What’s good for Riesling is good for Syrah

Consumers find comfort in graphic indicators of style.

Riesling and Syrah have much in common. Not genetically, of course, but in that they both vary widely in styles. Perhaps Syrah producers should take a cue from the International Riesling Foundation, which introduced the Riesling Taste Profile, as a device to “help consumers predict the taste in a particular bottle of Riesling“.

Not too long ago, I was privately asked for ideas on how to improve Syrah’s image (and, thus, sales). It’s painfully difficult to move Syrah these days. The winemaker who sought out my input attributed this to the variety’s stylistic variation. I’m inclined to agree with him. A broad spectrum of choices can lead to confusion and subsequent reluctance on the consumer’s part. Read More

The next stage of my two careers

Discovery Health

I remember listening to Drew Pinsky on Loveline on KROQ, back when he sat opposite Poorman. I never thought that, years later, Drew and I would be working together on a TV series, set to air on Discovery Health Channel next season.

On the recent season of Drew’s show, Celebrity Rehab, two of his patients underwent functional brain scans as part of their evaluation and treatment (videos here and here). I reached out to Drew after the shows aired and we struck up a wonderful conversation discussing our respective fields of work. It turned out that we live quite close to each other. One thing led to another, and we are now filming our show. Read More

Ratings, serendipity and selling wine

97 points.

Today, on PalatePress.com, Ben Simons thinks out loud about the place and utility of wine rating. I did a very light edit of this well-written piece. The day after I received the assignment, my Google alerts notified me about an article in a seemingly obscure journal in which the wine rating scale I had developed for redwinebuzz.com is compared to some pretty formidable contenders. Read More

Young and old

Young and old

I recently wrote about a wine brand out of the Central Coast which is designed to be a line of non-vintage wines. In the conversation I had with winemaker Austin Hope, Austin was very enthusiastic about the idea of making all of his company’s wines as non-vintage wines.

This is not a novel idea. Not all that long ago, almost all California wines were made in this manner. It was a way to make good wines, optimally consistent with the house style. Historically (and probably all over the world), it seems, vintage designation was used to mark exceptional wines from a single year in which the wine needed no help or tweaking. Other years, wine was blended from various lots. Read More

Guigal & El Pollo Loco

Necessity is the mother of compromise.

Funny how necessity and desire can come to a convergence sometimes. It makes for unexpected pairings and some food for thought.

The other night, I cleared the towering stack of work, the kids were done with homework and dinner time was nearing and I did not have time to cook. I decided to run out for some EPL: low effort, and most harmless (and least expensive) of all the take out options in the vicinity.

I NEEDED to eat because I’d skipped lunch. I WANTED a drink because after a day of work craziness, the kids’ squabbling was pushing me over the edge. Read More

Food friendliness

Wine and Food

While wine can be a beautiful thing all by itself, the greatest joy of wine for me is discovering new an exciting food and wine pairings. Wine, to me, should be much more than something to slug back after a mouthful of food.

Nevertheless, pairing food and wine can be a challenge. It should not be hit-or-miss, though. There are as many rules and recommendations for pairing a dish with a wine as there are people who drink wine. Not everyone proposing different pairing recommendations looks at the process the same way, so not every approach is going to be successful. Of course, there are also different ways to approach wine and food pairing depending on personal preference. Read More

The smell of sulfur

The smell of sulfur.

Today, on PalatePress.com, Tom Mansell summarizes the role of sulfur in the aromatics of wine. He addresses not only the offensive odors – the flaws – but also the pleasing and attractive sulfur compounds in wine.

My editing role in this piece was only minor as Tom did a great job of organizing and presenting the information. It’s a good read.