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	<title>The Wine Cellar Blog</title>
	<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:33:11 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Winter Games 2010: Snow, Sabrage and Salmanazars</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






On top of the immensity of the Olympic Winter Games, it appears the Canadians are planning an after party of equally biblical proportions. Thanks to Andre Saint-Jacques, owner of the Bearfoot Bistro and its extravagant underground wine cellar of more than 20,000 bottles (a perennial winner of the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence), the Champagne [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/winter-games-2010-sabrage-salmanazar/</link>
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		<title>Empress Josephine&#8217;s Wine Cellar</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Bordeaux wine lovers may credit the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris and Emperor Napoleon III&#8217;s &#8220;Official Classification&#8221; with putting Bordeaux wine on the map. But, it turns out that his grandmother the Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte may have ignited French passion for the wine.
Prior to Josephine raising the status of Bordeaux to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/empress-josephines-wine-cellar/</link>
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		<title>To Boldly Go Where No English Winemaker has Gone Before</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






At least since the Middle Ages. Due to warmer temperatures, a few British wineries have revived a red winemaking tradition which died around 600 years ago. Wine critcs&#8217; opinions about the wine have been mixed, but some seem convinced that the finest red wines may in the future come from north of the English channel if this warming trend continues.
With soils [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/to-boldly-go-where-no-english-winemaker-has-gone-before/</link>
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		<title>Chateau Lafite-Rothschild is a Mountain of Gold</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






I don&#8217;t know if they still do, but at one time the Chinese called America Gum Shan, the mountain of gold, a symbol of opportunity and the chance to get rich. Today, the Chinese have found another symbol of opportunity whose very name beckons the ambitious. In French Lafite means small hill, in Chinese it [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/chateau-lafite-rothschild-is-a-mountain-of-gold/</link>
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		<title>Sauterne&#8217;s Test Tube Baby</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Chateau D&#8217;Arche, a Grand Cru Classe producer of Sauternes (dessert or sweet wine of Bordeaux) has started bottling its La Perle d&#8217;Arche wine in 100ml test-tube shaped bottles aimed at young drinkers in nightclubs. On the whole this seems to be a good idea since Sauternes is not well known outside the wine community, not [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/sauternes-test-tube-baby-2/</link>
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		<title>The American Idolization of Wine</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The public is going to choose wines for top London restaurant L&#8217;Anima using Twitter. I hope they like Yellowtail or anything else with a critter label. Maybe Fat Bastard: 
 
Even worse: 




Share and Enjoy:


	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	


]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/the-american-idolization-of-wine/</link>
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		<title>Are Wine Snobs Right About Plastic?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As more and more wineries go green, they are increasingly turning to plastic (PET) to bottle their wine. Boisset, the second-largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau is a recent convert. But many premium winemakers refuse to jump on the Carbon Neutrality bandwagon even though they are often the worst offenders when it comes to using big, heavy glass bottles that require [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/are-wine-snobs-right-about-plastic/</link>
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		<title>Are You A Wine Dummy? There&#8217;s An App For That!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






There&#8217;s a book too, but apps for your iPhone are cooler, assuming you have an iPhone. Apps like Wine 101 by FuzzyBeta claim to educate the uninitiated and remove the stress of wine selection. At the cost of $3, (of course not including the cost of the iPhone and service) Wine 101 provides a list of names [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/are-you-a-wine-dummy-theres-an-app-for-that/</link>
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		<title>Drink to Healthcare Reform</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is considering raising taxes on wine, beer and liquor and imposing a new levy on soda and other naturally sweetened drinks to help pay for overhauling health care. Committee members believe the so-called “lifestyle tax proposals” would help pay the $1.5 trillion tab over the next decade to revamp the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/drink-to-healthcare-reform/</link>
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		<title>What Do Women Want? Wine With Taste</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






The first comprehensive survey of women&#8217;s attitudes toward wine has overturned several preconceived notions. Over 4,000 women in the UK, France, Japan, Germany and the US responded to a survey commissioned by Vinexpo, revealing a preference for red wine and skepticism for marketing campaigns that target them specifically (e.g. White Lie and Slender Wines). Among [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/what-do-women-want-wine-with-taste/</link>
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		<title>5 Random Facts About Wine</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






1. The longest recorded Champagne cork flight was 177 feet and 9 inches, 4 feet from level ground at Woodbury Vineyards in New York state, on June 5, 1988.
2. Marilyn Monroe was said to have once taken a bath in 350 bottles of Champagne. Vintage not confirmed.
3. The largest cork tree in the world is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/5-random-facts-about-wine/</link>
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		<title>Ricasoli&#8217;s Recipe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






According to an obituary published yesterday by the Corriere Fiorentino, Bettino Ricasoli, 87, the great-great-grandson of “Iron Baron” Bettino Ricasoli and steward of one of the leading families of Chianti Classico, has died.
Although he never published a “formula” or “recipe” for Chianti (as many erroneously claim), Bettino Ricasoli (1809-1880) reshaped the history of Chianti and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/ricasolis-recipe/</link>
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		<title>Wine 2008: Black Blue and Green All Over</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






The wine industry was battered and bruised in 2008, the astronomical prices for top-level wines plunged, and as if in an act of repentance more winemakers went green. For example, Boisset, the second-largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau, bottled its entire 2008 harvest in lightweight plastic bottles. Biodynamic and organic wines increased. Yet many still doubt [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/wine-2008-black-blue-and-green-all-over/</link>
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		<title>Winemaking Facility Offers Wine Buyers &#8220;Bailout&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






A San Francisco cooperative is selling futures in a new wine called &#8220;Bailout,&#8221; inspired by the economic crisis. Crushpad, a custom crush facility, will sell the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $39 per bottle. But there&#8217;s a twist, for every 100-point drop in the Dow Jones from the date of purchase to the projected bottling [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/winemaking-facility-offers-wine-buyers-bailout/</link>
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		<title>Red, Red, Wine&#8230;.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Recent research indicates that different types of music stimulate different parts of the brain, and prime us to taste wines in a corresponding way. For example, powerful rock music like Jimi Hendrix or The Rolling Stones is a good accompaniment to a Cabernet Sauvignon, while opera buffs might prefer a 2006 Syrah. &#8220;This is the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/red-red-wine/</link>
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		<title>The Presidential Palate</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






When People magazine reported seeing an unopened bottle of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay in the Obamas&#8217; kitchen, the California winery fired off a couple of cases to No. 44. Just another gift? Hardly. Winning over the presidential palate is a big deal for the wine industry, leaving vintners and vinophiles curious about what&#8217;s on tap for the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/the-presidential-palate/</link>
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		<title>The Palin Debate</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Who woulda thunk it? That a small organic wine from Chile would cause such an uproar. Palin Syrah, now in its second release, and named for the ball used to play Chilean field hockey is losing sales, at least in San Francisco. The reason? The similarity of its name to Sarah Palin, the now famous [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/the-palin-debate/</link>
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		<title>The Nouveau Thing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






So what&#8217;s the new thing in the wine world these days? Plastic Bottles. That&#8217;s right the same PET bottles used for fruit drinks and soda pop, with a nudge from environmentalists, has become a viable wine-packaging alternative to glass. One of the latest producers to embrace the new trend is French wine giant Boisset who [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/the-nouveau-thing/</link>
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		<title>Storing Wine in Davy Jones Locker</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Is the wine cellar passe? Some French wine buffs believe there&#8217;s a better place for storing wine, at the bottom of the sea (OMG!). A couple years ago, French winemakers began submerging hundreds of bottles of wine at a depth of 30ft in Saint-Malo Bay off the coast of Normandy. After being &#8220;massaged by the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/storing-wine-in-davy-jones-locker/</link>
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		<title>Bordeaux&#8217;s Big Little Wines</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Reviews of the just-bottled 2005 Bordeaux are coming in. This much vaunted vintage has everybody in the wine trade drooling. But to their chagrin, the less prestigious, lower-priced wines are getting all the praise. Influencial wine critic Robert Parker called wine from the famous chateaux &#8220;museum pieces&#8221; because their prices are so astonishingly high. And [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/bordeauxs-big-little-wines/</link>
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		<title>The Over-Heated Wine Market</title>
		<description><![CDATA[European wine prices have jumped approximately 25 percent in 2008. The prices for Champagne and Burgundy have never been higher. Given the astonishing prices of premium wine these days, you would think it would be babied like the first-born you traded to buy it. However, fine wine is often shipped in worse conditions than ice cream [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/the-over-heated-wine-market/</link>
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		<title>Brits and Bollinger</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Bollinger is a major Champagne house in France. They produce several labels of Champagne under the Bollinger name, including the vintage Vieille Vignes Francaises, Grand Annee and R.D. as well as the non-vintage Special Cuvee. Ever a favorite of the British, Bollinger became the official supplier to the British court in 1884, receiving a Royal [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/brits-and-bollinger/</link>
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		<title>Hanni&#8217;s Theory</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ever have a 90+ rated wine that you thought was truly disgusting? If so, you probably think the discrepancy is due to your untrained palate. Well according to Tim Hanni, it may be your lack of taste buds, not simply your lack of taste. Tim Hanni is one of the first two Americans to pass [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/hannis-theory/</link>
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		<title>Amazon to Enter the Jungle of Online Wine Sales</title>
		<description><![CDATA[At least according to speculation by the Financial Times. A recent advertisement posted on Amazon.com says that the company&#8217;s consumables division is seeking a Senior Wine Buyer in its speciality foods group. Selling wine online is hard as Amazon found out in 1999 when it bought wineshopper.com which went belly-up a year later. Such endeavors [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/amazon-to-enter-the-jungle-of-online-wine-sales/</link>
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		<title>Not So Buoyant Bordeaux</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There was a time when excess Champagne was dumped into French rivers. As a matter of fact, wine-growers from Bordeaux and Burgundy used to say that the reason Champagne had bubbles was because the wine was no good. This may have been true at one time, but today, Champagne sales are experiencing significant growth. Recent [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/not-so-buoyant-bordeaux/</link>
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		<title>It&#8217;s Not Easy Being Green</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The recent Climate Change and Wine conference in Barcelona helped to shine a light on the effects of global warming on the world wine map. For example, traditional wine-growing regions like Bordeaux may soon be too warm to grow Cabernet Sauvignon, the mainstay of the Medoc. However, in what may turn out to be another [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/its-not-easy-being-green/</link>
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		<title>Much Maligned Merlot</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






&#8220;If anyone orders Merlot, I&#8217;m leaving.&#8221; Remember that line from &#8220;Sideways&#8221;? Called the &#8220;Sideways Effect&#8221; it made one of America&#8217;s favorite wines uncool while boosting the sales of Pinot Noir. Well apparently the disdain has worn off. After years of plummeting sales Merlot is recovering. During the 12-month period ending December 7, 2007, dollar sales [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/much-maligned-merlot/</link>
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		<title>See Spot Run</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Just when we were getting used to &#8220;critter labels,&#8221; now there are &#8220;foodie labels&#8221; designed to take the mystery out of food and wine pairings. The wine labels have illustrations that make clear to the consumer which wine pairs best with certain types of meat. A rooster on the Chardonnay, a pig on the Merlot [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/see-spot-run/</link>
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		<title>Rose-Colored Wine-Glasses</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently, the French court fined Moet and Chandon 30,000 Euros for its &#8220;La Nuit est Rose&#8221; campaign which shows a bottle of rose Champagne on a black background surrounded by pink petals. The court ruled that the ad created an association between drinking rose Champagne and leading a wonderful life ( a reference to the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/rose-colored-wine-glasses/</link>
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		<title>A Toast to Peace</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Schramsberg Vineyards in the Napa Valley makes sparkling wine that many believe is the rival of French Champagne. It has been served at White House dinners, and famously in 1972 President Richard Nixon took Schramsberg&#8217;s Blanc de Blancs to China for the &#8220;Toast to Peace&#8221; dinner with Premier Zhou Enlai. Unfortunately for everyone, the winery [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/a-toast-to-peace/</link>
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		<title>Red, Hot and Flabby</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Wine is hotter than ever, in more ways than one. Sales are at an all time high, but at the same time alcohol levels are rising. Hot is winespeak for wine that is too high in alcohol and leaves a burning sensation in the back of the throat when swallowed. Back In the 1970s, red [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/red-hot-and-flabby/</link>
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		<title>Nothing Says Trash Like Paris Hilton&#8217;s Champagne in a Can</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, actually it&#8217;s Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine. Last year, Paris helped launch Rich Prosecco at a &#8220;mega-party&#8221; in the Austrian Alps, and now she&#8217;s featured in its advertising campaign wearing nothing but a coat of gold paint (no golden shower jokes please people). Italian winemakers certainly are not amused, much like France and Champagne, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/nothing-says-trash-like-paris-hiltons-champagne-in-a-can/</link>
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		<title>Tiny Bubbles&#8230; In My Wine&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






OK, let&#8217;s turn Don Ho off (great New Years Eve party tune by the way). Tiny bubbles may make Don happy, but they make oenophiles pretty giddy too. An old adage about Champagne is, the smaller the bubbles, the finer the wine. The tiniest bubbles are the result of long aging, as well as the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/tiny-bubblesin-my-wine/</link>
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		<title>Wine Wisdom for the Holidays</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The following words are attributed to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine in one of 4th century poet Eubulus&#8217; works:
&#8220;Three kraters (shallow bowls used as wine cups) do I mix for the temperate: one to health, which they empty first, the second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this bowl is drunk [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/wine-wisdom-for-the-holidays/</link>
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		<title>Mighty Madiran</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Wine is known to protect against strokes, diabetes and dementia. So Roger Corder, professor of experimental therapeutics in London and author of &#8220;The Red Wine Diet: Drink Wine Every Day and Live a Long and Healthy Life,&#8221; performed tests to learn why. He found that procyanidins (protective anti-oxidants that improve blood-vessel function and prevent heart [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/mighty-madiran/</link>
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		<title>Inflated Bubbly</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






It usually starts right before Thanksgiving, there&#8217;s a huge increase in demand for Champagne, not just in stores but in restaurants and bars. This increase in demand puts incredible pressure on Champagne prices. Avoid the price hike. If in December you&#8217;re thirsting for a popular brand like Veuve Clicquot, choose a high-volume, warehouse-style store. Distributors [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/inflated-bubbly/</link>
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		<title>Loons, Penguins and Hippopotami, Oh My!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






Who knew that a hippopotamus on a wine label symbolized something good to the consumer? Cute and colorful &#8220;critter labels&#8221; may seem more fitting for a box of &#8220;Animal Crackers,&#8221; nevertheless, new table wines with animals on the label outsell all other new table wines by more than two to one. Yellow Tail wine is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/loons-penguins-and-hippopotami-oh-my/</link>
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		<title>Bad Wine Day?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






That expensive case of Burgundy has been stunning so far, then all of a sudden, a bad bottle. Same wine, same case, it&#8217;s inexplicable. Or, maybe you&#8217;re drinking on a &#8220;Root Day.&#8221; Every day is designated either a root, flower, fruit or leaf in Maria and Matthias K Thun’s Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar (flower [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/bad-wine-day/</link>
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		<title>Does Wine Vintage Matter?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






For the wine investor, absolutely! But for the wine drinker, it&#8217;s much more complicated. Hugh Johnson (the world’s best-selling wine writer) declares in his 2008 Pocket Wine Book that, &#8220;Vintages used to be really crucial but the difference now is not so much in quality as reputation, because the most famous ones are traded up [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/does-wine-vintage-matter/</link>
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		<title>Just in Time for Halloween &#8211; &#8220;The Green Fairy&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[






No, not the Bruce Lee television series. Absinthe, also known as the Green Fairy, the muse of 19th century artists (like Van Gogh) and the bane of the early 20th is making a comeback. This 140-proof liqueur reached its height of popularity at a time when wine prices were skyrocketing. Later on, murders reminiscent of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/just-in-time-for-halloween-the-green-fairy/</link>
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		<title>Don&#8217;t Drink the Kool-Aid</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Beaujolais Nouveau is a wine synonymous with November. This wine has made it&#8217;s way onto many Thanksgiving tables as a result of the huge marketing blitz that takes place this time of year. Beaujolais Nouveau has a reputation for being Kool-Aid wine: easy-to-drink, fruity and one-dimensional. But Beaujolais can be much more than this, Cru [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/blog/dont-drink-the-kool-aid/</link>
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