Tag Archives: affordable wine

Winebits 770: Wine smuggling, Utah, “affordable” wine

cartoon: Criminal bribing policemanThis week’s wine news: The Chinese bust another wine smuggling ring, plus Utah’s liquor laws and “affordable” French wine

• $51 million: Chinese authorities reportedly broke up a French wine smuggling operation worth more than US$51 million. The story in the link looks to be an English-language adaptation of a Chinese-language news report, so how much of the story is accurate is anyone’s guess. It doesn’t identify most of those arrested or detail the wines. I mention it here given the blog’s interest in wine crime, and the fact that the smugglers were apparently caught because they listed a legitimate importer on the wine labels. When the police checked with the importer on the label, the importer denied any knowledge of the wines. One would think smugglers would be a bit more cagey than that.

• Bring it on, Utah: What do you do if you’re a bar in Utah and need a liquor license? Wait. And then wait some more. Utah, as regular readers know, always makes the WC smile with its tangle of liquor laws, and this story is no exception. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the state’s liquor authority had 11 applications for one available license in the entire state, but didn’t even give the one out. The reason? Ask the state legislature, said the liquor board chairman. No, I don’t understand it, either.

• “Affordable”? I don’t quite understand what this story is talking about, and I’m especially confused by the headline. It’s ostensibly about investing in fine wine, and there’s a chart that shows the popularity of Burgundies costing as much as $1,000: “In the year to date, the region has generated an aggregate return of 25.3%, putting it comfortably ahead of all major financial benchmarks.” So what does that have to do with affordable? Or has wine just reached a level that I can’t even begin to comprehend?

Winebits 507: The “They’re writing about cheap wine” edition

writing about cheap wineThe cyber-ether is writing about cheap wine: $5 wine from Target, 50 affordable wines, and Prosecco’s assault on British teeth

• Target’s $5 wine: Navigate your way through the sticky writing (who knew a Sagittarius made the best wine snob?), and you get a decent take on Target’s $5 California Roots wines from the Lifehacker website. Which is about what we’ve been discussing here for the past couple of years – uneven quality, even for $5, and cheap wines that use corks instead of screwcaps. Though why people who write about wine who don’t drink much wine always have to apologize for not drinking much wine makes me crazy. You’re a professional – trust your judgment.

• 50 sort of cheap wines: The Food & Wine magazine list of “50 affordable wines you can always trust,” courtesy of the always dependable Ray Isle, has made another appearance in the cyber-ether (tip o’ the WC’s fedora to my pal Tim McNally for sending it my way). I’d quibble that $17 isn’t especially affordable, but any list that includes Bogle, Yalumba, the Pine Ridge chenin blanc and viognier blend, and the Banfi Centine is worth taking seriously.

• Rotting your teeth? No, this is not a Monty Python bit, but an actual warning from British dentists: Prosecco, the cheap Italian sparkling wine, will rot your teeth. “The popular tipple is causing a rather horrifying dental issue being dubbed ‘prosecco smile.’ ” The Wine Curmudgeon, who drinks a fair amount of Prosecco in the line of duty, hasn’t noticed any change to his teeth, but I will monitor the situation and report back if my smile becomes horrifying.