Essays

The personal story behind a stock wine photo

by  |  25-02-2021

If you spend any time in the internet you undoubtedly know these hands holding those grapes. Anyone who has seen anything relating to wine, whether a newsletter or the cover of a well-known magazine will... more »

Why Sherry is reviving

by  |  22-02-2021 ~ 3 Comments

It's the news that Sherry producers have been waiting literally decades to hear: Sherry sales have increased! As was recently reported in terms of the UK (a principal market for the wine), Sherry sales have... more »
Going your own way means a lot more paperwork

Revisiting the disclosure issue in wine writing

by  |  20-01-2021 ~ 8 Comments

The assault on journalism never stops. Just within the last week I've seen two grave ethical violations of purported "journalism" in wine, and these are but the latest examples... One was an article about Georgian... more »

Riedel me this!

by  |  12-01-2021

I have a guilty secret that I’ve been hiding from the wine world. No, it’s not a sneaking admiration for white Zinfandel, it’s far more embarrassing than that. The truth is that I prefer drinking... more »

ReWine & the bottle: Using a resource in plain sight

by  |  30-11-2020 ~ 6 Comments

The memories are hazy from when I was a child walking into the first supermarket in my hometown. There was a glass front to the store which let in a stream of daylight. It always... more »

Transparency, in wine certification

by  |  20-11-2020 ~ 2 Comments

I moved to Berkeley, California to complete a degree in English Literature at the University of California. Coming from a podunk town in the interior of California where most academic challenges top out at giving... more »
Photo by Malu Lambert

From Cape Chianti to hero: Grenache in South Africa

by  |  26-10-2020

“I grew up with Grenache,” shares South African wine legend, Jan Boland Coetzee. His pale blue eyes focused on the verdant Swartland hills from our vantage point on Adi Badenhorst’s porch. The crops and vines... more »
Photo by Morana Zibar

The nitty & gritty about The Wine Instagram

by  |  09-10-2020 ~ 1 Comment

Lockdown brought about an exponential increase in my social media screen time to the point of saturation and forced me to re-evaluate the good, the bad and the ugly of both Twitter and Instagram. My... more »

Rethinking the wine writing award

by  |  23-09-2020 ~ 7 Comments

This recent article by Alicia Kennedy held one of the most insightful and powerful comments I've seen in some time regarding awards: Awards reinforce hegemonic narratives of industries that uphold the oppressive structures that govern... more »

WSET vs CMS

by  |  20-08-2020 ~ 26 Comments

Wine education is something not to be undertaken lightly. There's the investment of time and, well, a great deal of money. There's also the issue of choosing the right direction which can be hard to... more »