I first heard about Foley from “twitter.” In the course of talking wine with winebloggers and other ne’er do wells, I met a blogger by the name of WineDog who “tweeted” something about a boycott of Foley wines. WineDog’s blog, Pink Bunny Ears, has a number of posts about Foley. The latest 2-spread Foley feature in Wine Spectator set the WineDog off.
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Kismet and the Most AMAZING Texas Wine
This wine is liquid nectar! Peaches, apricots, honey. You know the famous Meg Ryan scene in “When Harry Met Sally?” You just thought she was acting. My guess is they gave her a glass of something like this right before they shot that scene.
Continue readingTragedy as Marketing
Labor Day and the Work of the Vineyard
To depart from the multiple posts you’ll find on which wines to pair with your Labor Day celebration (Burgers and Syrah, chicken and Chardonnay, grilled seafood and Torrontés, and if you haven’t been hit by the recession: steak and Cabernet Sauvignon or grilled lamb and Bordeaux) I thought we’d talk about “the true meaning of Labor Day.”
Continue readingThe Local Food Movement
Wine Competitions: It Won a Medal – It Must be Good!
A research study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Wine Economics found an interesting aspect of wine competitions that might be disturbing to our the aforementioned winemaker as well as to consumers who choose their purchases based on medals and ribbons: A gold medal in one competition does not mean a gold medal in another. In fact is may not even mean it’s good!
Continue readingAnother Wine Byte 15: France’s Red-headed Stepchild
Back in the day before people knew about genetics and recessive traits, it was assumed that a redheaded child born to a couple of brunettes was obviously the product of an affair. And while the father would claim the child as his own, to save face, he tended to treat the child poorly, thinking certainly it was not his own. This grape was treated with similar scorn.
Continue readingOne for You, Two for Me: Blending Can be FUN!
Another Wine Byte 14: Attack of the Clones?
Whenever I hear the word “clone,” I remember silly references to “human-animal hybrids” and fears that Dolly the Sheep would lead to Gavin the Goat boy — or some such nonsense as that. But the cloning of grape varietals doesn’t occur in some dark laboratory with a mad scientist
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