Like many a webworker - I’m addicted to Podcasts and am pretty much plugged in on a daily basis to the best of APM, NPR, Guardian News Media, Grape Radio etc. Robert Krulwich of NPR did a show the other day about the MIT Bioengineering faculty, and the dawn of a new species under the fostering care of some students with olfactory concerns. You can listen to the show here, but basically the show discusses how for bio-engineering students - life is spent in fume cupboards culturing e-coli in a petri-dishes, and due to the fact that e-coli smells like, er, smells like, well… shit, these students applied their trade to splice out the shit-smelling gene from the e-coli and replace it with the gene from Wintergreen that makes Wintergreen smell like Spearmint resulting in good smelling shit.

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Sour-grapes for Hillary Clinton, whose rotting cynicism is no match for Obama’s sparkle. There’s no doubt that if politicians were wine – Hillary is vinegar and Obama is champagne.

How dare Senator Clinton come out against Senator Obama, after his over rated comments about small-town America being bitter, with a series of photo-opportunities, going through the motions with a camera crew in tow - and in one audacious clip, pausing to have a sip of beer and drink a shot…

Oh sure Hillary, you drink beer so that makes you working-class.

The idea that a certain product can dictate one’s class is especially infuriating to a real wine-drinker, who recognizes wine’s essentially humble and agricultural roots - much the same as beer. That Clinton thinks that she can relate to the working class man with a photo-op drinking beer demonstrates that she is in fact far more derisory of the working class than she would dare let on. Although Obama may be on record saying that people cling to guns and religion because of economic uncertainty (which may not be entirely untrue), for Clinton to respond by taking a sip of beer and drinking a shot means that she thinks the best way to get the attention of the working class is to show an affinity for the bottle (which is slanderous.) Unwittingly, and thus tellingly, she implies that middle-class America are a bunch of drunks.

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One of the highlights of the Morocco trip my wife and I recently took was staying with La Baraka Auberge just outside of Merzouga, on the border of the Sahara, about 100 km’s from Algeria. Our host, Hassan Outaleb, was a film-star cum philosopher Berber of nomadic heritage who has run La Baracka for several years.

Rather memorably - if not because it was highly rehearsed, he would impart his own cultural wisdom onto us between meals and volleys of mint-tea ‘Berber Whisky.’ I think the point he made most strongly was ‘what’s bad for the rest of the world, is good for Berber.’ Primarily - at the heart of it, he was referring to the perception Read the rest of this entry »

What is going on in the world? How is it that Bear Sterns can go from $20 a share to $2? Basically – my feeling is that the credit crunch of the past 6 months sends a serious message to us all, a message about value.

The problem with board members who rely on econometrics and statistics to forecast company growth and decide who the CEO should be is that they have become too focussed on the profit, and have completely forgotten value. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, who summed up the crisis we’re in quite well: beware the man who puts a price on everything whilst not knowing the value of anything. The sub-prime mortgage is a result of a bunch of spin-doctors who tried to put a price on things without caring about value. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello after a long break from being at the glass’s rim. Grapethinking had a bit of a re-group, and for those of you who have been visiting of late you will have noticed the fantastic work that Jake has done with the site and have appreciated how our project has matured.

2007 was a tremendous learning curve for us, and 2008 will be the year that our vision of millennial marketing comes to life and we look forward to sharing it with you all.

There’s quite a bit to catch up on from my side, seeing as I haven’t written a post in a while – but we have plenty time for that. Read the rest of this entry »

After championing Malbec as the Argentine prize, I thought I should balance my statements and so turned to the Hacienda’s Del Plata Mayoral 2004 Syrah.

This wine doesn’t beat around the bush and launches right in for the contact with blood and a really full bodied and opulent aroma. The palate is rich in heady hints of cigar box, cedar and fresh fennel.

Although perhaps a little austere compared to what I’ve been drinking recently - I’m reminded of my early days drinking red wines that were far more rustic and earthy than the modern trend of being full of berries.

Malbec is the Eva Peron of Argentinian wine varieties and its presence on a label has done much for the category of the premium wine production nation on the South American continent. Whilst Chile often delivers incredibly on value, Argentina packs in value with value added by diversity - especially in its ownership and complete creative license with the Malbec grape.

Insofar as Southern hemisphere sport is concerned - Argentina certainly holds its own on the Rugby field, but in the field of Malbec Argentina writes the rules.

The de Carodilla Malbec 2005 has a Medoc characteristic to it, with a rustic smokiness and distinct taste veins of strawberry and currents that course through the wine-dark juice. I’m reminded of the profile of certain Central Otago Pinot Noirs - except it delivers at a fraction of the price and much wider availability.

In an Argentinian wine-rugby club, anything with Malbec makes the side.

Now here’s a great name for a Rugby wine. After all, if one is to be watching this blood-sport at a bar amongst beer swigging friends, there is a lot of merit in being able to lean across the bar and order three large glasses of Butcher’s Tree. Especially in this day of overly feminized wine labels that perhaps border on the ridiculous - its good to have something that leans on the other extreme of unbridled and extreme masculinity.

Indeed, this wine is an apt metaphor for the front row of a Rugby Scrum, with a triage of big shot varietals - a slender Merlot squeezed twixt a big Aussie Shiraz and a forceful Cab. This wine punches out with flavour and pushes forward with forceful fruits, bar-smoke and hot sweaty gamy notes. A perfect wine to compliment eating dried meat whilst watching a competitive and invigorating sport.

Admittedly, its largely to the work of dedicated bloggers like Lenn Thompson that I owe my continued fascination with New York State wines. New York’s white wines, from the fertile Long Island soils and the Germanic climate, have a unique and distinctive character that quite frankly, puts Californian whites to shame. This Chard shows off tropicality with mineral structure, making it a perfect aperitif or a between courses palate cleanser. Along with the rounded touch of malolactic fermentation there’s a perfectly balanced element of wood that integrates well on the palate, leaving a hint of tinned-pears on the finish.

Seeing as the United States is playing against South African on the 30th of September, in the white wine department I will have to concede a handful of points the America for this fine Estate.

Does anyone have spare tickets to the Led Zeppelin concert? Its killing me that they’re doing so few shows… Just wondering.

Anyhow - I need to introduce some of you to the Conde Alegre 2006 Rioja: this beauty of a Spaniard smacks of Virginia chewing tobacco, prosciutto and has a sweet dried-fruit essence, like dried dates.

Also, just to settle the score for any Americans who wish to order this in Europe, the pronunciation is re-ock-a and not ri-oh-ha.

Though the Spaniards may not show much handling on the Rugby field, this wine gives amazing play on on the palate.