And the winner is.............

[Thomas]

Wow, did I start something BIG!

I learned the lesson about which Roberto and I speak when I was a wine salesman for a distributor. The lesson is simple: wine retailing is NOT built on collectors or status seekers. That is all I wanted to say. The Spectator, and others, have done more to create collector-madness and that is not the business I want to be in.

Drew as usual makes good points, but Drew does not sell wine. A retailer must cater to his/her customers; collectors are not customers; they do not pay the rent on a regular basis and they take up more time than regular customers do. That is all I meant.

Oh yes, the rags feed the frenzy; they are not my friends.

WW, when you start consuming white wine, which happens to be ffity percent of the wine industry, then you can criticize my tastes. Until then, try cooking with Madeira just once; I need a convert for my resume. ...