Do wine certifications really matter? And which ones give you the most bang for the buck? Watch to find out (well, to find out my views on it, anyway). The moral of the story: experience trumps all, but certs. are a great way to enhance experience, gain knowledge, and help build that all-important network. Mentioned…
Category: going pro
Through A (Wine) Glass, Not-So-Darkly: Vintank’s Predictions For The Future Of Wine And Tech In 2011
Vintank is a wine and tech industry think tank group based in downtown Napa, full of folks for whom I hold a great deal of respect (so much so that when they asked me to partner with them on trying out the concept of using badges for wine reviews, I jumped at the chance). As…
The 2011 Professional Wine Writers Symposium In 10 Easily Digestible Morsels
1) It is the darkest of times for wine writing. The general decline in the consumption of real journalistic reporting has resulted in immensely talented people being out of regular wine-writing-work. The black cloud enveloping the wine writing sphere is actually the dark cloak of the grim reaper; that silver lining you see is his…
What The 2011 Class of the Vintners Hall of Fame Tells Us About the California Wine Industry
As most regular 1WD readers know, I’m not much for classic reporting-style articles. In fact, to me the choice between writing a “such-and-such took place on Monday and so-and-so was honored with a whozy-whatsit for their work on the whatcha-ma-jigger” piece or a “let me tell you what I think about X…” piece – namely,…