The wine world is never boring…just the opposite in fact. 

There’s more to talk about than just ratings and reviews.

That’s why we’re starting “The Other Side Of Wine”,

a semi-regular wrap up of the unique, the amusing and the interesting

from the constantly-changing world of wine.

  Here we go!

Happy belated B-day Lebron!

Have you popped that Fifth Growth Bordeaux yet? 

Lebron James turned 34 recently. 

To commemorate the special day,

his pals at Beats By Dre dropped a special present on the big man…

16 bottles of some of the best wine in the world.

Chassagne Montrachet. Mayacamas.  Sassicaia.

These don’t appear to be Pat The Wine Guy recommendations, you say?

  You got that right. 

Lebron doesn’t peruse the shelves at his local Safeway

looking for the best value $14 red blend. 

No, King James drinks like a king. 

His friends know that so they gave him hard-to-find gems

that cost hundreds of dollars a bottle. 

Retail price for the entire gift:  well into the thousands.

In similar fashion,

when the Golden State Warriors won their latest championship,

that wasn’t Cold Duck they cracked open. 

No, they were spraying…and spilling…

180 thousand dollars worth of

Moët Impérial Golden Luminous Champagne.

As an old friend of mine from the sports world used to say, 

“Oh what a world these Big Daddies live in!”

Men and women are different…

in so many ways. 

But when it comes to wine, maybe not so much. 

Wine Intelligence, a consultancy of really smart people who study wine

(hence the name),  released a report, 

Wine Consumption and Gender:

Do men and women approach wine differently?  

Yes and no, the report concludes. 

The study surveyed men and women in six key global markets. 

One of the more interesting conclusions:

Men and women

have the same general knowledge about wine

BUT men are “significantly more confident”

in their knowledge about wine 

 This really kicks in at a restaurant where a much higher proportion of men

claim they are “always or mostly the person

who orders the wine at a restaurant.” 

which could lead to this possible conclusion…  

Even though men don’t really know more about wine,

they act like they do.

Millenials are just as likely to light up as drink up  

30-somethings aren’t moving to wine as enthusiastically

as the wine biz would like. 

According to the Silicon Valley Bank “State of the Wine” report,

millenials don’t have a lot of disposable income to spend on wine. 

“Damaged financial capacity” is their term,

which, I think, is another way of saying “broke”.

  And “cannabis legalization is another factor”

explaining millenials’ slow adoption of wine.

Some big hitters in the wine industry are saying,

if you can’t beat ’em,  join ’em. 

  Constellation Brands, one of the world’s largest alcohol producers,

invested $4 billion in a Canadian cannabis producer. 

Coppola, the ever-expanding wine company started by the famous director,

has partnered with a northern California marijuana farmer

to launch a “cannabis lifestyle brand”. 

Others are reportedly negotiating deals with cannabis companies.

Makes sense. 

For the wine producers, it beats having their profits, shall we say,

go up in smoke.

Coming up in the next edition of “The Other Side of Wine”,

we’ll reveal the #1 wine brand in the world.  

I guarantee you’ll be surprised.  I sure was.  Till then…enjoy!