FOX News: Fair and Balanced

...wine reporting!

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/06/01/5-amazing-wines-for-under-10/#

Ok, you may disagree with their choices, and even retch a bit at their TN's ("... juxtapose nicely with the bitterness of cauliflower on the nose." and "salty" - in a good way) but still: it's FOX News! Criticizing them on particulars is like teaching a pig to read then complaining it moves its mouth.

I'm doubly stunned that these are not just wine recommendations, but...wine recommendations for the Not-1%. Isn't this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

I will say, though, the writer missed a great opportunity to use the line "fair and balanced" in a piece where it might actually be true for the first time in the network's history. Oh well....

When I was more actively ITB I was always eager to drive the good QPR wines, if for no other reason than to possibly get someone interested and stimulated to move onward, upward, and outward.

Now, I'm not that driven and don't look (as much) for QPRs as I did. I just don't care to discover another marginal and not very different Cabernet Sauvignon from the huge tanks of whomever. I know pretty well what I like and am still eager to try wines within those preferred categories. But I just am not interested in another cheap chardonnay---primarily because I know most of the things they had to do to make that chardonnay so cheap in the first place.

Even though my buying power is somewhat less than it was in my furious heyday, I've come to the realization that pursuing the always elusive low-priced stunner is almost always a lose-lose proposition. Does that make me an elitist?

Not sure, Hoke. I mean, I agree with you to an extent. But, we can throw out the coverse to your points. Too many wines in the elite category are that way because of either marketing or, for new actual wineries with vineyards, the fact that they got into the game so late that they have a high cost basis and debt to pay off. I know those are not what you are talking about necessarily w/r/t the kinds of wines you like, but there are so many factors involved in pricing wine that it is not completely off base to "chase the bargains". Because there are a lot of "bargains" out there, just like there is an awful lot of really bad expensive wines!

When I was more actively ITB I was always eager to drive the good QPR wines, if for no other reason than to possibly get someone interested and stimulated to move onward, upward, and outward.

Now, I'm not that driven and don't look (as much) for QPRs as I did. I just don't care to discover another marginal and not very different Cabernet Sauvignon from the huge tanks of whomever. I know pretty well what I like and am still eager to try wines within those preferred categories. But I just am not interested in another cheap chardonnay---primarily because I know most of the things they had to do to make that chardonnay so cheap in the first place.

Even though my buying power is somewhat less than it was in my furious heyday, I've come to the realization that pursuing the always elusive low-priced stunner is almost always a lose-lose proposition. Does that make me an elitist?

Nope, Hoke...just makes you an old/cranky/curmudgeon who's set in his ways!!!
As you've noticed, I do a fair amount of bottom-feeding at TJ's. But...man...you gotta kiss a lotta frogs to find a prince.
Tom

Tom, I do TJ wines as well. It's just that I already know the ones I am likely to drink, and have enough healthy skepticism to be wary of things too good to be true. We actually buy a bunch of Sauvignon Republic SB NZ on a regular basis; good wine/good price and a style we like.

Brian, you slightly misunderstand me. I am not referring to wines with jumped-up prices (hello, Screagle) or primarily market-driven (by which I mean corporate versus, say family-owned multi-generation wineries that are not necessarily interested in world domination). I like a bargain as much as anyone, and I thrill as much as anyone when I find I wine I particularly like at a good price point; foolish not to feel otherwise.

It's just that, after a lifetime of trial and error and vast exploration, I have a pretty firm grasp of what it takes to make a good wine in a style that I will enjoy so I don't have to keep sampling the undifferentiated flood of average wines to try to find something that I can convince myself is drinkable and enjoyable. Doesn't mean I don't like bargain wines and QPR though. I'm always willing to try a Vinho Verde, for instance; or a Txakolina, or Vin de Savoie/Jura, or Cotes Basque, because I know my chances of liking them are better than with JustAnother Chardonnay.

All of which means I don't dabble that much in the lower price range anymore, and tend to stay in the $15-20 for drinkable stuff. Fortunately, with my connections in the biz I get everything except impulse buys at wholesale prices.

When I was more actively ITB I was always eager to drive the good QPR wines, if for no other reason than to possibly get someone interested and stimulated to move onward, upward, and outward.

Now, I'm not that driven and don't look (as much) for QPRs as I did. I just don't care to discover another marginal and not very different Cabernet Sauvignon from the huge tanks of whomever. I know pretty well what I like and am still eager to try wines within those preferred categories. But I just am not interested in another cheap chardonnay---primarily because I know most of the things they had to do to make that chardonnay so cheap in the first place.

Even though my buying power is somewhat less than it was in my furious heyday, I've come to the realization that pursuing the always elusive low-priced stunner is almost always a lose-lose proposition. Does that make me an elitist?

Yes, you are--a domestic elitist. Those bargains are found in Europe not in CA. I find them so regularly, I can't recall the last CA wine I bought!

Kidding aside, we have a fabulous store outside Rochester, NY thats stocks walls of wonderful "Old World" stuff at prices even a starving writer can afford.

Oh, so I just read your second post--that's progress, old man...

When I was more actively ITB I was always eager to drive the good QPR wines, if for no other reason than to possibly get someone interested and stimulated to move onward, upward, and outward.

Now, I'm not that driven and don't look (as much) for QPRs as I did. I just don't care to discover another marginal and not very different Cabernet Sauvignon from the huge tanks of whomever. I know pretty well what I like and am still eager to try wines within those preferred categories. But I just am not interested in another cheap chardonnay---primarily because I know most of the things they had to do to make that chardonnay so cheap in the first place.

Even though my buying power is somewhat less than it was in my furious heyday, I've come to the realization that pursuing the always elusive low-priced stunner is almost always a lose-lose proposition. Does that make me an elitist?

Yes, you are--a domestic elitist. Those bargains are found in Europe not in CA. I find them so regularly, I can't recall the last CA wine I bought!

Kidding aside, we have a fabulous store outside Rochester, NY thats stocks walls of wonderful "Old World" stuff at prices even a starving writer can afford.

Oh, so I just read your second post--that's progress, old man...

Who you callin' old man, old man? Yes, I drink infinitely more Euro wine than domestic The "bargains" might be a bit pricier but the styles suit me better. They provide greater satisfaction for the money on average than domestics almost every time.

Who you callin' old man, old man? Yes, I drink infinitely more Euro wine than domestic The "bargains" might be a bit pricier but the styles suit me better. They provide greater satisfaction for the money on average than domestics almost every time.

It's always made me laugh, the back label reading on domestic wines about affordable, everyday quality products, which of course applies mainly to domestic wines that sell beyond $25 a bottle. If that's affordable, everyday for the general American public ($175 + a week), then we are being lied to about the economy, minimum wages, and the salaries that have not risen in dozens of years.