Dr Vino's wine blog

What fruit encapsulates summer better than a watermelon? OK, I hear you muttering about peaches, nectarines, berries and that forgotten fruit–the tomato. But today’s challenge is watermelon! Is it an impossible food-wine pairing?

Have your say in the comments! And do let us know if you’re pairing that $6,100 black watermelon just sold in Japan or a plain old regular one instead.

SIPPED: Box wine in Italy!
From Bloomberg: “Italy’s Agriculture Ministry said that some fine Italian wines that receive government quality guarantees will be allowed to be sold in boxes.” Bravo! [via The Lede blog, NYT]

SPIT: Paul Masson!
A funny photo story about the “iconic” wine. [David Lebovitz]

SPIT: France’s new anti-alcohol campaign
French teens like the music in a new French government anti-drinking ad but dislike the oh-so-bitter end of crazy debauchery. One teen reacts to the video: ‘Alcohol doesn’t make those problems, people do.’ Can the backlash against the ads be paving the way for the NRA in France? [Decanter]

SPIT: the 800 pound guerrilla
A member of CRAV, a militant wine organization in the south of France, has his bombing campaign backfire–literally. [TIME]

SPIT: Bottle Shock, the movie
“…too rambling and unfocused to draw a crossover crowd like that darling of wine movies, ‘Sideways.”’ [Bloomberg]

As a category, rosé wine has had to fight for respect. But unlike Rodney Dangerfield, the category has actually gotten respect recently as it has become more popular in the US and the rosés now surpass white wines to be the best sellers in France.

Rosé has been seen as a “not serious” wine primarily because–with few but notable exceptions–it doesn’t age. Just buy the most recent vintage, chill it and toss it back while on the deck, patio, veranda, picnic blanket, or outdoor cafe. And lest I need to clarify, it’s dry rosé that I’m talking about, not white zinfandel or its predecessor, the original white zin, rosé d’Anjou.

Even separating the dry from the sweet, there are still a lot of rosés that don’t cut it for me. Some common faults as I see them are: too high alcohol, too thick, too short a flavor, and too expensive.

So now we arrive at perhaps the most burning August wine discussion: what is the best rosé? And since I usually drink roses from France or Spain, why not add a patriotic twist and try to determine the best American rosé? Read more…

Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory have taken a break from their usual physics research and turned their attention to combating wine fraud.

Roger Johnston and Jon Warner in Argonne ‘s Vulnerability Assessment Team have developed a cap that can be put in place at the winery to track if the bottle has ever been opened or tampered with.

However, if you thought resistance to screwcaps was high in the realm of fine wine, get a load of this Lojac meets Denver Boot meets car alarm thingy. And just look how it makes your laptop bug out when you connect the two! Full details on the story in their press release. (hat tip: Andrew)

In other wine and technology news circulating today, the e-tongue has resurfaced. But we’ve already wagged our tongues at that one!

Related: The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace

Portland is a city known for micro-breweries. Starting this fall, there will be a micro-winery as well.

John Grochau of Grochau Cellars and Stewart Boedecker and Athena Pappas of Boedecker Cellars will make their first vintage in the northwest industrial district of Portland this fall. Dubbed the Portland Wine Project, the shared space of about 10,000 square feet is at 30th St and NW Industrial just across from the Pyramid Breweries (map it). They anticipate being able to receive visitors by Thanksgiving.

Grochau built his winemaking skillz at Erath and Brick House Wines Read more…

Here’s a quick roundup of some recent reviews and mentions of my new book, Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink. If you’ve already gotten the book, many thanks and let us know your thoughts!

John Mariani (who has a Ph.D. himself from Columbia) wrote a review on Bloomberg.com saying that the book “contain(s) so much history, data and anecdotes in a highly readable 144 pages.”

John and Dottie quoted from the book in their Friday column in the WSJ!

The Times Higher Education Supplement says that it “exposes a little-known but influential aspect of the wine business: the politics behind it.”

Blogger Jeremy Parzen, Ph.D. generously calls it “required reading“!

And Tom Wark, involved in the day-to-day workings of wine industry politics as the head of the Specialty Wine Retailers’ Association, wrote on his blog that “A book of this sort is so long overdue and I had been looking forward to it with such great anticipation that I nearly wet my pants when it finally arrived at my door.” Then he said some other stuff that is too nice to reproduce here so you’ll have to visit his blog, Fermentation, for the rest of his write up.

The signings in Oregon were fun–it was great to meet some blog readers for the first time. Thanks for the continued interest in Wine Politics and your support!

As yet another indicator of the popularity of wine in the United States, particularly among younger drinkers, consider this: the rise of wine tattoos! Yes, Gallup, some respondents in your survey may be fickle in their dedication to wine but consider these people who wear their hearts on (or under) their sleeves!

I snapped the first pic at IPNC; Philippe Newlin, friend of the blog, sent in the second. What’s your wine tattoo, either in reality or hypothetically?

SUNY Stony Brook, Center for Food, Wine and Culture, will be having an international wine conference next week entitled “The Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime Wines in a Global Context.”

The interesting lineup of speakers includes New York winemakers such as Eric Fry and Thomas Laszlo, NYC somm/wine soothsayer Paul Grieco, and winemakers from Friuli Venezia-Giulia, the Rheingau, Rías Baixas, The Loire, Bordeaux, and Santa Rita Hills. Check the site for the full line-up.

There will also be a tasting on Tuesday night with wines from 75 wineries and it’s possible to just attend this portion of the two day festivities. The whole event will be a good opportunity to taste the NY wines compared to other wines and discuss potential directions for New York wines. If I were in town, I’d be there!

August 5 & 6, SUNY Stony Brook Southampton.