Pandering the PLCB
This week, the Patriot-News has an article about buying wine in Pennsylvania. It’s written by Sue Gleiter, who has written a string of similar articles over the years. Her articles often seem like barely veiled PLCB propaganda, but I was willing to give her another chance.
Halfway through the article, Gleiter offers the seemingly crazy suggestion that consumers should ask PLCB employees for advice. Really? Really? Really? I would like to share this delicious tidbit from a former PLCB employee:
I always liked Boone’s Farm and Mad dog 20/20. I worked at a state store, and was just getting ready to go to wine school. Then I took a transfer into another state job. Wish I would have had the time to go to wine school. When people asked me about wines I pretty much just lied. I told them if your eating chicken or pork go for a white wine. If beef go for a red wine. Or something like that. I had a cheat sheet.
The next time I am dying for a bottle of grain or hootch, I will head over to the PLCB for some advice. However, if I want some real help in buying wine, I am a firm believer in the Wine School’s monthly newsletter. It’s free and –unlike the Patriot-News– free of pandering.
M.L. Wolfsohn
I was a tenured professor at an university in Philadelphia; you know the one: it has an ivy reputation but delivers a mossy education. Now, I write about all things edible and drinkable.
Well, actually, they must have edited out the rest of the advice. You ask the State Store (oh, pardon, “Wine & Spirits Shoppe”) employee what to get, and then grab anything BUT what they suggest…..