sound & fury

The Emperor of Wine: the Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste by Elin McCoy

October 5, 2011

This biography of the famous American wine critic, Robert Parker, best known as the creator and power behind Wine Advocate, has been out for a while now. I’d been hesitant to read it, to be honest. Frankly, biographies often leave me a bit numb. Generally their writers are either so enamored by their subject that [...]

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Noble Rot: a Bordeaux Wine Revolution by William Echikson

September 21, 2011

I came across this book by chance while wandering the quaint touristy downtown section of Half Moon Bay, where they have the famous pumpkin harvest festival every autumn. Published a few years ago, this is not one of those stuffy-Oh-Lafite-Oh-Latour-can-do-no-wrong Bordeaux snoozers. Instead here Echikson examines the region from the Left Bank perspective of garagistes, [...]

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interview: at home with Jennifer Waits and Brian Mast of Waits-Mast Family Cellars

August 31, 2011

Some of us from the weirdcombos tasting crew had the distinct pleasure of catching up with Jennifer Waits and Brian Mast of Waits-Mast Family Cellars for a fun Q and A and wine tasting. We’d been trying to plan this meeting for several weeks following the recent San Francisco PinotDays, but had been stymied by [...]

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interview with Nicholas Miller from Bien Nacido Vineyards, Santa Barbara County

August 3, 2011

We had the distinct pleasure of meeting Nicholas Miller from Bien Nacido Vineyards while attending PinotDays in San Francisco a few weeks ago. BNV is a family owned and operated fine wine vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley of Santa Barbara County. The Miller family purchased the land in 1969 and began growing grapes by [...]

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anguish in the cellar: to drink, to hold or to collect?

July 27, 2011

Did you read the article about tips for attending wine auctions in the most recent edition of Wine Spectator? I did. I’m always amazed by the prices that folks are willing to pay for wine. Easily thousands and thousands of dollars or even more for a case or two; or occasionally for just a few [...]

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Matt Kramer On Wine: in praise of subjectivity

July 6, 2011

I finished Matt Kramer’s delightful On Wine a couple of weeks ago, but couldn’t quite figure out how to describe it to you, my dear readers, until just this moment. The dilemma, of course, is that I am completely on Team Matt, so I’m totally biased. I even met him over this newest publication. He [...]

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7th Annual Pinot Days San Francisco Pinot Noir Festival: cheers!

June 22, 2011

I’ve still got pinot noir on the brain, and, what with Hegui’s charming niece, Juliana, coming into town for a long weekend, what a better opportunity to explore my passion and have fun at the same time than at the 7th Annual Pinot Days pinot noir festival. Held at Fort Mason, parking for the grand [...]

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Alexis Lichine’s Wines of France, a work of subtle comic genius

June 8, 2011

La Mission-Haut-Brion claims that it is responsible for getting St. Vincent into trouble. It seems that St. Vincent, the patron saint of vintners, had not been in heaven very long before he was attacked by a terrific thirst and had a yearning to taste again the great wines of France, the Burgundies, the wines from [...]

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Williams Selyem pick-up weekend, Spring 2011

May 11, 2011

Some of us at weirdcombos were lucky to have a glorious weekend in the Russian River Valley over Mother’s Day. We spent the night at the funky cabin-in-a-redwood-forest of our great friends, Jocelyn and Devin, and did some wine tasting; we followed the Russian River to its delta on the Pacific near the town of [...]

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19th Annual Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival: cheers!

March 30, 2011

Some of the weirdcombos headed down south to the 19th Annual Paso Robles Zin-Fest last week for a fun-filled time. Unfortunately the weather was a horror-show: rain and cold the entire weekend. But Mother Nature’s mischievous ways didn’t hold us back (for too long). Paso Robles is near the California Central Coast across the mountains [...]

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