Mike Veseth's Blog, page 4

Cru Cerrati and Ruchè: Piemonte Wine’s Past, Present, & Future

What do you remember about the hit 1985 film “Back to the Future”? Doc? Marty? The “Chuck Berry” scene? How could you forget that time-traveling DeLorean sports car?

I don’t know if anyone thinks much about the film’s deeper messages anymore, but the idea that the future is somehow buried in the past is a theme that has long been of interest. It shows up in wine in various guises. Here are two “Back to the Future” stories from the Piemonte region of Northern Italy.

The Return of Cerrati in the L...

Non-Alcoholic Wine: Three Questions

Sue and I continue exploring the world of non-alcoholic (or alcohol-removed) wines. NA wine is one of the few growing categories of wine (if it is wine — see below), so it makes sense to see what’s going on. That’s especially true since NA beer and spirits are booming, too. Here is our report, which examines NA wine from three perspectives.

On Trade: What Does an NA Wine Bar Look Like?

It has become easy to order non-alcoholic beer at a bar or restaurant — there is almost always at least one NA ...

2025: Wine & the Age of Uncertainty

The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, North America’s largest wine industry meeting and trade show, is only a few weeks away. I will be in Sacramento to moderate the State of the Industry session, which features an impressive lineup of wine industry experts:

Jeff Bitter, Allied Grape GrowersGlenn Proctor, The Ciatti CompanyStephen Rannekleiv, RabobankDanny Brager, Brager Beverage Alcohol Consulting

The panelists have decades of experience in the wine industry, which informs their analysis of ...

Shattering Stereotypes: High-Elevation California Wines

Stereotypes are powerful things because they shape the way we perceive reality even when we know they differ from what we see with our own eyes. That was the message of Saul Steinberg’s famous 1976 New Yorker magazine cover, “The View of the World from 9th Avenue.” It is important to have occasional attitude checks to make sure that stereotypes and prejudices haven’t seized control.

It is pretty easy to stereotype California wines. The Saul Steinburg picture (you might call it “The View from Hig...

What Are Your Holiday Wines This Year?

The Wine Economist will pause for a few days and return in early 2025. Sue and I wish all our reader friends a warm holiday season and a bright new year.

Sue is curious about what wines you are serving for the holidays. Are you willing to share your selections — or those you are considering — in the Comments section below? We are always looking for good ideas!

We haven’t finalized our choices yet, but some will be Italian wines to pair with Brodetto on Christmas Eve and Tagliatelle al Ragù on C...

Understudy to Center Stage: The Unexpected Rise of Cabernet Franc

Wine made from Cabernet Franc is generally paler, lighter, crisper, softer, and more obviously aromatic than that of its progeny, Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is how the authors of Wine Grapes, my standard reference, describe Cabernet Franc. Sounds great, doesn’t it? So it is a bit of a surprise that Cabernet Franc’s place in French wine is relatively limited.

France: Two Faces of Cab Franc

Cabernet Franc is the headline red wine grape in the Loire Valley, but in Bordeaux (and most other places) it...

From Sharecroppers to Superstars: Family Wineries in Italy

The arc of the Italian wine industry bends towards quality in the 21st century, something that has become increasingly clear to Sue and me as we have visited many of Italy’s important wine regions in recent years.

Quality has not always been Italian wine’s guiding star, however. Piero Antinori’s 2014 book The Hills of Chianti traces the 20th-century transformation of Italian wine from quantity to quality that continues today. The role of forward-thinking family wineries and their intense focus o...

100 Years of Wine Industry Ups & Downs: Highlights of the OIV Centennial Report

The International Organization of Wine & Vine (OIV) is  celebrating its 100th year in 2024. I like to think of the OIV as the United Nations of the wine world although its purpose is scientific and technical, not political. Membership includes most of the world’s most important wine-producing nations with the noteworthy exception of the United States.

To mark its first one hundred years, the OIV  released a report last week on 100 years of evolution of the global wine and vine sector. The report...

Wine Book Reviews: Luxury in Italy, Hunger & Thirst in Minneapolis

Reviews of two books that provide very different lessons about wine today.

Enrico Bernardo, Wine & Travel Italy (Assouline, 2024).

And now for something completely different. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Pascaline Lepeltier’s new book, One Thousand Vines. It is a big, beautiful book that is really about thinking (and maybe sometimes almost overthinking) the idea of wine. It is challenging and exciting and I recommend it highly.

This week’s first book is almost but not completely different...

NA Wine & the Second Glass Test: Bolle Bubbles, LVMH’s Bet, South African Spritz

“LVMH Bets on Booze-Free Bubbles at $100-Plus a Bottle” was the Wall Street Journal headline. The story, which you may have read when it came out last month, is that luxury goods conglomerate LVMH was buying a 30 percent stake in a (luxury) non-alcoholic wine start-up called French Bloom. The new NA wine boasts both good DNA (one of the founders and the winemaker are members of the Taittinger Champagne clan) and a bold business plan. The WSJ reports that

The brand sells bottles of sparkling whit...