• The anniversary of repeal: Prohibition ended 75 years ago this week, a failed social experiment whose legacy is still with us. In Texas, for instance, I can’t buy beer in the grocery store before noon on Sunday. This wire service story is a good overview of what happened and why. What is often overlooked is that Prohibition started with the best of intentions, a way to improve the life of the poor and working classes. It was not necessarily a ban imposed for moral or religious reasons, though that was part of it. And, ironically, much research seems to indicate that alcoholism actually increased between 1920 and 1933. Since alcohol was harder to find, people tended to drink more when they found it.
• High-end wine demand dropping? Reports from Los Angeles indicate that pricey wine is sitting on shelves, a victim of the recession and the Wall Street bust. The 2005 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, which cost more than $1,000 a bottle this summer, was spotted for $549. Consumers are opting for what the trade calls value wine, says one expert. Here at the Wine Curmudgeon, of course, we call it cheap wine.
• 2009 Vintners Hall of Fame inductees: Gerald Asher of Gourmet magazine; Jack and Jamie Davies, founders of Schramsberg Vineyards; Jess Jackson, founder of Kendall-Jackson Estates; California-Davis professor and co-founder of Lagier-Meredith Winery, Carole Meredith; Justin Meyer, co-founder of Silver Oak Cellars; and Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, will be inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame at The Culinary Institute of America. Also honored will be Frederick and Jacob Beringer, who founded Beringer Vineyards, as “Pioneers,” which recognizes those who made a significant contribution to the California wine industry and passed away prior to March 1989.
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