Guest posts
First Loser
Another peculiar part of the American identity is always wanting to be first. In our professional sports leagues we don’t give respect to the runner-up, we venerate the champion. It’s all or nothing. If you’re not winning, you’re failing. The American psyche wants to identify with
California’s Meaningless Appellations
Californiaʼs well-known wine regions will never reach the pinnacle of international quality until real appellation control rules are made. In Europe, in theory, appellation rules protect quality and tradition. They generally revolve around varietals that have been proven to thrive in the soil and climate of a given region, and
SIP (Sulfite Is Poison)
Any discussion, conversation, argument or no-holds-barred fight on the topic of “natural” wines has to start with the two winemaking practices most often used to define such wine: using natural/field-born yeast for the fermentation, and not using SO2. If SO2 is used anytime during the development or bottling of
Our Era of Wine
We’re living in an era of wine production that has moved far from the origin of grape wine. In the last several weeks three new products have come to light: a large blender designed to masticate grapes to a pulp in order to increase color; a yeast developed to
Monty on: Austerity's Silver Lining
by Monty Waldin Not everyone likes this new age of austerity. But from my perspective as a lover of both biodynamic wine and gardening I think a little bit of austerity may not be such a bad thing. Brits import 70% of their groceries rather than grow their own, and
