1 Wine Dude » palate press

On The Road, Off The Beaten Path (A South American Wine Wrap-Up At PalatePress.com)

1WineDude — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I know I’m risking turning this blog into a South American wine coverage outlet recently (and there are at least two more posts yet to come from my recent jaunt there). BUT…

Just in case you’re not yet sick of hearing about the wines and wine-related stories I encountered in Chile and Argentina (or if you’re looking for a sort-of Cliff Notes version), I’ve got a featured article running up at PalatePress.com (with corresponding wine reviews) focusing on the off-the-beaten-path, outside-of-the-bargain-bin gems I found during my S. American travels (and travails).

The article also makes me feel good, mostly because it (hopefully?) resets the counter on keeping the “contributing” part of my “contributing editor” title at Palate Press. Anyway… here’s a run-down of the vinous S. American gems reviewed at PalatePress.com as part of the article:

Cheers!

Wine Gives Back: Relief for Haiti and Chilean Wine Workers

1WineDude — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

A few tidbits to end the week on some hopeful notes:

Palate Press Kicks Ass for Haiti Relief

Mad props are due to on-line wine e-zine Palate Press for their efforts (mostly spearheaded by yeoman David Honig, its Publisher) to raise money for the Red Cross’ Haiti Relief & Development activities.

David organized a stellar wine auction catalog that leveraged the generosity of dozens of wine producers and wine industry stalwarts. The result was well over $10,000 raised in donations to the Red Cross for the people of Haiti. David’s work was nothing short of amazing and he’s really shown what the wine blogging world is capable of when it’s determined and focused.

THANK YOU DAVID!

In a similar vein, the wine world is also reaching out to help Chile take care of its own after the recent earthquake there impacted not just wine production, but also affected the lives of many of Chile’s winery workers and their families…

Helping Chilean Wine Workers

As most of you will already be aware, Chile is now in recovery mode from a major natural disaster, and this has hit the wine industry directly. To help in the disaster relief, Wines of Chile has recently joined forces with NESsT to promote Levantando Chile, a fund that will benefit Chilean winery workers and their families who have been affected by the recent earthquake. From the press release:

“’We were initially relieved that our co-workers and friends in Chile were not harmed, but there is a huge need for relief aid with many towns and villages completely wiped out,’ notes Lori Tieszen, Executive Director for Wines of Chile USA.

People wishing to help are encouraged to donate to NESsT’s "Levantando Chile: Wines of Chile Fund," established to specifically go in support of winery workers and their families, which was set up in the aftermath of Chile’s devastating earthquake. WoC and NESsT will channel funds to on-the-ground Chilean organizations working in the affected communities. The focus will be placed on providing support to vineyard and winery workers to rebuild their lives, homes and livelihoods.”

Donations to Levantando Chile can be made on-line.

Get Yourself A Trip To Chile

Finally, on a (tangentially) related topic, the excellently wine-geeky magazine Sommelier Journal and Wines of Chile will be running a contest this year in which one person can win a spot on the Wines of Chile Sommelier Immersion trip in the spring of 2011 (bear in mind that buying and promoting Chilean wine is actually one of the things that Wines of Chile and the Chilean government have cited as a means to help Chile recover from the damage done to the country’s wine industry by the recent earthquake – which isn’t to say that you should promote any old plonk just because it’s from Chile, but is to say that my inclusion of the contest here seemed to make sense to me). Here’s the press release skinny on the contest:

“The contest will take place on the forums at www.sommelierjournal.com. Beginning April 1 and ending Dec. 31, anyone who creates an account can join the contest simply by participating in the forums. This can take any form within the forum rules: tasting notes, views of news events, great deals on wine, philosophical wine discussions—anything that helps advance the knowledge and experience of the other forum members. Participants do not have to subscribe to Sommelier Journal to create an account and post in the forum. At the end of the contest, the community members themselves will be given two weeks to nominate the best participants over this time period. A committee will then determine the final nominees, and the community will vote. The winner will receive a coveted spot on Wines of Chile USA’s Sommelier Immersion program in the spring of 2011.”

Cheers!

New on Palate Press: PA Uncorks the Worst Wine Idea Ever

1WineDude — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I’ve penned my first piece for Palate Press, the on-line wine magazine that is taking the global blog-o-world by storm!

Ok, maybe “taking by storm” is a bit of an exaggeration… until I showed up and the party could officially start, that is!

Ok, maybe the whole “the party can get started now” thing is a bit of an exaggeration as well.

Actually it’s a total exaggeration – Palate Press doesn’t need me, they’ve been kicking total ass since their launch earlier this month; I’m just a straggler who finally got around to writing something almost good enough to make a cut into the article rotation. (Since I’m friends with the editor and publisher, they probably let me slide. Just this once.)

Anyway, if you’re interested in my take on the idea of Pennsylvania’s godless, communist liquor control board to poison the economy of the good Commonwealth with wine kiosk machines that automatically dispense bottles of wine after doing some sort of personal scan that I think destroys part of your soul and drains the blood from innocent babies (hint: I’m not a fan of this plan), then head over to Palate Press and check it out!

Cheers!