GATHERING UP RUNAWAY THOUGHTS (AND PUTTING THEM TO SLEEP)

A few things are on my mind today:

I had posted the nominees for the 2009 American Wine Blog Awards, and over the weekend, some of my twitter friends were discussing the surprises on who was and who was not nominated. I imagine that the judges had a helluva time narrowing the field down to 4 for each category, given the crowded landscape of literally thousands of wine bloggers out there. Yet, everyone is going to have something to say about who got it and who didn't, and the term "sour grapes" will most assuredly be bandied about in some fashion.

I'm sure however, as the nominees now become reliant upon their peers to actually win the award, the best of these will most certainly be picked, right?

Secondly, the whole tax increase thing on not just here in KY, but all across the country, we "sinners" are being penalized for our passion for the grape. Anyone who has been following us here at Under The Grape Tree, will know that I have been railing against the pricks and demons in our state house who chose impracticality and temperance-driven philosophy over fairness and reason. And I have learned that our KY House Speaker, Greg Stumbo, is really sticking it to all the Northern KY legislators that voted against the tax increase but effectively killing any bill they may be presenting on behalf of the good people here in the Northern part of the state. Good to see that partisanship will never die.

And the truly baffling thing is that you would think folks would actually want to sell their product in a time of economic shit such as this - you know, lower prices and all that. Nope. I have spent the better part of the day raising prices because the costs to me have increased. It's frustrating, and for certain brands, it is their death knell. If you have been buying a $4 wine that is suddenly $6 or $7, would you still buy it at the new price? What about a $10 wine that now costs $15? Some of these wineries are pricing themselves, at the very least, right out of our stores.

Anyway, these are just a few more reasons to hate Mondays.