? The end of a legendary brand? Glen Ellen, the brand that helped fuel the 1980s wine boom, has apparently disappeared and exists today only as part of another brand, Concannon. Both labels are owned by The Wine Group, which also makes Cupcake. Lew Perdue has the depressing details at Wine Industry Insight, Why depressing? Because Glen Ellen chardonnay was one of the first cheap and mass produced but well made wines available in the U.S., and those of us of a certain age used it to get into wine. If you held a party in the 1980s or early 1990s, you bought a bunch of the 1.5 liter bottles of the various Glen Ellen varietals.
? Stupid tasting notes: Blake Gray, writing in Palate Press, notes that tasting notes are some of the most difficult things to do if you write about wine. I know I hate writing them, and I ?m terrified that after a while, the notes for all the wines I review read exactly the same. Gray offers some terrific advice, quoting Eric Asimov of the New York Times: Notes should describe the texture, freshness, and body of the wine more than fruit flavors. Asks Gray: ?Who buys a wine because it ?s described as tasting like peaches instead of apricots
? Not in New Hamphire, you don ?t: From the state liquor law file comes this, where regulars are trying to decide if a wine called If You See Kay should be sold in state stores. The label, say critics, is obscene, crude and tasteless, and the wine needs to be off shelves. The Wine Curmudgeon thinks it ?s just stupid, which is why I ?m not a regulator. The story in the legendary New Hampshire newspaper, the Union Leader, is a hoot to read, and describes the label thusly: ?The provocative ?Kay ? label, when pronounced, spells out the four-letter vulgarity. ? Wish I had written that.