The biggest buzz in the brewing world at this moment in time has to be the recent acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by the Belgium based InBev. For those of you living under a rock (or perhaps just avoid reading newspapers, watching the news on tv, or subscribing to cnn.com news updates), Anheuser-Busch shareholders will receive $70 a share in cash, translating into a total purchasing price of 52 billion dollars. The combining of the two companies, to be named Anheuser-Busch InBev, will form the world’s leading global brewer and one of the world’s five largest consumer products companies. Yes, it’s true: the great American lager is no longer owned by Americans… but what exactly does that mean?

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Recently I made my first trip to the North Fork for some touring and tasting. I took a couple of friends and we explored Route 25, experiencing the best that Long Island Wine Country has to offer. I was impressed by elegant, concentrated Cabernet Franc and steely, unoaked Chardonnay. I enjoyed picturesque views and chatting with honest winemakers about anything from screw caps to their hopes for the region’s future.

But I found one recurring theme troubling: the slavish comparison of Long Island wine country to California.  I’m not here to argue which region is better but I think it’s safe to say that California has been an established wine region for decades, while Long Island is in the “up and coming” category. It’s pretty unfair to compare the two, so why do people feel it’s necessary?

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Just a friendly reminder: OUT OF THE POOL, EVERYONE…..IT IS HIGH PLUOT SEASON.

Now, if you’re reading this in California, it probably comes as no news to you… because your markets and farmers’ stands are overflowing with scrumptious pluots (pronounced PLU-otts) just now. But if you’re reading this elsewhere in the U.S., chances are you’re saying… plu-WHAT?

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One of the criticisms New Yorkers often hear is that we’re not supportive enough of our local wine industry. With so many top-flight restaurants in Manhattan, how come more of them don’t showcase New York wines? Yes, many will have one or two, but good luck finding the New York section of the wine list. For a while, The New York Wine and Grape Foundation even produced cards for consumers to leave behind at their favorite restaurants imploring the sommeliers to offer more New York wines.

Lately, even wine critics have come under attack by an industry that seems determined to put the blame everywhere else but on itself. Jim Trezise, the head of The New York Wine and Grape Foundation, wrote this spring in an e-mail newsletter, “Where are the 90s?” He went on to comment about Wine Spectator and ourselves here at Wine Enthusiast, “”While the tasters at these publications are certainly qualified, their ratings simply do not match the opinions of panels of expert judges who sample the wines blind at wine competitions. Why the gap? I don’t know, but it’s not new.”

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I am saddened and shocked to learn of the premature death of Italian vintner Gianni Masciarelli. He died of a sudden stroke on July 31st at the young age of 53 while on a business trip to Munich. Italy has lost much more than a great winemaker. Masciarelli was a feisty and charismatic voice of truth and he served as a moral compass for Italian wine many years before scandalous reports of fraudulent wines were splashed across headlines.

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There is one little chocolate cake, native to Austria, that causes more fuss and fury and controversy than any other single gateau in the world. It is, of course, the Sacher-Torte (pronounce it ZA-kur TORT)….and, on my recent trip to the gorgeous vineyards around Vienna, I had to dip into the big town and find out why the world is crumb-struck by this floury thing.

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Let’s say you’re a barfly. You’ve been drinking nonstop for ten years. Tonight, once again, you’re totally blotto. Even given your damaged judgment, bleariness and idiocy, would you accept a bar bet with a complete stranger that he can blind-identify three wines in a row? No. Probably a scam, right? And if you were a bartender in a small-town saloon, would you scam your regular customers? No. Career suicide. You, dear reader, are a smarter barfly and savvier bartender than the ones depicted in Bottleshock.

Bottleshock, which opens August 6th, is the first of two movies, I understand, about the 1976 Paris tasting, when California wines unexpectedly bested French wines in a blind tasting by leading critics, launching the Golden State’s wines onto the world stage. This one stars Alan Rickman as Steven Spurrier, the writer and merchant who set up the tasting. Chris Pyne (who is starring at Captain Kirk in the upcoming Star Trek prequel) is Bo Barrett, Bill Pullman is Jim Barrett. It’s got some gorgeous photography (barrel rooms, wine shops, vineyards – who can resist?), a gorgeous cast (Eliza Dushku – resistance is futile) and some of the details feel right. But the moviemakers have poured a Tinseltown glaze of contrivance and cuteness over the production, and it sinks.

As a movie fan, I was put off by the faux hostility between father and son and the predictable arc of the n’er-do-well assuming responsibility; I was irritated by the uberglib, saccharine yapping between the young winemakers. As a wine lover, I was dumbfounded by the third act suspense sequence involving turned Chardonnay bottles, as well as the overall depiction of the Barretts. I described some of this to a prominent California winemaker who was around at the time of the depicted events and he started growling like an enraged tiger.

Even the excellent Alan Rickman is defeated by some of the dialogue he’s given. When a character laments the blow that French wine has taken in the world’s eyes from the tasting, and moans that c’est fini, it is the end, Rickman’s Spurrier replies, and I paraphrase: “This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. Australia [will enter the wine world.] Chile. South Africa…” Hollywood.

Have you been offended by the lack of authenticity in recent wine or culinary movies? What are some underrated food-movie gems?

People who know me know that I love to talk about how we, as a species, have managed to remove ourselves completely from the natural order of things in the wild. Traveling through remote parts of India, Africa and Central America, guides have told me time and again of witless vacationers who have jumped out of jeeps to snap a pride of lions, stuffed a poison dart frog in their pockets, or taken a stick to a deadly pit viper.  Where is their natural alarm? It makes you wonder if that thing called Darwinism is really such a bad idea after all.

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As an avid but earthy lover of premium wine and beer, I’ve thought about the difference between discernment and snobbery, and I understand why Managing Editor Tim Moriarty felt persecuted for standby favorites as mentioned in his recent entry Budweiser and Beaujolais. But red flags go off for me when I hear that standard call of retreat of “leave me alone and let me drink what I like.” I’m under 30, and represent a generation of drinkers who like to experiment–to familiarize themselves with current offerings in the vast and ever-expanding beverage world. All too often, I see people of an older generation pulling reverse snobbery and steeling themselves against trying something new—maybe a little more expensive. It makes you wonder if it’s true that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

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Lucky me. I’m just back from a trip to Germany’s Pfalz region, researching a feature scheduled for the November issue. I don’t want to give away the story, but it got me thinking that whenever I visit a wine region, I look to experience more than just the area’s vinous delights by trying whatever local food specialties I can find. It helps me gain a more complete understanding of the region, and how that region’s wines fit within their local context. To me, it’s also just a natural part of exploring anyplace new.
This trip, asparagus and strawberries were in season.

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