Wine Blog

Spanish Wine: A Pocket Guide
Here is a quick, fun and easy guide to the world of Spanish Wine. Written by an author who has immersed himself in Spanish culture and its wine over the past fifteen years, this book will give anyone interested in the subject an enjoyable introduction to this fascinating member of the wine world. Important features include: Brief history. Easy-to-follow rundown on Spanish Wine. Basics on understanding Spanish Wine. Wine regions listed by wine types (reds, whites, sparkling wine, sherry). Fun descriptive introduction to each region. Map of each region. Overview of all major wine regions (D.O.) and many minor ones (V.T.). Up-to-date rating of D.O. vintages. Winery-by-winery listings: includes wines, price range, personal recommendations and website addresses. Local gastronomy – insights into the foods of each region. Local anecdotes – fun and interesting facts about this wonderful country and its wine. Glossary of terms. Alphabetical listing of all wines mentioned.

Customer Review: Spanish wine
I have been to Spain a couple of times and this book is pretty informative and accurate from my experience.

Customer Review: A Spanish Wine Travelogue
It appears the author published this guide himself, which might have been necessary due to the folksy conversdational style in which it was written. An uninformed reader would likely lack confidence in the superficial evaluations of the recognized wine regions and the numerous producers. However, Murdock’s solidly positive comments on those wines I have actually sampled so far match my own opinions, which leads me to believe his evaluations are really quite sound. The book is easy to use and should allow me to discover additional wines I might enjoy, which is the main reason why one buys this kind of guide. There can be no doubt that Spanish wines represent great value and provide interesting taste and style variances from the better publicized California, French, Italian, and Australian varietals. On the whole, this guide is a very goof value.

Rabobank Report: Dramatic Growth in Bulk Wine Exports Has Shifted $1.4 Billion … – MarketWatch (press release)

Rabobank Report: Dramatic Growth in Bulk Wine Exports Has Shifted $1.4 Billion … MarketWatch (press release) Rabobank says in the report that the democratization, commoditization, innovation, and oversupply of wine, along with currency rates and changing trade flows, have changed both the conventional supply chain model and the distribution of value along … and more »

Starbucks Moves Forward With Extended Boozy Menu Hitting More Locations – The Consumerist

The Consumerist

Starbucks Moves Forward With Extended Boozy Menu Hitting More Locations The Consumerist Offering wine and beer (what, no double tequila shots?) and hot items like flatbreads and other savory snacks, a few cafes in Atlanta and Southern California will see the extended menus by the end of this year, says Reuters. Currently the menu is only … and more »

Wines and Wineries of California’s Central Coast: A Complete Guide from Monterey to Santa Barbara
In comparative tastings, wines from California’s Central Coast rival those from such renowned regions as Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Napa, yet they also offer superb value. This is the first comprehensive guide to one of the world’s most dynamic and beautiful wine regions-and the setting for the award-winning movie Sideways. An excellent, one-stop resource for touring and tasting at convenient wineries located from Monterey to Santa Barbara, the guide is organized into county-by-county alphabetical listings for this up-and-coming region.

Wines and Wineries of California’s Central Coast includes:
* Profiles of nearly 300 wineries personally visited by the author
* Profiles of individual vintners
* 5 maps
* Winery ratings, plus author and winemaker recommendations
* Visitors’ and contact information for each winery
* Discussions of regional wine history and terroir
* Descriptions of designated American Viticultural Areas and grape varietals

Customer Review: Good overview of Central Coast wines
Let me start by saying that I am a little biased toward this book because the photograph on the cover is the view from my parents’ living room. I did not take the picture but the oak tree and the grapevines in that picture have been a familiar sight for many years. This is a good overview of the wines and wineries of the Central Coast. It is a good place to start to build your own “Sideways” trip. I have my favorites as I am sure others have theirs. The Central Coast is often overlooked by many as a serious wine country but those who actually know what they are talking about know this region as the real wine country in California, not our Napa neighbors up north.

Côte D’Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy
The heart of Burgundy, the Côte D’Or, produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines that are unrivaled in their quality, intensity, and ability to age in the bottle. On this “golden slope” in eastern France, with its unique terrains and climats, grow the vines for some of the world’s finest wines, among them such heralded names as Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Puligny- and Chassagne-Montrachet, and Aloxe-Corton. Clive Coates, Master of Wine, has spent much of the last fifteen years in the Côte D’Or, and this book is the splendid result of his assiduous exploring, tasting, and assessing of the region’s wines.
With his unique access to each clos and domaine, and to individual negociants and vignerons, Coates may know more about the Côte D’Or and its wines than any other living writer. In Part One, he describes the Côte D’Or’s famous villages, introduces every manor grower and his wines, and evaluates each grand and premier cru, recommending the best sources in every climat. Part Two profiles the top sixty domaines, with notes on a vertical tasting of one of their wines. Part Three consists of vintage assessments on the best red and white years since 1945 and includes thousands of detailed tasting notes.
Côte D’Or is a work of love and passion, praise and criticism, understanding and scholarship. Above all, it is a celebration of one of the world’s great wine regions, the people who live there, and their fabled wines. It is an essential addition to every wine library and an inviting read for any wine lover.

Customer Review: Coates Review
Overall, the text is easy to read and it is educational. However, the individual wines reviewed are not even close to being up to date. Because this was written years ago, it doesn’t cover many of the new up and coming wines and vintners.

Customer Review: The best of its kind
Burgundy is one of the most difficult-to-grasp wine regions in the world. Many studies have been done on the soil, climate, wind direction, sun exposure, rainfall, etc., yet nobody really knows, yet, why one acre of Burgundy produces a certain kind of wine and the acre right next to it something different. Clive Coates book comes as close as humanly possible to explain it. He begins his sections with a “History” of the region, then continues with “Location”, “Vineyard”, and then defines and describes the wines made from the Grand Crus and the Premier Crus, recommending sources and also providing the size of each vineyard. Also, he covers vintages.

It’s amazing how Coates takes such a difficult region and maps it out so succinctly for us. Far better effort than Parker’s “Burgundy”.