wine sooth

From CNN.com's Political Ticker

Ever get the feeling some people have no perspective?

Ever get the sense that some journalists get a little shrill in their pursuit of sensationalism (and, in the process, get a little sloppy with facts and too generous with opinion or fail to see how they interject their biases into the story)?

Apparently, that is the case with the folks who run CNN’s “Political Ticker”. Now they are decrying the choice of Shafer Cabernet “Hillside Select” 2003 to be poured for “leaders of the U.K., France, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and 11 developing economies” who are in Washington D.C. to address the current economic turmoil. (more…)

Paradox. From: http://dedroidify.blogspot.com

The last few weeks in the wine blogosphere have seen a large number posts taking the contest between Barack Obama and John McCain to realms previously unseen in political discourse. While some offer pretty humorous takes on comparing wines to the candidates, it is undeniable that others are stating their support for a candidate.

More often than not, that candidate is Barack Obama. That is fine by me (hey, the blogosphere is a free and unrestricted medium). But there is a painful philosophical paradox which many bloggers must face.

I would like to hear how many in the wine producing, wine writing, wine selling and wine promoting sectors explain the following paradox. (more…)

LA Times search. (image simulated)

You would think the major newspaper in a metropolis located just 90 minutes south of Santa Barbara County wine country (and another 90 north of Temecula) would have a staff wine writer or wine critic. If not to speak for the wines of those two regions, then to only “represent” the West Coast wine writing contingent (if not perspective). For some time, the Los Angeles Times has had that role filled by a few staff writers and Corie Brown.

In a Time.com piece of some time ago, I read that the LA Times was going to lay off one sixth of its staff. “Not a good time to go pitching a column to the chief editor”, I thought. Then, by way of GoodGrape, I heard of this post by Jancis Robinson. (more…)

Blind leading the blind.

Ah…. to be young and full of opinions.

L.A. Times columnist Joel Stein demonstrated today that spouting opinons is the folly of the uninformed.

In his column today, he says: “When wine drinkers tell me they taste notes of cherries, tobacco and rose petals, usually all I can detect is a whole lot of jackass. ” before admitting that “part of my problem is that I have a weak sense of smell”. Well, that makes him perfectly qualified to comment on all things wine! To remove all doubt, he declares Zinfandel to be “[America's] greatest native grape [sic]“.

Joel’s bio does not indicate any wine education beyond his report in the article that he watches Gary Vaynechuk. I like Gary and I think that he does a lot to educate budding wine lovers and to encourage them to learn about wine. But Stein misses the fundamental tenet of what Gary is about: There are a myriad of aromas, textures and flavors in wine and Vaynerchuk regularly references these when describing wines on his show. Gary also emphasizes training one’s palate by smelling and tasting different things and then trying to identify those same components in wine. (more…)