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…
Jun 14, 2006
A Cautionary Tale What’s the impact of building a winery marketing strategy that relies on receiving only great scores and ratings from the most important wine critics? Consider this cautionary tale. A few years ago a very fine winemaker decides it’s time to make their own wines, rather than make someone else’s wine. So the winery is born. Well, actually they lease space at another winery to make about 400 cases of wine. They get fruit from great vineyards and…
May 9, 2006
TEN THINGS…We Know About The Glossy Wine Magazines The glossy wine magazines often come in for a lot of criticism by those in the wine industry and those who make wine an important part of their lives. Some is deserved, some is not. 1. They don’t give good reviews to wines just because they are advertisers 2. Advertising is dominated by the huge brands 3. Good reviews from the glossies sell wine 4. They are written and designed to appeal…
Apr 19, 2006
Ambition is the mother of success. But ambition, combined with experience, is the mother AND father of success. Ambition and experience are the watch words that underlie a new website devoted to covering the world of California wine. California Wine Web is the child of Jim Gordon. Gordon has been working the journalistic fields of the California wine industry for a very long time. His new website appears to be the culmination of this experience and a particular ambition to…
Apr 14, 2006
Two good posts in a row over at Wine Sediments. Yesterday Mark Fisher, the editor of the group blog to which I also contribute, took on the notion of wine ratings and how they are offered in complete disregard for any acknowledgment of terroir and source. He’s also concerned that it is very unlikely that a review of 100,000 case bottling of a wine can’t really offer the reader any expectation that in buying the wine it will have any…