A Love Letter to Piedmont
Over the past 40 years (!), Geek has had the extraordinarily good fortune to have visited many (most) of the wine world’s classic regions. In addition to producing some amazing wines, most of these places are incredibly beautiful as well: think Tuscany, Alto Adige, Provence, New Zealand, South Africa, Napa, the Sonoma Coast to name […]
Wanna Buy a Winery?
In Napa, Prices and Risks are Up, Interest is Down… The numbers are a bit squishy, but depending on how one defines ‘winery’ there are almost 500 physical wineries or wine brands with dedicated tasting rooms, but there are north of 1,700 wine brands producing Napa Valley wines (and clearly the majority of these brands […]
‘What’s Behind Door #2?’
‘What’s Behind Door #2?’ Hint: not beer Big Beer Isn’t Happy: Seltzers & RTD’s Continue Their March Towards ‘Cold Box’ Dominance The Cold Box. Our retail customers know how important their reach-in coolers are: over 90% of guests that enter a store purchase something from the cold box, whether a bottle of water for immediate […]
You Should Know About Low-and-No (abv)
Whether it’s for health, control or fashion, low ABV products are here to stay. Few would argue that consumers are more attuned to health & diet and what goes into our bodies than ever before. Millennials in particular seem to be more committed to healthful lifestyles than say, their baby boomer parents or grandparents. Regarding […]
Clean Wine
Clean Wine As if the whole Natural Wine thing doesn’t confuse people enough, the new allusions to ‘clean wine’ are also creating some questions and accusations. Avoiding the obvious fact that trolls tend to dominate the twitter-sphere these days, twitter blew up a few weeks ago when Actress Cameron Diaz—with friend Katherine Power—announced the release […]
The Shape of Things to Come: Restaurant Wine Sales Post-COVID
The Shape of Things to Come: Restaurant Wine Sales Post-COVID The United States is the largest wine market in the world. This has been a long time coming. Of course, our position as the #1 wine market in the world in linked to our population: at about 330 million people, we are the 3rd most […]
Import Wine Tariffs
Those of us involved in the import wine business have endured a few months of agita this winter, which was reduced—but not eliminated—in February. In case some readers are not fully aware, here is the background: As a result of two separate trade spats between the U.S. and the E.U. (where the WTO found the […]
Natty, but Nice
Natural wines continue to intrigue and—happily—are getting a little less ‘natural’ A few years ago—as the ‘Natural Wine’ thing was beginning to posit itself as part of the mainstream, not exactly an acolyte, Wine Geek offered his opinions: Fast forward to the winter of 2020, and the ‘natural wine thing’ is more than a trend; […]
Changing Tastes or Taste Changing?
Those reading this that aspire to get some industry credentials—Master of Wine, Certified Sommelier, Master Sommelier, Certified Wine Educator, WSET Level II and Level III to name some—are well aware that part of the process/testing to acquire such post-nominals requires a blind tasting component, in addition to the various multiple choice, short answer, and essay […]