Seventy Five Years Later, Who is That Eponymously Sparkling Woman?
“Wake up dear, we’re going to take a walk across the bridge today!” Imagine being six years old and your father insists that you make history with him, by walking across the newly finished San Francisco Gold Gate Bridge. Fast Forward to College… Attending Stanford University, you fall in love with and marry the perfect [...]
Mirassou Winery, On Behalf of the Wine Industry, “A Big Thank You”
Recently I was reading a wine business news story about a major wine corporation donating thousands of dollars to a non-profit that had absolutely nothing what-so-ever to do with the wine business. It wasn’t for disaster relief, which one always understands; it was more an act of random kindness, from an outside observer’s perspective. I [...]
Patty Bogle Passes Away ~ The Wine Industry Has Lost A Quiet Leader
Yesterday I learned through a news alert from Wine Business that my friend and colleague Patty Bogle has passed away. Patty was the matriarch of Bogle Vineyards in Clarksburg, and she passed away this past Friday, February 11, 2011. This past Friday, as I was packing up Petite Sirahs for our Dark & Delicious event [...]
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Federal Register: Petite Sirah and Durif to *finally* become synonyms
The Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on January 19, 2011 in the Federal Register, which proposes to add several new names to the regulatory list of grape variety names approved for use in designating American wines. Link for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Petite Sirah and Durif [...]
Jim Concannon Receives Man of the Year Award
When I was hired to be the publicist for Concannon Vineyard in 2003, I came to realize that I had been given a true gem, within the wine business. At the time, Lynn Kirimli, the marketing director, and I knew the challenges. Later, when Laurie Jones replaced Lynn, the challenges were still the same, and [...]
The Rhone Rangers Have Undertaken a Noble Cause, all sparked by an Eric Asimov Question
The question? “Is There Still Hope for Syrah?” He went on in his story to further ask? “THERE’S a joke going around West Coast wine circles: What’s the difference between a case of syrah and a case of pneumonia? You can get rid of the pneumonia. It would be funnier if it weren’t so sad…” [...]
Has The Web 2.0 Marcoshifting Finally Settled In? And, Guess Who’s Now Wine Blogging
This blog posting has been inspired by Charlie Olken, of Connoisseurs Guide to California Wine. Bear with me… The indented paragraphs are setting an important stage. What follows after this introduction is something very exciting about our pal Charlie. Web 2.0 caused a huge marcoshift in publishing. No one is going to argue that one [...]
Man finds 230 year-old bottle of Champagne at sea and drinks it
Image borrowed from The Independent. This past weekend, while divers were exploring a shipwreck in the in Baltic Sea, they discovered what may possibly be the oldest bottles of drinkable Champagne. It’s reported they found 30 bottles of champagne. These bottles are thought to pre-date the French Revolution, and were perfectly preserved at a depth [...]
