Here’s a prototype for an 1880 automobile. Although, we’d have to call it a canine-mobile because it is not auto-propelled. Now, look at this news clipping from Popular Science Monthly: what would happen, say, if the dog “driving” the right wheel were to catch site of a rabbit in the field, while the southpaw dog decided it was time to rest and lick a few laps on its sore leg? Steering would be a tad difficult, to say the least. Click through on the image to see the full scanned page.

Quotes, like wine, are all about context. Remove the context, and you’re left with nothing. With wine, if it’s good enough, lack of context might not matter. With words, sometimes it’s damn funny. You be the judge– here are the quaffable quotes from the month of January with links to their original context.

“In between these dramatic brackets” was a nice introduction to the quoted source, and at the same time it effectively called attention to my criticism of said source’s wording… >>>

“If you’re a mouse, red wine may make you live longer…” >>>

“You’ll have to check it out for yourself to see the steering wheel … [that] fell off the truck and subsequently got run over by a BMW at 2:30 in the morning” >>>

“Fragile? It must be Italian!: >>>

“Shopping carts will never be the same again” was a comment on the fantastic race through NYC >>>

Yay! Our second edition of a future mainstay: Gimmicky or Not? >>>

“To Screw or Not to Screw, that is the Question” was a little joke illustrating the sort of puns that are not necessary (but very fun sometimes) on our posts — this entry was about the much-heated screwcap debate >>>

I think what’s interesting in the debate over proper closure(s) of wine bottles (a major topic of the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium) is how the consumer — that is, you and me — is almost completely taken out of the dialog. Blogs have overtaken news reporting, social web sites prevail over monolithic media sites, but in the world of wine we still are waiting for them to make a decision. Paige Poulos, who is a public relations consultant for many wineries, says it doesn’t matter what the consumer wants. As higher-end wineries increase their use of the screwcap, she argues, consumers will begin to accept the change.

The writers over at Luxist state their view:

Whether or not cork taint is a huge issue for consumers, wineries do seem to be moving steadily toward the screwcap. Australia and New Zealand have embraced the screwcap and other closures as well as alternative packaging such as box wine. In the U.K. the popular stores are filled with screwcap bottles. While data shows that the U.K. and U.S. are becoming more open to other closures, France still prefers the cork. It seems inexorably that this is the way the industry is heading for the most part.

Whichever direction the industry heads in, what’s really important is that we avoid headline-puns: “To Screw or Not to Screw, that is the Question.” Oops, there goes that idea.

We’re both “out of sight, out of mind” people here at Wine and Wheels. Our shelves don’t often have doors, our large plastic storage bins need to be transparent, and our wine cannot be hidden away in a deep, dark, out-of-the-way cellar. Storing wine is a problem no more: VintageView wine racks to the rescue. From their site:

With VintageView® wine racks you can view your wine bottle labels instead of the corks. Our sleek, contemporary design can be stacked or cut for a perfect fit in nearly any wine storage area.

Motorola presents a docking station that is attached to a bike. The docking station can charge a cell phone while users ride on the bike.

We’re curious about this over here at Wine and Wheels. It’s not water proof, wind proof, rain proof, Gatorade-spill-proof, or crash proof. The photos show it attached to a cruiser. One would need this on a long ride, where the above elements will prevail. A short ride? No need to charge the phone.

Developing countries? Probably the best venue for this sort of technology.

Gimmicky or not?

As it currently stands, for the US, this is … drum roll … gimmicky

This might be a stretch to post here under wheels: no bicycles, not tandem. But today in NYC was the Idiotarod.

The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. The IDIOTAROD is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York City.

Yes, that’s right, teams of five race for cash prizes and timeless bragging rights. Shopping carts will never be the same again.

Wine management software can help you maintain inventory and keep track of your wine cellar. Additionally, since many databases are stored on the web, you can access your information wherever you happen to be. Oh, and you can do it without a computer, too. Treo, here we come!

Sometimes the best images appear on a wine label. We sure have a thing for labels here at wine and wheels, but this is a new way to remember them. Peel them off, write a message, “laminate” it with some clear tape, affix a stamp, and send it along.

Oh, and it helps that the person’s name is incorporated in the wine’s somehow. I’m sure that won’t happen too often, though, so any label will do. Cheers!

Well, at least United Airlines gets something right. No one wants broken wine glasses when they’re traveling. No one I know, anyway.

Everyone knows shopping carts get around. None move like this one, I’m sure. This shopping cart is from Max Chen’s rideable artwork page, and you’ll have to check it out for yourself to see the steering wheel what fell off the truck and subsequently got run over by a BMW at 2:30 in the morning.

Red wine may make you live longer… if you’re a mouse.

Resveratrol is the ingredient in red wine that made headlines in November when scientists demonstrated that it kept overfed mice from gaining weight, turned them into the equivalent of Olympic marathoners, and seemed to slow down their aging process. Few medical discoveries have generated so much instant buzz – even Jay Leno riffed about it in his opening monologue.

An article from Monday’s Toronto Star begins with the words, “Be worried,” and concludes with, “isn’t that wonderful?” In between these dramatic brackets it discusses the rising automobile sales in China, the world’s most populous country.

China, or Zhong Guo in Mandarin (middle kingdom), has long seen itself as the center of the world. Also long-running has been their content with the bicycle as primary means of transportation. All that is changing, according to Henry Gold:

If you have given even a moment’s thought to climate warming and its potential impact on our planet, be very worried. China, a nation of 1.3 billion people, has abandoned the bicycle as a principal mode of transportation and is now moving at a frightening pace to a car-based economy.

Gold continues:

Recently I was in Korla, a fast-growing city in Xinjiang province in western China where I was at the tail end of my mission, to scout the Chinese portion of the famed Silk Route for a bicycle tour that my company is planning for the summer of 2007. The route will take about 45 cyclists from Istanbul to Beijing in 108 days, covering 10,000 km. Part of our mandate is to promote bicycles as sustainable transportation in a world that seems to be hurtling toward major ecological disaster.

A good friend of mine from China by way of Norway bicycled the Old Silk Route a few years ago. I’d be curious to compare then and now, as things are moving in China at an alarming rate, bicycle or automobile, everything is speeding along.

Looking for a good way to recycle wine bottles other than the bin? The folks over at curbly have a neat idea:

Just spray them with chalkboard paint. After the paint dries, rub chalk all over the bottle and then erase it. This will “prime” the bottle and give it that old chalkboard look that you so love!

Over the holidays I had a chance to “veg out” a little and one of the flicks I caught on the tube was Wine for the Confused with John Cleese. It was no film full of intellectual breakthroughs or anything like that, but there was one section that rang true for the wine connoisseur.

At a party at his house, Cleese had his guests taste test one wine compared with another. They found, continually, that one would be more ____ than the other, one more ___, etc. This seems like a really good way to jump into some wine pairings and see for yourself what you like.

If you’re interested in this idea, head over to ChefBlog‘s site where she posted a do-it-yourself wine tasting course. Her list follows the same formula, she write:

Pour a glass of each, side by side, and compare them.
one will be more acidic
one will be perfumed more strongly
one will be clearer in color
one will have more tannin & astringency
one will be more…. You get the picture?
And yes, you’ll probably like one more than another, but now you’ll have a quantifiable reason why you like it.