Archive for the ‘From the Web’ Category
I’m Not Sure What She’s Saying, but I Love the Way She Says It
March 10th, 2010 by Tom Johnson
From Genevelyn Steele Swallows:
Lap up this hard and hairy monster with something soft and simple and fried–eggplant Parmesan, immersed in good olive oil and glistening with melted mozzarella, a faint fairy dusting of cheese crystals and a pair of white cotton underwear, lodged in the backseat for sopping.
Posted in From the Web | Comments (0)
Could This Be the Future?
March 8th, 2010 by Tom Johnson
La Vida Buena Vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina, goes condo.
La Vida Buena Vineyards is not a Time Share or Fractional– you receive a Deed Fee Simple to your vineyard. But because La Vida Buena Vineyards comprises fifteen small vineyards on 108 acres it can collectively offer many things a stand alone 5 acre vineyard cannot, for [...]
Posted in From the Web | Comments (1)
Everybody’s Going There Because Nobody Goes There
March 4th, 2010 by Tom Johnson
Jason Wilson, editor of The Smart Set and expert on Italian wines, attends the Italian wine show Vino 2010 and has an epiphany. Like all epiphanies, it’s a little hard to follow, but the nut seems to be a new-found desire to leave the big names behind and pursue more esoteric pleasures:
I want to weed [...]
Tags: wine
Posted in From the Web | Comments (7)
Checking In with Chile
March 2nd, 2010 by Tom Johnson
Dr. Vino is tracking earthquake damage to Chilean wineries with a simple map of Chilean wine regions in relation to the quake’s epicenter.
The Matador Travel Blog gathers email from Chilean friends:
I decided to go into the terrace, which has a view of the Mapocho and north, and then I panicked! I saw how the pavement moving [...]
Posted in From the Web | Comments (0)
The Best Article on Bad Times
March 1st, 2010 by Tom Johnson
The Press-Democrat of Santa Rosa, California, has the best close-to-the-ground reporting that I’ve seen on the impact of the recession on the wine business.
The North Coast wine industry, home to the highest concentration of high-end wineries and vineyards in the nation, is reeling from the impacts of a recession that has made it chic to [...]
Tags: wine
Posted in From the Web | Comments (1)
Robert Parker, Wine Industry Hero
February 26th, 2010 by Tom Johnson
Jamie Goode has a piece defending Robert Parker that will surely be unpopular with wine bloggers. I’m personally skeptical of the implied precision of 100 point ratings; I just don’t believe that any wine critic can consistently judge the subjective experience of wine to what is, in effect, a 1% margin of error. (OK, 2%, since [...]
Tags: 100 Point Scales, wine
Posted in From the Web | Comments (17)
Premium Box Wine in the Real World
February 25th, 2010 by Tom Johnson
Eric Asimov makes an argument for boxed wine, displaying in the process not only his high taste in wine but also his low entertainment threshold:
It was great fun to have the box sitting in my fridge, and to simply pull the spigot whenever I wanted a glass. My attitude may have been childish, but isn’t [...]
Tags: Boxed Wine
Posted in From the Web | Comments (3)
It Seems to Me This is Really a Question About Mouthfeel
February 24th, 2010 by Tom Johnson
A woman who signs her name “Lost the Battle to Chardonnay” writes to Dear Abby:
The other day I asked my husband a question and told him to be honest. If given a choice between giving up wine or giving up sex with me, which would he choose?
Posted in From the Web | Comments (0)
God Help Me, I’m Going to Defend Wine Bloggers
February 22nd, 2010 by Tom Johnson
The Hosemaster of Wine, who is like Robert Klein but not as funny, generates polite titters by taking easy shots at wine bloggers. It takes him a couple of paragraphs to build up a good head of steam, but once he does he…well, he seems to make an urgent plea for bland language
For example, words [...]
Posted in From the Web | Comments (2)
Who Cares About Wine Blogging?
February 22nd, 2010 by Tom Johnson
The San Francisco Chronicle wonders aloud if wine blogs really matter:
Ask Bay Area wine stores about customers hunting for wines because of a mention on a wine blog, and you’ll come up empty. Ask a group of students in a UC Berkeley Extension wine class, as I have in the course I teach, how many [...]
Posted in From the Web | Comments (0)