When it dawned on me just how lucky American wine consumers are today. Really.

I am not going to bother to quote you all the statistics and studies which are readily out there if you Google away but I will put it out there: America is currently the most significant consumer wine market in the world. Period. For now (yes, we are all eying China and Asia). But for now… America drinks volumetrically more wine (or depending on the study you read is about to drink more wine) than any country on earth (not per capita but as a nation), and we have been the most profitable wine market for several years. All of this is good for the consumer… and so, you ask, why? Continue reading »

The New Year always starts out with folks wanting to make prognostications as to what the forthcoming twelve months will bring. Financial people look at indicators from the opening day on Wall Street (up 150’ish for those who don’t recall) to consumer confidence numbers. Retailers take physical and emotional inventory of the ‘OND’ (October-November-December) and especially the holiday ‘D’ numbers while restaurateurs intuitively get a hit from the level of consumer happiness they detect in the dining room, the number of private parties booked at holiday and what they were spending, and bullishly anticipate what the first few weeks of the year will bring. Continue reading »

I was glancing through the myriad emails that come my way this past week when I saw a headline in Wines & Sprits Daily.com that read: SOME FRENCH PRODUCERS USING NEW WORLD TRICKS. Needless to say, I was intrigued. It’s not a secret that French wines have been having a hard time of late selling in the American market and it’s not exclusively due to the tough time the dollar is having versus the euro. Continue reading »

For all the well deserved press that she has received over the past decade plus, Spain is not the entire Iberian Peninsula. Upon enjoying a beautiful bottle of red wine from the Douro the other night, I was reminded of why there’s so much chatter these days about Portugal, the “other Iberia.” While the country may not be basking in the same torridly hot glow that Spain is currently experiencing, something tells me that Portugal’s just a short time away from getting the just due recognition beyond Port and Madeira, her two fortified jewels. Continue reading »

Of course, the answer to that question, without context, is: it depends. In this case, the well posed question stems around the truth or fallacy of wines being less expensive in Europe than they are here. I was reading an article by Katherine Cole of the Portland Oregonian entitled “Why wine is less expensive in Europe.” After reading her compelling article, my answer would be… depends.

In the article, the author points out several compelling reasons why wine can be less expensive and often is indeed less expensive in wine rich Europe. For one, wine is often, as in Spain, considered food from a taxation standpoint and, as such, not subject to the extreme levies of spirits. It’s not unusual to walk into a tapas bar and be able to order a glass of simple and tasty wine for the same price (or less) as a plate of any tapa, ración or bocadillo. Literally the equal of a buck or so, if not less, at times. Marvelous.
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It feels like every time I read about something gastronomic these days, it’s all about Spain. From the trend setting ‘molecular gastronomy’ pioneered by Ferran Adría (El Bulli), to the now de rigueur tapas that we find everywhere to the increasing hip “hospitality architecture” that is evident in designs like the Hotel Marques Riscal, owned by the wine producer of the same name and architected by Frank Gehry.

As such it was not that surprising to read in the International Herald Tribune this past week that Spain will overtake France in terms of wine production by 2015 due in large part ot declining domestic consumption (in France) and “…France’s failure to adapt to new consumption habits and new competitors”. The former is true throughout most of Europe. Undeniably outside of Spain and Portugal, most Western European wine countries have seen their consumption freefall over the past few years. It’s the latter point (France’s failure to adapt) that should be the most telling. Continue reading »

As summer furthers itself along, I find myself increasingly doing two things I love: al fresco dining- celebrating the summer’s bounty, and watching lots of baseball as a fan (and as a ‘arm chair’ manager). Both provide great enjoyment, some creative planning and, when well executed, are the source of both pride and pleasure.

Indeed over the past weekend , cooking in the heat of an Alamo (California) summer afternoon, a friend and I were discussing the merits and importance of baseball leadoff hitters whose job of getting on base (with regularity) and setting the stage for their fellow hitters is a crucial role. A team’s chances of winning are greatly improved if you have a leadoff hitter that executes consistent hits. And how does this relate to wine and al fresco dining you ask?

Quite simple. As you set up outside, prepare your grill/bbq/smoker (or whatever heat source you intend to utilize) and plan your lazy afternoon of eating and drinking, you need to have the right ‘leadoff’- wine… and, I would add, foods. The recipes for me are pretty consistent- prosciutto and melon, grilled asparagus, heirloom tomatoes with olive oil and basil and plates of oysters on the half shell with a ‘choix’ of mignonette sauce or juicy and squeezable meyer lemon wedges. So, who do you ‘bring to the plate’ to face such a dizzying array of timely fare? Continue reading »