A few days ago, we wrote about our first encounter with plastic wine bottles with a 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau from Labouré-Roi. This winery thinks it’s understood that plastic wine bottles have a lower impact on the Earth than glass ones. But do they? That is, all aesthetic issues aside, is there a real environmental motivation to using plastic wine bottles – do they really reduce the carbon footprint of the wine they hold?

This question leads to more questions. How much carbon dioxide (CO₂) is produced during the manufacturing of each? Clearly, plastic bottles weigh less than their glass counterparts and therefore generate less CO₂ as they are transported, but how much less? And what about disposal? Are both glass and plastic wine bottles recyclable and, if so, how much CO₂ does the recycling process produce? (And as always when recycling comes up, you must ask how likely the bottle is to actually be recycled.)

So when you take all these factors into account, can using plastic wine bottles really help you sleep better at night because you’re helping the Earth? [click to continue…]

I have been following closure debate for many years. Several years ago, Murphy Goode began offering a valued priced, screw top series, called Tin Roof. We tried their Sauvignon Blanc and found an unassuming drinkable wine that we served several times that year.

Screw tops seem to offer a number of advantages.

First, they eliminate the problem of cork taint. After years of research and investigation, the cause of cork taint is not clear; however, what is clear is that somewhere between 2% and 8% of all wine sealed with a cork are affected. Screw tops eliminate this problem, and I for one think that is great. I have opened many bottles of wine that were corked, and it always seems to happen at the worst time like birthday celebrations or anniversary dinners. [click to continue…]

Alice Feiring has blogged about it, the Wall Street Journal has complained about it, the Wine Spectator put it on their front cover, and it happened to us on our last outing – bad wine service. I know that this sort of thing happens, but there appears to be an epidemic. To make matters worse this trend is appearing as wine prices in restaurants and bars are increasing faster than the dollar is dropping! What is going on?

Part of the problem seems to arise from the rapid expansion of a wine culture in various parts of the country. While I am very happy to see this trend, we appear to be suffering from wine culture growing pains. As restaurants and bars try to establish a wine list or a “wines by the glass” program, there are not always enough people available that are wine savvy. [click to continue…]

We Texans pay more for our alcohol than folks in some other states. Historically, I blamed the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) for our elevated prices. I assumed that a state-imposed excise tax was responsible.

However, I recently visited a site that lists the excise tax imposed by each state on wine. It turns out that Texas has one of the lowest excise taxes in the US, at $0.20 per gallon. Only New York ($0.19/gal) and Louisiana ($0.11/gal) have lower wine taxes. So what gives? [click to continue…]

As a part of our ongoing effort to find the best wine at the best price, I recently purchased a CostCo membership to check out their wine prices. This weekend, I stopped by and, I must say, these are amazing stores.

If you are not familiar with CostCo, they are kind of like a high-end Sam’s Club. They sell big lots and overstocked items they buy in bulk. They also have a house label, Kirkland Signature. [click to continue…]

I recently made a trip to San Francisco, and I had the good fortune to eat out at several fine dining establishments. When the wine list appeared at the first restaurant, I noticed that the wine prices were much less than I would pay in Austin, TX. At first, I thought it was just for Californian wines, but prices for imports were also lower then I had seen in Austin.

So I dropped by K & L Wine Merchants in San Francisco and got the local retail prices for several bottles of wine and took the information with me when I went out to eat. [click to continue…]

It is always interesting when folks make assumptions about fields of which they have little or no knowledge and then make broadly dismissive claims about their assumptive knowledge.

This often happens when people apply statistics to “prove” their argument. A great example is a recent post on Vinography. [click to continue…]

It seems like a dark little secret in the wine trade. No one ever talks about it. Instead we talk around it. We blame the closure. We blame poor handling, excess temperature, or bacterial contamination.

I know that many of these things can ruin or at least adversely affect the taste of a bottle of wine, but it is my experience that wine can vary considerably from bottle to bottle without any of these wine perils being involved – pure bottle variation.

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About a month ago, I posted a bit of a rant about Masi wine prices. You see, they had increased their prices by about 25% across the board for vintages that were already on the shelf.

It sure struck me the wrong way. I thought it was insulting to their current customers, and they put the wine shops that sell their wine in a bad spot. If the merchants increased their retail price, folks like me might not buy the wine. If merchants keep the price the same, they do not make any money on the vintage on their shelves.

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I have been preparing myself for import wine sticker shock. Like every other American, I have watched as the dollar has dropped and dropped. I have read how food prices surged more than 20% last year. So I knew eventually it would happen to my favorite wines – and it has.

(Update on June 9, 2008: Masi prices are coming back down!)

Usually, the price jump came with the release of the new vintage. Somehow this made things a little easier. The last several vintages from Europe have been good, so I could take solace in the fact that the newer wine was good – maybe even great – and therefore should cost more.

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