Maison Ilan

And theirs is not the only story.

I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of 'stories' like these and if wanted to personally support everyone of these wine lifestyles, I'd be running governmental style fiscal deficits.
 
originally posted by MarkS:
And theirs is not the only story.

I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of 'stories' like these and if wanted to personally support everyone of these wine lifestyles, I'd be running governmental style fiscal deficits.
If it's good reasonably priced wine I'm interested, $300 bottles of burgundy not so much interest.
 
originally posted by MarkS:
And theirs is not the only story.

I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of 'stories' like these and if wanted to personally support everyone of these wine lifestyles, I'd be running governmental style fiscal deficits.

Point well taken. Although in many cases (perhaps the Japanese Jura folks qualify) our interest is not only in maintaining their lifestyle but in maintaining the cultural heritage of the vineyard.
 
originally posted by Yixin:
It's a great story, but I wonder about e.g. the Japanese couple in south Jura working their frozen asses off (not far from Ganevat) trying to maintain a great terroir. They were pruning at 8am in the foggy morning, and had to ask where to get good salad leaves.

And theirs is not the only story.

I don't understand your point. I bought wines from Ray because I had listened to him on Grape Radio and liked his philosophy for making wine, had corresponded with him on wine boards and by e-mail and thought he would make good wines and thought the prices I was charged were reasonable. Now that I have tasted the wines, I think I guessed well and got a bargain. In addition, I have gotten to know Ray and really like him. So, I got excellent wines at a excellent price and made a friend. And, your point is?
 
My post wasn't addressed to you, Howard, but since you asked what my point was, I'll try to be clear.

I think the elements which make his story exceptional are that it's in Burgundy (with concomitant prestige, prices and bullshit) and for the US audience, he's American. If you take an unfashionable region, and some other nationality, it doesn't get picked up (by the American press). And there are plenty of those - the Japanese couple came to mind because we met them not too long ago. I would also venture that buying land is a more of a commitment than buying grapes.

We can talk about a school teacher working less than a hectare in Aosta, planted primarily to indigenous varieties, or a young man who lost both his parents in an accident elsewhere in Italy and has bravely soldiered on. Or how a Swiss chap sold everything he had to make wine in the Mosel, and only just put in floor tiles in some rooms after a decade so that he could invest in the vineyards. Or how another Swiss chap more or less rescued a village's vineyards from extinction. Or how a Spanish journalist...(sorry Victor)

People buy and drink wines for all sorts of reasons. I'm far too old to pursue any argument along those lines.
 
originally posted by Yixin:
My post wasn't addressed to you, Howard, but since you asked what my point was, I'll try to be clear.

I think the elements which make his story exceptional are that it's in Burgundy (with concomitant prestige, prices and bullshit) and for the US audience, he's American. If you take an unfashionable region, and some other nationality, it doesn't get picked up (by the American press). And there are plenty of those - the Japanese couple came to mind because we met them not too long ago. I would also venture that buying land is a more of a commitment than buying grapes.

We can talk about a school teacher working less than a hectare in Aosta, planted primarily to indigenous varieties, or a young man who lost both his parents in an accident elsewhere in Italy and has bravely soldiered on. Or how a Swiss chap sold everything he had to make wine in the Mosel, and only just put in floor tiles in some rooms after a decade so that he could invest in the vineyards. Or how another Swiss chap more or less rescued a village's vineyards from extinction. Or how a Spanish journalist...(sorry Victor)

People buy and drink wines for all sorts of reasons. I'm far too old to pursue any argument along those lines.

But why is it surprising that the US Press is more likely to cover stores about people from the US? I assume that the Japanese press is more likely to cover stories about people from Japan, no?
 
I remember years ago a parody edition of the Boston Globe. The headlines were:

Hub Man Dies

As New York Destroyed by Bomb
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Yixin didn't say it was surprising, only that it showed a specific reporting bias. He's far too old to find it surprising.
Okay, but why is it objectionable?

I don't want to speak for him, but perhaps it's because it's parochial to have such a bias?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Yixin didn't say it was surprising, only that it showed a specific reporting bias. He's far too old to find it surprising.
Okay, but why is it objectionable?

I don't want to speak for him, but perhaps it's because it's parochial to have such a bias?
Do you think the sports section of the New York Times should cease paying more attention to the Yankees and Mets than other teams? Maybe it's parochial for them to pay any particular attention to baseball at all, and they should give as much coverage to rugby, cricket, and whatever other crazy sports they play in other random places in the world that are surely not as parochial as we Americans and whose newspapers therefore surely cover American baseball just as fastidiously as they do their own local sports.
 
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