Steven Spurrier, The Wine Media Guild, and Ravenswood

On June 13th, Steven Spurrier will be inducted into the Wine Media Guild’s Hall of Fame, Decanter.com reported. I’ve been a member of Guild for several years now, and currently serve as membership chair, and it’s an honor to be able to include Mr. Spurrier in a group of colleagues who have been inducted in the past, including Jancis Robinson, Michael Broadbent, and many more professionals who have changed the way we all drink and consider wine.

The ceremony itself will take place during a gala dinner at New York’s Four Seasons, an event I’ll be reporting on in the days following it. If it’s anything like last year, the tasting notes I post here could range from wines that are merely great all the way to the kind of legendary bottlings that most of us have only read about before.

Also, click over to John Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet. I have a piece in the current issue on the fantastic single-vineyard zinfandels of Ravenswood. If you’ve never tasted them before, I can’t recommend them highly enough: They have the potential to change what you think American’s great grape is capable of.

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The Broadbent Connection

Two weeks ago, at the Wine Media Guild’s annual dinner in New York, Bartholomew Broadbent spoke on behalf of his legendary father Michael Broadbent on the occasion of his induction to the Guild’s Hall of Fame. He recently posted video of his speech on the Broadbent Selections Facebook page, and it’s well worth watching: The speech displays all the intelligence, wit, and charm that have made the Broadbent family such an important one in the world of wine, from Michael’s role at Christie’s and as an esteemed writer and critic, to Bartholomew’s as the head of one of the most exciting wine importing firms in the world.

The video is linked up right here. Pay particular attention to Bartholomew’s description of his father’s tendency to not drink: If this is a teetotaling lifestyle, then it’s one that we all should aspire to.

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