Disqus - Latest Comments for ryanopaz

Re: Vinoble Sponsored Dessert Wine Tasting Friday Night

ryanopaz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:22:44 -0000

Not yet! :(

Re: DOC-DMC: Sunday Trip Sponsor to Setubal and Terras do Sado

ryanopaz — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:19:14 -0000

test

Re: Natural Wines: The Definition.

ryanopaz — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:11:24 -0000

As to Vermouth, I did recently try a vintage Vermouth, who's name escapes me, will do my research. One winery said their vermouth expressed the terroir, by using only native grapes to the region, native yeasts, and herbs found growing around those vines(not talking M&R here). This with the climate made it unique to it's own place.

This is definately a discussion for another thread, but I do believe vermouth, like Lambic's in the beer world express terroir, due to the native yeasts, climate influence and traditions. Each is influenced by terroir...though terroir tends to be quite a sacred word.

Just a point of curiosity is Terroir reservered only for wine? What about Cheese?

Again sorry for the topic drift...

Re: Natural Wines: The Definition.

ryanopaz — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:13:56 -0000

Well maybe I'm being a little difficult. :)

reisling, sugar, melange, I was just taking from your statement "It's a spirit and wine melange," and misunderstanding that this made it not natural.

I did think you meant that there were "more natural ports" so I missed "port is out". So Port is not natural. done.

Vermouth your right is a wine product, but there are plenty that are trying to express terroir. I have had plenty of winemakers tell me that the blend of local grapes and local herbs truly express the terroir of the region. Vintage no, but terroir yes.

As to the label, non-additive, with a hint of sulfur? Or a marketing play from the Coca-cola playbook: Wine 0?

Re: Natural Wines: The Definition.

ryanopaz — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:07:04 -0000

Fondillon is not fortified. So I guess it would be the most natural.

Alice you say it's Spirit and Wine melange. Is not Spirit created in a less natural way than sugar depending on the type of sugar used? Could not some German Rieslings be said to be Wine and Sugar melange?

Don't mean to be difficult but I really can't see why spirits get a pass, yet sugar does not? Or how about a vermouth getting a pass as a "natural" vermouth and yet there are plenty of woody plants added to the mix, somewhat like, if not exactly, woodchips? Maybe we should call "chipped" wines, vermouths? :)

Just curious, why not use a term like "Non-additive" wines? or something with more character "true wines"? Natural seems a bit loaded, when your dealing with degrees of "natural".

Re: Natural Wines: The Definition.

ryanopaz — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:58:15 -0000

hmm, ok, I guess I get it, but it seems that alcohol is also added for flavoring in a way and the reason it was originally added is because natural wines couldn't survive travel. They needed the booze to survive! :) Wouldn't a natural port producer go back to not adding the alcohol to make his wines more natural. Oh and yes I'm positive some Port producers are adding things, rarely tannins, but acidity for sure. Just interested in how acidity additions are different than brandy additions. They both are there to create a certain flavor(sweetness).

I think of Fondillons of Alicante, where they naturally reach 16+ degrees of alcohol without fortification and then are aged in a solera system, might be the perfect natural dessert wine(port/sherry style). All made from Monastrell, they seem to be a sort of "natural port/sherry" by your definition. If you haven't had any next time your in town we'll find a bottle or two!

Re: Natural Wines: The Definition.

ryanopaz — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:38:55 -0000

Alice, never got to ask you this: Are all fortified wines unnatural? I assume so, but since you prefer "natural wines" you must not like wines like Port? Or you just prefer not to drink them, since they are not "natural"? What about Vermouths? Mistela? Sherry? All wines that can't come close to your definition but in my opinion are beautiful expressions at times of their terroir...

Just forgot to ask you in NY, and now I want to know what your thinking is.

Re: New Study Adds Gravitas to Wine Bloggers

ryanopaz — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:31:12 -0000

Would be nice for them to look at the most up to date wine blog list: wineblogger.info with 1000wineblogs in multiple languages, and all (soon to be guaranteed) up to date within one month...we're currently vetting them.

Re: Beware of Wine Bloggers!

ryanopaz — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:18:08 -0000

Well said. Thank you for taking the time to show what a joke the "Steve Heimoff blog against blogs" has become. When will we see some posts(if there have been I wouldn't know...quit reading him) that point to the great things that wine bloggers are doing?

Re: EWBC Portuguese Wine Tasting in NYC: Drawing to Win a Free Trip to the Conference!

ryanopaz — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:09:55 -0000

Phil it was great to meet you too and we do hope to meet you in Lisbon in a few months! Cheers, and stay in touch

Re: EWBC Portuguese Wine Tasting in NYC: Drawing to Win a Free Trip to the Conference!

ryanopaz — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:09:00 -0000

Once you hear our adventure you'll know why we have not been that communicative...that saiid, the event was great, and everyone had a good time...Now to give people to assemble there thoughts before the posts start showing up.

Re: disqus failing across all my sites

ryanopaz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:11:28 -0000

had to delete all the plugins via FTP to get my sites to load. Glad I had the comments synced up

Re: Iberian Wine Myth Busting - Sulfites

ryanopaz — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:05:40 -0000

There are exceptions always. And as we state "Only a minimal, minimal number of people have been documented as allergic to sulfites. One study puts the number at just .25 % of the population" So if your in that .25 of the population you have a right to be concerned, and we never said that you are making it up. The real issue is that most people are not allergic to sulfites and if you work in wine retail you hear this complaint all the time from people who are happy to chomp down on smoked bacon(full of sulfites) without complaint and yet complain about them in wine!

We in no way are talking down to others, just trying to dispell the myth. In the end the leading causes of headaches in "most of the population" from drinking wine are caused either from the HIstamines, a very common problem, or from finishing the bottle!

Re: Commenting - A quick lesson in netiquette when entering the conversation

ryanopaz — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:28:28 -0000

Glad you liked the post! I appreciate it greatly!

Re: A Pitch for “Iberian Wines” - Not that Spain or Portugal will care to listen

ryanopaz — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:48:42 -0000

Your right there are good arguments for separation too, though a highbred of the two might be best in the end. Working together does not mean that you have to lose your unique identities, or at least I would argue that it shouldn't.

Also there is Touriga in Spain, lot's of people playing with it, here's one example: http://prgrisley.com/tag/touriga-nacional/

Re: Catavino’s Big News! We’re Headed to America! See you at the WBC!!!

ryanopaz — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:31:21 -0000

Iris, I would love to come, though will be unable to attend this year. Too much on our plates as of now! :( I hope though that you may be able to join us in Lisbon later this year. Cheers,

Re: FENAVIN 2009 - Reflections on 5 Wine Fair Cycles in Spain

ryanopaz — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:30:59 -0000

Jim, good points, but first...the Wifi if it was free was not easy to find or to stay connected to. So as the last FENAVIN and this one both made this hard to do, I have to say I was not impressed. It should be a priority to make it work, as opposed to an afterthought.

If the Catalog is online, then I'm sorry, but I didn't see it. When I go there now all I find is a list of exhibitors, with no contact info. So part of the Catalog is online, but not the useful part! :)

Now I agree there is value in these fairs, but I would say that fairs of this size are not worth the time. In the end using the web to do "pre-screenings" that would give you the visitor a chance to be more productive at the fair.

I think it needs to be a hybrid between online and offline so as to make the event more productive.

Re: Catavino Co-Hosts the London Wine and Food Blogger’s Meetup!

ryanopaz — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:34:18 -0000

mmmm, cheese Grommit! :)

Re: Extreme Horse Grooming - A Rapa Das Bestas: Another Addition to “Odd Spanish Festivals”

ryanopaz — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:26:59 -0000

Justine while I understand your concern, I have to say this is not that evil. More over while there are horses involved in this, and they happen to be beautiful mammals, the festival of throwing ants on your neighbors has not riled anyone up about "ant cruelty" or "ant farm rights".

How is roping cattle or breaking a horse to make it "ride-able" any worse? Yet those aren't(probably spoke too soon) protested over. They are pretty damn similar and probably linked to this tradition in some odd way.

Yes many traditions are archaic and inane, look at collecting eggs from a bunny, or dressing like a witch to beg for candy, while not harmful to animals(let's ask the bunny's ego), they do have their own issues. Should they end? Nah...their not killing anyone/thing, other than some chicken embryos!

In the end, no horses are harmed any more than if they were on a farm and forced to pull a plow and burden loads. Is it dumb to you, even me, yes. Is it really something to get upset about? I think not, there are bigger issues that should be dealt with first I think.

Oh and I have to say with all due respect PETA is the last group to be involved! This group actually is trying to get us to change the name of fish(yes the kind that swim) to "sea kittens" so that more people will not want to eat them? These people need their heads checked.
Proof: http://www.peta.org/sea_kittens/ I can't make this crap up!

Re: Robert Parker should be ashamed of himself…

ryanopaz — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:07:36 -0000

well said. Though I want to know about all the advertising that we bloggers take. Where? I'm sure there are some, but talk about bad fact checking, this is the one issue we can never seem to figure out. How to take money and remain independent.

Re: Proposals for Roundtables

ryanopaz — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:35:31 -0000

Carrie I think Per might not be, or rather I think we need to move beyond the idea of Winery sponsors. Why not a car company? A cell phone? or otherwise, who want to reach the audience that is "wine lovers" rather than a winery trying to reach consumers. Also larger bodies or wine generics might see sponsorship as a way to show wines that the blogger/writer can't get ahold of. In this way the money for ratings model is not quite as tricky though there may still be issues.

I do hope this can be one of the sessions at the conference. Wine bloggers would like to do more, but need to find a way to pay for it!

Re: A Week Exploring Lisbon in Preparation for the EWBC

ryanopaz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:01:07 -0000

You are correct dude! Dude isn't either! :)

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - My biggest news in Business in a long time - wish me luck

ryanopaz — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:55:07 -0000

Nice one gary!

Re: Zemanta adds over 500 wineblogger.info blogs

ryanopaz — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:40:10 -0000

Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me and I hope the community at large! Cheers,

Re: Announcing: 2009 European Wine Blogger Conference in Lisbon, Portugal!

ryanopaz — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:52:03 -0000

Andy it's in the works....just need to talk about how! :)