Shit! I Just Spilled Wine on My Computer!

by Brandon Wainscott

So it finally happened. I spilled wine on my laptop. Well, so far, so good. A bit sticky, but given it was that sticky, cough medicine like port, I suppose that is to be expected, even with the cleaning. I'll give it another good wipe after this. But assuming your computer has not already fried out, in which case you are screwed, some ways to save your computer.

1. Shut it down. 
2. With a towel quickly get all the liquid off. This needs to be done as quickly as possible of course.
3.  Once you have gotten all the actual wine of get a dry paper dowel and wipe down the keyboard and in between the keys. Get any wine or wine residue that you see. 
4. Turn the computer upside down for a moment. 
5. This step is made with a disclaimer. You do this at your own risk. With a baby wipe or wet wipe, wipe down the computer, including the keyboard. On the keyboard be extra gentle of course, as well as on the mouse. You may have to do this a few times. Try wiping in circular motions. Then dry with a paper towel.
6. Then turn your computer back on and hope there are no problems. 

Of course if something does go wrong, and you have warranty that covers such accidents, you're good, except for the trouble of the lost files and having to wait for a replacement. But hopefully this helped.  That's why it is good to always back up your files. If you're nervous like me about someone reading them, or seeing certain photos (wink, wink), you can encrypt files, even folders, and they will remain encrypted when they are backed up. Word files, Excel files, etc. allow you to encrypt in the software, and there are programs you can buy to add even better encrypt them. A simple, free method of encrypting whole folders can be found here, though it is easy to get through the encrypted file if you have some very basic knowledge of these things. I actually mention the encryption, not so you can hide bad things (though you can!), but your important files, such as for business, that great novel you plan on publishing, etc. Backing them up, or putting them on a jump drive, exposes them to being opened by whoever might find or use the jump drive. Just think identity theft is some of them are business files. Decent encryption is a good idea, as is backing up files in general. Then if you spill wine on your computer, you are good if the above methods fail. Cheers!

Finally Tried Escargot

by Brandon Wainscott

Actually had escargot once in Wisconsin when I was up there considering the Catholic clergy. That went pretty well. I became fond of a couple girls in the parish, one being the girl all the guys fell in love with, including the guys considering the priesthood. Not so much that they necessarily gave up their clerical aspirations, though I think it did for those not called to the life of celibacy. Now that I am considering Eastern Orthodoxy, which has married clergy, that's not a problem. Except I do not want to be a priest. Maybe a deacon or something of the lower clergy, but I don't feel I have the capabilities to be a priest--it's a lot of devotion, and a great duty. In any case one of the priests up in Wisconsin and I were taken to a nice restaurant by the rich patron of the parish who pretty much helped with the beautiful restoration, shown here for all my self-proclaimed sophisticated readers who love the church art I am sure:

In any case we had escargot a la bourguignonne, which I remember to have liked. Actually, from what I remember there did not seem to be much of a taste, other than the butter, which perhaps masked the underlying flavour of the actual snails. Which is what my problem was with my recipe last night. I had no shells, so escargot a la bourguignonne was out of the question. So I cooked them with some sausage in a spicy red sauce, my own concoction. And I am afraid I did not like the escargot.

They were small snails, from Burgundy, as opposed to the large ones. They had a rather fishy taste, which is something I always found hard as a Catholic on Fridays. Technically I am still a Catholic, but I am strongly considering Orthodoxy, so it's a bit of confusing time. Of course I usually just ate vegetables. I hate the fishy taste. It makes me gag, a reflex. I think part of it is genetic, and part of it that I never grew up eating fish. I was pick. My diet was mostly McDonald's chicken nuggets with the skin pilled off, and biscuits and gravy. In any case the taste of the snails was musky and fishy. So I ask my more cultured readers: Are large escargots less musky or fishy? And does the escargot a la bourguignonne recipe allow that to be drowned out by the butter? The escargot a la bourguignonne seems really good with a glass of wine. But without the butter, at least the small ones, seem way too fishy for my uncultured tongue. Almost like anchovies. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. It would really be nice to enjoy this wine lover's delight.

In any case, I have not had much to write about of late. I might start doing to recipes to make up for the lack of material. I am making goose for Christmas. Not sure exactly how I am going to do it though--Port and plums are involved. I guess the recipe will come after Christmas--so much for the Christmas goose.
:

Cleaning Wine Glasses

by Brandon Wainscott

A quick little post to get something in since I have not posted in over a week. How should you clean wine glasses? The answer would seem to be put them in the dishwasher and if you do so I would remind everyone to be careful on how you load them as they can be broken in the chaos. But really the dishwasher is not the best method, nor soap at all. Simply use water and then dry them off with a clean towel. Why? Because I read that it can take up to ten washes to get the soap completely off. And what does soap left on there mean? Well an effect on taste and aroma of course! It really makes sense and since reading that I have stopped using soap. The only time you should use soap IMHO is if they have been sitting for a long time. I had some champagne flutes that had collected some nasty stuff on the inside and I decided to use soap. Also if uncooked meat touches them it is a MUST of course. Say you are cooking and enjoying a glass of wine as you do so and the raw steak rubs against the glass. You would want to wash them well with soap and water. Otherwise simply wash with water. Here's my method:

1) With very hot water wash the inside and outside of the glass, stem and all. 

2) Dry with a clean dish towel or rag. When dry check to see if any wine or water spots are left. If there is anything still on the glass repeat as required. Sometimes it take two or three times to get the glass clean. Be sure to wash the rim of the glass, too, of course.

HINT: With the dish towel an easy and effective method of drying is to stuff some of the towel inside the glass and keep turning it around until the inside is dry. This makes sure the whole inside is dry and helps prevent water spots.

Review: Korbel California Champagne Brut

SCORE: 83
by Brandon Wainscott

AROMA: Citrus, Apple

TASTE: The taste is rather simple but enjoyable. Mostly all that is tasted is apple but despite this simplicity the champagne/sparkling wine is enjoyable.

OVERALL:  The sparkling wine is not badly made but simple. All there really is, is apple, a cider sort of taste but with a crisp pleasantness. Given the price range it scores 83.

REVIEW:  While not fine wine it does make for a cheap buy for that pre-dinner glass when you have company or a New Years celebration when you cannot afford or do not desire to pay the price for a bottle of Dom Perignon. Not excellent by any means, but a very drinkable glass. Despite this drinkablity I have had the brand in the past and it has been better. So taking it's price into consideration I would give it an 83.

PRICE:  $13-$14 (US)

COUNTRY:  United States

REGION: California

APPELLATION: California

VINTAGE: NONE

GRAPE: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, French  Colombard, Pinot Noir

Storing Partially Drank Wine

by Brandon Wainscott

So a little bit about myself. I am 28 years old and live in my mother's basement. Actually there is no basement but you get the point. The reason is I have to. I am epileptic and my neurologist does not think it ideal for me to live alone as I have had two cases of status epileticus, seizures that last over five minutes and do not stop, or stopping, begin again. They can be fatal and therefore need emergency treatment unlike most seizures--anyone who has no history of seizures, or is not believed to should, go to the hospital but epileptics normally do not go to the hospital every time unless it is serious, like status epilepticus. Besides, I am in school so it is convenient. So my mommy is going to take me out to get some wine because of course my license have been suspended--not for drinking wine and driving, but for seizures. Yeah, it really does suck. And not until one in the morning. Yeah that's late to open up a bottle of wine but I am a night owl and this vampire does drink...wine. Besides I have an early day tomorrow and need a nightcap.

So I do not think I will finish the bottle. So what to do? Well my trick is to put it, whether red or white, in the fridge because it slows down deterioration. Then the next day, right before you are ready to drink it, take it out and in an ice bucket like the one you chill wine in. Put lukewarm water in it and bring the bottle proper temperature. That's room temperature for red and 45-55 degrees (Fahrenheit) for white.

Why bring the white down after taking it out? Because the refrigerator is too cold and the positive aromas and taste are lost just like they are in a wine too warm. It also helps to use a vacuum pump if you have one to remove the air from the bottle but the wine should keep for one night without much of a problem. For really cheap wines it usually does not matter if you drink the white too cold but red wine that is cold will be unpleasant. How long to warm the wine will vary based on factors. It's like chilling. You just keep checking by touching the bottle with the BACK of your hand, not because it's hot, but because the back of the hand is more accurate in judging than the front. It's the same rule of thumb as in chilling A degree or two a minute so check a red every ten minutes and a white the same, which will of course take lesser time since you are only bringing it down a little.

Of course if you just want to get drunk then you wasted your time reading this! Cheers then and remember to recycle! A good deed makes up for a bad deed, so recycle to repair the sin of drunkenness.

On second thought, as a final note, I might just get a half pint of scotch and a bottle of champagne for tomorrow which is a special day for a special lady of my heart, Patricia with her starry eyes. They say Don Perignon said of his new creation (sparkling wine), "I have tasted the stars." Patricia, my lady, who is like Dante's Beatrice, I drink your starry eyes in an act of amorous cannibalism (think Christian communion act where the body of Christ is eaten). In Dante's first sonnet of La Vita Nuova, Beatrice eats Dante's heart, an allegory perhaps of Christian communion, but also representing the fact that Beatrice will die, because after eating the heart, she ascends to heaven. I shall drink the stars and commune with my lady through the wine tomorrow.

The blood eyes of Christ Patricia.

Film Review: Haute Cuisine

by Brandon Wainscott

This film, which I watched a month or so ago, is in French, something I myself always love. Foreign films, despite having to read watching a movie, often are hidden little jewels. After watching Mads Mikkelsen pull off an interesting Hannibal Lecter in NBCs series, I was glad to see a couple films with the Danish actor in his own language. The Hunt showed the other side of the oft over-dramatic Law and Order: SVU hammer-of-perverts crime show; for in The Hunt a man is falsely accused of molesting a young girl, having to live through the hell of being seen as a pervert. And then Mikkelsen does a wonderful job in the historical drama, A Royal Affair, a rather overly preachy movie glorifying the French Revolution, but wonderfully acted with the sexy Alicia Vikander as the king's wife, Caroline and the talented Mikkel Boe Følsgaard playing the weak, mentally ill King Christian VII. Mikkelsen leaves the sociopathic Hannibal Lecter for a compassionate doctor and libertine. And thus my praise of foreign film. Today, and as all future reviews, I am reviewing a film related to the subject of this blog, food and wine. The film is Haute Cuisine, which is called in the original French: Les saveurs du Palais.  It stars and elegant Catherine Frot as the president's personal chef and Jean d'Ormesson as the president himself. 

The English title is somewhat unfavourable. The whole film is about why French food should not be haughty after all, but the English title is not the fault of the makers of the film since they titled it, if it were translated directly: The Flavours of the Palace. Miss Frot plays Madame Hortense Laborie, a sort of foodie, elegant yet unaffected. When the film begins she is living in the country managing a farm to satisfy her love of good food, hunting truffles and raising livestock. She is then approached by a government official, taken in a humorous journey to Paris where she has little idea of the purpose. There she is told she will be personal chef to the president. 

She quickly comes head to head with the head chef of the kitchen who seems to be angry that a woman with no formal training is allowed there and is now the president's personal chef. She herself is in another kitchen, generally free from him, and she quickly imposes her beliefs against the usual rules. However, the president, played charmingly by Jean d'Ormesson, shares her views of food, liking that which that lacks the haughtiness of Parisian cuisine, preferring like her, what we Americans would call down home cooking. To the normal American the food  is certainly high class, but though there is indeed an elegance to it, the idea is simplicity--fresh, high quality ingredients skillfully made without pretentiousness. The president explains he is growing tired of all the fancy dishes arranged more for their art than their love. Indeed in the end we see that is how she makes her food--with love, like a mother.

In fact, to show this, the film is really flashbacks to her days working at the state palace in France because when the film begins she is in Antartica at a French settlement. She is shown to be a woman that has become a mother to all the workers there. They have come to enjoy the cuisine she has made with love. Thus there is a moving goodbye to her as she goes back to France and elsewhere in the world to hunt for truffles.

So the film is not about haughty, or as haute is transliterated, high cuisine. It is about the opposite. It is what Julia Child wanted us to see about French cooking. Thus the English title is really unfitting,  though I suppose it does work to draw a person to the film. I would not have been as quick to watch it on Netflix if it had been called "The Flavours of the Palace". 

 I will give it the same score I gave it on Netflix: five out of five stars for "loved it". 

Review: Yellow Tail Big Bold Red

SCORE: 85

by Brandon Lee Wainscott

AROMA: Plastic pool smell, floral notes, fruit, fresh grass, slight alcohol.

TASTE: Spicy, strawberries, dark cherry, leather.

OVERALL: The wine has a pool-like smell with floral notes which are followed by what seems to be fresh cut grass. There is also fruit, perhaps strawberry and cherry. On the mouth there is nice spice with the strawberries which seem to open up to cherries later on. The wine finishes medium dry. There is a pleasant bitterness on the finish, but also the strawberry, which in the aftertaste seems artificial. However, this seems to go away once the wine opens up. So, with this, the wine deserves a middle ground of an 85 score. Though tempting to give it an 84 for its faults, given the price, it seems merciful to give it an 85.

REVIEW: I bought this inexpensive wine because Julia Child suggested a California Mountain Red if one did not buy the namesake French wine for her famous boeuf bourguinon. This is the Australian version of the California red. I was actually quite satisfied, especially once the wine opened up. It is young and lacks the sophistication of its French counterpart in Burgundy, but when opened up it is rather good, great for its price. It could sell for twice it's $7.00 price. I had this with Cornish hen cooked in a crock pot with curry and other spices. It paired even better with food so it is certainly a good wine for a casual dinner.

PRICE:  $7 (US)

COUNTRY:  Australia

REGION: Southeast

APPELLATION:  N/A

VINTAGE:  NONE

GRAPE:  Not given by winemaker.

Don't Cry Over Spilt Wine

by Brandon Wainscott


Well do cry. Wine lost is always tragic. But don't cry about that red wine on your carpet. Aside from carpet cleaner another option is milk. I saw it on some movie or TV show and tried it out last night. And it works pretty well. What you do is wipe up the excess with a wet rag and then pour milk on the spot and wipe with another wet washcloth. Continue pouring milk on and wiping until it is cleaned up. Most of it should clean up but if there is any that is left some carpet cleaner should do the trick. Even a good hard scrubbing with warm water should do the trick. Those hippies who hate chemicals can teach you a lot!

Of course stains are never really cleaned up anymore than anything is really deleted from your hard drive, but when I delete certain pictures from my computer for moral reasons (I think you know what I mean!) they are still there, but no longer there to tempt me. Still technically, just like the FBI can find that Herbert the Pervert stuff--my advice is get stuff normal people look at--you'll see the stains once you take up the carpet. But at least it will be out of sight. Oh, and by the way, just so no one worries, I don't look at kiddie porn. Or porn at all for that matter. Honestly it's far too fake for me. Animal like, as if love making is supposed to be that way. It's like chugging a $60 bottle of burgundy if you make love like they do in a porno. And even nude pictures have that fakeness to me like Boone's Farm. I don't even get the glory of strip joints. Not that I'm knocking anyone's game--well, the kid porn I am, perverts--but here's what I prefer, just if you'd like to know, when it comes to "inspiring" images for "private pleasure".  I doubt you did want to know, but for me it's something a bit more real to look upon than some playgirl:

Karlie Kloss, the champagne of the fashion industry. I'd love to have a bottle of wine with her if you know what I mean. Oh what a pleasure to pop a cork, my friends, but most of all to put it back in. Cheers!

Corked!

by Brandon Wainscott


So I just bought a bottle of wine and yuck...it was coked. Or something like that. Most people, when they get a nasty bottle of wine, assume it's corked but that is not always the case. Bad wine can be because of a number of faults and the one I got seems to be either one of the sulphur faults; or, prepare yourself for a trip back to chemistry class, trichloranisole, a word that even my spell check is not picking up. It is three chlorine atoms (Cl) and... oh, to hell with it...I barely passed chemistry. We non-Walter Whites just call it the cork taint.

I am hoping it is the former as it seems hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is easier to treat with aeration; and thus I have it in a tall glass and another wine glass which I am using as a redneck decanter. The glass I am decanting in is one of those glasses McDonald's gives out for free once a year. Meanwhile in the wine glass beside me I have the wine and it's not good at all. Sulphur seems to be on the finish. So perhaps, just perhaps, it will turn out decent. Bacchus, come to my assistance!

So what did I do about all this? Well, I actually got this same wine today and opened it up, and being faulted, decided to take it back to the retailer which is accepted practise, though it can take some courage. And so against my better judgment, I got the very same thing and it has the very same fault! I should have gotten something else, but I figured it might just be the bottle.  It was the batch I suppose. I cannot possibly take it back now but here's my advice: get a bad bottle of wine? Take it back. No, not one you simply don't like because you just don't like it. Too bad! That's just bad manners and we wine drinkers know all about good manners with our pinkies up in air. No, return a wine that is corked or has any other fault. And get another wine for the same price or pay the difference. I am not sure you can get something cheaper, but you can try. You should be able to get something more expensive though.You just have to pay the difference. Take your receipt though, although I did not have mine--but I'm a regular, so I was fortunate.

And do not get the very same thing, at least not that time. And not for a while perhaps because all the bottles likely came from the same batch. You can get something from the same maker like I should have--Merlot instead of the Cabernet Sauvignon. But yes, you can take it back, though some retailers, especially if it is not specifically a wine store, may be a bit hesitant. But you'll get your way if you are nice and sound like you know what you are talking about. Just say, "It seems to have a fault. Corked I think or perhaps hydrogen sulphide."  And you should not drink more than half the bottle, and certainly not half! Hopefully you just drank a glass or so. Seriously though, if you only drink a little the retailer can send it back to the producer and get another bottle to replace it. Oh and there is a difference between a fault and a flaw. Faults are undrinkable, while flaws are drinkable negatives in a wine.

Now this all really sucks as I was planning on watching a foodie/wine movie tonight with my wine. But given the wine ain't that great I am just going to watch The West Wing on Netflix or another movie. I watched The Duchess last night with the sexy Kiera Knightley playing the famed Duchess of Devonshire. I do love the look of women in those powdered wigs and beautiful 18th century dresses with their playful cleavage. And the hats! Miss Knightley's gorgeous face really strands out in 18th century headwear:



Well, that wine seems to be opening up, somewhat at least. Not as good as this wine usually it, but drinkable now. Yes, just air out a faulted wine and see if it will correct it. If not, throw it away. Or take it back. You can always pour decanted wine back into the bottle. In fact you should before serving ideally. Everyone gets to see the bottle which is nice. Well another period movie perhaps. No wait! Scandal is on tonight. She likes red wine. But she drinks the good stuff...well, she does but remember even a $60 bottle of wine can be faulted. But faults in wine, thank Bacchus, they are rare.

Review: Pinot Evil Pinot Noir

SCORE: 74

by Brandon Wainscott

AROMA: Alcohol, floral, cherry, butterscotch. A rather pleasant floral nose until the alcohol works its way in.

TASTE: Pepper, Leather, butterscotch/caramel and perhaps flowers.

OVERALL: Colour is light see through red. There seems to be a mix of smooth velvet and cherry with a leathery dryness. The latter is more on the finish, but if kept in the mouth, it shows itself then, too. However, there is a clear hotness to the wine that shows itself and undermines any good qualities. It lacks depth and complexity and so it tastes like cheap wine is expected to taste like, not bad but unattractive. Also on the negative there is a vinegar like finish once the wine opens up.  The wine scores at 74..

REVIEW:  Here in Kentucky the wine sells at $6.99; however, I have seen others say it is a couple dollars more in other places. For an under $10 bottle of wine it is drinkable, but the hotness is unattractive. It lingers on the breath like garlic or cheep beer actually and this is really what brings it down. The mix of leathery dryness and sweetness in the wine is interesting, however. But again the finish is undermined by the hotness. It's something I might try one more time to see if I got something different. Aside from that, it's not something I would buy again. You get what you payed for. And a final note, as noted in the "overall" section, it does open up to a vinegar like aftertaste. I considered giving it a 73, but given the price I decided that for that price range it deserves a point just below the mid 70 score.

PRICE:  $7-$10 (US)

COUNTRY:  France

REGION: Vin de Pays

APPELLATION: Ile de Beauté

VINTAGE: NONE

GRAPE: Pinot Noir


PS....The wine is from Ille de Beauté, where this guy is from:

Napoleon Bonaparte

But You Can Still Go To Mass Market Cheap Wines!

by Brandon Wainscott

So in my last post I complained about corporate winemaking, but now I am going to praise Yellow Tail. This is not meant to contradict my previous post, but that if nothing else it’s what you drink when on a budget. And of all the mass market wines, Yellow Tail is the best. You can see my reviews here and here. “Two Thumbs Up” wine reviews gave it a good rating, too, calling it, in their cliché lingo, “fine wine”; and although I would not quite say that, it is high quality. If you have to go cheap, go buy a bottle of Yellow Tail. I won’t kill you. Nor will our Philosopher King.

What I look for in a good wine first is what's on the nose of course. If I get a hot smell even before I put my nose to anything, right when I open the bottle, I generally know I am not in for a great wine, but one in the 70 range score wise. If some sort of nice aroma comes out from the popped cork I know I am in for something in the 80s usually. With Yellow Tail, at least with the reds—I don’t drink white often—I know I am going to get good wine in the mid to high 80s, at least that is how I rate it.

Their sparkling wine is rather good from what I remember, a few dollars below the go to Korbel. The only problem I have with the stuff is that bloody new-fangled safety cap or whatever it is supposed to be. It took me forever to get the damned thing off—poor hand-eye coordination I admit!—and ruined the whole romance of opening a champagne bottle. Yes, it pops, but it’s not the same. Of course one of my favourite wine bloggers, LadyParker, may disagree because she prefers screw caps, but I’m  a romantic, so I say keep the corks and normal wired corks. But maybe they want to avoid some lawsuit from drunks on New Year’s Eve shooting their eye out? What is this? A Christmas Story? I think you’ll sooner hurt yourself the new way than the old way, but I digress. Actually I really was impressed with the sparkling wine, that aside. It had a nice crisp and decent complexity with that sort of tang, if that’s the right word, that I like in a sparkling wine. It was fruity if I recall without unpleasant taste of fruit juice plus with carbonation. Granted it wasn't like that $60 dollar champagne I got drunk on to remember Marie Antoinette one time (I sympathise with monarchy), but it was a good New Years sparkling wine. They call it "Bubbles", a rather ubiquitous name that is rather catchy.

As for the Yellow Tail reds they are almost always good. I would say you may have problems when the vintage first comes out, as it will taste too young. The grape comes out, not something I want to actually smell or taste in my wine even though that’s what it’s made from. How often do you hear: “I get grapes on the nose…and in the mouth grape”? But within say six months after a new vintage it is pretty good. The wine is meant to be had young, but I think a few months in the bottle helps after it first appears on shelves. I remember looking for the previous vintage when the new one came out and passing over Yellow Tail until the new vintage improved. Is it fine wine? No, but I think it can easily score in the 80s.

When I think of Yellow Tail, I think of a casual evening with friends over a casual dinner or for some reason a group of girls getting together to get drunk and do whatever girls do together. I think that is why I share Aristotle's view on women, forgive me readers!.

Isn't a vampire supposed to say, "I never drink...wine"? Actually it's rather sexy, sort of like Nina Dobrev having red stuff coming down her neck. On The Vampire Diaries they drink...wine...but of course they are immune to crosses so it's rather moot that they drink wine.

I love women, but, well, they're women. I suppose they need their Merlot girls nights out to let the guys have their Symposium:

Plato's Symposium (Anselm Feuerbach, 1873)

So what exactly is love, guys, Socrates wants to know? Well, I am actually writing a book on the nature of platonic love versus romantic sexual love, but I digress. I think, like in the Symposium, wine can be an aid to discovering the nature of love, or at least the action of making it.

As for Yellow Tail's negatives I suppose it is jammy and vulgar, and when I use the latter term I mean it in the Latin sense of the word--common or pedestrian. But not so pedestrian as say Sutter Home or Franzia. I think for one who is humble enough to admit a wine tastes good if is simply good quality wine. I would say they average out in the mid eighties or so though which I base not only on the taste itself, but the wine itself--if it is a cheaper wine, I give it more leeway than a higher priced wine. Jammy is a positive term in wine but Yellow Tail goes too far perhaps, making the wine lack the sophistication of a truly great wine. 

Still, though it lacks sophistication, looking at my last paragraph I think vulgar is too strong an adjective for Yellow Tail. Even pedestrian perhaps may be too strong.  My main problem with it goes back to the anti-corporate philosophy which is not black and white. It also goes back to my belief in conservative, Old-World winemaking. Yellow Tail is clearly New-World, but there is no problem with New-World in itself, as it can be made conservatively as Ravenswood proves. In fact in the process of writing this post I had shared the last post on a web forum and I was told I was being a bit hypocritical in my censure of corporations. But the objections were a bit unfair. Is someones moral opposition to say Apple or Google hypocritical because they use it? No, that is a very fallacious accusation. We can't avoid corporations completely and so it's like politics--you work with the opposition but oppose them nevertheless. Only zealots and idealists think in black and white and they never get anything done. Though on the other side Francis Underwood forgets everything but power, because as Lord Voldemort would say, that's all there is.

So why do I drink Yellow Tail? Well, one because I rather like it, but also because in the cheap wines, it is very good. I would prefer something more conservative. But I have to go with what I can afford. Besides the last thing lovers of wine want to be is snobs. A lot of expert wine tasters have done blind tastes of cheap wine to which they give a very high rating and when they find out what it is they are surprised. So above all else it is never black and white. If it seems that way from whatever I post, forgive me. In fact in my next post I am going to write on three $10 and under wines.Then perhaps sometime later try some box wines because I do think there are some rather decent ones. Box wines are convenient for going to the park and other such places where a bottle would get in the way. Or for a big party where it is more cost efficient.

By they way, remember to subscribe to this blog and pass it along. Cheers!


PS....I understand that Yellow Tail is family owned and all that (a thing to be praised), but it is of a corporate nature. They are sold en masse, and though very well made, still are part of the en masse spirit of corporate wine. Wikipedia explains it best how they operate.

A Bit About Philosophy

by Brandon Wainscott

So I need to get this journey started even if this becomes more or a rant or a quick peace. Because of my income problem, wine is sort of an off and on pleasure for me. Hopefully that will change soon enough. I think I will write about my basic philosophy on wine. I do plan on getting the YouTube page under way in the next week or two but for now the first post! I'd ask you to follow the blog and share with your friends. I learn from others and get encouragement form your support. But now on to the show.

To me wine should not be a corporate enterprise but a human enterprise. A local winemaker cannot exist on his own in the modern world I do not think, but through cooperatives and other such means he can. The reason corporate ownership is such a problem for me is it is about quantity over quality. That’s how corporations work. And because they are so large, they cannot have the personal relationship with the wine that an independent maker can. Thus the wine may be good, sometimes even great, but it is because of rulebooks rather than the insight of a local maker. I suppose my real problem with corporations is broader, because I think they are opposed to what a proper Platonic society should be—there is a correlation, no, an adultery to be polemic, between corporatism and statism. This is why our republic in America has become more of an oligarchy than a true democracy; or as America is properly meant to be, a republic. And Aristotle says, a republic corrupts into an oligarchy when it goes bad. But I am reaching out into an area not really proper to this blog.

But I will, on that note, draw back to why wine should be local, not corporate. Because just like in every industry, form bookstores (think “You’ve Got Mail) to food, it removes the drinker from his proper relation with the maker. Granted a guy like me here in Kentucky is not going to know Vito Corelone or whatever his name may be in Italy or France, but when one buys from a conservative winemaker there is a relation that you do not get with the mass-marketed brand like Yellow Tail. For example, here in America there is a wine that sells for about $10.00 called Ravenswood which follows the conservative school of winemaking. You can read about that here on their website.

Knowing that I feel like I have a personal relationship with the guy—like he is making the wine for me personally, not everyone that will buy it. Or a favourite Oregon wine, King Estate, which was a bargain $16.00 or so when I bought it the first time a few years back and is now $26.00—and thus a treat on my budget. The wine is high quality and personal, not corporate like say Sutter Home or the God awful Franzia. It’s about quality, not quantity.

And that is why I do not care for corporate economics. There are more deep personal convictions but I will leave that for elsewhere. I will say that if we are to ban poets from Plato’s Republic though, that we should also ban profit hungry winemakers, who I believe would piss out wine, if it made them money. But wine is not milk, so I don’t want my wine coming out of any uterus like instrument. However I think the Philosopher King can dispense the law against pissed wine for college students because that stuff in a box is always good when you’re young and poor. Otherwise, the Franzias are exiled from the Republic. God save our drunken king!