quote:

---

Here's my favorite evidence of Merlot's fall from grace. An interview with "Sideways" actress Virginia Madsen by writer Strawberry Saroyan in the Jan. 16 edition of the New York Times includes the following passage:

"They brought out this wine and we were like, this is really good, thinking it was the pinot as usual." It turned out to be a Merlot: horrors. "If you saw it on a menu, you'd throw it across a room. It was a Merlot from Malibu." Only connoisseurs could have such conviction.

Actresses can be forgiven for shallowness, but note the position of the quotes: when the New York Times calls someone who would throw a good-tasting wine across the room just because it's Merlot a "connoisseur," the grape has an image problem.

---

I am not a wine snob at all; I drink what I like, and if a Merlot tastes good, what the hell? (And to hell with the phoney snots who chose their plonk based on a stupid line from a movie!)

I took him to see Sideways (part of a wine themed evening - there may be a theme to the relationship thus far.) He laughed heartily at that line.