Irregular Update
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Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2009
Welcome to the first Irregular Update of 2008. Over the break, which I thoroughly enjoyed, instead of being wine obsessed I watched a heap of sport, DVD's, and waded through a pile of books I could not see over. That plus enjoying good wine, too much great food and the company of family and friends. Now its back to "wine work." Speaking of which, a few cosmetic changes have been made to the home page and a new feature has been added. Vintage has started and some wine nuts, who live outside the wine growing areas, are interested in the weather in their favourite regions or regions. On the home page, there is now a link that will take you to a page that has links to weather information for all the major Australian wine growing areas. If you have a favourite area that I have missed, email me and I will be happy to add it to the page.
In past years I have commenced the new year with a retrospective called the Year In Review, but this year decided to be different and just kick off with a new article instead. In some ways it continues the theme of the second last story written last year which covered the Tesco/ Jago Presentation. It doesn't look like the debate about low alcohol wine is going to go away anytime soon. When you look at the web its besieged with demands that alcohol in New World wine should be lowered. This article examines why these demands are being made, who is making them, and most importantly, why proponents may not like the end result if their campaign is successful. It asks questions that have not been asked before, one of which is crucial to this whole debate, and shows how this whole outcry is based on floored logic, and in its current format is a complete crock. Be Careful What You Wish For can be found here.
Since the last communication a couple of wine Funnies have been added, as well as a new Snippet and updates to the Wine Scam article. Links to all of these can be found at the top of the home page.
Stories and Irregular Updates over the next month will be sparse. I am currently planning a tour of the Victorian Wineries for Brian and myself which will start early in February. Unlike planning a tour of South Australia, the logistics are a nightmare and take an inordinate amount of time to plan. The distances between wineries and regions are huge and unless you plan with military precision, you spend more time driving than tasting!
Last year I ran a guessing competition for readers. The person who
guessed the closest date to when the Tasting Note entry page counter would click
over 100,000 hits, would win a bottle of good wine from my cellar. In second
place was Glen Bauder. Glen has either won or come second in the last
three guessing competitions that Brian and I have run. The counter hit the magic
number on January 4th and the winning entry by Marion Stewart predicted
it would occur on Christmas Day. Marion will take the bottle with her to
Switzerland in July, to share it with friends who live there.
If you didn't get a chance to read the last Feature Story, The Quest Continues which is a provoking read that throws completely new light on the cork versus screwcap debate. It will challenge your thoughts on the subject, no matter what side of the fence you sit on, so its worth reading now.
A number of new Tasting Notes have been added. They can be found here.
The News section has started to crank up again. Stories of possible interest are:
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Australian wine imports double
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Bordeaux 2007: warning bells start ringing
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Hunter Valley's Trevor Drayton killed in explosion
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Rain may hamper wine grape harvest
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AUS$50k Grange leads Langton's pack
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Wine label rules to change
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I won't drink my own Parker-rated wines, says California winemaker
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Domestic wine sales fall
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Domestic wine sales fall
Those stories and more can be found here.
This weeks quote. "... the odour of Burgundy, and the smell of French sauces,
and the sight of clean napkins and long loaves, knocked as a very welcome
visitor at the door of our inner man. "Jerome K. Jerome" from Three Men in a
Boat
Until next time .... Cheers!
Ric
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