Field Notes from a Wine Life ? Media Edition

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

Rex Pickett

If you’re not reading Rex Pickett’s (author of Sideways and Vertical) blog, you are officially remiss.

Pickett is a gifted writer who cranks out perfectly incubated long-form posts with turns of phrase that are both wry and rich, offering insight into the machinations of publishing, film and stage that few culture vultures grasp.

Pickett recently wrote an extensive (3900 word) post on the reasons why a film sequel to Sideways (directed by Alexander Payne) would not be made from Vertical, Pickett’s book sequel.  In doing so, Pickett offered a discursive meditation on Payne’s artistic pathos and the factors that may be playing into Vertical’s stall on the way to celluloid.

image

Unfortunately, Pickett removed the post after re-publishing a second version that deleted much of the armchair psychologist rumination he originally channeled from Payne’s psyche.  An email inquiry to Pickett on why he removed the post (in either iteration) has gone unanswered.

If I were a muckraker, I would publish the post because Pickett’s deletion of the post from his site did not delete the post from RSS feed readers like Bloglines or Google Reader.  But, I’m not a muckraker…

Hopefully, Pickett will revisit the topic in a manner that is less confessional and more elucidation because it was worth the extended read time.  Until then you can read the other posts on his site and gain tremendous insight into the vicissitudes of the publishing process, what the afterglow is like after capturing the cultural zeitgeist and how he’s helping bring Sideways to the theatre with a stage version.

It’s definitely recommended reading.

A Discovery of Witches

While we’re on the topic of books and authors (and with Halloween around the corner), a reinforcing mention goes to Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20.  Earlier this year a little book she wrote called, “A Discovery of Witches” was published and immediately shot up the best sellers lists.  The movie rights were acquired this summer by Warner Bros, likely securing Harkness’ financial future in the process.

While I read fiction infrequently (the last fiction book being Vertical by Rex Pickett), those that I know who can tell the difference between kindling and a classic call A Discovery of Witches “mad genius.”
Any conversation about a wine blogger doing good should begin with Deb Harkness who is now dabbling in rarified air.  Pick up her book if you haven’t yet.

Bargain Wine Books

There’s little doubt, in the prolonged US economic malaise we’re experiencing, that “value wine” and “bargain wine” are hot topics.  Heck, an entire channel of business has been defined with “Flash” wine sale sites.  Given that, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a couple of wine books would be published with this specific focus.

image

What is a surprise is that the books are authored by wine writers with real chops engaged in offering a deeper narrative than the slapdash compendiums of wine lists that has passed muster in years gone by.
Just in time for the holidays, Natalie MacLean has Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines publishing on November 1st and George Taber, a wine writer on a tear with his fourth book in six years, has A Toast to Bargain Wines: How Innovators, Iconoclasts, and Winemaking Revolutionaries Are Changing the Way the World Drinks publishing on November 15th.

An Idea worth Duplicating?

Celebrity deaths come in threes and new wine ideas come in twos.

We’ve seen this duplicative market entry in recent years with winery reservation systems CellarPass and VinoVisit and now we’re seeing it with quasi-wine search engines.

WineMatch and VinoMatch are both in the early stages of launch purporting to help a consumer match their likes with wines they might enjoy.

Meh.  The problem with these sites isn’t that consumers don’t need help finding a wine they like, the problem is that most wine consumers don’t understand what kind of wine they like.  Yes, it’s the tannins that dry the back of the mouth and its residual sugar that makes that K-J so delectable…

By the time consumers figure out their likes and dislikes graduating beyond the “go-to,” they don’t care about having somebody help them “match” their wines to their tastes because they’re on their own adventure.

It’s just my opinion, but these sites face looooong odds of finding consumer success and short of the slick willy seduction that happens with some wineries who haven’t been bitten and as such aren’t twice shy, they won’t find *any* success.  But, I’ve been wrong before, at least once.

Pictures and Pithiness

While we’re on the topic of online wine services, I’m not sure whether I should be happy or aghast that I’ve been a habitué of the online wine scene for long enough to see a derivative – it’s like watching a remake of the movie Footloose when I was saw the original in the theatre.

There’s a new wine site called TasteJive that takes the concept of a wine blog called Chateau Petrogasm, popular in 2007 and 2008, to new heights.

image

Around the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words even if that picture has nothing to do with wine, they have created a site that provides nothing but visual metaphors with a 140 character description for finding wines you might like.

I loved the idea of Chateau Petrogasm, I like the idea of a perfectly crafted 140 character slug, but I’m very uncertain about the community aspect of TasteJive—the users who control the uploading of pictures and descriptions.

As noted mid-20th century photographer Diane Arbus said, “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.”

Not exactly a recipe for success in bumping into a wine.

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

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5 Outstanding Terroir Driven California Pinot Noir Producers

We've had a good response to the Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival Giveaway - about 20 entries so far. The drawing is Friday so if you haven't already, leave a comment or drop me an email to enter. Thanks for the interest so far - the more people enter the more likely it is to get future giveaways like this one!

In general, domestic Pinot Noir is lighter in body and color than Cabernet and Merlot. However, some producers produce it in such a ripe fruit-forward style it bears little resemblance to lighter Burgundy or even Oregon Pinot Noir.

But that's not the case across the board. A small but growing group of winemakers are committed to producing California Pinot Noir that lets the site speak for itself. I'll call these producers terroir-driven. And as such, their wines are leaner in style. The best succeed in producing balanced, compelling wines that speak to where they were produced and at the same time are an absolute pleasure to drink.

Here are 5 outstanding producers to check out:

1. Littorai

Ted Lemon seems to have found the perfect intersection of being committed to his craft in an authentic way, and producing wines that are truly pleasurable to drink. Crazy-committed to biodynamic and all that - it's a wonder the wines aren't more expensive. Their appellation wines list in the high $30s, and the single vineyards go for closer to $60.

Availability: I've seen these around at retail occasionally, but they disappear quickly. You wouldn't know it from Wine-Searcher.com but The Urban Grape is the place to buy them in Massachusetts.

Guidance: Absolutely seek out and try Pinot Noir from Littorai. Great Chardonnays too.

http://littorai.com

2. Rhys

Rhys Vineyards is the poster child for a leaner direction in California Pinot Noir production. That being the case, they can be polarizing. They're the opposite of Kosta Browne.

My experience with their wines has been mixed. I've enjoyed their sub-$40 Alesia Pinot Noirs, but stretching further into some of their ~$60 single vineyards hasn't necessarily paid off. Some say they need time, but I couldn't see the 2009 Family Farm, for example, turning into a swan. That said, I could see the quality in the 2009 Bearwallow. Not my style necessarily, but I can see why they're well regarded.

Availability: Almost entirely mailing list. If you see it at retail, the price is typically jacked up.

Guidance: Find a friend on the mailing list and try a bottle of their Alesia to get a window into their style. If you like what you see wait on their mailing list for a long time and let their single vineyard Pinots cellar for a while before opening.

http://rhysvineyards.com

3. Cobb

If there is a winemaker's winemaker, it's Ross Cobb. The last time I visited Sonoma, I asked winemakers whose wines they enjoyed and whose style they'd like to be favorably compared to. I was amazed how often Cobb's name came up. He also makes wines for Hirsch, Claypool (love Primus, haven't tried Les's wines yet though) and Banshee. No wonder we've all enjoyed Banshee so much!

They're pricier for sure with most of their wines selling in the mid-$60s. A tough price point, but it's all here.

Availability: Quite limited at retail, but I have seen it from time to time. I spotted a couple bottles at Lower Falls in Newton recently, and I even saw some appear on WTSO.com (by way of WineNabber.com) for a short time.

Guidance: Worth seeking out and tasting. A benchmark for high end California Pinot Noir.

http://cobbwines.com

4. Kutch

Here's a producer who, I'm told, started out making bolder wines but is now firmly committed to producing more restrained Pinot Noir. Perhaps similar to Rhys, I loved the more affordable 2010 Sonoma Coast ($39) but the 2009 Savoy ($50) was less impressive. All things considered the price points are quite reasonable if you can buy them without a markup.

Availability: Very hard to find at retail near release price.

Guidance: I'm looking forward to trying more of these. Hop on their mailing list and have patience.

http://kutchwines.com

5. Red Car

The most famous Red Car bottling is actually a bit of a head fake. Their 2007 Heaven & Earth La Boheme graced the cover of Wine Spectator with a massive 97 point score. But it's not representative of their house style at all. The rest of the wines in their portfolio are far more restrained and they are absolutely a lower alcohol producer committed to producing wines that deliver a compelling experience without being overly ripe.

Availability: You do see these around at retail, so have a look on Wine-Searcher.com.

Guidance: Try the Heaven & Earth if you like a more fruit forward style, and compare them to other bottlings.

http://redcarwine.com

Further Reading

Question of the Day: Who are some of your favorite terroir-driven California Pinot Noir producers?


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/ghDHP_bzdKE/5-outstanding-terroir-driven-california.html

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Field Notes from a Wine Life ? Media Edition

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

Rex Pickett

If you’re not reading Rex Pickett’s (author of Sideways and Vertical) blog, you are officially remiss.

Pickett is a gifted writer who cranks out perfectly incubated long-form posts with turns of phrase that are both wry and rich, offering insight into the machinations of publishing, film and stage that few culture vultures grasp.

Pickett recently wrote an extensive (3900 word) post on the reasons why a film sequel to Sideways (directed by Alexander Payne) would not be made from Vertical, Pickett’s book sequel.  In doing so, Pickett offered a discursive meditation on Payne’s artistic pathos and the factors that may be playing into Vertical’s stall on the way to celluloid.

image

Unfortunately, Pickett removed the post after re-publishing a second version that deleted much of the armchair psychologist rumination he originally channeled from Payne’s psyche.  An email inquiry to Pickett on why he removed the post (in either iteration) has gone unanswered.

If I were a muckraker, I would publish the post because Pickett’s deletion of the post from his site did not delete the post from RSS feed readers like Bloglines or Google Reader.  But, I’m not a muckraker…

Hopefully, Pickett will revisit the topic in a manner that is less confessional and more elucidation because it was worth the extended read time.  Until then you can read the other posts on his site and gain tremendous insight into the vicissitudes of the publishing process, what the afterglow is like after capturing the cultural zeitgeist and how he’s helping bring Sideways to the theatre with a stage version.

It’s definitely recommended reading.

A Discovery of Witches

While we’re on the topic of books and authors (and with Halloween around the corner), a reinforcing mention goes to Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20.  Earlier this year a little book she wrote called, “A Discovery of Witches” was published and immediately shot up the best sellers lists.  The movie rights were acquired this summer by Warner Bros, likely securing Harkness’ financial future in the process.

While I read fiction infrequently (the last fiction book being Vertical by Rex Pickett), those that I know who can tell the difference between kindling and a classic call A Discovery of Witches “mad genius.”
Any conversation about a wine blogger doing good should begin with Deb Harkness who is now dabbling in rarified air.  Pick up her book if you haven’t yet.

Bargain Wine Books

There’s little doubt, in the prolonged US economic malaise we’re experiencing, that “value wine” and “bargain wine” are hot topics.  Heck, an entire channel of business has been defined with “Flash” wine sale sites.  Given that, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a couple of wine books would be published with this specific focus.

image

What is a surprise is that the books are authored by wine writers with real chops engaged in offering a deeper narrative than the slapdash compendiums of wine lists that has passed muster in years gone by.
Just in time for the holidays, Natalie MacLean has Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines publishing on November 1st and George Taber, a wine writer on a tear with his fourth book in six years, has A Toast to Bargain Wines: How Innovators, Iconoclasts, and Winemaking Revolutionaries Are Changing the Way the World Drinks publishing on November 15th.

An Idea worth Duplicating?

Celebrity deaths come in threes and new wine ideas come in twos.

We’ve seen this duplicative market entry in recent years with winery reservation systems CellarPass and VinoVisit and now we’re seeing it with quasi-wine search engines.

WineMatch and VinoMatch are both in the early stages of launch purporting to help a consumer match their likes with wines they might enjoy.

Meh.  The problem with these sites isn’t that consumers don’t need help finding a wine they like, the problem is that most wine consumers don’t understand what kind of wine they like.  Yes, it’s the tannins that dry the back of the mouth and its residual sugar that makes that K-J so delectable…

By the time consumers figure out their likes and dislikes graduating beyond the “go-to,” they don’t care about having somebody help them “match” their wines to their tastes because they’re on their own adventure.

It’s just my opinion, but these sites face looooong odds of finding consumer success and short of the slick willy seduction that happens with some wineries who haven’t been bitten and as such aren’t twice shy, they won’t find *any* success.  But, I’ve been wrong before, at least once.

Pictures and Pithiness

While we’re on the topic of online wine services, I’m not sure whether I should be happy or aghast that I’ve been a habitué of the online wine scene for long enough to see a derivative – it’s like watching a remake of the movie Footloose when I was saw the original in the theatre.

There’s a new wine site called TasteJive that takes the concept of a wine blog called Chateau Petrogasm, popular in 2007 and 2008, to new heights.

image

Around the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words even if that picture has nothing to do with wine, they have created a site that provides nothing but visual metaphors with a 140 character description for finding wines you might like.

I loved the idea of Chateau Petrogasm, I like the idea of a perfectly crafted 140 character slug, but I’m very uncertain about the community aspect of TasteJive—the users who control the uploading of pictures and descriptions.

As noted mid-20th century photographer Diane Arbus said, “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.”

Not exactly a recipe for success in bumping into a wine.

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

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Gordon's Wine Garage Sale

Eastlake Garage Sales Gordon's Fine Wine in Waltham, MA is having a wine garage sale September 29th from 11-4 pm.

I've never been to a Gordon's sale like this so I have no idea of it's going to be any good. But they carry some great wines so if you're available this afternoon it might be worth scheduling your weekend errands around this event.

Gordon's was included on Dr. Vino's list of Massachusetts wine shops worth checking out.

Separate from the garage sale, check out their assortment of 2010 Rhone reds. They've got a few nice bottles listed on their website (Donjon La Crau Cosme) that I think might be in stock. Hard to tell for sure (pre-arrival?) - when I've called them I couldn't get an answer and I didn't get a call back. Mercifully many of the Rhones are on sale so, if available, you don't have to work your way to a mixed case to get the price down out of the stratosphere.

For more information on today's Wine Garage Sale visit this landing page on the Gordon's website.

Question of the Day: Have you ever been to a Gordon's sale like this? If so what did you think? Either way, what do you think of Gordon's?


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/dSgLYJ8q-xE/today-gordon-wine-garage-sale.html

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Academy of Wine Communications:Twitter Basics Immersion for Wineries

Our next meeting of the Academy of Wine Communications here in the Finger Lakes will be followed by an interactive Twitter Basics Immersion for Wineries for AWC members.  The meeting and seminar will be held at Ravines Wine Cellars on Keuka Lake thanks to their offer to host us and let us utilize their wireless [...]

Source: http://familylovewine.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/academy-of-wine-communicationstwitter-basics-immersion-for-wineries/

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