Apr 4, 2006
The most prestigious awards in food & wine journalism are the James Beard Awards. While the amount of attention given to wine in these awards is scant, they do manage to recognize some of the most intriquing and inspired writing on the subject. The nominations for the 2006 James Beard Awards have been announced. It struck me while looking them over that 1) wine writing gets a bit of a short shrift in these awards 2) that Internet-based journalism is…
Apr 4, 2006
Terroir. I never tire of this subject. It is unquestionably the most intellectually stimulating subject in the world of New World wine today. Happily, in the near future we are going to see much more writiing on the idea that wine should taste like a place. The recently completed U.C. Davis Terroir Conference assures that a number of treatise will emerge from what has reported to have been a spirited, if not somewhat academic and confusing, get together or winemakers,…
Apr 3, 2006
I’ll be proving that my true calling is in the written word, rather than with my voice today as I make my regular monthly appearance on "WineBiz 2.0", a fine wine show broadcast weekly on KSVY…Sonoma Valley’s Local Radio Beheamoth. Hosted by Richard (KAZ) Kasmier and Eric Aho, Winebiz 2.0 takes a local look at all things wine. You can listen in over the Internet HERE at 1pm TODAY What to expect? I’m never sure. Kaz and Eric always have…
Mar 27, 2006
Saturday was an interesting and educational day for me. I was reminded that most people think that a wine publicist’s job is to track the every day movements of the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker. Saturday I lectured at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa at their "Business of Wine" course. The class is headed up by Judd Wallenbrock of Humanitas Winery who has probably worked in every facet of the wine business. My task was to explain just…
Mar 24, 2006
In November of last year I had the gumption to make a series of predictions considering the Wine Blogging world. Among them was this one:3. The number of wine blogs will double In November 2004, 26 blogs were listed on Wine Blog Watch. In July of this year 82 blogs were listed. Today there are 120 listed. Lots of people will take up wine blogging in 2006. The question of interest though is who and why? Well, today Wine Blog…