Archive for the ‘Culture and Wine’ Category

Mar 15, 2005

Live the Dream…Or…At Least Dream the Life

Among the obscenely over the top wine geeks there is a common dream: head for the hills, buy land, live on it, plant grapes, make wine. I admit to having this dream in the back of my mind. And occasionally I look around for just the right spot in the hills. Very few wine geeks follow this dream, for obvious reasons. It’s expensive. And when you start to think about it, the amount of work is really tremendous. Still, we…

Feb 22, 2005

Alabama: No Wine, No Sex Toys

Perhaps I’m too close to the issue. Nevertheless, I’ve always looked at these anti-direct shipping laws passed in the various states and seen them as among the most silly and obnoxious laws any state could possibly think of passing. Who is harmed by receiving wine via the mail? And who’s business is it if I want to buy a wine that I’ve coveted for so long that is only available to me by asking it to be shipped? How can…

Feb 21, 2005

“Pinot” is the WORD OF THE YEAR?

"Pinot" has been named the top "HollyWORD" of the year by the good folk over at the Global Language Monitor. The Global Language Monitor "analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture." "Pinot" topped the list of words out of Hollywood that "profoundly influenced the English Language" What does this mean for Pinot Noir. I guess you have to consider what words took this honor in the…

Feb 21, 2005

Wine Geeks Can Cause a Rash

I’ve been thinking more about the idea of how our own experiences overwhelmingly shape our response to popular culture. Again, the movie "Sideways" and my experience with it proves the right place to really explore this notion. I can not think of any other film in which a hard core, wine loving, wine geek, along with all the language, props, knowledge and ceremony that goes into being such a wine geek, is the protagonist of the story. That is to…

Feb 21, 2005

Wine=Alcohol=Heroin ??

Dealing in degrees and dealing in subtlty is not what those in alcoholic recovery or the alcoholic recovery community to very well. This was made perfectly clear in an article in the New York Times on Sunday that asked if the Oscar nominated movie "Sideways" was really just a lens pointed at the antics of an alcoholic, rather than a wine lover. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I really don’t think the notion that the Sideways character Miles…