In lieu of our normal monthly newsletter, given our home base in Northern California, we at Charles Communications Associates, representing wineries from our own backyard and around the world, dedicate this missive to those affected by the Northern California fires of October 2017
The Napa Valley has recently taken a lot of heat – both literally, due to the serious temperature spike that hit the valley earlier this month, as well as figuratively from those who think the aberrant fluctuation spelled doom for the entire region’s harvest. The media has been eager to report this story, which we can all understand – what’s sexier than a potential climate change story about America’s most recognized wine region? Fortunately for the consumer, cooler heads prevail for those of us on the ground, and I wanted to share the perspective from someone who has been around the vineyard block.
Meet Faith Armstrong, the winemaker behind Onward and Farmstrong wines. As refreshing as the Pétillant Naturel she makes of Malvasia Bianca, many of the words used to describe Faith's wine could be used to describe the winemaker herself. Honest, vibrant, unfiltered, true to her origins, bright, complex.
The luxury of a fine hotel or the glamour of a prix fixe menu can often steal the show, but what about the people behind these indulgent fantasies that make dreams come to life? As effortless as the people in the hospitality industry make it seem, mountains of work go into creating that seamless experience. Charles Communications' own Anthony Salazar shares his lessons from working in this industry, and how they can be applied to all aspects of life.
The New Year's festivities may be over but exciting new trends in the world of wine are just beginning...to ring in 2017, the Charles Communications team takes a look at the up-and-coming wines and regions we look forward to most. Read on with All the Swirl!
San Francisco is a city that has always prided itself on its diversity, but as this city gets more expensive to live in diversity is on the decline, affecting not just the city's culture but it's cuisine. La Cocina aspires to alter the course this disquieting trend by empowering low-income food entrepreneurs to succeed in their culinary businesses. This week on All the Swirl, Charles Communications explores this innovative certified Green Business and nonprofit.
There are not many places in the Northern hemisphere that exude such gastronomic excitement this time of year as Piedmont, Italy. Bordered on three sides by the Italian Alps, Piedmont is true to the meaning of its name (“at the foot of the mountains”). And while some would spend their winters skiing these slopes, we here at CCA would rather taste our way toward the New Year…after all its not long before those 2017 resolutions go into motion. This week on All the Swirl join us for an insider’s tour of Piedmont, Italy’s food and wine mecca.
In his controversial article, The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race, Jared Diamond contends that agriculture has set humanity on a doomed path, blaming the invention of farming for the advent of social inequality, disease, despotism, and not least of all, the destruction of our planet. With the profusion of stories about food monopolies, contamination, GMO debates, and Monsanto’s evils in recent years, you might be tempted to agree. But can agriculture ever be inherently good? Not just an improvement upon the industrial model that has done so much damage, but an actual solution? Increasingly, agriculturalists, academics, and experts have hope that it can.
