Wine Blogging and Parenting

WineZag was conceived three years ago this week. Happy Birthday to it! In a related side fact, my two amazing sons are now 21 and 18 years respectively.  With identical veracity, I anticipate the blog’s birthdays as keenly as the boys’ red letter days. Plowing into WineZag’s fourth year of wine content creation, the connections between [...]

Wine Blogger Sample Disclosure Double Standard

Are wine bloggers and their traditional media counterparts held to a double standard on sample disclosures?  While it’s old news now, if you ask the FTC, then the answer is yes.  A recent article published by the Boston Globe and then an inquiry on common practice from an academic friend who is moving into a [...]

The Real Steve Heimoff

While California wines were losing my attention, Steve Heimoff grabbed it.  That may sound like an oddity since Steve is known for his sustained and successful career as California Editor at the Wine Enthusiast and, before that, the Wine Spectator.  Actually, it wasn’t strange in my world; I study journalists with a knack for integrating [...]

2011 Wine Highlights Part 2- Wine Community

When I launched WineZag in 2009, I did it under a founding motto of “wine is a lubricant for human connection that holds no bias.”  The essence of my wine appreciation has always transcended the juice, gravitating to the center of human bonding and relationships that are accelerated by shared wine experiences; either during dinner [...]

2011 Wine Highlights Part 1: Wine & Restaurants

While the best wine and food might still appear on my table over the next couple of weeks, 2011 is quickly shutting down like newly bottled Bordeaux and I catch myself reminiscing over the year that was in wine and food. These musings must not be mistaken for a quintessential nor ultimate reminiscence of global [...]

Palate Press Uncorks Swartland Revolution

Earlier this summer (winter in South Africa’s Swartland wine growing subregion) I had the chance to mix it up with the drivers of the Swartland Revolution; the winemakers.  Ever since I began to comprehend the unusually high authenticity and quality levels of the upstart region’s wines, I started sharing information about individual pieces of the [...]

Discovering 2008 Schiopetto Friulano

There would not be any reason to look beyond the (**** $29) 2008 Schiopetto Friulano that sat on Woodfire Grill’s wine list. I had finally made it to Kevin Gillespie’s (master of flavor intensity and popularized on the “Top Chef” TV show) Atlanta restaurant and all I could think about was getting my nose deep into a glass [...]

Wine Knowledge and Australia

I just received an interesting email from the Wine Australia representative I met at the Wine Bloggers Conference last month. Antonia Muir is memorable because, among other things, she gave me a very cool grey promotional t-shirt with only one line across the chest proclaiming “Everyone Has A Story.” While I am happy to fly [...]

Some Old Wine Bottles

95% of wines are consumed within a week of purchase.  It’s a fact, but is it vinous genocide? I had a conversation with a notable wine educator the other night who said he preferred young wines and can only recall tasting eight older wines that were worth the wait or more enjoyable to drink older [...]

Top Three Wines of July: Swartland, Minervois, Santa Barbara

This month’s top wine wrap up spans three continents including Africa, Europe, and North America.  These are all remarkably compelling wines pushing farming and élevage to the edge of their regions’ traditional boundaries.  While they are all urgently recommended, securing a bottle or two of Testalonga El Bandito or A Tribute to Grace will require intense investigation and [...]

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