Irregular Update
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008
Happy July 4 to all our American friends and welcome to this weeks Irregular Update, and in honour of our American readers, the quote of the week has been elevated to the top of the page. "A 2006 study found that the average American walks 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink an average of 22 gallons of beer a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon." - The Bathroom Readers' Institute.
After a long absence, this week we have a couple of very brief Readers Write snippets. Both involve their experience with "wine service." My reaction when I read them were two fold. The reaction to the first was "well that goes some way to explain why this company is in financial difficulty,." My reaction to the second was "the mind boggles." They can be found here. If you have anything that you would like to contribute, please do so, all contributions are always welcome.
Whilst on the subject of readers, whilst I get a great deal of satisfaction in maintaining TORBWine, I am doing it hoping that people will enjoy reading what I write. In a nutshell, there are two distinct and different audiences. The first is the avid wine nut who has a thirst for wine knowledge and information. The second group is mutually exclusive from the first; they are those in the wine business who want an independent opinion of the Oz wine scene. Trying to give both these groups exactly what they would like to read, is not always easy, and that's why I would like your assistance please. I need to know what you would like me to write about, as well as any story ideas that you may like me to look into. Your feedback is terribly important if this site is to remain relevant to readers, so please email me with your thoughts, be it positive or negative. Constructive criticism is good!
On the subject of Heritage madness, I received an email from Martin Edwards in Queensland that left me scratching me head. According to Martin, this lot of Kay's 2000 Hillside was showing a bid of $294 a bottle at 10 am and later that day after the auction closed, it showed as being passed in with no bids. In that same auction was 12 bottles of Kay's 2000 SMG which genuinely failed to get a bid, and was passed in at $9 a bottle. Madness indeed!
This weeks article examines The Changing Wine World. Twenty years
ago the wine world was very different; not just the Australian wine world, the
whole world 's wine scene. Many factors have influenced the changes. Amongst
others, they include the decline in fortunes of much of the French industry, the
rise of the US market and the success of the Australian industry. These changes
have been monumental and rapid, but in twenty years from now, when we look back,
the world wine scene will look nothing like it does today.
This story
examines the reasons why.
A new Snippet has been posted that examines Two Press Reports that also left me scratching my head in wonder.
Some interesting new tasting notes this week, from a producer who thinks they are a smallfry, but if they keep making wines this good, they may have to change their name to something else.
The News section has been about average over the past week. Stories of possible interest include:
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EU sets sights on bold plan for draining wine lake
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New EU wine plans dubbed 'dangerous'
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Riot police on alert as Languedoc winemakers plan protest
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Europe burns its wine lake
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A Blow to Wine Snobs
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Not a good drop for Constellation
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MacBank chairman to ease wine bottleneck
Those stories and more can be found here.
There will be no Irregular Update next week as I have been tied up with year end financial guff, and have visitors coming to stay for a few days next week.
So until the following week.... Cheers!
Ric
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Copyright © Ric Einstein 2007 |