Dr Vino's wine blog

SIPPED: waste wine
A new company is turning waste wine (and beer) into ethanol. Marquee investor: Shaq. [LA Times]

SPIT: bodybuilders
A new, lightweight (300g) glass bottle will debut in the UK next year. [Decanter]

SIPPED: “indelible stain”
Michael Broadbent’s lawsuit against Random House, publisher of the The Bilionaire’s Vinegar, only serves to draw attention to the “indelible stain on his record” that the Rodenstock/Jefferson bottles represent. [Slate]

SIPPED: wine geekdom
Jamie Goode explores the love-hate relationship between oxygen and wine, corks and screwcaps. [Wines & Vines]

SIPPED: public sector frugality
A general in the British Army made the news for £1.49 supermarket Merlot for his guests–among other cost saving measures. No moat cleaning for him! [Timesonline.co.uk]

SIPPED: private label brands
“A $3 unknown wine at Safeway makes you think ‘how can it be any good?’ while a $3 wine with the Trader Joe’s imprimatur makes you think ‘how bad can it be?'” [Wine Economist]

SPIT: pricing information
A pet peeve: winery and wine store web sites that don’t make it easy to tell the price and/or legal possibility of shipping without doing an arduous check-out or profile procedure.

It’s that time of year when millions of Americans gather around campfires, saying “I hate white rabbits” as they try to get out of the smoke. Of course, once positioned upwind, thoughts inevitably turn to…S’mores! Yes, what would summer be like without a booster shot of high fructose corn syrup in the form of graham crackers sandwiching molten marshmallows with a slab of Hershey’s chocolate?

And a wine lover’s thoughts might also drift to an inevitable pairing with wine! Which wine goes with smores? Or are they…impossible?!?

(As an aside, above you can see my s’mores technique of trying to melt the chocolate on a rock close to the fire. Didn’t work so well. Hit the comments with your preferred technique and/or ingredients.)

SIPPED: Scottish wine?
French chefs have urged President Sarkozy to seal a deal at the Copenhagen climate change talks this fall–or risk ceding some the world’s prime vineyard sites to…Scotland! [independent.ie]

SIPPED: lobbying
The Village Voice looks at the jockeying behind the legislative initiative to allow supermarkets to sell wine.

SIPPED and SPIT: growth (of the viticultural kind)
The AP offers more reporting on the coming harvest “under economic cloud.”

SIPPED: a second life for those OWCs
Wine crates as serving trays.

SIPPED: tree planting
An Australian winery will attempt to offset its carbon emissions by planting up to 10,000 trees worldwide. Let’s hope the trees fare better than those planted for Coldplay! [Perth Now]

SPIT: a tip of the hat
In the recent double issue, NY mag ran a long piece about ethical eating that included a mention of the carbon footprint of wine. Ditto Newsweek in their current double issue.

SPIT: bottled water
Mother Jones has a long article on the making of FIJI bottled water.

How natural should wine be? That’s one of the hottest questions in the wine world today.

On September 12, join me at the University of Chicago’s Graham School for a Saturday seminar entitled: “Red, white and “green” wines: can you taste the difference?” We will discuss issues relating to organic and biodynamic wines, talk about some leading wines and wine makers, and see if we can taste the difference between some conventional wines and their eco-wine counterparts in a blind tasting. No previous wine experience is necessary. Hope to see you there!

Registration and details

Despite some perceptions to the contrary, cru Beaujolais wines can be extremely rewarding wines. The region is in flux and home to some leading makers of “natural” wines. Check out my current piece over on Forbes.com! And when you hear “cru Beaujolais,” don’t say “no way!” as a friend recently did.

I mention Lapierre, Foillard, Thivin, Descombes as some of the excellent 2007s that I had recently. What are some of your favorites? Or do you fall in the “no way” camp?

With red ink pouring onto many balance sheets, newspapers are now offering to pour something red in your glass: wine.

The Wall Street Journal has done it. So has the San Francisco Chronicle. And the Financial Times and the Times of London. Now the New York Times jumps into the pool with the announcement yesterday that they will be starting the New York Times Wine Club.

Two levels are available: The Times Sampler, six wines “for everyday drinking” for $90, or The Times Reserve, a selection of six wines “ideal to serve on special occasions” for $180. Intervals are monthly to quarterly.

The press release states “The New York Times Wine Club is operated independently of The Times’s critics or other members of the news department.” Global Wine Company, chosen to run the wine club, will “source wines directly from wineries, with no private label or bulk wines.” The dedicated club Web site “includes recipe pairings and links to additional food and wine content on www.NYTimes.com.”

Wines & Vines reported in June that California regulatory authorities have called such clubs “illegal” since unlicensed parties are profiting from the sale of liquor.

But the most pressing question for consumers remains: are any of these clubs any good? Just yesterday, a reader wrote in wondering about the quality of the WSJ club. Unfortunately, I have no first-hand experience. In theory, a club from a winery, shop, or newspaper could inform and educate with new wines that people might not discover on their own as well as sourcing incredible deals since the wines are essentially pre-sold. But clubs could also send a bitter, tannic wine to someone who likes only sweet, for example. The biggest drawback with many clubs, it would seem, is the lack of feedback ability from the consumer to the retailer as boxes arrive automatically. In a good store, a knowledgeable staff member can listen to consumer preferences and adjust a selection accordingly.

Hit the comments with your actual wine club experiences!

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Casella Wines, the maker of [yellow tail], has sued two companies associated with Fred T. Franzia over their new Australian wine, Down Under. Franzia’s Bronco Wine Co. also makes “Two Buck Chuck.”

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan yesterday, alleges that the label for [Down Under] is substantially similar to and infringes on the trademarked label for [yellow tail].

“Bronco’s use of Casella’s iconic square brackets and its use of Australian-centric wording in connection with the sale of Australian wine are likely to confuse consumers,” the lawsuit said.

[Down Under] sells for about $3, or half the price of [yellow tail]. Both wines come in high-shouldered bottles and have duotone capsules as seen in the image after the jump.

If you were presenting evidence to the judge, what would you say in this case? Read more…

The other day we talked about “embarrassing moments in bottle opening.” Be sure to check out the stories for some good laughs.

But one commenter who wasn’t laughing was Paul Gregutt, wine columnist for the Seattle Times. He had this to say:

there’s little doubt that the most difficult cork pulling experiences in my life come when someone has slathered their weapon-grade wine bottle with a pound or two of faux wax. You need a chainsaw to drill through some of these things. It is not helpful to embark on what is supposed to be a thoughtful review of someone’s wine with blood all over the corkscrew, the bottle, the glass and the writer. Perhaps you will join me in an effort to dissuade wineries from using this stuff?

I’ve enjoyed quite a few wines–from Lapierre, Foillard, Vatan, and Lopez de Heredia to name a few–sealed with a wax layer on top of the cork. While they are annoying since they require an additional sweep of the counter, I’ve never shed blood as Paul apparently has. And I think they do add a nice aesthetic touch.

But what say you? Should wineries no longer use them as Paul suggests?

[poll id=”6″]