Wine 101: Multimedia Fun!

Hot on the heels of Sarah Machielsen’s post here last week on wine podcasts, I thought I'd share some wine-related multimedia goodness that’s been front and centre for me lately. In short, wine stuff I’m diggin’ right now, and I hope you’ll like ‘em, too.

Noble Rot Magazine

This quarterly U.K. magazine is onto its seventh issue right now, and I’m thinking it’ll be around for a long time if co-founders Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew keep up the great work. Finding the majority of global wine magazines glossy bores, the pair created a stunning mag that mixes wine, food, music, and culture via long reads that resonate. Think the Lucky Peach of wine magazines. A couple examples of content from the latest issue you can read online right now, Ode to Perfume shares a conversation and tasting with Brian Eno, while The Condemned Man Ate a Hearty Meal asks wine luminaries like Jancis Robinson and Kermit Lynch along with celebrities like Keira Knightley what their last supper would entail. While the physical magazine has great design and branding, it can be a little tough to find on our shores. Fortunately, Noble Rot is available for download on your iPhone or iPad via the iTunes store right here.

Intoxicology Report

Chris Kassel’s Intoxicology Report wine blog has a subheading that reads, “All the Lafite and twice the street,” which pretty much sets the tone for his casual and punchy writing. Whether referring to a recent wine scandal as “Montréal, Mounties, Mohawks, Mafiosi and Malbec…,” or riffing on “Sultanas, White Chocolate, Eminem and Beaujolais Blanc,” think of the guy’s humour, savviness and political commentary as a mash-up of Hunter S. Thompson and David Sedaris. Fun, fun stuff.

Chateau Chunder: A Wine Revolution

I don’t know how this 2012 documentary slipped past me, but I’ve only recently heard rumblings about its hilarious and spot-on take of Australia’s wine industry coming of age. It’s aired on television in both Australia and the U.K., but I’ve yet to find a way to access or purchase it here in Canada. If any of you are a better detective than I am, let me know!

Scratched Vinyl, Red Wine

Simply put – it’s a wicked Spotify playlist for drinking wine to when amongst friends and cheer. Created for Justine’s Brasserie, a French restaurant in Austin, any playlist that can seamlessly mix Neil Young, Peaches, and Miles Davis is all right in my books.

As for coming attractions, I’m also quite looking forward to the fourth edition of Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine, and the first book from the innovative crew behind Wine Folly, both hitting store shelves this fall!

I hope you enjoy clicking around some of this fodder with a glass of something good in hand!