Getting Crafty With Cork
Cork; natural, sustainable and perfect for crafts. If you drink a lot of wine, chances are you have a lot of cork stoppers lying around. It can be a shame to throw them away when so many crafty and creative ideas are out there. At the minimum you can throw them in a big bowl for decoration. If you’re like me, that bowl can fill up pretty quick. Pretty soon you have giant bowls of cork as “decoration” in every room. What now? Last month I wrote about creative uses for wine bottles and planned this tandem piece for corks. […]
Are Washington Wines Coming of Age?
“The perfect climate for wine.” This is the claim of the Washington State Wine Commission. Just because you say it, does that mean it’s true? Is this statement akin to the little engine puffing, “I think I can, I think I can?” Hot on the heels of being adorned with Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator, Winemaker of the Year by Wine & Spirits, hosting the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference, Washington is finding itself in an identity crisis. While many in the press are raving about wine quality, varietal diversity, and value, it still seems that the general public […]
Squeezing the Juice out of Progress
Part rant, part plea, part observation, this is the story of a region on the verge of growth. Some live in fear of the invasion of the white man like Marcus Whitman and the Cayuse Indians. Others are clinging to ideals that strangle progress and still others are embracing the potential of the region with open arms. Spokane, just 3 hours north of Walla Walla and 2 hours from the heart of Columbia Valley is poised to become a wine tasting destination. Currently with 17 wineries to serve the population base of 500,000 in Spokane County (and another 150,000 in North […]
Nectar Monthly Honors for July
July started by coming down off the high of the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference. With June being a stellar month in traffic, business adventures, and local media attention, I figured July would be a small let down. Boy was I wrong. July saw some major milestones and goals for DrinkNectar. We surpassed 3000 fans on Facebook and on Twitter and achieved 10,000 page views for the first time. One post hit the magical 1000 view milestone (see below). I also made some significant steps in laying the foundation for what will hopefully be a new business in the Fall. Photographers […]
What Makes a Good Wine List? Size Doesn’t Matter
I recently visited the two lone Spokane restaurants that received a nod in the 2010 Wine Spectator “Restaurant Wine List Awards.” As I perused the lists, it got me thinking, “What makes a good wine list?” I refuse to pay for wine rags subscriptions like Spectator and Enthusiast when good information is available for free, so I went Googling (sort of like fishing but for information). After a few casts of the line, I pulled back some very interesting insights. I added my own ideas to compile my thoughts on what makes a good restaurant wine list. If you’re looking […]