French Winemakers Turn to Terror

You won't be able to tell the difference: Brian Palmer

(NEWSER) - Studies have shown that wine drinkers can’t tell the difference between cheap and expensive bottles, and may actually prefer the cheap stuff in a blind taste test—so why are we still paying at least 15 bucks for a supposedly “everyday” bottle of wine? Because, as other studies have shown, American consumers think they prefer more expensive wine—even if they're unknowingly comparing two glasses of the same vintage. Europeans, conversely, are happy to drink a $1.79 bottle or break out “a 1-euro tetra-pak of wine for guests,” writes Brian Palmer in Slate . More»

Seriously, nobody is happy about it

(NEWSER) - One from the Bad Taste Hall of Fame: A Long Island winery is getting slammed for its decision to release two new wines ... in honor of 9/11. Almost every detail about the wine, as reported by the LA Times , is cringeworthy. The price? $19.11 a bottle. What to expect from Lieb Family Cellars ' 9/11 Memorial Commemorative Chardonnay? It finishes "with a toasty vanilla flavor." The marketing? The grapes were grown "90 miles from the site of the World Trade Center"! The chunk of the proceeds that will be donated to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum? Just 6% to 10%. More»

We're not back in boom times, but things are looking more rosé

(NEWSER) - Olympic golds pale in comparison to this national feat: The US last year consumed more wine than France. And it's just one of many full-bodied wine stats for 2010. The Los Angeles Times shares the signs that Americans are trading their recession-minded ways for a good (or, at least, decent) glass of red:

• Shoppers flocked to bottles priced at less than $7 during the peak of the recession; sales of $7 to $14 bottles were up 5% last year.

Security official blasts stigmas ahead of domestic radicalization hearings

(NEWSER) - The White House is calling on Americans not to stigmatize all followers of Islam, as Congress readies hearings on al-Qaeda’s attempts to radicalize US Muslims. In the US, "we don’t practice guilt by association," a top national security official said yesterday in what Politico calls a "public plea" at a Virginia mosque. "We must resolve that, in our determination to protect our nation, we will not stigmatize or demonize entire communities because of the actions of a few." More»

He vows a 'strike by the neck' in audiotape

(NEWSER) - An audiotape purportedly from terror master Osama bin Laden threatens France with a "strike by the neck" because of its burka ban and participation in the Afghan war. "If you want to tyrannize and think that it is your right to ban free women from wearing the burka, isn't it our right to expel your occupying forces, your men from our lands, by striking them by the neck?" the speaker demands in the tape released by Al Jazeera. More»