The Microcosm of Maremma is Where Red Tuscan Land Meets the Sea ~ Part I
WHERE: Tuscany Bordered by Tyrrhenian Sea, on its West Side From Discover Tuscany, “Maremma [as a microclimate] is unique because of the variety of its territory: blue sea, long beaches, black rock, hills covered with woods, marshes and flat lands, green hills and natural thermal baths.” Located in the coastal area of west-central, Italy, Maremma […]
Top Wine Books of 2019 ~ Belonging in Any Great Wine (Book) Library
Then there are wine books that are slowly savored, in sound bites. Remember the days of getting ready for a book report? Yeah, that’s what it is. Part of blogging time requires reading and reporting on wine books. Book page is my resource for you. Each holiday season, since I can’t even remember when it […]
Morgon Domaine Jean Ernest Descombes ~ A Beaujolais with Vitality
Off to the Morgon region of Beaujolais, France we go… Morgon Wines: Think in adjective sizes, for a moment: delicate, moderate, and robust. Beaujolais wines, coming from specific regions, are classified in this way, due to their terroir influences. It helps to know this, if you’re wanting to purchase a Beaujolais, for a food and […]
Why Beaujolais Nouveau? ~ History Holds the Answers
[PHOTO: Denis Lapaler, winemaker for Les Vins Georges Duboeuf] Le beaujolais nouveau est arrive! Beaujolais had always made a vin de l’année, to celebrate the end of the harvest. Until World War II, it was only for local consumption. Today, it’s become a worldwide phenomenon, due to some important actions taken by the Georges Duboeuf […]
Normal Winery Merger and Acquisition Market in This Last Quarter of 2019
I don’t usually report on real estate in the wine industry. I’ve just watched – for nearly 30 years – so many wineries changing hands, fading into the sunset, changing the name due to notoriety, the failings of venture capitalism, no legacy planning, etc.. It really is the game of Monopoly, with each county having […]
2019 HARVEST AT MAISON BRUNO PAILLARD
[All images in this blog posting are the property of Bruno Paillard. Please do not copy..] If you’ve missed the latest harvest results for Champagne this year, I’m going to share it with you. Having been in France this past August, I can only imagine the struggles that they felt (extreme heat and grapes of […]
Rebecca (Beck) Hopkins is Diaz Communications 2019 Innovator of the Year Award Recipient
During this year, I wanted to give our Diaz Communications Innovator of the Year Award to someone very deserving, which has now happened. Before I could even announce it, though, a press release came out with Rebecca Hopkins’ name as being a finalist in another Innovator of the Year Award. Beck, as she likes to […]
Sipping Away, 30 Years of Unique Wine Experiences
This has been a long time coming, as I got Sipping Away, 30 Years of Unique Wine Experiences, by David Klein, just before I traveled to France. I took the book with me and read in flight. I was headed to Beaujolais, and all of a sudden I was reading about it… that the winemakers […]
Fairness in Pricing ~ Suisun Valley is Only Asking for its Fair Share
When I began working with Suisun Valley, some 14 years ago, I was taken to one section of a vineyard, where Napa Valley crosses over into Suisun Valley. I was shown the northern part of the road (Napa Valley side) and was told the grapes from the same contiguous vineyard were selling for $3,000 a […]
Charles Krug Winery ~ An American Dynasty of the Best Kind
When I first came to California, I had solid PR credentials. With 11 years in WBLM radio broadcasting as their publicist, I knew all about radio broadcasting and not only creating, but also keeping their public file. What I didn’t have was the slightest knowledge about wine. Still, I was ready to take it on. […]
