My politics: The Quebec election results
Election days have never been good days here at Weingolb. Blog traffic reaches notoriously low levels when office workers are forced by employment regulations to take extra time out of office so they can vote.
This is an undeniable reality. Take a look at the web traffic for this site on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, the date of the last U.S. general election. Also see the tally from the Quebec provincial election yesterday, Monday, March 26, 2007.
The Tuesday election makes my weekly visits graph look like someone took a bite out of it; the Monday election flatlines the chart to start the week with the same number of visits as a typically slow Sunday (Monday is usually among the biggest traffic days, just compare it with the one from the previous week).
At this point, I guess I should try to say something perceptive about today's election results, since it's current and since the only method by which my wino friends and I can get wine is through the state.
Well, let me say this: Election days ain't that great for the candidates either. Take a look at new minority government leader Liberal Jean Charest and then take a look at his official National Assembly opposition Mario Dumont of the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ). Ouch. Who voted for these two?
In clearer-minded days, Dumont had some sobering things to say about the state of the Société des alcools du Québec. The provincial liquor monopoly faced a scandal last year and I think the ADQ got more than a negligible amount of votes from it. Watch a segment from his interview (in French) broadcast on Tout le monde en parle.
Maybe if the election actually happened at this time last year, I'd be captivated. But I'm not. Instead I'm totally disinterested because I've discovered La Braccesca. Fattoria La Braccesca Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2001, to be exact. Take a look, folks: La Braccesca here at the SAQ and La Braccesca there at the LCBO. Believe it. Last Thursday, Vin Québec revealed that this $20 wine at SAQ is some $10 cheaper than at Ontario's LCBO.
They say a minority government hasn't happened in 150 years in this province. I'm here to tell you that kind of the SAQ bargain is more than a minor occurrence. It's without precedence. It's never happened!
4 comments:
Yes, the SAQ prices have become way more competitive, but $10 difference?! Let's hope the minority tries to buy votes with cheaper liquor!
This week's German Midi Conseils featured two sweet wines, one dry and one Eiswein. All quite expensive, the 2003 Keller Riesling Kabinett the most interesting (off dry), smooth, lots of nice aromas, but $34.25. The Eiswein, Bergzaber, was very competitive with similar styled wines (usually $40, on sale for $30), but I rarely drink them. For the price, better stick to Alsace. Cheers!
Hey, thanks for this report back.
I especially perked up when you revealed another wine that's a $10-off bargain. Nice!
Maybe I'll grab one and take it home to see how it competes with Ontario icewine (I've only tried Austrian and Ontarian icewine, never German.)
I suppose it goes without saying that it was Eiswein made with Riesling?
I can't recall if it was Riesling - I think it may have been Sylvaner?
Sylvaner -- now there's a real European grape.
I don't think I'll be seeing any of that in Ontario.
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