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News August 10, 2012

The Popularity of Pinot Noir is a Concern for Some Wineries.

Is Pinot Noir becoming too popular? That is the question being asked by some of vineyard owners in California and Oregon. The primary concern is that due to the increased popularity of the grape, vineyards are planting vines with a focus on high production and low cost. To illustrate this shift, Jason Lett, the owner of Eyrie Vineyards in Oregon confirmed that Pinot Noir vineyards were beginning to appear on the fertile valley floor of…

Facts, News August 10, 2012

How Valuable is the “Story” Behind a Wine?

It goes without saying that when it comes to wine, the taste is front and center. But what about the story behind a bottle of wine? It may come as a surprise to you to say that I’ve actually dropped wines from a wine list, in favor of a similar tasting wine with a better story behind it. That will probably seem like a ridiculous notion to most people; but let me explain, I have…

News August 7, 2012

Charles Smith to Launch an All-Chardonnay Winery.

Renegade Washington winemaker Mr. Charles Smith, has his sights set on Chardonnay and only Chardonnay, with his new winery project. The move represents a change of pace for Charles, as his usual focus is towards making top-level Syrah. The once rock band manager, Smith bought the Whitman Cellars facility after it declared bankruptcy in Walla Walla (Washington) earlier this year, and plans to use the 20,000-case winery exclusively for Chardonnay production. “There are some really…

News August 6, 2012

Wasps: They Don’t Just Indiscriminately Sting People, They Can Also Make Wine!

The next time you’re popping the cork on a bottle of vino, you might want to spare a thought for the humble hornet/wasp! That’s because Duccio Cavalieri, a professor of microbiology at the University of Florence in Italy, claims hornets and wasps are one of the secrets behind a wine’s flavor! Prof. Cavalieri and his colleagues recently made the discovery that wasps and hornets bite into the grapes and help to give the fermentation a…

News July 31, 2012

One Australian Winery Ditches Screw-caps and Returns to Corks.

Rusden Wines, (a winery located in the Barossa Valley region of Australia) has announced it’s giving-up on the screw-cap, and will return to bottling all of its wines under a cork. Rusden winemaker Christian Canute cited “persistent quality control issues” for the reason behind the move.“Our wines are handmade and bottled without fining or filtration. Under a screw-cap I have noticed the wines ‘sweat’, producing overly dominant reductive characters, a problem we have never…

News July 30, 2012

An Interview with Wine Cork Artist Scott Gundersen.

What’s your background and is this your full-time job? I grew up in North-West Michigan, and I always loved building and drawing. After high school I headed to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo to study art and education. For the past 10 years I’ve been teaching high school art, carving out a few hours a week during the school year to make my own art and a few more hours during the summer. How…

News July 27, 2012

Those Magnificent Men and Their Wine Glass Machines!

Szymon Klimek has too much time on his hands. This Polish guy builds amazingly intricate machines inside of wine glasses that are fully-functional and serve absolutely zero purpose…apart from looking AWSEOME! Below is his latest, called Sponge. Made from 0.1 millimeter sheets of brass and bronze, Klimek’s miniature machines dance effortlessly in wine-glass enclosures that measure little more than 4 inches across. Klimek’s latest creation, Sponge, is a steam engine-like machine named for the latticework…

News July 26, 2012

Make Your Wine Sing With a Musical Wine Glass!

A wine glass has been developed in Austria that plays musical notes when a finger is run along the rim. The crystal glass features gold lines corresponding to different musical notes covering a full 12-note octave from A flat to G. For a “lush, sonorous note”, the makers recommend running a finger along the rim. The same note will reportedly ring-out with the gentle tap of a teaspoon against the side of the glass….

News July 24, 2012

Talking with Master Sommelier Virginia Philip.

Virginia Philip became the 10th woman in the world to earn the accreditation of Master Sommelier. Now in her 10th year at The Breakers, Virginia maintains and oversees the beverage department for 9 restaurants and bars and 14 wine lists for the property. Included is the 1,600-selection list at L’Escalier, the resort’s award-winning signature restaurant which has won the Wine Spectator’s Grand Award every year since its inception in 1981. Virginia’s newest adventure, her Wine…

News July 20, 2012

Krug Champagne Withdrawn After Label Error.

Moet Hennessy have been forced to withdraw five batches of its Krug Champagne after they were incorrectly labeled, and do not indicate any mention of their sulfite content, an item required by law in the EU. The products withdrawn are: all sizes of Krug Grande Cuvee; and 75cl bottles of Krug Rose, Krug Vintage 2000, Krug Clos du Mesnil 2000 and Krug Clos d’Ambonnay 1998. The most expensive of the affected products is the Krug…

News July 17, 2012

2012 Highest Grossing Wine Brands (Over $20).

The annual “Top 20 Wine Brands” report is always an interesting read, at least if you’re a wine nerd like me! :) Even if wine doesn’t consume your everyday existence, it’s still worth-while getting acquainted (if you aren’t already) with the movers-and-the-shakers within the top selling wine brands in the U.S. Key Points from the Report: (For some reason I always feel the need to read this list in the style of (now defunct) English…

News July 17, 2012

Can White Zinfandel Ever Be “Cool” Again?

It seems that we have a small “underground wine revolution” on our hands, ladies and gentlemen! A handful of wineries in California have taken up the challenge to take White Zinfandel out of the depths of wine-obscurity, and restore it to its former glory…actually…it never had glory in the first place…but I think you catch my drift… Montevina in California’s Amador County is one of the wineries who has picked up the “pink gauntlet.” Winemaker…