Admittedly, its largely to the work of dedicated bloggers like Lenn Thompson that I owe my continued fascination with New York State wines. New York’s white wines, from the fertile Long Island soils and the Germanic climate, have a unique and distinctive character that quite frankly, puts Californian whites to shame. This Chard shows off tropicality with mineral structure, making it a perfect aperitif or a between courses palate cleanser. Along with the rounded touch of malolactic fermentation there’s a perfectly balanced element of wood that integrates well on the palate, leaving a hint of tinned-pears on the finish.

Seeing as the United States is playing against South African on the 30th of September, in the white wine department I will have to concede a handful of points the America for this fine Estate.

Foodist Colony despite the great name has really got something going with their ‘build your own restaurant guide’ function. My god mother has shelves of binder files with holiday ideas, recipes and restaurant reviews all clipped from magazines and put into folders for later use. Just clicking on my Bookmarks, I have over 220 bookmarked sites, and with so much more information I seldom have time to go back, and by the time I do, I can’t remember why I had bookmarked it in the first place. This kind of personalizable wiki which allows readers to share reviews as well as build up a list of places they’ve been to and places they still want to go has huge potential to catch on to everything from novels (creating a virtual book club) to wines, recipes and restaurants. It’d be like an online experience journal, and ultimately recipes, restaurant recommendations, lent books and wine are the currency of any great social circle, where there’s free trade of all. I would never be as disciplined as my god mother as to cut out and catalog physical articles, but with the ability to do it online I think we’ll all start. We want to make this our newest feature at Tastevine so people looking to organize and keep track of their recipes can do so. 

Alder of www.vinography.com offers a very cool little aroma guide, and on it is a beautiful piece of prose - ‘from simple grapes, a bit of yeast, some wood and some time, we can taste so much of the world in a bottle.’ How succinctly eloquent! If anything, its proof how wine teaches people to express themselves and the high standard of writing that this new medium embraces. In Veritas Vino starts with a vignette appealing to for the Phillip Roths and Chaucers (who told some good tales about wine himself) after which Alice pleads for wines that ‘tell a good story.’

In today’s post I would like to take a moment to think about the people who set time aside to tell a good story, because this month many of us will sit with our fingers crossed as we wait in anticipation to see the results of the 2007 James Beard Foundation Awards - the ultimate industry award lending much deserved and prestigious recognition to the people who give of their lives to make other people’s leisure time more enjoyable.

The remarkable thing about the blogosphere surrounding wine and food is that most of it is done for the love of it. It is an industry of passion and a labour of love without so much labour and a lot of love. The categories of awards have grown over the years, and it’s great to see that Dr. Vino is in the running for much deserved accolades. The categories range from best graphic design in restaurants, to best bar service and in recent times there are best webcasts or integrated nominees to sites like http://www.ciaprochef.com/, http://www.spatulatta.com/, http://www.leitesculinaria.com/ or Edward Deitch’s ever resourceful and practical columns.

At Grape Thinking we spend a lot of time learning from the multitude of talented and passionate wine and food bloggers out there. Of course the Wine Blog Awards have come and gone, and the nominees for James Beard are out, but we’d very much like to take time over the next two weeks to acknowledge the writers who we think deserve more recognition, and we’ll be featuring some of our friends as guest writers and exposing our readers to a wider array of grapethinking.

Cheers.

The community value of food & beverage went to new heights at the first ever Food Network Awards this past Sunday night, which was actually part of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival back in February. Although it seems silly to glorify food, the show was more about glorifying cuisine and cooking and how it brings us together. Plus, with awards like “Icy Innovations” and “Tasty Technologies”, I kinda got reeled in.

The award that I found most interesting was “Not Your Grandmother’s Food of the Month Club.” The nominees were cool food club delivery services that ship a variety of tasty treats direct to their members’ doorsteps. The Z-club from Zingerman’s won because it delivers a wide variety of foods and creates a sense of adventure for its members. Self-described as a premier food club that a hungry, adventurous food-eating nation has fallen in love with, the Z-club provides a random assortment of exciting new foods from fine olive oils, cheeses, and meats to exotic sweets such as Calabrian candied orange peels covered in chocolate and Australian sweet dried figs. Looks like they’re only missing one thing.

The other big nominee was The Grateful Palate, which most of us know for its imports. It was up for its Bacon of the Month club, which is a little odd given its quality wines. I don’t know though, do bacon and wine match well? The other foods that they offer, however, look absolutely delicious. Check out this Fork & Bottle review of a Grateful Palate Breakfast Combo.

A smart company, with an already established brand like Grateful Palate should feel really confident about their position right now. As the logistics become well-oiled (I like that phrase), consumers are going to tap into the opportunity to have food and wine shipped direct to their doorstep, especially if it is exciting new stuff from different places. Even more, what if we could pair this service with recommended packs personalized to each member and based on their unique tastes? And what if we could send them recommended recipes, ingredients, and wine for that night? Could be fun.

Also, guys, your Grateful Palate imports page is practically non-existent (right) and the only place I can find your wines online is The Jug Shop. What’s going on? You’ve got a great reputation and have awesome wines. Share them with us.

One of California’s legends, Ernest Gallo, passed away on Tuesday. E & J Gallo Winery, founded shortly after prohibition brought American wine to the world and brought wine to all of America. The renowned Gallo sales-training, which I’ve heard referred to as ‘wine boot camp’ created a generation of Americans in the know and passionate about wine and was undoubtedly the catalyst which ignited the wine industry in the US.

Two out of every three bottles of wine sold in the USA are Californian and one out of every four carries the Gallo label. There is very little that we should take for granted regarding Ernest Gallo’s legacy, Gallo were the first wines to suggest food pairings on the bottle, which is now an industry standard. With the United States as the largest consumer in the world, and many countries having the US as their number one export destination, we can be sure that vineyards, winemakers and wine lovers around the world will take pause from their days to be thankful that such a man ever walked the earth.

For those wishing to express their gratitude and leave their condolences, an online Legacy Book has been created in his honour.

Ernest Gallo, Grape Thinking salutes you.