Read 465 blog posts today…

I haven’t posted in about a week, mostly because of a combination of on vacation and focused on dragging my lazy butt out of bed, and a bit of illness. I hate being sick and unable to do what I want my body to do…

Last week, Steve Heimoff wrote on his blog that he wanted to clarify something that I wrote about him in one of my earlier posts. No I doubt that Steve is a regular reader, I bet he has a google alert set up with his name. Steve does not hate bloggers. I do not know what Steve hates; he may post about that in a later post. I think I have made amends in my explanation of my post on the comment section of his post. And keeping track of what post is being posted where is getting to me. Maybe time for an aspirin…

So much is happening in the wine world right now. I just got the new research numbers (Gomberg – Fredrikson, 2008 through October) and it is pretty staggering. A quick breakdown:

Shipments to the US – up 1% (lower that the last two years, but still climbing for now)
California – up 3%
Imported Bottled wine – down 6%
Italy – down 6%
Australia – down 8%
France – down 9%
Spain – even
Chile – up 2% (sweet)
Germany – down 5%
New Zealand – down 6%
Argentina – up 33% (WHOA!)
Portugal – up 11% (really? Cool!)
South Africa – down 15%

Looks like Spanish/Portuguese language countries are doing best.

Then there is the Michigan direct shipping law changes; Tom Wark at Fermentation has been following it closely so you might want to just read his blog for more info.

New York’s retail laws are changing, being turned upside-down, chopped up, and thrown out. I’ll let Debbie Lessner-Gioquindo at Wine Goddess tell you about that one.

Each state is currently taking a look at their budgets and seeing where they can squeeze another couple million dollars. The answer is of course going to be alcohol, so stock up on the ridiculous deals going on right now and fill your cellar up for the tough times coming.