budrichard

Are you sure it's 1963? I do not remember ever seeing any 1963 French wines of any kind? Hugh Johnson classifies 1963 for Sauternes as 'Bad' and when to drink as 'Never'. Coming on the heels of 59,60,61 and 62 and before 64, there was a lot of good to great wine available around that time. Still working on our last case of 61 Bordeaux. All the other 60's are gone. -Dick

I quote, "Here is the science: When a conductor or conductive fluid (in this case wine) passes through a magnetic field, an electrical charge is created. That charge can have an effect on molecules that are suspended in the fluid - loosely bonded molecules can have those bonds broken, resulting in smaller molecules. We can hypothesize that the taste of many small molecules is smoother than the taste of fewer large molecules. There is no proof of this, however. There is no scientific data that stipulates that smaller tannin molecules taste better than larger ones." The first part of the above statement is absolutely incorrect. When a conducter or conductive fluid passes through a magnetic field, a current consisting of the movement of electrical particles is created. If that didn't happen, then you wouldn't have the electricity to read this post, as that is how electricity is generated, by moving a conducter in a magnetic field. Electrical charges are not created, just like matter or energy is not created in normal circomstances.( We won't talk about Quantum Mechanics where it is possible to create matter and energy just as long as the net effect is zero!) The rest of the statement is pure junk! Who said wine is a conductive fluid? In terms of optical and audio testing. There are quantitative methods available to test each area. The use of subjective testing is left to the 'FanZines' where all products are great and the more one pays for an item, the better it sounds or looks. You can go to BestBuy and purchase 100' rolls of 'Monster' HP cable and install your 7.1 system yourself(I plan for the future) or you can purchase esoteric cable with all sorts of unjustifiable claims at outrageous prices. The choice is yours. Those of us that believe in science choose to believe rigerous quantitative testing. I do believe in the subjective when visual perception(art) is the subject and yes, you can't quantify it but know it when you see, hear, feel or taste it. But when I see, hear, feel or taste something I don't like, I have no problem in saying so. We walked out of the Chicago Lyric Opera's performance of 'Gatsby' because we didn't like it. If we believed the critics, we would have stayed. I believe many individuals are not confident in thier perceptions (wine being a prominent area) and don't want to contradict what the experts say. BTW, did you ever wonder why they use placebo's in testing? I certainly appreciate the efforts some of you are going to for this product and I am not ridiculing you. I simply am trying to point out that your testing is nonconsequential. In fact when you come right down to it, wine tasting is nonconsequential. Wine tasting makes an enjoyable product into a contest or trial wherein one loses sight of just enjoying wine. Definition: Wine Tasting, where one tastes a wine with the objective of giving it a numerical rating and describing the flavors. Now I'm beat. I need to have a glass of Domdechant Werner's 2001 Hochheimer Domdechaney Spatlese. http://www.domdechantwerner.com/dwwine.htm Not the Trocken Spatlese but the sweet Spatlese. Try to find that at your local wine store!-Dick

Some us are professionals with extensive scientific backgrounds and investigation histories. I for one have degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a resume that starts at Plasma Physics experimentation to Root Cause Analysis along with 27 years in the Commercial Nuclear Power Industry in between. We understand the world from a perspective that allows one to analyize whether something is 'Voodoo Science'. We also understand how an experiment must be performed to determine what is affected along with how an individuals perception can lead to false positives. I stand by my original assertion that objective testing of the 'Wine Clip' is impossible. Not only from a perception aspect but from control of variables i.e. the wine changes with time. Reidal has been making a fortune on their line of glassware and even though I doubt all their claims, I do use their glassware but only have a set of tasting glasses because I like the hollow stems and rolling around on the table and a set I purchased for cheap at 'Sams'. All Clad tries to sell 'copper cookware' but when you ask them for the thickness of the layers of copper, they will tell you that information is propietary. In effect, thier cookware is aluminum with a thin copper veneer. I purchased Falk Culinair. About the Heisenberg Uncertaincy Principle. Their is a lot of misunderstanding of this famous equation. The equation more correctly states that if one measures the position of a particle to a precise degree, than one loses all measurement of its momentum. This is for sub atomic particles where the measurements are made by light and since the particles are so small, the light being used to measure, affects the particle path. In the non atomic world, it is possible to measure with high precision many things. The 'Wine Clip' just isn't one of them. -Dick

I read the first few posts and initial testing methodology and 'results'. I can't believe that this forum is wasting it's time and energy on this product. As I previously posted, by the very nature of the qualitative methods of testing available and the imprecise nature of our perceptions, a truly scientific and objective testing methodology is impossible to do. With the abscence of any qualitative testing available, science must prevail, and science says the 'Wine Clip' is junk. BTW, if you debunk science and scientists, remember, it is they who keep your lights on(well most of the time for you in the EAST), make all your egadgets work and keep the planes in the air. Having read a few more posts, I firmly agree with Mr Camp on decorum, and I find that 'The Wine Clip' has held up remarkably under all the negative posts, unfortuneatly, his product has no scientifc basis and cannot be tested. One last thought on testing methodology. When endeavering to determine the effect of a variable, one wants to eliminate the effects of all other variables and hold those variables constant. By it's very nature, once you open a bottle of wine, even if you open two, one clipped and one unclipped, you cannot hold the other variables that are causing the wine to change constant. Add that to the subjective perceptions of the tasters and you must conclude that any scientific testing is impossible. -Dick

Great article! As a wine drinker/collector for 30+ years, I long ago stopped listening to the pundits and thier ratings. The pronouncements of Wine Spectator that $150/bottle white burgundies are a good buy cause me to convulse. I continue to read about vintages and seperate out the chaff from the wheat and purchase what I want. In some cases(pun?), this involves actually going to the source and ordering the wine thourgh an importer. The Internet and email have made this easier. In a restaurant, I order what I want with no intervention from the wine steward who invariably obtained the position yesterday. I have no fear of ordering the wrong wine but only fear the price and when I ascertain the price is out of line, it's beer for me! -Dick

One last comment and then I'll bow out of this discussion. The reason the 'Wine Clip' is percieved to work is very simple. An individuals perception is not a rigerous means of accomplishing a measurement. Perception is not reality, as we have been taught. at least in this case. Because an individual is told that he must determine if there is a difference between two wines, his mind is subconsiously looking for the difference and in many cases, social stigma of not wanting to not perceive the change will cause an individual to confirm a positive. When objective methods of measurement (read scientific instruments) are used and statistical variance employed, the measurements show no difference. The 'Wine Clip' cannot be proved by individual perception, you aren't that good. So the 'Wine Clip' works simply because it cannot be proved to not work by the methods employed. As a trained root cause investigator, I can regale you for hours about investigations where individuals swear on a stack of Bibles that something occured and the objective instrumentation shows nothing or vice versa. -Dick

I stoped reading the posts after the one posted by "The Wine Clip". My degrees are in Nuclear Engineering and I assure that I am well learned in scientific theory and investigation. The statement "Sometimes science can't be explained but it also can't be denied! " is used by individuals to try and debunk the scientific method. An area such as wine tasting does not lend itself to rigerous scientific investigation simply because one cannot seperate out ones perceptions from objective evidence. In the absence of investigation, it's a little like answering the query " Prove to me that it doesn't work". My reaction to the 'Wine Clip' is bull$#*t. Plain and simple. -Dick

The question to be asked is "Does color affect one's taste sensation of a wine?". Without any qualitative or quantitative(hard to obtain in tasting) evidence, I prefer to see my wine and the thought of tasting a wine in a black glass leaves me cold. Since the subject of taste is so subjective, the black glass is " a solution in search of a problem. More likely it is another of Riedel's marketing ploys to sell glasses, at which they have been very successful. The only Riedel glasses we have are a set of the tasting glasses and the ones i picked up at Sam's Club for cheap. Over the years we have used and broken at least a hundred or more from slamming in the tailgate of a Yukon to simply dropping! Can't afford Riedel at that rate of breakage. -Dick

Most likely this will result in even higher prices! With the price of a good non-vintage in $30US range per bottle and the price of Vintage in the stratosphere, I know the ceiling has been obtained for me. We are currently drinking off our meager stocks and purchasing california sparkling wine. -Dick

I don't care how you prtepare your turkey. If you don't find a local supplier that will kill, dress and chill your bird within 72 hours of cooking, you are seriously challenging yourself and missing out on a delight. In most of the large cities one can also find a poultry market where one can pick out his bird and have it prepared that day. To me that is the real secret of a great turkey and not how it is prepared. -Dick

Listen folk's, this post is not meant to inflame but to state an opinion, so please read it objectively. I suppose I will have to withstand a barrage of criticism. Dinner at Charlie's in the kitchen.(8 months for the reservation) Charlie not present.(If a chef is not on site, we now walk) Repartee by the staff, word for word as reported by a Chicago restaurant review. No cooking going on in the kitchen, assembly line with mis in place done for everything. Therfore one cannot obtain say lamb chop cut out of the center of a loin of lamb, rested for 20 minutes to insure that it is properly rare. Charlie's cooking is what I described as 'Just in time' assembly, like Japanses auto manufacture. The plethara of ingrediants with exotic descriptions for each dish, simply clouds the mind and tastes and in the end, I believe clouds your sensations. It's a little like the 'Emperor's New Clothes'. No one has the guts to say that the Emperor is not wearing any! Well, I believe that Charlie has created a style of food presentation that certainly is dramatic, certainly presents exotic sounding ingrediants in an artful style, but if you objectively think about what he is doing, it is not my style. -Dick

Raynickben, good point. We are currently in the midst of procuring a Franke 'Little Butler' that provides both filtered cold and hot water. -Dick

The benefit is that they look great! The 8 and eventually the 11 qt will not replace my 16 or 20 qt SS pots because of volume. I am somewhat of the belief in functionality and form and I just happen to like the way copper looks. Of course you can save money on SS lids and other types of pots. In actuality we spend very little time on maintenance of the Falk. How it looks, it looks. Thanks for talking Harp out of selling each pan with a lid, Saved me a few $. One other aside, whether true or not, I believe that non stick cookware was developed to sell aluminum cookware which is cheaper to manufacture but must have some type of non stick coating. The Falk SS lining is extremely easy to clean. Non-stick Aluminum cookware is lousy. -Dick

You are correct in that my Viking is at least 10 years old at that time the market was small. We don't put hot pans directly on the Boos but if it was scortched, a simple sanding and oiling would refinish. A word about sales people. Invariably when I define a target purchase, some sales person will try to dissuade me from the purchase. What I have learned over the years is that sales people are only interested in the maximum commission they make on a sale. So if the markup is greater on a similar product, that is what they will push. I start every negotiation now, by reminding them that I will purchase what I want, not what they want me to purchase and any attempt to dissuade me with incorrect information, heresay or inuendo will result in my not making a purchase. I want documented information. Stops any attempts cold. Sales people also are too lazy to know thier products and invariably I understand the product better. Comes from the engineering training ,maybe or my inherent attention to detail. Any refrig with a bottom freezer is made by Amana. don't know about Sub Zero. As I posted the only reason for the new Kitchenaid was more storage and the slide out units. In Charlie Trotter's kitchen, all the produce is on slide out trays in the cold storage unit. I tought that was great! BTW, the kitchen table is not worth the money or the wait! We are located between Chicago and Milwaukee and could not find a competant designer at any price! Nor could we find an expereinced kitchen installer at any price. -Dick

I actually did do fusion research in the 70's at the University of Wisconsin before joining the commercial power industry, but a camera never developed(pun?). Since I am still in the film age, no pics yet. As soon as I find a decent price on the Nikon SQ my wife wants, pics will be forthcoming. One last note: From conceptualization to finish has been two years. The actual construction time was about a week with some final detail work left to be done. We hope to be completely done by Thanksgiving. The contracter we eventually used had replaced our rear deck. The first two contracters I worked with were told to hit the road. One was concerned over the heavy lifting of the Boos block and really did not want the job and the other simply never showed up to start the work! The eventual contracter did a good job and listened to my needs and advice. Together we engineered the kitchen, not from actual calculations for weight and stress, but from engineering judgement. Since I built Nuclear Power Plants, a kitchen redesign was easy. No paperwork! Functionality, reliability and a sense of design were the goals. Cost was secondary. Since I had already installed the Viking 10 years ago, that was not a decision point, but given what I see in today's market, I think Viking would still be the choice. If i had it to do over again, I would remove counter space and go with at least a 36" viking unit if not larger. As it was the 30" unit and hood slotted right in. The hood installation cost as much as normal range. I have read a number of negative comments on this site about Viking but my personal experience is quite different. At the EXPO MART in Chicago, Franke is the sink of choice and frankly if it's Swiss, it's the best engineered product in the world. It is also the best manufactured and most costly in the world. I would have preferred Sub Zero for the aplliances but it's reliability is shoddy and I will not reward that type of performance with a purchase. Kitchenaid while having none of the cachet of boutique manufacturers is reliable, functional and everything matches. Cost is certainly acceptable. The SS microwave is the best out there and cooks rice, potatoes and other things in AUTO. Of course their countertop appliances are bullet proof.-Dick

I'm new to eGullet and so far find the site interesting. As we have just completed our kitchen overhaul, you might find this information helpful. After listening to and throwing two so called kitchen design experts out of my house, I took on the task myself. As a Nuclear Engineer and self taught amateur chef for the last 12 years, I figured I could do better than what I was being told. Since I wanted a functional kitchen, after surveying all the countertop materials available, I decided on John Boos 4" end grain maple http://www.johnboos.com for the food processing areas and Boos 1&3/4" edge grain maple around the 4 burner Viking so the countertop was not higher than the burner flames. The retail kitchen supply store in Milwaukee Wisconsin that sold Boos could offer no information on 4" Boos so the contracter obtained the materials from the commercial supplier. A Franke Manor House pro sink and Franke pot faucet completed that area(homecenter.com has significant savings on Franke). Our pass thru bar was also redone using the Boos edge grain maple. Using the 4" Boos raises your countertop height which actually allows a better height for a male as I have found that kitchens are invariably designed for smaller stature individuals. The Boos is no problem to maintain and you don';t have to worry about cutting boards or scratches. You do have to seal using clear RTV around the sink and joints and use Boos polyurathane which has a satin finish on the edge grain. The end grain requires periodic oiling with Boos food grade mineral oil. The Franke sink is a dream. One big area for whatever you want to do with none of these little boutique areas that are essentially worthless. When you order the sink, be sure to obtain a Franke drain or otherwise you will have your contracter using something from Home Depot. I also installed a Kitchenaid 60 bottle wine cooler under one of the countertops. A good unit but the stacking is quirky. My wife who was very reluctant at the start is extremely pleased with the end result. The look is classic and functional. With a Viking SS 4 burner, Kitchenaid appliances in SS, things match. I investigated Sub Zero and would have installed Sub Zero but the frequency of repair was the worst in the industry not too mention the price differential was obscene. The Kitchenaid bottom freezer replaced our two year old Amana because the freezer units slide all the way out to facilitate item removal. We have gone from a 18 ft3 unit to a 22 ft3 and could use more space. the Amana is in the basement and I keep both units full of produce. If I had it to do over again, I would install the largest unit I could shoehorn into the area. -Dick

As a degreed Nuclear Engineer and one time Fire Marshall for a Nuclear Utility, when I decided to invest in a new range, about 12 years ago, I studied the industry, what was required(NFPA codes) and what was available. Outside of the AGA(too much heat), I installed a 4 burner Viking with the requiste 2 fan Viking hood and ducting. The thing is a tank and is used daily with many times all four burners going and food and liquid being spilled. Ona 70F day if using the oven or three of the burners, i need to trun the air on for the kitchen. It is not the prettiest or most trendy thing out there today and there are many boutique ranges but if you only have 30" and are serious about cooking, don't discount the Viking line.

Calaphalon pans warp, we gave away all of them after I acquired an extensive set of Falk Culinair with more on the way, (new 11 qt stock pot). I emailed All Clad and asked them for the thicknesses of thier copper pots and was told that this information was propietary. Of course, this was to not reveal that thier copper pots are really not copper. Once you use the Falk Culinair, you will never go back. Michael Harp is great to deal with and they are the only ones offering a large saute pan with a loop handle as a 'helper'. The only drawback is that the bigger pieces are quite heavy and if you are of slight build, you should avoid them. I disagree about the lids. They are attractive, functional and not that difficult to keep. The benefit is that one lid can be used for a number of pots of the same diameter. Falk Culiniar is hands down the best cooking pots and pans avaliable today, period! -Dick