Archive for the ‘Wine Media’ Category
The sine qua non of publications that review and critique wines such as The Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Advocate, Vinous and others is integrity. They must be seen as incorruptible. Readers must believe their reviews are untainted by conflict of interest. So, imagine the following. One day you read that E & J Gallo Winery has purchased, say, The Wine Spectator. In the announcement by Marvin Shanken, who is staying on as publisher, we learn that…
One of my favorite topics at FERMENTATION going back to the beginning has been those that uncover or help draw attention to new voices writing on wine. I used to do this far more than I do now primarily because the period of 2006 – 2011 was a time when some very good writers and observers of wine began to jump into the wine writing pool with new blogs. It was a very exciting thing for an observer of the…
In gathering responses for the 2018 American Wine Writer Survey, the question of writers’ most important influences was of great interest to me. I have my own ideas of which writers are most important to this era’s wine writing, as well as my own most important influences. But I wanted to underhand to whom today’s writers look to for inspiration. The wordcloud you see here represents the people named by American Wine Writer Survey-takers as influential as well as their…
I love wine writers. I have since I first started to get to know them when I began working with them as a publicist back in the day. I didn’t know what to expect of them at first. But they turned out to often be very intelligent, curious, dedicated, interesting people. I was and am fascinated at how they dig so deep into what often seems like a banal subject. The best of them were writers and reporters first, with wine…
When I was 14 years old (1977), I was enduring my last year of junior high school at Sinaloa Jr. High in Novato, California. I remember a few things about that year. The things that stand out most is being suspended for a week of school for having been the ringleader of an expedition to San Francisco’s Chinatown where I and two others conspirators procured a collection of small smoke bombs, which were subsequently unleashed on a somewhat entertained collection…
