Good Grape Wine Company

April 22 2006

Dusty (Wine) Bottle Items

Proving that there is no area left unpublished, comes this book called "Modern Drunkard."  Published last fall, its origin is the mildy interesting web site of the same name.

It does, however, have a bunch of funny quotes from site submissions and this gem:  "The jukebox is the drunkards fireplace."

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Julio Franco, a baseball player for the New York Mets, and asold as Methuselah, at least by pro sport standards, was born in 1958 the Dominican Republic, a place not noted for itswine.

He became the oldest player in major league history to hit ahome run when he connected for a two-run, pinch-hit shot in the eighth inningon April 20^th to help the New York Mets rallyfor a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres.

Franco, as noted on another site, www.anecdotage.com, is a bit of a winefan, I suppose, and attributes it to his longevity in the game: 

Franco, a great lover of fine wine, was once asked ifhe was using steroids. "Yes," he replied, "I’m on the juice: thejuice of Jesus of Nazareth!"

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Larry Bird, in conjunction with Consentino winery, has released his first wine.  From the Boston Globe:

The Larry Bird/Mitch Cosentino Legends Meritage is a blend of 41percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 37 percent Merlot, and 22 percent CabernetFranc. Next month the label will release a chardonnay and a merlot. Inthe summer, there will be a Legends cabernet.

And just how did Larry get involved in this venture?

Julie Weinstock, president of Cosentino Winery, said, ‘’A mutualacquaintance of Larry and Mitch knew that Larry was looking to beassociated with the production of a wine. Larry tasted some of ourwines and liked them and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ When I heard about it, Isaid, ‘Larry Bird, the basketball player? I don’t get it.’ But he hassuch a following. It’s introduced wine to a group of people that maynot have been interested in wine. It opens a whole new world to them."

Cosentino said, ‘’He seems to appreciate better wines. I’ve alwayssaid that great wines can be enjoyed by people that may not bewine-collector types. Larry’s goal was to say, ‘They’ve got to bechampionship-style wines.’ He wanted to strive to be at the top level.I think we both shared that vision in the project. And he definitelyhas a wide range of appeal to folks all over the world."

Heaven knows that anybody that has watched the Pacer’s this year has reached for the bottle.  The Legends Meritage is going for $69.99 a bottle at a local shop. 

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Nat Decants, an email newsletter from a Canadian wine writer offers up these predictions in her most recent newsletter this week. 

She prefaces her stunning predictions with this:

Here’s a short piece aboutmy predictions for the world of wine this year and beyond. (After threeglasses, I become especially clairvoyant.)

Here are her predictions for 2006:

Seven More Wine Predictions 2006

1. The wine industry will continue to consolidate, as large corporations buy up smaller wineries.

2. Critter labels, those with animals on them, such as Yellow Tail, Little Penguin and others, will increase in popularity.

3. More bottles will be sealed with screwcaps (thankfully), reducing the incidence of corked wine.

4. Big reds, such as Australian shiraz, will continue to dominate. (But look for Argentinian malbec is starting to make inroads.)

5. Wine web sites and blogs will proliferate, since wine is an information-intensive purchase.

6. Cross-border shopping will get easier, though not all the legal barriers will come down.

Whoo-whee, Nat.  Woah.  Stop it.  Seriously. Knock it off.  Your prescient nature is killing me.  We’re going to start calling you the "Nostradmus of Wine."  Or, maybe we’ll start calling you the "John Edward of Wine" because any more of that garbage and you’ll be channeling a dead career. 

I mean honestly, who is she passing this off to as something revalatory?  "Critter Labels ... will increase in popularity."  "More bottles will be sealed with screwcaps ..."  ??

No kidding, Nat. 

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