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Paris parties with prosecco, golfers spray the good Champagne and celebrities run with the bulls (sort of)

Posted: Wednesday, September 27, 2006

• Party girl Paris Hilton is in the middle of yet another controversy. No, not that kind of controversy. Get your mind out of the gutter. This week, the drama is swirling around Rich Prosecco, a sparkling white wine from Veneto that comes in a gold can, and Hilton's connection to it as the product's new pitch girl. Italy's Road Safety Society is reportedly outraged that Hilton--who was arrested earlier this month after failing a Breathalyzer test when she was pulled over by police in Hollywood--is starring in ads for an alcoholic beverage. To make matters worse, some of Veneto's prosecco producers are protesting the canned variation, insisting it will tarnish the image of their beloved wine. Others, however, say there's no need for sour grapes. "No one gets upset over caviar being sold in a can," Luca Zaia, Veneto's vice president for agricultural affairs, told the Italian news service ANSA. "So I don't see what all the fuss is about." Despite the scandal, Hilton continues her promotional partying spree. On Monday, she dressed as a Bavarian barmaid in Munich to hawk the sparkling beverage, then flew to Veneto via helicopter for a publicity shoot. Not to worry, she wasn't at the controls.

Ian Woosnam blew his cork after Europe won the Ryder Cup.

Americans clearly don't celebrate properly when we win. While the Mets were celebrating their playoff berth with cava and the Yankees were dousing themselves in (gasp!) beer, the gentleman golfers of Europe's Ryder Cup team prepared for last weekend's tournament against America by stocking up on plenty of Moët & Chandon. The Euros prevailed at Ireland's K Club, handing the Americans an 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 drubbing and tying a record for the most lopsided victory in Ryder Cup in history. The magnums (and double magnums) of Moët started spraying everywhere as soon as American golfer Zach Johnson conceded a par putt to Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke. Unfiltered congratulates the European captain Ian Woosnam and his team on their third consecutive Ryder Cup victory and, we hate to say it, we were kind of happy for them once we saw that they knew how to celebrate in style.

Thankfully, Jacques Pepin didn't try to carve up his bull and cook it.

• If you've ever driven across the Spanish countryside, chances are you couldn't help but notice large black billboards shaped like bulls. Foreigners usually scratch their heads, but the locals have long known the bull as the symbol of Spanish wine company Osborne, which owns Bodegas Montecillo. It turns out that the bulls, some of which are nearly 50 feet tall, are actually the only form of legal roadside advertising in Spain--and it's their 50th anniversary. To celebrate, Osborne has asked dozens of celebrities in the food, fashion and film worlds to paint their own, smaller bulls. Among those participating are actors Antonio Banderes and Melanie Griffith, chefs Jacques Pepin and Gary Danko and Spanish fashion designers Agatha Ruiz de la Prada and Armand Basi. The painted bulls will tour the United States as an exhibit starting in late October, passing through New York, Dallas, Chicago, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles. When the bulls finish their stampede in Miami in late February 2007 at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, they'll be auctioned off to benefit Share Our Strength, a hunger-relief nonprofit. Now this is a running of the bulls we're happy for everyone to participate in since nobody gets hurt.

• Anxiety is standard operating procedure for winemakers during fall. They worry about when to pick their grapes, then about their fermentations. But last Friday, Napa winemaker Karen Culler may have set a new standard for harvest-season stress. Following an unusually windy night, she was checking on the Ladera Lone Canyon Vineyard in the hills west of Yountville and noticed a downed power line next to the property. Sparks were flying, and a fire had started. She called 911, then drove to the Yountville Fire Station. By the time firefighting staff and equipment arrived on site, the fire was raging, fanned by heavy winds. It took until Sunday to get things more-or-less under control, at which point the flames had charred 400 acres of brush, though no vineyards or homes. According to the Napa Valley Register, 558 personnel from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection fought the blaze, along with helicopters, planes and bulldozers. The bill for their efforts came to a reported $3.5 million. Culler, who spoke to Wine Spectator a few weeks ago about the slow ripening of Napa Cabernet vineyards this year, retained a sense of humor about the experience: "You know how I said we really needed some fall heat? This wasn't what I had in mind," she said.

• August and September have not been kind to New York winemakers--rain and cool weather has delayed the harvest. But the skies were kind enough to clear on the evening of Aug. 25, just long enough for Susan Wine and Bob Ransom to tie the knot. The two, who co-own Rivendell winery in the Hudson River Valley and the Vintage New York wine shops and a wine bar in Manhattan, have been together for 11 years and finally decided to make things official. "A lot of people thought we were already married," said Ransom. More than 60 guests gathered under a grove of ash trees near the couple's New Paltz, N.Y, home for the ceremony, which mixed traditions from several different faiths. Then at the reception, everyone toasted with a Chateau Frank sparkling wine from the Finger Lakes. This is the second marriage for both Wine, 60, and Ransom, 47, and they danced to "The Second Time Around." Ransom says the honeymoon will have to wait for a few months, however. "We are in the wine business and we are heading into harvest--that's no time for a vacation." Wine says she'll be keeping her name, which Unfiltered thinks is the right move.

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