Vine Wise
Columnist: Richard L. Thomas
Dec, 2008 Issue
Despite 2008’s unpredictable weather and shaky economy, North Bay wine businesses look forward to a promising 2009, full of new labels and technology.
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Columnist: Richard L. Thomas
Nov, 2008 Issue
As the harvest winds down—and it appears to be down 10 percent or more—we need to assess what the current economic conditions will do to wine sales. Will people buy less wine with their diminishing discretionary funds, or is wine really recession proof? This year’s short crop might be Mother Nature’s way of keeping things in balance. Grape prices haven’t fallen and, in some cases, have even risen significantly: Napa Cabernet Sauvignon started out at $4,100 per ton and may go up further. Just what we need: more $50 per bottle wine! Isn’t there some point where sanity will prevail?
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Columnist: Richard L. Thomas
Special Wine Issue, Oct, 2008
It’s been a while since the Oakville Grocery changed hands, but I hope things will get better. I was with my harem (actually, my wife and several of her lady friends) and stopped in for a quick bite before going to the movies. Our dinner discussion revolved around trying to describe the service. We got hung up on “snooty,” “incompetent” or “just didn’t give a damn.” Whatever the cause, I hope it improves over the next few weeks.
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Columnist: Richard L. Thomas
Oct, 2008 Issue
It’s been interesting watching the metamorphosis of the tasting room. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, tasting rooms were few and far between. About the only one most people would remember was at the Italian Swiss Colony in lovely downtown Asti. Wines offered were state-of-the-art “beverage wines,” “pop wines” or “cheap drunks”—take your choice what you’d like to call them. Remember all of those lovely wines like Spinada, Tyrolia, wrapped Tipo Chianti bottles, Silver Satin, Thunderbird, Annie Green Springs and Bartles & James wine coolers?
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