Top 10 Reasons Why I Love the Wine Industry
"Looking back at my last few posts, I realized that my tone was a tad in the dumps..."
Alive and Kicking – Zinfandel
It’s seems like to have been quite a while since Zinfandel held sway in the wine spotlight. There once was a time when Zin was all the rage. Then, to paraphrase Casey Stengel: ‘it’s too popular; nobody goes there anymore.’ Now, with the rise of Pinot Noir, the ambivalence of Cabernet, and the somewhat concurrent...
Road Trip U.S.A. Days 1-3
Day One Los Angeles, California We collected our campervan from Escape Campervans in Los Angeles (4858 W Century Blvd, Inglewood, California) at 11am. After signing a few forms, and checking the van over, it was nearing noon. It was too late to get on the road, so we just headed to Santa Monica for a...
Decanter Italian Fine Wine Encounter this weekend
It’s that time of year, the Decanter Italian Fine Wine Encounter. I always seem to miss it but this year for whatever serendipitous reason, I am in town and looking forward to attending the event. I had a look at some of the producers attending...
Rainbow Hotel + Casino, West Wendover, Nevada
We arrived at the Rainbow Hotel + Casino, in West Wendover, Nevada exhausted after a days driving. I popped in and asked the room rates, they were acceptable. We booked to stay one night. Our room was quite a long way from the hotel entrance and reception. We had to walk through the casino gaming...
How big is that vineyard? Franzia/Bronco edition
Two Buck Chuck turns ten this year. We were reminded that Fred Franzia’s Bronco Wine Co. owns 40,000 acres of vines in the San Joaquin Valley, debt-free, which helps keep the wine price so low. How big is a 40,000 acre vineyard? It’s about 50 times the size of Central Park, and, in fact, about...
A 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon from Charles Krug Winery
The Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Yountville-Napa Valley offered notes of blackberries on the aroma.
Thomas Keller and Andoni Aduriz Start a Food Fight
Two of the world's top chefs agree that they should not have to carry the torch for local and sustainable agriculture. Here are a few posts from the firefight that has resulted on Twitter.
Walla Walla Wine Word for Dummies: Weekly Wine Word Wednesdays
The Weekly Walla Walla Wine Word for Dummies is: Carbonic Maceration
Okay, so this is a total of two words and not one word for dummies. Good, so you can count. This isn't a math session, this is vocab.
Carbonic maceration...
Jacques DuPont Names Brane-Cantenac to Coups de Cœur
Jacques DuPont, wine critic for Le Point Magazine, has named 2011 Château Brane-Cantenac to his "Coups de Cœur" list. Coups de Cœur roughly translates to "love at first sight," and is the annual list of DuPont's favorite wines from the vintage. T...
Xavier Planty – The Drinks Business
Xavier Planty,head of Château Guiraud, was interviewed by The Drinks Business about becoming the first Grand Cru Sauternes to carry the French AB label for being organic. He discusses the benefits he started seeing in his vineyards after farming organically, but what do they title the article? “French Organic Wine Quality Mixed” This was based...
Why Rating Wine Is Bad Science