Archive for the ‘Wine News’ Category
Charlie Olken has a blog. Big deal. New wine blog on the block. But wait. Consider the context: If I'm not mistaken, Charlie Olken's foray into freely accessed, on-line publishing in a diary-like format marks him as perhaps the most wine-experienced blogger in America. Charlie has for more than 35 years been publishing the Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, a newsletter that is and has been highly respected by winemakers, the wine trade and the wine obsessed. Thirty-Five years! There…
On September 3rd an important court ruling emerged out of a Federal Court in Illinois in the Case of Anheuser Busch v. Schnorf (Download Illinois ruling). The ruling reiterated a holding implied in the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court case and made explicit in the Costco v. Hoen case: States may not bar out-of-state alcohol producers from selling directly to retailers and restaurants if the same states allows its resident producers to sell to in-state retailers and restaurants. The case…
I was disappointed, though not surprised, to see that today a conjunctive labeling law dictating that "Sonoma County" be placed on every label on wines produced from grapes grown in Sonoma County was unanimously passed by the California Legislature . Pushed as an effort to promote "Sonoma County" wines and a consumer education effort, the new law instead forces vintners to needlessly sully their package and undermines their own marketing efforts. Yet, the law does nothing to educate consumers. Passed…
Back around the early 1990s if you wanted to spend time on-line discussing wine with fellow oenophiles you frequented the "wine boards" on AOL and Compuserve. These were the premier "bulletin boards" where folks passionate about wine would post topics, comment on topics and discuss the world of wine. I was somewhat active in the AOL board and its where I first witnessed not only the kind of very deep and consequential wine conversations that could be had on line,…
The Great Recession continues. Like most folks who have an inkling about the linkage between economic growth, national greatness, prosperity and individual happiness, I am concerned that this recession could linger and create a new sense of "Normal" in which economic growth is slight to anemic. The clearest sign that we would be pulling out of recession and seeing America's economy start to rev up again would be job growth and lower unemployment, currently at around 9%-10%—officially. A sucker for…
