Aug 15, 2013
Are any of the numbered 30 below, NOT a good reasons to re-purchase a particular bottle of wine? I think it can be said with some assurance that they are all good reasons to re-purchase a bottle of wine and none can be discounted. It’s an indication of the idiosyncratic nature of our motivations, not to mention our uniqueness as individuals. What’s true is that this list could easily grow to 100 reasons or 200 or 500 or more. For…
Aug 8, 2013
Does the Napa Valley need more promotion? More publicity? More visitors? Of course it does. The economy here is bolstered in huge ways by tourism and visitors, not just the sale of wine. So, given the recent announcement that the PGA Tour will be bringing professional golf to Napa Valley in 2014 in the form of the Frys.com Open to take place at the Silverado Resort, it made me think: what will be the impact on the local economy of…
Jul 24, 2013
“I think we’ve been living in ‘Parkerworld’ for the last few decades, and many consumers are fed up with homogenized supermarket wines, and now need a bit of singularity, uniqueness and authenticity, not to mention some real quality.” “So natural wines fill a need for authenticity, for a singular product that was made by a real person, and that tastes unique, and that expresses the terroir of where it came from.” Fabio Bartolomei, winemaker, Vinos Ambiz on natural wines at…
Jul 9, 2013
The American Wine Consumer Coalition (AWCC) is currently in the midst of sponsoring a contest for the best slogan for the new wine consumer advocacy organization. The prize is pretty cool: A copy of Jancis Robinson’s monumental new book, “Wine Grapes”…which serves not only as a compendium of all things grapes, but also as a substitute for a gym membership. The contest begs the questions, are slogans useful, should wine companies develop and use a slogan in their marketing, and…
May 31, 2013
Were a god of the Abrahamic variety to engage in a conversation with me, they would likely want to know, “What gives? Why no submission?” It turns out any of these Gods hey would indeed have good reason to ask of me this kind of question. My best defense would be, “well, sorry about that, I just have question. But, rest assured, I’ve read your books and do find a great deal in them to recommend. So there’s that.” When…