Tasting Flight 4/18/06
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 have done - the expected price per bottle exceeds $150. Who invented the marketing scheme? (ABC News)
Strangest Press Release of the Day
In order to promote New York wines, the state’s Department of Agriculture is hosting a ‘virtual wine tasting’. This virtual event will include 6 wineries from the state. Here is the twist: the tasting is for Korea. Yes, this will be a Korean virtual tasting of New York wines. Call me crazy, but I don’t think most of America has tasted Hudson Valley wine, so starting with the Koreans may be getting way ahead of oneself. (Empire Information Services)
Obscure Press Conference of the Day
Next week, AC Nielson is hosting a press conference to discuss new wine packaging. While I may find such an event interesting, I am not sure CNN will be able to make it. Is this really Press Conference worthy? Why not just have a great party with all the interesting wines using innovative packaging, invite all the cool bloggers, and call it a day? (Business Wire)