Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category

Dec 12, 2006

Fire & Wine: The French Way

There was a time when Wark Communications wasn’t doing to well. Wineries seemed to be choosing other public relation firms over ours. In the face of this difficulty, I seriously considered attacking and burning down the buildings that held the offices of competing pubic relations firms. You know, really punishing them them having the audacity to compete with me. That would teach them! In the end I chose a different strategy to overcome the difficulty my firm was having. I…

Dec 7, 2006

The Meaning of Meaningless

What say we just take the final and most logical next step here in America and simply abandon the idea of appellations and America Viticultural Areas altogether. I read, thanks to Benson Marketing’s handy "Enews Monitor", of a development that is completely contrary to the entirely reasonable, historically verified and venerable notion that wine is defined by the place the grapes are grown. First, it appears that the Federal Government is set to expand in size the already ludicrously large…

Dec 5, 2006

Top Wine Stories & Trends of 2006

My Top Wine Stories & Wine Trends of 2006(In no particular order) Un Oaked White WinesEarlier this year WineOpinions discovered that the awareness of Un-Oaked Chardonnay had reached approximately 60%. That’s impressive given that only a few years ago it seemed that the most ubiquitous wine in America was the OVER-oaked Chardonnay. I love this trend toward acceptance and awareness of a different style of wine not only among the trade but among consumers too. It’s good for the wine…

Dec 4, 2006

Fighting Corruption in Wine Via the Media

The astounding degree to which Virginia wineries have been screwed seems to be a reoccurring story in Virginia’s papers. Perhaps the Virginia wine industry is working hard to get their story into the media. Perhaps the insanity of the new law that forced them to sell their wines only to distributors rather than directly to retailers and restaurants as they previously is soaking in among a media that likes to look after their own. Either way, it is becoming clear…

Nov 30, 2006

The Right Reason To Get Out of Bed

Worst case scenario is you get up in the morning and shuffle off to a job you despise. I’ve done that. Believe me, it’s the worst possible career/work scenario. Best case scenario is you get up in the morning and you know that through your job today you get to be a part of something groundbreaking, something you are excited about and something that’s going to drive real change. That was today. Today I got up knowing I would be…