• So much for the price hikes: The Wine Curmudgeon mentions this not to beat a dead horse, but because he was once again passed over as a person of knowledge, insight and authority in the wine business. Apparently, getting this pricing thing right is not nearly as important as knowing toasty and oaky. But the 2012 California grape harvest was the biggest ever, and prices will do what prices do in those situations. Furthermore, the continuing Euro crisis will lower the cost of European wine. Or, to quote someone who knows about this (and who is on the list), “All in all, it looks like the business is in balance but we'll see some early price reductions.”
• Greatest quote ever? The Artisan Family of Wines blog on cult wines: “To win a few snobs with money to burn, we’ve alienated a large part of our potential market, to our harm and their loss.” Hmmm. Sounds like something I should use in The Cheap Wine book (Q&A explaining how Kickstarter works; Kickstarter link; What the book is). The entire post is worth reading, and I would quote more, but then I would end up quoting the entire post.
• New grape names: Cornell University has announced the names of its newest grapes, a white called Aromella and a red named Arandell. They were the winners of a contest that attracted some 7,000 entries. The former got its name because it is an aromatic, muscat white, while the latter is a combination of "arandano," the Spanish word for blueberry, and the "ell" from Cornell.



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