HOW TO: cut a wine bottle and save $249
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GuSC/~3/QkIH8ZhUxOw/
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Davis Bynum, Pinot Noir 2008 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
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When The Oregonian wine columnist and first-time author Katherine Cole says in the preface of her book (Voodoo Vintners: Oregon’s Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers) that its, “An examination of an inscrutable topic” I wondered if that was a caveat that she bolted on after the fact, a veiled warning to readers that she felt incomplete in her examination of the nascent, controversial and woefully misunderstood viticultural practice that is Biodynamics (BioD).
To the contrary, Cole has largely triumphed in surveying the origins of BioD while providing a sweeping and balanced perspective of its practice in the decidedly progressive cultural environment of Oregon. And, in my opinion, the introduction and first two chapters of Voodoo Vintners provides more coherency on the underpinnings of Biodynamics and its ideological leader, Rudolf Steiner, than most of what has been published to date. In and of itself, that is worth the price of the book because Voodoo Vintners is not a tidy, self-contained opinion piece for those looking for an easy treatise that jives positively or negatively with existing opinion. Instead, it gives the reader plenty of food for thought and enough well-researched background to lead an individual in exploration in what is ultimately a very complex subject.
Consider it a jumping off point.

When it comes to Biodynamics, grappling with the inherent complexity and pursuing independent exploration is a particularly important point: While it’s easy to latch onto opinions that validate our potentially narrow viewpoint, it’s much more challenging to understand the origin of BioD and form a fully realized opinion that rationalizes a 360 degree perspective with sympathy towards the unknown.
At the risk of injecting my own bias when author Cole doesn’t, I lean sympathetic to BioD and its esotericism. I’m comfortable with ambiguity. I’ve repeatedly experienced déjà vu, I don’t dismiss ghost stories, and as a now aged amateur athlete I’ve experienced a heightened state of consciousness on occasion, what is called being in, “The Zone.” Most can relate to these things, even if none of them are fully understood.
Spiritually, I’m a lapsed Catholic married to a reformed Jew with an “All God’s Creatures” sensibility. We underscore that mélange with an Eastern philosophical bent. Suffice to say, the ritualistic spiritual aspects of BioD combined with the fuzziness of sensory perception and energy forces isn’t something I dismiss out of hand.
As Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, the research lead for the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University is quoted as saying in the book, “There are many ways of knowing. There is logic, there is intuition, there are dreams, there is conversation, there is observation. All of these should be respected and developed.”
I agree.
However, there is much in the historical melting pot of BioD that borders on forbiddingly complex for the layperson – Goethe, an obscure Persian religion called Zoroastrianism, Steiner’s own philosophy of Anthroposophy, the over-arching philosophy of Theosophy, and the power of intent via quantum mechanics (to name a few) that can be linked to BioD and Steiner’s seminal lectures that make up the foundation of the movement. These are all skillfully referenced and examined with varying degrees of depth in Voodoo Vintners, available to the reader for further exploration.
Yet, where Cole’s writing picks up its own energy is when she switches from the thesis-style aspects of her research and writes first person about the personalities in the Biodynamic and sustainable Oregon wine scene. Despite the book not being contiguously linked chapter by chapter, this area of the book provides cohesion and context to the subject matter, along with a warm writing style that best suits the author.
When writing about the late Jimi Brooks or Alex Sokol Blosser, the book takes on a vitality that is relatable, especially when Sokol Blosser says of some of the infamous manure-based BioD soil amendments, “I don’t want the vineyard guys to do anything I wouldn’t do. And I don’t shovel shit”
Ultimately, the book leaves the reader with a broader sense of Biodynamics, but willfully, no answers. When consultant Dominique Lafon says of Biodynamics, “It’s as simple as it is complicated” I nodded in agreement intrigued to understand this subject on deeper terms after Cole artfully laid out the case that what is known is only equaled by what is unknown and because of that, ultimately, Biodynamics boils down to belief.
If you like your news to hew closely to your political belief system, there’s no amount of persuasion that will get you to cross the proverbial aisle – in politics or Biodynamics. However, if you approach life with an open mind and an open heart, you’re likely to find something in this book that will make you a little smarter, intrigued to learn more and, ultimately, better equipped to make your own judgment on a subject that is still early in its adoption cycle.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/on_biodynamics_voodoo_vintners_and_the_learning_imperative/
I’m fond of a quote from comedian Patton Oswalt where he suggests, “Pointing out that stuff sucks is not edgy or dangerous anymore. Everyone knows what sucks. What’s better is to find the stuff that’s amazing and hold it up.” With that in mind, here is a random assortment of things that I’ve been enjoying recently because they don’t suck—some are wine-related, others not so much.
• Sean Minor 2010 Vin Gris. All of Sean Minor’s wines are a terrific value. This Vin Gris is no exception and the perfect spring wine.
• This version of Little Ole Wine Drinker Me (Dean Martin classic) by Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers

• Enameled Good Grape soda signs from the 1930s and 40s. A seller on eBay plucked money out of my pocket for the sign pictured above. So far, I’ve resisted buying another one (link).
• My wife went to the UK last month and brought back Chunky Kit Kat’s and Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish Delight Bars, amongst other treats. The Kit Kat is good, but the Turkish Delight bar was otherworldy and a match made in Heaven for a nice Port.
• Terry Theise Estate Selections 2010 catalog. If you haven’t read it yet, you do need to – the most enjoyable catalog reading you’ll do this year. Though, like a regular consumer catalog it might incent you to spend money you didn’t plan on.
• Meta-irony t-shirts like this one (link). Based on the “Mc” in McDonald’s, co-opted by a movie, licensed back from the restaurant and then sold to the consumer. I bought mine for $10 at Target – at least I’m aware of the consumer con.
• It’s allergy season. God bless Zyrtec and Allegra and Claritin and Alavert and …
• The live cam of an eagle’s nest in Iowa and its three just-hatched baby eagles.
• Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC. Season two is in LA and it picks up some of the hackneyed dramatic elements from season one (Huntington, WV) and Jamie’s efforts to bring quality food into the school system. Despite some of the overwrought production, I really admire Oliver who did create real, lasting change in the UK before coming state side for the reality show. It’s more than lip service to Oliver and anybody that cares about food would find this show educational and entertaining.
• Trader Joe’s buttermilk pancake mix – fluffy, light, and yummy. Add real maple syrup, and a whisper of some bacon-flavored Torani syrup (cane sugar, no HFCS) and you’re all set for breakfast.
• Cedar raised bed garden frames from The Farmstead. My wife and I have four of these. Sturdy and dead simple to set-up, these raised beds offer an inordinate amount of inexpensive joy when you pluck a tomato from your vine in August.
• Tumbleweed pottery chicken roaster. A bit more refined than the beer can chicken apparatus you mind find elsewhere, using this roaster with a whole organic chicken, a little butter and herbes de Provence and an hour and ½ in a 350 degree oven and dinner is deliciously served.
• Real Wine. This is the third time I’ve read this book, first published in 2000. It serves as a gentle grounding element for the natural wine movement that seems to be so breathlessly au courant today. Read it while drinking a Lioco Pinot or Chardonnay or something from Donkey & Goat.
• Shamanism. I was raised Catholic and married a Jew. While spiritually grounded, I am adrift from organized religion, and I’ve been doing a round robin exploration of religion for a couple of years, mostly eastern thought. Shamanism has my attention now. While the Biodynamic and Western religion connection is oft-cited, Shamanism is the one religion that believes that plants have a spirit. Reading up on this is a fascinating punch in the gut to prevailing wisdom.
• Notre Dame football. Saturday, April 16th is Notre Dame’s spring football scrimmage. Only 4.5 months until football season!
• Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant. According to my server on a recent Wednesday, this small chain of restaurants based in the ‘burbs of Chicago with one additional location in Indianapolis is now the largest wine club in the U.S. with 25,000 members. I’ve found the food and service to be good and the wines very uneven. Yet, to be fair, Cooper’s Hawk is designed to be accessibly upscale and it hits a broad market that is wine interested, but not necessarily wine inclined. On that measure, I have to give them kudos for helping build a wine culture in the Midwest.
• Drinking Paisano-style. I love to drink my wine at home with a decidedly down-to-earth bent. Forget the Riedel. Get some glass coffee mugs and an old-school carafe.
• Sacre Bleu wine. Owner Galen Struwe could write a Harvard case study on the challenges of the wine business, particularly for those coming from outside of the industry. Yet, after a couple of years of progress and experimentation, his Chilean juice is selling like hotcakes at Central Market in Texas and he’s poised to expand in a big way. Galen is a good guy and I always like to see the good guys succeed.
• Online wine-related videos: Paso Wine Man’s newest video. Jordan online videos—always incredibly well-done from Lisa Mattson.
• Wine retailers who place the responsibility of receipt of wine packages on consumers and ship nearly everywhere, including Indiana which is technically a no-ship state. I’m not tattling on whom, specifically, but I’m grateful that this occurs; at least that’s what my neighbor told me. Ahem.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/the_like_list_20_things_that_dont_suck/
With the New Year and winter’s recalcitrance toward resolutions now giving way to spring and new life, I’ve been contemplating a wine-related information makeover.
Perhaps not so much, “Out with the old, in with the new” as simply an editing of the wine-related information I consume, which is to say: There’s a lot of it and I need less of it. It’s a diet, perhaps.
Hastened by the online wine world where over the last five years wine content has become free, easy and inexhaustible, a wine enthusiast can get sucked into a vortex of infinite information that is unwittingly counter to their ethos.
Simply, one morning, under the glare of ashen bathroom lighting, the wine boor that we all hate so much might be staring back at us in the mirror.

This past week, I knew I might be in too deep, stuck in the trees and not able to see the forest, when I traded emails with some fellow wine writer’s. The initial query obtusely referenced Antonio Galloni and his new for-profit venture into conducting events as an adjunct to his wine criticism at the Wine Advocate.
“Huh?” You might say with this tidbit entirely missing your radar. And, that’s exactly my point.
Less than two months ago a mention of Antonio Galloni would have registered little more than a furtive calculation against the mental file. “Innocuous” would have been an apropos adjective for Galloni. Now, weeks later, Galloni, Robert Parker, Jr.’s successor, is the subject of top-of-mind conversation based on an interview with wine writer Mike Steinberger at his Wine Diarist blog, which itself is barely two months old. The reason? Galloni has set-up a company called All Grapes Media, LLC that is facilitating winemaker dinners with readers of the Wine Advocate (WA) and select wineries that have been reviewed by Galloni and WA.
This has raised questions anew about ethics …
While not the subject of this post per se, what struck me about my email exchange was that all parties on the email knew about this VERY minor revelation.
Regrettably, this smallest of details, which has zero implication on the enjoyment of wine, any wine, is something that people pay attention to, and even postulate about as a frame of reference.
I’m as guilty as anybody.
Yet, we all control our decisions. Just as Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin famously said, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are” the information we consume says just as much about who we are.
In the meantime, as we wax to drama, and let wine wane, we are living in a Golden Age of the drop – wine that is universally lauded and accessibly priced. On the market today a wine enthusiast can access a nearly unlimited supply of not just information, but wine, glorious wine. The ’07 Cabernet vintage from Napa is an all-time great. The ’09 Rieslings from Germany are stellar. The ’08 Pinots from Oregon are of incredible quality.

These are all available to the wine lover who wants to do a bit of research and seek them out.
So, instead of getting into the proverbial weeds of very small wine-related detail, I’m taking just a small step back to enjoy this moment in time to use my information consumption habits to research and seek out wines, allocating some tax refund money to buying up a parcel of Napa Cabs, Oregon Pinot’s and German Rieslings for my cellar.
10-years hence, I won’t remember a small peccadillo about Antonio Galloni and some wine events, but I surely will remember when I had the foresight to buy up some wines that will pay me great dividends in enjoyment in the future.
You should consider doing the same.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/stop_and_smell_the_wine/