The budgetary ax cuts Slate?s wine column

Mike Steinberger tweeted that along with the high-profile layoffs announced yesterday at Slate, his wine column also fell victim the budgetary ax. While the decision may seem penny-wise for the bean counters at Washington Post (Slate’s parent), it’s pound-foolish to cut an original column with great substance; what are they going to run now, lower-cost, [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GuSC/~3/X-zF39mfmUk/

dry wines dessert wine ice wine good wines

What The Google Algorithm Change Means To Wine Bloggers

Yesterday, Tyler Colman posted an interesting bit of information on his blog that connected the dots in both my business and wine blogging worlds. Since much of what I do in my business is web-related, and search is the main way people find information online, I have been closely following the changes to Google’s search [...]

What The Google Algorithm Change Means To Wine Bloggers originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/hfkCh2kZ2u4/

fine wine wine on line red wines wines red

An Education in Wine Writing

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When I entered the wine business in 1990 at the PR firm of Gracelyn and Associations, Gerald Asher was an "A" Writer. It was the term we gave to those writers and journalists that carried weight or an audience....

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FermentationTheDailyWineBlog/~3/6B8uMZHodc8/an-education-in-wine-writing.html

about wine what is wine wines about wines

Field Notes from a Wine Life ? Trend Edition

Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of the wine glass…

The Devil’s Cut

I’m a sucker for the clever and unconventional, I admit it.  One such bit of cleverness isn’t even wine-related, though it is oak barrel related.

Most wine enthusiasts are familiar with the, “Angel’s Share.”  It’s a term that denotes the wine (or spirits) that is lost from a barrel due to evaporation during the aging process.  Now comes the, “Devil’s Cut” from Jim Beam.

Using a proprietary process that extracts the bourbon moisture that’s left in the staves of the barrel after being emptied, this extract is then blended with regular Jim Bream to create a deeper, more characterful sipper.

I’d hate to think what a wine might taste like if the, “Devil’s Cut” was blended in from a wine-aged oak barrel, but a thumb’s up to Jim Beam for thinking outside the box.  The wine world could use more esoteric and idiosyncratic ideas similar to what the Scholium Project is doing, turning wine on its head.  Can a day be too far away when white Pinot Noir and orange wines aren’t outliers?

Speaking of Idiosyncratic

Last year I wrote a story on Proof Wine Collective and their out-of-the-box wine label design work.  An edgy company of twenty-something’s in San Luis Obispo, they’re set to eschew a services-oriented business helping market other people’s wine projects and start their own wine thing.

Anti-wine by the guys at Proof sets the table for what’s to come with an Anti-wine Manifesto that says in part, “I can hear the death rattle of our industry when salespeople peddle wines made and re-made in the same style, over and over.  I hear it when they glorify classism, pretending that customers own a cellar to age wines for decades, when in truth we buy a bottle to drink tonight…My goal with this project is to be free from the affectations of an industry I can no longer respect.  These wines follow no formulae (Ed. Note:  Nice use of the plural of formula!). They are blended between vintages in order to take the best traits of each.  I regard red and white varietals as equals, and intermix them with no interest in what is “sellable.”

I like idea, for sure.  However, initial reverberations indicate that they’re going to have to do some traditional-type activity in the wine business to get solid footing.  Sales at retail.  Wine events.

If a nascent wine brand truly wants to be free from the affectations of the industry and do so without being shticky then it has to be prepared to swim completely against the current. 

I’m rooting for Anti-wine, but I’d also like to see a completely new playbook written for the wine business, not a statement of intent while coloring inside the lines.

Tastevin

I’ve read a couple of recent articles that indicate that watches are set to become a trend (here and here).  This struck me as odd because I hadn’t received the memo that watches were out of style.  I started to think about accessories for wine enthusiasts that are decidedly out of style and I came to the tastevin.

image

Traditionally used by Sommeliers, but long out of favor, the only reason I know it’s not a mythical unicorn, is because a Somm. at my honeymoon resort some years ago was wearing one and checking the quality of the bottles he was serving by taking a quick sniff and slurp.

Now inspired, I’m starting a one-man wine trend.  If you see me at a wine tasting in the future it’s probable that I’ll be using a tastevin instead of the insipid glassware that’s usually provided.

Feel free to adopt usage of a tastevin for yourself.  The key to not feeling douchey is to either be incredibly confident or so hip that others don’t even know its hip.  Either will work for this emerging trend that you and I are starting.  Buy one at Amazon.com.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/field_notes_from_a_wine_life_trend_edition/

port wine wine spectator wine list cheap wine

Field Notes from a Wine Life ? Exhortations and Admonitions Edition

Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of the wine glass…

H.R. 1161

Now that the din of the debt ceiling debate is quieting down to a dull roar, it’s timely for wine consumers to direct their attention back to other matters of great political import – like, say, wine shipping rights.

Last month, two excellent white papers were published that provide enlightened reading for the wine lover.  Related to the influence wholesale lobbyist dollars have on Washington and the reckless piece of potential legislation that is currently looking for sponsors (H.R. 1161), both papers are pragmatic, fact-based, bi-partisan looks at how special interests are served in the halls of Congress.

While the phraseology, “white paper” alone is enough to make most readers tuck tail and run in the opposite direction, you shouldn’t let that particular bit of verbiage dissuade you from making an investment in understanding the issue(s). Toward Liquor Domination (links open a PDF) by the Specialty Wine Retailers Association and A CARE-less Rush to Regulate Alcohol by the Competitive Enterprise Institute both, in different ways, illuminate the corners of politics that deserve the bright glare of sunlight.

image

And, make no mistake, the issue here isn’t with wholesalers; it’s clearly at the feet of our elected politicians who allow lobbyist money to influence their actions under the guise of serving, “Their constituency.”

As consumers, being able to stay abreast of the issues and affect political outcomes is the underpinning through which our freedom is founded.  Being able to make our voice heard is a privilege.  Making that voice heard in matters that relate to our personal interests makes it all the more meaningful.  I urge all readers to read, understand and let your voice be heard with your Congressman. 

The first step is to know more than the Congressman’s intern that will answer your email.  Both of the linked white papers will help you do so.

Summer of Riesling

“Summer of Riesling” is a marketing and promotional umbrella started by New York restaurateur Paul Grieco.  Branching out from what was a heretofore a New York-based restaurant promotion, Summer of Riesling (June 21st to September 22nd) has gone nationwide this year and purports to quash the notion that all Riesling is sweet. 

By having restaurants from coast-to-coast promote Riesling by the glass, Grieco hopes to build mindshare that Riesling is the perfect summer wine with a lilt of acidity to refresh and cleanse the palate, not the duotone plonk that’s a remnant of the 70s.

I give Grieco an “A” for effort, but in reality this campaign sucks with a capital “S.”

First, it seems terribly self-motivated, what with trademarks, t-shirts and a figurehead who cribs from a certain former Santa Cruz Rhone Ranger’s book of self-aware, literate, philosophical name-checking with neurotic, pop culture, existential faux-intelligentsia brain droppings, while craning to find a microphone in a diffident way shtick.  Granted, this figurehead does so with a certain bespoke sartorial splendor not matched by his spiritual forebear, but just the same, this campaign speaks of a cloaked grab for national limelight in the wine conversation akin to holding a funeral for corks.  Licensing and events and such can’t be too far behind, nor the public mea culpa and repentance.  And, as a sidebar query, who said that prevailing wisdom holds that Riesling is all sweet, all the time anyways?  Susie the server at P.F. Chang’s?

Second, and more importantly, nothing good and pure has ever happened by creating widespread popularity for a wine varietal, by mindshare or sales volume. 

Mr. Merlot, your table is ready.  Mrs. Oaked Chardonnay we’ll be with you in a few moments.  Ms. Pinot Grigio your party is already seated.

To say the least, the tumble down is terrible.  To say even less, these sorts of things need to happen organically.

Mr. Pinot Noir under $20, I hate to hold you up as an example.

The absolute last thing that needs to happen is to create broad consumer interest in Riesling, one of the last bastions of unspoofulated wine you can find in the world.

Forgive me if I seem a little unforgiving.  But, to co-opt and adapt Michael Pollan and his food rule on eating:  “Marketing.  Not a lot.  Mostly for the good.”

Summer of Riesling isn’t for the good.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/field_notes_from_a_wine_life_exhortations_and_admonitions_edition/

sweet wines dry wines dessert wine ice wine