OK, a bit of a rhetorical question, since we all know that the simple answer is “not so good”. I will not rehash bad news for fear of scaring us even more and feeding the panic. Instead, I will say, it was nice to go out on Valentine’s Day with my wife and witness that things were packed- both what I saw peeking in windows, and what I witnessed on Opentable.com when booking. Admittedly a shot of euphoria in an otherwise deflating, depressing world, but it’s nice to know that people will still spend for romance! Continue reading »

Each and every year I look forward to reading the findings of fellow MS Ronn Wiegand’s Restaurant Wine newsletter issues that unveils the “Top 100 Brands” and “Top 100 wines”. Ronn, who is also a MW (one of three in the world who carry both titles), has been coming out with this information annually for several years and it’s always a good read and information packed. Though this year’s findings have been out for awhile, I just “re – came” across it in my files and was intrigued to revisit the findings.

The information is based on exhaustive research by Ronn and is always accompanied by interesting trend numbers from the previous calendar year, in this case 2007. According to the study, the top one hundred wine brands control a 41.5% share which is down from the previous year though the market grew between 2006 and 2007. Coming from only six countries (USA, Australia, Italy, France, Germany and Chile) all were up less Australia who had supply issues due to drought. You can see the heavy hitters on the list and a summary of this survey here. Continue reading »

Amazing how some things have traction, and people clearly love trivia - especially the food and wine related factoids. So back by popular demand is our third installment of tidbits selected from Gourmet Magazine’s regular feature “Good Living: Tastes, Tools, Gifts, Travel, Trends and Shopping”. Enjoy!

In ancient Rome, the upper classes disdained meat, but distributed pork to the street poor in an attempt to maintain order (April 2008)… So much for letting them eat cake!

14,000 (the number of convenience stores in Texas alone and that’s one tenth of the US total) (February 2006)… Can anyone say 7-11 y’all?

In an American supermarket, a soft drink is 52% larger, a hot dog is 62% larger and a carton of yogurt is 82% larger than in France (March 2008)… Sacre bleu! Continue reading »

I don’t know if you do the same… but I subscribe to a lot of magazines that relate to my professional interests- food and wine. As I get busy, they stack up by the bedside and grow from a small pile of mixed colors and titles by my crocs (the modern day slippers for many) until they reach the height of the bed table and then I panic. Not being one who likes to miss out on anything, I put aside a few hours and hit the stack with a single-side razor blade and stapler and cut out all of the articles I want to save. Articles about wines and wine regions, restaurants to check out next time I am traveling, wine gadgets, breaking appellation news and any salient data and information that may, at some point, come in handy. You never know.

So the answer your surmised question is yes, I have virtually ever meaningful article (to me) from all the key publications in several dozen hanging files in several file shelves in my office going back to the mid 80’s. Really. When I come in to add new articles, I toss the articles that are no longer relevant, timely or, over time, accurate. It’s a great discipline and one that keeps me focused. Continue reading »