Wine Outlook

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

Just wanted to put a quick note in here about those two bad bottles of wine from the tasting group. I took them (each a little over half full after 8 pours) back to Draeger’s. I told the very nice man in the wine section the situation, he smelled the bottles, and then he scribbled a little note on the receipts. I got my money back, when I assumed I’d just get replacement bottles. Which I honestly didn’t want because A) I’d already bought a split of the Guigal and B) I’d had my share of white Rhones for a little while anyway.

That was my first time taking wine back and quite painless.

Of course, I just turned around and bought more wine for Wine Blogging Wednesday.

returning faulty wine, Draeger’s

Because writing it down may help get it done…

1. Choose a Rhone Blanc for Tuesday’s winetasting group. Too bad it has to be from France cause I’ve tasted some great CA versions lately. Any suggestions?

2. Pick a “bottle” for Wine Blogging Wednesday #31 over at Box Wines. The theme? Box wines and other non-traditional packaging. I’ve already got one in mind that comes in a can but would like an actual box as well, to remind me of back in the day.

3. Speaking of white Rhone-style blends…Enter this Twisted contest. After all, it was the idea of writing back labels that brought me out here. But to write one for a funky operation that produces great wines made by a very nice and seemingly-a-little-crazy guy? No, readers and drinkers, not Bonny Doon. Randall Grahm is crazy but I have no idea if he’s nice. Think less mass, more TLC. This is Twisted Oak Winery, and the winning entry for the %@#$! (yes, that’s its name) results in a case of wine and, as El Jefe puts it, immortality.

I better get cracking

Rhone wines, box wines, back labels, things to do

Readers and drinkers, I think this could be a long day. We’re releasing our 2004 Rapley Trail Vineyard Pinot Noir with much hoopla today, along with two small-lot Pinot Noirs and our first-time Pinot Gris. For the next two years, at least, there won’t be separate bottlings of the Rapley.

I’m trying to buck up for the big day, but a co-worker and I already have plans for drinks after it’s all done.

Pinot Noir, release party

Though tomorrow should be a day off, I will be driving up the mountain earlier than usual to help bottle wine. Granted, I volunteered, despite swearing twice before I’d never do it again. But my Ipod is charging now…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Drink plenty of wine, eat good food, and enjoy the company arround you. I cannot wait to see my family and friends after almost an entire year (haven’t been home since I moved here). I will try my best to keep up with the blog, but if I skip a couple days, just know it’s because I am sampling fabulous bottles of wine. Research, remember?

Merry Christmas

It seems that sparkling may be in order.

Wine pops up everywhere–in movies, poetry, in the shopping cart, and in many, many songs. The title of this post is the title of a mixed cd I once made for a friend with a mutual love for the grapes.

So I’ll start with a few of my favorites. The first has to be “A Case of You” by Joni Mitchell. I love the lines: Oh you’re in my blood like holy wine /You taste so bitter and so sweet /Oh I could drink a case of you, darling /And I would still be on my feet… There is so much wrapped up in that–how you can get drunk off someone, how that person gets under your skin, how it can be good and bad. Nothing and everything.

Another good one is from Ray LaMontagne, off his album Trouble, with the simple title “Hannah” He sings:Come to me Hannah /Hannah won’t you come on to me/ I’ll lay down this bottle of wine /If you’ll just be kind to me. This man wants to replace one addiction with another, but the plea is so earnest and touching.

Others I like include “California Stars” by Wilco (though I think Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics), which I can appreciate more now that I live here in wine country. And sometimes wine only makes a minor appearance, as with “All Along the Watchtower” where the businessmen drink his wine and plowmen dig his earth. That idea goes with the theme of the song–always be on the lookout cause anything can happen.

Anybody else want to add to the mix?

songs about wine, A Case of You, Hannah, California Stars, All Along the Watchtower