Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 43 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

For the full article, see Wine in Vermont (html),  Color Magazine USA, Ed. 41, October/November 2011.

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Summer brought bliss and blush. Rosé wine towered wine displays everywhere. It has been enjoyable, right? You must admit it was fun. But can you honestly admit to your friends that you prefer blush to bizarre in wine. Or, are you ashamed of it? Is rosé good or great?

For the full article, see Rosé Wine: Good or Great? (html),  Color Magazine USA, Ed. 40, September 2011.

Related articles

• Wine as Education (sociologyofwine.com)
• Pop Culture & Wine (sociologyofwine.com)
• Rosé Makes a Comeback! (redwinediva.wordpress.com)

For the full article, see Wine as Education (html),  Color Magazine USA, Ed. 39, August 2011.

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Athletes, musicians and even adult film stars are tackling the terroir.  The “How Wine Became Modern” exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art last month focused on Design + Wine. It was a pop-culture typography of wine-bottle labels that portrayed everything from high fashion to playful low-brow. In movies, wine is very real, in celebrity culture it is very surreal, and in books it is wrapped in mystery, according to pop culture.

For the full article, see Pop Culture & Wine (html), Color Magazine USA, Ed. 38, June-July 2011.

See  Rheinhessen: Rediscovered German Wine Country (html), , Color Magazine USA, Ed. 37, May 2011.

Image by Dom Dada via Flickr

In today’s New York Times, wine writer Jonathan Mackay documents the dynamics of the online flash wine market such as Wines Til Sold Out, Wine Access, Cinderella Wine, Wine.Woot or Lot18. With this emerging model, wine is heavily discounted because of innovative ways of procuring small batches of the good stuff in a limited time window.  Jonathan muses on the future of wine as a commodity  bundled with other stuff  (wine trips, meals, etc.).

See

Wine Prices Slashed; This Offer Won’t Last

Portugal is emerging as one of the trendiest travel destinations right now. The Portuguese have polished their jewels: trails, B&Bs, hotels, restaurants, discos, spas and wines. Visit before the floodgates open. Start with Lisbon, then go to the plains of the Alentejo towards the south and finish in Porto, exploring the more northern valleys of the Dão and Douro Rivers. If there’s time, a swim along the Algarve coast is not bad either, but mass tourism abounds down there already. Instead, avoid the masses and retreat into the countryside and blend with the locals in two, astonishingly fresh, European cities, Lisbon and Porto.

See The Rise of Portuguese Wine Tourism (html), Color Magazine USA, Ed. 36, April 2011.

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Young, female Portuguese vintner Filipa Pato just won the magazine Feinschmecker’s award as Best Newcomer (see announcement in German).  Congratulations!

As she says on her website:

From the study of differences in soil, microclimates, sun exposure, age of the vine, planting density, pruning and varied works of viticulture … I feel that today I am privileged to have created a knowledge base that allows me to understand the wonderful puzzle that our region offers.

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Napa, Bordeaux, Tuscany and Rioja offer more for your family than just great wine.

My wife tells me winery visits are not interesting for toddlers. I disagree. Wine trips are not only for connoisseurs, you can bring your spouse, brother, kid, parent or even your pet along. But remember two key planning tips: 1. Reading wine books that describe vines, wines and grapes will not help you much. 2. Every vacation should provide each participant non-wine, peak experiences, so anchor your trip in an independently attractive city that has options for the whole family (see Family Wine Vacations, Color Magazine USA, ED. 35 – MARCH 2011).