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I hear ya. we all must be having a little watch fever, I just sprung for this one:
https://bit.ly/2Usogkd
[Holy crap! Now THAT is a watch. --Mike]
Open Mike (Again): My New Watch (OT)
[This will be indulgent Writer Mike's LAST watch post for a while. Just in case you are not enjoying these. —Disciplined Editor Mike] - I bought a watch. As you might have expected I would. (It's the best way to settle down these little—er, let's be nice to me and call them "enthusiasms"*—to whi...
had a similar experience with one of TJ's Prosecco (DOCG, nonetheless) offerings....a real pity, as when I was just starting out (back when the crust of the earth was cooling) Trader Joe's was a great place to stop in (Pasadena)and find all kinds of groovy wines from the Loire, from Germany, Spain and old California.
no more, now it's a repository for cynical wine merchants
Sham Champagne
I was told that Pluto has finally moved on from my astrological chart, and I was safe. But the wine in my glass was pernicious. Was it Pluto's last gasp? Hah, and I thought that the widow Clicquot was as bad as it got. I was...
Maggiorina (with an "a") Designed by the architect Antonelli, who hailed from Maggiora in the Boca wine region.
Vallana: a story
Hello almost August dog days...and so I've neglected the blog. Instead I'm posting some of my favorite stories I wrote in The Feiring Line in 2013. This was from my visit to Italy last spring to an iconic winery, just reemerging on the scene, Vallana. Please subscribe. That and a little peace on...
To add to this conversation, in January new IRS rues will take place. According the WSJ, "Starting in January, the Internal Revenue Service will begin classifying those automatic gratuities as service charges—which it treats as regular wages, subject to payroll tax withholding—instead of tips, which restaurants leave up to the employees to report as income." http://goo.gl/KsybAS
Another post (http://goo.gl/ub3iYS) states
"with this new rule, some restaurants are dropping the automatic tip. Instead of servers getting to take home their tips at the end of the night, the new rule means that ;tips [will be] treated as wages, which requires upfront withholding of federal taxes, and means they won’t see that tip money until payday.'”
and...
"For restaurants that do keep automatic tip, 'the change will complicate payroll accounting for restaurants that stick with automatic tips, because they will need to factor those tips into pay, meaning hourly pay rates—could vary day to day depending on how many large parties are served.'”
Tipping your sommelier, change in the rules?
Two weeks ago I had the great pleasure of going to Gramercy Tavern with a reader. He chose the wine, and man, did he do it well, a 1981 Tondonia that was positively brilliant and reinforced my belief in wine as an extraordinary life force. A beauty. Ethereal, grace, power. A tour de force. A hum...
Lovely, Alice....
For a former wallflower (that would be me)
Former? I thought I was still a wallflower. That link will bring you to a glimpse of my fraught HILI (Hebrew Institute of Long Island, that is) high school reunion and proof positive that while some of grow, some never change.
Inotherwords, I liked the post
The smell of violets in Barolo
When I first smelled the Clos Roche Blanche Cot, I was overwhelmed by its violet juice sucked through a chalk straw magnetism. It was the violet that stung me.. every time. Yes, even though I could never actually wear the scent, I'm obsessed by it. So you see, on a morning in Baro...
Wow...
Holy Mother-of-G_d-Wow!
The smell of violets in Barolo
When I first smelled the Clos Roche Blanche Cot, I was overwhelmed by its violet juice sucked through a chalk straw magnetism. It was the violet that stung me.. every time. Yes, even though I could never actually wear the scent, I'm obsessed by it. So you see, on a morning in Baro...
nice one, Jeff >
Gov. Perry to California: Bring your wineries to Texas
Perry: "Give us your high-dollar wine innovators, yearning to breathe free of taxes." Texas Gov. Rick Perry, calling California a bloated, over-sized mess of a state where the gummint makes it impossible to do bidness, announced today that all of California’s 3,400 wineries should move to Tex...
Once again, the Italian sensualization of things unknown embodied in magical thinking...creating darker new worlds with the words mafia and mafioso as the culprit.
The Italians are as obsessed with the idea of mafia as Americans are with sex.
Meanwhile, the root cause, the dark heart of humankind, slinks away unscathed?
More Soldera Solidarity
On Sunday December 2nd or early Monday December 3rd, there was a massacre at the Montalcino estate, Case Basse. Someone smashed through an unbreakable window and opened the spigots on the botti holding vintages 2007, 2008, 2009,2010, 2011, and the newest baby, 2012. The wines drained out until ...
I think I pretty well laid out who this product was created for without a rousing endorsement.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,you will succumb in every battle”
― Sun Tzu
Moët Gets the Ice Treatment
Why does LVMH get so peeved by the knocked-off pocketbooks for sale on Canal Street or the Champs? After all, they seem dead-set on doing down-marketing damage to their brands all by themselves. Not that Moët had that far to fall, but they've plunged to a new low point with their latest flavor ...
Like I said, this isnt for you ( or me either). But the brand analogy is spot onb. I see folks buying Dolce & Gabbana, etc, because they think it will confer additional status upon them. And in our capitalistic system, those folks who make the investment, whoever ill-conceived as you or I may perceive it to be, it still allows that kind of activity to go forward. Until it stops working.
the difference between today and back then (when CHEAP was de rigueur for many/most of us) is that even in today's economic imbalanced times, folks who arent uber-wealthy want to pretend they are. Hence products that cater to those whims.
Probelm, Dear Alice, is you are trying to apply reason and logic to something that doesnt factor those into the equation. it's all about "aspiration"...
not saying I agree, just know that's the startegy
Moët Gets the Ice Treatment
Why does LVMH get so peeved by the knocked-off pocketbooks for sale on Canal Street or the Champs? After all, they seem dead-set on doing down-marketing damage to their brands all by themselves. Not that Moët had that far to fall, but they've plunged to a new low point with their latest flavor ...
Obviously this product isn't for you.
Let me tell you who I think it is for.
In a turnaround universe, where "aspiration" is the jewel in the crown, moving folks from Moscato towards (more expensive) Champagne seems to be one of the goals.
You don't have to like it. Then again, there were a lot of folks who moved from fizzy, sweet Lambrusco to more serious reds in the 1970's.
And yes, there are all kinds of other "gateways" to fine wine. This approach isn't for folks who are inclined intuitively towards "fine" wine. It's a whole 'nother target. That, I know.
I don't think this is a bad thing. It may not be a good idea for folks who are more serious about their bubbles or their wine intake.
It isn't for you or your readership base, that's for sure.
I'm just saying...
Moët Gets the Ice Treatment
Why does LVMH get so peeved by the knocked-off pocketbooks for sale on Canal Street or the Champs? After all, they seem dead-set on doing down-marketing damage to their brands all by themselves. Not that Moët had that far to fall, but they've plunged to a new low point with their latest flavor ...
OK, Alice, that was one of the best blog posts you have ever done. Period.
Are (wine) women different from men?
I think so. Yes. Mostly. +When it come to making wine list? Perhaps. +Is it accident that four of the more interesting and thoughtful lists gathered in New York (and Brooklyn) right now are created by women? I don't think so. +Why? Because women tend to react more emotionally-- even to wine, ...
nice wine . interesting winery, used to be really big. good stuff, Maynard
New wine review up on New York Wine Salon.
New wine review up on New York Wine Salon.
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Mar 31, 2011
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