Tasting Notes
Your monthly newsletter from the team at SommSelect
Letter from the Editor February 2022, Volume 2
We prefer to focus on the romance of wine, the history of wine, the enjoyment of wine…but let’s face it, the price of wine is the topic on everyone’s mind these days. Nevertheless, let’s be clear: The price increases are not coming from the producer side. They’re coming from those who are enlisted to transport wine from Point A to Point B. Ocean freight shippers, as you’ll see in Where's My Wine? below, recorded record profits in 2021, thanks to major price increases across the board.
The importers and distributors we work with have been downright heroic in trying to hold the line on their wholesale pricing to us, but the dam has broken: Wine shipping costs have effectively doubled for most American importers. So yes, there’s no way that can’t flow through to us.
Which is all to say: Value-for-dollar is more important than ever. The first (and second, and third) consideration when we select a wine to feature on SommSelect is whether the wine over-delivers at its price point. We have plenty of “comps” for making such assessments. There’s no reason to panic: Not only is there NOT a wine shortage, there’s plenty of affordable deliciousness out there for us.
Stay Tuned!
Where's My Wine? Thanks to COVID, we’ve all become intimately familiar with the intricacies—and limitations—of global supply chains. Here’s some of what the wine industry has been going through.
Don’t be afraid to bounce around from white to red and back. Barbecue has no rules and neither should your wine drinking.
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Wine Word(s) of the Month: Whole-Cluster Would you like a side of stems with that? A sommelier explores how the inclusion of grape stems during fermentation affects the character of the finished wine.
My first deep dive into Pinot Noir was the summer of 2009, when I worked harvest for a storied estate in Burgundy with a winemaking history stretching back over 150 years...
A Wine Lover’s Guide to the Willamette Valley Portland-based sommelier and entrepreneur Chevonne Ball lends expert insight into one of the world’s new Pinot Noir capitals.
Home to over 700 hundred wineries producing some of the world’s best Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, and more — you'll want to put Williamette Valley on your list.
What to Drink With BBQ This isn’t just beer food, folks. Wine works just as well, if not better.
Don’t be afraid to bounce around from white to red and back. Barbecue has no rules and neither should your wine drinking.
Through the grapevine
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