jamie goode's wine blog

So, to continue our look at soils and vines, and the making of vines. In part 4, we are going to be focusing on vine roots.

Vine roots respond to the conditions of the soils they are growing in. First of all, a large permanent framework of roots is established, followed by a network of finer [...]

In parts 1 and 2 of this exploration of soils and wines, I looked at the issue of minerality. Do soils influence wines directly by means of root uptake of ‘minerals’ that find their way into the wine? Science suggests this is not the case, but there is a possibility that root mineral ion uptake [...]

So the International Wine Challenge has begun. As a panel chair, I’m signed up for all two weeks of judging. I really enjoy it, working with a different panel each day. You get to meet lots of new people, as well as a chance to catch up with old friends. And because of the feedback [...]

Minerality is, for me, one of the most interesting concepts in the world of wine.

‘Minerality’ is a really useful descriptor; many of us use it frequently in our tasting notes. Yet it’s also a term that means different things to different people. I know what I mean when I encounter some characteristic in a wine [...]

Just seen on Twitter: an extract from an e-mail received by a member of Chris Mitchell’s team at CUBE (a leading UK-based wine trade PR and events company), from a wine trade magazine advertising sales person:

We feel that one of the key functions of a PR agency is to gain earned editorial coverage for their client, [...]

Going back a few years, I used to include a lot more non-wine-related material in my blog. Truly unprofessional, I admit. But I think it’s important.

As a reader, I want to know where a writer is coming from. What is their context?

If I am going to follow their recommendations, it is almost like developing a [...]

I was asked a question by a journalist today:

Our readers want to live vicariously: What does a $30,000 bottle of wine taste like? Do wine experts appreciate them significantly more than, say, a $10,000 bottle of wine? If not, what exactly is one paying for at that level? Do ultra-expensive bottles of wine generally delight [...]

Is beauty intrinsic to a wine. Or is it a quality that is conferred upon the wine by the taster?

Think of people. What makes someone special, someone beautiful?

Isn’t it that the person is loved and cherished by someone else?

As long as one person:

- finds you beautiful,
- is prepared to cherish you,
- is devoted to you,

then [...]

A plug for a new wine magazine. Titled Noble Rot, it’s a bit counter-cultural and edgy (without being pretentious), with a good dollop of food and popular culture thrown in. It’s about telling compelling stories. It’s a million miles away from the glitzy hell and mind-warping, shallow, dull content of most glossy wine magazines.

You can [...]