Hey cool kids, I’ll keep this short. Once again I find myself preparing for another long weekend of WSET Diploma Zoom-ing. Not complaining—enjoying myself, learning a lot and tasting some really interesting wines I probably wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to taste. I hope all of you have something fun and relaxing planned as well as some fun in the glass in hand.

There’s a lot of news this week. So while you’re sipping, take your time and scroll through—even the press releases are pretty interesting this week. (Well, I wouldn’t include them if they weren’t…)

Stay well, stay healthy, and drop me a line anytime…cheers!

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Happy Easter Weekend for those who celebrate. Hope everyone’s Spring season is off to a great start. This week’s wine-newsy round-up has a plethora of interesting topics. I particularly loved reading about how French wineries are employing refugees to help out during the current labor shortage; the optimism woven through the South African wine industry despite trying times; of course there’s the reality check of the latest news surrounding drought and wildfires in both Australia and California; and for all my WSET study buddies out there, check out this profile piece on Syrah.

Don’t forget to scroll down to read independent insight from the Blogs. I’ll toot my own horn for a second: This week I made my debut on Tim Atkin‘s site speaking about California vintners struggle with and perseverance through climate change. (See Survivor Vines.)

And if you missed my blog post for the week, be sure to find out more about California’s newest AVA.

Thanks as always for hanging out with me.

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Happy weekending, all. I’ve got your weekly dose of wine-related newsy items ready for you to peruse at your pleasure. Hope everyone is staying well and healthy. I’ve definitely been keeping busy with work-school balance—but all positive things. (How can it not be when it’s wine-work and wine-school?)

Did you miss this week’s posts? Make sure to check out my latest regional deep-dives and tastings: Tasting Rosé from Puglia, Tasting Wines of Roero—Arneis & Nebbiolo, Tasting Modern Day Chardonnay from Three Sonoma County AVAs

Cheers!

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Hello and happy spring! Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there. I’ve got your weekly round up of wine-newsy content from the past week, including a piece by yours truly on the California wine grape crush report.

A few other highlights—the WSET holds its first virtual diploma graduation and plans to keep the format for the future as well (I personally hope that I will be able to travel to London for the in-person event if/when that time comes); the European wine industry is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in history; restaurants are opening up for indoor dining all over the country—but it’s still risky business for workers and patrons alike; and industry pros debate whether we need better labelling on wine bottles.

Those are just a few of the top stories, but scroll through—I’ve included some fun articles surrounding St. Patrick’s Day, there’s some great independent insight in the Blogs, and actually quite a few informative press releases.

Have fun. Stay safe. Stay healthy. And drink good wine.

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Welcome to your weekend edition of wine news. I’ve got everything from interesting press releases, gender equality, women in winemaking, Covid, tariffs, Japanese and Chinese wines….there was a lot going on this week both in traditional press and in the blogging world.

In the midst of it all, the wine industry lost a legend on Tuesday with the death of Steve Spurrier. I only met the man twice, so I’m not going to feign an intimate relationship that didn’t exist. But I think it’s fair that anyone with a career in wine and wine writing was in some way influenced and inspired by his great work. I’ve included a whole section with other writers’ rememberings of Steven below.

Lastly, with a shameless self-plug, the grape growing conference in which I moderated a session all about regenerative viticulture is now live on YouTube. I’ve provided the video below as well.

If you missed any of this week’s posts, I’ve got wine reviews and tasting notes from Domaine de la Pousse D’or 2018 Vintage, Sokol Blosser’s 50th Anniversary, and Alma Rosa Spring 2021 Releases—all with insight from recent associated media tastings and interviews.

Thanks as always for hanging out with me. Hope you find some good news, interesting news, and maybe a few laughs in the links I’m sharing with you today.

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