Nov 30, 2021
We are smack dab in the middle of Hannukah, that time when latkes make their annual appearance on Jewish tables when debates emerge as to the proper preparation for this dish and when no wine in particular is served at the Hannukah table. And why is that? Why has no one type of wine emerged as the de rigueur pour for the Hannukah table? For that matter why has no single wine become the go-to pour for Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving,…
Nov 4, 2021
Oliver Styles’ recent call for drinking equity for wine industry workers is a variation on a common theme. It’s not a theme you see so enthusiastically endorsed these days primarily because long experience has demonstrated that the Marxist/communist principle “from each according to his ability to each according to his needs” has proven to be such a disaster for humanity. But to Styles’ argument, laid out at Tim Atkin site, put simply he advocates that the most coveted wines in…
Oct 11, 2021
Why does it seem it’s always the most uninteresting wine that provokes the most controversy in the wine industry? Earlier in the year, a big old kerfuffle surrounded the introduction of the Avaline brand from actress Cameron Diaz and the description of the product as “clean wine”. The wine itself is decidedly average. The Kurfuffle over what the hell “clean” means was bigger than your average kerfuffle and still vexes those of us who think words describing wine ought to…
Sep 30, 2021
Not long ago I wrote about the corrupt circumstances of “Regulatory Capture”. In that article, Regulatory Capture was described this way: “Regulatory capture is an economic theory that says regulatory agencies may come to be dominated by the industries or interests they are charged with regulating. The result is that an agency, charged with acting in the public interest, instead acts in ways that benefit incumbent firms in the industry it is supposed to be regulating.” It’s never difficult to…
Sep 7, 2021
REGULATORY CAPTURE Anyone working long enough in the alcohol arena will recognize the system this phrase describes, even if they are unfamiliar with the phrase itself “Regulatory capture is an economic theory that says regulatory agencies may come to be dominated by the industries or interests they are charged with regulating. The result is that an agency, charged with acting in the public interest, instead acts in ways that benefit incumbent firms in the industry it is supposed to be…