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Pam Anderson counts the ways she loves bubbly, wine body art and Rossi's got some nice jugs

Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006

• We always thought of Pamela Anderson as bubbly. The former Baywatch beauty wed musician Kid Rock over the weekend in St. Tropez. USA Today reported that before the ceremony, Anderson was asked how she's coping with nervousness before the big event. "I have two words for you. Champagne," she said. Well, we have five words for her: "Congratulations."

• If you go to as many bars as Unfiltered does, you might witness an interesting trick of the wine and spirits trade. Young, attractive customers order a specific wine or liquor. If the bartender replies he doesn't have it, they tell him how wonderful it is and urge him to order some. The trick? The customers work for the producer, or its marketing firm. In a twist on the ploy, Matthew Clark, a U.K. distributor and a division of Constellation Europe, was trying to win an 80 million-pound contract for its Aussie wines Nottage Hill Chardonnay and Shiraz with British pub chain JD Wetherspoon. Last month, the company was pouring several wines from various companies at its pubs to see which proved most popular. So Matthew Clark's managing director, Steve Thompson, sent e-mails to employees urging them to go down to the local pub regularly during the trial and order bottles of Nottage Hill. Don't worry he said, you can expense it. After a sluggish response and with only two weeks to go, he sent another message, writing, "… it is vitally important that we maximize volumes during the remainder of the trial period." Instead of going to the pub, though, one employee forwarded the message to the Bristol Evening Post. Ouch. Constellations' vice president of corporate communications, Mike Martin, told Unfiltered, "Neither Constellation nor Constellation Europe condones the actions by a few overzealous employees who were trying to help the business, but took their actions to an extreme."

Do you also work for cleanskin wines by any chance?

• Show us your ... vintages? Unfiltered suspects someone at British Columbia's Bearfoot Bistro has confused their homonyms, because the servers at their Masquerave wine dinner are unmistakably bare. The annual dinner, to be held this year on Nov. 10, is part of Cornucopia, a wine festival and fund-raiser held each year in Whistler, B.C. (proceeds will benefit Real Canadian Series Arts Program and École la Passerelle, a French education program). This year's festival apparently features much more than just eye candy, as the Icon Dinner will feature a vertical tasting of Pommery, followed by a complete vertical of Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin. The theme of November's Masquerave will be Moulin Rouge, and will star ABBA cover band AdbaCadabra. And as for those "bare-painted ladies," Bearfoot Bistro proprietor Andre St. Jacques is planning to cover a few of them in more than just paint. "We pour warm chocolate on their naked bodies and dip strawberries in it; we put sushi on them ... People love it," he said.

The godfather of wine writing gets a good birthday bash.

• Sometimes Unfiltered gets strange mail. There's the odd photo of a baby napping with a copy of Wine Spectator open on his lap, wedding announcements, etc. But just recently we got a letter from Lenard Davis of Newport Beach, Calif., along with a photo from Robert Balzer's 94th birthday party. Lest you think we're turning into Willard Scott here, Robert Balzer is basically the first American wine writer--ever. He's the godfather of the business, having started back in 1937, when he wrote a wine column for a California newspaper. He's entirely self-taught, having learned about wine after his father put him in charge of the wine section at the family store, which was frequented by Hollywood celebrities. So, no surprise, Balzer dated Hollywood star Gloria Swanson for a time. And recognize the woman to his right? That's Olivia DeHavilland, who played Melanie Hamilton in Gone With the Wind. Unfiltered thanks Davis for the photo, and wishes Balzer the happiest of birthdays.

Swarovski eat your heart out.

• Wow. Nice jugs. If, like Unfiltered, you haven't had a Carlo Rossi jug wine since you first came across it in your parents' garage, there may be good reason to pay a return visit to the old Italian man in E. & J. Gallo's California empire. At least for those of us who know how to handle our power tools. Jug Simple, an exhibit of home furnishings made from Carlo Rossi wine jugs by Seattle-based artist Jay Blazek, is touring the country this year, and the jug-and-neon furnishings will be auctioned off at the end of the tour, with proceeds going to local bands and artists in each of the four cities in which the exhibits take place (bidding for the Chardonnay Chandelier is starting at $2,500 on eBay). The Cabernet Couch and Burgundy Bookshelf may just inspire you to buy a few bottles yourself. Videos of the making of the furniture, as well as some tongue-in-cheek "specs," can be viewed at carlorossi.com. As for taking a crack at actually building your own jug-wine furniture, Unfiltered recommends a 24-hour waiting period between finishing the jug's contents and actually attempting to build something with it.

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