http://squinn.org A collection of scribbles from a writer and journalism educator Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:35:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Urbanization has created a vast group of Chinese people interested in wine. About 200 million Chinese consider wine part of their lifestyle, and their palates are becoming more sophisticated. Australian winemakers are keen to break the French stranglehold on what is potentially a huge market. Late last month, almost 600 Chinese staff ... http://squinn.org/?p=205 Box Stallion is one of the prettiest and most unusual vineyards on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula region. It has probably the widest range of wine varieties in the region, and all of the wines suit Chinese food. Indeed, Box Stallion has been selling wines into China since 2005 and the company has ... http://squinn.org/?p=202 The oldest and best wine region in South Africa is around Stellenbosch, a short drive from Cape Town on the country’s southern coast. Vines have been grown there since the late 17th century. High mountains produce a micro-climate that is three to four degrees warmer in summer and a similar number ... http://squinn.org/?p=199 July is a magic month in the world-famous Coonawarra region in South Australia. It is mid winter and tourists generally avoid the region because of the cold. To entice visitors, the region’s vineyards make available their museum wines. Museum releases are older vintages that the vineyard has kept because the winemaker ... http://squinn.org/?p=197 This week we continue our journey around the three sub-regions that make up the Geelong wine region. Compared with the 200 vineyards on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, the Geelong region only has 40. Most are family owned and concentrate on producing quality wines that reflect the region’s “terroir”. Terroir is ... http://squinn.org/?p=195 The Geelong region in Victoria is home to some of Australia’s best cool-climate wines. It is the left-hand side of Australia’s famous u-shaped arc of pinot perfection. People from China visiting the region will probably arrive via Tullamarine airport, north of Victoria’s capital, Melbourne. The ideal way to reach Geelong involves ... http://squinn.org/?p=193 A previous column about the delights of New Zealand pinot noir prompted spirited responses from Australian winemakers about the high calibre of their pinots. Australia produces a wide range of pinots. Most of the best are grown in a u-shaped arc that runs through Victoria, the south-western state, and the island ... http://squinn.org/?p=191 Wine consumption in mainland China is tiny by world standards, at about half a glass per person per year. In Australia, where I live, average wine consumption is about 80 glasses a year. Australia makes good pinot noir. But pinot noir from New Zealand’s Central Otago region has been receiving much ... http://squinn.org/?p=189 Wine is often associated with love. We give wine to friends to mark the Chinese new year. Love and wine brought Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen together. They met in Australia while making wine for rival vineyards in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Sarah-Kate, a New Zealander, convinced Dan, ... http://squinn.org/?p=187 Cambodian Club of Journalists, Phnom Penh 19 June 2010 This course will look at Using blogs for research and finding story ideas RSS feeds for better journalism Skype and CallRecorder Mobile journalism (mojo) Micro-blogging and using Twitter (TweetDeck) for journalism Visual reporting: Panoramas, Wordle and Soundslides Web 2.0 tools for reporting Assessing information quality Bio of the teacher Stephen Quinn was a ... http://squinn.org/?p=181