Getting Centered: Preparing for Somm Journal’s Central European Wine Panel
Wine Editor, Jesse Birschbach familiarizes herself with Central European wine, starting with Croatian wines.
Read more
Don’t be a Samelier
Maurice DiMarino | Certified Sommelier and Certified Cicerone The beverage industry has changed dramatically and gets more complex each year. Sommeliers who went through testing 20 years ago had a very different experience than those testing today. It has forced young sommeliers to look past France and Italy and discover wines from Croatia, Brazil, and…
How to Revive a Failing Wine Placement
Master Sommelier, Will Costello offers tips to revive a failing wine placement and draw attention to wines being disregarded by guests.
Wine and the Experience Economy: Examples from Oregon
Carl Winston of SDSU’s School of Hospitality explores wine through a visit to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
One Million of You, Tasting Wine
Remember when you first started tasting wine? I mean really taste.
Of Tropes and Traps
Los Angeles panel lays the groundwork for – and discovers the pitfalls of – blind tasting.
Are Short Wine Lists Truly Back in Style?
Randy Caparoso, The Somm Journal “Water, water, everywhere,” wrote Coleridge, “nor any drop to drink.” That’s how I’ve always felt about the palatability of big wine lists—in my book, anything over 150 selections. Way back in the late 1970s I read about Kevin Zraly, who said, “Eighty percent of our wine sales always came from…
Full Disclosure: Additives in Wine
Why is wine so different from other consumer goods? Why isn’t wine held to the same requirements to which other packaged goods must adhere? There are two sides to this argument.
Atmosphere Engineer
Woody van Horn | General Manager, Bracero Cocina de Raiz As we look at our field of work, one of the duties that sets sommeliers apart from the rest of the wine industry is the act of service, which goes hand-in-hand with hospitality. I would raise the point that a strong element of service is in…
Finding Opportunities Starts with Marketing Yourself Online
You could have an encyclopedic knowledge of wine to make your guests feel at ease, but if you aren’t marketing yourself, opportunities could pass you by.