Tasting sized pours — birth, death and dumb edition
OTBN turns 8: Saturday Feb 24
It’s time to open that bottle this Saturday! John and Dottie told you to do it! Consider it a print-media equivalent of Wine Blogging Wednesday. [WSJ]
Le Guide, born anew
The annual Michelin guide to France has been released. Taillevent, a three-star resto for 34 years is out; Anne-Sophie Pic, 37 year old chef owner, is into the elite group [details on Bloomberg, along with a nice quote from Vrinat of Taillevent]
Wild Oats sown, harvested
Whole Foods Market (WFMI) is buying Wild Oats Market (OATS) for $565 million. Both chains sell wine–conventional, organic, and otherwise–where allowed by law. When I asked a Wild Oats rep in September when they would be bought by Whole Foods, she replied that it would never happen, citing different corporate cultures. “We’re Colorado, they’re Texas.” Drat, I should have bought the stock. [Bloomberg]
Terroir, reborn
“In the same way that fast food has made a market for slow food, industrial wines have made a market for real wines,” Nicolas Joly says. Biodynamic wines had a big tasting in LA last week. [SF Chron]
Wine X is dead! Long live Gen X!
WineX a XXX magazine (no, not THAT kind of XXX–that was their wine rating system) rolled over last week and succumbed. The editor blames the industry. Others blame the publication. See goodgrape for a roundup and further comentary. It certainly goes to show the high costs–and the fine line between editorial and publishing–of running a print magazine. Long live blogs that cost practically nothing to run and hardly make any money anyway!
Men, take a wine class!
“Almost one-in-four men try to impress friends or dates by pretending to be wine buffs, reveals a new survey. However, most risk being exposed as buffoons according to the poll, which found knowledge of the drink is low despite soaring popularity.” [lse.co.uk]
One of the "seven best wine blogs." 
One of the three best wine blogs
On February 23rd, 2007 at 2:03 pm ,Jen wrote:
RE WineX magazine–they also did zero service RE their subscriptions. About three years ago I signed up for a sub. Well, after almost six months my first issue finally arrived after I complained a lot. Then another bizarre 6-month gap–I missed one issue that I had seen at St. Mark’s Bookstore. They eventually sent me both the back issue and my current one in a hand-pack envelope, not with my sub sticker. Then I finally got my “final” issue and a beg letter to renew. I didn’t. I kept receiving sporadic issues in the mail for two more years, with no apparent reasoning as to which particular issue I’d be blessed with. They also totally ignored the East Coast audience-wise, which is moronic if you’re trying to market to well-heeled younguns.