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of change is relative to one's starting point. For me,
my basis of comparison is 2002, the year I began pontificating
on wine for a living. In 2002, wine tastings were rarely
seen in the Atlanta market, perhaps only 4-5 advertised
per week, with quarterly wine festivals, and the occasional
wine dinner. Restaurants by and large still followed
the 200-300% markup guideline on bottles of wine, wine
education was offered almost exclusively from Anita
Laraia, few had ever heard of a "wine cruise",
and according to Gallup Polls beer was the nation's
number one beverage of choice.
As
we peel back the corner on 2006 the thirst for wine,
wine knowledge, and gastronomic pleasures is at a fevered
pitch.
According
to Eric Orange, proprietor of wine events website LocalWineEvents.com,
"There is a solid increase in the number of people
across the country that are making a living doing wine
education. In (the year 2000) there weren’t more than
a dozen or so folks who posted on my site who were self-employed
at their own wine education business. Now it easily
numbers in the several hundreds." Eric goes on
to quantify wine event postings growth from his website
which totaled 7,651 in 2002 (two years after his start)
and ending 2005 with 18,133.
Public
& private tastings, schools, dinners, tours &
cruises--simply place the word "wine" in front
and there is a good chance someone is doing it!
Michael
Bryan
Editor
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The
Dump Bucket
- Download
a free wine calendar
Britt
Karlsson is a Swede who runs an impressive website available
in Swedish or English. Her European wine travels are extensive,
but what really caught my eye is her photography. It is
generous for her to make available some of this imagery
for a downloadable calendar. Here
- Sommelier
Position Available
The dining room at The Cloister at Sea Island (Five Star/Five
Diamond) is seeking an aspiring sommelier with some experience
and ambition. This will be a rare opportunity to work immediately
from a $1 million-plus wine cellar, replete with classics
but also stocked with the best and latest wines produced
in the world today. Qualified parties should contact Randy
Caparoso at randycaparoso@seaisland.com
- Dry
Creek Valley Zinfandel Tour
If you are a Zin fan, you know there are many styles to
be found just within the Amador, Napa and Dry Creek Valley
areas. Personally I find the Amador ones a tad on the medicinal
side, the Napa ones consistently "big" and the
Dry Creek Valley's balanced. Here is a well researched article
on the area if a visit is looming. Full
Article
- For
Bordeaux Junkies
Are you taken with the world's most notable red wine region?
If you want to test your mettle on Bordeaux knowledge, here
is an online quiz.
- Robin
Garr's Top Wine Values of 2005
Robin has an ongoing wine column reaching people in many
countries around the world. His choices for wines in 2005
utilized the "Quality Price Ratio", a method of
rating "scored" wines relative to their peers
in the same genre. See
the List
- Dan
Berger: A year-end look back
From Supreme Court rulings, growing acceptance of screw-caps,
competition mimicking the 2-buck chuck phenomenon, negative
sentiments toward "high alcohol" wines, to the
growth of New Zealand and Spanish wines--Dan encapsulates
the year of 2005. Full
Article
- Connoisseur
computer tests wine
A Carnegie Mellon University professor, working with industry
scientists in Chile, is hoping that computer models will
identify the traits of good wine -- eventually helping vintners
produce more of it. Full
Article
- Did
you know...
That our little 3-cent closure on a wine bottle simply called
"cork" comes from a type of oak tree grown primarily
in Portugal, Spain & Italy. The cork closure is stamped
from a piece of bark taken from this tree, with the tree
being at least 25 years old. These trees can be stripped
of their bark every 9 years or more. One tree's bark harvested
will supply an average of 4,000 corks. Finally, unlike grape
vines whose vigor declines after twenty years of age, harvest
tonnage increases on older cork trees.
- What
did you serve on New Year's Eve?
Wineopinions.com published the results of their NYE poll
of 530 Americans showing bubbly still reigns supreme (55%)
as the drink of choice, with 37% opting for an expensive
or "special" bottle of wine. And a sign of the
times is that 52% were not even going out, preferring to
stay home and celebrate with family & friends.
- How
much do you know about Champagne?
Nobody puts bubbles in wine better than the Champenois,
and no where is as prestigious or are bubbilicious wines
more sought after than the area known as Champagne. But
how much do you actually know about it? The online radio
station devoted to wine (Grape Radio) has provided a nifty
little quiz to test your knowledge. Quiz
here
- What
is the #1 Food Story in 2005?
The whole "food pyramid" movement completely escaped
me in 2005, and if you feel the same way, perhaps you would
like to read up more on what garnered more attention (according
to a poll) than Martha Stewart. Full
Article
- A
Postcard from Oakville
(contributed by Mark Weeber of ICON Estates)
If
you have attended either of the last two Intro to Wine Courses
you will have met Mark...he is becoming a fixture during
the California session where he handles the Napa Valley
lecture, not to mention bringing in a surprise or two for
tasting. Franciscan Estates is one of the wineries in his
portfolio, and Franciscan's Master of Wine Mark de Vere
has put together a visual story that makes you feel as though
you are right in Oakville. The
Story
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The
Winter 2006 issue features the "wild" Sebastiani
brothers.
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The prologue of this book is what interested me in buying
it and ultimately reading it (and sharing my opinions with
you). Author Elin McCoy begins by saying Parker is the most
powerful wine critic in the world--a title many would have
no challenge accepting. She goes on to suggest however that
more than that, he is the most powerful critic in ANY FIELD,
period. Ok.
If
you have ever been influenced to purchase or not to purchase
a wine you know to have been rated on a 100-point scale, you
have Robert Parker to thank. The scores have become useful
tools at all levels of the distribution chain.
If
you enjoy French Bordeaux and its reputation in the US, along
with it's elevated if not often rarified price, you also have
Parker to thank.
The
Emperor of Wine takes you from Parker's humble
(almost milk & cookie) upbringing to the early events
that shaped the critic today. For example: His ability to
focus & concentrate while tasting, enables him to "size-up"
a wine in 60 seconds and he has a remarkable memory for every
wine he has reviewed. He also has a palate of steel - due
to his consumption of 5 liters of water per day while tasting
- that has purportedly only fatigued twice.
Furthermore,
for readers too young to follow wine in the 70's or 80's,
the book sketches out the market trends, dynamics, and clues
us in on the players of the day like Dan Berger, Robert Balzer,
Michael Broadbent, Robert Finigan, Frank Prial, Harry Waugh,
and Frank Schoonmaker.
The
book also lays bare Parker's sharp tongue, his distaste for
"writers on the take", and his lashing out towards
any critics of his work.
Author
Elin McCoy adds convincing prose to contrary positions on
the Parker opinions--for example Parker's assertion that "It's
the man that makes the difference" which was viewed as
the typical New World sentiment that the winemaker is elevated
over vineyard. McCoy finds a Burgundian who has this to say
in response: "We have to be very careful. The grapes
are just a memory, a fingerprint whose variations come from
the earth, the wind, the stars. Where the vineyard is located
there is force or not that gives that memory to the grapes.
With old vines there is more terroir definition."
Whether
you agree with Parker's scoring system, his opinions, or his
approach to reviewing thousands of wines annually, he is another
example of fulfilling the American dream (rags to riches)
and his imprint is now an indelible part of our wine vernacular.
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