Jun 6, 2006
Today is the 62nd anniversary of D-Day, the cross channel invasion of Normandy, France during World War II that would lead to a victory in that war. My father took part in the D-Day invasion as pilot of P-47. He, along with the rest of his squadron, was charged with attacking German supply lines feeding the front. On June 8 he was shot down, was able to safely crash land his plane two miles on the German side of the…
Jun 5, 2006
My economics professor in college lectured the class that near all pricing could be explained by one simple rule: Supply and demand. On its face this is a pretty simple rule. Count up the supply. Measure the demand and voila. We all knew and so did he that it’s a tad simpler than that. Another thing he taught us was to be careful to accurately identify what the object or item under consideration is. That brings us to this last…
Jun 2, 2006
The Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association (WSWA) has spruced up and augmented its team of people who will fight to keep wine lovers having access only to wines wholesalers get a cut of and fight to put wineries at the mercy of wholesalers. Among the new additions to the national association that represents wine wholesalers is Dawson Hobbs, who has been hired as Vice President of State Affairs. According to WSWA Hobbs will "educate state officials about issues surrounding the…
Jun 1, 2006
Helen Turley, America’s most famous "consulting winemaker", is again facing a lawsuit involving a client. This doesn’t really surprise me, for a number of reasons. What is interesting however is the mindset that would allow a person to agree to Ms. Turley’s terms for her participation as a consulting winemaker: -Agree to spend a huge, top-end sum of money on both vineyard development and building a winery to Turley’s exact specifications(vineyard development I can understand…But why spend huge amounts on…
Jun 1, 2006
For real wine lovers the act of "putting down" wines to age is not an exercise in possessing or building a bigger cache than the neighbor. It is foresight. It is about making an investment in time that is at once an optimistic act and also an act of faith that what your wine will evolve into after some years will be an altogether interesting, satisfying and intellectually inspiring wine. Charles Olken, the publisher of the Connoisseurs Guide to California…