• Saxum and Failla: a tale of two pricing strategies

    Updated: 2012-10-31 13:49:23
    I feel a sense of personal affinity for Justin Smith, the founder/winemaker of Saxum Vineyards, and for Ehren Jordan, the founder/winemaker of Failla Wines. When I wrote my first book [2005], A Wine Journey along the Russian River, Ehren kindly was one of my chief sources of information about the Fort Ross-Seaview area (now an [...]

  • Lisa Mattson Receives the 2012 Diaz Communications Innovator of the Year Award

    Updated: 2012-10-31 10:00:54
    Each year, since 2009, Jose and I not only watch who’s a leading innovator, but we also feel, as seasoned veterans, it behooves us to call attention to someone within the wine industry who demonstrates serious innovative leadership. In 2009, 2010, and 2011, it was pretty easy to see innovation leaders… those who were creating [...]

  • Why tasting plonk, not just great wine, is important

    Updated: 2012-10-29 14:19:17
    I taste a lot of common wine, vin ordinaire, plonk, call it what you will. Some of it is pretty awful stuff. I also taste a lot of very expensive wine, the kind sometimes called, for lack of a better word, “cult.” In this, I’m different from some other critics, who taste only the top [...]

  • PROP 37 ~ about GMO ~ “Yes,” we have a right to know

    Updated: 2012-10-28 15:45:39
    “Yes,” I want to know if a food I’m purchasing to put into my body has been genetically modified, don’t you? Think about this one…Will Grapegrowers and Consumers Accept GMO Wines? Or this one: Western Farm Press ~ From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: After ten years of laboratory trials, an Adelaide plant scientist has developed [...]

  • Mr. “Slow Foods San Francisco” brings an Italian twist to Mendocino County’s Wine & Mushroom Festival

    Updated: 2012-10-26 11:00:24
    Who doesn’t love a food and wine event that’s off the beaten path? How about the Wine & Mushroom Festival of Mendocino County? For me, too, I love knowing what the members of PS I Love You are up to. They take Petite Sirah over the top and breathe new breath to this heartiest of [...]

  • A reader asks for Zin coverage, and I deliver

    Updated: 2012-10-26 08:10:40
    On the “Comments” section of my Reader Survey (you can click here to access it, and I hope you will if you haven’t already), a respondent wrote: “Steve, I enjoy reading your blog, but would like to see more coverage of less known wineries. Today it was about Williams Seylem. It seems everyone writes about [...]

  • Birdie Ballet ~ Alfred Hitchcock’s Inspiration?

    Updated: 2012-10-24 11:00:39
    After seeing Birdie Ballet, I’m betting that Alfred Hitchcock got his inspiration from this phenomenon… Especially since it’s stages in Sonoma County… at Bodega Bay. This is where, I too, saw my first Birdie Ballet. Now that it’s autumn again, I can’t even begin to tell you how long I’ve waited to write about Birdie [...]

  • AmericanWineryGuide.com ~ The best resource for wine travel writers

    Updated: 2012-10-22 11:00:25
    As a wine travel writer, in order to begin your story, what if you had only one website resource that delivers all of the following: A comprehensive list of wineries from all across the U.S. In-depth information about each winery Visitor reviews and ratings about personal experiences at the wineries An indicator of how good [...]

  • Playing around in wine country ~ ZinZig™

    Updated: 2012-10-19 11:00:22
    ZinZig™ arrived at my door step the other day; it’s the new wine drinking game from True Fabrications. This wine drinking game, unlike others that we’ve all played ~ like taking a sip of wine every time the word “Pecker” comes up in the movie “Pecker” ~ this game has a real educational function about [...]

  • In a word…

    Updated: 2012-10-18 11:00:34
    [image: left to right, John Concannon, Evan Goldstein, Jim Concannon, and Jo Diaz... Jose made me stand still for about two seconds to take this...] After actualizing months of planning, and the long day of putting on an educational symposium, it’s virtually impossible to do anything else of substance that day. That won’t keep me [...]

  • Wines geeks who love Greek wines ~ Who’s endorsing these delicious wines?

    Updated: 2012-10-17 11:00:40
    Thanks to the inspiration of Eklektikon LLC for motivation, I’ve decided to see who’s saying what about Greek wines; so you and I don’t get left in the dust with this one. Greece’s wine history chapter is behind us and a new chapter has been opened to all of us by a new generation of [...]

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