Category Archives: Sunday read

Feb 10 2013
23 Comments
Sunday read

Sunday Read: An Evening of Two Bloggers and Their Brides

This Sunday read will be a much more personal read than the usual, I hope you don’t mind. I realized Friday evening that my comments count reached over 1,000. While I am well aware that a lot of those are my own (but less than half), it still brought a very important point home to me: What a wonderfully engaging crowd I have found since I started this. In my About page I wrote that I was trying to get a conversation going with you, my readers, and thanks to you all this has actually happened! Thank you for that.

Also, these discussions have enriched my wine experience. The TBA discussion under my Gunderloch Tasting Part 2 post (read the comments here) has definitely broadened my horizons in ways that I did not anticipate. That is just one example, but there are many more.

I just want to take the time to say thank you for reading, for commenting and for engaging with me. It means a lot. You have made this site better and more fun than I ever imagined possible.

Another thing that this whole blogging has brought is new friendships. Over the last weeks, I met with local bloggers: Josh over at Sipology, John over at The Food and Wine Hedonist and, just last week, with John over at The Wine Raconteur (btw, does ones first name have to start with a J to make it in the booze-blogosphere??). Each experience was unique and fun and good. I relished meeting these people that I had gotten to know, more or less, through their writing. It gave us a connection, it made conversation flow easily and was a lot of fun. I am very much looking forward to more of them.

Now, and that is were the personal read comes in, John (The Wine Raconteur) wrote up our meeting that we had with our wives last week. It seems like he had a great time, just as we did and it might be interesting for you to get another’s perspective on me (take it with a grain of salt, it is way too flattering). The meeting brought it all home once more: For me, life and blogging and anything I do is about personal connections. They are what matters. And it was somehow awesome to talk with a “stranger” and be able to say “Oh, I know that about you.” Because I did.

If you have not checked out John’s blog, give it a try. He writes about experiences with wine, restaurants and old Detroit in an inimitable way which makes him deserving of the blog title The Wine Raconteur.

Two Bloggers and Their Brides (and a Tokay)

With that, I leave you on this Sunday. I hope you survived the snow at the East Coast, and enjoy cold or sunny, wherever you are. Again, thanks for making this blog so much fun!

The Wine Raconteur: An Evening of Two Bloggers and Their Brides

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Feb 03 2013
9 Comments
Germany, Sunday read

Sunday Read: A Weaver of Words on Wine – Especially Riesling

Most of you probably never heard of Terry Theise (although I reblogged a piece by him on aged Rieslings in August last year). He is THE importer of high quality German Rieslings and also introduced the American market to Grüner Veltliner, the hallmark Austrian white grape. He is now paired with Michael Skurnik Wines and his Riesling portfolio is like a who is who of great German Riesling wineries: A.J. Adam, Willi Schaefer, Selbach-Oster, Alfred Merkelbach, Müller-Catoir, Dönnhoff, Kruger-Rumpf, Weingart and others (including Reuscher-Haart). Everyone who is interested in Riesling in the United States has heard of him. He is verbose and sometimes I find his wine descriptions incredibly over the top, but there are so many instances where he is dead on right, e.g.:

“The eclecticism of cuisine in the U.S. requires a wine like German Riesling. The sweetness echoes the sweetness found so often on the plate and the acidity keeps the palate refreshed, while the low alcohol helps keep your senses sharp. If we start with a tabula rasa and the gods could design a wine for the way we eat now, it would be German Riesling.”

Or

“”I remain unconvinced that a mass-market breakthrough for Riesling is possible, but we can grow the niche. If there was a breakthrough, there would be a disequilibrium between supply and demand.”

He just published an hommage film to German Rieslings which I will try to find…

With that, fellow Riesling lovers (or not), enjoy this Sunday and my Sunday Read. (Warning: Language in this post can be quite graphic!)

Wall Street Journal: A Weaver of Words on Wine

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Jan 27 2013
16 Comments
South Africa, Sunday read

Sunday Read: Does Much-Unloved Pinotage Deserve Another Look?

As you might know, I have a soft spot for a good pinotage, the South African grape. I wrote about that earlier here. As I explained back then, when I first tried pinotage in the early 2000s with South African friends in Germany, my friends were very upset. The wines were incredibly hot from alcohol, and they tasted rubbery. This was in line with what I had read prior to tasting the wines. One of our friends, an older Boer lady, was so upset, that she suggested shooting people that make bad pinotage like this (she also advocated shooting wine columnists who say pinotage tatses like burnt rubber). The problem back then was, and to a certain degree still is: It is very difficult to get good pinotage outside of South Africa. There are exports, for sure, but they tend to be not very good. And the ones that taste good, cost a fortune once they reach Europe or the US.

But since, I have had some good experiences, mainly in Southern Africa. So I do believe this grape deserves another look, but it can be challenging. So thinks Lettie Teague in this piece for the Wall Street Journal. Have a great Sunday!

Wall Street Journal: Does Much-Unloved Pinotage Deserve Another Look?

My fellow blogger Anatoli wrote about South African wine gems the other day, so you might want to check that out, too, while you’re at it. It is not pinotage specific but a great read still! Read his article here.

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