Archive for the ‘Culture and Wine’ Category

Oct 29, 2018

Women in Wine—Survey Says, It’s Getting Better

The 2018 Career and Salary Survey commissioned by SevenFifty and carried out by Wine Opinions. is a really good thing. It delivers a lot of interesting background to the wine, beer and spirits industry. The part that has received the most attention, however, outlines how women and minorities are underrepresented in the industry as well as receiving less compensation. This part of the survey’s findings is particularly important. The disparity in wages between men and women described by the survey is…

Oct 25, 2018

The Worst Alcohol Idea Ever

Reports out of New York related the refounding of the New York State Prohibition Party. As those of you who know a little about the history of the United States will understand, this newly recognized New York State Political party has as its primary goal the banning of production and consumption of alcohol in New York and the nation. Can anyone explain this to me? I’m a relatively well-educated man with a decent amount of life and political experience who…

Oct 20, 2018

The Inconsequence and Beauty of Wine in a Right v. Wrong World

Despite what my occasional rants and polemics might suggest about my disposition, I do get the beauty of wine. There are so many things that make wine beautiful, actually. But the one that I think I like the most is the fact that when you decide to honestly and enthusiastically engage with wine, you don’t have to choose a team. This trait seems all too rare today. There is no choosing between right and left or between right and wrong…

Oct 11, 2018

Wine As History, Not Just Industry

It’s by far the best wine story of the day. Christie’s, in advance of an important December auction, describes the discovery and character of a historic cache of old Madeira found in New Jersey’s Liberty Hall Museum at Keen University back in 2016. Three cases of 1796 bottles and 40 demijohns from 1822 were uncovered during a restoration of the Museum’s old wine cellar. Apparently, it was known that old wines were buried in the cellar, but no one knew…

Oct 2, 2018

The Intersection of Wine and the #MeToo Movement

After receiving two tweets accusing it of fostering fear among women due to a message on one of its wines, a British Columbia winery has pulled the offending wine from the shelves that had the following message on its label: “BOYS WILL BE BOYS”. This story intrigued me in part for what the winery in question, Church and State Winery, chose to pull from the market and what it chose to leave in the marketplace. Church and State has a…