Wine on lists starting @ $100, concert seats @ $1,000, cars that run $100,000, watches for $250,000 – Excuse me, what planet am I on?

It finally dawned on me - We all live in a yellow submarine – now I know what it means. A submarine, a bubble, a fantasy world, that’s where we’ve landed. While multitudes of innocent children, women and men are sitting ducks for scores and scores of armaments, decision makers weigh in on who will live or who will die, over their espresso martinis and halibut quenelles, and the world outside of the bubble burns crispy.

Inside the bubble, though, not all is rosy. Wine lists where the average price of a bottle of wine is over $100, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour where tickets averaged over $1,000, a plethora of cars (and trucks!) now costing north of $100,000 and, surprise of surprises, a wristwatch that costs more than a Ferrari!

So, how did we get here? And why?

From the Archives: Featured Father ~ A Modern Day Marco Polo

In Memory of Hank Rossi, who left us last year...

Watch out, Bin Laden, "AK-47 Rossi" is on your tail

Enrico “Hank” Rossi has the wandering spirit. Oh, and he likes to wear black, makes it easy to pack a bag and disappear for months at a time. In the shot above he is at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border testing out his skills. He is my featured father for Dad’s day.

From the Khyber Pass to Lalibela, before it is all said and done, Hank will visit almost everyplace his heart desires on earth. He just returned from a 2 month journey across the Silk Trail, spent last Christmas holiday in Egypt and Ethiopia.

How Much Do Wine Expert Ratings Matter?

 

Luciano Pavarotti and young fan at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

In the last year, I have been consulting with my local Italian wine shop, primarily making point-of-sale materials (shelf-talkers) for them. It’s been an interesting project and one which doesn’t take up too much of my time, but also allows me to keep a toe in the water of the wine trade, albeit in a passive and almost invisible manner. Just as I like it. But one of the surprises I have found in making these materials is the relative influence of the various wine writers who review and score wines. There are more now than ever, so the field has been diluted. Hence, it takes a little searching on the internet to find those voices and opinions (and scores) which I gather when making the shelf talkers for the store.

“Don’t Age Wine Longer than 10 Years!”

It was just a simple coffee meeting with an longtime Italian wine colleague, who, last time we talked, has since gone on to their version of fame and fortune. We were talking about how long, ideally, Italian wine should age before it is considered long enough. Seeing as 25% of the wines in my “cellar” are 25 years or older, I was interested in another person’s opinion, as I have had more misses than hits when opening these oldsters. I guess I was looking for advice or maybe validation? In any case, my friend launched into a prolonged jeremiad, which I recorded (with permission) and whereby this post now goes into that mode. Here goes: