Dr Vino's wine blog

A new wine made from certified organic Malbec grapes will soon be available in the United States. But instead of a bottle, the wine will use lightweight packaging known as TetraPak, traditionally associated with juice boxes, in the name of lowering its carbon footprint.

Matthew Cain, regional sales director for fine wine importer Kermit Lynch for nine years, will be importing the wine through his new company, J. Soif. “Over a period of time I came to the realization that the wine business just doesn’t work,” he told me in a telephone interview last week. “Eighty percent of wine is drunk within a week. It doesn’t make sense to put nine liters of wine in a 40 pound box and ship it thousands of miles.” Read more…

“You’re hired!” Those may not be the words that many people hear from The Donald. But I did.

OK, not from him personally. But the editor at the newly reborn TRUMP magazine. I contributed two wine stories to the current issue, which, as you can see, does NOT have The Donald on the cover! Take that, Oprah!

Although I originally took the assignment to satisfy my inner bling, I actually wrote a story about (wine) travel in the Loire based on our family vacation last summer, tasting wines at the legendary Domaine Huet and storming some of the castles. The other story is about Crushpad, a custom winery in downtown San Francisco.

You can pick up a copy of the magazine at any Trump property, or city with a Trump property such as New York City, Chicago, Palm Beach, Dubai and Atlantic City.

I poured a Loire cab franc at an event recently and suggested that it would go well with fatty food, some roasted chicken perhaps. Someone asked, “How bout fries?”

I’d never thought about pairing wine with fries! So, I ask you, is it … impossible?!? Hit the comments with your suggestions! And please note whether your wine suggestion considers either ketchup or mustard–or (UPDATE, for European readers) mayo!

(image)

Last week was the final session of my six-week NYU wine class. The grouping of people was very fun and hopefully everyone is a little more wine savvy.

One of the things that I do in the class is poll people on whether they like each wine. They’re free to love them or hate them and we generally have some fence-sitters too. Some people love certain wines (“smell the terroir!”) that are hated by others (“smells like terroir!”). Oddly enough, the expensive wines are not always the most popular since they have either too much individuality or too much conformity to please everyone.

But some wines are unanimously enjoyed. Below is a list of those wines. Incidentally, I poured about 35 wines (blind) spanning many places and styles. One week I was away on parental leave and recruited Mollie Battenhouse to help me out. Mollie, the former sommelier at Tribeca Grill and a candidate for the Master of Wine (all she has left is her dissertation), is starting her own wine business in NYC that is a first of its kind. More on that on a future date…To the wines! Read more…

Today is the deadline for tax filing. But soon enough, we’ll all be getting those rebate checks for $600! Yay! Why spend this economic stimulus on, say, ten days of health insurance premiums (grrr) when you could spend it on wine!?!

So if you could spend your whole rebate on wine, how would you do it? A case of $50 bottles (not including sales tax)? Five cases of $10 wine? Or the cork on a gold encrusted double magnum of champagne?

Hit the comments with your thoughts!

(image)

Sorry, but I can’t get this visual tasting note thing out of my head. This is the last one–for now.

Lewis, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2004, $125 (find this wine)

Web 2.0. How many have heard that already? It’s borderline cliche.

Anyway, I’ve taken the plunge on three social networking sites. Be my friend, follow me, or whatever their jargon is. Here are the sites:

1. Twitter. Be my friend. I can’t decide if this is a revolution in micro-blogging or a complete waste of time. So far I’ve learned various things such as: one woman was PMSing, another guy hates his job, another guy just finished 18 holes of golf, somebody else is at the farmers’ market (BREAKING!), and yet another guy is pinging his DNS server or some such. I have revealed trivialities as well such as my confusion thinking New York State cider was different from mere apple juice. OK, I’m probably not doing the best sales pitch and, indeed, I’m kind of undecided about the whole thing. Be my friend and convince me of its virtues! One beauty of Twitter is obvious since all postings are limited to 140 characters: Blowhards not allowed.

2. StumbleUpon. Be my friend. SU is sort of the Russian roulette of web surfing–except without the guns and death. Sign up for it, select some preferences, and SU generates new websites for you to explore at random every time you click “Stumble!” Or you can explore what your friends like, which may be safer and more rewarding.

3. Open Wine Consortium. Be my friend. OK, not as catchy a name as Facebook. But it is like a Facebook for wine geeks. Post comments on your friends’ walls and join the various networks to discuss aspects of wine, particularly issues of interest to wine bloggers and those in the trade. There was even a brief discussion (now, oddly, closed) about the logistics of a possible wine bloggers conference later this year. Join the fray.

About a year ago, a friend of mine asked me for advice on starting a blog. My first thought was, “why not? Who DOESN’T have a blog these days?” But this friend is an avid wine collector (and a consultant to other collectors) and wanted to blog about his fine wine experiences. The more I thought about it, fine wine and blogging seemed an odd mix.

Mike Steinberger explores this disjuncture and much more in a rich and very worthwhile essay entitled “Everyone a Critic: The Future of Wine Writing.” It graces the current cover of the English magazine, The World of Fine Wine (available free this week only here as pdf).

The most interesting thread to me is the economic angle. It should come as a surprise to nobody that there’s little money in writing (but the glory! Yes, the glory!). Further, as prices have risen on the top wines, indicating demand outstripping supply, those wines have become increasingly out of reach for wine writers. What incentive do producers have to give wine writers a sample? And in the absence of that sample, how many writers can afford to buy them on their own?

It got me thinking: are fine (expensive) wines relevant to wine blogs? I think so. But a steady diet of them would likely run the blogger to ruin or bore the audience to tears. The economics of blogs is based either on a labor of love or on eyeballs for ads–and there just aren’t a lot of eyeballs that are seriously interested in $1,000 bottles of Burgundy. A previous poll here showed that blog readers prefer free content. So my friend might be better off contributing to the Parker bulletin board where the audience delights in bling bottles or starting an online newsletter with his notes and charging $100 a year.

Do you think expensive wine and blogs are a good blend? Do you drink a lot of wines north of $100?

I was pleased that Mike included me along with Jamie Goode, Alice Feiring, and Tom Wark as some “fresh voices taking wine journalism in new and important directions.” I’d like to return the compliment since I have always been a fan of his writing–whether in Slate, the Financial Times, Saveur or wherever–finding it to be polished, provocative, entertaining, and informative. Too bad he doesn’t have a blog.