Jonathan Nossiter

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January 27, 2010 in And Then Some | No comments

I can’t believe all my sweat to get some posts set up for you, my dear Readers, before we left on a little get-away fell through. They were supposed to be tie-overs until I returned, and to make up a little for not keeping The Little House On the Hilltop Project on schedule since I was away (I had hoped to find an internet cafe with computer availability in Hanalei, Kauai – my little search turned up nada). Turns out there are bugs in WordPress that I did NOT know about. Argh.

Scott’s Book Report post JUST BELOW THIS ONE on Jonathan Nossiter’s Liquid Memory is one of these “lost posts,” and there’s one more coming. I still owe you an TLHOTH Project update, and it’s coming, too; today was our first day back and little Sam has some big I-need-Mama thing going on, so, please hang tight, because there IS some news to share.

Mahalo, dear Readers.

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Liquid Memory, Scott’s Book Report

January 19, 2010 in Book Reviews | No comments

To give myself a little break from all this writing, I asked Scott to write a little “report” on Liquid Memory, a fairly controversial book by Jonathan Nossiter (see 11/17/09 The Pour Posting). I haven’t read it myself yet, but my guess is, I’ll just love it, as I found Mondovino, Nossiter’s film, a wonderful glimpse into the international world of wine. Mondovino felt like a parody on the industry, and while I just giggled through many parts, or shook my head in disbelief at the obnoxious egos flying around the world, you can imagine it was not well-received in the industry. The same way a Michael Moore  film is met by the industry he exposes. So I’m very curious about Liquid Memory.

Well, I guess I forgot to ask Scott to state his opinion of the book, because what we have here is a bare bones synopsis (now I know why he got his PhD in chemistry and not philosophy: less writing). So to give more insight into what Scott thinks of Nossiter, I’ve included his two comments to The Pour’s 11/17 posting. One more than the other is somewhat out of context on its own, but if you’re interested, you can go and read the whole string, which I hope you do.

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Lost in the Deluge of Commonality

November 19, 2009 in Wine World Homogeneity | No comments

“The uniqueness of America would prove to be its ability to erase uniqueness.” Daniel Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience.

When I started writing this post a few days ago I was going to feed off of this quote. My plan was to essentially speak to how it might apply to the homogenization of the wine industry that is reducing the availability of the individual wine. About the traveling winemakers who add to it. About mega-vineyards and mega producers adding to it. Of the selling out to big business and then the consolidation of brands adding to it. Maybe I would’ve hinted at singular palates—yes, the RP effect—and their influence adding to it. Would’ve shared some trade secrets about how, unbeknownst to consumers, different labels are used for the very same wine and how all of this factual information points to wine commonality now more than ever before. Then I would’ve finished it off with a resounding, “America needs more of its own wine that’s uncopyable and individual!” or something like that, to continue the idea at another time.

But then I read The Pour’s latest post, False Demons, where Eric (Eric, we’ve never met, but may I call you Eric?) critiques a new wine book, Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters as well as its author, Mondovino’s Jonathan Nossiter, and in effect dismisses a big claim Nossiter hangs his hat on about wine, claiming instead that unique wine is out there, more readily available than ever before.

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