So, I’ve been pretty cagey about this but here’s the official announcement: Ryan O’Connell is moving to California for part of 2012.  The company I’m working with in California is looking for new wines and new business opportunities and they think I can help.  I think I can help too. I’m leaving tomorrow.  I’ll be [...]

Today’s song is Regine’s Jamais Tra La La, a cynical look at life that claims it’s never as easy as Tra La La. I beg to differ. Wipe away those disco blues by opening a bottle of Trah Lah Lah and show Regine who is boss!

My Trah Lah Lah in Champagne continues and here’s a song that doesn’t actually have any tra la las in it but is on an album called “Champagne et Tralala” by Claire Lise. There is a song on this album with tra la las but I cannot find the video. So instead here is the [...]

At the end of October, a mysterious persona calling themselves Vinconnu appeared on facebook and twitter.  They teased prominent members of the French wine blogging community with riddles and hints about their secret identity for over a month until unveiling themselves at a big party in Paris. The big reveal came as quite a shock [...]

Jacques Berthomeau spoke at the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in 2011 in Ferrals les Corbieres.  This is a synopsis of his talk and my reaction to what he’s saying.  This is one post in an ongoing series about the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin. In his typical way, Berthomeau presents [...]

I attended the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in Ferrals-les-Corbieres, a small village in the heart of Languedoc wine country.  This post is a summary of my day.  A full pdf of the event program can be downloaded. In brief It was pretty cool.  The Uni is a real home-grown event where some [...]

I had the pleasure of hearing Jacky Rigaux speak at the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in 2011 in Ferrals les Corbieres.  This is a synopsis of his lecture and my reaction to what he’s saying.  This is one post in an ongoing series about the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin. [...]

2011 has been a very peculiar year.  Throughout the year, virtually all of France’s wine regions were reporting very advanced vine growth and early harvests (Bordeaux, Loire, Languedoc among others), and some of those predictions came true while other areas are now reporting perfectly normal harvest dates. Some people are harvesting early Some readers never [...]

Grape harvest in the south of France The grapes are changing color and that reminds us that harvest time is right around the corner.  We get exceptionally busy around harvest, but we leave the door open and let tourists come to the vineyard and see exactly how harvest goes down.  Some people actually roll up [...]

There was an interesting panel at VinoCamp Lisbon where participants discussed the language barriers between different wine blogging communities. Overall, the round table discussion was very interesting.  I particularly liked Vicky’s idea at the end about designated cultural leaders (which I’ll address in detail below). Here’s a video of the roundtable: Language Barriers at Conferences [...]