Earlier this year I started a series of posts about why wineries should blog. I was reminded of this series reading a couple of posts this week from Paul at the REthink blog and Josh at Pinotblogger. In fact Josh’s riff on Paul’s post is the best logic for why wineries should blog I’ve yet seen. Thanks for the great reading material and food for thought, guys. More on this subject upon my return home…

The first winery blog I linked to was Champagne Tarlant. I can’t remember exactly when, but it was early in 2005 right after they linked here. I just received an email from Mélanie Tarlant asking me to vote for their video podcast (a.k.a vlog) for a Belgian blogging award. It is against some strong non-wine competitors so they need all the help they can get. If you read French as poorly as I, you might need some translation help to determine your votes in the other categories. My vote in the final section is recorded in the photograph.

Bonne chance, Mélanie.

I picked up Wines of Baja California: Touring and Tasting Mexico’s Undiscovered Treasures by Ralph Amey at Amazon.com to read while on the beach this week in San Diego. I have always wanted to explore this region on my podcast and thought I might be able to sample some Baja wines this week given how close I am to the region. While I have not tracked down any Baja wines yet this week, the book gave me a decent overview of what to look for in the wine bars and stores here.

This trade paperback is just a hair over 170 pages including over 10 pages of appendix items. Once you get used to the academic writing style, the book is a quick read. It took me the better part of an afternoon on the beach and two cups of Peet’s coffee the next morning to finish. A history of the region is covered first, followed by information about the different microclimates found in the region and concludes with a bit of information on the 12 Baja wineries in operation when the book was written (2003). My only criticism is that the author does not really take a stand on any of the wine tasting notes. You have to read between the lines to discover who is making the best wines. Other than that, it is a good read to get the back-story of Baja wines (it is also the only book in English on the region).

If you are looking to explore this emerging wine appellation just across the California border, I recommend you check this book out. I’ll provide a more extensive review on my podcast once I track down some of that Baja juice…

La Ferme Julien, Rosé, Côtes du Ventoux, France 2005 ($5)

What better wine to enjoy after a day on the beach but rosé? I picked up this blend at Trader Joe’s after remembering a recommendation from Quaffability (ironically for another rose). It is made from 50% Cinsault, 40% Grenache and 10% Syrah grown in France’s Rhone Valley.

The wine is a beautiful shade of salmon/ruby with lean aromas of strawberry and watermelon. In the mouth it is light and dry with cherry and strawberry fruit flavors and good acidity. A cut above quaffable and a nice value.

13% ABV
Stelvin closure
Score: 8/10

We are out in Orange County for the first leg of our South California beach vacation and spent 12+ hours at Disneyland yesterday. Being a winegeek in Disneyland used to be an experience in futility because the only wine in the park was at the exclusive (and private) Club 33 in New Orleans Square. But five years ago they opened the California Adventure park across from the Magic Kingdom and one of the attractions is the Golden Vine Winery. So after a hard day of attractions such as the awesomely retooled Space Mountain, I found time to enjoy a glass of Sauvignon Blanc amongst the nearly ripe Chardonnay vines at Golden Vine. The Brancott SB from 2005 tasted better than the ‘04 I reviewed on Winecast 44, but it could have been the setting and the heat of the day. Later in the evening we dined at the new Cafe Orleans restaurant in New Orleans Square. Although just across the street from Club 33, no vino was available to pair with their solid menu. A modest proposal, Mr. Disneyland: please offer wine in your finer dining establishments in The Magic Kingdom, too…

I’m on the way to the airport to catch our flight to L.A. Posting will be lighter than normal until my return on September 2nd. I’ll also get back into the podcasting groove as I am bringing 3 shows worth of notes with me on our trip to finish. With everything currently going on in my life I’m looking forward to unplugging and recharging the batteries. I also hope to sample some wines from Baja California while on the beach in San Diego, but I digress…

It would seem that Robert Parker is in the market for a couple of new tasters for the Wine Advocate staff according to a piece on Decater’s website. Dr. Vino has a great post about this, too. My only comment is how does one get their resume in for these gigs? I’m heading over to eBob to find out…

As mentioned here in the past, I’m a fan of Tom Wark’s FERMENTATION blog. Not only does he post often, he regularly is provocative in his views on the business of wine. From time to time he puts his tongue a bit in his cheek and posts Top 10 lists; today’s post got me thinking about the top 10 wine blogs. I know there is a list out there of the top 100 wine blogs, but it seems a bit off for me with non-blogs and defunct blogs listed. Since I wanted this information for a couple of projects I am working on, I looked into the only objective ranking system I trust in the blogosphere: Technorati. Over the past few weeks I have chipped away and logging in 50 wine blogs gleaned from my aggregator and the “top 100″ list, weeding out the entries that aren’t actively being published or are not really blogs in the first place.

The results are far from complete, but here are the current “top 10″ wine blogs sorted by Technorati Ranking:

1. Professor Bainbridge (1,209)
2. Vinography (5,129)
3. Stormhoek (6,372)
4. FERMENTATION (15,346)
5. LENNDEVOURS (16,150)
6. Winecast (16,513)
7. Basic Juice (17,772)
8. Spittoon (19,648)
9. Dr. Vino (20,594)
10. Grape Radio (24,143)

I’m pleased (and humbled) to see my blog on this list and happy to see that 20% here are podcasts. I’m sure I’ve missed a few blogs on my list, but think this is an interesting first cut. Let me know if you have another approach that makes more sense.

So I guess this blog is not on Tom’s proposed, “Top Ten Wine Blogs That Don’t Advocate Top Ten Lists”

Looks like the latest Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott picture is a cross between Wall Street and Mondovino. Given their past work, I’ll be in line when this is released in the U.S. Nov. 10, 2006.

I’m getting ready for our summer vacation and ten days without the trusty Macbook. That doesn’t mean I won’t be blogging here or reading my favorite wine blogs as I have a Windows Mobile handheld. My only gripe as I load up the feeds into Egress is that some of my favorite wine blogs don’t provide full text posts on their feeds. I’m talkin’ to you Alder and Jeff! Please ease my pain and do what Andrew does and provide the alternative full text feed. Or just make your main feed full text like I do and my friends Lenn and Beau. It will make my days on the beach in San Diego so much better; thanks in advance