wine sooth

Jaguar X-type

The wine world is changing. Wine is changing. Amidst recurring discussions of trends and the globalization of wine (as a result of the influence of a purported small cabal of people), and murmurs that not every wine-producing region has the stuff to make world-class, complex wines, there is one essential point that goes unmentioned:

Democratizing luxury goods - making them appealing and accessible to the average consumer - devalues them and causes a decline in quality standards.

A luxury commodity is devalued by democratization because increased supply makes the good more common and, thus, less desirable. This seems to be the basic tenet of this book. Additionally, quality inherently declines with increasing volume of production. (more…)

(Introducing: Wine Surveys) 

Wine Surveys logo.

Depending who you ask, the incidence of TCA tainted wines is somewhere in the 3% to 10% range.

Remy Charest started a discussion at OWC to explore this very topic. Several members brought some opinionated perspectives to the table and at one point, wine maker Nathan R. Carlson proposed that we conduct an on-going poll or survey to get a real-world sense of the incidence of TCA taint.

Serendipitously, I had created Wine Surveys just a few days earlier, intending it index wine-related surveys. (more…)

UCWS.

Recently, Alice Feiring, announced a re-design of her blog. She posted a mock-up of the new look and, lo and behold, there they were: UCWSs - the Ubiquitous Circular Wine Stains which adorn too many wine blogs to count.

Second in popularity only to the OTWGs (Omnipresent Tilted Wine Glasses - a sin of which I am guilty), the UCWSs are the staple design element of many wine blogs and sites. I don’t know if this is because it’s an easy image to get on iStockPhoto or if is bundled with a narrow set of master templates sourced by web and blog designers. (more…)

Scientist - by Stephen Sweny

Many years ago a study was published which found that children who had been verbally, emotionally or physically abused were likely to smoke cigarettes as adults. Forgive me for not providing a citation, but bear with me, because this study might as well be fictional, given where I’m going with this.

“Being mean and cruel to your kids turns them into cigarette smokers!” might have concluded some observers. “These kids were brats and their parents were not abusing them. They were administering tough love. These ‘bad’ kids were bound to smoke anyways.” other might have said.

It appeals to conventional American logic that stressed out kids grow up to carry those stresses into adulthood and seek solace in inhaled nicotine. But are these things really related? Can there be a causality established between those childhood experiences and adulthood nicotine addiction? (more…)

George Carlin.

One of my all-time favorite comics, George Carlin, died yesterday.

I really don’t have heroes or people I idolize. I see traits and qualities in everyone which are worthy emulating. My favorite thing about George was the when he smelled bullshit, he called it what it was.

I liked his unconventional way of looking at conventional things. In all parts of our society (even in science and medicine) certain notions become “accepted wisdom” and then “dogma”. It was Carlin’s way of looking behind the facade and questioning the validity of some assumptions that really resonated with me. Sure, he could be irreverent, absurd and even profane, but his material always reminded me that we should never complacently accept the party dictum. (more…)

Young Anna Nicole Smith.

In a post on his blog, New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov says: “…too many American pinot noirs are simply too big, not so much in alcohol but in body and sweetness“.

Along with others, I have said that the trend of increasing ripeness in Claifornia wine has become a runaway train. But it’s not just ripeness and sweetness that are of issue to Asimov (and those of like mind). These wines go beyond rich, corpulent, full-bodied or bold. Some of these pinots are grotesque monstrosities. This is no coincidence or a product of the climate. It is a conscious and deliberate decision on the part of producers. Besides farming practices and harvesting decisions, cellar practices are employed by winemakers seeking to appeal to (or appease) the mainstream preferences. (more…)

Arthur Z. Przebinda

After much consideration and encouragement from other bloggers, I am launching my own blog to complement the content of redwinebuzz.com.

This venue will allow me to provide more frequent, running commentary on the world of wine. It will give a forum to those topics not directly related to the Central Coast but which impact all wine lovers and have a more indirect effect on the Central Coast wine world.

There is little doubt that I have some firm opinions and constantly challenge the accepted wisdom of wine as a culture and as an industry. I wanted to create a name for this blog that would reflect both its wine focus and my philosophical stance and my style. It was with this in mind that I sought the advice of Alder Yarrow, Tyler Colman and Tom Wark and I am grateful for their counsel. (more…)