Benjamin Wallace’s new book, The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine explores the debate behind the Jefferson wine bottles. As someone who never followed the Jefferson wine bottles this book includes enough of the history for someone without much knowledge bring the reader up to speed.

For a wine book, is a page turner. It’s fact filled and an interesting read covering everything from history, science and the love of wine. The complaint I have is Wallace clearly has various people type casted into certain roles. He does just about everything to make readers love or hate, mostly hate certain people in the wine world. The only thing else he could have done to seal the deal was giving these people a black top hat, cape, and skinny mustache. Specifically, he does this treatment to Michael Broadbent and Hardy Rodenstock. I’m not saying either person was innocent in the affair, but Wallace was overly attempting to manipulate the reader’s opinion.

The other interesting opinion Wallace added was in discussing anything that was expensive, from the highly exclusive tasting held around the world for various cult wines to even just the purchasing of these Jefferson bottles all seemed to have a tone of disgust to amount of money spent. If the author was annoyed by the “rich man’s problem” in the wine world, than why did he write a book on it?

If you can filter out Wallace’s opinions, the book is an interesting read about forgery with bottles and what wineries and auction houses are doing to authentic bottles and the new science available in the lab to verify the wine.

Not very often do I have my expectations blown away with wine.

Tonight I opened a bottle of wine that I purchased from The Wine Sellers in Union Pier, MI. It was a bottle of 04 Lucien Crochet Sancerre La Croix du Roy. For starters, in pulling the cork I notice red at the bottom of cork, which is generally not what you expect when opening a bottle of Sancerre. I was so taken aback, I turned more lights on in the kitchen to make sure I wasn’t just seeing things with me eyes. After pouring a taste, I clearly saw it was red wine. A quick taste confirmed it was French with the great mineral quality.

Now, generally when one thinks red wine from Loire you think Cabernet Franc. After tasting the wine I started wondering what was really in it. After enjoying the bottle I finally got the computer to do some research and found it is 100% Pinot Noir. I have completely forgot red Sancerre is Pinot Noir.

With a bit more research Pinot Noir makes up 20% of the vineyards in Sancerre, Loire, France.

Needless to say it was a very enjoyable bottle of wine to drink. And a very rare treat to be that surprised.

In case you haven’t seen the news lately, a recent study is showing resveratrol is now showing to be the “fountain of youth” in mice and worms. More research needs to be done, but yet one more reason to drink up!

Even with rising prices in food, gas, and the mortgage crisis, Americans are still drinking wine. We are trading down in price, the under $15 price is the key, with a 33.9% rise in the “premium box” segment.

Decanter is reporting that Brits are drinking less Chardonnay. A drop of 3% to be exact. What amuses me the most about this is one comment is that Bridget Jones is part of the reason Chardonnay sales are dropping. Before Bridget Chardonnay was sexy, but when she downed a HUGE glass of Chardonnay sales dropped. The first book came out in 1996, the first movie came out in 2001 the second movie came out in 2004. Is this trend very late to the party or is there some major new Bridget Jones trend right now in the UK?

I will admit, I’ve been a huge fan of Riedel. I use the Chianti and Riesling glass for my tasting exams, and I have a number of the varietal specific glasses. The main reason why I have them, is there is a difference in the aromas that come off of the wine based on the glassware used.

Now having said that, I know enough about beer that there is specific glasses used based on the type of beer one is served. So I am very scared that my husband might find out that Spiegelau is now doing beer specific glassware. I guess the big saving grace is that it’s not Riedel, but I think Riedel owns Spiegelau. Hmm.

After all the talk about too many high alcohol wines, it is interesting to see Australia doing research to show lower alcohol wines might have more flavor. They are looking at the yeasts to convert less sugar into alcohol.

George Taber’s new book To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle contuines on from his excellent first book Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine. Taber’s second book only addresses the various types of closures one finds in the wine industry. He does an excellent job of creating a page turning story out of a lot of science. The personal stories from winemakers and inventors add a great deal of background to the story.

Taber is able to strike a fairly good neutral ground and avoids showing prejudice toward one type of closure over another. His examination of the cork industry is very informative with respect to all the changes they have made for the future and all the errors they have made in the past.

Even if you are not a wine geek, this is an enjoyable book for all to read. And several times throughout the book you will find yourself learning some new piece of science or history that will make cocktail parties more fun.

An interesting article about closures came out last month from Appellation America from Richard Grant Peterson. He begs people to stop saying corks “breathe.” And goes on to explain the difference between oxidation and aeration. A very interesting read.

Every year I look forward to the new release of Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report. This years Wine Report 2008 continues the quality it has established in the past. This is not a book to pick up and read without a basic knowledge of wine which is rather unusual for wine books. This book assumes the reader is knowledgeable about wine or will refer to other books for basic information.

Inside readers will find updates on the happenings in the wine world during the previous year. It calls on experts from around the world to supply the updates. One great aspect of the book is it does not just cover the traditional wine regions but also non-traditional regions such as Asia, India, Scandinavia and US states other than CA, WA, OR and NY. Also, the opinion pieces from these experts are usually very pointed and critical about the issues that need to be addressed in the respective regions.

For anyone who wants the best and most concise update on the world of wine over the last year, this is the resource for you. And this is an annual resource to purchase.

• Phylloxera grows in Australia. They think they can contain it in a 5 km zone. They say it was spread by most likely by soil being transfered in from other areas.
• Wine imports into Australia double. And more importantly, domestic wine sales dropped by roughly 9%. They blame the drought for the reduction in sales.
• California champagne destroyed by Belgian customs. Doesn’t matter if it’s bound for cruise ships. You can’t ship it into the EU if says Champagne and it’s not Champagne. It’s worth the click through to see the 3,200 bottles of Andre destroyed by a giant claw.
• Red wine treats diabetes and obesity. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals has found resveratrol helps the mice break down sugar and prevented them from becoming obese. Human trials are showing improved glucose levels too.
• “Give us a shot” is a new promotion from the Next Level Church of Matthews. They are giving out shot glasses at local bars and restaurants to encourage patrons to visit there church. Now, if this idea isn’t a bit wacky to begin with. The best part is the kick off event is at a local elementary school. Ah, bless the south.