VINOGRAPHY: a wine blog
Wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world
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Wine Critics are Parasites, But That Doesn't Mean We Can Be Bought
One of the world's leading wine critics has just proclaimed that wine writers, journalists, and critics are all parasites. According to Decanter magazine, while being paid to hang out in a plush cliffside hotel in Ronda, Spain, Jancis Robinson took a moment out from tasting some of the world's best wines to admonish her fellow journalists, "We must always remember that we are parasites on the business of winemaking." From Websters: Parasite \ˈper-ə-ˌsīt, ˈpa-rə-\ . Noun. 1 : a person who exploits the hospitality of the rich and earns welcome by flattery 2 : an organism living in, with, or... continue reading 
- Posted by: Alder on April 23, 2008 11:36 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Does Expensive Wine Taste Better Than Cheap Wine?
Regardless of your level of wine knowledge, and independent of the price you normally pay for a bottle of wine, I'm willing to bet that you'll agree with the following statement: On average (which is to say, not ALWAYS) a bottle of wine that costs $150 will taste better than a bottle that costs $2. That's what I would assume, at least. And built into that assumption is another assumption -- that many people (though certainly not all) would be able to tell the difference between the two. According to a recent paper from the delightful folks at the Journal... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 17, 2008 11:32 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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Lest You Forget That Wine is Business...
As wine lovers, we all belong to a club whose entrance criteria include passion and romanticism. We return to wine again and again for its magical ability to transcend what is in the glass, and to transport us in memory and experience to both favorite and new places. By far the most pleasurable and rewarding relationship with wine involves an affair of just these sorts of passions, blissfully ignorant of the facts which demand that wine also be understood in terms of economics, politics, and science. Many of us are content to live in a world where there is no... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 13, 2008 5:09 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Dirty Tuscan Laundry
What's a little bit of Cabernet between friends? Depends on who you ask. In California a little dash of Cabernet in your Merlot, or vice versa would hardly be cause for comment. Technically, in order to have the words "Cabernet Sauvignon" on the label, only 75% of the wine has to be Cabernet. In Italy, however, the largest wine scandal in decades has recently erupted over a little bit of Cabernet and Merlot mixed in with Sangiovese. In an incident that is already being referred to as Brunellogate, several prominent winegrowers in Tuscany are facing prosecution on charges of adulterating... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 8, 2008 11:22 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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My Next Wine Vacation: Paris Pawn Shops
As a kid, I badly wanted to be an archaeologist for a period of time. When I was twelve, I saved up until I could (with a little help from Grandma) buy a metal detector. I suppose I've never lost the fascination with buried treasure. Heck, I went to Egypt on my honeymoon. And if I had a TV, I would definitely watch the Antiques Roadshow. Which is why, I suppose, that I now desperately want to spend a few weeks canvassing the back alleys of Paris now that its pawn shops are accepting wine. OK, so it's not quite... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 26, 2008 7:58 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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The Great Sipping Sound of Hong Kong
Mark my words: China is the next big thing when it comes to wine. Wine consumption that is. I've had more than a few Chinese wines that make it clear that they've got a long way to go when it comes to making decent table wine, but when it comes to drinking wine, China is moving up fast in the ranks of wine consumers. As China mints more millionaires every week, international business hubs like Hong Kong and Shanghai are exploding as centers for spending the newfound wealth of the nation's richest citizens. Increasingly, a share of that cash seems... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 29, 2008 11:59 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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What Wine Goes with Recession?
If the election buzzphrase in the early 1990s was "It's the economy, stupid!" in 2008 that might be revised to, "it's the stupid economy!" Everyone is in a tizzy these days, and rightfully so. America is going through a rough patch that many believe is the culmination of decades of bad financial habits on a national level, not the least of which is our tendency to spend beyond our means on the level of the individual and the government. Housing prices plummet, foreclosures rise, the dollar weakens, consumer confidence wavers, and of course, all business sectors are beginning to think,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 26, 2008 11:43 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Science Confirms Gold Plated Wine Bottles Are Best
From now on, I'm only buying wine if it comes in a gold plated or platinum plated bottle. I want my wine bottles encrusted with jewels, and preferably as expensive as possible. Perhaps we can convince Damien Hirst to come up with something called For The Love of Wine? My newly expensive tastes are, of course, the result of some new neuroscience that has gotten a large amount of press in the past two weeks. I don't know what it is, exactly, that the mainstream media love about wine related science, but the recent experiments from some folks down at... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 20, 2008 10:37 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Cornas Is Saved For Wine Lovers Everywhere
I can't think of a better Christmas gift. OK, maybe world peace would be a better one, but I'm thrilled to report that the vineyards of Cornas have been saved from the evil forces of real estate development. Regular readers will remember earlier in the year when I related the horrific news that despite protests from everyone involved, the mayor of Cornas was going to approve a commercial development that would have obliterated some of the best vineyard land in the village of Cornas in the Northern Rhone valley. Together with some of you readers, and wine lovers from around... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 2, 2008 11:33 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Tasting Our Way towards Terroir
If you want to get into an argument with a die hard wine lover, just bring up terroir -- the nebulous, mythical, and increasingly subjective notion that wines express the place and circumstances of their making. This "somewhereness," to borrow one of my favorite terms for the concept, has been used as a justification for nearly anything you could think of in the world of wine, both good and evil. A couple of years ago, I decided that talking about terroir was like talking about God. It is best done behind closed doors and with people whom you are sure... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 25, 2007 11:59 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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Don't Throw Out All That St. Emilion!
I know it's too late for some of you. You've already thrown out all that St. Emilion wine that used to be Grand Cru at one point, but which was turned into worthless, unclassified Bordeaux eight months ago. But for those of you who haven't divested yourself of all that pedestrian plonk, I have some good news. It's now back to being great wine again. It's certainly incredible, isn't it, how quickly our wine can go from great to lousy and back again? It's almost like the Wine Spectator rated it an 88 one day and then a few months... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 17, 2007 3:52 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Money Alone Will Not Save European Wine
The European wine industry, especially the French wine industry, needs a serious shot in the arm. It has needed one for more than a decade. A few days ago, the European Union tried to give it one, but thanks to the characteristic myopia of international politics, it might as well have just taken a few hundred million dollars and flushed it down the toilet. The EU recognized, correctly, that European wine isn't particularly competitive (read: doesn't sell) on the world market once you get outside of the luxury price range ($25 and above). Unfortunately, the majority of European wine made... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 9, 2007 4:51 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Caribineri di Vino. AKA: Sommelier Cops.
Sometimes I really do just feel like everything in Europe is better. Of course, I know that this is just my food and wine version of the grass is greener. But then I hear stories like this one and I have to shake my head in wonder. In America, our cops are busy being trained how to negotiate with a hijacked airplane and how to spot terrorists in a crowd. In Italy? They're training 25 of their military cops to be sommeliers so they can better track down wine fraud. How cool is that? The best place to be a... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 25, 2007 8:27 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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What Wines Do Americans Drink?
I'm completely fascinated whenever I learn more about what the "average" American drinks when it comes to wine. The Restaurant Magazine annual report on the top selling brands of wines in America that I regularly reference here on Vinography is always a sober wake up call to most of us who are wine lovers, because it represents a world of wine that we left behind a long time ago, or in some cases, have never experienced. Is it safe to assume that none of you reading this blog regularly buy Turning Leaf or Franzia boxed wine from Safeway? Last time... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 17, 2007 10:52 AM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Stabbing Cornas In the Chest
For the last week there has been quite a conversation brewing as the result of my commentary on a magazine article discussing EU wine reforms, which include ripping out quite a lot of underperforming vineyards around Europe (mainly in France). Now I don't know enough to be able to say definitively whether ripping out (or "grubbing up" as the Europeans like to call it) can actually help the European wine industry, but I understand the logic being used. There is another, smaller, less visible set of plans on the table to rip out some vines, for which I can find... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 23, 2007 10:45 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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The Soul vs. The Market
I'm seriously behind on my magazine reading. So much that along with putting some delicate Japanese ceramics out of reach, I actually had to reduce the height of some piles before my 14-month-old niece Isabell came over and started wandering around my living room. In my mind's eye I watched her crushed under the weight of 12 issues of Decanter, 12 issues of The Wine Spectator, and 14 issues of Wired Magazine, and it wasn't pretty. So anyhow, in the course of flipping through some of the stacks of dead trees in my house, I came across an absolutely lovely... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 18, 2007 10:55 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Wine As Self Defense
I swear you couldn't possibly make this shit up if you tried. Forget the NRA, next time you happen to come home to someone in a ski mask rifling through your possessions, or when a cadre of armed men break into your private club demanding everyone's wallets or jewelry, just make sure you offer them a glass of (good) wine before trying other negotiation tactics. Apparently all it took was a glass of Château Malescot St-Exupéry (a Bordeaux Third Growth estate), a nibble of camembert cheese, and a group hug to prevent a recent robbery in a private home in... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 15, 2007 10:39 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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About Those 2007 Bordeaux Futures...
Nature giveth, and she taketh away. Just when we all thought that Global Warming might be making wine a little easier to make in Europe, the summer of 2007 comes along and reminds us that we can put a man on the moon, but we're not any better at predicting the weather more than about 7 days out. In case you haven't been following the news, it's looking like the 2007 vintage in Bordeaux is going to be one of the worst in recent memory. Unseasonably cold and hard rains have decimated the grape crops, to current estimates of approximately... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 15, 2007 10:11 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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How to Win Friends in the Wine Business
It never ceases to amaze me how people tend to forget that they are just customers. I'm guilty of this too, sometimes, but we tend to start thinking that we're entitled to buy whatever it is that we're buying, and we forget that being able to buy the things we want is a privilege that comes with strings attached. We have to hold up our end of the bargain to be good customers, and we also have to remember that even when we do, the folks selling us what we want are not obligated to keep doing so, especially if... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 10, 2007 10:00 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Stop The State Fair Madness
We interrupt your normal levelheaded Vinography programming with the following outraged rant. Listen up wine industry folks, this whole state fair thing has gone on long enough and it just needs to stop. If I hear one more winery boasting that their Zinfandel won a gold medal at the Butte County fair, and silver at the Cal State Expo, I think I'm going to be sick. And listen up wine consumers, while I explain to you how utterly ridiculous and meaningless these awards are, and how you should never use them as part of your decision for purchasing a wine.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 29, 2007 6:02 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Open a Bottle, Get a Date
File this under, "what won't they think of next?" The world of wine marketing has taken some pretty strange twists and turns over the years: wine in a box (good idea!); critters on the label (who would have guessed?); wine just for women (lame!); integrated plastic cups for drinking (huh?). Now the latest from the drunk staffers at some marketing agency somewhere in France: open a bottle, get laid get a date. Apparently the scheme works like this. Several different types of wine are sold under the moniker of "Soif du Coeur" (Thirsty Heart). You buy a pink bottle if... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 30, 2007 11:14 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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Whenever You Can, Blame The Consultants
It's hard to blame people for acting like people, but our tendencies as a species sometimes blow me away. Find me someone in a situation they're unhappy with, and I'll show you a person looking for a scapegoat. I suppose some evolutionary psychologist could tell me why it is that we always want to blame somebody, anybody, for the state of the world, but for now I'm left chuckling and half-horrified as always. I like to make a big deal out of the difficulties that France is facing at the moment. I've called it a crisis of epic proportions, which... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 20, 2007 8:36 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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James Beard Does Wine
The annual James Beard Awards focus on restaurants and journalism with a myriad of awards covering all sorts of categories of each. Of particular interest to me are the journalism awards, some of which inevitably highlight a few of America's best wine writers and their work. It's always worth paying attention to those restaurants and wine professionals who are recognized for their work as well. So without further ado, here's what the James Beard Association had to say about the past year of wine in America. Newspaper writing on spirits, wine or beer (in a rare tie) Eric Felten,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 16, 2007 10:47 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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New Frontiers of The Online Wine World
Something very interesting is going on in New Jersey. You have to be a bit of a wine geek mixed with a little tech geek to know about this piece of news, and you might need to be both in order to appreciate it as well. But it was announced yesterday that Gary Vaynerchuck of WineLibraryTV Fame has purchased the website Cork'd. By way of full disclosure, it should be noted that Gary's company advertises on Vinography. Cork'd is one of the many Web 2.0, or should I say "Wine 2.0" startups that is attempting to bring the power of... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 15, 2007 11:12 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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Drinking Buddies - A New Twist
Mostly, I try to keep this blog focused on good wine, and good writing about wine, knowing that there are plenty of other outlets out there for the bizarre, the frivolous, and the gear. However, when things like this "My Other Half" wine-glass-gadget come along, it's hard to resist. In case it's not blindingly obvious from the photo, these two glasses are connected by a tube so that the wine flows between them in such a way that when the glasses are both at the same elevation, there is always the same amount of wine in each. Or at least... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 25, 2007 11:37 PM
- Filed under: Wine News
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Bring Out Your Dead....Wines
People say the darndest things. I think we're all given to pronouncements once in a while. There's something very self satisfying about declaring with finality that something is so, so much that most journalists (myself included) have a hard time resisting the urge to speak in headlines. Take this recent pronouncement from the news pages of the wine world: Vins de Garage are Dead. With this headline Decanter Magazine proclaimed the end of the garagiste movement in Bordeaux. For those unfamiliar with this movement, it began in the mid-1990s as a group of independent winemakers began making small lots of... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 24, 2007 11:58 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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The Future of Wine Marketing?
I first reported on the strange phenomenon of wine related manga comics in Japan about a year ago, but it seems they're gaining in popularity. At the time, one of my readers mentioned another, newer comic by the name of "Kami no Shizuku" (literally "god's droplets") which offered commentary and musing on the virtues of French wine. According to some, it's a pretty compelling comic, with particularly thirst generating properties. Well according to a story in today's news, that comic has been translated to Korean and is a huge hit in South Korea. Of course, in the extremely litigious and... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 18, 2007 10:37 PM
- Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News
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The Vines of Robinson Crusoe
As a young kid my imagination was swept away by tales of pirates and castaways in the South Pacific. In particular I was captivated by the tale of Robinson Crusoe, mostly based on the fantasy of being clever enough to actually survive and live in comfort on a remote tropical island. Of course, when I got older I realized that as inventive as Robinson Crusoe was, he was missing some pretty big essentials there on the island that rendered it slightly less than paradise in my opinion. The two things he was really missing? Women and wine. OK. Maybe he... continue reading