Here's a link to my recent article interviewing my great friend Randall Grahm. It's not your typical RG article, and if you are a winemaker yourself, it contains much food for thought to ponder your relationship with the public and perhaps with your Marketing Department.
I have been writing this column for Wines and Vines on Postmodern Winemaking since January, and the previous articles are now posted. I strongly recommend the whole series to lovers of this blog, starting with January's column, The Solution Problem: Overcoming Enology.
Comments
Sam hilmer:
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
Clark, just curious about your assertion in the article regarding where, in your opinion, the most interesting wines in the USA are coming from. Do you really think Missouri is making the most interesting wines in the country? Or were you just giving Randall something to chew on? Why Missouri?
Thanks, Sam
In competitions that allow non-California wines (there aren't many) Missouri has consistently dominated Sweepstakes for best red (Chambourcin or Norton) and best dessert wine (usually Vignoles). for well over a decade. SW Missouri State's State-funded wine quality program captures 6% of all wine sales revenue and diverts it into the most successful quality improvement program in the nation, a gift to the surrounding 15 States. California wines are, as a rule, pretty boring by comparison.
The UC Davis faculty was imported from Herman, MO around the turn of the century, where Stone Hill was at one time the 3rd largest winery in the WORLD. That this remains unknown is simply an indictment of our incredibly screwed up distribution system and the self-congratulatory myopic provincialism of most Californians.
If you want a window on the rest of the country, drop $5 for a month's subscription to AppellationAmerica.com and dare yourself to blow some dough on the Best-of-Appellation recommendations my panel selected.