Jun 9, 2006
TEN THING…To Do To Get A High Caliber Wine Education 1. Get a job at a serious wine shop like K&L Wine Merchants or Zachys 2. Work in the Cellar at Robert Mondavi or Simi in the 1970s or 1980s 3. Agree to be Kermit Lynch’s Valet 4. Read the ten fattest wine books by English writers written in the past 20 years 5. Sell wine for a distributor in San Francisco or New York for 10 years 6. Spend…
Jun 8, 2006
It goes by various names: "Data Sheet", "Tech Sheet", "Product Page". Whatever it is or should be called it is the single most common piece of marketing material I’ve created in 15 years of wine marketing and public relations. I hesitate to even guess at the number. Yet, each one, while different, is the same. The "Data Sheet" is, simply, a description of a wine used generally to give background on the product to a winery’s distributors, sales people, restaurants,…
Jun 7, 2006
I fell into a "Red State-Blue State" wine discussion the other day with a friend as we opened a few bottles of wine to try. When we opened and tasted a 1996 Sonoma Cabernet I was provoked to state, "Now, this is serious wine!" To which my tasting mate responded: "Serious? Where’s the fruit? Where’s the strength?" Indeed: Red State V. Blue State. To so many people today a wine is "serious" only when it delivers strength, girth, power, massiveness….
Jun 6, 2006
Today is the 62nd anniversary of D-Day, the cross channel invasion of Normandy, France during World War II that would lead to a victory in that war. My father took part in the D-Day invasion as pilot of P-47. He, along with the rest of his squadron, was charged with attacking German supply lines feeding the front. On June 8 he was shot down, was able to safely crash land his plane two miles on the German side of the…
Jun 6, 2006
Wine magazines are often the host and sponsor of tasting events. But normally, when a wine magazine hosts a tasting, it’s a "Grand" event, or a "Great" event. The wines poured are usually among the most expensive and the highest rated. Wine & Spirits Magazine is proving again that it does things a bit different with the announcement of its "Hot Picks Tasting Tour". Beginning in Seattle on August 23, W&S’s Hot Picks events will feature 50 top rated wines…all…