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Wine snobbery: it’s not just for the elite anymore
Best wine read on the web at the moment has got to be this Toronto Globe & Mail piece entitled “The new wine snob — it might even be you”. Fun comments, too.
Here’s a lede for you:
He lurks in the shadows at most social gatherings, ready to pounce. Increasingly difficult to identify from his appearance, he’s been mutating of late. Long hair or short, chic clothes or shabby - there’s no way to tell.
Until you get too close. Then, when you least expect it, he goes in for the kill. You’re stuck in wine-bore hell …
Other news from the wine world out of Tennessee, by way of Cincinnati, in the form of this Associated Press (via Forbes) piece entitled “Court upholds Tenn. ban on direct wine sales”. The federal appeals court that issued the ruling is based in Cincy.
Not sure what to make of it. The case revolves around out-of-state versus in-state wineries, not retail shops, and it sure sounds as if the state’s current rules, confusing as the federal appeals court found them to be, did treat those two entities differently, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is verboten.
Still, you gotta love these paragraphs from the AP story:
The beer and liquor industry has contributed more than $1.1 million to candidates and causes in state races during the past decade, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
The wholesalers association’s legendary lobbyist, Tom “The Golden Goose” Hensley, earned his nickname by lavishly wining and dining lawmakers for the past 40 years, and the industry has fiercely fought efforts to change existing regulations.
Politics? In wine? C’mon, it’s only fermented grape juice, right? How could there ever be any politics involved with wine?
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Comments
By Ed
October 29, 2008 9:33 PM | Link to this
It’s insane. I was at a winery in Williamsburg Virginia last week. Air security rules being what they are you can’t bring bottles on the plane with you, and you don’t want to put a bottle in your checked bag and risk it breaking. So I asked them if I could buy from the web? The answer was no. Could I order from my local vendor in Cincinnati? Again no. They are still working on the paper work with the state. So the bottom line is I was out of luck. This kind of stuff is absurd.
By JIMI
October 29, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
BEER? GOOOOOD
By Nancy
October 28, 2008 10:38 PM | Link to this
Between 2000 and 2006 the beer and wine wholesalers spent $1.8 million in political campaign donations in Ohio… more than what was donated in New York. This national group has made it impossible for small wineries throughout the country to ship out of state. Regulations from state to state are insane… annual fees; excise tax forms; sales tax forms; in Alaska you can only ship to certain zip codes. All under the umbrella of “We’re trying to stop people under 21 from ordering wine.” It’s ridiculous. See this link for details. http://www.specialtywineretailers.org/documents/wmr11-1.pdf