Drunk With Power

This is a great article on arguably, one of the most colorful writers in the wine world. I get his daily emails just for his writing and do occasionally succumb to buying some of his unusual wine selections...
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Jon Rimmerman sells $30 million worth of wine a year over e-mail. How? Well, let him tell you a little story about a young syrah he once swilled outside Walla Walla

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He realized he had the seeds of his own start-up in that wine letter. He’d already switched to e-mail, picking up several hundred new subscribers who often asked where to buy the wines. It was a no-brainer to start selling them. All he needed now, Rimmerman decided, was a clear sense of mission — a brand identity, in other words, centered on making the world a better place instead of just making a buck. Rimmerman claims that he made two lists — things he liked about the wine business, and things he did not — and decided that his company’s goal would be to transform the industry until his “don’t like” column was empty.
Link

Wine in Two Words

Good post on wine tasting from Eric Asimov at the NYTimes!
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While it may seem heretical to say, the more specific the description of a wine, the less useful information is actually transmitted.
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But the general character of a wine: now, that’s another matter. A brief depiction of the salient overall features of a wine, like its weight, texture and the broad nature of its aromas and flavors, can be far more helpful in determining whether you will like that bottle than a thousand points of detail. In fact, consumers could be helped immeasurably if the entire lexicon of wine descriptors were boiled down to two words: sweet or savory.

Choosing Wines at the Touch of a Screen

Another example of how Apple is leading technology... and cultural change...
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Once patrons make sense of the touch-pad links, which does not take long, they can search for wines by name, region, varietal and price, instantly educating themselves on vintner and vintage.
Since their debut six weeks ago, the gadgets have enthralled the (mostly male) customers at Bone’s. And to the astonishment of the restaurant’s owners, wine purchases shot up overnight — they were nearly 11 percent higher per diner in the first two weeks compared with the previous three weeks, with no obvious alternative explanation.
Other restaurateurs who are experimenting with iPad wine lists, from Sydney to London to Central Park South, report similar results.
The devices seem to be spurring deeper interest in wine and empowering bolder, more confident selections, they say, potentially revolutionizing the psychology of dining’s most intimidating passage.
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Bob Reno, the wine steward on a veteran staff, said he and his co-workers had initially been cynical. “We didn’t want to be replaced,” he said. “We had to find a way to make it work in tandem.”
But the waiters quickly came to appreciate the iPad’s ability to monitor and instantly update an inventory of 20,000 bottles, and they found that customers still sought reinforcing advice, particularly about pairing wines with food.
“With the information on the device, they seem more apt to experiment by buying a different varietal or going outside their price range,” Mr. Reno said. “It stuns me, but they seem to trust the device more than they trust me, and these are people I’ve waited on for 10 years.”

Jazz Vocalist Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson--a beautiful person and an incredible jazz vocalist loves some of my favorite French wines--shouldn't be surprised I suppose!

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Mississippi-born singer stocks her recording sessions with quality wine.

 

Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson is the smoky-voiced songwriter known for indelible opuses such as "Blue Light Til Dawn," "Traveling Miles," "New Moon Daughter" and "Loverly." Wilson, 54, is also a passionate wine lover who stocks her recording sessions with her favorite bottles to the point that the studio time almost becomes, in her words, "a food-and-wine tasting." The Mississippi native spoke with Wine Spectator about what wines she likes to have on tour, the role wine has played in her music, and her desire to develop her own wine label.
Wine Spectator: What types of wine do you like?
Cassandra Wilson: I love French white wines. When I’m shopping, I may get something from the Loire Valley—Sancerre and Vouvray, for example. Or I may get a Viognier. I like Château de Puligny-Montrachet Clos du Château. But I also like Robert Mondavi Coastal Private Selection Chardonnay.

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Elegant technology for a Napa Valley vineyard.

Go to this link for a nice video of two of my favorite things: Quintessa wine and the Iphone.

The Quintessa winery is truly beautiful as seen in the video...

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At Quintessa winery in Napa Valley, California, rows of green vines roll over gentle hills, warming in the afternoon sun and cooling in the evening fog. It’s an elegant landscape, where Quintessa’s winemaker works closely with the soil, wind, and weather to grow unique, intensely flavored grapes