Archive for the ‘Not Particularly Anything’ Category
American Wine Culture: It’s Not What You Think
April 12th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
I’m doing research for a magazine article on Kentucky wineries. Last weekend, I was leaned against the tasting room bar at a winery seriously in the outback. I mean, miles from anywhere, a place no one is ever going to find by accident. The winery was nice but not luxurious, like a comfortable weekend house, wrapped [...]
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Perhaps Someone Could Help Me With This
April 11th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
I do not, in any way, shape or form, understand the repeated attempts to pair wine with chocolate.
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Summertime Blues
April 8th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
In the Winter, traffic on this blog picks up on Friday afternoons, because people don’t really feel like working but they’re trapped inside because the weather is lousy. So, as a last resort, they read blogs. Now that it’s Spring, I note a huge drop-off of traffic on Friday afternoons, presumably because people can go [...]
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Somebody to Hate: The Consultant, Revealed
March 28th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
The discussion has apparently run its course, and here’s what our world’s-most-odious wine consultant looks like: He’s Belgian but pretends he’s French, because if he admitted he were from Belgium he wouldn’t be as loathsome – and his psychology is that he wants the rest of us to hate him as much as he hates himself. He [...]
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Somebody to Hate: Building the Perfect Bad (Wine) Guy
March 25th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
Yesterday we had an interesting discussion defining the attributes of the perfect wine-industry villain. Here’s what we have so far: He (it was unanimous that he has to be a “he”) is rich, arrogant, and knows little of the wine business — but that doesn’t stop him from being smug in his assumption that he [...]
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I’d Love Someone To Hate
March 24th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
Do you think wine blogging would generate more interest if we had someone really good to hate? Wine is an industry lousy with French people, so you’d think there’d be someone we could all agree on, a real son (or daughter) of a bitch that could be the focus of our rage and frustration. But [...]
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Best Comment Ever
March 9th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
In a long discussion of wine regulation, this: I’m constantly on the lookout for quite sexy clubbing dress that can be utilized for going clubbing. This post is most helpful! Because nothing helps one choose one’s wardrobe like a brisk discussion of the delicate balance between the Constitution’s Commerce Clause and the 21st Amendment, I [...]
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In the Spirit of Christian Sacrifice
March 8th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
Asked what he would give up for Lent, Congressman Jim Moran (D- VA) replied: I’m going to do without that third glass of wine and that second helping of dessert. It’s hard to imagine how he’s going to make it through to Easter.
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Aw, Shucks
February 15th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
Charlie Olken, publisher of the Connoisseur’s Guide to California Wine, calls me “crusty.” I would be mad at him, but he did it while saying incredibly nice things about me. Clearly, we’ve never met. Thanks, Charlie.
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Research Shows: Wine Lacks Motor Skills
February 8th, 2011 by Tom Johnson
Once in a while I emergency-cool wine by throwing it in the freezer. I know: I shouldn’t do that. But I do, and I bet you do, too. About 10% of the time, I forget about the wine and it freezes, the expanding liquid pushing the cork out and splattering the inside of the freezer [...]
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