Glad you have been enjoying this site! I didn’t SPIT the wine, just the Mafia/organized crime (hence the badabing is spit). Nor did I intend to diminish the seriousness of the effort but just wanted to highlight that it’s a new screen for socially responsible beverages.

Best,

Tyler

And I was doubly disappointed to see that some of the comments seemed flippant and superficial, especially about the mafia. Speaking as an American who has lived in Italy for more than ten years, it is incredibly naive to believe that the mafia has been “almost totally expunged in Sicily.” Sadly, the mafia is still very much a reality in Sicily; it affects peoples’ lives on a daily basis, to say nothing of the fact that many courageous judges, journalists, politicians, law enforcement officers, and ordinary citizens have died fighting against it.

As for Libera Terra, while of course I cannot comment on the issue of possible mafia infiltration or counterfeiting of the label, to the best of my knowledge it is a serious project, NOT a cheap marketing ploy. I have tasted the Centopassi wines and they left a good impression. The wines are biological and, in my opinion (especially the catarratto) simple but well-made, with good varietal character and more focused fruit flavors than one usually finds in this price range. I would say they are very valid from a quality/ price point of view (you see them in coop supermarkets priced at 5-6 euros).

p.s. I love the Sopranos as much as the next guy….

The label thing is possible (We sell a label removal kit), but “steaming,” wow, that was a long time ago…hardly anybody uses animal glues anymore.

23. If someone likes a wine, steam the label off the bottle and give it to the guest with the bill. It has the year, the vintner, the importer, etc.

First of all, have you ever seen this happen? And will that include both the front and back of the label? The importer is generally on the back, not the front… And good luck getting the label off it’s got an industrial adhesive, instead of a water-soluble glue.

27. For red wine, ask if the guests want to pour their own or prefer the waiter to pour.

Why only for red?

And as a bonus, the first reader comment is clearly not a resident of the South:

Treat a single female diner as well as you would anyone else. And don’t call us Ma’am.

Not calling a woman “ma’am” here in North Carolina would be a major faux pas.

1. Wine in several episodes of The Sopranos, with screenshots!
http://www.wineintro.com/movies/sopranos/
(Who made The Sopranos wine, pictured above?)

2. In relation to the Constellation in Australia story, the WSJ is now reporting “Constellation Considers Partial Sale in Australia and U.K.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Dell%27Orefice

I’m thrilled to learn that John Roberts carries a ball-point pen in his jacket pocket, so he’s always ready to autograph wine labels.

SIPPED: pretentiousness