Hope, big gulp, Chinese sommeliers, voting - tasting sized pours

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Comrade, would you prefer red?
The sommelier becomes an official occupation in China, “to help meet surging demand in the increasingly prosperous nation,” state media reported Sunday. Related: “nuts chef” also joins the list. [via AFP, thanks reader Grayman!]

Little Luxembourg, big gulp
China may be big, but Luxembourg is thirsty. The Grand Duchy consumes the most alcohol per capita of any country in the world. France, Ireland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic round out the top five. [MSNBC]

Menu for Hope
See the creative donations from food and wine bloggers — bid and help UNWFP! [Chez Pim]

Claret, no merci
English wine outsells than Bordeaux in England?!? So says supermarket Waitrose. Are they doing it for the smaller carbon footprint? [Decanter]

Dueling critics
The 2003 Quinault l’Enclos (find this wine), is it “all about finesse, balance, and purity” or “low in acidity, rather bland and yet again lacking freshness and definition. A couple of sips is enough.”? We love dueling critics–and it’s even more fun when the shootout is in one publication, in this case, Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate! Incredible! Diversity of opinion is tolerated! [see more on Rockss and Fruit]

USB wine?!?
You might think this blend of wine and technology is from California, but this laptop spigot is francais–and in development until 2039. [link]

From feast to famine
The Australian wine lake has dried up. Was it the thirst of Chinese sommeliers? No, the industry has swung from glut to shortages in two years because of drought. [NZ Herald]

Vote Vino!
This site has been named a finalist for “Best Food Blog - Drinks” in annual awards at WellFed. Lend a click if you can! [WellFed.net]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 11:05 am and is filed under Australian wine, French wine, tasting sized pours, wine scores. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Dec

2007

6 Responses to “Hope, big gulp, Chinese sommeliers, voting - tasting sized pours”

On December 11th, 2007 at 2:54 pm ,Steve wrote:

Dueling critics - an excellent example of how dissimilar two people’s palates can be. The key to getting recommendations that you will like is finding a reviewer with palate that matches your own.

Congratulations on being a finalist at WellFed. You got my vote.

On December 11th, 2007 at 4:17 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:

Thanks, Steve!!

On December 12th, 2007 at 1:05 am ,What I want for christmas! « spume wrote:

[...] (Originally posted at Dr. Vino, and you can read that post here) [...]

On December 12th, 2007 at 4:23 am ,boyce wrote:

Re wine taster being approved as a profession in China, this is one in numerous steps that will come as the industry is standardized. In the new year, we’ll see regulations on how a company can label wine which will if enforced will be a major improvement.

Cheers, Boyce

On December 12th, 2007 at 9:34 am ,Tish wrote:

Parker numbers conflicting with his at-large critic’s? No wonder I felt the earth spinning off its axis recently…

On December 13th, 2007 at 6:49 am ,Carlos Silveira wrote:

I’ve heard that Luxembourg is a smuggler’s Paradise (a Paraguaian version in Europe). That’s why it appears to be so thirsty. Is that true.
I’m voting Dr Vino right now. Congratulions!
Carlos