For the next act in my continuing saga as judge in the Georges Duboeuf Wine Book of the Year Awards, I wanted to detail the awards finalists that didn’t make the cut for my top three candidates for this year’s award (the three is not an arbitrary number, by the way – as judges, we were asked to pick our top three selections for the award from the seven finalists chosen by the event’s organizers).

And, we’re going to give away a copy of one of those books – Charlie Olken’s excellent New Connoisseurs’ Guidebook to California Wine and Wineries – to one lucky commenter!

Most of you know the drill: you comment, and in one week a winner is randomly selected from the comments.

Personally, I find myself swayed at least a little bit when it comes to awards like this, in terms of my wine book purchasing decisions.  I suppose that a part of me figures, Hey, if some people took the time to judge this thing against its peers and say it was good, it’s probably pretty darn good - but all-in-all, when it come to wine book buying, I probably put more weight into jacket testimonials (especially when they’re written by people that I know and respect).  So the question I’ve got to get our comentarios del blog de ​​discusión started is this:

Do awards factor into your wine book-buying decisions? Or are they like most wine competition medals (i.e., kinda meaningless)?

My thoughts on all of the non-top-three-listed finalists’ books are below after the jump. I need to preface this by saying that these books are all worthy additions to the English-language wine book lexicon; they just didn’t make my top three for the Georges Duboeuf award based on the judging criteria.  That competition was stiffer than the graphite neck on those headless Steinberger basses that Geddy Lee used in the `80s, so not making the cut shouldn’t be treated as a slight; in fact, simply being included in the list of finalists for this year’s award is a nod to the quality level of all of these books.  Now that I think about it, I might be getting in trouble by listing these finalists, but technically no one involved in the awards has said that I can’t list them… so what the hell, here we go!

Next week: my take on the top three and my #1 pick for the award…

Read the rest of this stuff »

Is the holiday wine pairing idea totally over-and-done?  Did it, in fact,  jump the shark full-on in Arthur Fonzarelli leather jacket and scarf? Is it deader than Aunt Martha’s Christmas fruitcake?

You’re probably thinking “Why dredge up this topic when we’re between holidays?”  Great question, sir (or madam… or whatever…).  I mean, I’m sure as hell not going into a St. Patrick’s Day wine pairing here (that’s my birthday anyway, so for me the pairing will be “the best and most exclusive vino I can get my grubby little hands on, and if at all possible in large quantities and preferably on someone else’s tab.”).

You see, it is precisely because we’re between holidays – removed from the craziness, glass in hand (hopefully), and welcoming (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) the onset of Spring – that I want to breach this topic.  We are chill right now.  We are rational.  We don’t have the specter of holiday stress and deadlines looming over our heads like a f*cking Sword of Damocles.  We put on the relaxation tape, take a sip, and chill out. Feel ze tension leeeeving yer boudee…

That was nice.  Ok – I’m an anal-retentive East Coaster so the 30 seconds of relaxation I’ve allowed everyone is officially over.  Now that we’re chill… let’s get all riled up again, shall we?

Seems to me that one of the trendiest things for wine geeks to do over the last couple of years is to declare the death of many a stalwart wine practice, and the wine + holiday pairing is one of the items in the wine geek sniper cross-hairs.

Where do you stand on holiday wine pairing recommendations?  Shout it out in the comments – and on March 22 I will randomly select a commenter to win a Wine Soiree aerator (about a $25 value)! To learn more about the Wine Soiree, check out my review from 2008.  Please note that Wine Soiree has no affiliation with this post idea, I just happen to have an extra one and feel like having another giveaway!

But before you get commentin’, let’s look at both sides of the story…

Read the rest of this stuff »

I’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to the upcoming Dark & Delicious Petite Sirah event in Alameda, CA on February 18th – and they might just have YOUR name on ‘em!

The Dark & Delicious event is organized by P.S. I Love You, which is probably the world’s most passionate collection of fans and promoters of the powerful wines made from the Petite Sirah grape (interestingly, we can go back in the annals to the very beginnings of 1WineDude.com and find me professing myself as one of the lovers of PS).  Here’s how Jo Diaz of www.wine-blog.org and the uber-promoter of all thing P.S. I Love You describes the event:

“There are 48 wineries pouring their Petite Sirahs, with nearly 30 foodies, creating foods to go with Petite Sirah. This is a medium-sized event (about 800 people attend), and most of the winery owners and winemakers are the ones pouring their wines.

February 18, 2001, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Three hours of wining and dining, free parking, all for $63.00 per ticket, at Rock Wall Wine Company in Alameda… Overlooking the San Francisco Bay skyline. The only restriction is that attendees must be 21 years or older to attend.

The foods being offered are well beyond bread, crackers, and/or cheese… People enjoy delightful meals, which also finishes with eclectic chocolate companies. The quote from Tom Merle says it best, because he’s been to every event in the SF Bay area… ‘You offer far more real gourmet treats than any other of the marketing association tastings.’”

You know the drill – the giveaway covers the event tix only (sorry, no travel or any other expenses), and to enter you need only comment on this post with a Petite Sirah recommendation for your fellow 1WineDude.com readers. On Friday, January 28 at 6PM ET I will randomly select one commenter from this post as the winner (who will be notified via e-mail).

Cheers – and good luck!

Has it really been twenty years since ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) first held their modest gathering, spearheaded by Ravenswood founder and Sonoma wine icon Joel Peterson (for a glimpse into Joel’s head, check out our interview from Dec. 2008)?

Believe it or not, ZAP’s 20th Annual Zinfandel Festival is, indeed, taking place Thursday-Saturday, January 27-29, and tickets are now on sale. Like most wine events that have grown to become ginormous in size, folks tend to have mixed reviews of the event (or, put more accurately, mixed reviews of the attendees of the event) but some of the positive press comes by way of people for whom I have a great deal of respect, such as my adopted papa Charlie Olken – so there is certainly some fun to be had, and of course the opportunity to taste a sh*tload of Zinfandel from dozens of producers.

It’s in that spirit that we’ve giving away 2 sets of 5 tickets each to two of the 20th Zinfandel Festival events – the Good Eats & Zin Pairing on Thursday, Jan. 27, and the Grand Zin Tasting on Saturday, Jan. 29 – and you can win just by leaving a comment on this post!

Details on how to win are after the jump. Just be forewarned that I’m not independently wealthy and so rather than transport winners from any worldwide destination to San Fran. via my 70-foot yacht staffed by vestal virgins, the winning peeps are on their own for any travel and expenses and the giveaway is open to U.S. readers only (sorry, loyal Estonian readers!).

Read the rest of this stuff »