Bottle Shock or Bust?

The movie Bottle Shock was primed to be the next “Sideways” for the wine industry. Looked to have a stellar cast for a low budget flick and a nice true story regarding the California wine industry to get wino’s excited… but how did it fare with online wine bloggers is the real question?

Tom Wark at Fermentation Blog was “Disoriented.”

Decanter.com notes the “Mixed Reviews.”

What are your thoughts? Accurate or Mis-Guided? Fact or Foe?

Wine Spectator Is In The News

All over the web we are hearing about Wine Spectator falsely “awarding” an Award of Excellence. Robin Goldstein, setup a fake restaurant and applied for the prestigious honor. He quickly found out his $250.00 application fee resulted in recognition by Wine Spectator of his non-existant restaurant. What a great story!

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Food and Wine Pairings - Can you go wrong?

The gourment & wine industry puts too much pressure on perfecting the “art” of food and wine pairings. All too often we hear “red wine goes with meat, white wine with fish.” I guess this would make sense if we all had the same exact palate when it came to food and wine pairings, but guess what, we don’t. If we all followed the same flavor profiles, there would be no such thing as a Robert Parker.

So when pairing food and wine, whether be fish, a rib eye or even a spicy slim him - drink what YOU like - not the experts. I love food and wine because it is all about being able to have an experience with your senses - even if that means pairing a tilapia fillet with a glass of Chianti!

Wine Videos - Get Used to Them!

You can’t swirl, sniff or spit, through wine videos - but the industry is booming. Web video is giving the wine world an opportunity to spread its wings from the traditional tasting rooms to the message boards. A simple Google search for Wine Videos is evident that web video is hear to stay in the wine world! But why do I love wine videos? It provides a voyeuristic approach to the wine world, that mass consumers would otherwise be unable to experience. I may never have the opportunity to meet the editors of Wine Spectator or Bobby Flay, but online video allows me to interact with them via virtual wine tasting and interviews.

It is also an interesting way to get reviews of bottles as most online wine segments utilize video to do comparison tastings, reviews and even highlight some of the hottest accessories for wine!

Join a Wine Club - Top 10 List

Matt Apsokardu wrote a nice intro piece noting the benefits to joining a wine club - Top 10 Reasons to Join a Wine Club.

Why do you join wine clubs? Inventory? Exploring? New stories?

It’s interesting to see the different people that give wine clubs a shot and I’m currently reading up on wine club experiences all over the web!

Favorite Wine Articles of the Week (FWAW)

It’s been a busy week, but I had my eye on two particular columns this week and wanted to pass them along for your viewing pleasure…

Screaming Eagle Snubs the Wine Trade

Caribbean Wine Diaries