Truly a curious hobby if I must say so myself . . .

I was just thinking to myself here as I was watching some baseball and drinking some beer as to how ridiculous, funny and powerful the concept of collecting wine is. Almost the absurdity of it. This is strictly from a collector/geek perspective as I take my retail hat off for this post/rant/soliloquy. My collecting evolution was quite simple and probably very typical. Wacky Packs (remember those crazy wacced out fake advertisement sticker cards) to Garbage Pail Kids (Peeping Tom represent!), to Comics (X-Men, Fantastic Four were my life . . .A.V.E.N.G.E.R.S . .uh huh . . .) to Baseball Cards (Ken Griffey Jr Donruss Rated Rookie) to records (original Hiero EVERYTHING!) and finally concluding with wine. They are all pretty similar but wine easily has the most complexity and the ceiling is much higher in what you can spend. The beautiful thing about collecting comics and baseball cards is that it was an even playing field. You could puy a pack of Topps and get six Manny Trillos and stick of stale gum and be bumming. Or you could get a pack of Fleer and get a Mcgwire rookie (worth much more then!) and be happy. When we all got together it was lots of fun comparing cards, trading doing a little bragging and calling it a day. Real light. But with wine right now it seems like its Yankees/Red Sox..especially online with the boards and all. Eric Asimov writing articles about real wine and the such. It's alot more gripping and complex than getting a pack of Garbage Pail Kids and walking around with a smile all day because I got two Adam Bombs in one pack. It is the everlasting spoof vs. anti-spoof fight. This shit is serious. I'll totally admit I am in it and am obviously in the camp of anti-spoof but more from a preservation and anti-homogenization perspective. Almost like those people who want to save landmarks and historical sights because they don't want a friggin' North Fork Bank or Verizon store there. Not a bad cause to take up. But it is weird . . .sometimes I find myself equating with what people drink with other things. If I am talking with someone and they say "George Bush is the best president this country has ever had. One brilliant move after the next. It's just uncanny. I wish he could run again as I would vote for him," I would be taken aback. I would almost dismiss them as they are so far off from reality . . . or at least my reality which of course I believe is the rightest thing.....cuz well you know it's what I think. But if I am talking to someone and they say "I think Marquis Phillips wines are the best wines being made today and have the power, structure and just pure wow-like brilliance on the palate to age 30-40 years..and all wine should strive to be like this, " I would also be pretty dismissive of them, because in my wine reality not only do I disagree with this person, I think they are dead wrong. Comic books never had this much intrigue and idealogical battles between passionate enthusiasts. If someone said "I love Colossus and he was my favorite X-Man," I woiuld be like "Cool man." But If someone says high-alchohol Aussie fruit bombs are their favorite wines..it opens up a whole discussion about wine, winemkaing, what is good wine?, what is bad wine?, homogenization of wine, spoofualtion, etc. It is an intense debate and I know am full on a part of it but sometimes I do yearn for the days of discovery of wine and I miss it. Having my first JJ Prum Spatlese and being blown away by Riesling or having a 1993 Dominique Laurent Grand Echezeaux and being enchanted by the sweet oaky ripe fruit and that moment beginning my love affair with all things red and Pinot. Hell I even liked my first Henry's Drive Cabernet Sauvignon . . .I think it was 1994 . . .it was sweet and ripe and unlike any other Cabernet I had ever had. Hell it did not even taste like Cabernet or smell like Cabernet but I loved it. Although even then I questioned it. It was awfully strange . . .but then when I was drinking wine I didn't have a position. My position was learning and liking most wine and then after many years I developed a palate or more specifically I learned what I didn't like. And as my palate got more refined (read: liking less and less wine) the battle in the wine world started to heat up. Or I became more aware. Or it was a morphic resonace moment. Who knows? But know it is happening quickly and sides are being taken and swords are being drawn. Witness this and you will see what I mean. The world's foremost and important wine critic railing on a wine region in northern Italy and in that possibly ridiculing this zone in the eyes of many. Because what he says matters to most people. It's sad and I look at this as a big moment in the spoof vs anti-spoof battle because the king of spoof took on a small wine zone he does not understand and made an example out of it for the whole world to see. Why? Why? To satisfy his ego because he is realizing he is one voice of many and his power and ability to move the market is being foerever diminished. It was a low blow and it actually makes me prouder to be in the anti-spoof camp. Hey we won't ever sink down to their tactics right? Well this turned intso some interesting stream of consciousness shit. That is for sure. Not sure if it had a beginning, middle or end but it sure was fun to write. Peace.