Wine Survey Results!

100% = NO

Epilogue: The survey participation was very small, with only two responses. Therefore, the results were not statistically meaningful to provide any conclusion, but suffice it to say that with the immense competition between small wineries, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to produce unforgetable wines. [/

When Purchasing wine, does the type of closure play a major role in the choice for yourself?

98% = YES, 1% NO

When purchasing a wine as a gift, do you consider only wines with natural cork?

99%= YES, 1% NO

Epilogue: It was great to see so much participation with over 450 responses. However, with such an overwhelming number in favor of Natural Cork, I decided to check some of the site stats to better understand the results. After the post I noticed a large number of new visits directly from Portugal in proportion to the survey results, which would provide a logical explanation regarding support for natural cork. Obrigado to those that made their voice heard, although I would like to have heard equally from wine lovers in other parts of the globe as well.

I do want to emphasize that in my opinion, although a high quality wine can be well protected by either a natural cork or screw cap, the actual quality of the wine is never a direct result of the closure itself, which results from many factors starting with excellent fruit through knowledgeable vinification and finally proper aging and storage.

Personally:

- I would never knowingly purchase a bottle of wine that I intended to lay down for several years with synthetic cork. I feel this is a reasonable closure, but only for wines that are planned to be consumed within say 1 – 3 years.

- I would never not buy a wine with natural cork whether consuming early or laying down based on the closure. Natural cork has been used for a very long time as the closure of choice. I have confidence in natural cork in terms of protecting the wine. However, if purchasing one special bottle at a hefty price, I would still be concerned that after waiting the bottle my be a disappointment… not because of the quality of the wine within or direct failure of the cork itself, but because there is still a small percentage of wine that can be tainted based on a bad natural cork.

- I would never not buy a wine with a screw cap whether consuming early or laying down based on the closure. Although the jury may still be out regarding laying down a bottle say for 20+ years with screw cap, so far there is nothing that would indicate any negative result from the use of the screw cap.

Bottom line: both are a good choice for protecting wine and both have their advantages and disadvantages. As suggested by one of the Washington State online magazines “Ruling out a wine simply because it has a screw-cap closes the door on many well-made, high-quality wines.”

BREAKING NEWS: Direct Ship of wine soon legal in all 50 States!

Would you be in favor of direct shipment of alcohol that was consistent across all 50 states that included at least the same degree of safety as we currently have today?             100% = YES

Are you in favor of getting special interest money of all kinds out of our political process?      84% = YES

Based on the Federal Governments inability to govern, what remedy would you propose to get our Members of Congress to do their jobs for the American people?

Withhold their salaries and benefits until they start to govern again = 33%

Make them disclose all monies received (source and amount) = 66%

Not as valid as the previous survey due to small sampling size, but trend seems to be that the American public are getting dismayed with the influence of special interest, the influence of money, and the inability of our government to function in the best interest of the American people.

In this regard, I recently received an email asking me to forward its contents to another 20 people in an effort to effect change. I thought it appropriate to include its contents for this audience: (The message suggested it originated with Warren Buffett, which I cannot validate. However, it does have some common sense suggestions for the Congress)

_*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

Your thoughts? (Please feel free to comment)