How can fine wine and all its inherent trappings be so extraordinarily compelling? It is a fair question, don’t you think? Archaeological evidence from Iran’s mountains suggests wine production and consumption have remained perpetual threads in our human fabric for 5,100 years; as if humans need wine. What about fermented grape juice makes it so […]
Steve Heimoff on Wine Blogs and Journalism
A guy from Brooklyn meets a guy from the Bronx inside an Oakland Whole Foods to talk about wine blogging and journalism. This is not a set up line to a cheap joke. It’s a real vignette that was the basis of yesterday’s post about the real Steve Heimoff. We did gab about the New York […]
The Real Steve Heimoff
While California wines were losing my attention, Steve Heimoff grabbed it. That may sound like an oddity since Steve is known for his sustained and successful career as California Editor at the Wine Enthusiast and, before that, the Wine Spectator. Actually, it wasn’t strange in my world; I study journalists with a knack for integrating […]
Wine Rock Star-Part 2
You don’t have to be a Rock Star to drink wine like one. Rock Star Winos beguile fame, demagnetize paparazzi, leave crowd-free wakes, and sign no autographs. Being a Rock Star Wino with the juice to indulge audiences in sensory, intellectual, and emotional celebration is unassuming and simple. So, if you read Wine Rock Star- […]
Costco Wine: Neither 90 Points Nor $15 and Under
90 Points of Costco Wine, written on June 9, 2009, turned out to be the most popular WineZag post yet. Untold sums of people search multiple forms of a “Costco Wine” phrase every day and the post drives a high volume of “wine aware” organic search traffic to this blog. Some of those vistors poke around […]
Authentic Wines Advance Palate and Stir Soulful Wine Appreciation
I repeatedly ponder two questions about wine appreciation. First, I query myself about my evolving preferences, wondering if my shift to more authentic old world wine is palate driven or trend inflicted. Secondly, I ask myself how so many practical people get so wrapped in wine minutia, devoting large chunks of their waking time studying, tasting, […]
90 Points of Costco Wine
It seems legitimate to me that Costco, operating at an incredibly low 0.2% retail margin, seeks maximum turns and sales volume for its entire inventory. As a big box, non specialty retailer chasing lowest possible SGA expense in a declining sales environment, Costco leans on merchandising advantages like brand names and informational signage as strategy elements to turbo power sales volume. So, if Costco wine […]