Please Don’t Tell Me What I’m Tasting!!

Please Don’t Tell Me What I’m Tasting!!

I’m noticing a disturbing new trend in tasting rooms (or maybe I’m just cranky). It seems that tasting room staffers, especially the young ones, are trained to TELL you what you will be smelling, tasting and overall experiencing in the wines, instead of ASKING you...
Millennials On Parade

Millennials On Parade

This particular piece has been fermenting in me for a while, but had to be expressed after I had a particularly bad millennial experience over Memorial Day Weekend. The piece may give away my age, but at 55, I don’t really give a shit about what people think of me any...
Wine Road Barrel Tasting Weekends – A Rant

Wine Road Barrel Tasting Weekends – A Rant

At the risk of sounding like an old-timer lamenting past golden days (wait – I AM an old-timer, I’ve been in the wine industry for over 30 years now), in my humble opinion the Wine Road Barrel Tasting event has gone seriously wrong. It’s a lot like when you have an...
“Sooooo, Are You a Somm?”

“Sooooo, Are You a Somm?”

Sooooo…are you a Somm? After over 30 years of actively working in many facets of the wine industry (winery management, sales, radio personality, wine writer, wine judge, etc), I am being asked this question on an increasingly frequent basis. It seems being a “Somm”...