Canada Slowly Opens It's Provincial Borders To Wine Shipping

Canada Inches Toward Wine Direct Shipping -- Wine Spectator

Parliament repeals national ban, giving provinces the choice to allow shipping, but few have decided so far.

Canadians who want the right to order wine directly from wineries won a big victory this summer when their parliament voted to end a nearly century-old ban on direct shipping between provinces. But the new law has created confusion, because it puts the decision in the hands of provincial governments. While British Columbia quickly voted yes, Manitoba quietly said OK, and the rest of the provinces are still debating the issue.

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My Comment: I live in Quebec .... and I am not optimistic that Quebec will embrace the idea of its citizens avoiding their provincially run liquor stores and buying directly from a winery in BC.

Building A Winery In China From Scratch

Judy Leissner. Grace Vineyard

Building A Winery In China From Scratch -- Wall Street Journal

Move over baijiu, you’ve got company. With its auspicious hue and perceived health benefits, red wine is “the banquet drink of Chinese officials and businessmen,” according to Harvard Business School professor William C. Kirby.

It’s a trend that bodes well for Grace Vineyard, which Prof. Kirby profiled in a Harvard Business School case study three years ago that chronicled China’s fast-growing wine industry.

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My Comment: The Chinese are definitely developing a taste and market for wine .... and if I was a betting man .... grace Vineyard will be a success.

Talk About Expensive Spilt Drinks

£50,000 Cognac Bottle Smashed By Clumsy Customer -- The Inquisitr

A £50,000 cognac bottle (that’s $77,000 to most of our readers) has been smashed by a clumsy drinker, just days before it was about to be used in the world’s most expensive cocktail.

Judges from Guinness World Records were set to appear at the exclusive Playboy Club in Mayfair, West London to watch drinks supremo Salvatore Calabrese mix an ‘Old and Wise’ cocktail using a bottle of 1788 Clos de Griffier Vieux from his personal collection. The £50,000 cognac bottle works out at £5,050 ($7,800) a glass.

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Update #1: $77,615 Bottle Of 224-Year-Old Cognac Shattered By Clumsy Customer -- Huffington Post
Update #2: $77K booze bottle smashed in London -- Examiner

My Comment: Ouch!

The Official Olympic Wine

This rosé is part of the London 2012 triad

London 2012: The Olympic Wine Carrying A Torch For The Games -- The Telegraph

The London Olympics will be the first to have its own 'official' wines – so where will they stand in the medal table?

They're coming to watch athletes squelch their way across waterlogged track and sodden pitch. So it won't have occurred to Olympic ticketholders to consider the quality of the wine on sale. But this drenched summer, they might just be grateful for the fact that London's vinous preparations have not been neglected. Far from it. They've been painstaking – two years in the making – and have also involved some very clever tricks and quite a few ructions.

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My Comment: The grapes used for the red wine is from Brazil .... hmmm ....

captain Morgan Is Helping To Find Captain Morgan's Treasure

The Underwater Archaeologists Searching For Captain Morgan -- Popular Science

Off the coast of Panama, a team of archaeologists uncovers a ship that may have belonged to one of the most famous pirates who ever lived.

So this is what a pirate's sword feels like.

I wrap my hands around the straight iron blade. It's probably a 17th-century rapier, I'm told, but it'd hard to know for sure. The handle is missing, and though I can see and feel its fuller groove, a layer of sea shells and some sort of hardened concretion cover the blade's finer details. "That's either calcium carbonate or coralline," Texas State University archaeologist Fritz Hanselmann tells me as he takes the blade and places it in a makeshift holder his crew had just MacGyvered from a metal CD rack, rebar, and scraps of a yoga mat.

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My Comment: Not a story about rum .... but definitely a story about a rum company helping to boost it's brand.

Are The British Giving Up On Champagne?

Champagne Sales Lose Their Sparkle -- The Guardian

For the first time the British are now spending less on champagne than other sparkling wines, and it's about time too, says Oliver Thring.

Well, he wasn't going to drink anything else, and frankly, in those circumstances, neither would most of us. But Bradley Wiggins is one of a shrinking breed – the Englishman who drinks champagne. In the credit-swollen days of 2007, we spent £1bn on champagne in the UK. That figure is expected to fall to less than £700m this year, while sales of prosecco, cava and other sparkling wines are up 55% over the same period, to £720m. For the first time in this country, champagne is less popular than its rivals.

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My Comment: Champagne has always been overpriced .... that is why it is champagne.

Pinot Noir Is Now The Third-Most-Popular Red Wine In America

Pinot Noir On Its Way To Superstar Status -- Sacramento Bee/McClatchy Tribune

If you asked me my favorite wine, I couldn't tell you. I value variety too much. If you put a gun to my head, I might stammer out the words "pinot noir."

Pinot noir embodies the old wine cliche it's a steel fist in a velvet glove. Less tannic and muscular than cabernet sauvignon, but still powerful in acids and flavors of red berries - cherries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries - with additional elements of earth, truffles, even minerals.

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My Comment: Not a Pinot Noir drinker .... but for lighter meals it is a good selection.

Century-Old Whiskey Bottles Found In Missouri Man's Attic

A Missouri man found bottles of nearly century old whiskey in his home that is being renovated. (William Seay/KQTV/ABC News)

Century-Old Whiskey Bottles Found in Missouri Man's Attic -- ABC News

To save money on the installation of central air-conditioning in his St. Joseph, Mo., home, Bryan Fite began replacing the wires in his attic, prying up the floor boards on the rafters. Along with possible savings, he found a treasure beneath the floorboards: 13 bottles of century-old whiskey.

Fite, 40, grew up in St. Joseph, and after working in Kansas City for several years, he returned to settle in his hometown in September 2011. The house he and his wife Emily Fite chose was built in the 1850s and needed work, Fite said.

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More News On Century-Old Whiskey Bottles Found in Missouri Man's Attic

Man uncovers secret stash of more than a DOZEN 1917 whiskey bottles in his attic 'left behind by alcoholic former homeowner' -- Daily Mail
Booze you can use: Man finds century-old bottles in attic -- New York Daily News
Pre-Prohibition booze found in Mo. attic -- UPI

My Comment: This whiskey is not worth that much money .... but it does have history behind it.

Instead Of Retiring, You Open A Whiskey Distillery

Photo: Mark Meyer. Adam Milliron

Whiskey Makes Retirement Easier -- Wall Street Journal

Some people dream of a retirement spent sipping whiskey in a rocking chair by the fire. During his retirement, Mark Meyer is spending 10 hours a day, seven days a week, making whiskey.

Founder of Wigle Whiskey, a distillery that crafts organic, artisan rye and wheat whiskeys, Mr. Meyer knew nothing about the spirits business before he got started two years ago.

"To be honest, I've woken up more than once in the middle of the night wondering what I'm doing," says the 61-year-old retired trial lawyer. "But I've learned by doing, and it has been an amazing experience."

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My Comment: I wish them luck.

A Look At Condrieu

Condrieu: Old Wood Passes The Acid Test -- The Telegraph

A good condrieu has been stored in aged oak and digs its roots deep into the Rhône valley – but only at a certain angle.

Condrieu is one of those magical wines. It smells like apricots and the distillate of dew from a Mediterranean garden in full bloom. It has a heady lift. And it mesmerises like a storyteller whose words make you forget where you are.

At least, it does when it’s good. When condrieu is not good it is just another white wine made from viognier: a bit flabby, sometimes claggy, and because it is so darn expensive and trying so hard, instead of a tease of barely smelt jasmine and hawthorn, you might get the over-cologned reek of someone you wouldn’t want to sit near in a restaurant, let alone have on your table.

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My Comment: This white wine is expnsive .... but it is a perfect wine on a hot summer day.

A Wine Estate For Sale In Malibu

Rosenthal Wine Estate in Malibu Is Listed for $59.5 Million -- Wall Street Journal

A 235-acre Malibu, Calif., wine estate has listed for $59.5 million. The seller is George I. Rosenthal, the chairman of Raleigh Enterprise, which owns and operates commercial real estate, hotels, and movie and TV studio complexes.

Mr. Rosenthal assembled the Rosenthal Wine Estate beginning in 1977. The property includes a 12,000-square-foot hacienda-style main residence with two swimming pools. There are also horse stables and two guesthouses, including one with an additional pool.

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My Comment: A wine estate in Malibu .... who would have known.

Tackling Wine Allergies

Tech Tackles Wine Allergies -- Discovery News

Some people are allergic to certain wines -- that nice Loire Valley red gives them a rash or headache, or that California Chardonnay makes them sneeze. The University of British Columbia's Wine Research Center might have found a way to solve this problem.

The team at UBC has modified two genes of a strain of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which has been used in winemaking for decades (if not centuries). The yeast was modified to eliminate the need for a species of bacteria needed for the winemaking process. That bacteria produces chemicals that cause allergic reactions. About 30 percent of the population has some allergy to wine.

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My Comment: What struck me about this article was the following stat .... about 30 percent of the population has some allergy to wine. that's a big market being left out.

How To Prepare And Serve Your Wines

An example of a wine that had a bit of reduction that needed my Mason-jar, double-decanting procedure. One hour later, pure drinking joy. Photograph by: Bill Zacharkiw , Special to The Gazette

Wine: How It Is Served Is As Important As The Wine Itself -- Bill Zacharkiw, Montreal Gazette

I was over at a friend’s house for a birthday barbecue and, as per usual, I brought the wine. All the bottles were already open, and one person asked me: “Why?” I replied that I always open my bottles in the morning, even when I am drinking at home.

If choosing a wine to go with your meal makes you anxious, serving your wine the right way is a lot easier.

Unfortunately, most people don’t pay enough attention to wine service. This error is not only made by the average wine drinker; I have seen way too many sommeliers and waiters do their best to sell you “the right wine,” but forget that how the wine is served is as important as what you pour.

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My Comment: Some good points here. Read it all.

5 Most Popular Luxury Burgundy Wines On The Market

Wikimedia Commons

The 5 Most Popular Luxury Burgundy Wines On The Market -- Business Insider

Burgundy, one of the most well-respected regions in France, produces some of the most sought-after Pinot Noir wines in the world known internationally by the name of the region.

A select few of these wines are even considered investments as they're often produced to be aged for at least 5 to 7 years.

Of course, it's not just about reputation. These wines also taste amazing. The beauty and luxury of these wines has drawn quite a bit of buzz around them. That's likely why this is one of the more popular categories in the Snooth People's Voice Wine Awards.

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My Comment: Heavy on the Pinot Noirs .... which is not my personal favorite grape. But still a good collection of wines from one of the France's premier wine regions.

Could Wine Reduce The Chance Of Arthritis by half?

Drink up: Women who drink three glasses of wine a week could be halving their risk of arthritis

Three Glasses Of Wine A Week Could Reduce Chance Of Arthritis By Half -- Daily Mail

* Around 400,000 Britons are affected by rheumatoid arthritis and the majority are women, aged 40 to 70

The next time someone offers you a glass of wine, be grateful – it could save you from the agony of arthritis.

Women who indulge in moderate drinking halve the risk of certain forms of the illness, researchers have found.

Swedish academics found that women who drank at least three medium-sized glasses of wine a week - or the equivalent in beer or spirits - were up to 52 per cent less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

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My Comment: I will drink to that.

Cows Raised On Fine Wine

Jean-Charles Tastavy, who came up with the idea, said the two Angus and one Camargue were initially fed the wine in a mix of barley, hay and grapes Photo: Alamy

French Cows Reared On Fine Wine -- The Telegraph

French cows are enjoying up to two bottles of high quality wine every day as farmers attempt to produce the best beef in Europe.

The extraordinary development has seen a 'Vinbovin' label of meat established which is already being championed by some of the best restaurants in Paris.

It follows an experiment in Lunel-Viel, in the southern Herault region of France, which saw three cows fed local wine for four months.

Jean-Charles Tastavy, who came up with the idea, said the two Angus and one Camargue were initially fed the wine in a mix of barley, hay and grapes.

It soon became clear that they were 'happy cows' who ended up producing an exceptionally succulent meat.

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My Comment: Lucky cows.

The Story Of Cognac At The Museum Of Cognac History (Video)

The Story Of Cognac At The Museum Of Cognac History -- RIA Novosti

The origin and history of this legendary drink is shrouded in mystery. The secrets of its recipe are passed down from generation to generation, from father to son. The purity and quality standards of this heavenly liqueur are held sacred in the wine growing Cognac region of France from where it originates. And nothing made outside the region can use the name cognac. Check the video at RIA Novosti

Louis XIII - Why It's The King Of Cognac