Nov 13, 2015
I left my casual meeting with Cathy Huyghe a little bit miffed at her for being late. She was traveling from Saint Helena to meet me at Peet’s Coffee in Napa and was a half hour late (she didn’t factor in traffic). As I sat outside Peet’s waiting for her and got her email apologizing for her tardiness, I didn’t really care. My work was done for the day, I had a cup of coffee and something to read. I…
Aug 17, 2015
1. Cider and Wine Bloggers….?…Maybe By every measure hard cider is much more similar to wine than it is to beer. So, will America’s cutting edge wine writers, the bloggers, embrace cider? Maybe. My attempt to introduce many of them to the drink by showing off ciders from Eve’s Cidery seemed moderately successful in getting them interested. The reaction to these great ciders ranged from “WOW” to “Eh”. 2. Upstate NY and the Finger Lakes Region is Tempting Shocked. I…
Aug 15, 2015
I face-timed with my son last night while he was eating dinner 3,000 miles away. On his plate was cheese, apple sauce, steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, some sort of a boiled grain that his daddy never fixes for him, and some strange sort of protein that was unidentifiable. Additionally, he had a sippy cup of milk. It was pretty diverse diet. What would be clear to any winery employee, editor, marketer, importer, publicist or other member of the wine world…
Jun 24, 2015
A few years ago I speculated that if and when legalized, marijuana would be marketed by some in exactly the way high-end wine is marketed: based on terroir. That day is here. The SOMM Journal, which has continued to improve in quality and to extend its relevance, published an article in its latest issue entitled “California Artisanal Hashish”. If it weren’t for the subject being a leaf grown with the expressed purpose of getting one high, the article could have…
Jun 16, 2015
Matt Kramer’s latest book (really not more than a long, concise, finely argued essay) is subversive. While at once a bare knuckled take down of the now well established “flavor-descriptor-as-tasting-note” mode of wine review, True Taste: The Seven Essential Wine Words is also a manifesto for the return to values, judgment and discernment in both wine writing and wine reviewing. And it is a book that every wine writer, every wine industry participant and every true wine aficionado needs to read…