? Wine blogger awards: The finalists for the 2011 awards, which honor the best U.S. wine blogging, have been announced. The great Randall Grahm has been nominated in two categories — best writing and winery blog, while a couple of pals of regional wine have also been nominated — Lenn Thompson at New York Cork Report and Virginia's Swirl, Sip, Snark. Given the Napa-centric, industry-dominated focus of most of the finalists, the last two are huge surprises. Either is a deserving winner. And Grahm? They should just give him the best writing honor and then retire the award.
? Hogue goes screwcap: Yet another major winery has given up on corks. Hogue Cellars in Washington state, owned by multi-national Constellation Brands, will move all of its wines, including high-end reds, to screwcaps. Said Hogue's director of winemaking: "[T]his study shows that wines aged under the right screwcap closure over five years were better preserved, aged well and were deemed the highest quality." This is huge news, given that the biggest wine producers are often the most reluctant to give up on corks. No word yet on whether the cork producers have made a snarky video that says that guys who buy Hogue wines have bad breath, pimples and no luck with girls.
? The African wine business: Mike Veseth at the Wine Economist blog reports from the annual meeting of the American Association of Wine Economists. One topic? The future of the African wine business: "South Africa ?s markets of the future are Africa and India (not Britain and the U.S.) as wine consumption rises in these regions andfavorable wine market reforms are implemented (a particular problem in India, I believe, but probably in many parts of Africa, too). Wine markets shifting to Shanghai? That ?s interesting. To Nairobi? That ?s very interesting!" I wonder how the Wine Magazines would deal with that?
South African red wine has always baffled the Wine Curmudgeon. Its shiraz is often little more than an Australian knockoff, and its signature grape,