Reporting like this is why I've taken to calling @dinfontay.com "Suds Turkel," and hopefully you all can help that catch on.

Round Mound of Checkdown

I'd rarely describe @dinfontay.com as writing *moving* pieces (funny, biting, insightful - yes), but this is a beautiful piece that keeps the humor but pays tribute to his dad in a really lovely way: vinepair.com/articles/hop...

Yes

In what is definitely a first for me, I got a completely unsolicited phone call from a PR person to pitch her client as a guest on my podcast - leaving a voice mail asking me to call them back to discuss it. Yeah, that won't be happening.

Of course @dinfontay.com called it in October www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

Sure McCarthy has been bad but this is still the worst tape I've ever seen from a 1st round QB youtu.be/mToSXz3JEcM?...

Pardon me @nytimes.com but this is a deeply misleading way to explain the relationship between The Last Word and the Naked and Famous. The Naked and Famous is very much a riff on The Last Word, calling them "cousins" is frankly ridiculous.

@rayratto.bsky.social turkey recipe drops when? CC: @defector.com @davidjroth.bsky.social

Sometimes a conversation about an entirely different industry helps me better understand an element of my own. On yesterday's Athletic Football Show, @robertmays.bsky.social and @natetice.bsky.social discussed the challenge of not getting what is new/interesting to them confused with what is good

If I were to offer some advice to the wine industry, it would be that contrary to what this highly-regarded writer thinks, it's a really bad idea to treat the overwhelming majority of wine drinkers as people you should ignore.

My latest at @vinepair.com: vinepair.com/articles/sev...

Distressing news for whiskey fans - Seattle producer Westland Distillery had 12,000 bottles of their 10-year Garryana Oak Single Malt (one of the most anticipated bottles in their history) stolen as part of a fake shipping scam, leaving just 4,500 for the public: www.seattletimes.com/life/food-dr...

In momentous news for the VinePair Podcast, we are now fully on video! Check us out on YouTube, or of course continue to enjoy the audio version wherever you already do! youtu.be/D69MtajKUbg?...

@pablo.show do you guys accept story pitches?

I spent a lot of time thinking about, researching, and writing this piece, and I think it's pretty good and interesting, and not exclusively because I got to use the quote "watch Giannis dunk on some fools" in my copy vinepair.com/articles/spo...

This got a genuine, pasture-raised "lol" from me: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/d...

Amid an ongoing series of bad headlines and real struggles for the alcohol industry, this isn't going to help. As I've mentioned before there just is not any pricing flexibility or extra profit at most levels of the alcohol industry right now to buffer this. vinepair.com/booze-news/e...

Today seems like a good day to share my take that "War Pigs" is the greatest rock song ever.

Ironically, to write something as truly wrong and silly as "post-alcohol era," you probably have to be drunk.

I really appreciate @benclemens.bsky.social fielding my question, but I kind of think he's directionally wrong here - my assumption (could easily be wrong!) is that voters will be inclined to vote for Cal if he and Judge are close because of fatigue, and extra weighting for Cal catching.

Just told my kids "stop trying to parent each other, it's not as fun as it looks," so this Monday is off to a great start

OK, @davidjroth.bsky.social, @pablo.show, and @edzitron.com talking about The Long Island Bar is maybe TOO perfectly tailored to me, and now I believe we live in a simulated reality. open.spotify.com/episode/17UB...

Wu-Tang is Forever, even if this product probably isn't.

I think that if you are going to posit that RNDC pulled out of California because "A Texas company wants nothing to do with California," you should probably have a source, or some data, or even explain what you mean by that before you write it in a major American newspaper.

Today's episode of the @vinepair.com podcast, with the great @dinfontay.com joining us, delves into the incredible clusterfuck/bag fumble that is RNDC's retreat from California. We talk about what brought this about, the wreckage they're leaving in their wake, and what this says about RNDC broadly.

Love to get a thank you email from my good personal friend @davidjroth.bsky.social, even if I feel like he has spent far too little time talking about Cal Raleigh for my tastes. Don't neglect the Big Dumper, Dave.

A truly incredible admission of "we fucked up, bad" from RNDC. Bailing on the #1 market in the US after spending a ton of money to get in there is failure on a level I can't really even explain.

@dinfontay.com is so good at what he does that he can send you a newsletter from the future. Subscribe to Fingers, folks!

My favorite part of any Uber ride to Napa is being asked for wine recs by the driver. Honestly, since I don't work service or retail any more, I miss it!

As usual, @joshtpm.bsky.social has a good overview of the situation and the plan (or lack thereof) that explains the tariff situation: talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/wtaf-...

You can totally see how this mf bankrupted a casino.

Important to emphasize that he’s doing tariffs primarily because he doesn’t understand economics

To be fair, Thurmond's record is pre-integration, so

@megrowler.fangraphs.com @benlindbergh.bsky.social I regret to inform you that the Mariners' season intro video at Opening Day referred to this as Julio's "breakout season."

*Li'l John voice* "From the Carstals, to Nawals"

Our latest @vinepair.com podcast takes on the recent rumors that Constellation is looking to get out of the wine business altogether. Given that they are now almost entirely a beer company, does that make sense? What will they do with their few remaining spirits brands? vinepair.com/articles/vp-...

My latest for @vinepair.com: with the surging popularity of tequila (the spirit) in the US, has that come along with a surge of tourism in Tequila (the town)? I've been pondering this for a while, and now you all get to read about it! vinepair.com/articles/teq...

Elon Musk has made me a believer in nominative determinism because boy does he stink

Guess we're the 11th province now. Those are the rules.

The dissonance between projections (and last year's reality) vs the way that fans and media talk about the Mariners might be at an all-time high

Was so struck by this view of the Space Needle that I pulled over on my way to dinner last night to take this picture.

If you're a Mariners fan (or media member!) who thinks the team has a terrible offense, and you haven't read this piece/internalized that T-Mobile is the biggest outlier park in MLB, I'm not interested in what you have to say.

@jayjaffe.bsky.social Felix at 20.6% has this very biased Mariners fan thinking there's a (longshot) chance

Welcome to Cooperstown, Ichiro! baseballhall.org/hall-of-fame...

Ichiro fucking ruled. So glad he earned this honor.