• Remember those 200-year-old bottles of Veuve Cliquot that were found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in a shipwreck that was en route to Russia? A Singapore restaurateur just purchased one of them for $43,000 and plans to display it in her high-end, Russian-themed restaurant. [WSJ]
• Today in marketing gimmicks: If your name is Raymond (first, middle, or last), you can join Raymond Vineyards wine club for free, get a free half-bottle of wine, and enjoy VIP treatment at the winery for life. Also, their tasting room is crazy. [Raymond Vineyards]
• The big news around the American wine world this week is that Gallo has scooped up yet another winery for their empire: Edna Valley Vineyards on the central coast of California. [Wine Spectator, KSBY]
• The 2009 Charles Shaw Pinot Grigio (a.k.a. Two-Buck Chuck at Trader Joe’s, a.k.a Three-Buck Chuck in NY) apparently won a gold medal somewhere. [PitchEngine]
• The European grapevine moth has been spotted near Aptos, California, necessitating an 87-mile quarantine. [CDFA]
• The Margaret River region in Australia is “in crisis” as many wineries go up for sale. [Decanter]
• For those who don’t live anywhere near wine country or a wine store that does tastings, a new subscription service, TastingRoom.com, sends you samplers of six tasting-size, 50 milliliter bottles, organized in various flights, so you can taste stuff before you buy. [Grub Street]
• Also recently launched is EatingVine, a food and wine community site where people share recipes and wine tasting notes, and they suggest wine pairings for every recipe shared. [Grub Street]
