Wine Culture

IntoWine recently sat down with Charles Gill, CEO of WineMetrics, to discuss what is an impressive feat to anyone who loves wine, analytics, or both. WineMetrics has assembled an enormous and comprehensive database aggregating the wine lists ofrom restaurants across the US. The resulting data is useful to restaurants and of course wine distributors and producers looking for outlets to sell their wines. To the pedestrian wine drinker, the findings are simply fascinating. WineMetrics has compiled extensive data detailing the wines that occupy wine lists in restaurants across the nation, from the Olive Garden in Dayton, Ohio to the local French bistro in Lower Manhattan. Acquiring this data must have been a laborious process. How did you go about it? Much of it is acquired by our distributor clients but a great many restaurants feature their wine lists on their websites, which we utilize. Often we just contact the account and ask for it. What surprised you as you started assessing the data?

True confession time. I haven’t actually poured in the tasting room for the last month or so. Instead, I’ve been working on a few marketing related issues for the winery. As summer heats up and in preparation for the Harvest, we’ve been busy redesigning the winery’s Web site and editing the copy for the bi-annual newsletter, among other things.

It’s the start of the Silly Season, typified by the populace uprooting en masse for vacation haunts, a slowdown of serious news, and the last hurrahs of the lazy days of summer before we all return to the grind of work and school. In my mind, the best drink for the Silly Season is Sangria. I know it’s blasphemy for serious wine lovers, but what’s wrong with taking a break from all that sniffing and swirling and just having some fun?

This is the first of an investigative series on Sicilian wines. Part Two of this series will be a focus on the young, dominating wine industry of the Etna DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) on east coast of Sicily, on and around Mount Etna. For most people, the Mediterranean peninsula of Italy conjures metaphors and sensations of gastronomic ecstasy and high culture. The foods and wines are like its history, sated with drama and prudence. From its politics to its geography, the nation is connected by its diversities of culture, and no where are differences more frequently and poignantly in play than the southern region of Sicily.

Each year at 12:01 AM on the third Thursday of November, millions of bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau begin a journey from a little French village to locales across the globe. Wine stores and cafes enthusiastically greet these shipments with signs and banners proclaiming "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!" "The New Beaujolais has arrived!". With this begins the annual celebration of the arrival of the French wine Beaujolais Nouveau, a celebration steeped in tradition, frivolity, grandeur, legend, and of course, fabulous wine.

I enjoy talking wine with anyone and everyone, and as a result, have some interesting and provoking questions posed by casual wine drinkers. Beyond the varietals, regions, styles, labels and terminology is a very fundamental question asked over and over again. Why is some good wine cheap while the small lot stuff is so damn expensive? Isn't it all just fermented grapes? Is there really a perceivable qualitative difference tied to the price tag?

Month four, job two since I moved to Napa Valley and things have changed a lot. I've found a wonderful new job that I really enjoy and I'm learning tremendously much. I've recovered from Napa Valley Sticker Shock Syndrome and blithely shell out fifteen bucks for a burger. And though chances were iffy at first at best I can honestly say I'm now happy.

Each holiday brings with it different culinary choices which means different wine and food pairing options. What wine goes with Easter ham? How about Thanksgiving turkey? What is a good wine to give a wine enthusiast as a Christmas gift? IntoWine.com asked a panel of wine experts to share their...

What to give as a Christening gift can be a frustrating dilemna. How does one choose a gift that a new born child will one day both appreciate and enjoy but that will also have sentimental value? One thought is to give a vintage port as a christening gift with the idea being to open it and celebrate when the child comes of age two decades later. With that in mind, we asked a panel of wine experts their port suggestion for someone looking for that special bottle to open in 20 years:

What's a good christmas gift for someone who loves wine? Wine is a common gift during the Christmas holiday season. However nobody wants to give a random bottle, particularly if the recipient is a wine connoisseur. To offer some guidance for holiday shoppers looking for an appropriate and unique wine gift, IntoWine.com asked a panel of wine experts to share their best suggestion for a unique wine gift idea: " Chateau Musar vintage red . Chateau Musar is one of the most unusual gift items for Christmas. It is always a surprise to those that don't know that Lebanon makes wine. For those who do know, they know that it is highly regarded and it was a wine chosen with a bit more thought and attention than just a big brand name. It is a wine that ages for as long as you like, so it is for collectors, yet can be drunk immediately. It is also a wine which goes perfectly with almost any sort of food, so whether having turkey, ham, goose or salmon." - Bartholomew Broadbent, CEO, Broadbent Selections, San Francisco. New Years Eve Champagne Recommendations