Tag Archives: cheap wine book

TV weather fear mongers

Wine Curmudgeon to TV weather fear mongers: You owe me

TV weather fear mongers
“OMG, it’s an ice storm!”

The headline says it all. I did a cheap wine book signing last night, and everyone had a wonderful time. Sold some books, including one to a dog and one to a baby, and the only thing that wasn’t wonderful is that not a lot of people were there. They had been scared away by Dallas’ TV weather fear mongers, who had predicted an ice storm.

Which, of course, we didn’t have. A little 32-degree weather. A little mist. Nothing on the ground this morning. I have never had much respect for local TV news, dating to my newspaper days. But this was a pitiful effort, even by its standards. It’s easier and cheaper and better for ratings to scream about the weather like a little girl watching a horror movie, but that doesn’t do much for the rest of us. So the Wine Curmudgeon is putting local TV news on notice: You owe me. And I always collect.

The son of the cheap wine book tour

son of the cheap wine book tour
“Yes, I’m cute, but wouldn’t your significant other rather have a cheap wine book?”

Update: We’ve added WineTastic on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas — 6-8 p.m. on March 27. I’ll sign books as part of the Thursday night happy hour.

Thought the original cheap wine book tour was amazing? Then just wait for the son of the cheap wine book tour, which mostly coincides with Valentine’s Day. Because anyone can buy their beloved chocolate or one of those teddy bears or even this — but how many people will get a cheap wine book for The Holiday that Must Not Be Named?The schedule:

? 7-9 p.m. on Feb. 10 at Veritas in Dallas — timed to coincide with half-price wine night.

? 6-8 p.m. on Feb. 12 at Times Ten Cellars in Dallas, where it will also be pizza night.

? 5-7:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 at Put a Cork in It in Fort Worth, where we practically sold out of books last time.

? 6-8 p.m. on Feb. 26 at Vino 100 in Dallas, a combination book signing and happy hour. And where St. Cosme is on the wine list.

? 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 at the El Centro College culinary program’s wine class, where the only catch is that you have to be enrolled to attend.

Not in the Dallas area in the next couple of months? Never fear. I’m working on Houston and Austin for March, and you can always order the cheap wine book from me and I’ll autograph it anyway you want — and get it to you by Valentine’s Day.

studio microphone

The WC on WGSO in New Orleans

The WC on WGSO in New OrleansI’ll join my old pal Tim McNally at 5 p. m. on Friday to talk about cheap wine, the 2014 $10 Hall of Fame, and plug the cheap wine book on WGSO in New Orleans. You can stream the show if you’re not in the New Orleans area — or, better yet, listen to the podcast.

It’s always a lot of fun to talk to Tim, who knows more about the wine business than most and is very modest about it. Plus, he always asks me easy questions.

The Wine Curmudgeon on Dallas TV

And what difference does it make that they misspelled my name?

Because it’s the message that matters, and the message comes across loud and clear: “When you start out, all you ?re looking for is taste, if you like it it ?s a good wine, if you don ?t, you don ?t even have to finish drinking it. You can pour it down the sink. ?

Enjoy the video, and a tip o’ the WC’s fedora to Channel 11 and everyone who helped make it. And it has been at least a day since I mentioned that the cheap wine book would make a terrific holiday gift, hasn’t it?

Do your Black Friday shopping here, but don’t worry about our employees

The Wine Curmudgeon would never ask his employees to do something he wouldn’t do himself. Since I’m not working over the Thanskgiving weekend, neither will the marketing or shipping departments. Which, of course, are me.

The rest of the retail world may not understand that there are more important things besides making money, but I do. That huge, multi-billion dollar companies are requiring employees to work on Thanksgiving so they can sell an extra video game or pair of blue jeans, and that the employees will work on Thanksgiving without a fuss because too many need the overtime, speaks to what’s wrong with American business. The pursuit of stuff doesn’t benefit anyone.

So buy as many books as you want over Black Friday weekend, secure in the knowledge that they won’t be shipped until Monday. Instead, I will be eating turkey, drinking great wine, devising creative ways to make use of Thanksgiving leftovers, and feeling damned sorry for everyone who isn’t as lucky as I am.

 

Cheap wine book featured on Wine-Searcher

The website has an excerpt from the book, and you’ll get to read the introduction for free. Which, of course, is so well written that those of you who have not yet bought the book (because, sadly, there are people like that) will want to return here to buy your autographed copy.

Rebecca Gibb, the Wine-Searcher editor who has won a bunch of big-time wine writing awards, said she was impressed. ” ?I love this book,” she wrote me in an email. “It ?s refreshingly honest with no BS winespeak. Coming from a family which imbibed Lambrusco and Liebfraumilch at Christmas as a treat, the content was right down my alley. A great mythbuster for consumers, and a good reminder to us wine geeks that most people don ?t give a rats about the 1855 classification or flouncy tasting notes.”

Wow. That’s the kind of stuff that makes the even the Wine Curmudgeon less cranky. Maybe there is something to this book writing thing.

The e-book versions of the Cheap Wine Book

It’s here. And, if you do buy the book and like it, fill out one of those review things and let the rest of the world know just how wonderful it is. And, apparently, it is. It peaked at No. 12 among wine books in the first week, and was at No. 96 on Sept. 18 and No. 26 on Sept. 27. It’s also in the Barnes & Noble Nook store. Still waiting on the Apple version, which is taking forever to show up in the Apple store.

The print on demand paperback, which will be sold through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and traditional retailers, is out and is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

I’ll start selling the paperback version on the website — the new and improved website — around Oct. 15. For those of you who don’t know about the book — and how is that possible? — go here.