Randall Grahm, the man once described affectionately as “crazy as a cup of waltzing mice”, has shocked the world wine community by releasing a Chardonnay in a bottle with a conventional label. “It’s a pastiche not a parody”, he explained helpfully.
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A Californian micro-winery claims that it has created the perfect wine “in the image of God”. Robert Parker was unavailable for comment.
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A computer bug called Phylloxera has attacked all wine web sites across the world resulting in the dramatic loss of no sales whatsoever.
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Industrial caterers and cleaning agencies have been complaining about the quality of grande marque champagnes. “They’re definitely not what they are cracked up to be. They’re just not getting those stubborn stains out.” A spokesman for one of the major champagne houses replied: “We’re very happy with the current product. Any less bottle age and the contents would be too toxic to use in a closed environment”.
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On the subject of sparkling wine Cloudy Bay have released the new deluxe brand “Thesaurus”, as they have run out of superlatives to promote their own products.
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After pioneering the Stelvin closure Australian winemakers will be abandoning the conventional glass bottle for a plastic tube with ring-pull facility. “This will be an ergonomic advance of unprecedented proportions. Imagine how many tubes you could stack behind the bar next to the cans of Red Bull.” Reaction amongst the British press was predictably enthusiastic. “Another nail in the coffin for the French wine industry”, chortled one journalist.
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An Argentinian wine maker was found guilty of flavouring his Chardonnay with new oak staves. “It wasn’t the oak planks that the authorities didn’t like”, he confessed, “It was the fact that I forgot to remove the two-toed sloths that were still clinging to them for dear life”.
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Three fine wine businesses specialising exclusively in en primeur offers were today sold before they set officially themselves up as companies.
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The manager of the restaurant in central London who sold six legendary vintages of Chateau Cheval Blanc to five wealthy businessmen admitted that it was a nerve-wracking but thrilling experience. “At one point I couldn’t glue the labels onto the bottles quickly enough,” he said, adding, “It was better than sex but then I don’t get out much”.
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The Institute of The Crooked Corkscrews have released information on how to apply for their examination. They invite applicants to send their details on the back of a sizeable cheque.
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A freak occurrence at one of the major international trade fairs has led to the inception of a major new brand. As a result of the combination of an overly efficient newly installed isothermic ventilation system and rapidly condensing alcoholic vapours, a wine said to be the aggregate of every open bottle in the exhibition centre was created in a slop bucket. “I like it. I think we could sell this!” enthused the famous supermarket wine buyer, Dr Frankenwine MW.
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The new regulatory quango “Offwine” has been described as a “corking good idea” by the Prime Minister’s official press secretary.
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The Canadian-backed transoceanic wine super-tube (wine piped straight to your local supermarket) has once more proved intrinsically flawed when Edna the inebriated humpback whale infiltrated the system and drank Canada dry (again). A Captain Queequeg, veteran of such incidents, growled: “Give me the Horn any day”.
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Alfred Schniedel has pioneered a glass so sensitive that it can tell when you are pouring the wrong type of wine into it. Schniedel claims that the glass has a symbiotic resonance with the individual molecules of aromas produced by different wines. He elaborates: “My glasses are now so finely attuned they can tell from the sound the cork makes when it is being pulled what grape variety is in the bottle and will automatically shatter if you try to pour the wine into the wrong type of the glass.”
I was hoping to post some pictures of our Loire winemakers but I unfortunately left my camera in the prison…er, I mean hotel (doh!). Prison, you ask? Well, I’ve stayed in some odd places in France but Hotel Les Jardins de l’Anjou was one of the funniest! Built in the 1960s, everytime I left my room I thought I could hear the banging of chamber pots & Morgan Freeman saying “The first night’s the toughest, no doubt about it…” Blimey, I think I might have overdosed on Cabernet Franc… 
