Content about wine

His name is John Levenberg, but please excuse me if I want to call him John Grapevine.

As much as drinking wine, I enjoy talking with wine people.  Fortunately, I get to do that quite often, sometimes several times per week, by phone, at restaurants in New York, at wineries in Greece or Paso Robles or Mendoza.  Somewhere in the middle of the discussion of grape-growing and winemaking techniques, a topic will often pop up like those red plastic “it’s done” temperature ga

There are no grand entrances or picturesque picnic areas. No sweeping vineyard vistas or vine-themed boutiques. But a look inside the metal roll up doors and angular concrete architecture of Lompoc’s Sobhani Business Park reveals an unexpected treasure: some of Santa Barbara County’s most talented winemakers are crafting wines in a raw, industrial space.

Hosted annually by the Russian River Valley Winemakers, Grape to Glass features many of appellation’s best winemakers as they share and discuss their wines and enjoy local culinary specialties with their fans and followers in a gorgeous and intimate setting.

The Society of Wine Educators (SWE) will present an impressive lineup of in-depth classes for wine devotees at its 37th annual conference, to be held July 31 through August 2, 2013 at the Renaissance Hotel at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.

Under the direction of General Manager Dusty Frierson, the wine programs at Purple Parrot Cafe and Crescent City Grill in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, have received the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence every year since 2005. When asked to recommend some Chardonnay for spring, these two names were at the tip of his tongue:

Chile makes some of the world’s best Cabernet Sauvignons, both actually and potentially, and one of its iconic ones is Concha y Toro’s Don Melchor.  Since 1997, Enrique Tirado has been responsible for making Don Melchor, and, like every other winemaker in the world, he is a good son who first gives praise to the virtues of Mother Vineyard, where, as legend and faith have it, every great wi

Wine auctions afford a glance beyond the glossy ads and fancy labels to dig into what makes great wine. You can comparatively taste while watching major players battle over the barrels.

It is only because I am a fanatic about staying on schedule that I force myself to button up my raincoat and take the elevator downstairs and out onto the windy March streets of Manhattan after spending an hour talking with Nicole Rolet and drinking her Chêne Bleu wines.

Experience the whole world’s offering of wines and spirits in just five days! Targeting importers, wholesalers, retailers, chain and supermarket buyers, restaurateurs, sommeliers and press, VINEXPO is regarded as the ultimate place to conduct business. More than 48,000 visitors are expected to attend VINEXPO 2013 to see 2400 exhibitors from over 47 countries.

One of the most-interesting wineries in the United States is located in the Great Smoky Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.  You have probably heard about it but may not have tasted its wines unless you happened to have visited the property, which tens of thousands of people do annually.

Good gatekeeping, or bad PR? You be the judge.