The week of the takedown – spit and spit
SPIT: quotes!
Ray Isle, wine editor at Food & Wine, is ticked. He previously posted about some wipes that claim to remove wine stains from teeth (saying, among other things, that “they fill the mouth (mine, at least) with a searing citric acid note, overlaid with a kind of strange metallic dissonance”). His comments were modified, taken out of context and then used in the product’s promotional materials, which he is shocked to discover. So he goes for the takedown. Click through for the whole thing; here’s a taste: “I hope you discover that your product poisons peoples gums and makes their teeth fall out, and that you get sued into nonexistence as a result.” [foodandwine.com]
SPIT: wine store websites
John and Dottie, often positive, go negative on wine store websites citing many problems: phantom inventory, slow delivery, cluttered and old fashioned sites, and too many emails (round of applause for that one). At the end, they offer some suggestions for improvement. [WSJ]
SPIT: Australia
“Foster’s may be Australian for beer (mate); it appears that screwed is now Australian for wine.” But ends on a positive note. [Slate]
SPIT: Mondavi, Constellation edition
Paul Gregutt, wine writer for the Seattle Times, tastes through the lines of Robert Mondavi wines and sums up the experience: “Perhaps some hidden treasures are out there; I did not find them.” [Seattle Times]
SPIT: 2007 Bordeaux and 2008 prices
We leave you with a “glimmer of hope” (Friday’s catch phrase in Washington). Jancis Robinson calls the 2007 vintage of Bordeaux “wildly overpriced” and “rather scrawny.” The big question is if and by how much the 2008s will come down in price. Angelus dropped by 40%. But the glimmer is that Jancis says next week she will reveal “why such a miserable summer [2008] produced such cheer in the thousands of tasting glasses emptied last week (at the en primeurs in Bordeaux).” [FT.com]
On April 12th, 2009 at 9:11 pm ,Enobytes wrote:
I love the “wine store websites” story – I just experienced similar problems at an online storefront which deserves a can of whoop a@ss!
~Pamela
On April 13th, 2009 at 5:46 am ,Steve from Winescorecard wrote:
Ray Isle should be ticked – I’m amazed that someone would try to get away with that!
On April 13th, 2009 at 12:48 pm ,Arthur wrote:
I love that Ray Isle piece!
This is why I have a policy not to accept gadgets about which I am skeptical at the outset.
I don’t want to waste their time (and mine) and I don’t want to run the risk of what I say being twisted so perversely.
On April 14th, 2009 at 7:15 am ,Greg Roberts wrote:
Not the best way to win over an influential wine writter. But do we really need this product?
It fills a need after an epic day of tasting but why not just brush your teeth? Your mouth is already overloaded with tannins and you want more than a superficial cleaning.
On April 14th, 2009 at 10:44 am ,Arthur wrote:
I just use unflavored chewing gum and drinking water.
On April 15th, 2009 at 9:28 am ,Dylan wrote:
What happened to Ray Isle is ridiculous, and a bit amusing at the company’s expense. I’m more so in disbelief not that this was done, but by the very fact that Isle was sent the rewrite of his testimonial by the company who rewrote it! Thanks, Tyler–I enjoyed this story.
On May 28th, 2009 at 6:24 pm ,Brian wrote:
Hey Arthur —
Where do you get unflavored chewing gum? I’d love to buy some!
Brian
On May 28th, 2009 at 6:27 pm ,Arthur wrote:
Brian,
I use the Glee gum kit and skip the flavoring.
http://www.gleegum.com
It’s not really flavorless, but….