Tag Archives: 7-Eleven wine

Winebits 612: 7-Eleven wine, Iowa wine, Brexit wine

Brexit wineThis week’s wine news: Customer goes full-on wine critic at a California 7-Eleven, plus the success of Iowa wine and Brexit wine fears

• A unique approach to wine criticism: A customer was arrested last week after police say he “threw dozens of glass bottles onto the floor” and damaged several display cases at a California 7-Eleven. No word on the motive for the incident, which took place at 9 in the morning. Maybe it would have been easier to give the wines low scores than to get arrested?

• Show me the money: One more example of the success of Drink Local – one of Iowa’s preeminent wineries is for sale for $2.3 million, an unheard of sum when regional wine was little loved and less respected. The Des Moines Register reports that the two-decade old Summerset Winery is for sale at that price, which includes a 12-acre vineyard, a house and an inn. Summerset is the state’s largest winery, accounting for about 10 percent of Iowa’s production.

• Stockpiling Brexit wine: Booze companies across Britain have begun stockpiling beer, wine and spirits to keep the alcohol flowing at Christmas, more than six weeks earlier than normal. The Guardian newspaper reports that the importers and distributors don’t want to be caught short if a no-deal Brexit disrupts trade in and out of the country. Says an economist: ““It’s particularly wine from the EU. Companies have bought well ahead of Christmas this year, due to potential disruption at the ports and to try and avoid depreciation in the value of sterling against the euro.”

Winebits 512: Odd wine news edition

odd wine newsThis week’s odd wine news: Wine mentions in the media, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the mentions are newsworthy

• But what if it had been Glen Ellen? The Morning News newspaper in Dallas, reporting a deadly drunk driving accident, noted that an “open bottle of Sutter Home cabernet sauvignon was found at the crash site.” I have been pondering that sentence since I read it, drawing on my years of newspaper knowledge and experience, to figure out why the reporter identified the wine. Typically, the line would have read “an open bottle of wine was found at the crash site.” That’s because it doesn’t make much difference to what happened – that a drunk driver killed someone – by listing the name and type of wine. The driver could have gotten drunk on any kind of wine. It also makes the sentence longer, which is something to avoid. The only thing I can think of is that the cops had the wine listed in the accident report, the reporter cut and pasted, and the copy desk didn’t notice.

• Shame on you, Mom and Dad: The newest lever in the neo-Prohibitonist campaign to limit even responsible drinking? Our children are ashamed of us. Or, as the British study claimed, “Moderate drinking by parents can have a negative impact on children, causing anxiety and disrupting bedtime routines.” Who knew a couple of glasses of wine with dinner were wreaking such havoc on our kids? There is one important question the story doesn’t address, though: What happens if you read your child a bedtime story while you’re tipsy? Does that count?

• Bring it on, 7-Eleven: Yes, I know, no one drinks cheap wine, but that hasn’t stopped the country’s most prominent convenience store chain from launching a second wine brand to go with its Yosemite Road. It’s called Trojan Horse, will sell for $7, and will include chardonnay and pinot grigio. The story, in a trade magazine, was apparently more cutting and pasting and is actually pretty funny in that sad, poorly written PR way I have been railing against for years. The wines “were custom developed with grapes from different California valleys,” which makes very little sense but does have impressive jargon. My favorite, though, is the title of the 7-Eleven official identified as the vice president of vault. Is this a typo, and should it be vice president of value? Or does the company actually have a vice president of vault?

Winebits 156: Direct shipping, expensive wine, 7-Eleven wine

? Retail shipping appeal: A group of American wine retailers is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that limited the ability of out-of-state retailers to sell wine over the Internet. The Specialty Wine Retailers Association wants the high court to decide if retailers enjoy the same protection the court gave to wineries in its landmark Granholm decision in 2005. The retailers are appealing Wine Country Gift Baskets v. Steen, in which the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said a non-Texas retailer could not sell wine in Texas.

? A $233,000 bottle of wine: From our friends at the Wine Spectator: A bottle of 1869 Ch teau Lafite, estimated to fetch $8,000 at auction, sold for $233,972 — making it the most expensive 750ml bottle of wine on the planet. The Spectator reports that an unnamed Asian bidder bought the bottle, and it's no wonder the bidder wanted to remain unnamed. That $233,972 would have bought 1,950 cases of $10 wine, or enough wine to last most of the rest of us about 150 years.

? New 7-Eleven wine: The convenience store chain, which sells the $4 Yosemite Road brand, is expanding its wine lineup. Look for Cherrywood Cellars, a private label wine that will sell for about $9 a bottle, and will come in three flavors — chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. I wasn't overwhelmed by the Yosemite Road, but it was a huge success with consumers, selling out quickly.