Wine Column, Blog, Article and Site Reviews

While I consider myself more of a consumer based blog reader in the wine industry, there is a nice growing newsletter coming together at WineMarketer.com.

The reason I am liking it, is the range of professionals contributing it. It’s the whose who of the online wine and wine marketing world.

Here is a lineup of contributors:

Paul Mabray, Inertia Beverage Group

Mitch Tarr, Zin Marketing

Brian Pach, Pasch Consulting Group

Tom Wark, Wark Communiations

Rob Rubin, R&R Wine Marketing

Mark Spangler, Classic Wines Reviews | Wine Marketer

To check out some of the newsletters for yourself, visit their wine newsletters archive.

Five (5) Best Wine Blogs for Men from WineColumns.com

#5 - Tom Wark’s Fermentation - Tom is a PR professional located in the heart of wine country. It’s more of a corporate blog, but definitely worth checking out to see what is new and hot in the wine world.

#4 - What Would Mikey Drink Wine Reviews - With a cam shot of each and every bottle he tastes, “Mikey” provides a review a day and gives a grade school type score. Although some are out of the normal consumers price range, his weekly lineup is bound to have something to offer for all consumers.

#3 - Lenndevours - Another NY blogger, Lenn provides us insight into his life and his rating system for wines. Read alot about the North Fork wines here.

 #2 - Dr. Vino’s Wine Blog - A wine educator and avid fan (claiming to drink over 2,000 wines a year!) Dr. Vino gives a nice peak into the wine world (althouh sometimes a little above the average consumers level).

#1 - Alder Yarrow’s Vinography - A tried and true blog in the wine world. Alder’s posts have been a staple of the online wine blogging world for years and his enthusiasm continues to grow.

So read up and enjoy! And this is by no means to detract women from reading. The online wine world is an open canvas to explore and most blogs are just as suitable for all demographics.

Stay tuned for top 5 Best Wine Blogs for Women!

Recent outrage has been voiced at Wine.com by the online wine community and the industry alike. Performing what sounds like an entrapment scandle they ordered wine from competing online merchants to states that are illegal to ship to. Once the products crossed the border to Washington (the illegal state) they released documentation and reports as they “tattled” on their peers.

Vinography.com broke the original story and has some heated debates, including comments from the CEO of Wine.com.

In response to this ClassicWines.com, an online wine guide and wine pricing engine dropped their support for Wine.com by removing all of their products and banners from their site. A ballsy move for sure!

This is a PR nightmare for Wine.com - is  it too early to say Rest in Peace?

Foie Gras - I know it’s not a grape varietal, but food goes hand in hand with wine. For those new to this term, Foie Gras is:

“The liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage.”

Sounds delicious right? Well for most folks it is, but animal rights activist are more upset with the method of feeding called ‘gavage.’ Any non Ivy league school person has probably never heard of this before. Simply explained it is force feeding:

“The practice of feeding a person or an animal against his, her or its will.”

I’ve enjoyed reading the rants and raves and I personally don’t mind a little force fed liver ever once in a while, it’s actually a delicacy. Especially with a nice class of Chianti. It’s a duck! Not a human, not even a dog (although I’ve never tasted the latter before.)

“According to the USDA, nearly 26 million ducks were eaten in the U.S. in 2004.”

So, who cares, if a small percentage of these were force fed… they will eventually be slaughtered and served up on a dish anyway. Animal activist must have alot of free time to complain about this practice.

Notable blogs / columns addressing this issue:

NY Times - Defying Law, a Foie Gras Feast in Chicago

ClassicWines.com - The Truth About Foie Gras

NY Restaurants - Does a Duck Have a Soul?

Dr. Vino  - Goose Gitmo (visit of a foie gras farm)

Welcome to Wine Columns where we read up on the world of wine so you don’t have to. Wine Columns aggreggates and reviews wine columns, articles and blogs from around the web. Our mission is to weed through the wine content out on the web, and deliver clever critiques and responses to articles we feel of importance to wine enthusiast.

So stay tuned as we dig deeper in the wine blog world with a new twist. Watch out wine world - the commenters have their own blog!