It’s been interesting watching the reaction to James Suckling’s retirement from the Wine Spectator announced a couple weeks ago (note: I wrote this post 11 days ago but only posting it now due to some issues with my blog software). I first found out about it on Twitter where the discussion was a mix of shock and congratulations to Mr. Suckling directly. And while other wine bloggers don’t see the importance of this event, I think it’s a big deal as it makes the future of wine criticism a bit clearer.

Longtime readers know where I stand about where wine writing and criticism is going. Without rehashing my previous post, let’s just say that the current print model is not a sustainable long-term model for any wine publication. But the rub is that it pays the bills now and makes the transition to the future of online delivery via mobile digital devices a bit of a timing problem for traditional wine pubs. I think the folks at Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate get this but will probably not pick the optimal point to pivot their business models since the point of optimal profits with their current model is difficult to predict. Therein lies opportunity for those without these existing concerns.

And James Suckling is one of just a few people in the wine industry who can take advantage of this transition. Internationally known and respected, he can plant a blog and wine review database in a short period of time and begin to make money through subscriptions. He has the connections and means to start building his non-Wine Spectator owned content immediately. And I’m sure if he just focused on Bordeaux he would probably make more money than being on the Wine Spectator staff.

But this path is open to a handful of professional wine critics who have an existing brand. What about the critics of the future?

Clearly there is opportunity for anyone with the ability and passion to build an online audience. But there is also the issue of access to a reasonable amount of wine to gain credibility and a critical mass of reviews. Although most wine bloggers get a fair amount of samples to review these days, it’s not even close to the amount professional wine critics have the opportunity to taste. Sure, we can attend trade tastings but these conditions are not optimal for serious reviews.

That said, I think there will be another Robert Parker-type story where someone will move from part-time wine reviewer to full-time critic. The only difference is this critic will not build their brand at places like the Wine Spectator. The future of wine criticism is a bit clearer after the events of two weeks ago; at least to me. I wish James Suckling the best of luck in his future endeavors and will no doubt return to this subject in future posts.

The Future of Wine Criticism Gets Clearer originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

When Should You Return Wine? originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

This week I attended a technology conference held by one of my clients. It has been a long time since I have attended such a gathering but the change of pace was welcome. Like in my past life as a tech marketer, I was “the wine guy” at a dinner. You know, the guy you give the wine list to in order to take the pressure off such decisions. Over the past 20 years I have been put in this position hundreds of times and have always come away justified.

Not this time, however.

First, in my defense, the restaurant we dined was really a “19th hole”, sports-bar type of place in a resort near O’Hare airport in Chicagoland. My dinner companions were tech CEO’s, retail journalists and my client. Easy, I thought, as I surveyed the bar and saw some good choices in craft beer on tap. The same person who chose those must have pulled together a decent wine list, or at least left the task to his liquor distributor.

When the wine list arrived I surveyed the contents. On one side of a normal sized menu were mostly supermarket wines arranged by style, subtle to bold, white, pink and red. I also noted that Riesling was misspelled, not a good sign (I before E, Especially after R, folks!). There were few of the standard “tent-pole” restaurant wines I normally gravitate to in such situations if there is nothing else interesting. In fact, there was only one such wine, a Napa Valley Cab that was the most expensive wine on the list.

Picking wines in such situations is always filled with peril but in this case my client was paying so I passed on the safe choice. After asking what everyone preferred and what food they were considering, it was clear we needed a medium bodied red wine. Longtime readers will remember I favor Zinfandel so I looked to see what they had. Only one, from one of the “3-R’s” but not in my top two choices of those “R’s”. Next on the list were two Aussie Shiraz from producers I have never had before. The rest of the list were your normal assortment of Merlot, Pinot and Cabernets; nothing notable except that over-priced Napa Cab I mentioned before.

When the time came to order the wine I selected one of the Shiraz picking the wine with the same family name as an executive in my client’s company. Since he is British, there was a chance there was some connection with this Australian wine. I knew my client would get it and hoped it was at least a standard example of the variety. I was wrong; very wrong.

The next part of my tale is not pretty. The wine in question arrived opened and full glasses were poured to my left until the bottle was empty when the waiter asked if we wanted a second bottle. Since the table was not served I ordered that bottle and the waiter left to fetch it. Those served wine smelled and tasted my selection and made funny faces. I knew there was a problem. Around this time, the person on my left pushed the glass my way saying she did not drink and thought I might want to try the wine. I swirled and lifted the glass to smell an unholy brew of volatile acidity, alcohol and blackberry, the latter in the very back.

Crap.

I let everyone know the wine was bad and I would order something else to replace it. After tasting it was clear something went very wrong at the winery and what we had was a 16% AVA boozer with what could have been a few weeks of 100+ F days at sea. The waiter came back and said he would be bringing the second bottle out and I said this wine we bad and we would order something else. In short order I selected the Zin from the lesser of the “3-R’s”… at least it wasn’t their supermarket cuvée.

What happened next even surprised me as a Zin appeared on the other side of the table opened and poured before I could point out it was not the wine I selected. The waiter came over and said it was the wine I ordered quoting the number on the list as I pointed to the brand on the list that did not match. It seemed likely from the vintage this Zin was the last bottle in the same bin but I still wanted to get what I picked. As I tried the Zin I had not selected, I was happy that it didn’t have serious flaws other than being somewhat generic and tired (it was a 2005). The bottle I ordered finally arrived and everyone got some sort of Zinfandel that at least was drinkable.

I recount this tale as a warning to not stray from your game plan in these situations. Unless you know the wine you are choosing well, don’t take a flyer on something that might be a disaster. Next time I’m in such a situation, I’ll get that generic Oregon supermarket Pinot. Lesson learned.

The Perils of Being “The Wine Guy” originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Best of the wine blogosphere for November 16th through December 31st:

• An Opaz/Catavino Christmas Letter – A Year in Review
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #64: The Wrapup
• The top 10 wine things we need less of in 2010
• Field Notes from a Wine Life – Year End Edition
• What Wine Blogging Needs
• Winemaker to watch: Steve Matthiasson
• Yet Another Wine Column Casualty in the Newspaper Business
• Join Twisted Oak for Menu for Hope!
• January 6: Taste Live with Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc
• The critic of the future? Not on Twitter. Not on Yelp. On-demand on your cell phone.
• Kevin Costner and the Nature of Wine Ratings
• Wine tasting packs feature four mini samples
• Time to belly up to the barcode? [scanners]
• The 1WineDude.com Top 10 Most Interesting Wines of 2009
• Blind tasting at Wine Spectator again an issue
• Beaujolais Showdown
• Cartograph is California Bonded Winery #16623
• 2009 top 100 wines: Zinfandel and other reds
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #64 Announced: Holiday Wine Pairing — With a Twist
• The future of wine writing

Best Wine Blog Posts for November 16th through December 31st originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Despite my fairly checkered past in making predictions for the coming year, I am back with another batch. I think 2010 will be a transformative year for the wine business and for wine blogging. The economy will show improvement by the summer which will reverse the “nuclear winter” we have seen for the sales of high-end wines over the past 18 months. But there will also be some surprises in 2010:

The Return of the Luxury Wine Segment – It’s been a tough year for wines above $35 a bottle. In fact, Mike Grgich recently commented he had never seen a more challenging year in his 50 in Napa Valley. But that will change as the economy gains strength and American consumers vote with their wallets. There will continue to be a trend toward value but those $60-80 Cabs will start to sell again.

Wineries Integrate Social Media Marketing – As I mentioned in my review of 2009 yesterday, social media was one of the big trends last year with wineries tweeting and connecting with customers on Facebook. This will be the norm by the end of 2010 with social marketing fully integrated into the go-to-market plans of wineries of all sizes. No longer will it be, “nice to do,” or something to get an edge on competitors. Social marketing will be a requirement for growth by the end of this year.

Wineries Will Go Mobile – This is the next frontier as mobile, local and social all converge on smartphones such as the iPhone. Apple’s forthcoming tablet will also change the way consumers use the web to learn about wine and also buy it. Early adopter wineries are already working on their mobile strategies; by year-end nearly everyone will be playing catch-up as this space heats up.

Wine Bloggers Will Discover Business Models – We have seen the rise of the “professional” wine blogger in the past couple of years and I expect more of us will discover how to turn our hobbies into cash. No, it will not be a full-time living for most, but it will be a significant enough incentive to create content on a regular basis. Some will cry foul as monetization can lead to conflicts of interest but there will be several bloggers who will figure this out.

A Major Wine Print Publications Will Fold – OK, so this is my outrageous prediction for the year. And I don’t think this casualty will be the Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast or newsletters like the Wine Advocate. But the times are changing and I don’t see a great future for print wine magazines particularly after new technologies that fundamentally redefine what a magazine is hit the market early this year (e.g. Apple iSlate or whatever this will be called). I hope to see some true innovation in online wine coverage, too.

So that’s all I’ve got this year. Let me know what you think in the comments. I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous 2010 (and that’s, “twenty-ten”).

My Wine Predictions for 2010 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

I’m not sure where to start with this wine since my review of the previous vintage became the subject for the first wine blogger meltdown ever last year. I even thought of not posting a review due to this experience but my curiosity got the better of me and I had to see what the wine would be like on it’s second vintage.

Would I like it? Is is worth $75 a bottle in these recessionary times?

One of my treats for the holidays is a roast beef dinner which usually happens on Christmas Day. This past year, the roast was moved to New Year’s eve and the wine I selected to pair with this menu was not the usual Bordeaux or Napa Cab but the sample of Rockaway Cabernet received some time ago from Rodney Strong Vineyards. If you read my review of the 2005 release, there is a run down of the vineyard blocks involved and production methods used. Approximately the same process was used for the 2006 wine with most of the final blend being Cabernet Sauvignon and only slightly spiced by a dollop or two of Malbec and Petit Verdot. The result is one of the most pure single vineyard expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon I’ve ever tasted from California ensuring Rockaway’s position among the very best wines made from this grape in the state.

Tasting Notes:

Rodney Strong Vineyards, “Rockaway” Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley 2006 ($75/sample) – A blend of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot. Very dark purple in color, the wine shows the same refined aromatics from the previous vintage. Black cherry, dark currant, green olive, sage, fennel and vanilla return with some cigar box added for good measure. In the mouth the wine is very firm and focused even after more than 2 hours in a decanter with blackberry and black-currant fruit flavors along with black pepper and dark chocolate. The finish is long with very firm tannins at this point but worked as a very nice companion to the slightly fatty roast beef last night.

To be released in February 2010, I would recommend at least 5 years of aging before opening your first bottle. At this point, 3+ hours in the decanter is required to fully enjoy this wine but it is clear this will be one of the best California Cabs to collect based upon the first two vintages.

15.4% ABV
Natural cork closure
Score: 96
[rating:4.5/5]

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• The Rodney Strong Single Vineyard Program (goodgrape.com)

Rodney Strong, Rockaway Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Although some folks don’t care for such prognostication, I posted six predictions 365 days ago for 2009. Before I post a new set for 2010, I thought I would revisit this post and see how close I came to foretelling what might happen last year in the wine world:

The Year of Value – It didn’t take a rocket scientist to predict consumers would look for the best wine values in 2009. The final statistics will not be out for a few days but from what I’ve seen recently, wine sales actually increased in the U.S. and Canada in 2009 but wines above $35 a bottle were flat to slightly down over 2008. The entire market traded down in 2009; it will be interesting to see what happens as the economy improves.

Wineries Really Go Direct - One of the industry trends that I closely track is adoption of social media. As smaller wineries come to grips with the reality that distributors are no longer the best place to sell their wines, they will look to new ways to connect directly with customers. We saw a lot of activity in this area in 2009 with wineries big and small adopted social marketing in a big way. I fully expect to see a lot more activity this year as wineries of all sizes expand their direct-to-consumer sales efforts.

Alternative Packaging – I’ve noticed a large increase in the amount of alternative closures in the past year with a sharp rise in the amount of screwcaps but also quite a few plastic corks being used. But this was really not part of this prediction so I guess I have to call this one a fail. Or perhaps this prediction is just a bit ahead of the curve.

Wine 2.0 Will Produce A Star – Another miss as no one really emerged from the Wine 2.0 pack. But I still think we will see a winner here in the next 12 months as Cork’d gets serious, CellarTracker gets a much needed user interface update and Snooth continues to grow.

Wine Media Goes Digital – I have to say that I’m surprised there wasn’t at least one wine magazine making more than just evolutionary moves online. Both Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate improved their online offerings in the year but no one really did anything very dramatic. A pity as 2010 looks to be the year of the tablet (or at least, the eBook reader). Time was lost and it will show by the end of this year.

Americans Drink Less Wine At Lower Price Points – As I mentioned on my first prediction, wine sales appear to be up over 2008 but at lower prices. So I’ll count this one as half right.

So 2 1/2 out of 6 or about 42% right. I guess I’m improving over my earlier efforts but still not a very reliable predictor of the future. If I didn’t have 5 really good predictions already written up, I just might just give this up… no, probably not, as it’s still too much fun for me.

Happy New Year!

Looking Back at 2009 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Five years and one day after I started this blog and podcast I get back behind the mic and restart regular podcasting. This episode features an interview with Rudy McClain, the filmmaker of the documentary Merlove. I also pick three Merlot wines from my tasting log for review.

Show Notes:

00:30 – Welcome and show theme
02:22 – Interview with Merlove filmmaker Rudy McClain
15:25 – My review of the documentary Merlove
17:35 – Review of Bodegas Osborne, “Solaz”, Merlot-Tempranillo 2006
18:43 – Review of Blackstone, Merlot, Sonoma Reserve 2007
19:18 – Review of Raphael, Merlot 2001
21:37 – Feedback & call for new theme music
22:13 – Next show theme

Tasting Notes:

Bodegas Osborne, “Solaz”, Merlot (65%) Tempranillo (35%), 2006 ($9) – Garnet in color with aromas of black cherry, white pepper, licorice and vanilla. Bold plum and black cherry fruit with black pepper finishing with just a hint of bell pepper and moderate tannins. A very nice table wine for under $10.

13.5% ABV
Synthetic cork closure
[rating:3/5]

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Snooth Listing

Blackstone, Merlot, Sonoma Reserve 2007 ($20/sample) – Dark purple with aromas of black cherry, dark current and sage. Rich plum and dark cherry fruit with some mint finishing with supple tannins.

14.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
[rating:3.5/5]

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Snooth Listing

Raphael, Merlot, North Fork of Long Island 2001 ($25/750 ml/won in Menu for Hope raffle; tasted from 3L) – Deep garnet in color with aromas of black cherry, currant and mint. Rich black current and black cherry fruit with white pepper, bell pepper flavors finishing with moderate but well integrated tannins. Has structure for another 10 years in the cellar in this format. Outstanding Long Island Merlot that I would guess was from Bordeaux in a blind tasting.

12.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
[rating:4/5]

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Snooth Listing

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Copyright 2009 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Winecast 76 – Merlove originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

At the beginning of June I wrote a post in response to Pinotblogger Josh Hermsmeyer’s wine blogger contest. Basically, Josh challenged us to write about what motivates us to blog and if the role of a wine reviewer is to prescribe the ways in which a wine should be made or just write about what’s in the bottle. Had I not waited until the last moment to post my thoughts, or had seen Josh’s tweet about my lack of a wine review, I might have been in the running for the prize (yes, I’m one of the wine bloggers Josh calls out here). Ironically, the wine I would have chosen for that post would be from a winery right in Josh’s backyard in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, C. Donatiello Winery.

I was not familiar with C. Donatiello Winery before they tracked me down on Twitter and sent a couple samples. The winery is in the same building as the venerable Belvedere Winery which I remember from the 1980′s. Chris Donatiello is the owner and marketer while Webster Marquez, formerly of Williams Selyem, is the winemaker.

There seems to be two schools of California Chardonnay these days. On one hand you have the full malolactic “butter bombs” that are usually further marred by being over oaked. On the other, there is a growing trend of “naked” Chardonnay that celebrates the purity of fruit with the only wood contact being the cork (if they use a natural one at all). There are, of course, other approaches. Some iconoclasts subscribe to the Chablis or Burgundy model of partial or no ML and mostly neutral oak with extended lees contact. In my experience this last approach makes the most interesting California Chardonnay as I like my whites with lots of acidity so they pair well with food.

So that’s what makes this wine so interesting to me. Grown in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, this wine spent 9 months in 50% new and 50% neutral French oak. And it shows in the nice mouth weight and complexity of flavors. But unlike a lot of it’s full ML brethren, this Chardonnay still has enough acidity to clean the palate and pair with food. I’ve written here before that I don’t enjoy what ML usually does to Chardonnay and other white varieties but I can respect a craftman at work. Unlike some other wines I’ve reviewed, I really like this one a lot and will be seeking out several more bottles for my cellar.

Tasting Notes:

C. Donatiello Winery, Chardonnay, Russian River Valley 2006 ($41/sample) – Medium straw in color with aromas of ripe pineapple, pear, almond and toast. Silky pear and green apple fruit with a nice rich mouthfeel and just a touch of caramel on the long finish. A delicious, pure expression of fruit enhanced by French oak.

14.4% ABV
Natural cork closure
[rating:4/5]

Buy this wine online
Snooth listing

C. Donatiello Winery, Chardonnay 2006 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

I have blogged and podcasted several notes for Pax Cellars Syrah over the years so I was looking forward to revisiting this producer for my birthday dinner last night. The producer has been in a state of flux over the past year or so with winemaker Pax Mahle leaving in the summer of 2008 but my stock of Pax wines were produced and bottled (I assume) before these troubles began. I tasted many of these wines in barrel and blogged them for Wine Blogging Wednesday 30 almost 3 years ago now so I was wondering what had become of them. Would these wines continue to evolve and gain complexity in bottle or would the substantial fruit yield to the high alcohol?

Let me preface this review with a note about the Pax, Walker Vine Hill, Syrah from 2004 that I tasted earlier this year but have yet to blog. This wine, although brimming with fruit and complexity, was overwhelmed by it’s 15.5% alcohol leaving the resulting wine out of balance and a bit disappointing. Wine is a living beast and changes over time. I could have opened that bottle at a time when it was closed down and it could return to offer more of what I expected in the future. Then again, it could be over the hill. Such are the risks when signing up for the Pax high wire act.

What I appreciate most about these wines is the uncompromising approach Pax Mahle took. After rigorous vineyard practices, the grapes were trod under foot and fermented with native yeast. After light pressing, the wine was put in barrel where it was only racked before bottling. Such minimal practices are old school Burgundian but Pax practiced them with Rhone varieties in single vineyards in California. Syrah was his jewel. This uncompromising approach made for a fair amount of production sold on the bulk market which probably had something to do with Mr. Mahle’s departure. But in the end, what matters is in the glass.

Tasting Notes:

Pax Wine Cellars, Syrah, Alder Springs, 2005,  $55 – Opaque purple-garnet in the glass with aromas of blackberry, bacon, chaparral and black licorice. Rich and concentrated blackberry and black raspberry fruit in the mouth with white pepper and mint finishing long with firm tannins. A very well balanced and delicious New World Syrah. I would cellar for at least another 5 years or decant for 3 hours before serving.

14.2% ABV
Natural cork closure
[rating:4/5]

Buy this wine online
Snooth listing

Pax Cellars, Syrah, Alder Springs 2005 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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Crowdsourcing Wine Selection For My Birthday Dinner originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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Best of the wine blogosphere for July 3rd through July 30th:

• Cabernet Franc: What We Learned From 656 Glasses of Wine
• The Coming of Age of Wine Blogging
• Jancis Robinson Talks About Her Career in Wine at IPNC
• The Sierra Gap – and more on American wine consumers
• The Blob: Will the wine industry co-opt social media for its own purposes?
• Anthony Dias Blue, bloggers, and the exposure package
• Helpawinery.com Launched
• Murphy-Goode’s “Dream Job” Winner – and What It Means for Wine
• Hashtags for Wine Exploration
• Domaine Tempier, Bandol, France: Current Releases
• Checking Wine: My Experience with Virgin Atlantic
• Can social media save the day for wineries?
• “We’ve Got A Long Way To Go And Short Time To Get There!”
• Why do some of the cultiest of the cults never send me wine?
• I Have Seen the Future of Wine–And It’s Alsace
• Hugh Johnson does not find California wines “undrinkable”
• smarter wine, cont’d…
• IBG To Dispose of New Vine Assets Within Two Weeks
• Napa Valley Zinfandel
• Should More Long Island Wineries Submit to Wine Spectator? (Part 1)

Best Wine Blog Posts for July 3rd through July 30th originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Josh Hermsmeyer, the guy behind the must read Pinotblogger site, has issued a challenge to all wine bloggers and will reward the winner with a prize of up to $1,000 depending upon how many respond to his call. In a nutshell, he is asking us to answer two questions:

• Why are you passionate about wine/what motivates you to blog about it?
• Is it appropriate for a wine reviewer to prescribe the ways in which a wine should be made or is their job chiefly to review what’s in the bottle?

Times being what they are, I will attempt to answer these somewhat provocative questions and perhaps give you some more insight into what makes amateur wine writers tick. Or at least how I come at this craft.

So the first question is pretty straightforward. I blog and podcast about wine because I can and like to do so. Like a lot of wine bloggers, I was the guy everyone asked for wine tips so I found it easier to just write them down and record reviews. Now I just point people here for my picks as opposed to trying to remember them at will. My podcasting got me into blogging due to the same software being used (WordPress). It was easy to blog so I did so soon after I started to podcast in late 2004. I got into podcasting after something clicked with me in September of 2004 when I first discovered the genre. At the time there was something like 25 podcasts but no one was doing anything about wine so Winecast was born. Over the years the podcast has ebbed and flowed but I still will be posting shows and continuing until I don’t find it enjoyable. So I guess I do this because I love wine and like sharing what little I know about it. I had much the same answer a couple years back but with a slightly different spin.

The second question is a bit more complicated. I think Josh is asking this in response to Robert Parker‘s recent statements about wine bloggers (or shall I say “blobbers”?). Mr. Parker has long been accused of influencing winemaking styles in order to garner higher scores which many times leads to more demand and higher prices. The biggest beneficiaries of his ratings has been the classified growths of Bordeaux but some Cali cult wines and Aussie Shiraz has benefited, too. And I don’t blame any producers for making such changes in order to get the scores. It helps sell their wine but is also something that I hope we will get away from in the next decade as Mr. Parker retires and drinks down his cellar.

Wine writers of any level should tell the story of the wine they are reviewing and not dictate what that story should be. Sometimes this is a terroir story, sometimes it’s not. For a review to communicate the essence of the wine, as much context as possible is required. I’ve not delivered on this ideal as much as I would have liked in the past but hope to help invent the new language of wine reviews going forward. We’ll see.

In the meantime, I’ll keep trying new things to communicate how a wine moves me. Wine is a living being that is in constant change. Those of us who write about it should respect this and attempt to bring all the nuances displayed in the glass into our writing.

Unless it’s plonk, of course

The Why & What of Amateur Wine Writing originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

“There’s something happening here / What it is ain’t exactly clear…”                             — Stephen Stills, “For What It’s Worth”

I’ve been away from the blog for much of this month but have been keeping up with my reading and, oh course, tweeting. A few weeks ago Tyler Colman, who blogs as Dr Vino, posted some legitimate questions about policies at The Wine Advocate. What transpired was a discussion of wine writer ethics that at one point featured Robert Parker labeling wine blogs, “…the source of much of the misinformation,distortion,and egegious falsehoods spread with reckless abandon…”

Needless to say, I was not pleased with this comment and wrote a 3,000 word response that concluded with some advice for Mr. Parker, open letter-style. But I never published that post because I thought it would not really do anything positive except, perhaps, make me feel a bit better. Fellow bloggers Joel Vincent and Joe Roberts covered this ground a bit more diplomatically than I did, but with much the same tone.

So I was somewhat surprised to see this issue rehashed this week in the Wall Street Journal. Another discussion broke out on the subject on eBob which was somewhat capped off by a mea culpa of sorts by Mr. Parker. In my book, case closed, but I’m sure there will be some additional chatter in the blogosphere because it creates more traffic and comments.

But I think all this raises a more fundimental question; what is the future of wine writing?

Jeff Lefevere over at Good Grape made a good point about bell curves the other day and it’s clear that dominance of The Wine Advocate and other wine review newsletters is on the downward slope of the curve. Local newspapers are cutting back on wine writers even in big metros such as Los Angeles and New York. As I’ve written here before, I don’t think there is a great future for wine glossies such as the Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast unless they transform their business models quickly and figure out how to make money online.

So the future is wine blogs, right? Perhaps, but there are some, such as Alice Feiring, who doubt it as she recently blogged:

And who knows if wine writing will exist in any form. If what only exists is the blog world, God help us. I’m not saying that some of my colleagues don’t give great blog, but finding the knowledgeble folk who don’t have something to ‘sell’ is tough. And then finding some voices who have done homework is even tougher.

Whatever the format, there will be a void in wine writing in the next decade that will be filled by new voices. With the rise of Millennials as major wine consumers, this format will no doubt be digital and presented online in several contexts (text, video, audio, mobile). The question at hand is if the serious wine consumer of the future will pay for this information or will expect this to be freely available and ad supported.

My gut tells me it will be a bit of both but I seriously doubt there will be a solo critic success story like Robert Parker. It’s not because the talent doesn’t exist but that the circumstances are vastly different than they were 30 years ago when Mr. Parker got his start. Back then you didn’t have to be independently wealthy in order to sample the top wines of the world. You could buy them and share them with friends at weekend tastings where everyone chipped in for the wines. This is how the wines for The Wine Advocate were financed along with Mr. Parker’s rather generous personal wine budget (how he talked his wife into this early on would make a great story, but I digress).

Today it is nearly impossible for the independent wine blogger to buy the sufficient amount of wine to provide the breadth of coverage required to attract enough readers to make a wine blog financially viable. Yes, we do receive samples but this alone doesn’t provide enough tasting opportunities; the reviewer still needs to travel and purchase more wines at retail. Both not easy given the current economic climate but even in better times one would have to spend at least $100,000 a year in order to review enough wines to make a serious go of it.

But I do think that several wine bloggers working together at a single blog is the future of wine writing. Each could cover a wine region or variety in depth and in aggregate this content would attract enough of an audience to sell sponsorships, drive affiliate programs and other monetization opportunities. Think Engadget but for wine.

I think we will see such a blog launch yet in 2009 and there will be several existing wine bloggers who will be convinced to write for this site as they continue to maintain their own blogs. The “Robert Parker of the future” will be a blogger but I doubt he or she will go it alone. But together, even a small team could create enough content and traffic to build the next wine publishing empire.

The time is now; the question is who will step up and try to do this first?

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• The Parker Brouhaha (elevage.blogspot.com)
• Conflicts of interest and all that… (wineanorak.com)
• Bloggers to Parker: Drop dead (steveheimoff.com)

The Future of Wine Writing originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Best of the wine blogosphere for April 15th through May 29th:

• News from the trenches
• Confession! Alice and Reductive Wine Writing Ethics
• Hermann J. Wiemer 2007 Dry Riesling
• Announcing TasteNY: A Virtual Exploration of New York Wine, Beer and Spirits
• Postcard from Germany: A House Divided
• Life is a Bell Curve
• Why We Owe Robert Parker
• Wine Advocate Writers Spark Ethics Debate – Wall Street Journal
• Changes in Latitude, Changes in Gratitude (Reflections on TasteCamp East)
• Tasting with Fredric: Ridge Vertical
• F.K. & the Ox-Tail & Ridge Geyserville
• What is Social Media Worth to a Winery?
• Snooth’s iPhone Application
• Thoughts on Taste Live, Twitter and online wine tasting
• How To Spit Wine
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #56: The Round-up
• It’s a Damn Cryin’ Shame! …
• Changes at The Wine Advocate? Correspondence with Parker and Miller
• The X’d files: an exchange not seen on eRobertParker.com
• 20 Things Every Wine Lover Should Do

Best Wine Blog Posts for April 15th through May 29th originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

It is rare that you see mainstream critics write about so-called “industrial wines” and most unusual when they actually say good things about them. So I was surprised to see Wine Spectator critic Jim Laube blog about an $8 California Pinot Noir a couple weeks ago. Naturally I was curious to taste the wine myself and see how close my experience would be to Mr. Laube’s. The wine in question is from the Cecchetti Wine Company marketed under the RedTree brand. I picked it up on the end-cap at my local wine store for $5.50 on sale.

I am somewhat familiar with RedTree from their Zinfandel I tasted recently. You don’t often see Zin in the less than $10 range so when I see a new entrant I try it to see if they will be giving Ravenswood a run for their money in this price category. Sorry to report that the RedTree Zin didn’t live up to expectations with over ripe blackberry fruit overwhelmed by alcohol (listed at 14.5% ABV but likely over 15%). So how could their Pinot be anything other than a light generic red wine?

I’m not sure how they did it but the 2008 RedTree Pinot Noir is an unbelievable value at the less than $6 I paid for it on sale. Even at $12 this wine would give Mark West Pinot some serious competition. Darker than most Pinot, the wine smells like you would expect with strawberry and red cherry fruit with just a hint of the earthiness associated with Pinot. Red cherry and strawberry fruit flavors complete the package finishing with supple tannins. Surprisingly correct varietal character for a Central Valley wine.

12.5% ABV
Screw Cap closure
[rating:3.5/5]

Buy this wine online

My buying advice is to pick up a bottle yourself and then get a case or two if you concur (my retailer had a mail-in rebate for case purchases). I don’t expect to see the same value in the next release but will definitely give it a try next year. In the meantime I’ll be buying some Petite Sirah to see if the Zin was a fluke or trend with heavier bodied reds. They also make a Cabernet, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.

Thanks for the tip, Jim; keep ‘em coming.

RedTree, Pinot Noir 2008

RedTree, Pinot Noir 2008 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I’ve been thinking these past weeks about how to post a number of reviews I have in my Evernote tasting log. After experimenting with different formats I think I have arrived at a good starting point that will be refined as I go through your feedback and by just posting reviews. Since wineries have sampled more than they ever have over the past few months, many of these reviews will be disclosed as such and this got me thinking about a more formal disclosure about how I taste and review wines.

When I started 4 and a half years ago I bought all my wines at retail. I still buy a fair amount today and these wines are not labeled after the retail price I paid. Since I live in a State that likes to tax and control the sale of alcohol to the extreme, your retail price will most likely be lower. All samples provided for review are labeled after the winery suggested retail price with the “/sample” tag. For the rare case of wines tasted in tasting rooms, wine events or trade tastings I will be using a new tag, “/tasting”, to denote that I have tasted under these conditions. I usually do not post these reviews as I will be tasting a number of wines in the, “sniff, taste, spit,” routine. Wines I especially like will be tasted twice before I make notes. Most of the notes posted here with this tag will be in more controlled winery tasting room or barrel cellar conditions.

I think these disclosures are important to the reader as it shows how long I have spent with each wine before writing down my impressions. For all samples and wines bought at retail this is typically over the course of 2-3 days, in controlled conditions with and without food. After tasting, the bottles are topped with inert gas to prevent oxidation. Notes written at tastings are 2-3 minute snapshots of wines which tends to favor the most concentrated and aromatic wines which is why I typically don’t post those reviews. Usually I pick up bottles of the wines I like at tastings to taste later at home. Unless I make it clear in the review none of the wines are tasted blind. As samples accumulate from the same varietal, I will do more blind tastings and indicate this in my notes.

There are a smattering of scales used on reviews here over the years. I used a 20 point scale (1-10 with half point increments) for a while before converting to the 100-point scale (using Robert Parker’s method). Over the past several months I have exclusively used a 5-star scale I proposed for bloggers some time ago and plan to continue to use this scale going forward. I really don’t like putting a numerical rating on wines but it does provide the reader with some context even if highly subjective. I will also start posting all reviews on Snooth and linking back to each review here to help readers find these wines.

Finally, I have no formal wine education other than reading books and tasting wines on a nearly daily basis since 1982. While Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule might suggest I have reached some sort of expert status in evaluating wine I, like other tasters, still have a lot to learn. My intention is to continue to taste as many wines as I can exploring new varieties and regions and share what I like here. It’s really as simple as that.

Let me know if you have any questions and check out my code of ethics and samples policy posted elsewhere on the site.

How I Taste and Review Wines originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Best of the wine blogosphere for March 31st through April 5th:

• Wine 2.0 Tasting @ Crushpad
• A Second Chance – Casa de Sonoma Cabernet Bottled in 1947
• Jumping the shark, or What gives a wine writer staying power?
• High ABV, Vanilla and Oak: California is the New Focus at LENNDEVOURS
• Pennsylvania Repeals Prohibition!
• Somali Pirates Take Ransom in Wine
• US Department of Agriculture Names Wine the 7th Food Group
• Venerable Bordeaux Chateau Embraces Cute Critter Label

Best Wine Blog Posts for March 31st through April 5th originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Image via Wikipedia

I sat down yesterday to record another Quick Picks podcast but didn’t come up with a usable recording. No, it wasn’t due to some audio setting mishap or lack of a great wine to talk about but something more fundamental.

I didn’t want to read my review.

For some time now I’ve been struggling with this notion of how to make audio wine reviews informative but different than what I write. Too often, I default to the same sort of clinical reviews you see in the Wine Spectator and other wine pubs. Terse notes on color, aromas and flavors topped off with a rating on some scale. For almost 5 years now, that’s been what I’ve been doing. But I’ve had enough.

No, this is not the last post on this blog; far from it. And I will return with a podcast, probably today as I try some new ideas. But there has to be a way to do wine reviews that breaks out from the current print model. Ryan Opaz’ words keep going around in my brain; the internet should be different.

There has been some recent discussion on the subject from wine writers I respect and admire. Eric Asimov addressed this in his talk at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers. As recounted by Alder Yarrow at Vinography, Mr. Asimov called for the abolition of the tasting note; an extreme departure from what we see now in wine writing and even podcasting. We seem compelled to communicate how a wine looks, smells and tastes. And at some level I think readers and listeners are interested in these impressions but I also think there is room to develop a new language for the wine review.

Both Asimov and Yarrow are correct in their main arguments. Eric calls for a complete rethinking of how to capture a wine in worlds and Alder suggests the addition of context is critically important. But at the end of the day, each writes about how a wine looks, smells and tastes.

There has to be another way.

But if we look at other criticism, we don’t get a lot of deviation from this model. Food critics may write about decor and service but they mainly focus on how the food looks and tastes. Music critics talk about how a song evokes emotion but are equally concerned with performance. Film critics are the only ones who seem to have a gig as tough as wine writers but tend to talk about more technical aspects of a movie: plot, dialogue, pacing, camera work and acting. So I don’t think there is a model to emulate.

Perhaps the answer will be found in the conversation here. But then again, maybe not. Whatever the result, things will be changing in my reviews. Because the internet will be different.

Inventing The New Language of Wine Reviews originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Best of the wine blogosphere for March 16th through March 31st:

• Top 10 Tips for Traveling Spain – Don’t Forget the TP!!
• Oops! When famous wine writers get it wrong
• PLAYMOBIL WINE BAR STIRS OUTRAGE
• Come see us at Wine 2.0 this Thursday
• Jack Keller’s Disappeared Wine Blog Update
• European Wine Bloggers Conference, 2009 – Lisbon, Portugal – Could We Be Any Prouder?
• Announcing Wine Blogging Wednesday #56: Fine Kosher Wine
• True North in the New World
• Merry Edwards Wines, Russian River Valley: Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs
• 100 Wines: A Chronicle, #16 & 17
• Dinner with Mauro and Giuseppe Mascarello
• Does It Make Sense to Cellar Wine Under $20?
• Biggest On-Line Wine Event EVER! More details…
• 2005 Viñedos y Bodegas Pablo Garnacha Cariñena Menguante
• Announcing TasteCamp EAST 2009 in Long Island Wine Country
• Chenin Blanc Comparison – Wine Blogging Wednesday
• Chilean versus Californian Wine
• Check out this wine with your mobile phone!
• The Death of Conspicuous Consumption and the Rise of the Memento
• 1989 with Luca Currado

Best Wine Blog Posts for March 16th through March 31st originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Jeff Lefevere and I are back with another edition of the Unfiltered podcast after nearly a year in hiatus. We are joined by Tina Caputo, the Editor-in-Chief of Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, Joel Vincent, Executive Director of the OpenWine Consortium and co-founder of VinTank, and Tom Wark from Wark Communications and FERMENTATION.

Show Notes:

00:26 – Welcome & Introductions
01:18 – Wine Bloggers Conference
07:31 – American Wine Blog Awards
15:55 – Social Media & Wine
23:27 – “Robert Parker’s Bitch” video
48:58 – Tina’s Blog, The Wine Broad’s Board
49:35 – Tom’s Blog, FERMENTATION
49:51 – Jeff’s Blog, Good Grape

Production note: My recording levels were not set correctly and attempts at adjusting this in post-production introduced a lot of noise. This has been corrected for the next episode. These things happen when you don’t podcast for several months

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com
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Unfiltered 9: The Return originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

This Wine Blogging Wednesday thing is becoming a problem for me. No, it’s not the themes but my lack of organization and focus to actually post on time or near to the actual event. I did my last event on the weekend after the Wednesday in question and there have been too many months where I’ve missed posting these on the day prescribed.

So in the “better late than never” category goes this entry, which I actually started last Wednesday but ran out of time to complete; my apologies to our host Remy from The Wine Case for my late entry this time, a week behind the curve. This is after sitting out the last outing (stupidly, as will become obvious in future tasting notes).

But getting back to the task at hand, this month we are challenged by Remy from Quebec City’s The Wine Case blog to taste a variety from the North and South and compare them. This can be by any measure but I thought it best to compare wines made from the same variety from different hemispheres. I also decided to turn to a white grape since I nearly always feature reds for WBW. So I picked Sauvignon Blanc, the variety from Bordeaux that travels well around the world to create interesting wines.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of those ancient varieties that seems to produce pleasing wines no matter what the style. From bone dry to sweet, the variety does well from it’s home in France to California, the valleys of Chile and the vineyards of New Zealand. DNA profiling has connected Sauvignon Blanc as the parent of the noble Cabernet Sauvignon (along with Cabernet Franc) and related to Chenin Blanc and even Traminer. This grape has a lot to tell from several angles and I hoped to be able to triangulate common characteristics from this tasting.

For my northerly selection I chose a recent sample sent from Rued Winery in Dry Creek Valley. I’m a frequent visitor to this part of Sonoma but have not had the pleasure of visiting this winery. From this, and subsequent tastings of other varieties, I will have to drop by to taste more. From the south, we have the ever reliable Kim Crawford from Marlborough, New Zealand. Unlike some wineries acquired and expanded based upon the reputation of early efforts, this brand seems to continue to deliver the goods.

But who will take this North vs. South Sauvignon Blanc showdown?

Tasting Notes:

Rued Winery, Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley 2007  ($16/sample) – Very light straw in color with a green tinge. Citrus and stone fruit aromas with flavors of lime, grapefruit and peach finishing with a burst of acidity and nice mineral notes. A very nice California SB in a style I’d like to see more producers make. Also an excellent value. Paired well with Japanese food but would also be a natural for any seafood you’d squeeze lemon on before eating.

13.5% ABV
Synthetic closure
[rating:3.5/5]

Buy this wine online

Kim Crawford, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2008 ($17/sample) – Light straw in color with aromas of grapefruit, gooseberry and fresh hay. Bright grapefruit and lime flavors finishing very clean with good acidity. A reliable and food friendly SB for current drinking.

13% ABV
Screw cap closure
[rating:3.5/5]

Buy this wine online

So a draw this time with perhaps a slight nod to the North. It seems the northern entry was more mineral while the southern selection more herbaceous. But either would make a great pairing with spring food and are highly recommended. I look forward to next month when I will dare to publish these notes on the correct Wednesday

Check out Remy’s summary for those who posted on time.

WBW 55: North vs. South originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Best of the wine blogosphere for March 8th through March 14th:

• Capitalism, Karma and Building Juju in a Down Economy
• RSVP Now for the Biggest TTL Event Ever!
• Wine & Spirits Restaurant Poll
• I Hate The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board
• Robert Parker’s Bitch
• Paper Tigers, Barriers to Entry and the 2009 Wine Blog Watch List

Best Wine Blog Posts for March 8th through March 14th originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

By way of Josh Hermsmeyer, I found Tina Caputo’s fantastic self-produced short film, “Robert Parker’s Bitch.” The basic premise is that wines today are big, bold, and over-oaked designed, ‘…to taste and spit,” and not savored with food. The question on the table is if Robert Parker and Jim Laube largely determine today’s wine styles or are winemakers trying to reflect the terroir of their region?

While both sides are presented via interviews with winemakers, industry commentators and winery owners, it’s clear what side of the argument the filmmaker is on. But it’s great to see such a controversial issue presented with such transparency.

Bravo, Tina!

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/3519159[/vimeo]

Do Critics Still Determine Wine Styles? originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Image by Cooking Up A Story via Flickr

I watched a documentary on food last night that changed the way I look at the raw materials of my meals. Politics aside, I think we have a problem right now that will take a long time to sort out. And in the meantime, I’m going to spend more time looking into the providence of the meat, grain and produce I buy.

The same can be said about wine. It is rare that I taste a truly flawed wine and when I do it is almost always in the context of a natural wine and not something made in a factory. The flaw — be it brett, VA or reduction — is more often the result of the winemaker pushing bounties and falling short. Not unlike the high-wire trapeze artist who missed the catch and falls into the net. You admire their effort and the resulting wines are most always interesting.

But a lot of wine these days seems to tick all the boxes to make sure it is what consumers want. Forward fruit. Check. Good color. Check. Sweet oak tones. Check. Bright acidity. Check.

All of which can be added to the vat at some point before bottling. The resulting wines are all technically “correct” and rarely show any flaws (although I have had some issues with over sulfuring). There is just one problem.

They don’t have any soul.

So I’m searching for real wines made from real people who want to tell their story in the glass, on the podcast and here on the blog in the form of reviews. If you have such at tale, let me know.

And I do have some great examples of such “real wines” to share with you this week…

In Search of Authentic Wine originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.