Screaming Eagle (logo to left) is a good example of what is commonly called a "cult" wine. Cult wines are made in minuscule quantities and sold at very high prices to a select mailing list of people with very high disposable incomes (or who are investing with no intent to drink). There are probably one or two dozen California wines that can truly be called "cult" wines. Although scarcity and exclusivity play a part in their mystique, there's no doubt that in order to become a cult wine the product ... [»]

In the recent article What Is Ultra-Premium Wine I tried to clarify what an ultra-premium wine is, but didn't go into detail about how to make one. Since you're interested in ultra-premium wine, I thought you might like to know a little more about such wines are made. I'll concentrate on Napa Valley and ... [»]

We talk a lot about "Ultra-Premium" Cabernet Sauvignon. What exactly does the term "Ultra Premium" mean? It's used in at least two different, but related, ways: A wine market segment A wine quality description Let's look at each usage, and see if we can come to ... [»]

There is an unfortunate tendency in the media to latch onto a word and use it as a code word for a trendy topic. The result is that the word loses its original (perhaps useful) meaning. In the wine world, this seems to be happening with the word "value". And this phenomenon has been going on for ... [»]