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For Love
Published June 25, 2008
The San Diego winemaker tour continues. This month, Costa Brava in Pacific Beach played host to Spanish winemaking icon Alejandro Fernández and his representatives from Classical Wines. “I was working as a retailer in the late ...
A Little Bit Anti-California
Published May 28, 2008
Eric Van Drunen was curious. Once, back in New Mexico, he had owned his own small business. Now, here in San Diego, he thought it might be nice to get back into the game. "But ...
Seven Sensualities
Published April 30, 2008
San Diego’s social status is ascendant. Of course, you knew that already — you live here. You’ve eaten in the new restaurants, drunk in the new nightclubs, partied in the new hotels. I mention it ...
Wine Machine Published April 23, 2008
There is perhaps no finer marketing machine in all the wine world than the one that operates out of Champagne. (You don’t get to be ... More Post a comment
Back in Time Published April 9, 2008
The La Mesa library recently placed California Wine: A Sunset Pictorial, published in 1973 and edited by the estimable Bob Thompson, in a cardboard box ... More Post a comment
Finely Aged, Well Engineered Published April 2, 2008
Erica Martenson is not a scientist. Rather, she is a gardener. In her big backyard in Napa, she says, she has “several fruit trees and ... More Comments (5)
Frankenyeast Published March 26, 2008
File Under: Fiction Is Good for You. I was reading Peter May’s crime novel The Critic, which took as a dramatic starting point the murder ... More Comment (1)
Ordinary Mortals Published March 19, 2008
‘When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.” That line, from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, serves as part of the ... More Post a comment
Exotic Fraternity Published March 12, 2008
Oh, now this is a fun idea for a story: an American wine critic — one of those make-it-or-break-it critics in the mold of Robert ... More Comment (1)
Up with Riesling Published March 5, 2008
‘Why don’t you write a book about wine?” You write about a subject long enough — nine years here at “Crush” — and you’re bound ... More Post a comment
Team Blend Published Feb. 27, 2008
Don’t misunderstand — Robert Baizer is glad he went to Sundance. He had a lovely time — made even lovelier by the happy reception accorded ... More Post a comment
Riskiest Money Published Feb. 20, 2008
J. Todd Harris is a movie producer. That means that he gets films made. “I’m just like any other guy that goes and tries to ... More Post a comment
Thin Skinned Published Feb. 13, 2008
By now, most people with even a passing interest in wine have heard of the Sideways effect: a movie takes Pinot Noir as a central ... More Post a comment
Jarhead Red Published Feb. 6, 2008
"First to Fight for Right and Freedom," reads the title of the big military print on the tasting room wall at Carlsbad Wine Merchants. The ... More Post a comment
Underserviced Published Jan. 30, 2008
Portland didn’t agree with marketing VP Kathy Bankerd. Her employers at the tech company InFocus had moved her up north and bought her a house, ... More Post a comment
Boutique Bubblings Published Jan. 23, 2008
The hills across the road from Steve Chapin’s Temecula vineyards — situated out past the tourist-friendly wineries and a short hop from Lake Skinner — ... More Post a comment
Improve on Nature Published Jan. 16, 2008
‘Cork is random,” observes Michael Friedman, CEO for Oneo Closures North America. “It’s a plant. When you punch a cork out of a piece of ... More Post a comment
No Perfect Closure Published Jan. 9, 2008
"Most of the cork industry is essentially in denial,” says Michael Friedman, CEO for Oneo Closures North America. “It’s done a few things to try ... More Post a comment
At the Cusp Published Jan. 2, 2008
By the time Dan Berger joined the San Diego Union in 1979, he was already doing double-duty as a sportswriter and wine columnist. (Today, after ... More Post a comment
Genius Oddballs Published Dec. 27, 2007
Remember Cabernet? King Cab? Remember how Tony Soter used to have a hand in crafting outstanding Cabernets (and Cabernet blends) at places like Chappellet, Spottswoode, ... More Post a comment
Power + Elegance = Balance Published Dec. 20, 2007
In 1977, Robert Benson published Great Winemakers of California, a series of interviews with the men (and one woman) who were shaping the industry at ... More Post a comment
"You would be smarter to look to South America than to most parts of the United States." Published Dec. 13, 2007
Like so many of his illustrious predecessors in the wine-writing business, Paul Lukacs has a day job. But unlike, say, Gerald Asher or Kermit Lynch, ... More Post a comment
Double-Edged Sword Published Dec. 13, 2007
Like so many of his illustrious predecessors in the wine-writing business, Paul Lukacs has a day job. But unlike, say, Gerald Asher or Kermit Lynch, ... More Post a comment
Crush Published Dec. 6, 2007
'I was in bed this morning, thinking about chocolate," said Foppiano Vineyards representative Susan Valera. "Back in the '60s, when it came to wine, you ... More Post a comment
Foodie Appeal Published Nov. 29, 2007
The San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival debuted in 2004, the brainchild of veteran local event planners Ken Loyst and Michelle Metter. The two ... More Post a comment
Born to Host Published Nov. 21, 2007
'Iwas born to host," says Wine Cabana owner Keith Frantz. It's a calling with a simple enough first premise: "When somebody comes to your house, ... More Post a comment
Blue Streak Published Nov. 15, 2007
For the past couple of weeks, I've been marveling over Courtney Cochran's blitz on the wine business -- sommelier, list consultant, author, hostess, teacher, blogger...building ... More Post a comment
The Naked Sommelier Published Nov. 8, 2007
Courtney Cochran wants to be Sommelier to the Millennials, the voice of wine to her recently legal generation -- children of the Boomers for whom ... More Post a comment
Tool Kit Published Nov. 1, 2007
"I was an English major as an undergrad," says Courtney Cochran, a young woman on a quest to brand herself as wine's ambassador to the ... More Post a comment
American Dream Come True Published Oct. 25, 2007
It is perhaps a touch counterintuitive to picture a wine legend in his pajamas, especially when he is sitting across from you, dressed neatly in ... More Post a comment
Great Palates Published Oct. 18, 2007
Pity the waitstaff. After decades of automatically offering the wine list to the gentleman at the table, of showing him the bottle, of pouring him ... More Post a comment
The Joy of Aging Published Oct. 11, 2007
You can still get an ice-cream cookiewich out of the freezer case at Bob's Fine Wine & Liquors in San Clemente. You can still get ... More Post a comment
The Moon Makes the Earth Breathe Published Oct. 4, 2007
Philippe Coderey was having liver trouble. His doctor thought it might be an effect of alcoholism, but Coderey wasn't an alcoholic. "Finally, we started to ... More Post a comment
Garden Project Published Sept. 27, 2007
'Consider the egg. When I was a boy on Staten Island, hens ate grit and grasshoppers and scraps from the table and whatever they could ... More Post a comment
Saucy Upstart Published Sept. 20, 2007
Elizabeth David made her name writing about food, not wine. Nevertheless, hers is the first entry in 1962's Compleat Imbiber, Volume Five, the discovery of ... More Post a comment
Imbiber's Bible Published Sept. 13, 2007
One of the great pleasures of going on vacation is browsing another city's used bookstores. I recently spent a blissful hour at the Bookery in ... More Post a comment
Magic in a Bottle Published Sept. 6, 2007
La Jolla--based wine educator Barbara Baxter counts among the highlights of her life the time Robert Mondavi kissed her on the cheek. "I didn't wash ... More Post a comment
France Meets California Published Aug. 16, 2007
There's a wonderful moment in the early pages of Lawrence Osborne's wine memoir The Accidental Connoisseur that has stayed with me. Osborne has paid a ... More Post a comment
Backyard Bounty Published Aug. 9, 2007
I'm standing in William Holzhauer's hilltop backyard in Ramona, looking out over his soon-to-be-finished winery and surveying the surrounding scene. He points to a nearby ... More Post a comment
Passion vs. Permits Published Aug. 2, 2007
It's one of the oldest saws in the business, but it still cuts: if you want to make a small fortune in wine, start with ... More Post a comment
Spanish Horses, Spanish Wine Published July 26, 2007
'I found that there was money in growing grapes," says William Holzhauer, recalling his first investigations into the production end of the wine business. "But ... More Post a comment
Dream Come True Published July 19, 2007
William Holzhauer spent 20 months in a POW camp in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. "While I was there," he recalls, "I dreamed of places. ... More Post a comment
Local Only Published July 12, 2007
Therese Gotfredson has been around the Ramona wine scene since before Bill Jenkin and Frank Karlsson got together and hatched the notion of Ramona Vintner's ... More Post a comment
Grape Landscape Published July 5, 2007
Peder Norby and his wife Julie wanted an estate home -- something large-scale (3500 square feet, plus a guest house), something customized (retractable, accordion-style walls, ... More Post a comment
Shelf-Talkers and The Sweet Spot Published June 28, 2007
Chaldean Waleed Daoud arrived in Detroit in 1976. "Lots of Chaldeans own stores there," he says, "and so I worked in a liquor store, learned ... More Post a comment
Local Blend Published June 21, 2007
In addition to directing the San Diego International Wine Competition, Union-Tribune wine writer Robert Whitley also runs the Critics Challenge International Wine Competition, held each ... More Post a comment
True Grit Published June 14, 2007
The website for Don Sebastiani & Sons features a number of films, ranging from the ridiculous -- how to open a screwcap -- to the ... More Post a comment
Options Published June 7, 2007
I think I first encountered Pepperwood Grove Syrah in the mid-'90s. I was astonished that a $6 California Syrah could taste the way it did ... More Post a comment
Dirt Simple Published May 31, 2007
News flash: looks count. According to Michael Brill -- whose Crushpad venture helps winemaking dreams come true by sourcing, vinifying, aging, and bottling wine according ... More Post a comment
Customized Published May 24, 2007
Michael Brill had a wine problem. It started out innocently enough. "I fell into it just like most people. I was working for a management-consulting ... More Post a comment
Collaborate, Communicate Published May 17, 2007
Eddie Osterland -- the United States' first master sommelier, and a longtime San Diegan -- was dining at Tapenade. His waiter on this particular visit ... More Post a comment
Wikis, Mashups, All That Published May 10, 2007
Local businessman, technology entrepreneur, and wine hobbyist Rob Barnett has owned the VinVillage domain name for almost four years. "I own a bunch of different ... More Post a comment
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