Irregular Update
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2009
Welcome to this week Irregular Update. There are two Snippets and one articles for your reading pleasure this week.
This week article is, in some ways, a follow on to my last article Jay Miller – The Wine Advocate on Oz Wines, but in some respects, its completely different. One thing is for sure, Mr Miller and Mr Parker are not going to like what I have written in "Should it be Called Robert Parker’s Wine Hypocrite?". The Wine Advocate has more influence at the top end of the wine market than any other publication, and Parker has positioned himself as the champion who looks after wine consumers best interests. The front page of the print version of TWA makes some emphatic claims. But are those some of those claims just hyperbole? This article looks specifically at the actual tasting methodology, and the holes and shortcomings in the system, as well as the questions relating to the relationship between Miller and those in the business. This is a no holds barred story. It can be found here.
A previous Snippet (last year) that centred around Get Wines Direct drew a big response from readers, so when I was alerted to something recently that involved them, I thought it would be on again. However when I wrote the original story, I never dreamed that one of the parties I thought needed looking after, turned out to be up to their elbows in the problem. " Is The Cleanskin Business Clean?" shows just how things can get "interesting" in the cleanskin business and how it can have more twists and turns than a crime novel. It can be found here.
The second Snippet this week is titled
"The Fosters Wine Asylum." Regular TORBWine and email correspondent,
Mac McCuskey recently wrote me an astonishing email that outlined what
Fosters were up to with the Penfolds pricing in the US. You have to read this
Snippet to believe it! And even then, it will leave you shaking your head. It
can be found here.
The News section has been quiet over the past two weeks but stories of possible interest include...
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Bordeaux wine sales flat as crisis hurts demand
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Price-floor plan to counter cheap booze
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New director for Wine Australia
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Peter Lehmann Wines posts $4.9m half-year profit
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Grape growers feel squeeze
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Screwcaps take 15% of global market
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Govt 'ignoring' alcopop substitution evidence
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French rose producers pink-faced over EU wine plans
Those stories and more can be found here.
This weeks quote. "During one of my treks
through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew. We were compelled to live on food
and water for several days." - WC Fields in My Little Chickadee
Until next time .... Cheers Ric
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Copyright © Ric Einstein 2009