Europe And US Battle Over .Wine And .Vin Top Level Domain Creation

This week Europe and the US wine industry is in an uproar.  In London this week is an ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, meeting to decide on new Top Level Domain names (TLD).  French minister Axelle Lemaire  sent a letter to ICANN stating that the new TLDs would cause confusion and be misused. Lemaire claimed that the new domain names could weaken identity of beverages such as Champagne which can only be called Champagne if produced in the Champagne region of France.  There are also claims that ICANN is doing this to make money as it will cause a burden on companies as they will be compelled to buy up the related TLDs to protect their brands. More than 80 companies petitioned the US Department of Commerce, saying that the plans would cause "excessive cost and harm to brand owners". Stay tuned for the results of this meeting.
Associated meeting documents:
LONDON – GAC Meeting: New gTLDs - Board Responses to ...
http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/sat-gac-safeguard-new-gtld/transcript-gac-safeguard-new-gtld-21jun14-en.pdf

Nice video slide show of the Livermore Valley Wine Region

Credits go to Erik Wait for making the video. Music is by Fernando Ortega.

Sparking wine and chocolate. It must be Valentine's Day

OK, I'm just going to say it. Sparkling wine and chocolate do not pair well! There, I said it. No matter how you try they do not work well together on the palate.

However, chocolate with red wine or ports pair well together on the palate. Wines that have tasting descriptions of berries or chocolate will go nicely with chocolate. Look for that in Merlot and Cabernet for the most part. A nice port made from Portuguese varieties such as Trousseau, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Souzao would be a treat with chocolate. Port flowing over a nice piece of dark chocolate in your mouth is heaven.

Well, if you believe there is a good pairing of sparkling wine and chocolate, please leave a comment and let us know what it is. I have an open mind.

Happy Valentines Day!