Wine news April 5, 2016

InStyle picks a sommelier's brain. "Dark greens like spinach go well with a fruitier red, and with earthy veggies like mushrooms and lentils, you could do a Pinot Noir or Gamay (an easy-to-drink, food-friendly red that has a nice fruit profile without being sweet)."

Paste Magazine on Washington State wine."Most of the almost 100 wineries in Woodinville are small producers operating entirely out of warehouse spaces or other non-vineyard properties, crafting wines from grapes sourced from one or several of the AVAs on the other side of the Cascades."

Dr. Vino on wine consultant Michel Rolland's rant. "We’re in a world without balls, we live without balls. Full stop. There isn’t a journalist who would notice. Anyway, there isn’t a wine writer with enough weight in the world today."

Venture Beat on an Australian wine start up called Vinomofo that has raised $19M. "The company says it’s on track to exceed $50 million in revenue this year, five years after it launched as a daily deals site for wine fans."

The Drinks Business shows photographs from wine journalist Amanda Barnes trip to Peru. "The oldest wine producing country in South America, Peru has a long and tumultuous history with winemaking but winemakers are seeing a renaissance in the industry."

Le Pan on the "supercilious sommelier." "You should say, “Listen, you patronizing squirt, I know you’re trying to shift the unsaleable Bordeaux 2011 that you had to take from your supplier in order to get a few bottles of Pétrus 2009." 

Tom Wark on building a wall around Napa. "My guess is that pretty soon the Nimby Contingent in Napa Valley will be calling on the county to build a wall of some sort to keep the wine lovers out of their back yard and they’ll tell us the tourists will pay for it…for that really tall wall."

The Wine Economist on restaurant wine prices. "The rule of thumb, for example, is that a glass of wine in a restaurant is priced at the wholesale price of the entire bottle — this strikes many diners as excessive."