February 25, 2009

GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - Barbara Drady, Affairs of the Vine

With a veritable sea of wine available to consumers, how can a winery get some individual recognition for the wines it produces? Well, one of the ways is to enter their wines into competitions or shootouts, to see how they fare to a group of wine judges.

As President and founder of Affairs of the Vine, wine educator Barbara Drady is the event organizer for several of these wine shootouts. Their competitions employ a panel of industry professionals to act as judges, tasting through hundreds of wines to determine their preferences.

All wines are tasted “blind” during a series of four or five flights (10 wines per flight) per day. Each wine is judged on its own merit and not judged against other wines in the flight. Scores and notes are collated, and once the preliminary tastings are completed, the top scoring wines are chosen for the final round. The 50-60 top scoring wines are then reviewed in the final round by a larger panel of experts. Most interestingly, the final results are tabulated with comments and observations on each wine by gender.

Join us as we talk with Barbara Drady to see what kind of organization goes into conducting these shootouts, and discuss the beneficiaries of the results.

February 25, 2009

GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - Bartholomew Broadbent, Broadbent Selections Inc

The latest levels of alcohol in wines have stirred up something of a hornet's nest. So, with bee suits on we ventured into the hive to hear from some "experts" on the subject.

First up is Bartholomew Broadbent, son of the very well-known English writer and lecturer, Michael Broadbent. Although his business, Broadbent Selections, is in the U.S., Bartholomew has a somewhat unique old-world look at this subject. He would like to see all wines under 14%, and has been quoted:

"Someone questioned my motive in including the alcohol content when I post notes. There is a very good reason and the question should be, in any ‘Buying Guide’, why would they not reference the alcohol content? Unlike 20 years ago, when most wines were 12% to 13% alcohol and it was inconsequential, red wines, today, range from 12% to 16%+, which is a huge and significant difference. In those earlier days, in some places, like Texas for instance, wines over 14% were so unheard of that they had to be sold in liquor stores, as they were deemed too alcoholic and it was illegal for them to be sold in wine shops."

We envision this series in two parts - each with differing points of view as well.

Join us as we talk with Bartholomew about the effects of the demon alcohol - both in the glass as well as in our bodies.