Dec 8, 2011
For one that counts the bookstore as one of his favorite places, I find it notable that I don't think I've been in one in six months. Rather, I spend huge amounts of time at the Kindle and Apple on-line bookstores downloading books to my iPad. I rather doubt I am alone in this turn of events. The consequences of this excelerating trend are not good for bookstore owners, nor for builders of bookshelves. But with this in mind, I…
Dec 7, 2011
Sitting back and watching the mirth, outrage, smugness and concern issued by other watchers of the most current turn of events at Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, I'm reminded just how important, powerful and relevant the critics are to the Wine Trade. I'm further struck by how these events and the reaction to them shine a light on the very complex relationship that has developed between Mr. Parker and others in the world of wine. By most accounts and from what…
Dec 2, 2011
If I'm not mistaken, fewer daily and weekly papers and fewer consumer magazines are publishing wine columns; at least fewer than 10 to 15 years ago. The reasons for this are surely myriad, but most important is that circulation for newspapers is falling, along with revenue from display ads and the bottom dropping out of the market for classified ads. This leads to fewer pages to fill with content and stuff must be cut. Often, wine columns of the stuff…
Dec 1, 2011
Trying to assess the state of an industry just on your own or within your peer group, one starts to look for signs; runes divining the direction of things. It's all very anecdotal. Here in Northern California in the wine industry, we notice perhaps more cars on the road on weekends; more of them in tasting room parking lots. We look at what wines folks are buying off lists. Are they splurging? We can see what our own wine related…
Nov 29, 2011
What an interesting year in wine. Legal battles, political battles, movements rising, technology, new markets, and changes in the media led the news. Here are my top wine stories for 2011 A SMALL CRACK IN THE WALL: Initiative 1183 Takes Washington Out of the Booze Business and Into the 21st CenturyIt has been a long time since a state abandoned its control of the alcohol marketplace and turned it over to the private sector. Initiative 1183 in Washington State did…