Good Grape Wine Company

March 29 2007

The Law of Three and a New York State of Wine

The “Law of Three” posits that “every whole phenomenon is composed of three separate sources, which are Active, Passive and Reconciling or Neutral. This law applies to everything in the universe and humanity, as well as all the structures and processes,” so sayeth Wikipedia.

I don’t disagree.  It does seem as if things come in threes, including celebrity deaths.

Just the same, I have never thought about wine and flying in conjunction with each other, as I’m usually asking for the third cup of water instead of another 187 ml bottle of bad wine.  So, benignly, I read Lenn Thompson’s post yesterday about American Airlines including wines of New York on transcontinental (i.e. coast-to-coast) flights.  Press release found here. 

Interesting, I thought to myself, airlines are actually doing something that could be considered a value-add.  Travelers haven’t seen that in a while, and wine has almost been an afterthought for airlines for years.

Then, today, I get an email from United Airlines with a wine offer, the 2nd of presumably three airline/wine related things coming my way.  Hartwick & Grove, an online wine retailer with uncertain bricks and mortar provenance, have an offer for United Mileage Plus members that pays 25 frequent flyer miles for every $1 dollar spent at the online retailer.  The come-on in the email indicates (and it’s not a bad deal, actually) I can get the ’02 Mondavi Reserve Cab for a 30% discount priced at $87.50 AND receive 2,188 miles per bottle!  That’s not a bad deal.  A case of wine would yield me a free ticket at the 25K mile mark.

Finally, as the final airline/wine oddity in our troika, I received another email today from Southwest airlines sent out for the express purpose of telling me that prices are going up to $4 across the board for beer and wine and that the new drink coupon book for Rapid Reward members is getting a new look and will “definitely give (me) something to talk about with (my) seatmate!”

If you’re interested in the American transcontinental flights, like New York to San Francisco, to perhaps do a little domestic Michel Rolland-like consulting there is a job opening available for (potentially) a California winemaker in New York City, found at this link.

A new venture called City Winery is starting up in NYC and has something of a Crushpad Wine business model, but less immersive—perfect for the high-end wine lover that thinks that pumpovers and punchdowns is either a name for a very, um, male-centric bar or a kind of guys high school bullying activity.

City Winery
By offering a fractional (barrel) ownership program, City Winery enables wine enthusiasts at many levels to enjoy the unique pleasures of the wine making experience. The opportunity to make and bottle your own wine caters to the natural progression of interest for an upscale wine consumer and aficionado.

City Winery will capture the mystique and pleasures of a winery, with a 250 person capacity central tasting bar and event space surrounded by the wooden barrels, stainless steel tanks and apparatus of wine making. It will combine a hands-on wine making experience in a modern facility with a hip and trendy wine bar to establish a unique and popular venue.

Likewise, if you’re a New York City native, AND you do want that pumpover action with your barrel of wine, Crushpad has the answer for you and they will be in New York City at the end of April to try some of the current barrel samples for current members and interested enthusiastic potential customers.

At the very least have a glass of vino on your five hour flight to or from New York—all the better if it’s actually wine from New York State—that would make Lenn happy, too.

Posted in, Around the Wine Blogosphere. Permalink | Comments (0) |

Print

Comments