PROTOCOL Wine Studio

Tag Archives: Burgundy

Science and Terroir: A Contradiction in Expectations?

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There’s an awkward dilemma in the winemaking world.  It fuels a debate between the scientific community and the traditionalists often referred to as Terroirists.  Here’s how it breaks down. A winemaker with a scientific background is most often trained via university education.  Sometimes this is at an institution with a degree specific to viticulture and enology.  But many times a student may study a similar topic such as food science or agriculture and apply it to wine making.  These programs train students via the scientific method. The scientific method is … Read more →

People Don’t Hurt People, Oyster Shells Do

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Fringe Burgundy is our 5 week focus on our weekly Monday Twitter program #WineStudio.  Last night was Chablis, and although it has a long history, Chablis is quite fringe, due in part to its unique characteristic:  it doesn’t taste like the Chardonnay we have grown accustomed to liking. As I was researching Chablis, I found a film about an Alexandrian Philosopher named Hypatia.  In fact I abandoned the research to watch the film and then to find more on this unknowingly powerful woman.  She became the product of her surroundings … Read more →

Lenné Knows

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I attended a wine bloggers conference in Portland, Oregon earlier this year.  I was quite eager to go since GUY and I had written a proposal for the Virginia wine industry and our main selling point was the fact that Oregon went from fringe wine to the #3 wine producer in under 30 years.  Although I had researched the subject, I had never visited Oregon, but of course I’ve tasted many wines from all over the state. For this trip, however, I was seeking a more philosophical approach; I reached … Read more →

Your Sommelier Hates You

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Dubious Honor It’s Saturday night and you’ve got a date!  You’re dining at the well-received Acme Anvil Steakhouse.  The Sommelier approaches you for the dubious honor of wine selection.  Aiming to impress, you scan the list for the familiar.  One Napa Cabernet stands out and you ask, “I’ve heard a lot about this Cabernet, I went to Napa and visited their tasting room, do you like it?” Ahhh, the Sommelier’s element–he knows the drill and the answer flows smoothly, with a soft smile he says, “That’s one of our most … Read more →

PROTOCOL’s Wine Score Proclamation!

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There is no more derisive topic in the world of wine than scores.  You either love them or hate them.  The subject has been well argued and like so many of life’s quandaries we fear the “right” answer is not forthcoming.  But scores are a bellwether when looking for a source to evaluate or purchase wine.  How an organization approaches scores says a lot about their approach to wine. PROTOCOL wine studio has some thoughts on this subject: Scoring as Inevitable: By serendipitous means the fermented grape was first brought … Read more →

The Startup, Volume II Paddle 305

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HDH Wine

 

ImageEric and I participated at the Hart Davis Hart Burgundy wine auction at Tru Chicago a few weeks back.  More specifically, we were there with a client, assisting them in their burgundy bids.  This was our first live auction and it was nerve-wracking.  Fun, crazy fun, bordering on maniacal, but nerve-wracking.  In fact, writing about it now, I’m feeling that nervous gut all over again. (In a few weeks we plan to roll out a new post with photo montage focusing on all the fantastic folks and restaurants we visited during our short time in Chicago–a killer time! Who knew?)

Seriously, in the past few weeks.

Nervous stomach:  blog piece

Don’t get me wrong, it’s an exciting time, but damn, I’m nervous and agitated about everything now

If pushing comes to shove, I’m shoving. Really it’s just myself, no one gets hurt here.

Wre a little out of the way, but see, that’s the point, anything worthwhile we need to work just a little bit harder for.  We want to be a ocummunity hub and not just for our customers, but for the wine trade.

PWS Blog piece

Physical address, waitig on licensing, need to do some creative revenue seeking:  auctions

We’re still liearing of course but we’ve become pretty good at it.

So it’s been a ridiculously busy past few weeks: Chicago for the above half million dollar wine auction, a presentation for the Virginia Wine Board in Charlottesville, then to San Diego for the cellar drop off.

 

 

It’s funny though:  I was spectacularly nervous about the whole thing, renting a cargo van, driving around with about 20 cases of wine, particularly a 1959 Maison Leroy and thinking, hey, my parents were married in 1959. So although I was crazy nervous about it all, in that one moment when I thought about my parents I realized that without even drinking the 1959, I had a memory association anyway.  And I can picture myself in that van, smirking, because I know Eric and I are crazy busy but crazy happy in the business.

 

 

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