We Now Interrupt This (Burgundy Updating) Blog To Bring You The Weather Report...

So today we had planned a big Burgundy tasting in our store, since we just got back from there and all. We had like ten different Burgundies from some of our favorite producers, and three different French cheeses, thankfully we left the Epoisses off the list this time!

We had planned to have importer and French expert himself, Mr. Olivier come in and pour five wines while my boss poured another five. Then reality hit... I swear, it's not the recession that's killing wine retail shops; it's the weather!

The snow started around 9 ish this morning, and didn't let up! It's STILL snowing! After a somewhat scary drive into work, complete with Baby's First Spin-Out (awwww), we decided to let Olivier off the hook and NOT force him to drive in the crap-tastic snow. And then a coworker couldn't get out of his driveway, which really just made me love today even more!
This is a view of the sign at 11 a.m. Normally it proudly proclaims "Wine Store Open".




This is my coworker getting the wines ready for tasting. Normally he doesn't look this surly.








I think we made it through, as best we could, but the REAL highlight of this post? I got to go home at 6, AND brought home the spoils of war (the leftovers)!!

Hooray snow day! Sort of... Snow hour?

More Banned Wine...

I went out to dinner tonight with some awesome ladies, I actually think I just had my first "Girl's Night Out" experience, and had a total blast! The food was amazing,the desserts to die for, couldn't have asked for better company, and we had an awesome Virginia wine!

I get home to find this article in my inbox, apparently Alabama has banned the sale of Cycles Gladiator wines because they are a bunch of prudes it shows "side boob". To be fair, it does have a naked woman floating alongside a bicycle, but the image is old as dirt, and it's not like she's showing something I couldn't see on TV right this second. Actresses pose like this all the time, and it's the cover image on Vanity Fair. So why can't a stylized woman with strong ankles do it?

And of course, sales of the Cycles Gladiator line have increased, because seriously, who doesn't love contraband?!?!?

I find this even funnier, because I have a series 3 of their wines on my walls, as art. Or maybe I'm just a perv. ;)

Celebrity Wines

My normal morning routine consists of coffee, cursing at my liver, and reading various news sites and yes, lolcats. Occasionally I get frisky in the morning and decide to check the Washington Post's wine section, (especially lately, since we've been getting press for carrying wines we sometimes don't, and I like to stay ahead of these things) and came across this article on Sting and his winemaking adventures. They're a little late, since Sting's been at this for a while, but it got me thinking about other celebrity wines.
There's the obvious, like Coppola and his brood of wines, and the not-so-obvious, like actor Gerard Depardieu. I thought I'd do some more "investigation" on this matter, but found this article and then a Slate article, and decided to call it a day. That's dedication! ;)

Wine for a cause...Aaaawww

I was wasting time online (I know, let's all pretend to be shocked) reading TMZ last night, and I came across this article about the dogs rescued from Michael Vick. Some marketing genius decided to come up with a wine brand featuring the (happy, touchy-feely) painting of the dog and their life story on the back of the bottle. According to this site, only 10% of the money made off of the ($40 a bottle) red wines goes to the Best Friends shelter in Utah, where the dogs are being taken care of, and funding for fighting dog-specific breed laws and to (hopefully) bring an end to dogfighting.

As I was researching the wine, I came across an even more bizarre website, the Dog Lovers Wine Club. They've also got a cat and horse club, in case dogs aren't your thing.

Am I the only one the finds this odd?

This Is Irony...

I'm hoping by now everyone's had the chance to see "Bottle Shock", the awesome movie about the 1976 Judgment Of Paris, where judges couldn't tell which wines were American, and which were French. It's a great movie, and I cried throughout the WHOLE thing! they've even got a few Gallo digs, which just makes me all tingly inside! The only thing that would have topped it was if Alice Fiering and Jancis Robinson got into a celebrity death match and got mutilated by the surprise referree Jennifer Rosen in a belly dancer costume, dripping with shiny jangly things!!! *sigh* Oh well, a girl can dream.

Chateau Montelena, the winery the movie is based on, has just been sold by "Bo" Barrett (with Dad's approval) to Michel Reybier who owns Cos d'Estournel, a winery in Saint- Estephe.(Bordeaux, France)

I don't know how I feel about that.

On one hand, I'm happy, as this kind of implies The United States is finally getting some recognition (not by our amazing ability to throw high-class hissy fits) but from the "authorities on good wine" a.k.a. The French.

On the other, is this a sign of how bad our economy is failing? Is this really the American dream? Find a niche, fill said niche, then sell out to the highest bidder?

Wine Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Creepy Wine Empire, you're doing it right....

Ernest and Julio Gallo, the "we want to be the Campbell's Soup of the wine world" guys creep me out!! Seriously, am I the only one freaked out by exactly how FAR their creepy little fingers have spread?!?!?!? Maybe it has something to do with the sordid tale of their lives, involving a murder/suicide of their mother by their father.
The significant campaign contributions to people like Nancy Pelosi are interesting.
Although I totally give them kudos on implementing the "Code of Sustainable Wine Growing Practices"
Here's a list, by no means complete, of all the labels owned by the Gallo brothers.

• Anapamu
• André
• Ballatore
• Barefoot Cellars
• Barefoot Bubbly
• Bartles & Jaymes
• Bella Sera
• Black Swan
• Boone's Farm
• Bridlewood Estate Winery
• Carlo Rossi
• Cask & Cream
• Clarendon Hills
• Dancing Bull
• DaVinci
• Don Miguel Gascon
• E. & J. VS Brandy
• E. & J. VSOP Brandy
• E. & J. XO Brandy
• Ecco Domani
• Frei Brothers
• Frutézia
• Gallo Family Vineyard Estate
• Gallo Family Vineyard Single Vineyard
• Gallo Family Vineyard Sonoma Reserve
• Gallo Family Vineyard Twin Valley
• Ghost Pines
• Hornsby's (the gross hard cider)
• Indigo Hills
• Liberty Creek
• Livingston Cellars
• Louis M. Martini
• MacMurray Ranch
• Marcelina
• Martĩn Cõdax
• Maso Canali
• Mattie's Perch
• McWilliam's
• Mirassou
• New Amsterdam Gin
• Peter Vella
• Pölka Dot
• Rancho Zabaco
• Red Bicyclette
• Redwood Creek
• Red Rock Winery
• Sebeka
• Tisdale Vineyards
• Thunderbird (omg eew!)
• Turning Leaf
• Turning Leaf Sonoma Reserve
• Whitehaven
• William Hill Estate
• Wild Vines
• Wycliff Sparkling