The movement to get wine sold in grocery stores here in Minnesota has been tabled for another year in the State Legislature. The “Wine with Dinner” bill, sponsored by Minnesota Grocers, didn’t make it out of committee. The sponsors vow to not give up and point to overwhelming support with voters, but I don’t hold much hope for wine sales in supermarkets here anytime soon.

Without getting too far into the liquor laws of my current home state, most of the issue boils down to the powerful interests of the three tier system. To complicate matters further, many cities have monopolized wine distribution so there is no competition in the city I live in. Therefore, I buy most of my wine in Minneapolis or St. Paul where wine stores are allowed and the variety is much better than municipal stores. All this adds up to higher wine prices for Minnesota consumers.

So as logical and popular it might be to make wine available in grocery stores, I really don’t think it will happen here due to the political interests. Too bad for wineries and consumers, the groups who’s interests are not being served in this case. It also provides an interesting opportunity for Wine 2.0 sites to sell directly to Minnesota consumers since we are used to paying 10% or more than most States for vino.

I still wish the Wine with Dinner folks well and encourage fellow Minnesotans to voice their opinion on the issue with their State Representative, etc. There’s always next term…

Last week while driving around Napa Valley I caught up with some of my podcast listening. One of the episodes of Grape Radio I listened to was a fascinating interview with wine critic Stephen Tanzer from International Wine Cellar. I really enjoyed the two-part interview Grape Radio did over a year ago but this time the conversation really hit home with me from the very beginning.

As I’ve blogged here in the past, I am a reluctant practitioner of numerical ratings. I’ve been using them for long enough to develop a clinical process of reviewing wine with points for appearance, aroma, flavor and overall enjoyment. So I was somewhat surprised to hear Mr. Tanzer’s candid remarks about his use of the 100-point scale near the beginning of the podcast, calling the process Robert Parker uses “silly.” Since I mirror my rating process after Mr. Parker, I guess I fall in this silly category too. Mr. Tanzer characterized his use of numerical scores as a sort of “shorthand” for his impression of a wine; a sort of digest of his written tasting notes. While I agree that numerical scores look far too precise than they really are, I don’t agree that scores are just an emotional response to a wine. At least the way I score wines. The discussion did further underscore how subjective wine reviews are and readers can’t really compare each reviewers scores with others. The best we can hope for is that the individual reviewer is as consistent as humanly possible with his or her scores.

Later in the show the conversation turned to how few new entrants there seem to be in the wine reviewing space. Of course they were referring to print publications and newsletters but I was somewhat surprised that no one mentioned wine bloggers. That’s because I don’t think the next Parker, Tanzer or Laube will come from the established wine press or wine trade but will emerge from the growing wine blogosphere. I also think there will not be only a handful of voices reviewing wines, as there are today, but hundreds. And collectively there will be a lot more information about a lot more wines to help consumers make buying decisions.

Check out Grape Radio’s latest interview with Stephen Tanzer here. It’s a long show but very much worth your time.

Well, it’s been almost three weeks since my last post so I’m playing catch-up here… the summary for Wine Blogging Wednesday 33, the first time I’ve missed participating in over 2 years, was posted some time ago. Also posted was the theme for WBW 34: Washington Cabernet. I’ll be looking for a wine to fill the bill and getting back into the swing of things by June 13th.

It’s sort of a bummer since I tasted four wines for WBW 33 but didn’t have the chance to write the entry up in time. Will save my notes for a podcast soon.

Just a reminder for Twin Cities readers that I’ll be at the ZAP Grand Tasting in Minneapolis from around 7 p.m this evening.

If you are looking for something to do and to support a great cause, it looks like you can still pick up tickets. For those there, look for me scribbling notes at Ridge and Rosenblum’s tables first before venturing out to try wines from producers I am not familiar with and didn’t get the chance to sample at ZAP in January. Full coverage of the standout wines will follow this weekend.

Check out the details here.

Another Unfiltered podcast recorded two weeks ago with co-host Jeff Lefevere and I welcoming guest Paul Mabray from Inertia Beverage Group and panelist Mark Fisher from the Dayton Daily News and Uncorked blog.

00:23 - Welcome and Introductions
01:15 - Inertia Beverage Q&A
07:33 - Florida may close direct shipping of wine
11:56 - Wine drinkers think more clearly than teetotalers
18:04 - Food bloggers free for all
26:46 - Sales of pinot, sparkling, rose & screwcaps up
36:42 - Freeze in east, midwest effects grape crops
41:36 - Everyone plugs their blogs & we sign off

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Ryan from Catavino has taken a page from his Wine Blog Atlas and created a new site devoted to the wines of Spain, Atlas del Vino Español. The Google Maps mashup site is chock full of information about Spanish wine with every winery listed, an events calendar, podcasts - both audio & video - and a forum. And all the text content is presented in Spanish and English so this is the first wine blog/podcast site I’ve seen that is truly bilingual (the podcasts are mostly English right now with a Spanish one also available as I post this).

Right now they are covering the FENAVIN fair in very regular podcasts and Twitter posts. I’m looking forward to seeing how this site develops.

Check it out here.

I’ve been meaning to mention that ZAP is not just about their big tasting in San Francisco in January or their other events in California, but they take their wines on the road and visit a number of cities across the U.S.

Their spring tour is in full swing this week with stops in Austin, Texas on May 8th, Phoenix, Arizona on May 10th and my hometown of Minneapolis on May 11-12. Get all the details at the ZAP website. If you are a zinophile like me, you will want to attend these tastings.

For Twin Cities readers and listeners, I’ll be at the Zinposium and Grand Tasting next Friday evening. Feel free to interrupt my spitting and scribbling anytime… and, yes, that long delayed ZAP podcast is in the works for posting next weekend. Think of it as the best of ZAP, coast to prairie