Understated? Moi?

Amid the Lady Gaga maelstrom of publicity that hit Ireland recently, news of the singer’s wine preferences received barely a footnote in the mainstream media.

WineOfTheWeek is here to correct this oversight with the exclusive revelation that Miss Gaga has a taste for Kendall Jackson and Robert Mondavi.

A ‘mole’ at the O2 Arena in Dublin got his hands on the Gaga tour rider and did what any publicity seeking hound would do and leaked it to the press.

The rider contained the usual oxygen tank related puff but also the cheering revelation that she requests two bottles of white wine for her dressing room, preferably Kendall Jackson or Robert Mondavi.

The riders of pop stars have featured on WineOfTheWeek’s pages on more than one occasion and we’d like to give kudos to Lady Gaga for having the good sense to specify half decent wine.

Indeed compared to Coldplay’s 2003 request of ‘Two bottles of red wine and two bottles of dry white wine NOT CHARDONNAY’, Miss Gaga seems like the Robert Parker of pop-star tour riders.

Speaking of Robert Parker, here’s how he rated the 2005 Kendall Jackson Stature red wine:

“A big sweet kiss of toasty oak intermixed with ripe fruit, low acidity, and sweet tannin. From high-elevation Napa vineyards, it is a big wine that should drink well for 10-15 years.”

Sounds like a pretty suitable description of Lady Gaga to us.

An old one but without doubt one of the best. Kathy Lee Gifford performs an extraordinary demonstration of possibly the most bizarre product of all time – a bra that doubles as wine storage.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you “The Wine Rack”.

Michael Buble. Tw*t. F*ct.

Michael Bublé is described as a crooner. Beringer is described as a wine. We’re not sure we beleive either description.

Beringer has been named the official wine of Bublé’s upcoming Crazy Love Tour.

This is what Bublé has to say about Beringer

“I think Beringer and I are a great pairing [Beringer] is a winery that mixes elegance and excitement in a way that is simpatico with my music.”

Quick, pass me the crack cocaine, I need to get to another dimension. FAST.

Michael Bublé will perform at Beringer Vineyards this Autumn for a select group of wine-loving fans.

We feel sorry for the vines. First they’re owned by Beringer and second they’ll have to listen to Bublé  and his vile brand of corporate schmaltz.

"Would you buy wine from this man?"

Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Peter Jones has re-branded his wine website with the promise of a no-nonsense approach to the world of wine.

Yourfavouritewines.com is the new name for Gondola.com and the focus remains on popular brands. It’s fronted by ex-supermarket wine buyer Angela Mount (best known for having her taste buds insured for £10 million).

The PA news release states that Angela’s role is to ‘source the best wine deals and to debunk the snobbery and myths around choosing and enjoying great wines’.

Here’s what she has to say

“We aim to make a real difference to the wine-buying habits of consumers who are looking for wines they know and love from the comfort of their home.

“In particular we want to target women. Currently 70% of wine purchases in the UK are made by women but online the picture is very different.

“Women make less than 40% of online wine purchases and online wine sales lag significantly behind online grocery sales.”

Of course, there isn’t much new in taking the anti-snobbery line (Virgin occupied this territory back in ’99 and Naked Wines have done a great job in making wine accessible).

We’ve also heard the ‘targeting women’ line before so WineOfTheWeek approached the site with a degree of skepticism. And we were right to do so.

The website itself is pretty uninspiring, the design feels more supermarket than populist. Indeed it’s deal orientated design makes Tesco Wine Club look like The Wine Society.

There is a distinct turn of the century feel about the technology and user interface. It’s a catalogue site with standard faceted navigation and it’s really just all about the deal.

There are notional links out to social networks on the homepage but no social integration on the pages where you need it most (products, deals, blog etc). Indeed the blog integration is a poorly executed WordPress template and there’s really no excuse for that these days.

But perhaps most disappointing is that  it simply doesn’t deliver the brand position it claims to occupy. Where Naked Wines puts a social proposition at the heart of both their brand and their technology YourFavouriteWines.com simply offers a product list in the manner of an Asda or a Sainsburys.

And there’s the rub. The product range puts it squarely in Supermarket territory and I’m not sure how Peter Jones hopes to compete with Terry Leahy on low margin deals. Supermarkets use offer deals on the big wine brands not just because they have buying power but also because it increases their grocery basket size.

Put simply, the web does not need another website selling discounted Wolf Blass and Lindemans.

WineOfTheWeek does not want to feel negative about new businesses and especially those related to wine, however we have real reservations about this brand.

YourFavouriteWines has little to do with the love of wine and when Peter Jones claims he understands the internet the digital community tends to wet themselves with mirth.

If you really want a new approach to wine from an entrepreneur who understands both the vine and the possibilities of the internet then sign up to Rowan Gormley’s Naked Wines instead.

Baseball makes as much sense to me as Cricket must do to an American. Bing Crosby on the other hand, makes a whole lot of sense to me.

So when a long lost recording of what is regarded as one of the greatest baseball games ever played turned up in Bing’s former wine cellar, WineOfTheWeek sat up and listened.

The 1960 World Series decider  (cue European mirth at where the ‘world’ is when it comes to baseball) between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees ended with Bill Mazeroski’s electrifying home run which won the game 10-9 and clinched the series for the Pirates.

All that remained of the game was a 40 second old news reel clip and the memories of those who watched the game in person. But, four decades on, a copy of the entire two-and-a-half hour broadcast has been discovered – in Bing Crosby’s former wine cellar.

Bing was such a big fan of baseball he ended up buying part ownership of the Pirates.

And yet, Crosby was not in fact present at the famous victory over the Yankees back in 1960. It turns our that the old crooner was so superstitious that he refused to watch the game and holidayed in Paris instead for fear that he may jinx the game. However, Crosby took steps to cover all his bases and hired a production company to record the game using kinescope so that he could watch only once he was sure that the Pirates were victorious.

The five-reel, 16mm film was recently discovered by an employee for Bing Crosby Enterprises while looking for footage of old television shows in the Crosby wine cellar.

The film has been transferred to DVD and will be made available for release in December.

As for the wine? No mention was given to what else lurks beneath.

What a corker!

It used to be a truism that when an English footballer retired from ‘the game’ he either bought a pub or became an alcoholic. And in many cases both.

If ever there was a sign that football has changed it comes with the news that Barcelona and Spain’s midfield maestro Andrés Iniesta has his own wine company.

As reported in Decanter this week, Bodegas Iniesta is a €9m project based near his home town of Fuentealbilla in the province of Albacete.

Red, white and rosé wines will be available from the 2010 harvest with local grape variety Bobal used for the red wines, and Macabeo and Chardonnay for the whites.

And how about this for a mission statement:

I want the wine to be a reflection of who I am. The standards are set high, but so are the key pieces to meet them: hard work, family support and knowledge… wine is destined to be one of my great motivations

Oh Andrés. My footballing god becomes a wine god. WineOfTheWeek worships your every incarnation.

The aim is to sell the wine in Spain and for export to the UK, Germany and Japan with early reports suggesting a restaurant price of EUR40 a bottle.

Meanwhile here in England, we’ve got Gazza. Dionysus help us.

Maynard James Keenan is my kinda man. By day, Keenan works the soil in the service of Bacchus the god of wine. By night he kneels at the alter of the rock gods as the frontman of Tool and the hydra-headed Puscifer.

Over the years WineOfTheWeek has been guilty of sneering at the long list of  celebrities who adopt vineyards as vanity projects or allow their name to used by profit seeking corporate initiatives. In Maynard, WineOfTheWeek has found it’s celebrity salvation.

In the documentary ‘Blood into Wine’ Keenan shows that he’s a committed oenophile. He’s learnt his vini and viti and has a real passion for the vine. The documentary charts the determination of Keenan and his winemaking partner Eric Glomski to produce something beautiful in the harsh terrain that is Arizona.

Take a look at the trailer below to get a feel for the tone of the movie and find out more about Keenan’s wines at their (pretty damn spectacular) website.

WineOfTheWeek isn’t sure when and where this movie will get a UK screening but rest assured, we’re on the case to be the first to get a hold of it.

It’s not quite Spinal Tap but Christopher Guest, Michael Mckean and Harry Shearer ask us to consider a horrific vinous combination. Ladies and Gentlemen I present The Folksmen from A Mighty Wind with ‘Corn Wine’ and the immortal refrain:

Consider the corn, Consider the wine
One’s in a hurry, one takes it’s time
If only the two could just combine…
…Corn Wine.

To the 19th...

When a celebrity and a wine company get together to create a brand it’s hard not to be cynical. It really is.

In the case of Jack Nicklaus you really don’t want to wish anything other than goodwill towards one of sports true icons.

Jack has just announced a tie-up wth Terlato Wines International. The first of the wines will be introduced at the upcoming PGA Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. There’s a Jack Nicklaus Wines Napa Cabernet,  and a Jack Nicklaus Wines Private Reserve, a blend of Bordeaux grapes and Syrah.

As befits this most corporate of corporate sports, the press release announcing the partnership has been written using the  infamous ‘random corporate phrase generator’:

Exhibit 1:

“The Nicklaus and Terlato families share a lifelong pursuit of excellence and achievement in their respective fields — as well as a deep appreciation for the land, whether creating memorable golf courses from stunning terrain, or growing grapes in exceptional vineyard soils.”

Exhibit 2:

“It took just moments for us to know that this was going to be a great partnership,” Nicklaus said “We immediately felt a mutual respect and a connection, sparked by a shared passion for quality and a vision to create something that embodies the high standards of both our families.”

Exhibit 3:

“Jack has lived his entire life in pursuit of excellence,” said Bill Terlato. “Whether mastering the game of golf and dominating his competition like no one before him, or by designing some of the most magnificent and distinctive golf courses around the globe, Jack has demonstrated world-class standards. We’re very proud of our relationship with Jack, his family and his brand.”

Still. At least they didn’t mention ‘synergy’.

Other golfers who’ve also lent their brand, sorry name, to wines include Mark O’Meara, Ernie Els, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman.

Corporate BS aside Jack, We still love you. Always will.

Here we go again, another p*ss poor pop band demonstrate an acute lack of vinous awareness while on tour.

After their recent Radio 1 ‘Big Weekend’, Scouting For Girls bassist Greg Churchhouse revealed that the band have to pay for their own backstage festival wine. According to Churchhouse: “We get the best bottle we can afford – usually something like a Blue Nun – and put it on a little bit of laminated paper with our names on it.”

Words fail us.