October '17 wine writing

October raced by. It was filled with lots of wine, but not as much wine writing as I'd like to have gotten done. I have a backlog of both blog posts for this site and newspaper and online articles for clients that need to be written. Still I managed to get a few things done outside the few W&W blog posts from last month. Catch up with them:
So What the Heck is Blaufrankisch and Why Should New Jersey Care? (Courier Post) I interviewed Mike Beneduce from Beneduce Vineyards about his Blaufrankisch - the winery's signature grape that he believes could put the region on the global wine map.
The case for cork bottle stoppers (Mother Nature Network) The cork industry is reducing incidents of cork taint, but even more importantly, the cork forests are vitally important to the entire earth's ecosystem - using cork as a wine closure is as much a smart environmental move as it is a smart wine move. Contains interviews with both cork industry experts and winemakers.
What will the California wildfires mean for the wine harvest? (Mother Nature Network) A very early report on how the fires may affect the 2017 wines written while the fires were still raging (spoiler: Winemakers connected to the California Wine Institute said smoke taint won't be a factor in the 2017 wines.)
Wildfires devastate wineries, including a biodynamic pioneer (Mother Nature Network) Another early report while the fires were still strong, but Frey Vineyards, "America's first organic and biodynamic winery" had already had already confirmed their winery had burned down.
Help grow NJ's wine community at these fall events (Courier Post)