Dr Vino's wine blog

SIPPED: Nose jobs
Twenty five cops have been trained as sommeliers to sniff out fraud in Italy (reacting to fraud in olive oil, perhaps?). That would make for great TV! “‘The ability to remain lucid is at the core of every undercover activity, without exception,” said one of the officers. [Decanter]

SIPPED: bagged wine
Not as in a blind tasting bag, as in the wine pouch–with handle! [wine.co.za]

Sipped AND Spit: the 2007 harvest
Hottest in 400 years makes it “another 2003”–decidedly mixed to me. But this reporter thinks it’s better: “Fiercely hot, true, for months now, but without that pitilessly dry, hot spring that we had four years ago.” [Guardian]

SPIT: high alcohol wines
A journalist suffers a boozy night and then limps off to taste through Tesco new a line of low-alcohol wines. [Guardian, thanks Mark!]

SPIT: Wine on Bali
An overhaul of the corrupt Customs agency has left this resort island virtually dry. “It is becoming a serious issue,” said Michael Burchett, the general manager of the five-star Conrad hotel and head of the Bali Hotel Association. “Some hotels are reporting a 40 per cent reduction in the number of items available on their wine lists. If something doesn’t happen soon most of the hotels are going to have very serious problems by the end of September.” [FT.com]

SPIT: warm beer
“In the UK, beer lost 5 percent year-over-year, while wine gained 6 percent. Rose wine has enjoyed the greatest sales boom – up 188% since 2005 to hit 49 billion liters this year.” [Sky news]

SPIT: Cipriani
After guilty plea to tax evasion, the NYC restaurant owner who may lose liquor licenses [AP]

SPIT: Punch & Judy closes, ditto for Bourgeois Pig Cafe. See the updated NYC wine bar map.