Uh, oh, I'm getting too old

That reminds me of an earlier generation of wines designed for the youth market. Back in the early '70's I spent a couple of summers working for Canandaigua Industries, a precursor of Constellation Brands. Around that time they had apparently decided to cash in on the demand for beverages to soothe throats made raw by cheap Mexican dope, and were selling wines named Bacchus and Aquarius.

One of my tasks was recycling wines returned to the plant. That involved screwing off the tops and inverting the bottles into a rack, where they would drain into a vat. The wine collected would be blended into lots of Wild Irish Rose. I spent the better part of a week dumping bottles of Bacchus and Aquarius, which apparently weren't selling as well as planned. By the end of that time my hands were in shreds from the jagged points the old screwcaps developed when you cracked the suckers. Good times...
 
“We don’t like wine geeks” ... "because they keep pointing out that we're trying to get people to pay for lousy wine by putting a funny label on it."
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
“We don’t like wine geeks” ... "because they keep pointing out that we're trying to get people to pay for lousy wine by putting a funny label on it."

I remember reading, and saying something here, about a hilarious interview with some fashion magnate whose name I can't remember (he dresses in black and looks vaguely like an actor gone to seed trying out to play Dracula), who admitted to no longer drinking wine, who argued that wine should stop being thought of as something to be enjoyed convivially with food and should be sold as a luxury item like fashion and high end automobiles. This seems to me the opposite fallacy. Wine should be reduced to beverage. If one changes it into a luxury item to be fetishized, there's no reason to drink it. If one reduces it to beverage, there's no reason to pay it any attention.

Of the fallacies, I prefer the second since it as at least the case that it is a beverage.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
“We don’t like wine geeks” ... "because they keep pointing out that we're trying to get people to pay for lousy wine by putting a funny label on it."

I remember reading, and saying something here, about a hilarious interview with some fashion magnate whose name I can't remember (he dresses in black and looks vaguely like an actor gone to seed trying out to play Dracula), who admitted to no longer drinking wine, who argued that wine should stop being thought of as something to be enjoyed convivially with food and should be sold as a luxury item like fashion and high end automobiles. This seems to me the opposite fallacy. Wine should be reduced to beverage. If one changes it into a luxury item to be fetishized, there's no reason to drink it. If one reduces it to beverage, there's no reason to pay it any attention.

Of the fallacies, I prefer the second since it as at least the case that it is a beverage.

I would guess that must be Karl Lagerfeld. I know because on those few occasions I see his image I think the same thing:

 
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
“We don’t like wine geeks” ... "because they keep pointing out that we're trying to get people to pay for lousy wine by putting a funny label on it."

I remember reading, and saying something here, about a hilarious interview with some fashion magnate whose name I can't remember (he dresses in black and looks vaguely like an actor gone to seed trying out to play Dracula), who admitted to no longer drinking wine, who argued that wine should stop being thought of as something to be enjoyed convivially with food and should be sold as a luxury item like fashion and high end automobiles. This seems to me the opposite fallacy. Wine should be reduced to beverage. If one changes it into a luxury item to be fetishized, there's no reason to drink it. If one reduces it to beverage, there's no reason to pay it any attention.

Of the fallacies, I prefer the second since it as at least the case that it is a beverage.

I would guess that must be Karl Lagerfeld. I know because on those few occasions I see his image I think the same thing:


Indeeed, that's him. I'm flattered my simile was good enough to bring up his identity.
 
Many candidates for appreciation are luxury goods, and some luxury goods are candidates for appreciation, but the two categories are nonetheless distinct.
 
originally posted by Steven Spielmann:
Many candidates for appreciation are luxury goods, and some luxury goods are candidates for appreciation, but the two categories are nonetheless distinct.

Absolutely true. But a reading of the interview would show that, while he didn't eschew appreciation, he thought it should be beside the point.
 
originally posted by Steve Guattery:
Around that time they had apparently decided to cash in on the demand for beverages to soothe throats made raw by cheap Mexican dope, and were selling wines named Bacchus and Aquarius.

What's old is new again - LMAO pinot grigio is perfectly suited to the ravages of vocal fry.
 
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