@RodPhillipsWine

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Welcome to #SommChat everyone! Tell your friends to join us to learn from Wine #Author, #Historian and #Judge Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine!

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: We’d like to introduce you to @rodphillipswine #SommChat

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: We're about ready to dive in w/questions, so shout out to Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine to say hello & so he knows you're here! #WineWednesday #SommChat

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Don't forget that EVERY tweet during this chat should include the #SommChat hashtag in order for everyone to see it!

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: As we ask @rodphillipswine our Qs, you can ask Rod Phillips your Qs as well! He'll do his best to answer all Qs in the order they come #SommChat

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: W so many participants lots of gr8 Q's R asked! Even if u dont ask 1--give a S/O 2 @keepercoll & @rodphillipswine 2 let us know u R here! #SommChat

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Let's start talking #wine with @rodphillipswine #WineWednesday #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: Hi, Rod Phillips here and looking forward to #sommchat!

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine How did #wine spark an interest with you? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat When I was a teenager in New Zealand, I started buying wines because the labels looked like stamps. And I was a collector. Then I learned to love the contents!

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine Have you always wanted to be an #author and the subject #wine or do other areas interest you in your writing? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I started as a historian of the family and wrote several books on the history of marriage and divorce. Then an ex-wife (!) suggested I write a history of wine. It changed my life.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine How has the #wine scene changed in #NewZealand since you lived there? Who are some fav producers from the area?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I grew up in the 1950s and 60s and the wines were terrible. The only drinkable wines were fortified. Things started to change in the 80s and the rest is history. I'm a big fan of pinots from Central Otago.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: .@rodphillipswine, you have traveled to #US, #France, #Italy, #NewZealand & #Chile to judge #wine competitions. What makes @texsomiwa unique? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I really like the collegiality at TexSom and the vast range of wines. Last time I tasted wines from US states I'd never had wines from, as well as well-known international regions. The judges are easy to work with.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine What year did you write your Book A Short History of Wine? Can you share 2-3 great #wine historical items from the Book? what would you add since writing it if you could? #SommChat #Somm

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I wrote the book in the late 990s and it came out in the UK in 2000 and the US in 2001 and 7 foreign-language editions. I just published an updated version titled 9000 Years of Wine (2017) that brings things up to date....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat As for stories, I like to get into the local stuff. There's great material from France under German occupation, for example, and I used the records of the vignerons of Monthelie to show how they reacted.....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat But on the broader front there was a stand-off between the Iranian and French governments in 1998 on whether wine could be served at a state dinner.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine Can you tell us more about the annual #best-seller The 500 Best-Value #Wines in the LCBO? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I wrote this from 2008 to 2017 to help consumers find wines in the Ontario monopoly (LCBO) I'm now doing a wine guide (out in October) that will ID best wines in Canada more generally -- Can and int'l wines

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine can you share your thoughts on the current #wine market in #Canada as it relates to #winemaking #sales #growth etc? What #wine varietals do U think grow best there?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat As for stories, I like to get into the local stuff. There's great material from France under German occupation, for example, and I used the records of the vignerons of Monthelie to show how they reacted.....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Canada's a big country and no answer fits all. Geberally wine sales are robust and consumption is growing slowly: more in Quebec and British Columbia than Ontario and other provinces....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat As for varieties. In Ontario riesling, chard, pinot, cab franc, gamay. In British Columbia: chard, pinot gris, syrah. In Quebec and the east there are a lot of hybrids because of the cold climate.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm does your updated book have everything in 1st version + current updates and where can ppl buy the book in the #US? @rodphillipswine

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: Yes, it's updated with new material added to the original, plus a new chapter on changes since the late 90s. I think it's available on amazon.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine What advice would you give to someone who is interested in the #wine writing? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: Don't drink too much wine while you're writing. It really doesn't make you more creative. More seriously, taste, taste, and taste, and try to find a niche you're really comfortable with. It's difficult to establish yourself as a generalist.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine can you share UR thoughts on the current #wine market in #Canada as it relates to #winemaking #sales #growth etc? What #wine varietals do U think grow best there?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Canada's a big country and no answer fits all. Geberally wine sales are robust and consumption is growing slowly: more in Quebec and British Columbia than Ontario and other provinces....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat As for varieties. In Ontario riesling, chard, pinot, cab franc, gamay. In British Columbia: chard, pinot gris, syrah. In Quebec and the east there are a lot of hybrids because of the cold climate.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine Based upon your knowledge of #wine history, are there any #wine trends you expect to see in the next 5 years?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat So you want me to be a futurist as well as a historian. Historians only predict the future when it's past. Let's put it this way: I'm writing a book on cabernet franc because I think it's starting to be recognized as making fabulous varietal wines around the world

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine Is there a historical change in #wines that surprises you?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I've never understood how amphoras were abandoned some quickly in favour of barrels a couple of thousand years ago. It was a sudden and complete shift in technology that still surprises me....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat And speaking f barrels... wine was fermented, stored and shipped in barrels for centuries so all wine was barrel-aged (even if inert). I'm trying to find out when barrels were first used to create wine styles.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine What courses do you teach as a #professor at Carleton University @Carleton_U? When did you know you wanted to become a professor? how are you able to do this w/ all of your #travels? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I teach courses on the history of alcohol, history of food, and French history, esp,. the Revolution. I'm not sure I ever decided to become a professor. It seemed the next thing to do after my PhD -- that was the good days in the 70s when there were academic jobs.....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat As for travelling, I travel most outside semester -- summer, breaks, etc. This year I'm on leave in the Fall as I'm travelling to many places in search of cabernet franc: NY, CA, VA, Australia, S. Africa, Arg., Chile, Italy, France, Croatia, Hungary, etc.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine You have traveled many times to #wineries in #France. Is there an aspect of French #wineries that stick out to you versus other #wine areas? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat French wine regions vary so much, it's hard to generalize. But I find they often more reserved about terroir than many New World wineries. Some regions are hard to get into, others are very welcoming. Otherwise the same sort of range as elsewhere.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Welcome @i_on_food_drink to #SommChat today @rodphillipswine is rocking it!

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine do you write about the history of other #alcohols besides #wine and if so is it historical #writing as well?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I did write book Alcohol: A History (2014) that covers beer and spirits as well as wine. But my emphasis is wine. In the intro to my latest book (Wine: A social and cultural history of the drink that changed our lives, 2018) I tell a story.....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat a story that explains why I don't write about beer. Too long to recount here, :-(

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine Is there an #wine area in the world that you have not traveled that is on your list and if so why is it on your list?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat China. Probably for obvious reasons because it's going to be such an important region with important wines. Other than that I'd like to go back into eastern Europe more often: Bulgaria, Moldova, etc.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm Do any of your books discuss thoughts on changes in climate in #wine regions & the effects on #winemaking and can you share any thoughts you have on this subject @rodphillipswine ?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Climate change is obviously going to be huge in many places. So many regions I visit I'm told that harvest in 1, 2, 3 weeks earlier than 10, 20, 30 years ago. It will bring some marginal regions into regular production and force changes in varieties in many....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Climate change is fascinating to plot, but I'd rather not be able to. Then again, there have been big climate shifts in the past -- around 1000 and the early 1800s.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out in the #wine industry and wants to learn about #wine through reading - so many choices?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Good question! Obviously you start with my books.... joking! I always start with the most general works and narrow down. A book like The Wine Bible covers a lot of ground, and Jancis Robinson's Companion is a great reference work.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine We read you write weekly for @OttawaCitizen, the capital’s main daily newspaper. What do you write about the most or does it change from time to time? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I've now stopped writing for the Ottawa Citizen, but it was a good gig and let me write something about a lot of things. Sometimes it was trips I'd done, sometimes on particular wine styles, sometimes just wine things I wanted to get off my chest.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine How did #wine become the main interest for your writing? besides that and #alcohol is there anything you cover?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Wine history combines my two passions, wine and history. But I still work on the history of the family, and I'm editing a book on the history of food in Europe. When I travel for wine, I sometimes do some travel writing. But it's mostly wine.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm do you have regional #wine preferences for UR daily drinking? For Judging, how do you keep your palate fresh - what is UR max #wines per day @rodphillipswine ?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I get a lot of wine sent to me, deliveries 3-4 times a week. So I'm surrounded by wine (I can see about 20 cases right now) and I pick my daily drinking from there and write them up. I'm really flexible but I like fresh wines, red, white, or rose'.....

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat For judging, I've done up to 120 wines a day, but I prefer to stop at about 80. I swish a little water, some bread/crackers or sometimes rare beef/celery, depending what's on offer.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine What are some of your “go-to” #wines right now and why? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Right now I'm tasting/drinking cabernet franc as I'm working on a book. You know, mixing work and pleasure. But I like gamay, dolcetto for reds, albarino, muscadet, rieslings for whites. Fresh and acidic does it for me.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm have you ever had a problem with passport entry into a country with all of your travels @rodphillipswine ? How do you deal with #travel fatigue & what R best travel preps?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat No, I've never had a problem getting into any country. I'm pragmatic about fatigue. I go to sleep when I'm tired if I can (not always possible in flight). I don't have any strategy and I don't take anything to deal with jet-lag.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Q fr #SommChat #Somm @rodphillipswine what hurdles does

someone wanting to send you wine from outside of #Canada have to face?

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine : #sommchat BIG hurdles. In principle you can't send wine to anyone in Canada unless they have a license, like a wine agency. People do send me wine and some of it arrives and some is sent back. It's a matter of luck. It helps if it's labeled "glass" instead of "wine"

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: @rodphillipswine please share some of your most memorable #wine & #food pairings? #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat I'm not big on pairing, which I think is too overdone these days. But I had a great Baga with white fish at a Portuguese resto once. Completely counterintuitive.

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Just learned from @rodphillipswine that @texsomiwa offers rare #beef for helping Judges with Palate Fatigue and said this is the only #wine competition that has this:) @winejames can you share why this helps? #SommChat

KeeperCollection @keepercoll: Time to wrap up! Hope you enjoyed this hour of #wine talk with @rodphillipswine #WineWednesday #SommChat

Rod Phillips @rodphillipswine: #sommchat Wow! This hour has flown. Great to chat with you all. Happy tasting and drinking! And thanks for having me, #sommchat