The Wine Curmudgeon’s career in the newspaper business included three newspaper closings as well as one really spectacular newspaper wake (for the late and much lamented Dallas Times Herald). So I am, sadly, well qualified to write this post.
Pet Age, the premiere trade magazine for the pet retail business, has been sold and all of its employees have been fired. I have freelanced for Pet Age since the early 1990s (one does not live by wine writing alone), and so I know the good work the staff did. Cathy Foster, who was my editor, was smart and quick to see how a story should be written, and editor Karen MacLeod, a fellow Northwestern alum, may know the pet business better than I know cheap wine.
So this is my gift to them for a job well done. After the jump, what to drink when they hold the Pet Age wake, be it public or just sitting at home trying to make sense of the whole thing:
• A bubbly for toasting: Regular visitors here know this one -- Cristalino, all $6 or $7 of it. Or, as I wrote the last time it was the wine of the week: “bone dry, refreshing and brisk.”
• Something nice: As my pal Tim McNally reminded me when I told him about this post, life is too short to not to drink something nice at a time like this. I’d open one of my remaining bottles of 2002 Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet, but any fine wine will do. What was something you once had and really liked, but never drank again because it was too expensive or too hard to find? Now’s the time for it.• The hard stuff: I’m not much of a cocktail guy; I prefer my fruit in a pie. I do, however, appreciate good spirits. Wild Turkey makes a rye whiskey for about $18 that gets the job done (just cut it with a little water). And I was lucky enough to sample Partida tequilla, which offers value for $45.
Drink up, my friends. You deserve it.
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