Jul 6, 2006
I just read at WineBusiness.com that Harold Olmo died a few days ago. Olmo most certainly ranks as one of the top ten most influential California wine people in the past 50 years. He was a professor at U.C. Davis for forty years and helped train a good number of America’s most successful winemakers. He was 96 when he passed. What a life that man surely led, completely steeped in wines and vines, helping to shape the current California wine…
Jul 5, 2006
Georges Duboeuf Wines, the French wine company that you probably know as the King of Nouveau Beaujolais, was convicted of fraud in a french court for making a mistake in the blending of one of their wines that never made it to market. The fine was approximately $38,000. What happened was that in the course of blending up a new batch grapes that did not satisfy the Beaujolais appellation requirements made it into the wine, a wine that never made…
Jul 4, 2006
If you are a mere consumer of wine, rather than a seller of wine, I realize it’s a bit tough to get your panties in a bunch over an obscure state law that really only affects wineries. Yet considering the state, the date and the truly unAmerican aspect of the law in question, let’s see if we can’t wrinkle up those undergarments of yours. Since the 1980s Virginia’s wineries have been able to produce their wine and sell it to…
Jun 30, 2006
The state of Illinois has been through a lot of turmoil this year over its direct shipping policies and in its attempt to update its wine regulations in the wake of various legal cases. Earlier this year the Illinois wineries were willing to give up their right to sell directly to restaurants and retailers. The deal they worked out with distributors, who feared that left in place this privilege would mean out-of-state wineries would also be given the right to…
Jun 29, 2006
I wish W.R. Tish would write more. First, his wine experience is deep. For a decade he was the managing editor at Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Second, he’s got a probing mind that combines with a great sense of humor. However, there is very little humor, but lots of probing, in his most recent article for Wines & Vines Magazine that takes a fairly close look at the wine Buying Guides of three major American wine magazines. Let’s get to the…