• Fake wine, expensive division: Those of us who drink $10 pinot noir from the south of France aren't the only ones who have been defrauded. Slate's Mike Steinberger has a lengthy, but well-written, look at the world of counterfeit, high-end wine. The scene he describes is tawdry and pathetic; how empty and shallow must the people be who do this? Steinberger also brings in Robert Parker, the world's most influential critic, and the role he may have inadvertently played in the counterfeiting. The other irony about this? That the Winestream Media is so fascinated with these fakes, but cares very little for fraud committed by producers who make wine that people actually drink.
• Are we buying more wine? Apparently so, reports The Nielsen Company. Off-premise sales (liquor stores, supermarkets and the like) for 2010 are tracking slightly ahead of 2009, and the report is cautiously optimistic that the wine business may be coming out of the recession. There has been especial growth in $15 and $20, which had been clobbered during the recession. The catch, of course, is that Nielsen reports year-to-year sales, and an improvement over 2009 is good just by definition, given how bad 2009 was. I've talked to several retailers who are seeing an uptick; on the other hand, one of the leading liquor chains in the Dallas-Fort Worth area declared bankruptcy last week.
• Wine glasses by Riedel: Several years ago, the Wine Curmudgeon was lucky enough to see wine glass guru Georg Riedl do his presentation in Dallas. I went with the late Darryl Beeson, and the seminar was held at a Neiman Marcus where we were not just the scruffiest people there, but the scruffiest by a long shot (even allowing for Darryl's always natty attire). Still, I learned a lot -- wine glass quality does matter -- and I always recommend the seminar. The Palate Press' Marko Kovac saw Riedel do his thing in Slovenia, and his report is right on the mark.
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