When I moved to the Willamette Valley in 2009, I had little knowledge of a simmering disquiet, obscured by rolling hills of pinot noir vines. In a region renowned for elegant red wines the cause for such fuss was, surprisingly, a white Pinot Noir wine—though, one produced using red grapes.
What information does the consumer want from the wine he's about to drink? Today's labels include the alcohol percentage, sometimes a little tasting note or some generic information on the winery—and more often than not the "contains sulfites" statement. Is this really enough or does the consumer want more information?
Arriving at night at an airport at the end of a journey, sometimes it’s hard to realize how remote a location you’re in until you start driving around the next day. This is what happened to me when I landed in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, a few weeks ago.
Imagine investing years of work developing and marketing a wine brand, and then being accused of infringing a deep-pocketed company’s trademark. It would stop you dead in your tracks. To minimize the risk of such claims, wineries regularly engage attorneys to review and register their brand names and logo designs.
After touring the far reaches of the world of wine, over the first two days of the London International Wine Fair, it was time to turn to the local a bit. By which I mean, being in England and all, taking a look at English wine. I was very interested
The color is very pale yellow with a caramel tinge, bubbles are small and moderately active. The nose is lovely, deep with an underlying umami richness beneath fresh pears and apples. On the palate tart apples take the lead, driven as much by bright acids as apple flavors. The apple
Cognac, the village and the AOC, is a quiet pastoral place. The village bustles at times, but primarily as a business hub and central marketplace for a largely rural community and only secondarily, it seems, as the world center for a unique iconic style of spirit. Outside of a relatively
One very interesting aspect of the wine tasting profession is the notion of a regional palate. The difference is clear to those who judge at competitions that use tasters from all over the world, or even just from different parts of North America, from east to west coast. There is