WORDS ON WINE.
And other stuff.
The Unpretentious Guide to Portuguese Wine
“The ultimate concise and portable guidebook for travelers, casual wine enthusiasts, aficionados, and professionals.”
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2024 Content.
Has the Title ‘Master Sommelier’ Become a Paradox?
As Published by VINEPAIR
… the elite title bestowed by the Court of Master Sommeliers upon a tiny set of hospitality industry obsessives has gone from obscure insider jargon to the wine world equivalent of celebrity status. … But the title’s meaning is changing. With a wine and beverage world growing ever more complex and work-life balance increasing in importance, the entire idea of what a Master Sommelier is — and the motivation to pursue said rank in the first place — is becoming something of a paradox…
December 9, 2024
How Wine Became the Steve Buscemi Meme of Beverages
As Published by VINEPAIR
…When compared to your beer and spirits brethren, you’re a marketing version of the Steve Buscemi meme: working so studiously to appeal to the youths, yet somehow coming across like that awkward dad trying too hard to look cool … Recent stabs at trendy relevance have included NTFs, “clean wine,” the non-alcoholic bandwagon, and Barefoot’s wine-based entry into the hard seltzer game…
November 25, 2024
This Private Equity Company Is Quietly Becoming a Pacific Northwest Wine Powerhouse
As Published by VINEPAIR
…The sky is falling, or at least that’s the sense one gets when reading wine industry news over the past year … But quietly, in the secluded cradle of the Pacific Northwest — and obscured by the cacophonous knock-on effects of Chateau Ste. Michelle’s ongoing woes — a relatively new player has been on a massive buying spree … Who is this new Seattle-based competitor scooping up winery after winery?…
November 7, 2024
Long Live the Cross-Border Booze Run
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Where there’s a will, there’s a way... The old saying may be at its most poignant when it comes to procuring intoxicants. And for the ancient human tradition of drinking alcohol, that will and way have joined forces to provide an iconic vignette of subversive subculture: the cross-border booze run... These gray and black markets fuel an economy unto itself, with businesses and customary practices unique to each environment. And for some locales, the booze run has become a local institution…
October 28, 2024
Rosado or Red? Spanish Garnacha Country Considers a Marketing Makeover
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Within the context of its lauded neighbors, Navarra is largely anonymous internationally. It’s not a unique dilemma. Quiet corners of wine country globally, no matter how high the quality or how historically well known they once were, often tread water in the wake of their powerful local peers… So, how to compete with those neighbors and potentially rebrand without the accidental self-sabotage of placing all eggs into one precariously trendy basket?…
October 14, 2024
Are Airports About to Start Restricting Your Drinks?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…But for those of us who choose to partake, airports have always offered that prized over-the-counter stress reliever in abundance: booze. Whether it’s a proper airport pint, deep pour of Savvy-B, or the classic airport Martini, we’ve always had trusty alcohol to take the edge off of a day of discomfort… Yet now, even the seemingly God-given right to get tipsy at the terminal is being called into question… are we really now at risk of losing our privilege to booze before boarding?…
September 30, 2024
Kegged Wine Should Be a Win-Win, So Why Isn’t It Everywhere?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…To keg or not to keg, that is the question preoccupying a number of winemakers these days. Despite gaining momentum in the casual wine bar and restaurant scene, it’s a delivery system that still makes some winemakers and venues — not to mention certain wine drinkers — a little uneasy… What’s behind this reticence, and how legitimate are the concerns?…
September 16, 2024
The Mount Rushmore of California Wine, According to 8 Wine Experts
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Relative to Europe’s multi-millennia wine history, California is still just a baby. But whether or not France, Italy, and the rest of the Euro cohort care to admit it, the grand Golden State has fashioned an equally commanding seat in the boardroom of storied wine regions. It’s the unquestioned and unrivaled torchbearer for wine on the North American continent…
September 11, 2024
As Champagne Flirts With the Climate Crisis, English Bubbly Looks to Steal Its Lunch
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Visions of French wine stocked in the cellars of romantic English manors seem the most natural and ever-constant image to anglophiles worldwide. Save for a mutual distrust and disdain toward Germany, a supreme affinity for the wines of France is the one thing these two societies could always agree on. But the cultural counterparts now find their relationship in uncharted territory.…
September 4, 2024
Brexit Pints of Wine Might Not Be as Stupid as They Sound
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Brexiteers — desperate to save their grand fantasy now mired in the swamp of an inconvenient reality — finally had an ace to play. Pint bottles of wine .... But will anyone actually buy these mythical, imperial-pinted Tory trophies when they theoretically return to British shelves? And by extension, can any producers find it worthwhile to pony up for this dubious demand of the market?…
August 13, 2024
Are ‘Legendary Vintages’ Becoming a Tired Wine Marketing Cliche?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…But linguistic hyperbole is becoming the norm, even when conditions fall well short of the anomalous magnificence of examples like 2023 Napa. It’s creeping into the realm of tiresomely repetitive, with multiple global regions boasting similar proclamations seemingly every year. The constant noise now threatens to water down praise that should be reserved for truly rare outlier vintages…
August 8, 2024
Why Are We So Obsessed With the NBA’s Wine Aficionados?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…the NBA has received copious coverage in the press for its fine-wine fever in recent years … At first glance, it makes perfect sense. The NBA is a popular global brand, and stories detailing anything regarding the league no doubt provide a healthy share of interest and clicks. Give the people what they want — it’s business. Yet aside from the obvious, shouldn’t we be asking why, sociologically, this is such a hot ongoing story?…
July 23, 2024
Millennials Are Entering Their Collecting Years — Will They Buy the Same Wines Boomers Did?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…At the top, there’s the collector market, a storied, isolated realm populated by legendary bottlings, and for most of us, shrouded in mysterious intrigue. What’s happening way up there? And what does the future hold for its hallowed halls during this turbulent era of massive change in the wine world? … With younger generations now gaining access ... will there be a paradigm shift in high-end collector mentality altogether?…
June 17, 2024
The Rowdy Portuguese Summer Festival of Red Wine, Sardines, and Old-Timers Hollering Raunchy Lyrics
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Wander into any Portuguese town during the early summer, and you’ll witness enchanting street festivals happening here and there. But show up to Lisbon during the month of June — especially in the first two weeks — and you’ll be left wondering, “What the hell kind of nonstop citywide party did I just stumble upon?” … Whether referred to as “Santos Populares,” “Festas de Lisboa,” or just “Santos” for short, it’s a charm-a-minute cultural gift from the street-party gods…
May 31, 2024
Would You Drink Fine Wine From a Paper Bottle?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…The newest contender? An adorably designed 750-milliliter bottle in paper-based form… About 50 wine drinkers — pros, amateur aficionados, and newbies — responded to a VinePair survey asking if they’d be down with service from what is essentially reimagined boxed wine. While this sample size isn’t remotely comprehensive, the results nonetheless offer a surprising glimpse into the current wine-consumer psyche…
May 20, 2024
Wine Gadgets: The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Unnecessary
As Published by VINEPAIR
…It’s high time for us all to hit pause and take a deep breath — because the vast majority of wine professionals would like to have a word with you… The reality is that while many of these shiny toys are indeed functional toward one end or another, they are also thoroughly and exasperatingly superfluous. And some? Well, some are just outright nonsense…
April 24, 2024
Before ‘Sideways,’ This Colorful Cast of Winemakers Put Santa Barbara on the Map
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Twenty years ago, an unassuming indie picture completely upended the wine world. As for the cool, quiet hills and valleys in which the film was set? It would never be the same… But back in the day — long before the camera crews showed up to blow its cover and alter the course of history — a mischievously scrappy lot of grapey gold hunters and rambunctious characters roamed the landscape…
April 1, 2024
How Changing Times and Social Media Are Transforming Shift Drink Culture
As Published by VINEPAIR
…The tradition has undoubtedly been altered — or outright replaced — as the neo-temperance movement and viral trends leave their imprint on the industry. Younger generations are drinking less, and work-related boozing is in decline. When fused with the now ubiquitous pressure to snap colorfully composed pictures for our social media feeds, it’s becoming apparent that the shift drink culture of yesteryear is fading…
March 21, 2024
As a Major Wine Critic Calls Time on Heavy Bottles, Will Others Follow Suit?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Thick, heavy glass bottles certainly had their moment in the sun. In the ’90s and aughts, these Patrick Batemans of the packaging game literally threw their weight around to great effect… Hedge fund collectors and the nouveau riche fawned over the transparently self-aggrandizing, liquid-centered cinder blocks of the trade… That is, until one of America’s most celebrated wine critics and authors finally slammed the door on overweight bottles — emphatically and permanently…
February 26, 2024
Corpin-NOT: How Cava Lost the Crown of World’s Most Beloved Bargain Bubbles
As Published by VINEPAIR
…For a while there, anecdotally, it seemed like Cava was finally going to be the next big thing and triumphantly overtake its arguably “lesser” competitors at the price point. It fizzed into glasses at parties as a welcome beverage — or after the attendees were sufficiently sloshed to move past the Champagne. The best of both worlds: traditional method, but without the cringe-inducing price tag. Cava would be coronated at last, and libationary justice would be served. Or so we thought. So… what happened?…
February 5, 2024
Survival of the Fittest: Analyzing SVB’s State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report 2024
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Ominously, the recently released Silicon Valley Bank “State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report 2024” begins with a full-page quote from none other than Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” By invoking such a cloud-summoning introduction, Rob McMillan — founder of the SVB Wine Division and author of the report — launches his much-anticipated annual analysis with a implication that the current situation is, most assuredly, not great.…
January 25, 2024
France No Longer Defines Global Wine Culture. Can It Adapt?
As Published by VINEPAIR
…Wine and France are synonymous in our collective cultural understanding of the world. And it used to be that if one wanted to become a great winemaker — or any sort of authority in the wine realm — all roads went through France…But the world has become smaller…and the spiritual leader of wine finds itself in a previously unthinkable position: It no longer dictates and defines global wine culture…
January 11, 2024
