Turning wine-speak into comics and other food and drink news

This Sommelier Is Turning Wine-Speak into Comics - When it comes to restaurant lingo, nothing is more perplexing than somm-speak. ... Because descriptions like “loamy forest floor” can sound ridiculous to casual wine drinkers, MaryseChevriere—sommelier at Dominique Crenn’s Petit Crenn in San Francisco—decided to channel foofy wine slang into art. The result: Fresh Cut Garden Hose, an Instagram account that contains a series of cartoons inspired by the strangest of somm-speak.

freshcutgardenhose"A little sweaty sock never killed anyone." - Ryan Brazell@grassrootswine (via #delectableapp), Trousseau, Cuvée Les Berangères, Jacques Puffeney, 2012

Does ultraviolet radiation improve wine quality? - "We've found very strong correlation between the high UVB and the higher UVB after leaf removal and compounds called flavonoids and these flavonoids are produced by the plant to protect itself against the UVB, so it basically absorbs the UVB, but they are also very strong anti oxidants, so they're actually adding some clear benefit to the berry and indeed to the wine making process." - Lincoln University's Professor Brian Jordan

The Case for Bad Coffee "Maybe it all started a few months ago when I found myself paying $18 for a pound of what turned out to be so-so coffee beans from a new roaster in my neighborhood. It was one of those moments when I could actually imagine my cranky diner-coffee-swilling Irish grandfather rising from the grave and saying, "You know what, kid? You're an idiot."

A Seismic Shift in How People Eat - Consumers are walking away from America’s most iconic food brands. Big food manufacturers are reacting by cleaning up their ingredient labels, acquiring healthier brands and coming out with a prodigious array of new products. ... Food companies are moving in the right direction, but it won’t be enough to save them. If they are to survive changes in eating habits, they need a fundamental shift in their approach.

Intoxication: the business of wine and weed - So within a century, we see the failure of USA prohibition in killing two great satans: first, alcohol; now pot.

A Tasting of Chinese Wines - The group of five red wines I tried have no reason to apologize. They were all competently made and can stand with pride among the ranks of commercial wines produced and sold all over the world. What they lack is any sense of distinctiveness, or, to use a bit of wine jargon, terroir.