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Category Archives: Reviews
GunBun 2.0
Gundlach Bundschu winery president Jeff Bundschu’s blog “Blogshu.com,” isn’t the only indication of a “GunBun 2.0” consciousness arising at the family-owned winery. On the site, Bundschu refers to himself as a “6th generation vintner looking for something to prove.” With an astute blend of vision, talent and technology, Bundschu has at least proven that GunBun, [...]
Sparkling Darlings for the New Year
The marketing mavens behind Certs breath mints once ran a campaign predicated on the product’s peculiar tendency to spark in the dark, when bit with a modicum of force. The spots successfully knitted one’s fresh breath and dimming the lights with the promise of sexual congress (like most advertising). They also provided a perfect visual [...]
Also posted in Blog, Wine Tagged blanc de noir, certs, Gloria Ferrer, kiss, mendocino, Roderer Estate, sonoma Leave a comment
Sebastiani Deep Throat Says Winery Sold
As a tribute to W. Mark Felt. Sr., the Watergate informant otherwise known as Deep Throat who died yesterday in Sonoma County, this journalist would like to introduce Big Gulp, his very own informant, who leaked that Los Olivos-based Foley Wine Group, has purchased Sonoma’s Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery.
The property was originally planted by Franciscan [...]
Brand Slam
If you pop a cork of bubbly in the Champagne region, of France, it’s champagne. Do the same anywhere else and it’s “sparkling wine.” Why? Because the French are vigilant about the brand identity of one of their most popular exports. And yes, a region can be a brand. So can people. Like Oprah. If [...]
Also posted in Column: Published Weekly in the Sonoma Index-Tribune, Wine Tagged brand, oprah, sonoma, USB Port, xerox Leave a comment
Menage a Trois at Whole Foods
A few years ago, Brand Autopsy’s John Moore blogged The Ten Winning Ways of Whole Foods Market in the competitive grocery market, um, market. Point No. 4 was dubbed “Food as Theater,” in which Moore observed, “…WFM celebrates food like it is a theatrical production.” This simile is especially evident in the wine aisle here [...]
Also posted in Blog, Wine Tagged Brand Autopsy, Folie a deux, Ionesco, John Moore, mayo family wine, menage a trois, sonoma, three way, whole foods, Wine Leave a comment
Breakfast Cuvee
Add this to your sport-drinking itinerary – wine-tasting in the morning, with olive oil and cabernet fudge. Yeah, I wasn’t convinced either, until Flash Lely pulled his vintage Mustang into my driveway and the rumbling V8 roused me from dreams of sleeping in. It was 10:15 a.m., Tuesday, and we were on deadline. Coates PR had [...]
Also posted in Column: Published Weekly in the Sonoma Index-Tribune, Wine Tagged ryan lely, sikorski, syrcab, Wine Leave a comment
Presidential Pairings: Obama is Pinot, McCain is Merlot
“Sommelier to the Stars” Christopher Sawyer has made a successful sideline pairing wine with – not cheese – but film (as seen on MSN, NBC, ABC and CNN and in USA Today, Redbook, Maxim, National Geographic Traveler and – breath – Esquire). Some might dismiss this skill as merely a parlor trick, and in part [...]
Also posted in Column: Published Weekly in the Sonoma Index-Tribune, Wine Tagged Biden, Christopher Sawyer, Esquire, Freedom Rock, Google making us stupid, J.M. Berry, McCain, merlot, Neil Strauss, Nicholas Carr, Obama, Palin, pinot noir, Wine, winotone Leave a comment
Plug-n-Play Dessert Wine
Apparently, if it’s not from Portugal, it’s not port – it’s dessert wine. This is a new mutation of the name game the Champagne region of France plays with “sparkling wine” made anywhere but there, or Kobe beef, versus “Kobe-style,” when outside of Japan. The fine minds at Peltier Station Winery, however have found a [...]
Also posted in Blog, Wine Tagged EU, peltier station winery, port, Schatz, Trettevik, USB, Wine Leave a comment
Gary Vaynerchuk: Wine’s Brand Man
Despite the media credentials I was granted, I somehow I managed to miss the Wine Bloggers Conference 08, hosted this October in Sonoma County’s Santa Rosa, California. No worries, the conference’s main attraction was video wine blogger and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibraryTV.com with whom I recently had a chat for FineLife Sonoma Magazine.
Vaynerchuk [...]
Also posted in Personalities, Podcasts, Wine Tagged conference, Gary Vaynerchuk, podcast, sonoma, tim zahner, Watch, Wine, wine blogger Leave a comment
Après nous, le Déluge