May 26, 2006
I’m a fan of Wikipedia. I like the idea of a constantly updating encyclopedia at my fingertips, despite the rap that it gets from some (traditionalists?) that it’s not accurate. While my go to source for general wine info is still the Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Jancis Robinson, as well as a few other atlas’, Wikipedia has begun to take over some of my mindspace. It has its downfalls for sure. For example, it can’t come close to…
May 18, 2006
In its continued quest to deliver identity to North America’s varied appellations and the wines made from them, Appellation America has recently posted the results of two of its "Discovery Tastings": Spring Mountain District in the Napa Region and Yorkville Highlands in Mendocino County. For those unfamiliar with Appellation America’s Discovery Tastings, the organization brings together winemakers focused on the appellation under consideration to be guided through a tasting of the appellation’s wines The Discovery Tastings are undertaken blind (meaning…
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,…
Mar 23, 2006
On occasion Roger Dial of Appellation America shoots off an e-mail to their mailing list. They are very often very interesting missives. Todays was particularly enlightening and held one particular statement of great importance and foresight. In general, Roger is arguing that understanding what makes America’s appellations, and the wines that come from them, unique is of critical importance to the American wine culture. But the very last paragraph of his communique reads like this: The fact that so much…