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This is a dry, slightly sparkling wine, with a pleasent, rich, complex aroma. A pleasure to sniff and taste, there’s a fruity note and there’s quite an undefined spicy note, definitely requires another bottle of researching . The producer specifies it as a wine “with characteristic Muscat taste and smell carrying combination of spicy tones of incense, cinnamon, basil and fruit tones of pine apple and strawberry”.
Although it does have the muscaty taste it’s a dry wine, but still does go well with desserts such as nutty cakes. Also goes well with lighter meat dishes and on it’s own.
The Ivanovi? winery is a winery with a long tradition, one of those where the younger generation has embraced it’s ancestry recipes and combined it with modern trends. Some of the details are available online. It is located in the ?upa region in southern Serbia.
If you're not a subscriber to The Wine Front you don't get to see the reviews that are added to the site on most days. In the past seven days the following wines have been reviewed in the Subscriber Only section of this website.
All Saints Estate Chardonnay Viognier 2006 All Saints Estate Family Cellar Marsanne 2006 All Saints Estate Sangiovese Cabernet 2006 All Saints Estate Shiraz 2006 All Saints Estate Durif 2006 All Saints Estate Family Cellar Durif 2006 Aradon Rioja 2006 Casa Santos Lima Quinta Das Setencostas 2005 d'Arenberg Galvo Garage Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot 2006 Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay 2006 Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough pinot Noir 2006 Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough Section 94 2006 Grapes of RossBarossaValley Black Rose Shiraz 2006 Grapes of Ross Barossa Valley Old Bush Vine Grenache 2006 Henry Pelle Menetou Salon 2006 Les Nuages Organic Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2006 LethbridgeGeelong Shiraz 2005 Longview Adelaide Hills Devils Elbow Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Maison Champy Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2005 MountHorrocksClareValley Shiraz 2005 Piana del Sole Salento Negroamaro 2004 Postcode 2320 Reserve Shiraz 2004 Postcode 2587 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Punt Road Yarra Valley Shiraz 2005 Punt Road Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Rymill Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2006 Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Shiraz 2006 Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Torbreck Barossa The Struie Shiraz 2006 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1995 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1996 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1997 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1999 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1998 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2001 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2002 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2003 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2004 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2005 Tramin Alto Adige Pinot Grigio 2006 Villa terlina Gradale Barbera d’Asti 2004 ($35) VoyagerEstateMargaretRiver Cabernet Merlot 2004
Plus, Yankees and Mets toast the Subway Series, an academic basis for music and wine preference, buy wine to save cork, and wines stoppers for both virtue and vice
The wine book category continues to be one of the most oft published categories in the book world. Large publishers have published six wine-related books in the last five weeks alone. Yet, have you ever wondered if these books actually sell?
Thanks to a couple of dollars out of my pocket and the graciousness of a couple of publicists, I have five out of the six books in my possession. They are in the reading queue behind “The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I saved the World from Parkerization” by Alice Feiring, a title that I am dog-earing because there is a years worth of blog fodder contained within—inspiration for me offering up scathing counterpoints and beseeching requests for an acknowledgement of conventional wisdom while imploring rationality, mostly.
The recently published books include the aforementioned and the following:
Based on legitimate (albeit confidential) industry data, it looks like all are performing admirably, though I have to keep the actual sales data under wraps. Herewith, your wine book leader board based on actual cumulative sell-through sales (this is what a consumer actually buys, not what is sold to a bookstore):
1) Passion on the Vine – a likely bestseller the way this title is moving 2) The Wine Trials – Strong performance with big numbers in the last week or so 3) The Battle for Wine and Love – narrowly beat out by The Wine Trials, good performance overall and trending upward 4) Reflections of a Wine Merchant – overall good performance on this title, as well. However, it has a couple of bad Amazon.com reviews, which can stop book sales in their tracks 5) Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines - Gary has a couple of weeks less sales opportunity and having 9 or 10 Amazon.com reviews bodes well as this gathers momentum 6) The Billionaire’s Vinegar – This title is coming out of the gates slooooooow despite a ton of promotion. Not quite a stinker, but not helping any Editor make their bonus, either.
If you asked me ahead of time, I would not have guessed that Passion on the Vine would have started so strong, but I think it is because it is a crossover title that appeals to armchair travelers in addition to wine fans.
Two additional things are interesting to me, and, of course, they have to do with Vaynerchuk. The first is that if you look at the “Customers who bought this also bought” listing on Amazon.com you will quickly see that Gary is appealing to a whole ‘nother demographic. Amongst items that customers also purchased from Amazon.com alongside his book include video games like Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii and Grand Theft Auto.
Another interesting aspect of Vaynerchuk’s promotional tactics for his book is some of the marketing tactics he is employing. Consider this promo in conjunction with an Internet marketing consultant (Full post here and you do want to follow the link):
Hours after the day’s activities had come to a close, I was walking past the empty ballroom hours and happened to glance inside.
There were maybe 10 or 15 people still there, all gathered in a tight group. Some were scribbling furiously on notebooks, others watching and listening intently to the person who was holding court.
That person was Gary Vaynerchuk.
I wandered in and whispered, “What’s going on?” to a friend.
“They’ve been here since he finished this afternoon,” he said. “He’s been peppered with question after question about social media. And he answered them in great detail without a break. Literally no one has left–they just keep asking questions. And he keeps on going.”
I looked at my watch. The conference had ended nearly 6 hours earlier.
The post from the Internet Marketer continues with the following offer:
–If you purchase 2-4 copies of Gary’s new book, you’ll receive a special invite to an exclusive invite-only call I’m holding with Gary on May 27th at 3:00 PM Eastern time to talk about social media.
This call will pick up where he left off in Orlando, revealing new and powerful ways to market your products and establish your “mavenship” through the power of social marketing. And it’s exclusively for those who purchase 2 copies of Gary’s book.
But wait! There’s more! (sorry–had to go there)
–If you purchase 5 or more copies of Gary’s new book, you’ll not only get exclusive access to the call, but you’ll have the opportunity to ask Gary direct questions about how to apply social marketing to your business.
This is all interesting to me. I’m not sure if Gary’s social marketing is going to work, but if I had to bet my money it would be on the crossover title – Passion on the Vine—that appeals to a wide swath of an audience—Italianates, travelers and wine lovers and not on sweaty palmed guys that buy five books to listen to a conference call and ask questions.
As somebody who feels like they have a book inside them, I wish all of these authors continued best wishes and hopefully I will get through all of these books before Dr. Vino’s two books hit the shelves.
Sun Feb 20th, 2005, Sandy Hook Join us for eagle watching at the Shepaug Dam along the Housatonic River, wine tasting and hot chocolate at the Winery, and a 3 course lunch with wine at the Inn at Newtown.
I wanted to let you all know that my Pinot Gris website (PinotGris.Biz) is up for sale. It is full of great, original wine content written by me. It also currently ranks highly with the major search engines:
#3 overall on Yahoo for Pinot Gris (search) #4 overall on MSN for Pinot Gris (search) Page Rank = 1 (Google)
I am asking $250 for the site, perhaps less to someone who just wanted the domain name. If I don't sell right away, I will continue to promote it.
Frankly, we were disappointed with our first visit to the Restaurant at Auberge du Soleil. There are many good choices for an expensive dinner in Wine County; this one doesn't make our list.
Where wine coolers captivated the 80s and microbrews burgeoned in the 90s, vodka is bringing verve and variety to drinking in the new millennium. Strawberry vodka, chocolate vodka, orange, cinnamon and key lime vodkas? Sidle up to any bar in any city and you'll see a sick display of distinct new tastes nestled on the shelf among the Ketel and Grey Goose, ready to splash into an updated Cosmo, Betelgeuse or Tootsie Roll Martini.
Trendy as these specialty vodkas may seem, spice- and herb-infused vodkas have been sating drinkers since the spirit first cracked the ice on frozen Russian and Polish faces several hundred years ago. Back then, flavoring wasn't intended for variety. It was necessary to take the edge off the primitive mash, the intense, harsh taste of which could make even the swarthiest drinker breathe fire.
Later, the ability to craft flavored concoctions became the mark of a skillful distiller. Among those who elevated the practice to an art were the Russians and Poles, who've long marketed dozens of flavored vodkas. Among the most unusual brands in Russia are Okhotnichya or "Hunter's" vodka (flavored with a mix of ginger, cloves, lemon peel, coffee, anise and other herbs and spices, then blended with sugar and a touch of a wine similar to white port) and Zubrovka (vodka flavored with bison grass, an aromatic grass which is the cud of choice for herds of the rare European bison).
Flavored vodkas were slow to reach the mass U.S. market, however. Americans first became hooked on "the white spirit" after World War II, lured by the convenient fact that it had "no taste and no smell" (and could therefore be consumed on the sly). And for decades the classic vodka martini or vodka-tonic suited drinkers just fine. It wasn't until the cocktail craze of the late 90s that the current frenzy for vodka variety took off. Luckily, there are plenty of quality distillers out there to satisfy demand.
Among the first to tempt our palates with readily available flavored vodkas were Absolut and Stolichnaya. Absolut entered this niche market in 1986 with its Peppar, an aromatic, complex and spicy vodka that gets its kick from the spicy components in the capsicum pepper family and from fresh green jalapeño pepper. They later added Absolut Citron, Kurant and Mandarin. The newest twist to the Absolut line? Absolut Vanilia, which has a rich, robust and complex taste of vanilla, with notes of butterscotch and hints of dark chocolate. Its scheduled release is this spring.
Stoli was also an early marketer of laced libations, luring many drinkers to the pleasures of flavored vodkas with its Vodka Razberi (made with ripe raspberries), Vodka Vanilla (with the pure essence of Madagascan and Indonesian vanilla beans) and Vodka Zinamon (infused with the zip of cinnamon).
The success of the Absolut and Stoli creations gave rise to a new generation of cocktail concoctions and inspired other distillers to create fresh and unexpected varieties. Among those most likely to turn up at your local watering hole are the infusions of Charbay, which uses fresh fruit to create blood orange, ruby red grapefruit and key lime vodkas; Burnett's, which offers sour apple (great in an Appletini), coconut, raspberry, orange, citrus and vanilla; the artistically designed Vincent Van Gogh Vodkas, whose varieties include Chocolate, Oranje, Vanilla, Raspberry, Wild Appel and Citroen; and OP, a 70- proof Swedish vodka flavored with ginger, orange and peach, and spiced with anise, fennel and caraway.
A newcomer to the flavored vodka scene is Hangar One, a small, quality distiller that uses real fruit and "rare and expensive" ingredients to produce its Buddha's Hand Citron, Kaffir Lime and Mandarin Blossom vodkas. Luscious straight up, these fruit-laced spirits can also be the inspiration for cocktails to die for.
Should a Cosmo with Burnett's Blood Orange Vodka or a Sunflower Martini with Vincent Van Gogh's Raspberry seem too traditional, frighten your drinking companions by ordering up a shot of Blavod, a smooth-tasting vodka colored black by the catcchu herb. While it looks like The Dark Prince's drink of choice, Blavod is surprisingly refreshing in a Black Bull (ice, Red Bull and Blavod) or a Sundance (ice, blue curacoa, soda water and Blavod).
Another far-out blend is Feigling, a fig-infused vodka that comes in a little bottle from Germany. Served straight or with a little tonic and a twist, Feigling is a unique taste and sure to throw a little variety into your drinking repertoire.
If you?re lucky enough to find them, don't pass up a chance to try the Polish Wisent, flavored with a species of bison grass that grows only in the Bialowieska Forest (acknowledged to be the last primeval forest left in Europe), or the Ukrainian Soomska Horobynova (flavored with ashberry) and Soomska Horilka Pryhodko (flavored with St. John's Wort, Buffalo Grass, coriander and lemon).
So your local bar thinks Absolut Kurant is the cutting-edge of flavors? You can still experiment with new ventures in vodka. Roll up your sleeves and concoct your own unique libations. Begin with a quality vodka. While "quality" is in the taste buds of the drinker, general wisdom holds that you?ll get better results and suffer fewer day-after side effects if you stick to a bottle in the $20-and-up range. Purchase anything under seven bucks to use in your infusion and you'll waste culinary effort as well as brain cells.
Recipe for Infusion
The process by which vodkas are flavored is called infusion. This is a fancy word for mixing stuff with vodka and letting it soak. Unless otherwise directed by a recipe, infuse your vodkas at room temperature. Freezing the flavored vodkas after infusion, however, will ensure the best taste.
The easiest way to flavor vodka is with fresh fruit, which both soaks up and flavors the spirit. Just mix vodka in equal portions with ripe, washed and coarsely chopped fruit (peaches, pineapples or strawberries are common favorites). Place the mixture in a glass canning jar, and let the concoction sit for several days. Strain before serving, or leave in a few fruit chunks for munching. This method will work with any fruit, including fresh and sun-dried tomatoes as well as chili peppers. In short, if you can dream it and drink it, you can infuse it.
If you want to venture beyond fruit, give these traditional and not-so-traditional infusion recipes a try. Vodka lovers will find these concoctions delectable on their own (plain or with a garnish), but they can also be used to breathe new life into a favorite old cocktail.
Recipes
(Note: For all recipes use 1 pint of plain vodka and infuse at room temperature for 24 hours. Then strain.)
Anise Vodka: Licorice-laced vodka was a favorite of Peter the Great, so it's got to be good enough for us. Soak 2 t whole anise seed. Serve chilled.
Coriander Vodka: Use 2 t coriander seed, slightly crushed.
Garlic-and-Dill Vodka: Infuse 1 clove garlic, slightly crushed, 1 sprig fresh dill and 3 white peppercorns. Leave a little dill in the vodka, if you're so inclined.
Herb Vodka: Infuse a few sprigs of a favorite herb, such as tarragon or basil. Leave a small bit of herb in the vodka, if you choose.
Saffron Vodka: Use 1/4 t saffron threads.
Tea Vodka: Infuse 4 t black tea leaves (fruit-scented is a nice touch).
Buffalo Grass Vodka/Zubrovka: Use 8 blades of buffalo grass. One blade of grass may be left in the vodka after straining for a little woodland feel.
So next time you order a cocktail, check out the new flavors lining up behind the bar. Flavored vodkas may just be a trend, but they're bound to snare some converts. Bison grass and anise seed aside, 145 million vodka-loving Russians can't be wrong.
Just a short commercial note that I have launched my own consulting company for fine wine producers. You can get more information at http://craigcamp.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/craig-camp-consulting/. Many thanks to all for the support I’m getting in launching this project.
I think it's great that the San Francisco Chronicle and the LA Times would give Alice a fairly large stage to bitch and moan about California wine not being to her tastes and the contention that a single, Maryland-based Palate is the reason for her California Discontent.
Alice is in the midst of promoting her new book that takes the art of bitching and moaning into a book length format. Feiring's "The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization" has a whimsical looking cover design that might just as easily be translated to a publishing effort on how pandas and tulips can save the world. But it seems behind the happy cover lies another approach:
"Join her as she sets off on her one-woman crusade against the tyranny of homogenization, wine consultants, and, of course, the 100-point scoring system of a certain all-powerful wine writer."
Just for the record there is no tyranny of Homogenization in the world of CA wine. There is only disappointment that most wines don't appeal to one's palate. It's also true that Alice's call for more "natural" winemaking and "natural" wines is really just a a reflection of her philosophy of life and not a critique of winemaking. It's highly doubtful she or most others could consistently identify wines that are made with and without "natural" winemaking techniques.
Still, I love to see Alice, this artful writer, make a full frontal assault on those wineries and critics who like to drink and make wines that don't appeal to her. There is a passion here that transcends and makes secondary work of the disappointment that is at the heart of her recent screeds and editorials. It's good writing, it's controversial, it engages the reader and it demonstrates that the politics of preference is alive and well in the world of wine.
As I read the good news today that the California Supreme Court overturned the law prohibiting same-sex marriage, I saw similarities between Feiring's position that California wine should be more subdued and natural and the opponents of the California Supreme Court ruling who believed marriage should be what it always was, between a man and a woman. Both Alice and the conservative, anti-gay camp believe there has been some brainwashing going on. But in the long run, both the opponents of same sex marriage and Alice will lose their battles. America is not, and never was, a place where traditions were forceful enough to squash the aspirations of those who choose to simply do what they want as long as it's not hurting anyone.
The big, bold wines that Alice believes are imitations of what real wine should be will be with us forever and will continue to be made because California's climate allows this as does technology, and because other people like them. But she should take take heart. There will always be Cathy Corisons, Steve Edmunds, Stony Hills and many, many others who, if Alice wants to seek them out, will demonstrate that there is no winemaking region in the world more diverse in the style of wines it produces than California.
As part of my desire to enjoy better white wines, here's the 2005 Joseph Drouhin Chablis from the Chablis region of France near Burgundy. Around $20.
A nose that is slightly reminiscent of buttered popcorn, but not overly so. Overall a very bright, sunny wine, with flavors of crisp pears and green apples, with a touch of citrus on the finish.
I served this with another preparation of whole rainbow trout roasted in aluminum foil, this time with red bell peppers and pineapple. The touch of sweetness and caramelized sugars was quite nice. In the past I've used chayote squash and other ingredients, but the pineapple is a great pairing.
Fri Feb 25th, 2005, Los Angeles Cocktail Cuisine - The Art of Appetizers Fri – 2/25/05 7:00pm-10:00pm Take your cocktail parties to a cosmopolitan level of food style and presentation!
Use this link if you would like to join the ‘experimental’ my.burgundy-report.com pages: i.e. YOUR Burgundy Report pages. The content and discussion comes hardly from me, but from the already 270 and counting people who have and will join. Merchants, producers, enthusiasts and consumers - they are all there… Visit My Burgundy Report I [...]
Pam Anderson and Kid Rock (aka Bob Ritchie) were engaged last week in St Tropez and decided to also marry there this past weekend in a yacht off of the coast of France. And boy does it only get better. Here are some pictures of Pammy pie a few days before her wedding looking rough and making *ahem* remarks about the upcoming nuptials.
Okey Dokey then Pam. I sincerely hope you were kidding, otherwise you are an absolute idiot. Note to self - Veils purchased from Prescilla's look HIDEOUS!!
Unfortunately, it just keeps getting better. Here are pictures of the bride and groom just after saying their vows. Wanna know what millionaires in the entertainment industry drink after getting married in St. Tropez on a million dollar yacht? Well, tried and true - American all the way through - Kid Rock drinks Corona. Wait..Corona??? I guess when you are in France you don't have to honor your exclusive contract with Coors. At least he represents with a stunning (or stunningly retarded) American flag belt buckle made from rare blue diamonds along with red rubies on a titanium buckle. (The gift is rumored to be from Pam as his wedding present). Our precious Pammie pie is slugging....er...drinking Veuve Cliquot. In fact, they drank during the entire ceremony. I really think that the captains hat just makes the bridal bikini don't you??
In case you were wondering what to do for a gift for the couple....
Kid Rock instructed his fans to purchase their gifts at one of his favorite chain stores. "Yes, I'm marrying the girl of my dreams," he wrote on his Web site. "We are registered at Wal-Mart. Thanks for the support!" It's true too. I actually searched for the link today and found it. Here it is...
Adding things to beer is the new hype these days. Sparks, for example, is adding a caffeine type mixture to their beer so why not add green tea to a beer? Wha?? Yep, it seems that the folks at BluCreek Brewery are launching their newest beer called Zen IPA.
BluCreek describes its Zen IPA as an "English-style India Pale Ale created with a mouth-watering blend of fresh Chinook, Cascade and Centennial hops infused carefully with an invigorating all-natural Green Tea." BluCreek has also made beers produced from blueberries and ginseng in the past. I'm not so sure about a green tea beer but hey, to each his own.
A positive spin on Global Warming
The icecaps around the Arctic Circle are melting partly because of global warming. So in the philosophy of "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade" the brewers at Inuit Microbrewery are making a new beer produced from glacial arctic water called Icecap Pale Ale and Brown Ale.
A brewery in Greenland is producing beer using water melted from the ice cap of the vast Arctic island. The brewers claim that the water is at least 2,000 years old and free of minerals and pollutants. It is claimed that the Greenland beer, officially launched in Copenhagen on Monday, has a softer, cleaner taste than other beers, because of the ice cap water.
Alternative closures (screw caps and synthetic corks) are on a lot of bottles these days. The one complaint that I hear from customers though, is that they miss the romance of hearing the cork come out of the bottle. It's that little "pop" that I miss is what they often say. Well, an ingeniuos company in Australia has come up with "Zorks". It's an alternative closure that actually produces that "pop" sound when it comes out of the bottle. It is even designed to act as a stopper when you put it back in the bottle. As far as I am concerened, this is one cool closure.
ZORK - the revolutionary wine closure that seals like a screw cap and pops like a cork.
But the best part is the " How to Zork movie". Check out the dudes unbuttoned shirt and cuffs and listen to the sweet B rate porn music in the background. LOL! You must check it out. Great product....horrible advertising.
Thanks Laurie for sending me the link on this one.
1999 Harlan Estates The Maiden
I pulled this wine out for Andi as a going away present (although she's not really going away) and when we first opened it we were underwhelmed. I gotta tell you...when you spend well over $100 for a wine, the last word you want to consider is underwhelming. So, we saved it and I tasted it again in little sips Saturday and Sunday. By Saturday it was a lot better and by Sunday it was extraordinary. It was ripe and lush with heavy cedar notes. The palate was all blackberry and mulberry with a tinge of medicinal floating around. The finish was long and exposed its oak aging but not in an unpleasant way. I let several people try this wine and the adjective that I heard multiple times was "explosive". I must agree. When you get this wine in your mouth you have to seriously try to concentrate to get all of the little flavors that keep gliding across your taste buds.
Would I pay that much again for it? Probably - but only if it was a good vintage and only if I promise myself not to open it before it's ready. I mean...it's Harlan for goodness sakes. Everybody probably wants to drive a Lamborghini - Is the price worth the car - probably not... but at least you can say you drove one right?
You may have noticed the posts on weird days and I am really trying to get a handle on things. I may not even have access to a computer next week so please hang in there. Once things are settled in the new jobby-job I'll be back to my regular self. Cheers!
Have an amazing evening and above all - drink some great wine and champagne!
2008 promises to be an exciting year for The Cru so stay tuned!
To begin with I will be releasing a new look Cru in the next two weeks - it's going to a lot easy to navigate around and hopefully it will make finding your favourite South African wine that much easier and more enjoyable!
Until then have a great evening and enjoy the chosen Pouza!
I?ve just spent a few hours researching some wines Susan and I are tasting next week. Well, attempting to research would more appropriately describe this exercise in frustration. I?m still astonished how many winery websites are hard to find, poorly laid out, and then give little or no information. Sometimes I dig through page after page after page and finally discover a two-line tasting note ? how exciting.
To all you wineries, if you think this amount of information will have wines flying off the shelves, think again. First of all, by the time most consumers are looking up a wine on the Internet they?ve already tasted it, so they?re after more detail than ?black cherries and leather.? And could you include just a few words on your different vintages? Your 2001 tasting notes are getting a little dated. Besides, I?m sure your 2006 will taste different ? different weather, different harvest conditions, different wine.
How about a little technical information? French Oak or American Oak for example. A few lines covering pH, harvest dates, Brix at harvest, and residual sugar would be nice. Wine geeks will love you and talk up your wines ? free promotion.
I?d also think you would have your labels available for download ? after all, your design person?s already done the graphics in digital format, so just get a copy. Buyers could then print the label and take it to their favorite store as a reminder of what they?re looking for. Wine reviewers would be able add a label to their review or blog ? more free promotion. People could share copies with their friends and family: look at this great wine I just found. Even more free promotion.
People viewing your site aren?t usually there to read all about the owners and how wonderful they are ? at least not at first. Surprise ? top of most people?s hit list are the wines themselves. What grape varieties? What quantities in your Bordeaux style blend? Can we have a little story on the style of wines you are trying to produce? Who is the winemaker and what?s their philosophy, experience, and technique. What does your winery look like ? a picture or two might be nice especially for the folks buying your wine who live across the country.
Oh, and some way of getting a hold of you would be nice ? an email address or phone number would be cool. How can you except to answer questions ? like ?where do I buy your wines?? Or maybe you just like seeing your wines sitting in the warehouse.
None of this actually takes that much effort. Really, it doesn?t. All you need to do is spend a little time and money on your website to make it stand out among the rest. If you want to see what I mean, here are links to a couple of websites that get it right.
Arrow Leaf Cellars in BC?s Okanagan has a site that?s easy to negotiate and includes a contact list, newsletter, pictures of the vineyard, and a great tech sheet. There?s even info on screw caps with a link to the New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative ? just in case you haven?t been converted yet.
Down under, Peter Lehmann Wines has another fantastic site ? history, descriptions of the area, info about the winemakers and the wines. After spending time on the site, you want to buy rush out to the store and buy a bottle or two.
And to the winery in Australia who will not put info on their web site because it is too ?techie,? it?s time to get with the Digital Age. You say you?d rather have people come to the cellar door to get info than surf the Net. Yeah, right. I?ll just hop on a plane from Canada right away. Lots of luck selling wines in our local market and no reviews from this quarter. SUSAN'S NOTE:
I confess, I have a severe love/hate relationship with the web. I admire Frank?s ability to search through layers and layers until he comes up with some nugget of information, but I certainly don?t share it. No results after a couple of Google searches and I?m on to something else. And sites that give me no contact information put me into orbit ? Frank usually doesn?t even bother telling me about them any more because then he has to listen to my usually loud, always colourful verbal tirades.
However, one interesting thing did come out of his visit to the ?We don?t believe in an Internet presence? Aussie site. Our debate on whether the owner was simply stupid or was being blatantly arrogant was lively, thoroughly entertaining, and will certainly keep them at the top of our ?Do Not Visit or Buy From? list for a long, long time. FYI: arrogant won hands down.
Note: Photos show the Arrow Leaf Cellars' vineyards and porch area. Wine bottles show Arrow Leaf's Zweigelt and Peter Lehmann's Semillon. Enjoy.
The James Beard Foundation Awards are the nation?s preeminent honors for culinary professionals. More than 60 awards are given out each year in the categories of cookbooks, restaurants and chefs, design and graphics, broadcast media, journalism, and achievement. Nominees and award wi
Tecnorati
This is a dry, slightly sparkling wine, with a pleasent, rich, complex aroma. A pleasure to sniff and taste, there’s a fruity note and there’s quite an undefined spicy note, definitely requires another bottle of researching 
. The producer specifies it as a wine “with characteristic Muscat taste and smell carrying combination of spicy tones of incense, cinnamon, basil and fruit tones of pine apple and strawberry”.
Alice Feiring....You GO!
to drink and make wines that don't appeal to her. There is a passion here that transcends and makes secondary work of the disappointment that is at the heart of her recent screeds and editorials. It's good writing, it's controversial, it engages the reader and it demonstrates that the politics of preference is alive and well in the world of wine.
