Author Erika Szymanski

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Erika Szymanski
Science Writer
Erika Szymanski studies wine science dissemination at the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She holds Masters degrees in both microbiology and English rhetoric and composition and wants, someday, to help improve the structures through which scientists communicate with each other, industry, and the world. Erika was named 2012 Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer of the Year for her work on Palate Press.

Best of 2015: Do “hand-picked” grapes mean better wine?

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
This piece by our resident wine science specialist was short-listed for the Born Digital Wine Awards in the Best Investigative/Journalistic Wine Story. Erika ended up winning in this category, but for a different technical piece, published on her own site.  Stanford linguistic professor Dr. Dan Jurafsky's recent book on The Language of Food:

The Some science behind canned wine

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
You don't need me to tell you that canned wine is kind of hip. Chalk that up to a winning combination of novelty, extreme portability, and the kind of casual anti-snob vibe that appeals to young urbanites with disposable incomes these days. No real mystery that canned wine is hip,

Why does wine smell?

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
Why doesn't a glass of water smell like anything? Or a bowl of sugar? And why does a glass of wine smell like so many things? For something to smell like anything, two conditions must be satisfied. One: it must contain volatile molecules. Two: those molecules must trigger olfactory receptors.

How fair is fair trade wine?

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
Even if you don't shop at Whole Foods, even if you don't drink coffee, you've probably heard of Fair Trade. The program (programs, really; fair trade certifications are issued by a handful of agencies) rose up in the 1960's, but really gained steam in the 1980's as an upmarket-focused movement

Uncorking wine fraud without opening the bottle

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
No one in this post-Rudy Kurniawan, post-fake Chinese Lafite wine world can remain ignorant about wine fraud. After decades of more or less ignoring the problem, lately it’s been all hands on deck. Legal authorities are systematizing how to punish offenders. Engineers are devising clever systems for keeping track of

Wine and Cancer: An update

Erika Szymanski
Features
5 min read
I'll spoil the punchline: the news on wine and cancer is mostly good. Wine is going to kill you or wine is going to save your life: the expert answer seems to flop between one answer and the other whenever the daily news gets too quiet. Or maybe I'm getting

Is wine becoming sweeter?

Erika Szymanski
Features
5 min read
Last week, the Smithsonian broke conceptual ground on a frozen “botanical garden,” storing samples of current plant life for future eventualities. I wish someone had thought to do the same for wine over the centuries, but freezing wasn't invented early enough. Even the glass bottle wasn't invented in time for