Written by Dr. Stephen Menke on 02 September 2010
Small farm wineries take a raw product, grapes, and turn it into a fully value-added product, wine, all in one location, and sell much of it to tourists locally, generating new monetary input to the local economy. They do not exploit cheap foreign labor, but provide local jobs, both to the local workforce and to immigrant vineyard labor. Immigrant labor is usually provided more of the social safety net and job stability in small vineyards and wineries than they get from large corporate commodity farms or from chain restaurants and chain hotels and large construction companies. [Read the rest of this article...]
Written by Dr. Stephen Menke on 06 August 2010
The Association of Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) was founded almost twenty years ago—back in the day—when Zinfandel was the underdog with a cause. A small group of passionate wine pioneers and Zinfandel-loving enthusiasts came together because they believed that Zinfandel deserved recognition as a highly respected varietal that could compete with the finest wines around the world. Today, ZAP comprises hundreds of producer members and thousands of advocates. Zinfandel has now come to be recognized and respected internationally as a world-class red wine that tells a wonderful American story. [Read the rest of this article...]
Written by Dr. Stephen Menke on 30 July 2010
Most Americans are confused and intimidated by wine. There is a vast array of choices on the wine shelves. Many consumers have very incomplete knowledge of wine and the confusing array of descriptive terms. Wine is a complicated tasting experience that is different for every person. The higher prices for wine than other beverages make it riskier to try something you have never tasted. Thus, consumers are quite likely to buy brands they have had before or that the wine press has given good ratings. Since the American wine industry separated its brand from European wines by using grape cultivar names (called varietal wines, an interesting marketing story for another conversation), consumers may buy one of two or three varietal wines [Read the rest of this article...]
Written by Dr. Stephen Menke on 23 July 2010
Wine is my work venue, and it touches almost everything in my life, so I find it interesting to go from the wine connection node to one life linkage to another. So this weekly "ramble" will not just be a critic’s review of wines, a collection of wine and grape factoids or a dialogue on trends in the wine world -- though those will be main components in future articles -- but rather a brief synopsis of my personal take on the state of micro agriculture which is the foundation of modern wine making. [Read the rest of this article...]
Written by Dr. Stephen Menke on 17 July 2010
Despite the fact that most wine drinkers can only name two or three wines by variety, tempranillo and rioja are such catchy words that they are easily remembered by those who try the wines, especially when they taste the fresh, fruit-forward, sunny and sometimes spicy Rioja wines made with this grape and find that the first sip demands a second, and then many more -- don’t even get me started on how well wines made with tempranillo pair while munching tapas! [Read the rest of this article...]
