Brad Ballinger

Well, I'd begin with a look in the mirror. Telling an employee that you'd like something "quirky and red" leaves a lot of room for interpretation. But a good employee would've responded with something like, "What do you mean? Say more. What wines have you had in the past that would fit that description?" You know what I mean. Going forward, if the next employee doesn't know to ask those questions, you can still provide him or her with the information needed to recommend a wine (and not a label) that satisfies your need. If it were me, going solely on your word choice and nothing more, I would recommend the following types of wines if the shop had them in stock: Chinon, Austrian blaufrankisch, Minervois, Nero d'Avola, Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, Spanish monastrell. But I don't know if those would pass muster or not.

I'm not exactly sure the two can be completely separated. Maybe Enologix could perform a deconstruction on your palate and your psyche.

I was not aware that UDF sold their ice cream anywhere other then UDF stores... do they sell them at grocery stores? I know that I have found Graeters at grocery stores in Columbus... I can't say the same for UDF ice cream which is mention in the article. Maybe they do though, I haven't fully explored all stores in the tri-state area! (edit: I see here that UDF is sold in grocery stores... see I learn something new every day!) ← From the CNN gallery part of the article: My other point about being sold more broadly also included price. A pint of Graeter's will cost incredibly more than a pint of anything else in the store. Yes, it will be worth every penny. But, the brands in the article that I've seen in the stores are priced much more competitively.

Trial #2: Imperial Lime Green Tea Soda. Ingredients: carbonated filtered water, pure cane sugar, natural flavors with extracts of West Indies lime and green tea, citric acid. West Indies lime and green tea??? Oh, well. Color is almost completely clear – perhaps a very slight brownish tint. Tasting it, I notice an immediate tea flavor that wasn’t so immediate in the Pomegranate White Tea beverage. There is a lime flavor, but it is pretty subtle. I’m kind of a citrus guy, and I’d be happy with a little more. Also, given that this soda has a stronger tea flavor component, I’m wishing it had less sugar. That’s really just a personal preference comment – I don’t like sweetened iced tea. The particular tea flavor here is very much green tea if one thinks of green tea ice cream, or sencha. And there is more astringency than there was in the white tea soda. This particular beverage is more tea-like and the other was more soda-like. I don’t know when, if ever, I’ll get to the other two Blue Sky Tea Sodas – Peach Mist Green Tea Soda and Raspberry Red Tea Soda – but it was fun trying these two. And I still have five of each left.

I just picked up a black glass for $2 at a yard sale for the sole purpose of trying this experiment. Any suggestions on wines to pick for maximum confusion? ← I should've added that I believe some reds were also mistaken for whites. I'll try to find an online version of the article, if one is still around, and provide a link in a separate post in this thread. As far as your experiment is concerned, I've had zinfandel wines that have had peach/nectarine aromas and flavors. I could see myself confusing them for whites if I couldn't see the color.

I'm sorry, but I don't think Graeter's is in the same league as the ice creams mentioned in the linked article. Graeter's is in a different league altogether. This isn't a knock on the product (it's hands down the best I've ever had, and I, too, love the black raspberry chip), but Graeter's primary distribution is not through supermarkets, smaller grocers or co-ops. There may be some product placement there, but it's not the main sales method. The ice creams mentioned in the article rely much more on grocery store sales. They are priced competitively with nationally-distributed brands.

From the Hugh Hamilton Wines web site: As to the brother relationship, from a legal document supposedly about use of name:

There was also a study done a few years back where wine tasters (some of whom do it for a living) were presented with wines in black (opaque) goblets. Many mistook some whites for reds.

The comment about nebbiolo-based wines of Barolo and Barbaresco is right on. Those wines can be packed with flavor that their color belies. But eating food, tasting wine, etc, is a multi-sensory experience. To the extent that some people need to see something almost opaque in reds to deem a wine more superior has some basis. For me, on the other hand, I'd prefer to see the opposite.

Trial #1: Pomegranate White Tea Soda. Ingredients as listed on the can: carbonated filtered water, pure cane sugar, natural flavors with extracts of Italian pomegranate white tea, citric acid. Italian pomegranate white tea??? Oh, well. Color is completely clear, or damn near clear. Taste is pomegranate-fruity with a very subtle tea quality that shows more on the “finish” (after swallowing) than when in the mouth. For some reason it is also more tea-like when it has warmed up a bit. I’ve had steeped white teas before, and know that they are fairly delicate, so that could be part of what I’m experiencing here. Lacks the astringency of any other tea beverage I’ve had. It’s an interesting change of pace, and certainly preferable, to my taste, than most mega-produced sodas.

When I was in Denmark (1992 -- got married there), my beer of choice was Tuborg Green Label. I haven't seen it outside of Denmark. I can find Carlsberg and Carlsberg's Elephant Malt Liquor with relative ease. Tuborg Gold can be had on occasion, but, as with you, it's not a favorite of mine. My wife (fiance at the time) and I toured the Tuborg brewery while we were there. Tuborg bottles Carlsberg. Tuborg and Carlsberg are the beers we came across waaaaay more than any other in Copenhagen. I once heard that the Danes are fourth worldwide in beer consumption per capita (behind Germany, Poland, and Britain). Don't know if there's any truth to that or not, but it was certainly my experiences that the Danes love their beer.

I think you meant to write "I wish I could afford..." Maybe you're still a bit wasted. Regards the intended sentiment, though, you and me both. Congrats on getting hitched.

1995 Terraces Zinfandel, Napa Valley. And another 1995 Zinfandel from the cellar bites the dust, leaving three (all from Ridge). But this one went out with a beautiful swan song. I've always enjoyed the Zinfandels from Terraces going back to the 1991 vintage. This wine is one that has handled ten years of aging with hardly a wrinkle. The nose shows bright zinberry fruit and a bit of VA (which I can tolerate more in zinfandel for some reason than in other varietal wines). There is also black pepper, briar-like character, and some spicy oak. The attack on the palate is pleasant, and the wine sort of steps in the door rather than thrusting the door open with Kramer-like flair. In the mouth is shows raspberry, loganberry, pepper, spice, and a bit of smoke. Acidity is high, and tannins are softened, but not laying down. I expected the wine to finish with a bit of a burn, but that wasn't the case. I mainly got fruit on the finish, and it lasted for about 30 seconds. A good grilled flank steak wine.

Enologix was on the screen for a few minutes in the Mondovino documentary. Robert Mondavi Winery was a client until 2001, presumably when they opted to use Michel Rolland's services instead. As long as there is a consumer market for wines that achieve certain scores, there will be a client list for Enologix, Rolland, and others like them.

Don't be so sure. Any marketer will tell you that getting you to notice the product is a huge part of the battle. So to the extent that a wine comes in a differently shaped, weighted, colored bottle, an eye-catching label, etc., the greater chance that Joe and Jane Consumer will notice. Also, any marketer will tell you that if you pick up the bottle, there's a greater chance that you will buy it. So picking it up to check out the bottle shape, cool label, etc., well you can figure out the rest. There was a "scientific" market research study conducted several years back ragrding bottling and labeling. If you recall when Sutter Home first released its White Zinfandel, it came in a green bottle with an off-white paper label. After they switched to a clear bottle and a pressurized label, the sales increased by an incredible amount. Collectors don't like long or wide bottles because most cellar racking is made with a standard bottle shape in mind.

Well, I was one of the last “wine people” I know to see Sideways (which really isn’t a wine movie), and I finally got around to viewing Mondovino last night. I rented the DVD through Netflix, and confess to not having viewed the film with the director commentary as Mary mentions above. What none of us will ever know is what got left on the cutting room floor and why. We have to take the film as it is presented. I enjoyed it. I disagree that it vilifies Parker – except to simply make him part of the vilified U.S. wine industry. I found the “villains” of the film to be Michel Rolland, Robert Mondavi Winery, and Boisset (which no one has commented on thus far – other than Mary’s reference to something peeking out of a pair of boxer shorts). The sharpest criticism is of Boisset and comes from Alix de Montille (Volnay producer Hubert de Monille’s daughter). Alix was employed by Boisset at the time the film was shot. She comments that the same bottled wine will have three different Boisset branded labels. After making that comment, she adds that she will be quitting her job. The other villain in the film is the U.S. wine industry (of which Nossiter makes Parker and Wine Spectator integral parts). It is the U.S. – as represented through the palates of its influential wine critics – that is to blame for the globalization and homogenization of wine. Parker is thus vilified by association, but I don’t see him as a target that has been set up. What the film shows is that there is that wine is both an art form and part of a region’s culture, but that it is also a business. And many producers are caught between remaining true to the art form (most are portrayed positively in the film), or going over to the other side to make a living or maintain a certain standard of living. Some of this latter group are portrayed sympathetically and others as hypocritical. Rolland, Mondavi Winery, and Boisset are portrayed as the Darth Vaders of the dark side. If the film is trying to change behavior, I think it’s trying to do so among consumers – the only target that has a remote chance of changing. After all, if the consumer palate, led by Americans, tends to be wooed by flashy wines that 1) fill the mouth, but don’t “cut” through, 2) come on “like a whore” then drop you just the same, and 3) are made to provide instant gratification now, the result can’t be anything but globalization. Consumers always get what they want in the end. The question to ask is, “Are they destined to continue to want what Parker, Wine Spectator, et al, tell them to want?” If the answer is yes, there will always be Rollands, Mondavis and Boissets.

Not to be chauvinist Not to be chauvinist Not to be chauvinist Not to be chauvinist 1. The first tasting was Riesling. 2. I didn't realize the wine industry was a Boys Club. There are fantastic women winemakers, owners, etc. I will agree, however, that there isn't as much representation on the journalism end (Jancis Robinson, Andrea Immer, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, and Leslie Sbrocco don't really constitute a groundswell). But it just rubs me wrong when something like this (and like the Wine Adventure mag) become "public." The focus tends to shift from the subject (wine) to the personalities (women). And I'd worry about going down the path that leads to "Women like X type of wines, and men prefer Y type of wines." That may sell a lot of books, but it'll probably be full of BS. I guess I'd spend energy looking at what do you, as women, have to say that isn't being said? What is the voice that's missing from the choir? And how can you do that without offending your own gender, and balancing femininity and feminism? I'd also look at how are women consumers (if they are to be your audience) being slighted by the wine profession? I may be wrong, but I think the marketing of wine is geared much more heavily toward women then men. But if the marketing is inappropriate or insulting, then by all means pick up the torch. Wine criticim, on the other hand, I will grant you is probably geared more toward men. So I'd look at what you have to say to women that isn't being said. The summary is "What do you, as women, have to say to women that is fresh?"

Well, one way to get the fur flying in any wine forum on any web site is to bring up Parker. There is almost always Parker bashing and Parker apologia. I think we're doing a good job of continuing to mention the book and the author in the posts in this thread, and that should continue. If the conversation will be more about the subject of the book, we have many threads devoted to RP in this forum.

The article mentions Wisconsin-based Sibby's, which one can get at some of the co-ops in the Twin Cities. What makes it and the others linked in the article attractive (I've also had Blue Bell when in Texas), is that they are priced competitively to compete with larger brands on both quality and value. There are many other local products where the price is usually quite a bit higher (albeit the quality is, too). I can think of Sonny's and Izzy's from the Twin Cities as two examples of higher priced products that can be purchased in the grocery stores here.

For an earlier discussion on how wonderful these larger candies are, I've linked the Shrek M&M thread, which also includes photos comparing the standard size to the new larger size.

i would love to hear more justification for "not among the most 'interesting' wines out there today." give me a mid-grade Sancerre any day over most RP-style wines. ← A couple of responses here. 1) It's merely opinion that the wines on Parker's B-list are "not interesting." My opinion, FWIW, is that many Loire reds are wonderfully interesting -- and not just Sancerre Rouge. Chinon and Bourgueil wines are wonderfully fragrant, lively in acidity, and terrific with a wide variey of food (similar to well-made Beaujolais). What I find personally not interesting whatsoever are many Parkerized wines. But that's just my opinion. 2) McCoy is fully within her right and her responsbility to the reader to point out the types of wine Arpy is both interested in and not interested in. If I'm going to read a critic's review/notes of a wine, I certainly want to know his or her biases.

Flop. I checked out the web site. There's really nothing of an e-zine, so it's hard to tell what the content is really like, but citing the PR provided: and There's absolutley nothing female-centric anywhere on the web site other than the tag line below the mag's title that reads "The first wine magazine for women!" (exclamation point actually part of the tag line). Looking again at the first block of quoted text, what does the marketing staff think about women? They don't have a wine IQ, they shouldn't take food and wine seriously, they want to have fun. Two reactions -- 1) many people fall into that category regardless of gender, and 2) to stereotype women in this fashion can be insulting (well, my wife took it that way).

Very well put, which is why it's not a "blame the industry" issue -- although the knee-jerk reaction is to do that (and I've been guilty on many occasions). Certainly, the market is gobbling up these wines without hesitation.

Jim, of course I agree that one can find wines that attempt to stay out of the ever widenening mainstream of McWine. I can especially agree if I'm shopping in a retail store known for its wine selection. But now let's restrict my shopping to a grocery store, to a chain restaurant, to places like these where the majority of wine sold is sold. More and more, the industry (along its entire production and supply chains) trying to shape consumer drinking and purchasing preferences with the goal of making all of it more predictable. I think they're performing that job fairly well. For the consumer to divorce himself or herself from that pattern is requiring increasingly more effort on the part of the consumer. And that assumes the consumer wants the divorce.

Some people practice this. Many don't. How many vineyards were ripped up to replant with merlot because it was "popular"? With chardonnay before that? With pinot noir and syrah now? How many vineyards have all of these varieties growing side by side?