ATTENTION WINE HISTORY PEOPLE!!!!!!

[Thomas]

Matthew, libraries are work and the Internet is easy. Therein lies the problem: that which comes easy and cheap often costs a lot more than you expect. And who said life is easy?

On your way to the library you might have smelled spring in bloom, you might have even met a dear friend and had a nice conversation, and you might have learned a little about that poor old librarian, who could have been a distant relative, had you asked in person.

Expect quick and ready solutions to everything and you wind up with a dim-witted solution to most things....I has spok'n!

Anyway, what I meant by your porfessor being outdated and stodgy is addressed in Cellarmate's posting. Educators, and many writers too (of which I am one) have a tendency to see wine in terms of the great chateaux, lots of money and all that high-status stuff. But there is a wonderful revolution taking place, especially in the Mediterranean; places where wines were once readily available, locally, and of little distinction, now offer quite wonderful wines and affordable prices and they come across the Atlantic. If we are going to develop a wine culture in the U.S. we need to focus on the affordable quality stuff, and diminish the importance of those "blown out of proportion" blockbuster products and producers. It is the same as eating mignon once in a great while and steak thorughout the year, or even better, shad roe in spring and fish all year long.