Aug 24, 2006
My confession is this: I’m a perfume whore. A Cologne Nut. More than anything it is the idea that man can combine so many aromas and scents into a singular potion that has the power to simply arrest arrest our mind has always captured me. I used to keep a bowl of coffee beans in my bathroom and had at my disposal too many bottles to keep on the bathroom counter. Many of them were hid away for lack of…
Aug 23, 2006
Decanter Magazine, that British icon of wine publishing, recently announced its list of Top Ten White Winemakers in the World. The fact that no American winemakers made the list prodded Charles Olken of the Connoisseurs Guide to California Wine, one of our best wine newsletters, to craft his own list: Top Ten White Wine Makers West of the Rockies. The List is very intriguing. Number three on the list, for example, is an inspired choice. Anyone who doesn’t like crafting…
Aug 7, 2006
When was the last time you turned on the news and DID NOT hear the words "were killed" or "in fighting" or "was destroyed"? Is it me, or have these words taken on greater prominence in our culture over the past three or four years? It would be nice to think that wine might be immune from such turns of phrase. Alas, as these headlines show that just isn’t the case:Lebanese Wineries Could Be Targeted Israel 2006 Vintage Under Threat…
Aug 7, 2006
There’s a wine story out there today that seems to have found its way into the sections of newspapers other than "FOOD". Michelle Locke, the find reporter for AP that has the wine beat writes about some sort of magnet devise that supposedly softens up the tannins in wine through some form of…well…somehow. While interesting, it’s not very consequential. What’s really interesting is the quote that comes out of the story from Peter Farrell, a "master of wine" and the…
Aug 3, 2006
I can’t tell you how many non-Californians I’ve spoken to over the years who simply want nothing to do with earthquakes and who even question my sanity for living in a place where "you are simply going to be swallowed up by the earth one day." The fact is, if there is anything more exciting than a moderately strong earthquake, if there is anything that gets the heart racing faster than a decent sized jolt of the ground below you,…