Category Archives: Sunday read

Nov 17 2013
2 Comments
France, Moselle, Sunday read

Sunday Read: The Other Side of the Mosel

Someone posted the other day that Wine Searcher, the website that a lot of us use to figure out how much a bottle of wine should be costing in the United States, is developing quickly into an exciting and well-stocked source of information on wine in general.

Case in point is this article about the “other side of the Mosel” they published in October. The title refers to the French part of the Mosel, where the river is spelled Moselle and which historically covered quite a bit of area under vine, but is now down to 65 hectares and 20 producers. But in the past, it boasted up to 30,000 hectares under vine which used to provide Champagne region with base wines. Wars and changes in ownership (the 19th and 20th century rivalry over Alsace between Germany and France) led to the near demise of the region.

But apparently, it is coming back and plans to expand by 2020. While I am spending this weekend at the German Mosel, I am wondering whether I shouldn’t have made room for some time at the other side of the Mosel…

Have a great Sunday!

Wine Searcher: The Other Side of the Mosel

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Oct 20 2013
9 Comments
Something about wine..., Sunday read

Sunday Read: Minerality. A Reductive Phenomenon?

Let’s get all science-y this Sunday and explore the topic of minerality. It is one of those buzzwords that winemakers as well as sales people and wine drinkers love to throw around. In that context, it is usually used with slate-y soils that somehow are supposed to translate into minerality aromas in the wine.

The Wine Doctor looked into that in September and starts out by pointing out that that is most likely not the direct cause for this aroma to appear. His take in this post is that it might be connected to reductive winemaking practices. The connector to soil is that he believes these chemical reactions are more likely achieved in wines from rather rocky soils. So there is a connection, but no direct link.

While I have no clue about chemistry (literally: I got an F in every single term paper I wrote in chemistry and dropped it as soon as I could), I did appreciate this article and how it was explained. While the mystery of what is minerality remains, I know I sure enjoy it when I find it!

Have a great Sunday!!

The Wine Doctor: Minerality. A Reductive Phenomenon?

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Oct 13 2013
17 Comments
Sunday read

Sunday Read: Can Wines Be Works of Art?

It’s been silent on this blog for way too long. We were traveling for an extended weekend last weekend, and then work caught up with me. Given that I spend most of my working days writing, and work had increased quite a bit, I was just tired and could not get myself to write any more…

Let me try to get back into the habit with this Sunday Read. Over the last weeks, I have thought about whether wines could be seen as works of art (mostly in the context of explaining why pricing can be so far away from actual production cost). It a matter of coincidence that I came across this post on the blog of Dwight Furrow. I was fortunate to come across his blog Edible Arts through my friend Tracy who has started a great series of introducing her readers and the ones she reads to each other (it’s a great post combined with soup recipes, so go check it out!).

Dwight takes the approach of comparing the definition of arts (hard enough, trust me, as a lawyer this is one of the more hilarious definitions you will ever come across) with wine making. He reports that many philosophers would disagree with the assessment that wines can be art. From there, he moves on to explain why he does believe they are pieces of art comparing wines to performance art, and I really liked that idea.

So, have a great Sunday, enjoy the sun as long as you can!!

Dwight Furrow: Can Wines Be Works of Art?

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