Blog Post 4

For this week’s blog post we were instructed to explore the website called Reddit.  Reddit is essentially a website where you can post anything and everything, from a 9 year old creating a non-profit to a homeless man using rocks to catch fish.  Once posted registered members can then vote either up (good) or down (bad) in order to order the posts based on the populace’s interest in it. After browsing the website for awhile I came across a post about the Italian government seizing roughly 220,000 bottles worth of counterfeit wine. (http://dobianchi.com/2014/09/09/counterfeit-brunello-scandal-2014/)  It immediately caught my attention because I was in the region this last summer while I was studying abroad.  For those that do not know Italy, unlike the United States, has some very strict regulations on the production of certain types of wine.  The wine in question Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino. Both varietals can only be grown in a certain area around the town of Montalcino, they are only allowed to produce a certain amount, plant and harvest at a certain time. Not only that but after the tedious process the wine may only be able to be labeled as such if it passes a taste test. So when nearly a quarter of a million bottles of counterfeit wine is produced, one might say that it is a big deal. Just imagine how dramatically the priced would be effected if that many bottles had entered that market! Luckily the authorities were tipped off and were able to apprehend the individual responsible.

Until next week!

Caleb