Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

[blazespinnaker]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...f485bc88d5.1c1

In case you ever wonder why wine prices are getting so cheap nowadays.

Won't be long before those migrant workers will be out of work..

[don]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

So it was the illegals that were artificially pricing wine so high...wow, makes sense. Work a white man won't do is so often the culprit....

The Ledson Winery is a 16,000 square foot French Normandy style castle. There is no way you can miss this gothic structure while in Sonoma Valley. You can tour the rooms of the castle for a fee or do as we did and just take a picture as soon as you walk through the door and then walk around the castle and vineyards outside.

[GRG55]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

So it was the illegals that were artificially pricing wine so high...wow, makes sense. Work a white man won't do is so often the culprit....

The Ledson Winery is a 16,000 square foot French Normandy style castle. There is no way you can miss this gothic structure while in Sonoma Valley. You can tour the rooms of the castle for a fee or do as we did and just take a picture as soon as you walk through the door and then walk around the castle and vineyards outside.

You think making wine paid for that ediface? C'mon now don, you must be having an off day...you know better than that!

How often is it that we hear about some Wall Street tycoon, or a real estate developer decide they just have to have a winery? In Australia it's the mining money that built all the fake French chateaus in the Margaret River region. Anybody entering the wine business in the past decade or two is almost certainly in a chronic negative return on capital situation [unless there's a tax angle or some agricultural subsidy situation I don't understand].

Methinks the only thing worse than a wine estate is buying a sports franchise.

The good thing is that as long as the silliness continues, all the rest of us can enjoy the wine...the same way we we used to enjoy periodically imbibing a bit of Dubai, another "estate" that never made any economic sense...

[jpatter666]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

Being a wine person myself, I had to give up on many of the California wines because prices *way* overshot from millionaires from tech stocks or the housing bubble paying ridiculous prices for wineries and then jacking the prices up (for often inferior wines) to try and cover some of the price.

They are getting their heads handed to them now. Wine prices are crashing and many top end wineries are selling premium grapes to producers like Cameron Hughes.

But you're right, nothing like a sports team for a monetary sinkhole. Living in DC with the Snyder Redskins, we've lived that one for over a decade....

[don]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

Would my fellow wine-imbibers drink from a bottle whose label featured

Confusing ambiance....

[Chomsky]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

Being a wine person myself, I had to give up on many of the California wines because prices *way* overshot from millionaires from tech stocks or the housing bubble paying ridiculous prices for wineries and then jacking the prices up (for often inferior wines) to try and cover some of the price.

They are getting their heads handed to them now. Wine prices are crashing and many top end wineries are selling premium grapes to producers like Cameron Hughes.

No kidding! That and most those CA wines are made in an overblown, bombastic style commensurate with the nouveau-riche worldviews of their owners. Yuck!

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

No kidding! That and most those CA wines are made in an overblown, bombastic style commensurate with the nouveau-riche worldviews of their owners. Yuck!

I have a new goal in life: to be able to refer to a wine as "Overblown and Bombastic". Thank you for giving me something to live for.

[doom&gloom]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

Rombauer basic zin from Napa Vally -- YUM! Not chaep at around $25/bottle, but still my favorite of all zins...

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

Living in DC with the Snyder Redskins

...where you can buy a Coors Light in the bathroom for 8 dollars.

Just be glad you don't live in Thailand where wine is taxed at 300%. What's your favorite box wine?

[jpatter666]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

...where you can buy a Coors Light in the bathroom for 8 dollars.

Just be glad you don't live in Thailand where wine is taxed at 300%. What's your favorite box wine?

Interesting you should mention that. In the US, boxed wines were seriously frowned upon by wine lovers (and with reason given our choices). But recently, some really good ones have been showing up. One of the top-end wine shops we go to recommended Le Petite Frog as a boxed wine.

Vacuum-sealed bag, keeps in the fridge for up to six weeks and is actually a pretty tasty white. Nice when I just want a glass.

Costs about $24/US for a 3L box (so, about $6/bottle).

Still looking for a good boxed red. The wine shop told me there were several they were looking at, but the reds have been harder to get in the store (not sure if that's because there are fewer or they are more popular).

If I find good ones, I'll post them up.

Oh, and BTW, you must have been using a discount coupon for your beer....

[Jay]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

The Ledson Winery is a 16,000 square foot French Normandy style castle. There is no way you can miss this gothic structure while in Sonoma Valley. You can tour the rooms of the castle for a fee or do as we did and just take a picture as soon as you walk through the door and then walk around the castle and vineyards outside.

My wife and I just came back from Napa and Sonoma. We purposefully skipped anything that looked like Ledson. We found a ton of small excellent vintners, most with bare bones facilities and yet award winning wines. The owners were often right there and usually were colorful, knowledgeable folks. That's the way I like wine country. Hell, that's the way I like life.

[don]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

My favorite, all-time winery visit was in the hills of Sonoma. Behind a barn, wooden planks laid over sawhorses. The owner was the server, beet red-faced Irishman, full of good cheer. I rode up on a 550/4 Honda, with my red-headed wife-to-be on the back. A great afternoon.

[Munger]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

Most of the time you are correct: wineries are hobbies for 37 year old retired Goldman VPs. But there are a few who made it big -- the Gallo brothers ended up billionaires...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_%26_J_Gallo_Winery

[flintlock]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

This thread reminds me of this old classic. Chateau de Chassily anyone?

[Master Shake]

Re: Thieves steal grape harvest with wine harvesting machine

A must see for California wine lovers.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0914797/