Orson Welles Had it Right....

... when he said "I will sell no wine before its time."  Of course, I think he was pimping himself out for Paul Masson wines at the time, extolling the virtues of the grape and vineyard. That was back in the 1970's, when wine was in its infancy here in the States, and Gallo Wines was the biggest thing going, which goes to show you just how bad the state of the grape was back then.  Of course, Mr. Welles, the director of a movie that most consider the most important film EVER made, didn't actually drink Mr. Masson's final product and was subsequently fired for saying so on talk television a few years later.  Which got me to thinking about how dramatically things have changed with wine consumption here in the good old U.S. of A.....

I admit that I probably have spent a good amount of time over the years consuming the stuff, some very good, some very bad, and some downright ugly.  I remember in the 70's, when I was young and tender and the drinking age was 18, we bought our swill wine from the convenience store, mostly because we could not afford the good stuff and didn't even know good stuff existed. And mostly we had ABC stores; wine stores simply did not exist.  Our selections consisted of Lancer's Rose (still sold by the case loads in Portugal, 'cuz I saw it there not too long ago.....) and Blue Nun wine. The thought of consuming either of them now is SO less appealing.

Wine actually began as sort of a medicinal beverage .  New research shows that it has been around since the Paleolithic Age, which means the proverbial hangover has been with us since that time also. Some things never change.... but I digress.  As a professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania describes it, "a beverage that tasted good,  provided energy, and was a social lubricator with mind altering effects." Well, duh!!!!!  About 9,000 years ago, it was the Chinese making rice-honey wine in the region of Jiahu in central China.  Then along came the Persians, using the common grape Vitis vinifera, and started making their version of the fermented fruit, although I would imagine that bouncing around on the back of a camel with a hangover was a bit punishing. The Egyptians got in on the act around 5,000 years ago, although they are better known as the originators of hops and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Wine finally got its due when the Greeks and Romans started using the libation for their worship services of Dionysus and Bacchus, which the citizens of New Orleans still carry on once a year.

Fast forward to the 1920s and the Volstead Act.  Now if you think the Volstead Act was a bad thing, think about this:  it gave us organized crime, an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs in New York alone, and provided the impetus for what some consider the greatest sport in America, namely, NASCAR. (I personally can't believe that I am using NASCAR in a post about wine.  I must have had too much of it last night to desecrate wine in such a manner.) In 1933, the citizenry of America sobered up and repealed the Volstead Act.

I perused Etsy to see who was doing what with what now is a $44B industry, and that does not account for cocktail napkins, wine stoppers, and anything/everything else related to the consumption of our favorite beverage.  I was pretty impressed with people's imagination.

iCustomwines has some really great looking and innovative labels that can be personalized for you.  They have some really great ideas which may have never occurred to you. These are great gifts for Sucking Up to the Boss Dinner and occasions such as that. https://www.etsy.com/shop/iCustomWine?ref=ss_profile

Thevinyards does a lot of interesting things with reclaimed wood.  The thing I like about their shop is that not only are their pieces recycled but that type of application can be used in homes that are very contemporary to the very traditional.  They have many one-of-a-kind pieces, sure to be the talk of any wine consumers at your next party!! Plus, they have provided me with our Useless Factoid of the Week: The world’s oldest bottle of wine dates back to A.D. 325 and was found near the town of Speyer, Germany, inside one of two Roman sarcophagi. It is on display at the town's Historisches Museum der Pfalz.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheVineyards?ref=listing-shop-header-item-count

newspinstore is exactly that, a new spin. I love the outside-the-box thinking.  They actually have a wine apparatus that allows you to drink wine and ski at the same time.  Okay, that is a gross exaggeration, but they do have a nifty wine storage piece made out of skis. This takes great imagination and I mean that in all sincerity.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/newspinstore?ref=ss_profile

DestinationLtd makes some unique and interesting wine stoppers.  Sure, there are a lot of choices for stoppers out there, but they have some great ones that can be personalized.  Again, great gift idea for weddings, hostess gifts, and just something that can be reused time and time again, unlike the bottle of wine that everyone else brought to the party.  Not that there is anything wrong with bringing a bottle of wine to a party.....
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DestinationLtd?ref=ss_profile

My absolute favorite is this great wine storage that was built and designed by GreenDesignsSanRamon for a well known, very famous person whose name is withheld to protect the innocent.  I love the ingenuity and thought that went into the piece and their prices are very reasonable.  It's a great storage piece, made from staves of the wine casks. Plus now you can get something made for the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in your wine tasting room!!!!!   https://www.etsy.com/shop/GreenDesignsSanRamon?ref=ss_profile



Well, that's it for this week.  It's 5:00 somewhere and I am headed for my first cocktail of the day........