Career Changes
Winemakers and wine writers all seem to live exotic lives. The perks certainly are enjoyable, but Paul Gregutt at the Seattle Times set the record straight on working in the wine industry. At the end of the day, you may rethink that nagging desire to quick Goldman Sachs and head to California to start […]

Doggie Bags
More states are negotiating bills that would allow restaurant patrons to take wine home after dinner. Given the extremely high restaurant mark-up, I think it is only fair. The state currently in play - Illinois. The only downside, the waiters will probably get to experience less great wine that was left open. (St. Louis […]

The French Effect
It was a few years ago that many U.S. patriots renamed French Fries as Freedom Fries and boycotted French wine. Now, economists at Stanford have published a paper on the consequences of that boycott. Overall, there was a 13% fall in French wine sales over the 6 month boycott period, with a fall […]

Krazy Kiwis
I am quite a fan of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. It looks like this vintage will offer more bottles. That is because the country blew away previous records for grapes grown. In fact, growers are worried about a grape glut. (Stuff, NZ)
Georgia vs Russia Round 5
Georgia is claiming that independent French […]

It is the start of another week. I hope it is a great one!
Bordeaux Redeux
Parker’s comments on the 2005 Bordeaux are now published. What does the Sage of Maryland think? Like many, he recognizes the strong potential of the vintage. And yet, Parker attempts to calm the fervor until the wine hits the markets and […]

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. May your weekend be filled with great glasses of wine.
Caught!
A British wine merchant was busted for an elaborate fine wine scam. The Guardian Unlimited reported that Mayfair Cellars will have to cover up to 1.25GBP million for fine and rare wine that vanished under their supervision. […]

Hot Wine Trend
The San Francisco Chronical attacks a growing debate in the wine world - how much alcohol is too much? Many wine drinkers have noticed that the %abv (the amount of alcohol in a bottle) has slowly inched into the teens for even the lightest of wines. This means that you suburban dinner-party […]

Cult Denim and Cult Wine
It was about three years ago that I realized that “premium denim” was here to stay. The cult fashion trend has exploded, and now jeans costing over $200 are common for both women and men. My first pair of cult denim was Diesel, a marketing and product pioneer. Since then, […]

How To Piss Off The Italians
Two historians from Northern Italy have traced the Italian wine trade to the Celtic Barbarians. That is right, the Celts cleared the land, planted the vines, and got Rome drunk over 2,500 years ago. The historians built a replica Celtic vineyard and they are creating wine as the Celts would […]

Travel Much?
Having been on two flights last week, I found the Seattle Times article on American Airlines wine plan interesting. It is certainly a tough time for carriers in the U.S., but that isn’t stopping American from pursuing a wine strategy for its first class cabin. The article profiles the consultant who does […]