Winebits 799: Champagne corks, David Trone, damp drinking

This week’s wine news: Make cooking safer with Champagne corks, plus Total Wine’s David Trone is running the U.S. Senate and young people discover moderation

• Call it a potholder: Claire Lower at Lifehacker found a terrific use for all of the old Champagne and sparkling wine corks sitting around the house: Use them as potholders. “Instead of using a kitchen towel or pot holder to grab the hot, metal lid of a sauce pan or stock pot, wedge a sparkling wine cork under the handle. The cork acts as an insulator, allowing you to lift the lid without burning fingers.” I have not tried this yet, but Lower – who is pretty good at these things – swears by it.

• Trone for Senate: David Trone, whose family owns the Total Wine retail chain, will run for the U.S. Senate from Maryland. Trone, a Democrat, currently represents the state’s Sixth Congressional District in the U.S House. He is well known for spending personal money on his campaigns; CNN reports that he loaned himself $12.5 million when he was reelected in 2022. I’ve interviewed Trone, and he is one of the sharpest people I’ve met in the wine business. If nothing else, the family managed to create a national liquor retailer where many others had failed and many thought it couldn’t be done.

• Call it damp: Want to know what young people call drinking in moderation? Damp. The WC doesn’t do much with TikTok, since I live in Texas and the bosses here could arrest me for being a Chinese spy, but it’s worth noting: “Roughly 1 in 3 Gen Z and Millennial drinkers have heard of ‘damp drinking’ and, when prompted, over half are interested in trying it.” Note to the wine industry: Ask one of your kids about this. It sounds like something that might be good for business.

Photo: Claire Lower via Lifehacker