The most apparent is my last name; Weingarten or “Wine” “Garden”.  In ancient times, it was the practice to grow grapes (along with olives and various grains) in walled protected wine gardens.  Perhaps I am being called by ancestral memories? 

But a truer answer might be that Wine, Finance & Astrology is how I occupy most of my time.

• I observe and study global markets nearly 24x7.
• I frequent wine tastings and sample wine just up to (but not beyond) the limits defined as healthy by western doctors.
• Astrology is the basis of my central world view. The use of astrology in markets helps me "make more money with less risk" or “always a stellar performance." Given I can identify at least 1/3 of market “surprises”, there is no need to drink heavily. So thanks to Astrology, I sip wine! 

NEW YORK WINE EXPERIENCES
QUALITY & VALUE is the focus of the WEINGARTEN wine blog.
Many wines are wonderful in their own backyard, but when I evaluate a wine, my key judgment is: “Would I would drink (and buy) it in New York?” 

                 
                                                  TASTING CALENDAR 2012 

Jan 30 Celebrate the First-Ever Slow Wine Guide in English in New York City    

Feb 04 3rd Annual New York City Winter Wine Festival      Feb 13 Kosher Food and Wine Experience 2012 

Mar 2 & 3 New York Wine Expo    Mar 08 Bordeaux Right Bank Grand Wine Tasting

May 2 Wine&Spirits TOP OF THE LIST 2012

EVERGREEN POSTS 

THE PURPOSE OF WINE: 
Ancient Egyptian Wine Classifications: Beyond date, maker, quality & origin - classifying wine by its function – e.g. celebrating first class functions, tax collection day, wine for dancing, wine for offerings, wine for a happy return and of course wine for merrymaking!   

Wine as an Investment Part I
Publicly Traded Wine Companies, that is, companies whose primary business is wine: Remember the Peter Lynch dictum: Buy what you KNOW and LOVE!

10 Desert Island Wine Choices The one wine to most enjoy drinking if marooned on a desert island just for one year and the one if for life.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe once was asked which three things he would take to an island. He stated: "Poetry, a beautiful woman and enough bottles of the world's finest wines to survive this dry period!" Then he was asked what he would leave back first, if it was allowed to take only two things to the island. And he briefly replied: "The poetry!" Slightly surprised, the man asked the next question: "And Sir, what would you leave back if only one was allowed?" And Goethe thought for a couple of minutes and answered: "It depends on the vintage!" 

Red Wine & Health Living Drinking wine in moderation offers physical, emotional and mental benefits. In dream interpretation, drinking wine predicts joy and friendship. Both are major contributors to a healthy lifestyle.

IN PREPARATION

Red Wine & Health
Wine as an Investment Part II  Wine Investment funds, Private Equity & Venture Funds; shareholding a private winery & wine stock exchanges.
Astrology & Wine: Part I  Wine Horoscopes
Wine Wisdom: On Aging
    Like people, wines develop character and individuality with the passage of time. Also, like people, wines today have the ability to age better and longer than in former times.

FORTHCOMING
Wine as an Investment Part III Wine as investment class (Collectibles): Wine Investing vs. Wine collecting.  Wine 'outperforming oil and gold'
    The classic tenet so dear to wine lovers - buy two cases, hold until the price doubles, sell one and drink the other free.  However the bottom line is: Be prepared to drink your portfolio!
Wine as an Investment Part IV Wine Business Opportunities: Becoming a wine entrepreneur: "Do you want to make wine or make money?"
    Starting a Winery or Custom Crush;  Wine  Importer, Wine Bar, Wine Shop, Teaching, Tourism & Wine Events.
Wine and the Cosmos I: Biodynamic Wines and Terroir Compatibility 
Oenomancy (oinomancy) Divination involving observation of the colors and other features of wine
Wine and food adventures in New York and around the world:
    New York State Wines: Hudson Valley, Long Island & Finger Lakes
    New Zealand Wines
    Argentine Wines
    Israeli Wines
Astrology & Wine: Part II  Birthday Wines: Your Personal Wine horoscope
The Weingarten Wine Glossary: Our Winespeak dictionary is in the tradition of Ambrose Bierce's  satirical "The Devil's Dictionary" who defined wine as: 
    "n. Fermented grape-juice known to the Women’s Christian Union as “liquor,” sometimes as “rum.” Wine, madam, is God’s next best gift to man."
    Sample entry: BIG  BOTTLES: Seasoned wine lovers don't really believe "size doesn't matter"!
    The classic example is Champagne which is widely believed to last  longer and taste better in Magnums than when matured in a normal size bottle. It  also has the virtue that it Very impressive.
FUTURE POSTS

 FAVORITE WINERIES 

“Wine is about the story where it comes from and who made it, what makes it different from other wines,
why it tastes the way it does, and most important, why is the right wine at that time” 

Drew Nieporent

"Blind tastings are to wine what strip poker is to love." Kermit Lynch

CLASSICS

"Wine improves with age.  The older I get, the better I like it. "

"A meal without wine is like a life without love. "

COMEDY

"Most of our customers frankly wouldn't know the difference between a Bordeaux and a claret." Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers

"A man's got to believe in something.  I believe I'll have another drink." W.C. Fields

"It's a naïve domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption." James Thurber

"I love cooking with wine . . . sometimes I even put it in the food."

"A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine, except that on a day without sunshine you can still get drunk."  Lee Entrekin

PROVERBS

Good wine ruins the purse; bad wine ruins the stomach.  SPAIN

The best use of bad wine is to drive away poor relations.  FRANCE

"Old wine and friends improve with age."  ITALY

QUOTES

"Wine is a passport to the world."  THOM ELKJER, Adventures in Wine

"Wine is not just an object of pleasure, but an object of knowledge; and the pleasure depends on the knowledge."  ROGER SCRUTON, I Drink Therefore I Am 

“Wine is about the story where it comes from and who made it, what makes it different from other wines, why it tastes the way it does and most important why is the right wine at that time.” Drew Nieporent

Can you afford a vineyard?  Can you finance a wine-making operation?

The Taste of Wine – Does It Matter?

The best wine importers

Can wine be an investment?

Investing in Wine

Moon Theories in Wine :: Society Grapevine

Biodynamic Wine The newest trend in wine-making combines agriculture with astrology and mysticism

wineindustryinsight.com

Is Wine a Good Investment

Wine Beats Russell Stocks as Liquid Investment in Swiss Study

 The Wine Economist How Globalization is Reshaping the World of Wine.                                

---

RESOURCES

If you are a newbie to wine, I would recommend one of three books to start:
1) If you just wish be able to understand some basics and only wish to read one book so as to better navigate a restaurant wine list or buy wine in a liquor store it would be DRINK THIS, WINE MADE SIMPLE by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl.
2) If you to potentially begin a life long study of wine and become a wine sophisticate, then read WINDOWS ON THE WORLD COMPLETE WINE COURSE by Kevin Zraly.
3) If you are unsure of your future relationship to the world of wine read: EDUCATING PETER How I Taught a Famous Movie Critic the Difference Between Cabernet and Merlot by Lettie Teague

Next I would pick up a basic reference book such as
THE WINE BIBLE  Karen MacNeil and/or
EXPLORING WINE: The Culinary Institute of America's Guide to Wines of the World  3rd Ed.

    Steven Kolpan, Brian H. Smith, Michael A. Weiss.  

FURTHER RECOMMENDED READING:
THE ULTIMATE WINE COMPANION Editor: Kevin Zraly
THE BATTLE FOR WINE AND LOVE or How I saved the World from Parkerization by Alice Feiring
IS THIS BOTTLE CORKED The secret life of Wine  Kathleen Burk and Michael Bywater
WINE MYTHS AND REALITY Benjamin Lewin  

A YEAR OF WINE Perfect Pairings, Great Buys, and what to Sip for Each Season Tyler Colman, aka Dr. Vino
WINE FOR EVERY DAY AND EVERY OCCASION  Dorthy Gaiter & John Brecher

All about WINE CELLARS Howard G Goldberg
The Wine Collector's Handbook Storing and Enjoying Wine at Home  Linda Johnson
Keys to the Cellar Strategies and Secrets of Wine Collecting  Peter Meltzer

The Wine Lover's GUIDE TO AUCTIONS The Art & Science of Buying and Selling Wines Ursula Hermacinski
Wine Investment for Portfolio Diversification: How Collecting Fine Wines Can Yield Greater Returns Than Stocks and Bonds           Mahest Kumar
Investing in Liquid Assets: Uncorking Profits in Today's Global Wine Market David Sokolin

A SHORT HISTORY OF WINE  Rod Phillips
THE STORY OF WINE Hugh Johnson
WINE, The 8000-Year-Old Story of the Wine Trade  Thomas Pellechia

THE GEOGRAPHY OF WINE Brian Sommers
THE SCIENCE OF WINE From Vine to Glass Jamie Goode
TERROIR The role of Geology, Climate, and Culture in the Making of French Wines  James Wilson
WINE WARS Mike Veseth

RENAISSANCE GUIDE TO WINE AND FOOD PAIRING From Consumer to Connoisseur Tony Dido and Jean Luc Le Du
Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine & Food Pairing Jaclyn Stuart and Jeanette Hurt

SECRETS OF THE SOMMELIERS: How to Think and Drink Like the World's Top Wine Professionals
    Rajat Parr, Jordan Mackay, Ed Anderson

---

BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS: WINE WARS,VINO ARGENTINO & SCIENCE OF DRINKING

BOOK REVIEW: EXPLORING WINE (Revised Third Edition) Culinary Institute of America

THE WINE TRIALS 2011 Alexis Herschkowitsch & Robin Goldstein

EXPLORING WINE: The Culinary Institute of America's Guide to Wines of the World  3rd Ed.

    Steven Kolpan, Brian H. Smith, Michael A. Weiss

BOOK REVIEWS: WINE WARS,VINO ARGENTINO & SCIENCE OF DRINKING

---

Q&A

NEWBIE:
    Q: Why do I prefer the taste of inexpensive wines to expensive ones?  
    A:  Most likely because you prefer sweeter wines.  In blind taste tests, many consumers show the same preference.  There is a         well known "learning curve" with wines: newer wine drinkers frequently prefer sweeter,  lighter whites, but often may over         time prefer more robust, aged and complex reds.  Like all generalizations, however this is not always true.

    Q: Why can't I just drink Cab with all types of foods.
    A: Because the "food police" don't allow it! :)  
         On a more serious note, the ideal  purpose of drinking wine WITH food is to ENHANCE the experience: 1 plus 1 = 3.
         Drinking wine WITH food, can enhance or diminish the pleasure of eating certain dishes.
         From one's own personal experience,  most people soon realize that different wines will TASTE better with different foods.

WINE SELECTION

Q: Have any Malbec suggestions?
A: Argentine wines, like wines from Chile and New Zealand, offer great value. Fortunately, most imported Malbecs are of good quality and very reasonable. 

Here are three suggestions:

85 Trapiche Broguel Malbec 2008 Mendoza $14.95

87 Graffigna Grand Reserve Malbec 2007 San Juan $19.95

90 Terrazas de los Andes   Alincado Malbec 2006 Mendoza $45

Given there are so many more fine Malbecs, it will be the subject of a future blog. In the meantime, you may wish to also taste selections from Alamos (Catena) and Archaval Ferrer. 

---

LETTERS

READER: Wine, Finance and Astrology.  Interesting order.  The first glass makes you loose enough to talk money.  A few more glasses, and you get metaphysical.  Seriously, good luck with the site.

READER: I LOVE THIS FOR YOU, MR. WINE! CHANGE Weingarten to Winegarten

---

Finally…a computer prompt I understand!

READER:  even-mice-can-become-snooty-wine-experts This explains why I see rat-looking people at tastings.
More Letters

A LOVING WIFE
A woman was sipping on a glass of wine while sitting on the patio with her husband.
She says, "I love you so much. I don't know how I could ever live without you."
Her husband asks, "Is that you or the wine talking?"
She replies, "It's me... talking to the wine."

---

SAMPLE REVIEW POLICY
WEINGARTEN happily accepts wine and book samples for review. 
Our review policy is to taste and read everything we receive but we usually only write only about the wines and books we like.
Please include a contact name and telephone number so that we may reach you with questions.  Supporting material is encouraged but not required.  There is no fixed tasting or review schedule, and feedback may or may not be provided to wineries or publishers other than what might be written on the site.