09/03.04

Caviar Ban? What Caviar Ban? "Contrary to recent news reports (MSNBC, NPR, IHT, and NY Times) exports of North American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) have not been banned or "frozen" and are not subject to any national, regional, international or intergovernmental quotas. The CITES Secretariat has not posted quotas for Caspian Sea caviar, or intergovernmental quotas for species shared between different range States. This has apparently caused confusion regarding the status of U.S. paddlefish exports." U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, 09.03.04

Through A Glass Darkly: "In 1976, in Paris, an American Cabernet beat the French Bordeaux in a blind tasting. This was not quite the event that it has since come to seem—to the French winemakers, it was more like an American loss to the Lithuanians in basketball, wrong game at the wrong time — but it did mark a trembling of the earth beneath their feet." Adam Gopnik, New Yorker Magazine, 09.06.04

New Generation of Wines Are Muscling Out Finesse: "As more and more wine today is sold on the basis of its performance in large comparative tastings, there is a natural pressure to make wines that will stand out in these rather artificial circumstances. It is just so easy for a taster to fall for the most concentrated, most powerful wines -- especially as these tend to overwhelm any more subtle wine tasted alongside." Jancis Robinson, SF Chronicle, 09.02.04

Is the Price Right?: Alaska used to put salmon on the world's dinner plate, and a good living in the pockets of commercial fishermen. Not any more. Farmed Atlantic salmon from Europe, Chile and British Columbia have usurped Alaska's pre-eminent position as a salmon supplier. More salmon is now grown in nets than in the wild - and the gap keeps getting wider." Gordon Black, KUOW Radio, Puget Sound, 09.01.04