The Atlantic on sommeliers who lick rocks to train their palates. "Cork dork” is the name given to the most obsessive sommeliers: the kind of oenophiles who lick rocks to train their palate, who refer to 10 a.m. tasting sessions as “tongue cardio,” and who can name not only the grape and region in which any given wine was produced but can also tell you the weather during the year it was grown."
The Post and Courier on how personal wine blending is seeing a boom. "Since the personal blending boom began, significance of varietal names has waned so dramatically that Cambridge Consultants in November introduced a device designed to “enable non-specialists to create their own bespoke wine blends ‘on the fly."
Decanter decodes tasting notes. "Tar may seem an unlikely substance to be evoked by wine, but as with notes of tobacco and petrol it can be an unusual source of pleasure."
Punch on Manzanilla sherry."Manzanilla is primarily characterized by the flavors it develops during the “biological aging” process, as it matures beneath a protective layer of yeast known as flor. "
Winefolly on the wines of Lazio. "During the last century, the major grapes, including Trebbiano and Malvasia, were overcropped to produce boring, sweet white wines. That is, until recently!"
