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Gran Karoo, or "Great Karoo" is a unique spirit, similiar to Tequila, made from 100% Blue Agave, and hailing from the Deserts of South Africa.
The first leg of the Commerce Bank triple crown of cycling (Lehigh Valley Classic) was today in Allentown, Pa so I took the afternoon off to go check it out. I had never been to a cycling race before and wasn’t expecting much, but it was surprisingly entertaining. Some of the best cyclists in the world were there, many of which cycle the Tour de France. It is a very social type of event because you only see them come by every 15-20 minutes or so (10 eight mile laps through the city), and then chat it up with your friends and family while waiting for the next pass. It was great to watch the cyclists push it out, their fitness was amazing. Very enjoyable event, and when it came down to the wire, the crowd started going nuts and the commentators were going absolutely bonkers.
Paul from Inertia tagged us last week in the link game going on in the blogosphere so I’m keeping it going. We blog because we’re big fans of the unity between wine and cuisine and how it brings us together. Here are a few of the blogs and sites that keep our interest.
Fork & Bottle - Jack and Joanne bring wines and tasty foods together like no other
‘This is some good Yellowtail’ he said, sloshing out a near half pint’s worth of juice into a dirty whisky tumbler. ‘You know, I’ve heard that every bottle of Yellowtail is a little different, and that the stuff we get up here is especially good because of the altitude.’ I stood, looking on in complete disbelief at the character before me. It was Christmas two years ago in Vail Colorado that I met Darren who had rather peculiarly given himself the nickname M.O.D which stood for ‘man on duty.’
“You know what Ruarri?â€
“What M.O.D?â€
“That’s why I like wine, because it’s different, you know? Like this Yellowtail stuff here. It’s made in Australia, but I’m drinking it in Colorado, and you know, because of the altitude and all, it’s completely different. I bet you those folks in Australia had no idea how good there juice would taste at this height, I aint even sure if they have mountains over there, being on the other side of the world and all. Wine at altitude dude! WOO HOO!â€
This snippet of conversation is but one of many I’ve had in my life where people learn of my wine background and then go on to show that they have no what wine background at all. That’s not a bad thing by the way. In fact the thought that there are people out there who think that Yellowtail tastes different at different altitudes is so crazy that it may even be part of a bizarrely genius underground buzz-marketing campaign. Let me fast-forward a year though, where I had chosen to not spend Christmas in Vail, but had been invited to a small farm in the Netherlands to have Christmas with my wife and some of our friends on a farm.
Last month, MySpace launched their UK website, and though their user registrations may be on the decrease, there is not doubt that they are the most influential Web 2.0 community in the world. To our young generation, one sees the limitless potential of communities fused with huge threat for saturation, as businesses scramble to try and find if they can benefit off of the prevalence of MySpace.The way MySpace has used music to link friends and promote new bands is rather visionary. Music in the 90’s became so commercial, and one couldn’t help but feel that large corporations were losing touch with the everyday consumer. However, now MySpace offers a forum and fan base to Indie Bands, and freedom of expression combined with creative license is thriving as bands are able to connect with their listeners in a personal and meaningful way that was never before possible on such a global scale.In regard to mass production and decrease in quality, one can see a similar trend in wine. Suddenly all Cabs have to be ‘BIG REDS’ and everyone wants high alcohol, and as soon as one tries to peddle a cab more aligned to the herbaceous Medoc style, wine buyers shy away.Wine, like friendship or music is about finding unity in diversity and multiplicity. We don’t want our friends to be the same as everyone else, nor do we listen to music that is repetitive and unsurprising, so why should we expect anything less of our wines?Wine is often the social liquid that can unify a gathering of friends in a great setting with excellent music in the background. Just as MySpace allows fans to include their favorite music in their group, as well as allowing bands to have direct contact with their friends, there is a definite gap in the market that would allow vineyards to have their own profiles, which users would be able to affiliate with. Just as MySpace allows bands to maintain blogs and post news, so too could this new community allow winemakers to connect with the greater public, receive feedback, post information on tastings and even have video blogs where they show the certain vintages being blended, tasted, crushed, bottled, labeled and released.In such a way, one would be able to support the diversity in wine and save it from becoming a homogenous, unidentifiable, mass produced commodity. Is there any company or organization creative enough or bold enough to take on this task?
