The wine industry spends a lot of time and energy fighting for the attention of global consumers. In particular, they've tried hard to market seasonally to consumers, but they just can't quite compete with the likes of Oktoberfest for beer drinkers. The best that the wine industry has been able to come up with sends even the most tolerant wine lovers running for cover every November, as the rollout of Beaujolais Nouveau reaches ever more ...

If I had some extra cash laying around right now, in addition to plowing it into the stock market, I'd likely be out there buying investment grade wine, as well as wine from my favorite expensive producers. If you're a consumer of news about the wine industry, then you understand what is going on in the wine retailing and wine auction world at the moment. On the chance that Vinography might be one of your ...

I read a lot of wine writing. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. And when I say read, I mean, well, I scan all the headlines, and I read a good portion of it. Magazines, newspapers, hundreds of blogs. It's overwhelming at times, and damned hard work. But I enjoy it. Except for two particular times of year. The first is mid-summer, when everyone seems to be writing the exact same ...

The average wine consumer has no idea what it means for a wine to be organic. And when it comes to Biodynamic wines, most wine drinkers have never even heard of them. But that doesn't matter, because an increasing number of the most sought-after, expensive wines in the world are biodynamically produced, which means that biodynamics is one of the most significant modern trends in global winemaking. The only problem (for those who care) is ...

I went to South Africa to learn about South African wine, and the primary way for me to do that is to taste. So taste I did -- probably more than 500 wines by the end of the week -- spending two full days going from booth to booth at the Cape Wine 2008 expo trying to taste a wide cross section of South African wine while at the same time making sure to hit ...

Looks like a piece of news slipped by me a couple of months ago. Every year I look forward to a report, which more than any other single piece of news, speaks the truth about the state of wine in America. Restaurant Wine magazine commissions and publishes a report every year on the top 100 wines and top 100 wine brands sold in restaurants around the country, from family diners to fine dining restaurants. Based ...

Perhaps I'm just getting too old, but I can't for the life of me really understand what San Francisco Wine Week is all about. Here we are living in one of the greatest wine and food cities of the world. We're spoiled rotten when it comes to our wine and food. We expect, and regularly receive great local ingredients in our food, an incredible selection of wines from California and around the world, and completely ...

Most people faced a with the choice of merely a specific color of wine to drink will consider their stated preference between the options of red, white, or pink. My choice is none of the above. If I had to swear my allegiance to one color of wine, it would be orange. I have a friend who has seriously suggested that the world ought to acknowledge orange as a legitimate fourth color when it comes ...

As many of you know, I have a thing for sake, after being introduced to the high-end stuff when I was living and working in Japan. I try to review great sakes here on Vinography as often as I can, while at the same time trying to teach those who are unfamiliar with the stuff a bit more about it. Some readers, either through their questions, or their outright requests, have rightly pointed out that ...

A little less than five years ago when I started this blog, I naively thought that I might try to do something different from all those big wine critics. They were only telling part of the story, I said to myself, but I was going to tell the whole thing. I wasn't going to pull the punches that I felt everyone else was avoiding. I decided I was going to write negative wine reviews -- ...

A strange concept if there ever was one. A gathering of more than 150 wine bloggers in one place. Such a notion conjures a medley of reactions in my brain, but mostly it makes me feel old. "Why Sonny, I remember when there were only three wine blogs in the world..." I had planned on attending the entire two-and-a-half day event in Santa Rosa, California, but then my wife Ruth fell ill, and all sorts ...

Faked world-class wines are in the news enough these days that I can decisively call them trendy. They've already got a book and their own Hollywood movie on the way. But I didn't know just how chic counterfeit wine was until I found out that my friend Lettie Teague (who happens to be the executive wine editor of Food & Wine Magazine) recently spent some time faking a bottle of 1982 Château Mouton Rothschild for ...

Perhaps the only thing worse for winemakers than getting a below average review in a wine publication is being mentioned in any publication that describes itself as investigative. "Normal" journalists, namely those that don't normally focus on food, wine, or lifestyle issues, have a pretty lousy reputation in the wine industry, and sometimes for good reason. Especially when they publish pieces like this. Or when they try for a "new angle" on a particular issue. ...

France, you get a free pass today. The European Common Market Organization is my newest punching bag when it comes to idiotic wine regulations. I can hardly believe it, but new wine industry reforms proposed by this body apparently will result in the elimination of Italy's DOC and IGT designations for wine. WHAT!?!? If that doesn't make your blood boil, then you're not paying attention. These reforms, which would go into effect in 2009 if ...