Apr 7, 2008
In case you didn’t know it…WINE BLOGGERS ARE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR! WINE BLOGS ARE REGULARLY INFILTRATED BY WINERIES POSTING GREAT REVIEWS OF THEIR OWN WINES ON OTHER PEOPLE’S BLOGS YOU CAN’T TELL WHAT CONTENT ON A WINE BLOG IS INDEPENDENT AND WHAT IS PAID FOR. BLOGS HAVE NO QUALITY CONTROL OF THEIR CONTENT MOST OF WHAT’S IN THE WINE BLOGOSPHERE IS RUBBISH WINE BLOGGERS DON’T DELIVER FRESH IDEAS How do I know all this is the case? I read…
Feb 16, 2008
In today’s SF Chronicle Janet Fletcher relates a wonderful tradition that occurs in the German Allgauer Alps. Apparently every fall there is a festival celebrating the cows’ return from the mountains where they’ve spent their time since spring feeding on the mountain grasses. These cows are the source of the milk that is made into the region’s Hirtenkase or "Herdsman Cheese". According to Janet, on September 18 the people of the region line the streets and watch the cows come…
Feb 7, 2008
I have a confession. I’m not too often convinced that winemakers have very much of interest to say. This comes from a guy who has worked with a LOT of winemakers, at least in the capacity as their publicist (I’ve never dragged a hose through a winery that I didn’t first trip on in my life. And my singe experience hand punching down Noir in small bins convinced me this was the kind of word I am simply not cut…
Feb 5, 2008
OK…more than likely we are all buying up 2005 California Pinots because they have largely all hit the market. At least those of us who enjoy experimenting with CA Pinot are looking to this vintage. Being a guy who appreciates statistics and being further a guy who understands that the Wine Spectator is an important trend setter for quality considerations, I decided to take a look at what the Wine Spectator has had to say about CA Pinots from the…
Jan 21, 2008
Of late (say the last 3 to 5 years) I noted something of slight detour in wine journalism. Rather than a dedication among wine journalists toward praising and congratulating wines as a rule, there is a slight move toward the secular and cynical when it comes to wine. But it’s ever so slight and that’s because among those who read most of the wine writings, there is not that much call for peering behind the color and taste of the…