Benjamin Spencer is Assistant Winemaker at Bernardus Winery and owner/winemaker of Leojami , two ultra-premium wine projects in Carmel Valley, California. He holds a Diploma with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and is a Candidate for Certification with the Court of Master Sommeliers. He writes a beverage industry blog at www.AmericanWineWriter.com .
Benjamin Spencer Thinks:
A fair restaurant corkage fee is:
A tell-tale sign of a wine snob is:
Someone who is more serious than the wine they are drinking.
The wine region I most want to visit:
... a better question might be which region do I not want to visit ...
My "wish list" of wines I want to acquire soon:
... I don't typically acquire wines ... the wines I do 'acquire' are shared during special occasions ...
My biggest wine pet peeve:
I don't have any pet peeves when it comes to wine.
My favorite wine quote:
Wine is earth's answer to the sun - Margaret Fuller
My dream wine to one day taste or own:
A vertical tasting of each winery ...
The best wines I have ever tasted:
... way too many to begin listing ...
The people with whom I most often enjoy wine:
My wife is my favorite tasting partner ... I enjoy having theoretical discussions with colleagues and learning from others ...
What I think of the movie Sideways:
A good movie, left out a lot about the wine business, but that wasn't the point of the story. The point of the story was the friendship between Miles and Jack.
My thoughts on the 100 point rating scale made famous by Robert Parker and emulated by seemingly everyone:
I think this is an important system for people discovering wine, but ultimately it is an arbitrary system designed by a small segment of critics who believe they represent the average consumer ... unfortunately, this is often not the case. The general public has grown far too international to have the limited palate that the 100-point system currently caters to.
My wine travels have taken me to the following wine regions:
California, Texas, Oregon, New York, France, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Crete, Bulgaria, Romania
