December 17th – December 30th
Looking back at 2012, some top wine writers sit down with Talia Baiocchi and comment on “What’s Hot & What’s Over“.
Pre-dating populist feminism, the “Iron Ladies of Champagne” really ruled the roost!
In another strong column, Matt Kramer discusses six important wine words, relevant for tasting.
In responsa to Andrew Jeffords, the HoseMaster pens his eulogy to the wine writer.
With the ink barely dry on the Parker story, Palate Press revealed some troubling facts about Natalie Maclean which grew with further investigation. Wine writers and bloggers piled on.
W. Blake Gray weaves an intriguing tale of Kings, Crusades, Eggs, Arbane and Champagne in the story of Drappier (with two newly kosher versions).
December 10th – December 16th
The ‘Unacknowledged Grape’ of Champagne, Pinot Meunier grape, gets its due.
DNA Testing leads to the “origin of winemaking” and the world’s first AVA…
Rolfe Hanson has a few choice words about over-used wine descriptors.
Over at the Intoxicology Report, Chris Kassel has an interesting piece on where the “other” 970 million bottles of French wine come from.
The Wine Curmudgeon has words of praise [and analysis] for the updated and revamped Cellar Tracker (a “free” website well deserving of your support).
A [only-somewhat] geeky post by Jamie Goode on whole-bunch fermentation was pretty interesting.
The biggest news of the week started out with the WSJ’s exclusive on Robert Parker’s sale of the Wine Advocate.
After Felix Salmon’s initial disbelief, commentary and analysis followed from Eric Asimov, Talia Baiocchi, @1WineDude, Jeff Leve, Tom Wark, the LA Times, @DrVino, Vinography, Jon Bonné and W. Blake Gray. The Baltimore Sun (Parker’s [and TWA’s] “Hometown” paper) had the story as well. After two days of reflection, the @winediarist returned with his own insightful analysis and the WSJ had some “clarifications” to the story.
December 3rd – December 9th
While Champagne remains the bomb, Eric Asimov waxes poetically about some great sparkling wine alternatives.
More hating on natural wine and here.
Are all those so-called Super-Tasters for real? The Academic Wino delves into science for the answer.
The Hosemaster gets his hands on the Sommelier’s Secret Wine Journal.
Matt Kramer at Wine Spectator has an excellant piece on three wine myths that need shattering. My own article on factually incorrect wine “tradition”.
@DrVino weighs in on a recent NY Times Op-Ed on the American President’s views of slavery which puts the “Jefferson Bottles” in a whole new light.