Saveur gets all geeky

Having been given a gift subscription to Saveur magazine last Xmas, I page through every new issue looking for the occasionally interesting article. Generally their wine coverage has been conventional and (to me) boring. This latest issue's wine centerfold, though, featured two Steve Edmunds wines (AHA Bebame and '09 Bone Jolly) as well as Donkey & A Goat, Peay, Littorai, Tablas Creek, Mayacamas and Copain, among others. Sensing a shift in coverage, I then paged backwards to find out who was doing their wine features these days, only to uncover an article on new trends in California winemaking by Jon Bonné (of the SF Chronicle), his first for Saveur. There's also a small feature by David Rosengarten. In any case, their wine coverage has suddenly become a lot more interesting to me.

Mark Lipton

Mark, sorry to be picayune and picky, but it's Jon, not John.

Also, it's prolly gonna get worse. I just wrapped up the Great American Distillers Convention (craft and artisanal distillers) and had the pleasure of meeting a very sharp writer named Rebecca (and don't have her last name on hand right now) who is working on some potential spirits articles for Saveur. Looks like they're gonna get even geekier, and in more ways.

Mark, sorry to be picayune and picky, but it's Jon, not John.

Also, it's prolly gonna get worse. I just wrapped up the Great American Distillers Convention (craft and artisanal distillers) and had the pleasure of meeting a very sharp writer named Rebecca (and don't have her last name on hand right now) who is working on some potential spirits articles for Saveur. Looks like they're gonna get even geekier, and in more ways.

Thanks, Hoke. Now fiX0red. If you hadn't brought that to my attention, I have few doubts that TomHill would have. It's interesting to see the shift in coverage occurring among mainstream wine writers, which I think reflects to an extent shifting attitudes among American wine drinkers, juxtaposed onto the recent churlish broadsides against "natural" wines from some big American wine critics.

Mark Lipton

Yeah, I'll admit TomHill is usually quicker about being picayune and picky than I am.

I think it has something to do with his age.

What I'm seeing right now---in food, in wine, in spirits, in beer---is that (I think innate) human drive to craft, rather than to produce.

And it's expressing itself as a duality. On one hand, there's the craft urge to perfect, or to go back to the past to resurrect, something that was perceived as good but that somehow got lost when craft became production/volume/profit. On the other hand, there's that desire to express creativity and to expand, to make something new, to take what is standard/old and make something new and exciting out of it.

Natural wine, orange wine, organic, biodynamic, micro-distilling, craft breweries, etc., etc., etc.----I believe they are all different manifestations of that.

Re the critics: no established establishment critic is ever going to appreciate someone taking the focus off him/her; that undercuts their self-generated prestige and breaks their rice bowl.

Actually, I let subscription lapse, but Saveur always periodically had some good wine coverage.
I've liked Jon Bonne before, even if I poked fun at his stupid best online retailer list.

I still subscribe, but for the food, not the wine

If we start getting some wine interest there, that will be a bonus.

Yeah, I'll admit TomHill is usually quicker about being picayune and picky than I am.
I think it has something to do with his age.

Harumph.....I am not pickyyouney in the least. I saw the JohnBonne and new exactly who Mark meant...so had no reason
to comment at all. And bringing up this "age" thing is...unsportmanlike conduct, IMHO!!
I've followed Saveur from the very start. The wine coverage has not been "boring" (and I should know "boring" if anyone does!!), but has simply been
a bit quotidian, not meant for us wine geeks, but just as sorta an aside to the food coverage....which I think is some of the best/most interesting
food articles around.
When I saw the wine article in this last issue, I immediately noted JonBonne's byline and thought "Ohhh...Saveur is upgrading their wine coverage".
The article was not that informative or new on my level, but I thought it was a very nicely done article by Jon (as almost all of his are) that would
educate the Saveur readership quite well. I'm hoping he'll be writing more articles for Saveur.
But....TomHill..picayune....now that hurts!!!
Tom