|
|
Unique Wine Glasses
 Do you have trouble keeping a set of wine glasses intact. Are you always breaking one, leaving you with a set of three, five, or seven? These stemless glasses from Columbia might be just for you. They're all but unbreakable-and good for the planet, too. The 18oz. glasses are made from recycled windshield glass. Companion pieces include a pitcher and pilsner beer glasses. They are available from Uncommon Goods for $22/set of two glasses. What a great idea! (photo courtesy of Uncommon Goods) See full article. Related Entries: Illinois Wine Tours Takes to the Road - 27 March 2007 Wine Glasses That Take You By Surprise- for Unique Presentation. - 26 June 2007 Wine Gift Monday: Silhouette Wine Glasses - 10 December 2007 The Power of Pink - 02 August 2008 Contents of this feed are a property of Creative Weblogging Limited and are protected by copyright laws. Violations will be prosecuted. Please email us if you'd like to use this feed for non-commercial activities at feeds - at - creative-weblogging.com.
My ISP Owes You an Apology
For the last 18 or so hours, and for some people it may still be so, Vinography has been deader than a doornail, thanks to a botched network upgrade by my hosting provider. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and I thank you for your patience. This is only the third or fourth time Vinography has gone down in about 5 years, so while it's incredibly annoying, I'm trying to keep it in perspective. The irony of this downtime is that just two days ago I upgraded my Movable Type installation to the new release which dramatically improved the performance of the site for you, my readers. In particular, I know many of you have suffered through waits of 30 seconds to sometimes 3 or 4 minutes when posting comments to the site. This performance problem has now been resolved, and comments post in just a few seconds now, which is a huge relief to me and hopefully to you as well.
Hipster Alert: Rotgipfler the It Grape?
We were in New York City last week for a wedding and the 2006 Stadlmann Rotgipfler was one of the wines flowing freely. The newlyweds are serious foodies so their choice of the latest, coolest and most obscure grape variety wasn’t too much of a surprise. It’s on all the coolest wine lists: Terrior, WD-50 and sold at the coolest shops: Crush and Harlem Vintage. Still, I had never tried it before and as the President of the Wine Century Club that is practically dereliction of duty. So what is it like? OK, it was a wedding so I didn’t take notes but I remember it being very aromatic, minerally, grapefruit-citrus – almost like Gruner Veltliner – but more peachy and less peppery. In short, it was an excellent choice - well balanced, elegant but with lively enough acidity to make it food-friendly.
Today on Serious Grape: the Next Big Grape
 Today I'm blogging over at the site for foodies, Serious Eats. In my column, Serious Grape, I'm gazing into my crystal ball to predict what the next big grape will be. (image from mylifetime.com)We've been in a Pinot Noir state of mind ever since the movie Sideways, but I have my money on another red to become the next break-out grape. Click on over there to see which grape I've picked, and leave me a comment and let me know if you think I'm on the right track. Predicting the next big white grape proved more difficult. I've got two possible contenders there, but I'm not sure if either of them will be able to give Chardonnay--still the white wine leader, despite the best efforts of Pinot Grigio and Riesling--a run for its money. Do you have a more likely alternative? Have a great weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday.
Attention 17/20s: 17 + 20 ≠ 02
That’s right – when California License Type 17 (Beer and Wine Wholesaler) and License Type 20 (Beer and Wine Off-Sale Retailer) are issued in conjunction, the privileges associated with the combination license are not equivalent to those of the 02 Winegrower’s License. A Type 17 License “permits incidental sales to other supplier-type licensees” and a Type 20 License “authorizes the sale of beer and wine for consumption off the premises where sold.” The joint issuance of the two licenses is authorized by Section 23378.2 of the California Code and permits the issuance of a package off-sale beer and wine license to a licensed California wholesaler if only wine is sold from the retail premises. It is significant to note that when shipping out-of-state, a 17/20 licensee is considered a retailer resulting access to fifteen states. |
My colleague Jim Gordon who currently edits Wines & Vines magazine just pointed me to an article on their web site that made my jaw hit the table. Reporting from the recent meeting of the American Society for Wine Economists, writer Peter Mitham describes a presentation by researcher Robin Goldstein, who seems to have performed a sting operation on the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards and exposed them as a total farce, as part of his ongoing investigations on the perceptions of value and quality in wine. In summary: 1. Researcher invents fake restaurant in Italy. I haven't laughed so hard at a piece of wine news in years. It's truly unbelievable. Wine Institute has received information clarifying Georgia’s direct-to-consumer wine shipping regulations. The rule allowing on-site shipments without a permit was not repealed on July 1, 2008 when the new permit law became effective. All wineries may continue to ship up to 5 cases of wine to a Georgia household annually provided the wine was purchased on-site. Wineries are not required to have a Direct Shipping Permit, pay taxes or file reports for on-site shipments. A Direct Shipping Permit is required for all off-site shipments to a Georgia address. All bonded wineries are eligible to apply for a GA permit. The holder of a Direct Shipping Permit may ship up to 12 cases of wine sold off-site to a GA address annually. Direct Shippers with an approved Direct Shipper’s Permit are required to report, pay state and local sales tax, and excise tax on off-site direct-to-consumer shipments. On-site shipments do not count against the 12 case volume limit and should not be included in any direct shipping reports.  Sharpen those #2 pencils and make sure you have extra disc space. It's back to school time.By this time next week I will have already met 150 of my students for this term, and will be getting ready to meet the final dozen. All of these students will expect me to have my power point presentations in order and to be in the right classroom at the right time. As a result, things might be a bit irregular around here for the next week while I work blogging into my new schedule. Tomorrow's post will be up and running at the usual time, but bear with me if there are some interruptions after that. Thanks for your patience, and if you or your loved ones are headed back to school, good luck with fall re-entry. When we make a post here on the ShipCompliant blog, we take the time to really understand an issue, research the facts involved, and make a substantive post that adds value to the issue that we are discussing. However, the ShipCompliant research team hears news and information from many different sources every day that may not necessarily end up as the subject of a post on this blog. Because of this, we recently started posting updates on Twitter to give you a heads up about articles or blog posts that we think are interesting in the world of wine compliance. If you’re interested in learning more about wine compliance, please follow winecompliance on twitter! If you don’t yet have an account on twitter, we also added a sidebar widget that lists the five most recent updates on the bottom right of this page ->
These well meaning tourists aren't the only ones who seem to forget that Northern California has many different "wine countries." Napa casts a long shadow, as it were. I've got lots of love for every piece of wine country we've got, and a special place in my heart for Sonoma County, both because it is the place of my birth, but also because I think sometimes it gets short shrift compared to its more famous neighbor. Sonoma County is several different wine regions rolled up into one -- from the chilly fog of the Sonoma Coast and Carneros, to the cool Green Valley and Russian River Valley, to the warmer climes of Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Mountain, Alexander Valley, and the Sonoma Valley -- there's something for everyone in Sonoma.
Jason Kallsen, the man behind the World Class Wines Blog, invited me to talk about blogging and Iberian wine on the second night I was in town! Thankfully, it was a great success. Held at the cafe across the street (space purposes) from SoloVino in St.Paul, we talked about wine, blogging and the intersection of the two. Take away thoughts? Well, I was shocked by how few of the “wine geeks” in attendance actually read blogs. While about half had read a blog, very few actually frequented them. If anyone who attended has anything to say about this, please chime in!  There will be some talk of high-end wines later this week on GWU$20, so to balance out the account books I have not one but two picks for good QPR white wines today that are widely available for under $10 and will get you through the dog days of August.One is a creamy Chardonnay, the other a light white Bordeaux blend. I received both as samples and they stood out from many of the other bottles I received because they tasted true to their varietal characteristics and were well priced. The birth of a wine region is a fascinating thing to watch, and I'm sure an even more fascinating process to be a part of. Much of the wine that we drink comes from regions that have been established anywhere from decades to centuries ago, but the quest for great wine and great places to grow it (not to mention the changing whims of the global climate) means that there are always new frontiers when it comes to wine growing. All new wine regions begin the same -- with a pioneering spirit and a hell of a lot of determination. Someone decides that a certain place is the right spot to grow wine grapes, and they stake a lot of sweat and money on whatever knowledge they've got backing up that decision, whether it be a hunch, or a GIS enabled geologic survey.
Veraison is the time with wine grapes begin to turn from green to purple. In northern California, this process usually begins in early August. This video from "Adopt-a-grape" explains Veraison and what it means in the overall process of crafting wine.
Veraison '08 at Adopt A Grape from Adopt A Grape 2008 on Vimeo. See full article. Related Entries: Wine Glossary: Terroir - 22 February 2008 Wine Glossary: Enomatic - 06 April 2008 Wine Glossary: Racking - 19 July 2008 Contents of this feed are a property of Creative Weblogging Limited and are protected by copyright laws. Violations will be prosecuted. Please email us if you'd like to use this feed for non-commercial activities at feeds - at - creative-weblogging.com.  A little red wine might actually be good for you, at least according to Dr. Metmet Oz, author and frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey show. In his bestselling book, "Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending your Warranty" with Dr. Michael Roizen, he cites the benefits of resveratrol, a component in red wine, which is a powerful antioxident and may promote hearth health. (photo © istockphoto) See full article. Related Entries: Robots Drink Wine - 05 August 2006 Wine Party in Budapest - 02 September 2006 News on German Ice Wine - 30 January 2007 Vinturi Helps Wines to Breathe Faster, Taste Better! - 03 October 2007 Contents of this feed are a property of Creative Weblogging Limited and are protected by copyright laws. Violations will be prosecuted. Please email us if you'd like to use this feed for non-commercial activities at feeds - at - creative-weblogging.com.
|
Slowly turning…
Taste Rebecca’s Vineyard Pinot on Sunday!
From Morgan’s blog:
August 21st, 2008 - Wine Tasting and Dinner
A Night with Mia Klein, at Vino Restaurant in Honolulu, HI on August 21st, 2008. First there will be a Winetasting. Join Chuck Furuya and Mia from 5:30 to 7:00pm for the entire Selene lineup: 2007 Selene Sauvignon Blanc, Hyde Vineyards Then the Winemaker Dinner (seating starting @ 7:30pm) A four course dinner created by Chef Keith Endo of Vino paired with Selene Wines. Don’t miss this one! Reservations for both and more details here: Vino
Takin’ it to the… mountains
We spent the past three days on the outskirts of the town of Chester, which is near Lake Almanor, which is "sort of" near Chico, which is about as close to civilization as you get up that way. Even though it was a mere 48 hours, it was a true get-away. Our friends own a forest service cabin that they have made into their little nirvana. So, 4 1/2 hours after leaving the Napa Valley, we arrived, dressed in style, as you can see! Chantico.
 
New banner, can anyone help?
Ok, so I've just spent all morning making this new banner for the blog, but even after I followed the instructions (I think!) it still doesn't look right at the top of the page!!! Is there anyone out there that can help me fix this? I am html disabled and 100% not interested in understanding it, I just want it to look right! Argh!!! Thanks in advance!! Oh, and by the way, what do you think? I am open to critiques... ...well, sort of.
Some light plowing
In the bio-dynamic book that we use by François Bouchet it recommends that you plough lightly in the early evening in order to break the capillaries in the soil and allow it to breath. It's also beneficial when rain is predicted, thus the rain penetrates directly into the soil and doesn't run off.
Wine Spies Do It Again!
Agent Red charmed me again….must be that mysterious espionage thing…... Today Only they are offering our 2005 Hilltop Ranch Pinot Noir at a reduced price of $45.00/bottle, with free shipping if you buy 6 bottles or more. Click here to read their (always entertaining) review of this wine.
Wine Business Classes At Sonoma State
Each seminar costs $150.00 and generally runs for half a day. All classes are held in Schultz room 1121, just inside the library. Below is a list of the classes on offer. I’ll note which I’ve had the pleasure of attending in the past year or so and give them a letter grade. At the bottom of the page is a short poll. I have enough time in my schedule to attend 2 classes this November and I intend to report extensively on what I learn, right here on the blog. I’ll list my top 4 choices and let you folks vote to decide which 2 of the 4 I’ll attend.
| ||||
 |
The “Professional Development Seminars” catalogue at Sonoma State for fall 2008 was released this week. For anyone living in or near Sonoma County it’s a tremendous resource. This is especially true if you’re interested in starting a winery or if you’re looking to make a move into the wine business. Copyright 2007 -ewinecentral.com. All Rights Reserved.