Uncovering Boston BYOB and Wine Berserkers

Tweet Late edit and FYI:  Disappointingly, Mark Squires unfriended me on Facebook minutes after publishing this post here and sharing the link on Facebook.  To Mark Squires:  Sorry if you were offended by anything I have mentioned here, it was not my intention.  Please refriend me on Facebook, I enjoy the information you share there. [...]

Questioning the Sensibility of Bordeaux’s New Found Irrelevance

Tweet Eric Asimov helped me feel old, out of the loop,  and crusty today simply because I prefer Bordeaux.  Please do not crucify me en masse, and allow me to cling to a hard earned 51-year-old point of view that many of the world’s finest wines are products of Bordeaux as you join me on a [...]

Open Offer to Taste My (Malcolm's) 1982 Vieux Chateau Certan

Tweet I consider myself “wine fortunate”, acquiring wine and friends over the years that fuel hedonistic and intellectual wine passions.  One of those friends is Malcolm.  I don’t see Malcolm regularly, yet each year for the last 15 we manage to find opportunities to get really silly and drink ridiculously excellent wine together.  It was great to [...]

A Road Side Bomb

Tweet The Executive Wine Seminar‘s showcase of 2005 Bordeaux in New York City was arguably the most significant tasting event of last week.  It combined three highlight characteristics including, Robert Parker’s customary attendance, some of the best wines from the heralded vintage, and the excellent organization and format that EWS founders Howard Kaplan and Robert Millman continue to orchestrate.  Yet, with the signature effect of a roadside bomb intended for Parker’s [...]

Wine Economics: A Consumer and Critic Weigh In

Tweet I have been in a digital desert for the last week, dealing with computer problems compounded by a stretch of travel without a laptop.  Please excuse the brief WineZag siesta and take a quick few steps back with me to follow up on a  previous WineZag post on runaway Bordeaux prices getting in the way of [...]

Bordeaux Sucker Punch Ruins Wine Independence for All

Tweet Catching up on some overdue reading during the long Fourth of July holiday weekend,  I was struck by a disconnect between two really interesting pieces of material.   Wine enthusiasts face significant challenges that threaten a pronouncement of clipped shackles found in the primarily good spirited and reflective recent Alder Yarrow “Declaration of Independence” .  Enthusiasts continue to be repressed by a profound problem, overlooked in Yarrow’s celebration of expanding wine availability and information sharing, and inadvertently demonstrated in [...]

When Lafite Meets Jiaozi

Tweet In case your catalogue never arrived, you can rest assured that the first fine wine auction ever held on mainland Chinese soil went off  without a hitch this weekend in Beijing.  A case of 1989 Petrus and 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild sold for 320,000 yuan each ($US 47,000)  and an  imperiale of 1979 Chateau Latour sold for [...]

WSJ Misses in Coverage of Wine Advocate and Industry Problems

Tweet David Kesmodel jumped on the “Attack Parker and His Wine Advocate Ethics” bandwagon in today’s May 26 Personal Journal section of the Wall Street Journal.  That is not surprising  in this code riddled era of business and media coverage.  Of course, this is a matter that must be settled between wine aficionados and Mr. Parker.  Wine [...]

One Robert Parker

Tweet Robert Parker and his Wine Advocate have shaped wine markets and consumer behavior more than any other contemporary critical influence.  The newsletter continues to fulfill its role as the most useful independent review source available. During the early years as the Wine Advocate cemented that position, Parker did all the tasting.  Now, Parker relies on a wider network of regular contributors. The publication navigates a love/hate relationship [...]