…and other extremely silly quotes and grape related goodness from the SF Chronicle weekly wine edition.
And if you haven’t yet, please vote on our label design here. It really is a huge help to us!
Letter to the Editor
First up is this marvelously insulting letter to the editor regarding the Ravenswood profile from last week. It’s from a Fresno State student:
The reason why I’m writing is this comment: “In 2001, two years after going public, Ravenswood was bought by Constellation Brands for $148 million. Peterson, whose hair reached his hindquarters in the wineries early years, was the largest stockholder, making him that rare bird many students at UC Davis’ Department of Viticulture and Enology aspire to become — a winemaker-turned-multimillionaire.”
True winemakers do not aspire to make $148 million by selling out. Sure, Davis students (a.k.a. medical school dropouts) want to make that “buck” by producing sterile wine, but are these prima donna winemakers ready to accept the fact that they are not going to make millions making wine?
The ultimate goal of a Davis grad is to carry a clipboard and direct orders to the true cellar crew. Can they detect a flaw in a wine? Sure. Send it to a commercial laboratory and they’ll hook you up. Science will never beat passion or experience.
-MIKE LUCIA, Enology student, Cal State Fresno
Whoooo doggies! Doesn’t Mike Lucia, Enology student, Cal State Fresno, realize that
I find this comment especially entertaining: “True winemakers do not aspire to make $148 million by selling out.”
Reading it I’m left wondering, how does Mike Lucia, Enology student, Cal State Fresno, know for sure? Has he asked one?
Other SF Chronicle wine news:
Wine falls behind beer in U.S. popularity poll
After one glorious year ahead of beer in consumer preferences, wine has fallen behind once again. Statistical anomalies are being blamed.
Why some people happily pay $500 for a bottle of wine
Linda Murphy writes a feature length piece on expensive bottles of California wine. At the end is a little case study called “follow that bottle� that is an object lesson in why the three tier system is the devil. Enjoy.
Trying to be the E! tv “journalist” by stoking the fire with spin, eh?
Mike apparently just happens to have some cahones. He initiates, you feign astonishment.
“Winning friends and influencing people” just might, possibly NOT be the hallmark of an honest innovator.
John
John,
No spin here. And that astonishment you’re picking up on, it isn’t feigned. I honestly think someone who loves him should have prevented him from pushing send on this particular email.
And come on John, there’s nothing innovative in calling people a bunch of names, or demeaning my Alma Mater. My point was that business is, and will always be, about relationships (especially the wine business). What Mike wrote is offensive and rude, and that’s just bad business.