If you haven’t seen it, this is well worth a read.  Tyler Colman recently gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in conjunction with his recent book “Wine Politics: How Governments, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink“. If you are not in the know, Tyler is better known as Dr. Vino in the blogosphere.

We here at Winescorecard are avid readers of DrVino.com.  He definitely has a keen understanding of the world of wine.  We haven’t read his new book yet, but we are really looking forward to it. Our copy, fresh from Amazon, is packed in our briefcase ready for our vacation to South Carolina.

I don’t know why, but I’ve been really into weddings lately.  Strange, isn’t it?  I’ve been married for almost 9 years so why the fascination all of a sudden?

Anyway, the brains behind SmittenKitchen is baking a wedding cake, and it is a fascinating behind the scenes look at the stress and such that goes into making this monstrosity.  It is worth a read.

And this begs the question (to me, anyway) - what wine does one drink with wedding cake?  Oh, sure, you could go with the the easy choice - Champagne.  And  who could fault you?  Certainly, not me.  But what about a lite Pinot Grigio?  Crisp and refreshing, it makes a nice complement to the sweetness of a fine dessert.

Actually, my choice would be a viognier.  To be specific, the McManis Family Vineyards Viognier, with its bold apricots and peach aroma and flavor how could you go wrong.  Good body, a nice gold color, it is an excellent example of the type.  Or choose a good white Cote du Rhone - it would be quite likely to be a viognier blend of some sort.

Like most working professionals in the U.S.A., we worry quite a bit about outsourcing and the effect of the global economy on our jobs. To this end, we were really interested in a recent bit of research on the effect of the global market on wine consumers.

It turns out that the Top100 wines, as defined by Wine Spectator, have actually gotten cheaper over the years.  The authors claim that this decline is real prices is a result of the globalization of the wine market.  As top wines from France are replaced by top wines from the New World, or even the “New New World,” prices decline by an average of 1-2.5%.

Not only are the wines cheaper, but the number of countries that produce the wines in the Top100 list expanded from only 6 countries to 11 over the course of the 18 years studied.  That certainly fits with what we see - more and more variety from which to select.

This is great for the educated consumer, but (in our opinion) difficult for the average consumer. We think it is no coincidence that along with the increase in new choices from around the globe, we have seen the influence of wine scores grow.  People need a way to navigate the deluge of choices coming their way in the new wine world.  And PalatePrint™ is just one example of the many tools now making it easier to sort through these choices.

I am by no means the tree-hugger type.

I know, that is a weird way to start but my topic for today is supporting locally grown food. More to the point, my family purchased a share from a local farm - Pennypack Farm. Pennypack Farm is part of the growing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. What is CSA? Well, the Pennypack website calls it:

CSA is defined as a mutually beneficial partnership between a farm and the people who consume the food produced there.

which is as good a definition as any.

I was pretty skeptical about “joining a farm”. It isn’t like the grocery is lacking food, or anything. Far from it, actually. It seems like added work to me - going to yet another place to buy food. I am inherently lazy about everything. I hate going out of my way to buy things, or clean things, or whatever. I expect convenience. I pay extra for it. And I’m happy to do so.

But we joined anyway because, let’s face it, my spouse controls these things.

And, you know, I love it. I really do. I have never eaten Swiss Chard before, and it turns out that it is really good. I don’t care much for collards, but that’s okay. I’m really interested in what kohlrabi tastes like. It is such a strange looking vegetable. Wikipedia says that it has a “Sputnik-like shape” which it does. How cool is that?

My kids really like seeing the chickens are picking strawberries. Peas were somehow not as much fun - probably because they don’t taste as sweet when you eat them in the field.

After picking up our share from the farm, I felt so granola that I opened up a bottle of organic wine (2006 Emiliana Natura Cabernet Sauvignon). And you know what? I didn’t really care for it. It probably could stand a bit more time to breathe, but it was kind of bland. Not much to it, really. I was disappointed. Maybe I’m not ready for the organic wine scene.

Oh well. At least the farm was great. And next time - we’re drinking local.

I was doing some research for a new feature we are working on when I stumbled upon this fantastic set of pictures in the New York Times: The worst in Bridesmaid dresses.

You have go to check these out. Personally, I like pictures 3 & 4 - anyone who showed up at Ms. Zee’s wedding wearing an old bridesmaid dress go to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. The picture is truly hilariously awful looking. I love it.

Our new feature, if we ever complete it, will be an automatic wine-list generator. Perfect for weddings or parties, it will generate a list that corresponds to a particular set of people, or to the popular wines in general, at a particular total price point. We’ll see - the tool is still in development.