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ZAP Zinfandel Festival: January 28 - 31, San Francisco

It's that time of year again. I know of no other event that seems to bring out the inner wine lover in so many San Franciscans more than the annual ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) festival. It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn out with such enthusiasm for this single varietal festival. Don't get me wrong. I love Zinfandel -- unabashedly so. But I tend to forget how many other people do too. Especially those that live in San Francisco. Of course it's not just San Franciscans that turn out for this one-of-a-kind weekend. People come from... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on January 6, 2009 10:16 PM

Filed under: Wine Activities

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Kubota Manju (Junmai Daiginjo), Niigata Prefecture

When people often ask me how I "got into wine" I have a sense that they are expecting me to relate some story of a revelatory mouthful -- that one wine which struck me like a lightning bolt and sent me down the path to become the wine fanatic that I am today. Strangely, I possess no story like that about wine. I remember merely a pastiche of many special and prosaic moments with wine that have gradually led to me to the depths of my current passion. I do, however, have a story like that about how I fell... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on January 5, 2009 10:18 PM

Filed under: Sake , Wine Reviews

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Alfred Gratien Champagne, Epernay, France: Current Releases

The more good Champagne I have, the more it seems to me that you really get what you pay for. Unfortunately, what you have to pay for the really good stuff is out of the reach of most wine lovers, which was why I didn't like Champagne until several years after I started getting into wine. Now I love it, but only because I've been able to taste Champagnes like these. Alfred Gratien represents an interesting class of Champagne producer. When we speak of those who make Champagne, we most often talk about the Champagne "Houses" -- the massive brands... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on January 3, 2009 10:50 PM

Filed under: Boutique Wines , Sparkling Wine , Wine Reviews

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Join Vinography at The Aspen Food & Wine Classic '09

Now that you're wrapping up your Winter holidays, it's the perfect time to plan your Summer ones. In my opinion Summer holidays should be filled with beautiful scenery, great wine, and delicious food. If you agree, then perhaps you'll consider joining me at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic 2009. I grew up in Aspen, and as a kid, I worked as a catering scamp at the Classic, hauling crates of dishes around, not really knowing what the whole thing was about, other than there was lots of free food. Last year I had the double pleasure of not only... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on January 2, 2009 10:24 PM

Filed under: Food Activities , Wine Activities

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Last Day to Get Fabulous Wine Prizes for a Steal!

OK folks, here's the deal. Today is the last day of A Menu For Hope charity raffle. You've got until Midnight tonight, Pacific Time, to buy raffle tickets for some seriously awesome prizes. Every raffle ticket increases your chance of winning said prize, and every ticket buys healthy, nutritious lunches for school children in Lesotho. What could be better than that? It's important to realize that even a single $10 ticket can win you some seriously good loot. One of the most popular prizes last year (and this year), the Meadowood vacation package, was won by someone who bought a... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 31, 2008 3:50 PM

Filed under: Wine Activities

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The Intersection of Wine and Design: The DWR Champagne Chair Contest™

It's pretty rare for the two halves of my life to intersect. As some of you know, by day I run a design agency, while by night I write this blog. There's very little overlap between the worlds of design and wine, except perhaps in the realm of wine packaging design, which is fodder for an entirely different niche blog somewhere no doubt. Other than occasionally bragging about the design work that my firm does that is wine related, I don't find many occasions to explore these two hemispheres of my brain in a joint fashion. But every year around... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 30, 2008 1:51 PM

Filed under: Ramblings and Rants

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Book Review: American Vintage by Paul Lukacs

Review by W. Blake Gray. Is wine food or alcohol? Most Americans would immediately choose "alcohol," perhaps laughing at the question. In Europe, though, that wasn't the case for centuries. Before water purification became widespread, wine was safer to drink than water. The idea that wine is primarily an intoxicant is relatively recent, and like so many influential memes in the world today, it comes from the United States. Paul Lukacs' book American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine was inspired by the author's realization at an Italian wine event that U.S. wine has become not only the best in... continue reading

Posted by: Blake on December 28, 2008 5:29 PM

Filed under: Book Reviews

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Boston Wine Expo: January 24-25, Boston, MA

Wine lovers in Beantown, listen up. It won't be long now before some of you may be asking yourselves what on Earth you're doing freezing your keisters off in the depths of winter. But there is at least one reason for sticking around through January besides the New England Patriots, and that, my friends is the Boston Wine Expo. There are very few reasons that I'd venture out to Boston in the middle of winter, but let me tell you, the Boston Wine Expo is almost enough of a reason for me to jet on out there from San Francisco.... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 27, 2008 5:56 PM

Filed under: Wine Activities

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Menu For Hope Campaign Extended with New Prizes!

Merry Christmas to all! Today was supposed to be the final day of A Menu For Hope, our annual charity raffle, but it has really picked up some steam in the last few days so we're extending it through the end of the year! A number of new prizes in all regions have been added. So go find some fabulous prizes and bid on them: You can find wine related prizes here on Vinography. Prizes from Europe *including* the UK at Ms.Adventures in Italy Prizes from US: West Coast at Matt Bites Prizes from US: East Coast at Steamy Kitchen... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 25, 2008 8:27 AM

Filed under: Wine Activities

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Two Hands Wine, Barossa, Australia: Current Releases

One of the things I love about the wine world is the way in which it rewards people with vision, initiative, talent, and above all, passion. I find it magical that someone can fall in love with wine, and decide that the most important thing for them to do for the rest of their lives is to make wine, and then actually make a living following that passion. Maybe the same thing happens in a lot of industries, but you just don't hear such stories about accounting. Or maybe we only ever hear about the success stories in the wine... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 24, 2008 8:45 PM

Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews

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American and Italian Wine: Movin' on Up!

I'm a proud papa, though I don't think myself at all unique in my position. When my little daughter figured out how to roll over this week and shake her head back and forth, I knew it was only a matter of time before she would get her MENSA membership card and first Olympic gold medal. Nothing quite stirs our emotions like the successes of our own children, but I have to say I got a little verklempt last week more than once over happenings in the wine world. I know, I know. I am a total and complete wine... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 23, 2008 4:16 PM

Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News

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2007 Rosemount Estate Show Reserve Chardonnay, Mudgee, Australia

In this day and age of farmers markets, boutique stores, and micro-breweries, it's easy for the upwardly mobile wine lover to forget that there are a lot of great wines on the market that are made in quantities well north of 5000 cases. There are big wine companies that make great wine, and big wine companies that make lousy wine. And some that do both. I've had mixed luck with Rosemount Estate wines throughout the years. I've had some wines that were everything I wanted them to be, and others that sent me running for the hills. In particular I... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 22, 2008 10:33 PM

Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20

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Don't Try This At Home. At Least Not With Good Wine.

I love the Internet. If only because it never ceases to be a source of moments that leave you scratching your head, jaw dropped, laughing hysterically, or in some cases, a mix of all three. For instance, this image... ...which was posted to Reddit earlier today with no explanation other than the title: "Bottle of wine to the FACE!" My guess is that this is one of the new components of the oral examination for the 2009 Masters of Wine curriculum. Thanks to Jack at Fork & Bottle for the tipoff.... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 21, 2008 6:19 PM

Filed under: Ramblings and Rants

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Holiday Gifts for Wine Lovers: The Only Advice You Need

I take special (perhaps even perverse) pride in eschewing all the typical seasonal storylines that are churned out, regular as clockwork by the wine media all across the country. I don't hold it against most wine journalists that they write about pink wines in the summer, what to pair with Thanksgiving dinner, which bubblies to drink at New Years, etc. etc. Their editors come to them begging for such stories. I don't have an editor, and you'll never get such articles from me, both because I find them trite, and because I tend to disagree with most of what they... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 19, 2008 11:26 PM

Filed under: Ramblings and Rants

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Book Review: The Billionaire's Vinegar

Review by Tim Patterson. If you're getting your morning jollies reading about the amazing collapsing Ponzi schemes of investment wizard Bernie Madoff, you'll love The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Story of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine. It's all there: fraud on a grand scale; apparently smart people who should have known better committing serial stupidities; rich people doing pratfalls in public. It's like a bottle full of schadenfreude; what more could you ask from a wine book? In this particular case, the super-rich and the official arbiters of vinous taste make fools of themselves over a stash of wines... continue reading

Posted by: Tim on December 18, 2008 11:57 PM

Filed under: Book Reviews

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Win Dinner for Six, Free Wine, and Vinography as Your Sommelier

One of my greatest joys in the world is turning people on to good wine. And I love when I can do it in person. It's the season of giving, and as you know Vinography is the proud sponsor of all the wine prizes for this year's Menu for Hope charity raffle. I've made sure there are a lot of fabulous prizes to win, partly by talking generous folks in the wine industry into donating some really choice things. But I haven't yet donated a prize myself this year. So let's change that, shall we? My friend and fellow blogger... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 16, 2008 9:24 PM

Filed under: Wine Activities

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Announcing A Menu For Hope 2008: Win Fabulous Wine Prizes

How would you like to go a luxury wine vacation all the while knowing that you're enjoying Napa luxury because you helped to feed some hungry schoolkids in Lesotho, Africa? That, my friends, is the beauty of the charity event called A Menu For Hope. This is the fifth year of A Menu For Hope, the grassroots charity event for wine and food bloggers that started in response to the horrible Tsunamis of 2004. Last year's event raised more than $90,000 for the UN's World Food Programme, which set up a special arrangement so that 100% of the proceeds went... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 15, 2008 7:43 AM

Filed under: Wine Activities , Wine News

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Donate a Prize to A Menu For Hope, Become Famous!

This is the official request for prize donations for the 5th Annual Menu For Hope charity raffle, sponsored by wine and food bloggers around the world. For those who are not familiar with this initiative, it is essentially a raffle, with prizes donated by bloggers (or other kind folks who want to participate but don't have blogs). Participants post a description of their prize (or get me to post one for them if they don't have a blog) and do all they can to attract donations (which will be made made on the designated donation web site) in increments of... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 14, 2008 4:29 PM

Filed under: Wine Activities

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The ISP vs. the Wine Blog

The company that hosts this blog (Dreamhost) just got themselves on the list for a stocking full of coal this Christmas. For the last 4 days I have been unable to publish new entries here on Vinography because... well, no one seems to know. What I DO know is that without receiving any notifications from them, my account was moved to a new server, my mail server failed and was not replaced, and for four days I've been trying to get technical support to help me, and all I've received is a single e-mail saying "everything looks fine to me."... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 14, 2008 1:45 PM

Filed under: Ramblings and Rants

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The Sadness and Irony of a Wine Museum

Meet Michel Chasseuil. He's 67, drives a beat-up old car, never goes on vacation, and is perhaps not unlike so many aging Frenchmen of his generation. He does have one particular thing that makes him somewhat unique, and of great interest to most anyone interested in fine wine, however. Chasseuil owns what many consider to be the greatest single wine collection in the world: 20,000 bottles of 18th, 19th and 20th century wines from the world's greatest producers, especially those in France. He started off as a serious wine enthusiast and investor, and the thrill of collecting eventually took over,... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 10, 2008 11:58 PM

Filed under: Ramblings and Rants , Wine News

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