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Everone Wins Cocktail Competitions

Cocktailcompetitionsare perhaps,most effectivebecause,ironic thoughthis sounds,everyone wins. With more and more brands and extensions hitting the market every month, it’s safe to say that, now more than ever, shelf space is an extremely valuable commodity. Then, of course, there’s the little matter of winning the hearts and minds of bartenders, who...
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Wine’s Evolving Flavors

Over the last thirty years the perception of what is quality wine has evolved significantly.  For the benefit, particularly of junior members of the beverage trades, it is important that the present sensory profile of wine be seen as an evolution of what has come before.  If we could go...
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Jim Collins at Fres Brothers

And we are better for it. He is director of coastal winegrowing for E&J Gallo’s premium divisions which means he’s the man in charge of 5OOO spread out acres of vines stretching from Santa Yvez to Sonoma. One might also call him a go-between. On one hand he’s acutely conscious...
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Spain’s Navarra Region

“This wine is too good for toast-drinking my dear.you don’t want to mix emotions upwith a wine like that.you lose the taste.”  –Ernest Hemingway The Spanish region of Navarra was introduced to us Americans by icon Ernest Hemingway in his novel The Sun Also Rises but we did not know...
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Frans Smit on South Africa and Spier Wines

Capetown 2OOO South Africa’s wine world, like the country itself, is just getting back on its feet after Apartheid’s end (1994), Nelson Mandela’s mandate, and the promise of black partnership in reviving the economy. Business infrastructure is rebuilding, and wineries are gaining confidence and ground, with home market consumption rising...
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Portugal Goes Beyond Port

Portugal’s physical position on the planet has turned it into literally a nation of exportation that constantly has to look outside itself for success. What you see on the map is a narrow strip of a nation seemingly pushed west hard up against the ocean, a nation of many good...
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Profile: Robin Back

ROBIN BACK • 47 • US Public Relations & Marketing Manager • The Wines of Charles Back • Paarl South Africa FAMILY HISTORY Fairview Winery was established in 1693; it’s one of South Africa’s original wine estates, where vines were planted in 1655 and the first wines made in 1659. ...
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Artesa

Means “craftsman” in Catalan the language of Penedès, the home in northeastern Spain of Artesa’s owner, Codorníu. I imagine that “artisan” comes from the same root. (In Spanish, artesa means “kneading trough”.) The former definition applies here: at the Artesa Winery in Napa’s Carneros, fine wines are crafted from the...
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Sake

So said Lloyd Foster Marketing Manager at Classic Wine Imports. “We’ve been selling saké since 1992 and now it’s a $1 million a year business for us.” Many people look at saké and see it only as a niche product for sushi bars, Japanese restaurants and Asian grocery stores, but...
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