The past few days have been filled with bothersome “tweets” on twitter and postings on Facebook from winemakers and vineyard consultants who are questioning the benefits of organic and biodynamic winegrowing. Some are calling this mode of farming a fad and others are going so far as to post video of the two clowns Penn [...]
Once You Go Natural Wine, There Is No Going Back
I grew up as a child in the 70’s. A confusing culinary juncture for North America. We ate Wonder Bread but hearty whole grain breads were starting to slip in there as well. I was raised in Texas and we were shopping at the early incarnation of Wholefoods when I was a pre-teen. Back then, [...]
Musarathon 2010
Four years have passed since my last lengthy Chateau Musar encounter in 2006: Musarathon – a 10 year vertical 1988-1998. Another seemed long overdue. Chateau Musar remains Lebanon’s most well known and venerated winery; the wines are unique, every vintage is different and each matures on its own path. Many are long lived – owner [...]
Sub-terroir Rhônesick Blues
Randall Graham takes on winemaking, critics and designer yeast in his own Dylan-style video. Visit the Been Doon So Long site for full lyrics and copious footnotes.
Organic Wines Are Great As Long As You Don’t Tell Anyone They’re Organic
There’s been a lot of buzz online recently about an academic paper done by two students; Magali A. Delmas of UCLA and Laura E. Grant of UCSB titled Eco-labeling Strategies and Price-Premium: The Wine Industry Puzzle. The study looks at eco-certification and eco-labeling as two separate business strategies, and they found that wineries that [...]
Shinn Estate Takes The Right Fork
By Jonathan Russo & Deborah Grayson
New York’s Long Island breaks into two at Riverhead, some 80 miles from Manhattan. The South Fork encompasses the Hamptons, with its super-fabulous lifestyle astride the magnificent beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. The North Fork has always been quieter, more agricultural, with its bay front coves and more easy-going people. In the last decade, the [...]
Maison Joseph Drouhin Awarded Organic Certification
Twenty years after Philippe Drouhin first began introducing organic practices to the vineyards making up the family company’s domaine (estate), Maison Joseph Drouhin (MJD), the highly regarded producer of Burgundy wines, has been awarded organic certification for all grapes grown within its vineyards beginning with the 2009 vintage. Announcement of the certification was made by [...]
By Barbara Shinn
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