Taking the world one wine at a time.
This is an issue I’ve been contemplating writing about for a few years now, but it appears Dan Berger beat me to the punch! He writes: I’ve heard winemakers and wine geeks say: “A pinot noir isn’t wine until it’s five years old. Before then it’s like robbing the cradle.” Tasting many of the 2010 pinots recently, that particular phrase came to mind! Many are tasty (partially a result of the cool temperatures throughout California…
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Grapes 100% Cabernet Franc Facts Cabernet Franc isn’t exactly the first grape that springs to mind when you think of Argentina. Maybe that’s why this one wasn’t that pricey! Cab Franc shouldn’t be named the “red headed stepchild” of Argentine grapes; it’s actually more like the: “some guy who showed up a party (hosted by a guy named: ‘Mal Bec’) without an invitation, and was ignored by everyone there, even though he has a…
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#6 Mobile sites load faster. How many times have you gone to a website, only for it to take a little too long to load, so you shouted “Screw this!” and ended up clicking somewhere else? I do it daily. There is no reason to believe that businesses around the world don’t lose customers due to the load time of their website. Amazon.com are the perfect example, who after a lot of research, found that…
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It’s only in the past few months that I’ve started to take mobile websites seriously. The first time I realized the full potential of a “mobile-optimized website” was last year at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Virginia. They had their whole website optimized for mobile, something which I personally found particularly useful when is came time to check the seminar and guest speaker schedule. I just remember thinking: “Wow! This is so much easier to…
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A Government-funded report in Australia has found that the price of wine needs to be raised to combat growing levels of alcoholism, after it was found that wine can be purchased for as little 30 Australia cents a drink (about the same in US$), making it cheaper than water. The report comes in the midst of growing public concerns about Australia’s binge-drinking culture. The Australian National Preventive Health Agency has been asked by the Government…
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The news coming out of China is that the Shanghai police have arrested a wine counterfeiting gang, seizing thousands of bottles of “fake Bordeaux” in the process. The ringleader had been running the scam since 2010, using Chinese wine whilst the labeling process was being completed. Allegedly, the bottles were not direct copies but so-called “funny” bottles which use the names of famous first growth estates; however, the bottles still infringe on trademark laws. The…
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“A wine named ‘Fish House,’ paired with a fish recipe? Wow, BRILLIANT!!! You’re a GENIUS!!!” Alright, give me a break! I was in the mood for tacos, and I felt like I wouldn’t be doing the wine justice if I didn’t give it a fair shot at pairing with fish….since the wine is named FISH HOUSE! In all honesty, I don’t mind saying that Sauvignon Blanc has quickly grown to become one of my favorite…
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Every winery faces the problem that at one time or another: a quantity of their wine has not sold. Most often, there is nothing wrong with the wine — it merely hasn’t sold in a defined period of time. At some point the winery or wholesaler has to decide how to make this excess juice “vanish.” But making wine disappear is more complicated than it may appear! Most wineries can’t simply afford to deeply discount…
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…and who ever said the church was so opposed to alcohol? St. Trifon Zarezan, or St. Trifon the Pruner Saint Trifon was/is the Bulgarian patron saint of vine growers and winemakers. Famous for: Rumor has it that Trifon was also named “the drunkard” due to his love of vino. All was going so well for good ol’ St. Trif, until according to legend, he laughed at a vision of the virgin Mary (after she…
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