BJI: Good/Bad Combo Edition

Basic Juice Intelligencer
4 Mayl 2006
Good/Bad Combo Edition

Good Combo
Andrew of Spittoon has created a new Web-wide wine & food pairing event called, "combinations."  In the spirit of the Live Austrian Wine Adventure, he has selected a traditional dish from the Land am Berge: Griesknödel mit Grünen Paradeisern (Semolina dumplings with green tomato Compôte).  Check out the recipe and start devising your wine pairing strategy.  Entries for Combinations are due by 24 May.

Bad Combo
Wine labels + less reliable information = bad idea. It seems the consumer-hostile folks from the Wine Institute of California came up with this great idea: "Hey; how about we make wine labels less reliable?"  It's all about the vintage.  Up until now, wine labeled with a vintage, had to contain, by law, a minimum of 95% of said vintage.  Now, thanks to the industry friendly US Treasury department, vintage wine need only contain 85% of juice from the lableled vintage.  Think about it.  Your '05 California Merlot could have up to 15% of 1992 Colombard (varietal labels need only be 75% correct) from a fermenting tank someone forgot about.  Granted, this new law only affects non-AVA wine (i.e. your Napa Cab still must contain 95% of wine from the declared vintage), but it sure does make things more difficult for consumers.  Thanks Wine Institute!

Technorati Tags: austrian food, wine

Basic Juice Intelligencer
4 Mayl 2006
Good/Bad Combo Edition

Good Combo
Andrew of Spittoon has created a new Web-wide wine & food pairing event called, "combinations."  In the spirit of the Live Austrian Wine Adventure, he has selected a traditional dish from the Land am Berge: Griesknödel mit Grünen Paradeisern (Semolina dumplings with green tomato Compôte).  Check out the recipe and start devising your wine pairing strategy.  Entries for Combinations are due by 24 May.

Bad Combo
Wine labels + less reliable information = bad idea. It seems the consumer-hostile folks from the Wine Institute of California came up with this great idea: "Hey; how about we make wine labels less reliable?"  It's all about the vintage.  Up until now, wine labeled with a vintage, had to contain, by law, a minimum of 95% of said vintage.  Now, thanks to the industry friendly US Treasury department, vintage wine need only contain 85% of juice from the lableled vintage.  Think about it.  Your '05 California Merlot could have up to 15% of 1992 Colombard (varietal labels need only be 75% correct) from a fermenting tank someone forgot about.  Granted, this new law only affects non-AVA wine (i.e. your Napa Cab still must contain 95% of wine from the declared vintage), but it sure does make things more difficult for consumers.  Thanks Wine Institute!

Good Combo
Andrew of Spittoon has created a new Web-wide wine & food pairing event called, "combinations."  In the spirit of the Live Austrian Wine Adventure, he has selected a traditional dish from the Land am Berge: Griesknödel mit Grünen Paradeisern (Semolina dumplings with green tomato Compôte).  Check out the recipe and start devising your wine pairing strategy.  Entries for Combinations are due by 24 May.

Bad Combo
Wine labels + less reliable information = bad idea. It seems the consumer-hostile folks from the Wine Institute of California came up with this great idea: "Hey; how about we make wine labels less reliable?"  It's all about the vintage.  Up until now, wine labeled with a vintage, had to contain, by law, a minimum of 95% of said vintage.  Now, thanks to the industry friendly US Treasury department, vintage wine need only contain 85% of juice from the lableled vintage.  Think about it.  Your '05 California Merlot could have up to 15% of 1992 Colombard (varietal labels need only be 75% correct) from a fermenting tank someone forgot about.  Granted, this new law only affects non-AVA wine (i.e. your Napa Cab still must contain 95% of wine from the declared vintage), but it sure does make things more difficult for consumers.  Thanks Wine Institute!