Congratulations to Palate Press' own W. Blake Gray, winner of the prestigious Ramos Pinto Online Wine Columnist of the Year, in the 2013 Louis Roederer Wine Writers' Awards. Blake, a Columnist for Palate Press since 2010, was nominated for stories like Darth Vader is My Lover: Revalations about Brettanomyces in
Wine writer W. Blake Gray is a member of the Editorial Board and a Contributing Editor for Palate Press. He is Chairman of the Electoral College of the Vintners Hall of Fame. Previously wine writer/editor for the San Francisco Chronicle,-read more-
For true wine lovers, appreciating the rich, decadent Amarone della Valpolicella is almost a given (despite W. Blake Gray's opinion). In fact, 11% of all the Amarone sold abroad ends up in American wine glasses. Concentrated and wonderful, long-aged and long-lived, Amarone is created in Italy’s Veneto region by intensifying
Never one to mince words, W. Blake Gray visited South Africa this year and in this and a companion piece on his own site, explored the effect of wind on terroir and wondered how much progress has been made in South African wine post-apartheid. South Africa makes 4.2% of the world's wine.
At this point, its reasonably common knowledge that terroir isn’t all about soil. Studies since the 1970’s have told us that wine from grapes grown on different soil types in different locations don’t necessary taste different. Nouveau chic wine critics – Steve Heimoff, Eric Asimov, W. Blake Gray, among others
There is much to be said for the wonders of assyrtiko grown on the volcanic soils of Santorini. (Just ask W. Blake Gray.) Wines made from that grape variety have roundness and crispness, all at once, and this example from the 2011 vintage is no exception. There is a fruitiness
Editors' note: To close 2011, Palate Press: The online wine magazine will be featuring some of our top stories from the past year. Our fifth piece comes from columnist W. Blake Gray, exploring the idiosyncrasies of how the wine world defines sustainability. Two Central Coast vintners walked through a pristine-looking vineyard last
Two former Palate Press Editors, W. R. Tish and W. Blake Gray take different sides in the Scorevolution manifesto and the 100-point scale debate.