All the Apps a Wine Geek Needs
I read a great blog the other day by Laura Castaneda where she reviewed a group of complimentary wine related iPhone Apps. We were very pleased that she included our Sonoma Winery Tour App and that she said such nice things about it. What I found very interesting was the other Apps that she wrote about because they allowed the user to match the wines with food, or recognize the nutritional qualities, or photograph the label and log your comments about the wine. If you are an enthusiastic wine tourist I suggest you read her very well written article.
http://www.lauracastaneda.com
I use the term Wine Geek with affection. There are plenty of people who know a great deal more about wine than I, but over time I’ve also evolved into a Wine Geek. Know how I can tell? At any event where multiple wines are being poured I’ll take the time to taste all of them! When I’m poured a serious red wine I take an inordinate time to experience it, because I’ve found that the wine changes in the glass and that transformation is revealing! Because I can’t stop myself from reading the small print on stray wine bottles naming their home winery and maybe their vineyards!
I didn’t intend for this to happen; my interest has always been the wineries themselves, the locations, structures, geology and terroir. What generally fascinates me is how we interact with our environments and it was to write a book about that which first drew us to wine country. The wine, well everybody makes wine, right? You see, I’m Italian on both sides and come from generations of wine makers, some really good ones. But an Italian saying that your family makes wine is like saying that they cook. Of course they cook, of course they make wine. What else would they do? You gotta eat and you gotta drink!
When I taste a wine it takes me to that place where the grapes were grown. This is such a strong part of my approach that I often find overly blended wines disappointing, unless the flavors are strong enough to maintain their signature. For example, at the Vintner’s wine auction a couple of years ago Alpha Omega offered a barrel that included cabernet sauvignon from three diverse mountain regions; Howell, Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder. Geologically these are very different regions, weather wise the differences between the first and the others are dramatic, so the signatures are very different. But in that wine you could taste each mountain top vineyard. They complimented each other without disappearing. It made it an exceptional wine.
In comparison about four years ago Merryvale was pouring a high end Bordeaux style blend sourced from at least five different regions, possibly more. It may have been the failing of my palate but the character of the wine became anonymous to me. They changed wine makers after that and hopefully the departing craftsman found their new location more supportive of their particular genius. When we aren’t wine touring or wine writing we speak and write on the Power of Positioning; how to create working environments that promote productivity and genius. Some of the concepts within that discipline speak to why a wine maker does better or worse at a location. Maybe it comes down to how the blood in their veins and the electricity in their nervous system aligns them with the bones of the winery. Something to think about!
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guides (Find them on Amazon), and owners of Amicis Tours. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com. Their Apps can be found at http://www.sutromedia.com/apps.html
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