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Michael Cervin

Michael Cervin is a professional writer focusing on wine, food, and travel. Notable publications include Decanter (London), Fine Wine & Liquor (China), Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, The Tasting Panel, Sommelier Journal, Food & Beverage World, Skywest, Westways and over 80 others. He is the restaurant critic, and contributing travel writer for the Santa Barbara News-Press. As a wine and food judge he has been invited to the Best of Vinho Verde Awards in Portugal, the Taste of Rum Festival in Puerto Rico, the Monterey Wine Competition, the Central Coast Wine Competition, the Paso Robles Winemakers Cook-Off, the El Dorado County Fair Wine Competition and many others.

He is the author of three national travel books including California Wine Country, published by Moon. His blog on all things wine, spirits and beer can be found at www.BoozehoundZ.blogspot.com. He lives in Santa Barbara with his wife. To see more of his work visit www.michaelcervin.com. Follow his other blogs: www.Exploracation.blogspot.com, and www.CervinsCentralCoast.blogspot.com

A fair restaurant corkage fee is: 

$10

A tell-tale sign of a wine snob is: 

A loudmouth who wears too much cologne, brags about how much a bottle costs, disregards other people's opinion and chews mint gum while drinking cabernet.

The wine region I most want to visit: 

Any place they make the stuff!

My "wish list" of wines I want to acquire soon: 

My wish list is what I'm currently drinking. Wine evolves and changes and each vintage is something new, so, even if you acquired a case of something, it will be different in six months.

My biggest wine pet peeve: 

It's an expensive hobby! It's loaded with calories and I've ruined a lot of shirts, one pair of pants and have stained my couch.

My favorite wine quote: 

Wine is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

My dream wine to one day taste or own: 

Screaming Eagle, Petrus, and eventually my own wine.

The best wines I have ever tasted: 

Geeze, far too many to count. But what started it off for me was an Eberle Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, from Eberle Winery in Paso Robles.

The people with whom I most often enjoy wine: 

My wife and most of my friends. My cats prefer beer.

The last wine I had that I absolutely loved: 

Every week I'm fortunate to have fantastic wines at a variety of price points. Recent greats have been the 2006 Savant from Justin Winery in Paso Robles, and Inniskillen Vidal Blanc Ice Wine from Canada.

What I think of the movie Sideways: 

The movie was filmed in my back yard, Santa Barbara. I love the fact that the film has generated so much interest in this region, and encouraged so many people to try wine.

My thoughts on the 100 point rating scale made famous by Robert Parker and emulated by seemingly everyone: 

I admire what Parker has been able to do and frankly, I'd love to have his job. Any rating scale is merely a tool of one person's taste. Take it or leave it.

My wine travels have taken me to the following wine regions: 

All of California (including Temecula and the oft over looked Sierra Foothills), Oregon, Mexico, Germany, Virginia, France, the Okanagan Valley in B.C., Nova Scotia, Spain, Portugal, New Jersey, New Mexico, Idaho, Burgundy, Switzerland and Pennsylvania.

Comments

Thank you for the article on Lynfred Winery! You are a gem. Cheers, Christina Anderson-Heller of Lynfred Winery

Thanks for the article encouraging unsophisticated Americans toward Riesling and drinking an affordable German beer instead.  Who said wine snobs didn't have a sense of humor?

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