Playboy wine, Irish cellar, Georgia, Napa – tasting sized pours
They read it for the articles
Playboy had a launch party last week in Shenzhen for some wines they will launch on the Chinese marketplace. The wines may not be valued for what’s inside the bottle since “Playboy wine can enter China market quickly by wide international influence of Playboy brand.” No label image available. [CWIW; via wineconsultant]
Drink me, I’m Irish
If you had a $40,000 a year wine buying budget and a cellar filled with 1,500 bottles, who might you be? Why, Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs! They’re not outrageous ranging from 10 to slightly over 100 euros in current value with the oldest vintage a 1982. Many of the properties represented have Irish connections, such as the obscure Chateau Vignelaure in Provence, which is owned by David O’Brien. Chateau Kirwan and Leoville-Barton feature in the cellar logs, even if their Irish connections were 200 years ago. [independent.ie]
Napa exists!
We might not be able to make new “champagne” brands any more in America, but now Europeans can’t make “Napa.” Take that! [NVR]
Not THAT Georgia
“Want to try Georgian wine?” Mamuka Tsereteli booms, holding out a plastic cup. Seeing a blank look, he helpfully adds, “Caucasus mountains?” Selling Georgian wine in America. [WaPo]
Bottle age
Two Buck Chuck does what none of its wine could do: turns five years old. [AP]
How sweet it isn’t
Mariann Fischer-Boel, the reformist EU Commissioner of Agriculture, has taken aim at Southern European wine producers with the threat of uprooting vines and reducing subsidies. Now she takes aim at Northern Europeans with a potential ban on chaptilization, a method of adding sugar to wine. [J. Ro]
One of the "seven best wine blogs." 
One of the three best wine blogs
On May 29th, 2007 at 9:07 pm ,Joe wrote:
What is this, a family rated site? Where are the Playboy labels?