Archive for the ‘Culture and Wine’ Category
Of late I’ve been re-perusing the books on my shelves that explore Western Civilization. The volumes are many and varied. They range from biographies of notable historians and explorations into 18th Century European commerce to straight histories of regions and peoples as well as momentous events in Western Civilization. It is perhaps due to my profession, but as I look over these works, it becomes clear that if Western Civilization has produced a thing that more efficiently and accurately serves…
A clear eyed understanding of the wine industry is the prerequisite for the industry’s health and for success working in the industry. Too often I bump up against folks in the industry that don’t appreciate some basic truths about the industry. This, in turn, leads folks who want to succeed in the wine industry down a path that inevitably runs up against roadblocks. The five facts that follow are among the most important clear-eyed views of the wine industry that…
Proponents of increasing the State of Oregon’s alcohol taxes in a comically excessive way are becoming more creative and more faithless in their arguments for increasing the state taxes in an effort to fight alcohol dependency. As a reminder, earlier in the year Oregon State Representatives Tawna Sanchez sponsored House Bill 3296. If passed, the bill would have increased the excise taxes on beer and cider in Oregon from $2.60 per barrel (31 gallons) to $72.60 per barrel. The increase…
The wine and alcohol industries are unique. They operate within a highly regulated meliu that other industries would find jarring and alien. As a result, it’s often the case that the controversies that surround alcohol are very specific to the industry. The shoe industry or the snack food industry would, for example, find no context for understanding a ban on their products being shipped across state lines, whereas within the alcohol industry such restrictions are common place. But sometimes, the…
What if drinking wine, even lots of it, didn’t get you drunk? Why consider this…? “Alcohol goes to your head and causes drunken behaviour through the breakdown of chemicals produced in the brain, a new study reveals. The finding turns previous theories that it was linked to the liver upside down, and scientists believe it holds the key to combating binge drinking and alcoholism. Researchers from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism tested the impact of alcohol on chemicals…
