I…
Eric Asimov regularly reminds us why his 2004 ascension to “Chief Wine Critic” at the New York Times was a good idea. The reminder almost always comes in the form of the enthusiasm that is exhibited in his writing on wine. But just as important, Asimov possesses an almost intuitive sense for what is the right question to ask. This important aspect of Asimov’s approach to wine reporting was on display today when the headline over his weekly column read:…
