Every Wednesday I post my recommendations of the best of last week’s postings concerning wine, whether blogs or news. I list them in the order I read them, so you shouldn’t infer anything about the order in which I list these posts.

Robert Parker Bordeaux 2009 scores shrink Atlantic taste divide

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=297427

The gist of this is that the various reviewers are more in line with each other than usual. But when you read through the article, it’s pretty clear there’s still lots of disagreement. And if the reviewers can’t form a good consensus about quality, what’s the point of spilling all this ink?

2010 vintage promises ‘elegant wine’

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/27/2883763.htm

Every industry has its own lingo. In real estate, “charming” means small. In winespeak, “elegant” means light. Nothing wrong with a wine being light—many people prefer them after all. But I’d be happier if we just called them light, instead of using a word like “elegant” which really just camouflages the true state of things.

Red wine may protect against stroke

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/04/27/Red-wine-may-protect-against-stroke/UPI-26751272403745/

A recent study suggests the mechanism by which red wine may help protect against stroke damage. I would certainly like to think moderate wine consumption is good for you, but I think on the whole the evidence isn’t that conclusive, at least so far.

Coalition against wine-in-grocery-store proposal makes last push in opposition

http://www.wktv.com/news/local/92449564.html

The latest on the push to put wines in grocery stores in NY.

County, international experts forming plan to fight vineyard pest

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_b78ca9a4-565e-11df-8ecc-001cc4c002e0.html

After all the hullabaloo about the Light Brown Apple Moth, an even worse pest has popped up.

Jancis got it wrong

Steve Heimoff

http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/05/03/jancis-got-it-wrong/

Heimoff argues that getting wine academics to right more about the winemaking process for the consumers isn’t such a good idea, as they end up writing overly technical articles that are inaccessible to the non-professional. I’m inclined to agree with him in large measure, though there needs to be a way for the technical information to filter down to the non-professional enthusiast. That’s in large measure the purpose of my blog, so I do think it can be done.

It’s All in the Glass

Mary Ewing-Mulligan

http://palatepress.com/2010/04/its-all-in-the-glass/

This article focuses on the differences in how a wine tastes based on the glass being used. It also highlights the inherent subjectivity of wine judging. Highly recommended.

HR 5034: An Analysis

David Honig

http://palatepress.com/2010/04/hr-5034-an-analysis/

There been a lot of ink spilled over the recent introduction of legislation that would dramatically affect shipment of wine to consumers. This is the best analysis of what the law would do, and how likely it would survive judicial challenge. Be warned this is not for the casual reader; it goes into a lot of detail about the background of our existing wine laws, and how the proposed legislation could (or might not) change things.

For keeping up to date with what’s going on the in wine world, the best all around source is http://winebusiness.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 5:28 am and is filed under Good Reads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.