SWIRLS: wine as top investment, iPad wine lists, iPhone bottle opener, Long Island wine in China, Joe Bastianich

SWIRL: As an investment, fine wine, as in top  Bordeaux, has  outperformed all other asset classes for a second straight year, beating out gold, oil and stocks. Decanter.com has the full story.

SWIRL: A Chicago steakhouse is among the latest restaurants to offer iPad wine lists – 40 of them at a cost of $700 each, according to an AP article. Let’s see: that comes to $28,000 in technology. How do you feel about this emerging trend? Will it be good or bad for ambience to see people all over a restaurant stroking their iPads in search of that perfect bottle of wine?

SWIRL: We saw this first with certain brands of sneakers – a bottle opener built into the soles that would do the trick in a  pinch. Well now, you can buy a protective case for your iPhone 4 with its very own bottle and can opener. There’s a picture of it on NewsFactor.com.

SWIRL:  Newsday reports that wine-crazed China has started to  import small quantities of wines from a number of Long Island wineries, including Peconic Bay Winery. It didn’t hurt that the importer spent weekends in the Hamptons while living in New York for the last four years before moving back to China. Read the full story here.

SWIRL: Joe Bastianich, the wine and restaurant impresario,  discusses his life in food and wine (plus weight loss and marathon running) in an interesting Q & A with Bloomberg’s John Mariani.

Technorati Tags: iPads wine lists,iPad,Wine in cans,Chilean wine,Chilean wine in cans,Paul Gregutt,Seattle Times,Edward Deitch,iPhone,iPhone bottle opener,iPhone can opener,NewsFactor.com,Newsday,Long Island wine,China wine,Long Island wine in China,Joe Bastianich,Bloomberg,Wine as investment,Bordeaux,Decanter.com