Author Archives: intoxreport

English Wine: A Convenient Truth

Among the reefs upon which English culture has traditionally foundered are the following: Oral hygiene, naming food (spotted dick, bubble and squeak, blood pudding…  Seriously?), failing to be suitably deferential to Americans for kicking arse in 1776, then winning World … Continue reading

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Hoary Antinori Does it Again. And Again… And…

A cardinal difference between the outlook of Italians and Americans is that in Italy, a hundred miles is a long way while in the USA, a hundred years is a long time. I think the Antinori family will confirm this. … Continue reading

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Gold and Glory: Partida Tequila’s Personal Eldorado

Your garden variety Mexican-art-collecting, charity-focused California philanthropist  might resent  being compared to a predatory 15th century  Spanish Conquistador, but J. Gary Shansby is anything but boilerplate.  The San Francisco private equity investor, a 35-year veteran of consumer brand development for … Continue reading

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Heineken: Nineteen Emerging Designers Selected to Create Futuristic Concept Ashram

Amsterdam, 19th October 2011 – Heineken today announced that nineteen emerging designers have been chosen to co-create a pioneering ashram concept as part of Heineken’s Open Design Explorations Edition 1: The Spiritual Hermitage. Esteemed designers working in the fields of … Continue reading

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Gustatory Gascony: France’s Hidden Heartland

Apparently, thanks to yet another mediocre film adaptation, there’s going to be a brief resurgence of interest in The Three Musketeers, so here’s a useless bit of trivia:  d’Artagnan was a real guy. Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte … Continue reading

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Salads with Wine: Tossing Out Some New Ideas

I think we can all be pretty confident that Adam and Eve served wine in the Garden of Eden.  Otherwise, what kind of Paradise would it have been? Eating ultra-fresh salad in the spring and early summer is often reminiscent … Continue reading

Posted in PAIRING WINE AND FOOD | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Here’s a Reason to Toast the Season: LPVA Wine Tour

‘Fess up: The expression ‘holiday tradition’ sort of gives me the willies.  It conjures up images of some calculated and obligatory family nightmare to which you drag yourself reluctantly, year after year after year, until the one year nobody gets … Continue reading

Posted in Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan | Tagged | 1 Comment

The ‘I’ Generation: Everybody’s Favorite Letter

This is a rather odd piece, granted.  It involves an attempt by Siberian winemakers to produce Super Tuscans in a climate where it snows in July and the average temperature is minus forty. Not really.  It’s really about Moscow’s recent … Continue reading

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Leading Women of Italian Wine Unite for a Worthy Cause

Don’t you love it when wine people do things other than promote themselves?  And when they do good other things, it’s for some reason other than to garner publicity to promote themselves? An example?  On Wednesday evening, October 19, 2011 … Continue reading

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Hallowine and Spirits: What To Serve the Sots on Spook Night

Trick or trink, smell my dink, give me something good to drink… When  it comes to suggesting Halloween hooch, wine writers can take one of two paths: One is to recommend all the customary cornballs classics like PoiZin (by Armida … Continue reading

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