The irrepressible Steve De Long posts yet another jewel -- this time a jibe at internet pouring excess.

It got me thinking why these things are done. The phenomenon obviously results from the plain and tragic fact that the Internet, being a medium that provides sight and sound but never smell, taste and touch, is a singularly inappropriate vehicle for investigating the wine experience. Along with the desperate attempts in Steve's article to work wine into the medium at hand, this incapacity gives rise to an awful lot of silly and irrelevant wine chatter.

I think my arguments and observations on appropriate uses of technology and about the experience of wine and music make a lot more sense for those readers who go to the effort to try the experiences glass in hand..

In truth, discussing wine in its absence is gossip, and a true gentleman would withdraw from the field. Still, I would miss Steve.