Good Guys, No. 2

I’ve always admired wine people for managing to do good without being do-gooders, for which reason, Thirsty Reader, your correspondent will recognize them here from time to time. Such acknowledg-ment is not to be construed as beatification nor is neglect anything more than ill-chance—the doings, if you will, of the Murphya, that mysterious organ-ization whose [...]

Robo-Wine and Can-Can

NEW YORK DITHERS PENNSYLVANIA STEALS A MARCH
Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board has installed experimental vending machines in a Wegmans in Mechanicsburg and a Giant in Harrisburg, and could approve nearly 100 more this year.
Created at Prohibition’s end, the LCB was intended by then-Gov. Gifford Pinchot to ‘discourage the purchase [...]

Zut Alors! Etc. Ad Nauseam

Historically, no one is half so good at clobbering the French as the French themselves. Only recall the Terror and the Paris Commune—or the current pummeling of and in the wine sector.
France is beset by an outbreak of Puritanism, of all things. Health loons want the government to treat wine treated as if it [...]

Price Cuts? Anecdotal Evidence, and an Anecdote

 
Who’d have thought we’d ever see Pahlmeyer Chardonnay hawked at 40% off? Yes, some other California Cult wines have seen cuts already, but Pahlmeyer was still a bit of a shock. Yet there it was in my newsletter from Grapevine Cottage: the 2007 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay, $41.99 a bottle (under $38 with the 10% case discount). [...]

Glorious 4th, Fabled 14th

A festive month, July. It is the National Month of Baked Beans, Blueberries, Hot Dogs, Ice Cream and Picnics. Moreover, it embraces many an excellent National Day. Cow Appreciation Day, for example (I appreciate cow best when it’s plated), and official Days for Fried Chicken, Lasagna, French (and maybe even Freedom) Fries, Sugar Cookies, Cheesecake, [...]

Wine Is a Woman, They Say

‘Literature,’ Ezra Pound said, “is news that stays news.” It looks as if the Gulf Spill will stay news for quite some time, so here’s a headline that’s good news:
BOTTLED BOMBSHELL RELEASED TO FRANTIC FANS
Which is only to say that on June 1st, her birthday, the 24th vintage of Marilyn Merlot was released ($29, online) [...]

Chianti, Ma Non Classico

Also riding the value train these days is Chianti, trailing confusion for more than a few consumers. (It’s Italian, remember?)
With Chianti and Chianti Classico, confusion follows as the night the day. Chianti’s very name seems like shorthand, as Cab and Cabernet are for Cabernet Sauvignon. Moreover, Chianti Classico rules the shelves while the other is [...]

Rioja Right Now

A lot can happen in 20 years. Rip Van Winkle awoke still loyal to King George III because he’d dozed through the American Revolution. Consumers lately have been awaking to Spain’s revolution: 20 years ago a few had heard of the two marqués—old standby Marqués de Riscal and newborn innovator Marqués de Cáceres, and few [...]

Armani Suits Me

There never was much money in wine writing and often there’s decidedly less in wine blogging, but blogging is worth the superhuman effort involved when its admittedly few rewards include dining at Convivio on splendid handmade pasta while the beautiful Egle Armani and the relentless Lisa Klinck-Shea fight over me. In my dreams, anyway.
Egle Capilupi [...]

Green Guys: Whole Foods, Fetz-er and . . . Pend d’Oreille????

 
Tsunamic volumes of prattle about being close to the earth, moving to seasonal rhythms and ‘stewardship’ make it easy to forget that the wine business isn’t exactly green. Surely you’ve cocked an eyebrow at the latest release proclaiming that Château Rancho de la Castello has become—bang! like that—carbon-neutral overnight. Am I a cynic to feel [...]