Dr Vino's wine blog

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and drinks like a duck, then it must be Duckhorn.

Such appears to be the logic of Duckhorn Wine Company, which has sued over the Duck Commander wines. The controversial Phil Robertson, who recently got suspended (or not really?) from Duck Dynasty, was not named a party to the suit. Trinchero Family Estates is a defendant in the suit, as is Wal-Mart where the wines are line priced at $9.99. Duckhorn Merlot sells for $54 a bottle.

What do you think: valid mark infringement through a case of customer confusion? Or is Duckhorn seeking to simply get it’s name out there during the discussions of the popular TV show? Read more…

Anchovy gelato and white wine? Wait, someone makes anchovy gelato??

The Times has a story about a handful of “all-natural” gelato shops in Rome that are bucking convention and trying to boost year-round sales. Their strategy? Make savory flavors (such as anchovy, smoked salmon, pepperoni or gorgonzola) and even do wine or beer pairings, particularly to drive sales and interest in the frozen treat during winter months.

The story mentions Claudio Torcè of Il Gelato who estimates only 30 shops in Rome–out of 2,500–use “all-natural” ingredients. The author speaks with Andrea Puddinù, one of Torcè’s students who runs Il Gelato Bistrò. He pairs savory flavors of gelato with Champagne or prosecco as an “alternative to the classic aperitivo.” Marco Radicioni of Otaleg pairs craft beers with them, such as Moinette Belgian blonde with artichoke gelato.

So just in case you thought savory gelato was…impossible…to pair with wine, there are a few brave souls braving the cold to do it. Have you ever attempted the pairing? Would you, could you in a boat, with a goat?

It’s that time of the year: Merry War on Christmas, everyone!

If Fox News were to channel its resources to a vinous purpose, they could do well to declare a war on wine gadgets. Fortunately, Marketplace picks up the slack in the Marketplace Morning Report today. In it, the reporter tracks down a shop manager who admits he’s not wild about wine aerators but he stocks them (and more!) nonetheless because people want to give them as gifts! The same gent has actually placed a moratorium wine paraphernalia from his family after he got a ceramic dog that holds a bottle of wine.

I agree there are so many useless wine gadgets, such as the corkcicle (right). Keep that long, probing thing out of my wine bottle–oh, my! Why not just give a bottle of wine to a wine-loving friend? So much the better if you can share it together.

Merry, merry!

CBS Sunday Morning ran a 10-minute segment on wine fraud yesterday. The full segment is embedded above.

It centers on Bill Koch, including having the CBS correspondent walking around his cavernous cellar at his Palm Beach home, discussing his various counterfeit bottles. The segment also mentions the Kurniawan trial, talks with Maureen Downey, and examines some anti-counterfeiting technology at Opus One.

While it is an important and interesting subject, the piece could have been stronger. Interviewing other collectors, auction houses, some of the three Burgundy producers who testified at the trial or a wine critic would have made for a stronger segment–while Opus One may be faked in China, Bill Koch does not complain of having fave bottles of it in his cellar, so it would have made a tighter segment to have one of the producers involved his his story.

At any rate, it’s good to see the story getting reaching a broader audience. I was at a Christmas party over the weekend where people were talking about the trial, so it’s good the story is getting out there. A lot of people said it would make a great movie and I agree–maybe one day it will reach the silver screen.

For eight days at the federal courthouse at 500 Pearl St., proceedings were underway in the important and interesting trial of US vs Kurniawan. I attended for three days. Here are some outtakes from my time at the #rudytrial:

* Bill Koch, billionaire, testified that he liked “kiwi wine” as well as Spanish wine and doesn’t drink DRC every night from his 43,000 bottle collection. Alert John Hodgman to alter his billionaire schtick to include the everyday drinking wines of mere mortals!

* Bill Koch said the best wine he’s ever had was a bottle of 1853 Margaux at the chateau. Read more…

The jury has returned a verdict: Rudy Kurniawan has been found guilty of selling counterfeit wine through the mail and engaging in wire fraud. Judge Richard Berman will announce the sentencing on April 24; Kurniawan could spend 40 years in federal prison. Read more…

A piece of evidence shown the jury: a scene from Kurniawan’s home on the day of his arrest last year.

There was talk about guns from the witness box today, in the fifth day of the Rudy Kurniawan trial. And they might as well have been smoking guns.

Of the four witnesses today that included billionaire Bill Koch, David Parker had the moment of greatest drama. Parker owns two wine business in LA that sold Rudy seven bottles of 1962 Domaine de la Romanée Conti – Romanée Conti Read more…

Rudy Kurniawan sat with his back to the gallery, his Men’s Warehouse suit bunching up below his neck. Some have said he’s lost weight since he’s been in jail; never having seen him before, I can’t confirm that. But he is a slight man with a young face behind his thick-framed, black glasses.

And it was a dour face today at the US District Court in lower Manhattan. In case you haven’t heard, Kurniawan is standing trial this week, with the Department of Justice accusing of selling counterfeit wines. Although one of the auctions in focus, Acker’s “Cellar II” sale in October 2007, grossed almost $25 million, the amount of fake wine he is alleged to have sold is $1.3 million. Read more…