Cocaine, goes down like a fine wine

Why would you ever compare Cocaine to Wine? I asked that question when I read a quick note about it on Vinography regarding this story from the UK Telegraph.

It really never crosses my mind when I pick up a bottle of wine just how much cocaine I could have had instead. I consider the wine to be enough of a drug to appease the side of my personality that requires mind-altering intoxicants.

Really, what I want to know is what editor decided that title was the one they were going with. Is the UK so progressive in their drug habits that cocaine is now on the menu? Yes, I would like the Beef Wellington with a Chianti Classico and a side of cocaine. No, I have my own snorting straw, thank you.

I also read a New York Times article today about Brazilians taking an excess of ecstasy. Evidently instead of only a stamp on the hand when you enter a nightclub, you also get a party pill.

There was another article on Argentina becoming softer on drugs for personal use. Personally, I think they have the right idea, even if they are doing it for the wrong reasons.

For a subject that in the US has lost a lot of its national focus, it seems that the rest of the world has begun to focus on dugs. I’m just glad that the rest of the world isn’t comparing its drug problems to wine.

Then again, check out this old story about someone smuggling cocaine into Australia in bottles of wine.

Heavy Metals in the Wine? Probably but who cares?

I found a very interesting story today on research done in the UK saying that European wines have a high concentration of heavy metals that are dangerous for you. The article of that story can be found here. What makes it most interesting was that it was picked up by all of the wine newsletters I get.

Really, I just can't imagine that whatever they found (if they found anything!) is really dangerous. We are in a world where we are told that simply breathing may cause your lungs to shrivel up and kill you. Consumers have been drinking European wines in the US for a long time, speeded up by the French Paradox. If years and years of drinking these wines has not given anyone heavy metal poisoning yet, I think we'll be ok. A while ago I remember reading an article on trace chemicals being found in the water supplies of major metropolitan cities (and we're talking good stuff like anti-depressents and muscle relaxants in New York and sex enhancement drugs in San Francisco). As far as I can tell that news was met with the equivalent of a big shrug by the average American.

This definitely will not have the slightest effect on my wine purchasing decisions. Although I must say that Slovakia, Macedonia and Serbia are still not high on my list of wines to explore.