Archive for the ‘Wine Education’ Category

Aug 9, 2006

The State of CA Wine: Regions vs the Whole

America’s grapegrowers and winemakers want your attention and want your support. They want your dollars and they want your loyalty. The question is how to get it? One way to raise the profile of wines is to do some marketing. And that’s exactly what the grapegrowers in Lake, Sonoma, Mendocino and the Lodi area had in mind when they created commissions that would assess growers in the area to create a fund for marketing their regions fine wine grapes and…

Aug 7, 2006

Things Not To Do With or To Champagne

While I’m certainly a fan of the various alternative closures for wine, I’m not sure I like THIS IDEA.  And I’m sure I don’t like the idea conjured up by those depicted in the photo to the left.   What we’ve got here, essentially, is a promotional piece for the idea of replacing the traditional champagne cork with a bottle cap. The idea behind the replacement of the Champagne cork with a bottle cap is the same as most other…

Aug 2, 2006

Choosing Wine For Oscar Peterson

What does one drink to celebrate scoring two tickets to see the great Oscar Peterson live? Happily, that’s my only real dilemma today. But, it does make one think about the nature of celebration and its natural connection to wine. I don’t know about many of you but I’ve often given serious consideration to exactly which wine to open for a particular celebration. I have many a friend who give somewhat deep thought to this issue. And we aren’t thinking…

Jul 25, 2006

Expectations of Averageness

Expectations!  They can "do in" a wine or elevate it to heights we never expected. But sometimes our expectations for a wine are met so perfectly that there can be no lamenting, no elation…just acknowledgment of what we expected. Personally, I prefer to be elated or disappointed by a wine. This was driven home this past weekend as I broke open a couple bottles of wine: 1996 Rochioli Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (Russian River Valley)1996 Mondavi To-Kalon I Block Fume Blanc…

Jul 23, 2006

The Science & Marketing of Wine & Slurpees

What wine do you drink when it’s 115 degrees? That was the official high temperature in the Wark Family backyard yesterday, and the record high for my life. The answer is not wine. Believe me, you’re sluggish enough without putting any alcohol in your body. The correct answer to what you drink is obviously The SLURPEE. Now, when it comes to Slurpees, I’m a "Cola" kind of guy when it comes to Slurpees. It has a refreshing "bite" that gets…