Editors' note: To close 2011, Palate Press: The online wine magazine will be featuring some of our top stories from the past year. Our fourth piece comes from columnist Evan Dawson, reporting on the uproar over rumors that California Pinot Noir producers beef their wines up with Syrah. “I do
Franciacorta has the most demanding standards for any sparkling wine region in the world. They're a substitute for tradition, because the Italian region has been in the bubbles business for only 50 years, which is nothing in Europe. As everybody is thinking about bubbly this week, I decided to take
I believe in the Tolstoy theory of history: great men don't really influence nations, but surf a tidal wave of societal change that was coming anyway. Thus it is with Robert Parker. Wine lovers spend a fair amount of time complaining about his malign influence. We want things he ignores,
Howdy. I'm delighted to introduce myself as Palate Press' first columnist. I've been writing about wine for more than a decade, as a freelancer and as a staff writer for a couple of publications, but what I haven't written about before today is that I also spent a little over
Two Central Coast vintners walked through a pristine-looking vineyard last fall—it had no cover crop, a usual sign of organic or biodynamic farming—explaining why they use herbicides. "We need to do it to keep our business sustainable," one said. The-read more-
“I do like those bigger, lustier Pinots. I know some people around here spike ‘em with Syrah. Maybe I got seduced by them.” –Rex Pickett, author of Sideways and Vertical, in a Palate Press interview “Some wineries add a dash-read more-
What's the most delicious way you can contribute to Japan's recovery from the triple whammy of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis? Drink sake. Japanese sake, of course, but that's where all the good stuff is from. Japan's sake industry is-read more-
Legal Issues The FTC, Bloggers, and Free Samples, linked in Advertisers Call for a Do-Over on FTC Blogger Rules, Amy Schatz, The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2009. The End of Direct Wine Shipping?, Mark Spivak, Palm Beach Illustrated: Readers-read more-