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Friday, October 21, 2005
‘Marilyn Monroe Naked’ Among Wines Lost in Fire — What Punishment Fits This Crime?
I’m normally opposed to the death penalty – makes it kinda hard to go back and fix mistakes – but I’m willing to make exceptions.
Oh, you say it doesn’t work that way?
Well, let’s brainstorm some appropriate punishment for the person or persons who intentionally torched $100 million worth of wine in that warehouse in Vallejo, Ca. on Oct. 12.
Investigators say the fire was deliberately set, according to
the San Francisco Chronicle. So someone knowingly torched fellow human beings’ livelihoods, destroying entire stocks and vintages of current release wines and older vintages that were being carefully (or so the wine producers thought) preserved for future enjoyment. Dozens of wineries were affected, including Saintsbury, Sean Thackrey, Viader and many more.
Saintsbury reportedly lost an entire library of wines dating back 25 years.
Some of the wines destroyed were collectors’ items, including the Velvet Collection Napa Valley Red Wine that “Uncorked� wrote about Sept. 30, 2005 that has the “peel and peek� label of a nude Monroe posing against a red velvet backdrop in a famous 1949 photograph. According to the Sacramento Bee, the warehouse fire may have incinerated as much as 80 percent of the 2002 and 2003 stocks.
I don’t think Marilyn would have wanted to be cremated like this.
David Schildknecht, the wine guru who works for Mason, Ohio-based Vintner Select, which distributes some of the wines lost in the fire, passed this information along through local VS rep Todd Nikolai:
A couple of our prestige suppliers, Long Meadow Ranch and Paras Vineyard report that they anticipate total loss of their stocks. No proprietors have been allowed into the Vallejo facility to inspect but they have been given to expect the worst. We have not heard further word from Sean Thackrey nor from other affected wineries with whom we work, as they are surely in both a state of shock and in their Cabernet harvest. Paras Vineyard’s situation is sadly typical. Much of their stock of 2001 was still in storage and their 2003 wine had recently been bottled and delivered to storage. They will thus lose nearly three entire vintages before starting over with 2004. Many wineries may not be in a position to afford this kind of starting over.
The more details that emerge, the sadder and more tawdry it gets.
What punishment would fit this crime?
Cheers …
Mark Fisher
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