Rebel Rose

Well, well! Pick your story . . . The Results are In - Judgment of Paris The 30th anniversary of the most famous winetasting in history, the "Judgment of Paris," was simultaneously and jubilantly recreated at COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts and Berry Bros. & Rudd, in association with Steven Spurrier-wine writer, author and creator of the original event. It's official: California wines beat the French Exactly 30 years after the historic Paris wine tasting that changed the wine industry forever, a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon once again beat out its prestigious Bordeaux peers in what has come to be known as the wine rematch of the century. Thirty years after a shock defeat, French wines lose again to Californians in the great taste test Almost unthinkably, California routed the French even more convincingly than it did three decades ago, upturning the critics' damning predictions that Napa Valley's grapes would not age so well. California wines beat the French -- again! Taste-off proves California wines age best, too Even after 30 years of aging, state's Cabernets still tops California trounces France 30 years on Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, Matthew Jukes, Michel Bettane, Michael Broadbent, Spurrier himself and other eminent critics, pitted Leoville Las Cases 71, Mouton 70, Haut Brion and Montrose 70 against the Californians. Judgment of Paris rerun - the panel scores Jancis Robinson: "Note that the major discrepancy between the US and UK tasters was in our assessment of turbo-charged California wines such as Staglin and Shafer Hillside Select (whose past vintages I have enjoyed but I found the 2001 terribly oaky)."

One poor guy discovered that a three-liter 1985 Caymus Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon he opened for his anniversary was undeniably, horribly corked. Caymus' response? Read here.

This week Mark Fisher (Dayton Daily News) wrote a piece for WineSediments on the Well Fed Network on the logisitcs of planning the tasting. In the article he interviews Steven Spurrier about the difficulties of planning this tasting. And the tasting is TODAY!

.Wikipedia has a long, thorough definition of blog, along with its historical development and comments on social influence. I am glad that there has been some lively discussion so far but we are going around in very tiny circles now. After four pages of discussion about blogging in only the most ephemeral sense, it is time to move on. Please offer new and exact references or reviews, or new insights. Posts that merely reiterate what has been said before will be deleted. Thank you.

There are many strong and reiterated arguments here that the vast majority of wine blogging consists of inferior writing. I believe, however, that the drivel produced by many bloggers has NOTHING to do with the SUCCESS and POWER of the wine blogging phenomenon. Consider the runaway success of self-publishing firms like iUniverse and many others. Most of what they publish--complete with ISBN numbers, Amazon blurbs and editorial reviews--is awful. But they provide an opportunity to succeed for many writers rejected by the mainstream press, and the fact that some SP books have gone on to major publishers and even movie contracts, has propelled the industry into success. With the advent of USA Today and NY Times wine blogs, I do not see how anyone can claim that blogging is not seen as an effective way to reach many readers--particularly those with little time to peruse print publications. Believe it or not, there is a large segment of the population that turns only to the Internet for news, opinion, and enjoyment. It is easy to search and navigate, generally digested, and one can quickly compare opinions, writing styles, and content over a selection of writers and subjects, without being captive to one publication's editorial slant. By following links provided by informed and passionate bloggers, I have found a number of blogs that are as interesting and well-written as any professional article. Indeed, many blogs are written by professionals. I went looking for excellence and I found it.

Hah! I thought so! Alberto, how can a distinguished and gracious gentleman such as yourself conceive of these wild, unsupervised wine and food blogging adventures? You have a secret side to you, no? After the Fabulous Favorites Festival, everyone may start referring to you as 'Fabio' . . .

I've been meaning to ask if anyone has participated in Wine Blogging Wednesday, a theme-based open wine tasting and commentary, but I have not checked the site recently, so imagine my surprise to find a . . . Wine and food cookoff! A blend of the ongoing Wine Blogging Wednesday and Is My Blog Burning?:

Unfortunately, you're so right, there's nothing to disagree with. It is fun to get everyone's knickers in a twist though, isn't it? Welcome to eGullet, Dave!

Absolutely, I agree. Forums are dynamic, and information on a well-organized bulletin board is easy to find; conversations are easy to pick up and continue. Neverthess, blogs and the perspectives they offer can spark curiosity, questions, and conversation. Banal conversation is not limited to the internet--the Net is an extension of life. One doesn't go to the coffeeshops with stoner poetry readings if one prefers Mensa meetings. (Personally I think I prefer the stoner coffeshops . . . ) Come on, guys. Print media has a long history of proliferating 'conventional wisdom,' and if anything, must bear more responsibility for its errors because of the relative weight that readers give it. This week, I read an article on organic wines in a British Columbia publication--an edited publication--which refers to non-native wine yeasts as "syntethic" and "genetically modified." (I will be posting a short 'comment' on my blog today or tomorrow entitled 'The Yeast that Ate My Brain.' This kind of soy people reaction to the use of non-native yeasts annoys me to the bone. How could any responsible editor let those descriptors stand without challenge?)

Is there anything that annoys you about wine consumption, wine reviews, wine service, wine availability? I have a little list . . . let's hear yours!

Scientists Say Seaweed Wine Is An Effective Eczema Treatment And I think they mean for us to drink it, not wear it.

. . . it's common practice to set up "splogs" or spam blogs which do nothing each day but post a zillion links to one site).Yes, and there are the consolidation sites that steal tidbits from other blogs on a daily basis and promote themselves as a Readers' Digest sort of blog, with zillions of links. It can be a good way to acquire links, but you may lose readers to them. As Derrick points out, the best way to find sites you might like are from blogs with a 'short list' of carefully chosen suggested links.

A web site is a single page (spidering into other pages) owned and controlled by a single entity. A blog is generally a bio-log written by a single author. In blogging software there are now options in which multiple guest authors may post. Blog softwares allow the owner to blog individually, invite carefully selected authors, or make it a totally open interface. LJ Wine is an example of an unedited multiple interface.

I'll start. According to alawine.com's list of the top 100 wine blogs, based on links, the #1 blog would be LJ (LiveJournal) Wine. However, this is an open author interface where pretty much anyone can post comments, like this: There is a total lack of focus and voice on this site. There are some very upfront conversations and a refreshing cleanliness--a lack of shilling, gremlins, and 'bots. It's sort of like a clean burger joint for wine conversation. Nice to wander into, but I would need some really juicy tidbits to entice me to return. It would benefit from more owner-author posts and comments. It has a few great links, including our own Mr. Daniel Rogov (Strat's Place), but when I looked for background or author information, I got this. Rating: Disorganized

Thirty years ago my English professor told me that bad writing is based on generalizations. Good writing is based on specifics. That one failing essay has dogged my steps like toilet paper stuck in my skirt for the rest of my life.

This point reminds me of the way cooking and gourmet magazines used to be. I felt so intimidated--as if I could never be a part of that world. Now I enjoy most of the major food publications precisely because they feature authors who take us spelunking in exotic Indian forests looking for hand-harvested mountain teas, and books by food authors who describe their first visit to an oyster bed. Food has become an adventure. That, I feel, is what is missing in the major wine publications, which are all quantitative and lifestyle oriented. If food can graduate from elitist to adventure, so can wine. And yes, Craig, I agree with your earlier comment on the lack of investigative reporting. The number of wine scams and frauds out there are shocking! And what about this whole Beckstoffer bully pulpit? I notice he's abandoned his argument that it's "bad for the vines," and is now putting forth that he's looking out "for the consumer." Every time an article is written about him in the St. Helena Star or the SF Chronicle, I notice that no other growers are interviewed on these issues. The Megapurple article was a step in the right direction, but there's so much more out there to be ~un~covered. And what an exciting assignment that would be!! There are writers who would tackle these assignments for free just to prove their talent. The fact that they are not covered is due in large part to the inertia of the wine/lifestyles, and also due to the very long lead time required by the glossies. They need to rely on 'evergreen' pieces, as they are called in journalism--pieces that will not go out of date tomorrow or next week. Blogs are current, informed, and relevatory. Blogs are to mainstream as the stiletto to the epee.

Well, we now have nearly two pages of commentary on how annoying and disorganized blogging is, and how it is of limited use. However, I would like to point out that waiterrant was recently mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and the resulting traffic--100,000 hits in a few hours--shut down the server. Granted, the writing is excellent and the topic has widespread appeal, but this is just one example of a blog that started as a diary and has become a phenonemon. One of my blogs, the little-known Women Wine Critics Board (which include's Daniel Rogov's well-written and deliciously controversial piece on Wine and Pregnancy, as well as a piece on grappa) was written about in Slate Magazine. I also received a phone call from Fox News in New York, which I forwarded to Michele Ostrove, who was also a featured writer on this blog, and 10 days ago I was interviewed by Business Week. This is a very small blog with infrequent entries (because my guest writers are not keeping up with their deadlines, grrr) but it is attracting mainstream attention. I guess you can view the phenomenon as a glass half-empty or half-full. I have several blogs bookmarked or subscribed to because I feel they are influential or interesting. The only one I check every day is Fermentation, but I do buzz through the rest every Wednesday morning over coffee. The blogs are absolutely the best way to spot new trends, get new ideas for marketing, and keep up with all the legal shipping fiascos. At Appellation America, Tom Wark, a Napa PR guru and author of Fermentation, is considered an influential and popular writer and is invited to sit on the confirmation panels of the Discovery tastings. These are very specific examples, and I hope everyone will visit a specific wine blog and review it. If it is an example of disorganized chaos and bad writing, feel free to say so. If it is good or excellent, but you wouldn't feel drawn to visit it again, please tell us why. I am hoping that this thread will become a running 'review' of wine blogs, of which there are many, and a good source for readers who want referrals to the best of wine blogging.

I'm confused. I have never encountered 'griping and sniping' among the blogging community or directed at each other. Perhaps its the quality of the blogs I read, but it only takes a few seconds to scan a blog and determine if it's something to add to your bookmarks. Can you give an example? Also, I disagree that blogs are read by only a few people. Like this board (hope I'm not outing anyone but me, here!) the forums and blogs have heaviest traffic during weekdays and office hours. Unlike a print publication, which one can not usually read at one's desk, the best blogs offer short entries which can be quickly scanned or read, and blogs and forums can be visited while one is multi-tasking in the office--on hold, or listening to a long, boring phone conversation, or just in need of a 5 minute mental break.

Excellent points, Craig. (And thank you for the compliment.) To elaborate on these statements a little more so that our members really understand what you mean by this "logjam," the major consumer wine publications have lead times of four to six months. This means it takes that long for a review to appear. Nearly all the wines that are reviewed are larger productions, or 'limited mailing list' productions that are newsworthy. The Wine Spectator still reviews some tiny productions, but basically it's .01% of the small productions out there. (Their samples submission form clearly states at the top that they do not guarantee a printed review, and it also states that there is little chance of a review unless they have "requested" the samples.) There's a whole world of excellent, affordable wines right now that are either panned or disparaged by the major 'lifestyle' wine publications. This is the area where bloggers who write well--I think Jens at Cincinnati Wine Warehouse does an excellent job of this--provide an interesting and beneficial source of information. It's sort of like the difference between a high society wine shop where you can buy Bordeaux futures and find Abreu, Screaming Eagle and Harlan, vs. those cool little warehouse places where everything is stacked haphazardly and you find great, affordable and interesting wines that your friends have never heard of. Each has its purpose.

It's nice to see a California wine reviewed here. It's been a while! Jelaine, how did you come across Carlisle? They're a fairly small producer, about 5000 cases per annum.

Interesting answers, but now instead of one question, I have two. Don't you think that the fact major newspapers like The NY Times and USA Today have begun wine blogs this year indicates that they now recognize the power of blogging to attract people to their sites and subscription services? Surely someone here has encountered wine blogs that are more interesting than the random reports of digestive rumblings by self-absorbed, untalented wine geeks? There are winery blogs that follow the action during harvest and crush, there are some good retail store blogs, and there are opinion blogs that cover a wide range of issues in the wine industry instead of wine reviews. Some blogs I would recommend are Fermentation, Cima Collina, Anne Amie, Wine Camp, The Pour, Cincinnati Wine House, Vin Vini Vino, and La Gramiere. The reason I'm not providing links is because I'm issuing a challenge to everyone to find one blog that you might enjoy following say, once a week, and review it for us. If you need more help getting started, here is a list of recently updated wine blogs. I'll give Daniel a free pass because anyone who researches and writes about wine at his level is too busy to read blogs anyway! And no reviewing mine, either, sorry!

Daniel, since I don't know what an 'epee' is, I have a somewhat alarming mental picture of that. I will have to look it up. I just found this post on Mark Fisher's blog Wine Sediments, written by fellow blogger Jens Rosencrantz, who writes the Cincinnati Wine Warehouse blog.

Today's big announcement on the wine news aggregation sites is that USA Today is starting a daily wine blog. I know for myself I have to check Fermentation every day, and I have a list of about 12 blogs that I check once a week, including Eric Asimov's The Pour. Does anyone else here refer to blogs for wine news and reviews?

This topic is sort of tangential to the Organic thread, but it's something that I would like to single out because I am seeing these references more and more frequently. Somehow, people are getting the idea that commercially available yeasts are not natural. Now, granted, they're not wild yeasts. But let me assert one more time that commercially available yeasts are simply captured and identified in the wild and propagated (that means grown/multiplied in a controlled environment on natural foods) as a clean, pure strain--without all the unidentified cousins and bacterial houseguests that cohabit with wild yeasts. You can buy Bordeaux strains, Barolo strains, Riesling strains, etc. etc. They are all completely natural and viable yeasts, they are just separate and identifiable and will have a somewhat predictable effect on grape must and juice. This morning I am baking a loaf of bread (well, okay in the bread machine) and I am using Fleischmann's 'Rapid Rise' Bread Machine Yeast. At the top of the label it says "All Natural Yeast." Probably they had to say that so consumers and FDA inspectors would not assume it is synthetic, or genetically modified because it comes in a jar. Granted, if I were a purist, I would set the flour, water and salt mixture in the sunporch and wait for native yeasts to start the fermentation. That's how original sourdough starters are created. But then, if I were purist, I wouldn't be using Gold Medal 'Better for Bread' 'Ideal for Bread Machines' Specialty Flour. I would wait until August, then go down the pond and harvest wild millet, and grind the millet into flour between rocks. That would make one tiny loaf per year. According to Michael Ruhlman in The Making of a Chef, only 5% of the bread produced in the United States is truly artisanal bread, often made with wild yeasts starters. So to all the people out there decrying the use of "synthetic" yeasts in wine and pleading for all-natural, native-yeast wines, I say you had better be buying only that 5% of artisanal bread for consumption in your home, because no matter what healthy, multi-grain bread you pick up each week at the store--it is made with a pure yeast strain that is deliverred to the bakery in commercially available jars and cans.