The Feiring Line

Where Am I Not Today...

It is with great sadness that I report that I though I am headed to JFK, I am not on the way to Deauville for the 9th Dive Bouteille, a crazy and wild tasting if there ever was one. Last years did not have the energy of previous versions, (even though Thierry Puzelat did show up with a black eye). However, the two day affair (previously just one day) was a testament to how if you put enough living wine in a tinny hangar, a sterile environment gets dynamized. The below video documents the 6th (and freezing) version of the tasting, held at the caves (did I say frigid?)of Domaine Fillatreau. ="new"> video

Where Am I Not Today...

It is with great sadness that I report that I though I am headed to JFK, I am not on the way to Deauville for the 9th Dive Bouteille, a crazy and wild tasting if there ever was one. Last years did not have the energy of previous versions, (even though Thierry Puzelat did show up with a black eye). However, the two day affair (previously just one day) was a testament to how if you put enough living wine in a tinny hangar, a sterile environment gets dynamized. The below video documents the 6th (and freezing) version of the tasting, held at the caves (did I say frigid?)of Domaine Fillatreau. ="new"> video

Sagrantino: A Wine That Needs Freud

(this is from a story I wrote for The Underground Wine Journal in 2000 or 2001, I can't remember!)

On the cusp of spring I stood in Filippo Antonelli�s gnarly vineyard. Looking out at Umbrian hills, brilliantly green with newborn wheat, punctuated by leafy olive trees and naked rows of Sagrantino grapevines I realized that this trip to Umbria and the region of Montefalco was two years in the making. That�s when I scribbled a note under the �96 Antonelli Sagrantino di Montefalco secco, �Great!! Find out more.� I forgot to. Later that year I visited a NYC restaurant called il Buco and homesick sommelier Roberto Paris, an Umbrian from the Montefalco region, poured a glass for me. This time I was hooked.

The thick-skinned Sagrantino has DOCG status in the five communes of Montefalco-- Bevagna, Gualdo, Cattaneo, Castel Ritaldi, and Giano dell'Umbria --all between Spoleto and Assisi. Other grapes are grown here, Sagrantino has star billing. Loaded with potent polyphenols, the grape�s resulting wine can have tastebud-ripping tannins. To picture the grape�s nature imagine these tannins in combo with the best qualities of brooding Nebbiolo, the sunny fruit of Negroamaro and acidity of a Barbera. The wine often presents with some form of tannic wrap around a plump and spicy -rich prune plum fruit, with counterpoint aromas of acacia, hay, and dried flowers. Other than the grapes� comely characteristics, I find the whole psychology here irresistible. This wine is precariously perched between teen and adulthood�with potential for an identity crisis.

Historically the grape was vinified in a sweet style called Passito (from dried-grapes) and it stayed syrupy sweet �and purely a local treat--for centuries. Now it�s making a big splash as a dry wine, or as it is called, secco. Antonelli is one of fifteen presently producing. Though the winemakers generously share their research, most winemakers think their way with the grape is the right way. The scene is ripe for a clash of style and ego. Yet as Antonelli insists, �You have to understand that Sagrantino secco is a young concept. There is no traditional way of making the dry wine. Every year is new to us. For example, we don�t know how long the wine can age. Maybe eight years? Maybe fifteen? Who knows how long? �

Wine has been documented in Montefalco since 1088. Pliny the Elder mentioned �Itriola� and some believe it to be Sagrantino. Most people assume that the devotees of St. Francis Assisi carried the grape from Asia Minor and its use was sacramental and celebratory. Researchers are trying to find its clonal relatives elsewhere in the world with no luck�the grape seems to be a Montefalco original.

Around 1972 a couple of winemakers got the notion to try their hand at Sagrantino in a dry form. Dr. Lodovico Mattoni, now President of Terre di Trinci a cooperative showing great commitment to the grape, says of the Trinci effort, �It was awful, but promising.� The promise that they saw was the wine�s structure and the powerful fruit. The awful part? Unyielding tannins. Antonelli reflects. �In those early days we had no idea how to deal with them. We tried extremely short macerations: in some cases as few as five days� However, this technique backfired; the wines were fiercely tannic and lacked complexity. Today macerations last between twelve and thirty-five days. In 1979 Sagrantino di Montefalco secco received DOC status and upgraded to DOCG in 1992.

Before 1992 wine books ignored Sagrantino. When talking about wine in Umbria it was either in reference to Grechetto (The white wines of the area and of Orvieto) or of Sangiovese. Sagrantino? Never heard of it. But, by 1995 some wines were winning Tres Bicchieri and Due Bicchieri awards. Prices climbed between $25 and $100 a bottle and wine writers and wine nerds started to notice.

Laws require that the wine be a 100% Sagrantino grape and must be aged for at least 30 months, 12 of which must be in an oak container, and six months in bottle. The best wineries take more time than the minimum requirement. Whether new or old oak barrique, full toast or medium toast or just neutral large oak barrels, here as in elsewhere in the world, the debate is on as to who has the right idea when it comes to wood.

Out of the area�s Sagrantino producers, eight or nine are available in America. Four producers, Arnaldo Caprai. Paulo Bea, Milziade Antano and Fillipo Antonelli, seem to encapsulate the themes in winemakeing: peacemaker, international hawk, non-interventionist, amused observer.

Where most wineries in the area are modest, Arnaldo Caprai is lit up in spotlights-- the Castello on the hill. For all his bravado, Caprai deserves respect and gets it from his peers and the world. A business man who came to wine later in life, he has contributed a great deal of research and has traveled and worked to spread the popularity of the wine internationally. Computerized, the winery is pure California. Squat fermenting tanks are impressive works of stainless. The smell of spanking new toasty oak is prominent in the winery as in the wine. Caprai, with his 60,000 case production is the areas largest the producer having overtaken older large wineries Adanti and Rocca Di Fabri. Marco Caprai, the founder Arnaldo�s son, is now mostly in charge. His fur bristles when I ask about his New-World, international style of wine. �What is Old-World?� He asks me. I tell you, if you have no money, you use big, old barrels. If you are rich you use new barrique. We are rich.�

Where Caprai is a relative newcomer, the Bea�s, on the other side of the walled city of Montefalco document their land ownership for several hundred years. The Caprai/Bea rivalry is well known, though each claims not to understand its origin. As a stranger it seemed obvious. Here are equivalent egos on different sides of the issues. One winery is huge. One is tiny. The Bea�s don�t believe in masking the flavor of their grapes with new oak. They believe in only using native yeasts. On the issue of fermentation, theirs at 35-40 days is at least fifteen days longer than Caprai�s.

The Bea�s first secco was the �94 vintage. �We were experimenting with Sagrantino for ten years,� says Giampiero Bea, Paulo�s son says as leads me to a tiny barn where wine is still going through malolactic fermentation. I almost walk into a swinging lump in a cheesecloth dripping red wine into a bucket. He says,� I make an experiment,� making cheese soaked in Sagrantino. We sit down to taste Sagrantino in a candlelit setting. Thinking about the cheese experiment I anticipate a wild wine. But here is a most gentle and easy wine. Barely tannic, in fact, it is quite romantic. The �95, the oldest he has to offer me, is still youthful and has developed a more complex aroma than more recent vintages. At 6 years old it�s still a youngster.

Politics don�t seem to matter to Milziade Antano. What he cares about is wine. His production is tiny, 2000 cases. . He doesn�t use new oak in his secco but he�s open to it. Not now, but who knows? Maybe in the future. He has the coarse hands of a farmer hands and the eyes and nose of a poet. He pours his �97 Sagrantino. He cradles the wineglass bowl, inhales and is pleased. Here are aromas of acacia, a touch of honey mix of hay and plum, aromas that I have come to associate with Sagrantino�s nature. He pours a �94 from a so-called bad year and �it lacks power but it has an elegant perfume of dried roses and honeysuckle with a firm tarry center and subtle tobacco finish. His first secco was produced in the 1982 he started producing Passito in 1972. He macerates for 20 days. Like Antonelli prefers to use natural yeast but will add a strain of selected yeasts�especially in a less than spectacular vintage.

Filippo Antonelli�s olive and vine planted land has been in the family since the mid-1800�s. He made his first Sagrantino secco in 1979. At 20,000 cases he is amid-sized producer with an artisnal approach. He sells every bottle he makes and could sell more. His baby Sagrantino vines are too young and his winery is just too tiny. He desperately needs more room.

I ask him whether he has any older vintages. �Not too many,� he says. But, he pulls a 1990 with apologies for its dreadful storage�which means enduring almost a decade of hot summers. As expected the wine has turned port-like, yet is tasty. He then opens an �88 that was more properly stored. Here the wine has a very subdued bouquet, but the structure was still holding and the fruit on the palate is fresh. There was that hay and acacia. Like the man, all of his wines are warm, generous and complex. They reflect an open mind but strong roots in tradition. More than the others I tasted here is a more sunny quality with a touch of broiled red fruits. He uses barrique, not all new, with a medium toast and the wood is beautifully integrated leaving no vanilla or caramel on the palate. He prefers severely pruning his vines instead of dropping excessive grape bunches to the ground in a green harvest. Like the others who are planting right now, he is using cuttings not clones. �The university is working on it,� he says, �but a clone must be free of all viruses. There is a virus in all native Sagrantino plants, which I think must be a healthy thing.�

Many of the established and well -reputed, including Rocca di Fabri, Adanti, Scacciadioveli are upgrading their vineyard and winery practices. The dull cooperative, Spoleto Ducale, is lusting for a piece of the area�s success and is trying to shed its dreadful reputation by going full barrique, full toast and full technical. In 1995 a farm equipment conglomerate bought Colpetrone . Now the winery is producing a full-throttle international style wine; the areas second Tres Bicchieri winner.

Current landowners are buying up more land and olive oil growers are going into the Sagrantino secco business. The roaming wine consultant Riccardo Cotarella is making wine here. Andrea Cecchi of Tuscany and the Maremma has bought land and is planting five hectares (with a goal of 30) near Antonelli. The Lungarottis, Umbrians from the Torgiano area, rented tanks in which to make their Sagrantino secco. A flush of new producers with big technology and ideas are primed to move in. Antonelli, who is just got approval to break ground for his brand new gravity flow winery is happy about his new neighbor and the excitement in the region says, � We hope land is closed to buying in about three years.�

The story of a revitalized or even rediscovered land in Italy is now an old one. The Maremma went through it�but it was for a new soil on which to plant an old Sangiovese. Puglia went through it, but it was for revitalizing Primitivo and Negroamaro. Here is something quite familiar yet dramatically different: an ancient grape grappling with a new identify. In the search for big wine rating scores and awards, might the true identity of Sagrantino be lost--- even before it�s discovered? In a world that currently romances smooth, rich and homogenized wines, Sagrantino is an antidote. Yet, as more hillside property gets cleared for vineyards, and the toasty barrique and the fully international approach to wine making is embraced, the good people of Montefalco could well be thinking, there goes the neighborhood. On the other hand, my friend Roberto Paris, with eight different Sagrantino�s on his il Buco wine list, (and all doing very well, thank you very much) thinks I�m a bit of a hysteric. �Relax he says, �this is wine, not psychotherapy.� But sometimes the comparisons are irresistible. As I only drink the wine and not make it, I will comfort myself as a parent does: a search for the meaning of its life might be in store, but this teenager has a solid structure, good values and a knock out personality. Sagrantino will withstand the growing pains ahead ---and with style.

Filippo Antonelli. The Sagrantino Voice of Reason

I admit a fascination with Sagrantino di Montefalco from my first sip of a 1996 Antonelli, which I had an Italian tasting here in New York City. The second time I had it I knew I had to go to its home town to check it out, which I did in 2000. What I found in the communes of Montefalco was a nifty blend of personalities who were trying to suss out the grape. You see, it was vinified in sweet passito style until about 1980 or so. After that, the winemakers tried to figure out how to turn it into dry. The problem, they found, was the grape's tongue ripping tannins. Back then there were 15 producers, two of them-- polar opposites--were highly acclaimed and expensive; the international and contrived Caprai and the fiercely old world Bea. In between there were the moderates, Antonelli and Antano and the rustic (loved the wines. Loved. Loved. Loved.) of Ruggieri. Now there are 50 producers, most of them toting barriques, enzymes and Tuscan wine consultants, smothering this gorgeous sun meets tannic grape with attitude and toast. Which brings me to Antonelli, the winemaker I know the best from the area. Antonelli's family, a long line of lawyers, bought the land and started to grow grapes 1861. He has 40h of vineyards that will eventually go to 50. In a deliminated area, like Montefalco, this is a nice chunk of land. His wines are the voice of reason. It is remarkable he hasn't been felled by the fashion ro barrique the crap out of the wine, replace the natural tannin with those of soaked wood. But then, that's not the kind of guy he is. He starts the red wine off in double barriques but then moves them quickly into the traditional larger 50hl barrels. There is no extended cold soak, no apparent toast, no enzyming..etc and though I wonder how come his recent tannins are more tamed, I forgot to ask him about Micro Ox. If he uses it, I don't perceive it. The question comes from my inner cynic, not my taste. He is an experimenter, such as extending the fermentation by adding industrial yeasts, but he didn't like it so he didn't pursue the technique. While not a thoroughly natural wine for purists, the wines still have loads of give and dance and life. 2004: Marked by a wild forest honey nose. Exremely gorgeous balance. 2003 was not over ripe in the least, though full and perfumed. 2000: Tight. Wound up. Reticent. 1998: Chocolate, tannic and firm. 1997: Starts to evolve. Touch of sheep. Sweet honey underneath the layers and great older-fashioned tannins. Filippo is smiling on the left. On the right Roberto Paris, who has become unofficial Sag ambassador in the US, an Umbrian himself. Paris presides over the wine list at il Buco and pours 6-7. He might be the only one in town who has some older vintages squirreled away. But you have to be nice to him if he's going to fork these over. Oh---under my Articles section, I just posted my ancient Sag story..it was the one I wrote for the now long defunct Underground Wine Journal. This is raw copy but for more info on the wine, check it out)

Filippo Antonelli. The Sagrantino Voice of Reason

I admit a fascination with Sagrantino di Montefalco from my first sip of a 1996 Antonelli, which I had an Italian tasting here in New York City. The second time I had it I knew I had to go to its home town to check it out, which I did in 2000. What I found in the communes of Montefalco was a nifty blend of personalities who were trying to suss out the grape. You see, it was vinified in sweet passito style until about 1980 or so. After that, the winemakers tried to figure out how to turn it into dry. The problem, they found, was the grape's tongue ripping tannins. Back then there were 15 producers, two of them-- polar opposites--were highly acclaimed and expensive; the international and contrived Caprai and the fiercely old world Bea. In between there were the moderates, Antonelli and Antano and the rustic (loved the wines. Loved. Loved. Loved.) of Ruggieri. Now there are 50 producers, most of them toting barriques, enzymes and Tuscan wine consultants, smothering this gorgeous sun meets tannic grape with attitude and toast. Which brings me to Antonelli, the winemaker I know the best from the area. Antonelli's family, a long line of lawyers, bought the land and started to grow grapes 1861. He has 40h of vineyards that will eventually go to 50. In a deliminated area, like Montefalco, this is a nice chunk of land. His wines are the voice of reason. It is remarkable he hasn't been felled by the fashion ro barrique the crap out of the wine, replace the natural tannin with those of soaked wood. But then, that's not the kind of guy he is. He starts the red wine off in double barriques but then moves them quickly into the traditional larger 50hl barrels. There is no extended cold soak, no apparent toast, no enzyming..etc and though I wonder how come his recent tannins are more tamed, I forgot to ask him about Micro Ox. If he uses it, I don't perceive it. The question comes from my inner cynic, not my taste. He is an experimenter, such as extending the fermentation by adding industrial yeasts, but he didn't like it so he didn't pursue the technique. While not a thoroughly natural wine for purists, the wines still have loads of give and dance and life. 2004: Marked by a wild forest honey nose. Exremely gorgeous balance. 2003 was not over ripe in the least, though full and perfumed. 2000: Tight. Wound up. Reticent. 1998: Chocolate, tannic and firm. 1997: Starts to evolve. Touch of sheep. Sweet honey underneath the layers and great older-fashioned tannins. Filippo is smiling on the left. On the right Roberto Paris, who has become unofficial Sag ambassador in the US, an Umbrian himself. Paris presides over the wine list at il Buco and pours 6-7. He might be the only one in town who has some older vintages squirreled away. But you have to be nice to him if he's going to fork these over. Oh---under my Articles section, I just posted my ancient Sag story..it was the one I wrote for the now long defunct Underground Wine Journal. This is raw copy but for more info on the wine, check it out)

Newman's Own....Mistake

You may have heard that Newman as in Paul now has a vanilla and chocolate wine on the market. I know it for truth because I got the press release today. What's the rule? The sillier the package the worse the wine? Got a Bowler in a box, two bottles, a DVD of Butch Cassidy (never saw it) and a bottle of cabernet and chardonnay.

For some reason, I decided to taste of recycling them. After all, I have friends who love his salsa!

Yeah, yeah, I know. Trinchero made them but still, it's Newman. He's supposed to be (or at least his daughter) is an organic kind of guys (or gal?). Who knows, he might even own a few hundred bottles of good stuff.

These bottles were heartstoppers. They exceeded expecations......of bad wine. At $16 dollars a bottle, they are almost tragic. Well, make that toxic. I have to say, my heart went out for him and the poor unsuspecting folk who might buy them. I know the proceeds go to charity but at what cost! Just make out the check and leave the wine behind (who said, no wine left behind?)

The chardonnay (2006? who cares) is billed as 13.7 etoh but the label says 13.5. God knows what it started out in life as. 18%? That wine was so vegetal underneath the Bright Flavors......so bright they have a Mag lite focused on the tropicale (fyi: This is not a typo, but a favored Alice twist on the word.). It is a puddle of tropical jello, in fact the texture is like it as well. And the burn, and the horrifying acidulation....well, it's a terrible toxic dump of a wine.

In comparison the cabernet is genius. But still bad with that pudding-like texture and reverse osmosis burn, and I can see a mad scientist stirring the pot to replace what nature didn't give it, like a nice berry and bell pepper aroma. They claim it was aged IN French and American oak (in? really? Don't they mean 'around?) "to marry into one harmonious Cabernet. It is so harmonious, that when you pour it down the drain (advisable) you can see the wine unravel and separate into silt and water. I've seen this before but never in such technicolor!

(While comments are suspended I'll make an attempt to cut and paste some below until I can find out the SPAM SOLUTION!)

COMMENTS:

This in from Jill in LA:

Was about to post a comment on the Newman's Own post -- have you seen the Clif Bar Winery products? Yes, wine made by the same folks who brought us the magnificent Clif Bar (pseudo-sports/health/energy snack). My guess is that they have such brand penetration in supermarkets (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods especially) that they figured it was a no-brainer for them to slap their label on a wine and push it through the same distribution channels. I suppose I'll be open to being proven wrong if a rep tastes me on the stuff (Henry Wine Group is handling in CA) but I'm skeptical. I think they're also shilling olive oil. Organic, I hope.

This in from Dave in the Bay Area:

Alice:
Who to believe, what to believe?
Here's what the Sac Bee's Mike Dunne says about Paul's latest efforts: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/dining/

But I'm not sure he's totally praising them when he calls the chardonnay as having "unusual complexity" and the cab as being "thick through the middle" and a "stew wine."
Oh well. I don't miss the movie, either.

(FOR THOSE WHO DON"T WANT TO FOLLOW THE LINK, DUNNE'S TAKE ON THE WINE IS:

The chardonnay is true to type, its ripe fruit running to pineapple and apple, with unusual complexity for an example of the varietal more at home as an aperitif than a companion at the dinner table.

The cabernet sauvignon is dense in color and thick through the middle, its herbal and cherry fruitiness shot through with suggestions of port. It's a stew wine, or better yet a wine to pair with saltena, the beefy, fruity and spicy Bolivian version of an empanada. )

Newman's Own....Mistake

You may have heard that Newman as in Paul now has a vanilla and chocolate wine on the market. I know it for truth because I got the press release today. What's the rule? The sillier the package the worse the wine? Got a Bowler in a box, two bottles, a DVD of Butch Cassidy (never saw it) and a bottle of cabernet and chardonnay.

For some reason, I decided to taste of recycling them. After all, I have friends who love his salsa!

Yeah, yeah, I know. Trinchero made them but still, it's Newman. He's supposed to be (or at least his daughter) is an organic kind of guys (or gal?). Who knows, he might even own a few hundred bottles of good stuff.

These bottles were heartstoppers. They exceeded expecations......of bad wine. At $16 dollars a bottle, they are almost tragic. Well, make that toxic. I have to say, my heart went out for him and the poor unsuspecting folk who might buy them. I know the proceeds go to charity but at what cost! Just make out the check and leave the wine behind (who said, no wine left behind?)

The chardonnay (2006? who cares) is billed as 13.7 etoh but the label says 13.5. God knows what it started out in life as. 18%? That wine was so vegetal underneath the Bright Flavors......so bright they have a Mag lite focused on the tropicale (fyi: This is not a typo, but a favored Alice twist on the word.). It is a puddle of tropical jello, in fact the texture is like it as well. And the burn, and the horrifying acidulation....well, it's a terrible toxic dump of a wine.

In comparison the cabernet is genius. But still bad with that pudding-like texture and reverse osmosis burn, and I can see a mad scientist stirring the pot to replace what nature didn't give it, like a nice berry and bell pepper aroma. They claim it was aged IN French and American oak (in? really? Don't they mean 'around?) "to marry into one harmonious Cabernet. It is so harmonious, that when you pour it down the drain (advisable) you can see the wine unravel and separate into silt and water. I've seen this before but never in such technicolor!

(While comments are suspended I'll make an attempt to cut and paste some below until I can find out the SPAM SOLUTION!)

COMMENTS:

This in from Jill in LA:

Was about to post a comment on the Newman's Own post -- have you seen the Clif Bar Winery products? Yes, wine made by the same folks who brought us the magnificent Clif Bar (pseudo-sports/health/energy snack). My guess is that they have such brand penetration in supermarkets (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods especially) that they figured it was a no-brainer for them to slap their label on a wine and push it through the same distribution channels. I suppose I'll be open to being proven wrong if a rep tastes me on the stuff (Henry Wine Group is handling in CA) but I'm skeptical. I think they're also shilling olive oil. Organic, I hope.

This in from Dave in the Bay Area:

Alice:
Who to believe, what to believe?
Here's what the Sac Bee's Mike Dunne says about Paul's latest efforts: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/dining/

But I'm not sure he's totally praising them when he calls the chardonnay as having "unusual complexity" and the cab as being "thick through the middle" and a "stew wine."
Oh well. I don't miss the movie, either.

(FOR THOSE WHO DON"T WANT TO FOLLOW THE LINK, DUNNE'S TAKE ON THE WINE IS:

The chardonnay is true to type, its ripe fruit running to pineapple and apple, with unusual complexity for an example of the varietal more at home as an aperitif than a companion at the dinner table.

The cabernet sauvignon is dense in color and thick through the middle, its herbal and cherry fruitiness shot through with suggestions of port. It's a stew wine, or better yet a wine to pair with saltena, the beefy, fruity and spicy Bolivian version of an empanada. )

But..Can You Get Past Airline Security?

Both are these from What a World! I just got this one from Mark Fisher who blogs wine over at Dayton Daily News. Then I got two more emails about the same topic. While this might be the lastest sex toy amongst the Sideways crowd, I wonder if this is the answer for bringing my wine on board? The point is the inflatable device INSIDE the bra, and then one sips out the wine from a straw. What will they think of next. Check Mark's blog for his take on this breaking news. Then minutes after I got an email from a California wine store. One of the greatest things about this blog is how many great people I've met because of it. This particular gent often regales me hysterical stories about his customers. This is a bit from his latest. He just went through the store trying to find a $10 chardonnay for this customer. Nothing was big and buttery enough. She was trying to let him down easy. ....With respect to the party, however, I am concerned that the wines we tasted and that I brought and took home to sample are simply a bit too nuanced for my crowd. I need to make sure that both the food and the wines are enjoyed not only by the experienced tasters, but by all 100+ people, who may not have had that much exposure to world wines. With that in mind, regretfully, I have decided to limit my wines to more traditional mass market-approved labels. Please, I hope you understand and that this is not a problem........ Is something in retrogade? It is a full moon out? "traditional mass market-approved labels." Huh? He's an evangelist. He wanted them to have great wine at the party. Voicing his frustration to me he further wrote: Sometimes people who live in some fancy places pay a ton of money for housing, fancy cars, etc. The wine is not sufficiently "important" to them to pay an honest dollar. They want "fancy" and fashionable labels and so they might spend money for wines such as Far Niente and Cakebread and other wineries who have the "why pay less?" marketing/pricing strategy. They want their guests, whose tastebuds they may under-estimate, to KNOW they spent a dollar on a bottle of wine. The fact that they're pouring a killer wine for small money is not possible because "my guests won't know this label and recognize it as a good wine." Probably he'll go to Costco. He'll probably buy something such as a KJ or La Crema wine. Those taste like Chalk Hill, don't they? ;) Or maybe he'll come up with a fine bottle of BV "Coastal". It's a sick world. ++

But..Can You Get Past Airline Security?

Both are these from What a World! I just got this one from Mark Fisher who blogs wine over at Dayton Daily News. Then I got two more emails about the same topic. While this might be the lastest sex toy amongst the Sideways crowd, I wonder if this is the answer for bringing my wine on board? The point is the inflatable device INSIDE the bra, and then one sips out the wine from a straw. What will they think of next. Check Mark's blog for his take on this breaking news. Then minutes after I got an email from a California wine store. One of the greatest things about this blog is how many great people I've met because of it. This particular gent often regales me hysterical stories about his customers. This is a bit from his latest. He just went through the store trying to find a $10 chardonnay for this customer. Nothing was big and buttery enough. She was trying to let him down easy. ....With respect to the party, however, I am concerned that the wines we tasted and that I brought and took home to sample are simply a bit too nuanced for my crowd. I need to make sure that both the food and the wines are enjoyed not only by the experienced tasters, but by all 100+ people, who may not have had that much exposure to world wines. With that in mind, regretfully, I have decided to limit my wines to more traditional mass market-approved labels. Please, I hope you understand and that this is not a problem........ Is something in retrogade? It is a full moon out? "traditional mass market-approved labels." Huh? He's an evangelist. He wanted them to have great wine at the party. Voicing his frustration to me he further wrote: Sometimes people who live in some fancy places pay a ton of money for housing, fancy cars, etc. The wine is not sufficiently "important" to them to pay an honest dollar. They want "fancy" and fashionable labels and so they might spend money for wines such as Far Niente and Cakebread and other wineries who have the "why pay less?" marketing/pricing strategy. They want their guests, whose tastebuds they may under-estimate, to KNOW they spent a dollar on a bottle of wine. The fact that they're pouring a killer wine for small money is not possible because "my guests won't know this label and recognize it as a good wine." Probably he'll go to Costco. He'll probably buy something such as a KJ or La Crema wine. Those taste like Chalk Hill, don't they? ;) Or maybe he'll come up with a fine bottle of BV "Coastal". It's a sick world. ++

News From the Sandbox: What they're saying about me.

In the continuing saga.... Got a psst....email on Saturday "Possibly Bad Publicity is Good Publicity?" The publicity in question was the threat on ebob. http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?p=2028908#post2028908 Someone had discovered my book on the Harcourt site. Posted it. A discussion of it went on. Plenty of speculations about..."too bad she has a chip on her shoulder," stuff like that. Some people voiced interest. Oddly enough there wasn't too much bashing. Actually, more interest than bash and some people didn't know who I was. Squires chimed in at the end saying that I, a nobody, must need publicity pretty badly to write such a book (like he knows what I wrote?) and then he said a lot of people are jealous of Robert Parker's fame. I suppose he meant me. He then he locked the thread down with a thwat and bam. Then he removed said thread. Maybe he realized that I got about 200 hits from the conversation? Did anyone happen to see it before it was removed? I used to work on psych units and this behavior is always fascinating to me. Especially because it boosted my Amazon ratings. Thanks guys! On the other hand, I have always been comfortable with criticism. Having just having spent the weekend with family, I was reminded why. Dealing with positive feedback is more difficult. And talking about it, and tooting that horn is more difficult, but it is still is exciting and I hope you don't mind me passing on that the wonderfully talented Gregory Maguire (Wicked, Son of a Witch author, called my book "captivating." And the book editor for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News blogged me.