Commentary « VINEgeek

Khal Drogo Says: Keep Calm And Drink Mourvèdre

It’s nice having Khal Drogo on #TeamMourvedre!

This wonderful image comes from the people behind Game of Rhones (why didn’t I think of that name!), a Rhone-focused wine event in Melbourne, Australia. Check out the website; they’re really all-in with the Game of Thrones theme. Oh, and the wine sounds awesome, too. I [...]

Mourvèdre Roundup: March 2013

Your monthly roundup of Mourvèdre-related interestingness from the interwebs circa March 2013.

Last month’s roundup led off with a jealosy-stoking post about a major Domaine Tempier tasting, so let’s start March’s roundup with @ErinBScala‘s post on a vertical tasting of Hewitson’s Old Garden Mourvèdre, from the first vintage (1998) through the latest barrel sample (2012). If [...]

Wine in Game of Thrones: Wine Regions of Westeros

I’m a huge fan of the George R.R. Martin books (A Song of Ice and Fire Series) and the Game of Thrones HBO series based on them. As a wine geek, I noticed lots of references to wine as I was reading the books. My mind would start to wonder about the wine geography [...]

Minerality, Science and Winespeak

the drinks business is reporting…

NUTRIENTS NOT THE CAUSE OF MINERALITY

In an article written by Sally Easton MW in db‘s April issue, she highlights research to show that it’s impossible to get minerality in a wine directly from the nutrients in the ground.

This news came to my attention via Twitter in [...]

Mourvèdre Roundup: February 2013

It’s the first #MourvedreMonday of the month, so here’s a roundup of Mourvèdre-related interestingness from the past month: February, the dwarf month. (I wonder if someday, February will be downgraded from full month status to “dwarf”, like poor ole Pluto.)

The Leon Stolarski Blog stoked my jealousy this month with a post describing a major [...]

It Tastes Good, But I Don’t Like It

Have you head of the new “Locations” project from Dave Phinney (of Orin Swift)? I hadn’t until recently. He’s sourcing the wine from sites across France and blending them together:

2011 is the first vintage of our French red wine sourced from some of the finest locations throughout France. Grenache from the Roussillon, Syrah from [...]

Data Viz Wine Labels

Apparently, I’m a year or two late to this, but HOLY SHIT, did you know Nicholas Felton designed some wine labels! How did I miss this?

Nicholas Felton is a star in the world of data visualization. His Feltron Reports (each a data-driven record of his year, done in the style of a corporate annual [...]

Antonio Galloni Leaving The Wine Advocate

Read Eric Asimov’s article on Antonio Galloni leaving The Wine Advocate to start his own online property “aimed at younger wine consumers.” I wish him well. My favorite quote:

I have this vision of going to a restaurant and seeing a bottle of wine on every table. Everything I want to do is centered on [...]

Could a Digital Lollipop Let You Taste Wine Over the Internet?

Inventor Adrian Cheok, profiled by Eliza Strickland at IEEE Spectrum, is “dedicated to building multisensory communication gadgets.” After building little haptic jackets for pet chickens (!), he’s setting his sites higher:

Cheok has a “digital lollipop” in the works that electrically and thermally stimulates the tongue to produce basic flavors—bitter, sour, salty, sweet. He dreams [...]

Varietal Composition of Wine Spectator’s 2012 Top 100 Wines – REDS

I mentioned the other day that I’m a chart nerd; it’s an occupational hazard (I’m a marketing researcher by day). Well, when the Top 100 issue of Wine Spectator showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago, I found myself wondering what you’d end up with — varietally speaking — if you did a master [...]