The “Clean Wine” Scam

As new wineries pop up weekly, and online direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine clubs multiply, they’re all looking for a marketing hook. Unfortunately, one that’s increasingly popular is selling their wares as “clean” wines–and it’s misleading and basically a scam. Worse still, many purveyors of “clean” and “natural” wines also often use

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Featured Wine: Dürnberg Falkenstein Grüner Veltliner 2019

Warm weather is here. Very warm. In fact, unprecedented “heat domes” in June and now well into July, across much of the country. That’s one of the reasons—plus simply on merit—I’m recommending what I think is one of the three most crisp, refreshing, and ideal summer white wines in the

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Wine of the Week: Left Coast Cellars White Pinot Noir 2019

Wait a minute. Pinot Noir is a red wine grape, so what is this nonsense about a white? Well, in this case, it’s unique, and not, in fact, nonsensical. But it’s a wine that few people have probably tasted, and that’s too bad. What it lacks in color–very slightly straw-hued–it

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Back to the Futures–In Bordeaux! UPDATED

Most wine drinkers, even real enthusiasts, will never buy wine futures–but, some of us of even modest means will splurge. So what exactly is a “wine future?” Well for starters, it’s just what it says: wine that will be available down the road. Also known as “en primeur,” French for

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Don’t Let an Algorithm Choose Your Wine

Three years ago, two MIT Grads created an algorithm that promised to choose “wine you love,” based on 18 attributes from a seven-question quiz, and your inputs would “help you branch out and discover new wines without the worry that it will be too sweet, too tart or “too whatever.”

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Judgment of the Wine World: We’ve Had a Loss

Steven Spurrier, the English merchant, educator, winemaker, grape farmer, and advocate, died March 9 at age 79. Thoughts, accolades, and remembrances of him have poured in all day from all quarters, including The Drinks Business, who today called him “The Great Man of Wine,” while Decanter awarded him the same

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