Archive for the ‘Wine Gossip’ Category
The Wine Spectator got around to reporting on what looks for all intents and purposes to be a case of bribery involving a New York lawmaker and New York wholesalers. And the publication does a pretty darned good job of exposing for its wine-loving readers what the impact would be if an “At Rest” law is passed in the Empire State. The Spectator’s Robert Taylor Reports on Senate Bill HB 3849, noting that if passed it if would “require all…
Culture. It is a combination of many things including facts, fictions, legends and landscapes. Take my own Napa Valley. Valley culture is built on the facts of great wealth being produced here by old hands and newcomers to the winemaking industry that is largely sustained by a foundation of working poor Mexicans. The fiction that anyone can enter and be a part of this good and expensive life simply by moving to this region is a part of the Valley’s…
Yesterday I spent a little time looking over the recently issued “Top 100 Most Influential People in the U.S. Wine Industry” after a couple of friends alerted me to the 2nd annual listing by IntoWine.com. The way I know they were friends is that they didn’t smirk, laugh or guffaw when they said I made the list. I take list making seriously primarily because I know other people do too. Also, the act of ranking things can entail some pretty…
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…
The wine industry is one in which “damage control” is rarely a required skill. Controversy rarely arises. The general public’s attention is rarely focused on industry’s or individuals’ misdeeds—real or imagined. Taking time to learn the art of response to criticism or claims is probably better spent exploring the mysteries of Twitter, proper pumice removal or the circuitous route for permit approvals. Given this, it’s nice to see a member of the wine industry respond so well to criticism and…
