The last two week have been really wild in terms of FTLOP garnering media attention.

We’ve been spotlighted by a bunch of wine writers for several different publications on both sides of the Atlantic. When it rains it pours. Seemingly the press corps likes to focus on Port wine just before the holidays.

The first piece was an excellent brief on the trend towards niche wine websites and reviewers gaining relevance vs. the big wine magazines and old school “generalist” wine critics, (e.g., Robert Parker) featured in Slate.com which is a cool news/politics and lifestyle web-based magazine. Mike Steinberger is a fine writer but it’s hard to do justice for all writers out there who deserve a mention, in just one article. Due to my being in Cancun when we traded emails, some of my information wound up edited out, but almost any press is a net positive, read Slate's article on Hyperdirected Oenophiles.

Douglas Blyde, a savvy wine writer for the tony UK wine magazine, Harpers Wine & Spirits contacted me for information on a column he was writing on Port wine. He was very thorough and was looking to provide various opinions on the changing face of Port wine’s image and how it is currently going through a period of makeover. Douglas was meticulous and his level of fact checking was truly impressive. His article is detailed and will appeal to both novice Port drinkers as well as serious aficionados. The link here is for the entire magazine so you’ll have to scroll to pages 33 & 34.

And on December 1st in a fine article written by Eric Asimov of The New York Times, (Eric’s arguably the most influential newspaper wine writer in America today) he wrote a fine piece on Port wine entitled, Port Is a Welcome Guest at Cocktail Parties.

I received a quick follow up question for a piece that Eric mentioned he was going to include in his online NY Times Blog that appears in the Dining and Wine section. His entry, The Smoke Cleared Leaving Port Behind,  was kind of a follow up piece to the aforementioned article. It focuses more on why Port sales have been in decline over the past 10-14 years and I provided a few quotes that were included. It is a quick read but quite informative and I’ve always enjoyed reading Asimov’s work. Port “geeks” will love the stats in here!