Sep 23, 2009
Sometimes I wish food and wine lovers had far, far fewer choices of content and information to sift through and enjoy just so certain information forums would get more attention. Every now and then something pops onto my radar that I'm positive has the potential to be far better than the rest, but I despair that it wont get the attention it deserves because the noise level and many choices of content for food and wine lovers are powerful deterrents…
Sep 16, 2009
I'm a sucker for traditions where wine is concerned. I like wine-related tradition and I like traditions that fortified with wine. I most recently continued a tradition using wine. At a particular spot on Lake Tahoe in a 1962 Mahogany Coronado, I and friends stopped the boat, lifted a glass of Champagne and toasted the weakest of the three Corleone brothers, Fredo, who met his demise at the hands of his brother Michael's bodyguard, Al Neri, while saying the Hail…
Sep 2, 2009
Reason Magazine, a bastion of….reason….has released a video interview with Jerome Tuccille, the author of "Gallo Be Thy Name: The Inside Story of How One Family Rose to Dominate the U.S. Wine Market". It's pretty interesting. I've not read the book, but it sounds as though what we have here is a social history of the rise of American wine and the evolution of American culture told from the perspective of the rise of the Gallo via the Ernest and…
Sep 1, 2009
When did the graphic display of bloody human mutilations and mindless murders go from being an accidental opportunity to be repulsed by some sick fuck’s exercise of their freedom of speech to being a legitimate cinematic genre that has overtaken the film industry? This is the question that rolled about my head as I took a walk through the local Blockbuster the other day looking for “Bottle Shock”. I strolled the aisles not just looking for Bottle Shock, but also…
Aug 31, 2009
I love the movie "High Fidelity". In addition to being an examination heartbreak, busted love affairs and misery born of unrequited love, it also deals with music geeks—those people for whom the details and intricacies of music knowledge is so important to them it actually helps define their lives. This kind of obsession, not unfamiliar in the wine world, is best on display in High Fidelity when a co-worker (Dick) drops in at the home of the main character ("Rob")…