Archive for the 'announcements' Category

Carbon neutral: keep wine, ditch water

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I’m giving up water for 30 days. Bottled water that is.

In the discussion of the carbon footprint of wine here last week, I floated the idea of purchasing carbon offsets to assuage carbon guilt. In case I had any doubt of the efficacy of this matter, an excellent column in the Financial Times last week on the subject of offsets made me put paid to this notion.

A hilarious quote compared the system of carbon offsets to “the medieval system of indulgences, in which corrupt priests absolved sins for haggled fees.” The author, John Guthrie, went on to say that the practice of buying tracts of forest land for protection as offsets may be out of favor now. The band Coldplay bought 10,000 mango trees in southern India to offset the carbon produced by the release of their second album. Five years later, the trees have now withered and died.

So if I am to make my wine drinking carbon neutral, I can’t buy my way out of it: I actually have to give something up. I figure I should go beverage-for-beverage, in other words, keep wine, and give up something else. I’d love to say that I would give up soda, but since I haven’t had a soda in something like 15 years, that would kind of be like my giving up snowmobiling, jet-skiing, and being driven to work in a stretch Hummer limousine (oh wait, that last one actually WILL be tough to give up).

Because the kind of wine that I enjoy is a unique product that can’t be replaced locally, I have another target in my sights that can: bottled water. It’s one of those paradoxes of the global era to be able to buy spring water from the French alps or the islands of Fiji in New York when there is abundant drinkable tap water available (unlike some countries, the efforts of a current UNICEF campaign). And, as a commenter pointed out in a previous posting, this chart shows that bottled water’s growth rate is faster than wine–it must be stopped!

So for 30 days I’m not going to consume any bottled water. Just what kind of a sacrifice will that be? Granted, not a huge one. I might save the world something like 30 bottles of water. But it’s a start. And I may even extend it if I can live without my favorite Gerolsteiner. So if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and fill up my water bottle at the drinking fountain.

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James Beard media awards, 2007

Last night, the James Beard Foundation presented their 2007 media awards in a celebration at the Hudson Theater in midtown Manhattan.

Although I was nominated in the website category, only one Colman won, and it was Colman Andrews taking home a medal for his writing in Saveur (my name is Tyler Colman for those who only know me by my nom de internet, Dr. Vino). Congratulations to Leite’s Culinaria, which won in the category for best website in Food, Beverage, Restaurants and Nutrition. For me, it was truly an honor just to be nominated since it is such a broad category and there are so many great websites out there in that journalistic frontier known as the ‘Net.

A complete list of winners and quotable quotes follows after the jump. Read more…

Dr. Vino, dead tree edition

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This just in from Berkeley: my book manuscript has gotten final approval from the University of California Press!

Though based on research I originally did for my doctoral dissertation at Northwestern University, I have written the book for a broad audience. It tells the story–nay, backstory!–of wine in France and America. The title?

Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink

Does it grab you? Are you ready to pre-order from Amazon?!? Well, hold that thought: it won’t be out until Spring 08.

Until then, you can browse some of the other wine titles from the Press.

Welcome to the new Dr. Vino!

Welcome to the new Dr. Vino! This site integrates my wine blog content as well as web site content all under one roof. Consider this site as your one-stop shop for all Dr. Vino wine picks and wine commentary.

Along with the swanky new design, you’ll see some new features. For example, you can browse topics by category. So if you are looking for wine recommendations, click “wine picks” to generate a list. If you’re looking for “wine politics” (and come on, who isn’t), just click on that in the category on the first sidebar. And so on. This feature was not available on my old blog so I have to go back and tag 697 posts with categories, a process that will take at least a bottle of high-octane tempranillo and few episodes of the Daily Show to work my way through…Thanks for your patience in this regard.

You may notice a new email sign-up for monthly summaries on the right sidebar. I encourage you to sign up in case you don’t check in with the site regularly. Or sign up even if you do you can get a monthly note with some highlights of site activity. The email list is and will always remain not for sale, exchange, loan nor lease, truck nor barter. There is new placement of ads on the right sidebar and a new statement of my ethics and privacy policy above. I have added some other pages to the nav bar including an events page. The maps will be folded into this page template shortly. Feel free to subscribe to the feed with your RSS reader!

Any questions, or suggestions, drop me a line or post a comment! Otherwise, we’ll return to our normally scheduled wine programing .

James Beard award nomination

I am thrilled to have been nominated for a James Beard award in hugely broad the category of “Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant or Nutrition.” Given the fact that so many more people eat, drink beverages other than wine, or are interested in nutrition, I am truly honored to be among the finalists. And thank you, dear reader, for your comments, which make this site a collaborative effort!

My humble blog is nominated alongside Epicurious.com, internet home of Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines, and Leite’s Culinaria, a food site with essays and recipes. See the full list of nominees here in pdf including book authors and many great chefs (and even some winemakers too).

If you are new to this site–or if you are a veteran reader–I will ask you to “pardon our dust” as the cliche goes. I initiated some site improvements that will be finished in a day or so but may cause uneven performance of the site’s images in the interim (great timing, eh?). Crackling wine commentary resumes shortly with an enhanced look and feel.

Mission: possible

Do you like to write? Are you between 22 and 29 in NYC? And thinking of having a dinner party with wine sometime soon? I have an “assignment” for you should you choose to accept it. Level of wine knowledge needed: knowing red from white.

Hit contact above to drop me a line.

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Meetup NYC: Jadis, March 8

The third installment of our NYC wine bar crawl will take place on March 8! Come and join fellow wine enthusiasts as we will be trading our office chairs for the comfortable couches and warming fireplace at Jadis on the Lower East Side. The wine list is strong in value wines from France so get ready to do our part to help drain the French wine surplus.

The format is simply a get-together of a people who read this site. Come, order, chat, drink, munch, pay. Inspired by our attendee from Colorado last time and an inquiry from newlyweds from London who wanted to join us on their honeymoon, I’ll be buying a glass of wine for the person who comes from the farthest away! But even if you’re not journeying from afar, come along to our offline for a happy hour or two.

When: March 8, 6 PM – 8ish.
Where: Jadis, 42 Rivington (map it)
How: F, V at 2nd Ave; J at Bowery; 6 at Spring St.; taxi
Review: Jadis [NY Mag]
on the web: Jadisnyc.com

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Where are the Americans in Argentina? What’s happening on Unfiltered?

Have you ever wondered why there are so few Americans in Argentina’s wine country while the French and Chileans seem to know their way around Mendoza? When I was there, I did. So I explored the issue in an article that appeared in the January issue of Wine Business Monthly, now available online.

Have you ever thought about how wineries use the internet to market wine? Or why sports fans are asking for “mas vino” instead of a nice cold one? Or whether Costco will make the three-tier system crumble? Then fire up your iTunes and listen to the most recent installment of “Unfiltered,” a podcast hosted by Tim Elliot of Winecast. I joined four others to taste wine and chew the fat. Oh no wait, since we were in four different time zones and connected via Skype, there was no imbibing (at least collectively), just talking.

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quotes

One of the “fresh voices taking wine journalism in new and important directions.” -World of Fine Wine

“His reporting over the past six months has had seismic consequences, which is a hell of an accomplishment for a blog.” -Forbes.com

"News of such activities, reported last month on a wine blog called Dr. Vino, have captivated wine enthusiasts and triggered a fierce online debate…" The Wall Street Journal

"...well-written, well-researched, calm and, dare we use the word, sober." -Dorothy Gaiter & John Brecher, WSJ

jbf07James Beard Foundation awards

Saveur, best drinks blog, finalist 2012.

Winner, Best Wine Blog

One of the "seven best wine blogs." Food & Wine,

One of the three best wine blogs, Fast Company

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