CHARLES PHAN SOLIDIFIED THE ASIAN CUISINE & WINE PARADIGM
He Elevated the Genre from Under a Xenophobic Trope
BY ALAN GOLDFARB
Jan. 30, 2025
Much has been written about the death of restaurateur/chef Charles Phan. Deservedly so. He is the one responsible for elevating Asian cooking in the Bay Area and by extension, putting a dent into the racist notion that Vietnamese, Chinese, Burmese, Thai and Korean restaurant food should be inexpensive. Phan, with his Slanted Door put that shibboleth to the middle of mind because his food and service were without doubt, worthy of world-class status. Furthermore, and more germane to the readers of these pages, he showed that Asian food and wine should have affinity just as tea, sake, baijiu and soju have been for millennia.
DAVE MCINTYRE MAY BE GONE FROM WaPo BUT HE’LL WRITE ON
No Heavy Bottles and Honest Wine Reportage Will Prevail
By ALAN GOLDFARB
January 20, 2025
Dave McIntyre, the longtime wine columnist might be gone from the Washington Post, but his words and thoughts as a living, breathing thing – as with wine itself – will continue to be written.
I spoke to Dave recently. I thought it would be a rare opportunity – in light of the raison d’être in this space, which is to try and explain media relations – to find out what it was(is) like to be the recipient of PR pitches from the world of flackery. That’s because we publicist-types work in a vacuum, without much guidance or collegial interaction. In all these years, I’ve never really known if what I’m attempting to do to serve my clients well, if I’m going about it with certitude.
WILL WINE BE DUMPED LIKE AN OLD MAN INTO A TRASHCAN?
Apparently Wine is Not RTD
BY ALAN GOLDFARB
Sept. 20, 2024
The following thoughts are running though my brain as if in a pinball machine, whose theme is, Is It Really All Over Now, Baby Blue? That’s because I just finished reading my friend Tom Wark’s Fermentation discussion with the perceptive and studied journalist Erica Duecy, in which she pretty much sealed the deal on everything that we know about wine, is wrong. According to most of the trend-setting Gens of the last 20 years.
In summation, Duecy proclaims boldly and perhaps correctly, “Wine is in trouble, especially with younger audiences.” And wine is lacking sales points that Ready To Drink boast: “User-friendly formats, better price points, and a wider range of flavors.”
WILL WHINY BABY LEAD GEN Z TO WINE UP?
Or is it Yet Another Iteration of Mateus?
BY ALAN GOLDFARB
Sept. 10, 2024
Whenever my grandkids – ages 13/10 – utter something sweet or funny that I think is nevertheless naive, silly, or just plain unclear on the concept, I try and catch myself up. “Did I say things like that when I was their age?” Or, “Was I that naïve and/or was the nuance so elusive that I simply didn’t get it? Likely. Probably. Yes, sure.
Therefore, I introduce this column from my lofty position of age/experience. Subhead: I know everything. Which makes me a Maven or One who thinks he knows everything. Everything there is to know about wine, that is. Likely? Probably? Not a chance.
THE TASTING OF ‘25
Tales from a Speakeasy Somewhere in What Was Once Par-Adise
BY ALAN GOLDFARB
Aug. 19, 2024
“This must be the place. They said the entrance to the cave was behind this forest of huge empty stainless steel fermenters. It’s dark as a back alley on West 45th Street. I have my phone flashlight.”
“Here it is; see that slot on the door?”
“I’m knocking three times, holding for two seconds and then knocking twice.”
“Carlton sent me.”