There ought to be a law … one of the “rip and read” style wire stories that got a lot of mention during the holiday newspaper dead period of the past week was a “mocktail” for wine called “Cranbernet Sauvignon”
Cute name. Your eye almost misses the change in the name and it’s not a typo.
This non-alcoholic drink is a recipe from a forthcoming book called, Sober Celebrations by Liz Scott.
I’m reprinting the recipe here for curiosity sake and you can find the wire blurb/recipe here. If anybody tries it, please let me know if it’s worth a darn … I’m down with a nice balsamic on my salad, drizzled over fresh fruit even, but I’m not so sure about it being combined in a drink …
1 cup black currant juice or nectar
½ cup unsweetened pure cranberry juice
½ cup no-sugar-added red grape juice
½ cup plain seltzer
1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar, preferably a lighter, non-syrupy variety
Combine the ingredients in a glass pitcher and let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Divide between two 10- or 12-ounce wineglasses and serve.
Hmmm … like I said, it won’t be a part of my New Year’s program, but let me know if anybody decides to try it.
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In my estimation, one of the biggest trends in ’07 will be commercial wine preservation systems that take a turn towards the consumer. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and the increasing growth in consumption and the off-the-charts demonstration of Gen. Y to be red wine drinkers has to be followed, at some point, by the mechanism to sample.
Enomatic is capitalizing on this with tasting bar technology that is in use from California to Florida and places in between. In Indiana, for example, you can sample wine, if you are a restaurant permit holder, many other states have similar laws. So, with a profit opportunity with on premise wines, why not allow folks to try something or a lot of things. Sampling = Selling in many industries, wine included. Ask a tasting room manager. I read an article that once said that tasting rooms have a 95% + close ratio on samplers to purchase. I have to believe that sampling in a restaurant or store increases purchasing quantity on an already captive audience by at least 25%
Players in this space include the aforementioned Enomatic, Cruvinet and Le Verre de Vin. I would expect that Cruvinet and Le Verre de Vin re-position or release more consumer-oriented offerings, as well.
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Speaking of trends, Biodynamic wines continue to be one of the re-current topics of conversation in the industry—some believe in it, many call it complete hocus-pocus magic without scientific benefit. Noted blogger and anonymous wine industry insider, St. Vini, is crystal clear on which side he of the fence he lives. Personally speaking, I am not source credible to have an opinion since I’m far away from viticulture practices, but I’ve made it a goal to have a well-grounded opinion based on research in ‘07.
Usually, though, in these politicized and polarizing debates in between right and wrong emerges a moderate to bridge the divided. With organic wines having their own niche in the market, I’m wondering if Oregon’s LIVE (Low Input Viticulture & Enology) isn’t the moderate that can bridge the seer’s and the naysayer. LIVE acts as sort of a “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” middle-ground in between bioD and organic and the need to not lose a crop based on dogmatic belief. Their principles seem reasonable and understandable. You can find their site here.
LIVE program objectives for a sustainable viticulture
• To see the vineyard as a whole system
• To create and maintain a high level quality fruit production
• To implement practices that reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals and fertilizers with the goal of protecting the farmer, the environment, and communities at large
• To encourage responsible stewardship of the land, maintain natural fertility and ecosystem stability
• To promote sustainable farming practices that maintain biological diversity in the whole farm
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At Good Grape, we occasionally post excerpts from public domain related wine books—in particular, a book from wines’ founding father in the U.S.—John James Dufour, who grew and bottled the first successful vintages from a U.S. winery around 1807 in Vevay, Indiana. The book is called The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide and I excerpt from it because it’s notable for its historical implications for any wine enthusiast.
I’ve often thought, as I frustratingly try and track down an out of print book that is usually very expensive, that doing a small, custom wine-related book publishing house publishing just books that are in the public domain would be an interesting and meritorious project.
It still might be, but as a lover of books I get mad at scurrilous and overly opportunistic profit whores on the Internet. There’s a special place in hell reserved for spammers, cyber-squatters and e-book publishers.
Now, Business 2.0, a tech-savvy business magazine, reports in the December issue that some guys are taking public domain books (generally speaking, books published before 1923), having them digitized, updating the content to be more contemporary and are then selling them online in specialized niches. The article (not yet online) reports that “gentleman” who updated a 1925 book called Closing the Sale by J.C. Aspley into an updated niche title for real estate agents is making close to $25K a month. The site provided in the Business 2.0 article now forwards to a web site with a domain of, http://www.stealingthelegalway.com which promises to teach you how to steal as well.
I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. Amway salespeople are virtuous and bright by comparison.
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Back in September, I wrote a post about fantasy football and its application towards the world of wine (Post can be found here). Wine enthusiasts could draft cult bottlings or first growths by varietal and then duke it out for points and wins based on roving tastings with consumers. It’s a simple enough idea and would be easy to monetize.
Lest you think this is a crazy idea, be warned that this concept is now up and running for movies. Launched in October, Fantasymoguls.com lets players assemble a roster of films and play based on box office dollar take, weeks in the Top 5, reviews, per screen dollars and other metrics.
Man, with people signing up for affinity cellar/wine recommendation sites, you would think something like this for wine might be a hit …
News, Notes & Dusty Bottle Items Pt. II coming up next ... all the quick hitters that are worth an opinion ...