Archives for April, 2007
NOLA Rising
How many years has it been? And don’t fall for the words, “since Katrina” because what we’re really talking about is when the levees failed. There are still miles of damaged and abandoned tracts of homes visible on the drive in from the East on I-10. There’s still a large “Help’ visible on a building whose roof line is below the safely elevated highway. The fact that this stretch of highway was elevated higher the homes surrounding it during a flood suggests skewed priorities where cars, ostensibly departing ones, were afforded more consideration than the people who live in these marginal neighborhoods.
We’ve come for Jazz Fest and to visit a friend who’s got a show opening at the Thomas Mann Gallery next weekend. I haven’t been here for 20 years and that was for a weekend of working hard during which I saw very little of the city. The Gallery is in a section of the city that stayed alive with electricity and running water during the worst of it and so shows no evidence of what transpired when the levees failed. The first thing I notice is the architecture. Not just the European look and feel but that everything is weathered and worn. The building facades and balconies look old. In Atlanta that would mean it’s long past time to tear ‘em down and put up something new and blandly generic but here they apparently take pride in the history and character of the city.
Thinking we were going to dinner early (7:30) we were hopeful the wait at Dick and Jenny’s wouldn’t be too long. We were wrong. Fortunately, not only does Ms. Ohsomuch possess a generous portion of Southern charm, she also knows the new owners and was on friendly terms with the host who agreed to have a table ready for our group of five at 9:00 pm. To pass the time we drove to a wine bar for some appetizers (sorry, name forgotten). Like Dick and Jenny’s the bar was housed in a building that looked like it had been there a long time. It, too, was in a neighborhood that displayed no evidence of the failing of the levees. The wines we ordered here will have to be generic. They were listed on a tall chalk board and, while the wine names were listed for most of the selections we didn’t recognize the names nor did we bother to write them down, amateurs that we are. The first round of whites included Chardonnay, Viognier and Sylvaner. The Chard was elegant and classy with just the right amount of oak (meaning very little), the Viognier suggested hay, which was fine but but was also thin and flabby and the Sylvaner was very light, refreshing, crisp and grassy. Then we ordered some food: beef bruschetta, roasted vegetables and fries that were fried in duck fat, so we had to switch to red. Surprisingly, Ms Ohsomuch and Sister Swirlene were agreeable to French over California — owing to the locale, I suppose — so we had Grenache, Mourvedre and Cab Franc, which was the only one that made an impression.
More later…
Comments Shouldn’t Be Delayed Any More
I’ve been using an aggressive spam filter for the comments on this site but it’s been too aggressive and causing many legitimate comments to be flagged as spam so I’m disabling it. Comments should now be published immediately (unless they contain more than two links in which case they will be held for moderation).
Wine in Falmouth
I arrived in town at 10:55 - at least I marked that as the the time I drove past John’s Liquors on Main Street — what I knew what might well be my last and only chance at getting a drink of wine last night. I must not be a true wine fool (or must be, depending on what I mean by that) because instead of stopping I opted to continue on to the Sooper Stop & Shop. I left home at 4 pm and was overdue for both food and drink so it was a close call but I gambled on the fact that I couldn’t remember if one could purchase wine in grocery stores in Falmouth Massachusetts but certainly hoped that one could. I was naturally disappointed but not really surprised to learn that one could not. What makes it all the more tragic is that, not only had I drove 80+ mph during the last 20 miles to ensure arrival before 11:00 pm, but that had I stopped at John’s first, the Sooper Stop & Shop would have still been open afterwards and so I could have satisfied the need for food and drink both. In short, despite the fact that I’m hypoglycemic I should have been more foolish and secured the wine first. I gambled wine-sans-food against food-sans-wine when, had I been more foolish, I could have ended up with both.
With a bag full of food-sans-wine I then checked in to the Falmouth Inn with a dark and closed karaoke bar — this was Tuesday night, after all, and a good two months before high season begins in this tourist town when it’s more likely to find people awake after dark. The desk clerk gave me a blank look when I asked if there was any place still open in town where one could get a drink so I said never mind and went to my room for a late night snack and an early night’s sleep.
I flew in on short notice to visit my ailing father who had been admitted to the hospital a couple days before. I had been planning a trip in the near future but I was at least hoping to wait until there was some green on the trees and some seasonal restaurants and bars open.
Aside: You know you’re in New England when the guy next to you at the bar orders a cheeseburger and then when it arrives the following exchange ensues…
“I asked for cole slaw, not fries.”
“I’m sorry, sir, I’ll go ahead and get you some cole slaw.”
“Don’t bother. The fries are already here.”
“Are you sure? You can keep your plate — I’ll just bring you some cole slaw on the side.”
“No, it’s too much trouble. Fries and cole slaw will be too much food.”
Yankees were born to suffer.
Anyway, tonight I made sure to stop at John’s first and the Sooper Stop & Shop second. I’m happily noshing on some pretzels and pepperoni (what do you expect for Cape Cod in the off season?) and washing them down with a 2005 Artesa Pinto Noir which I’m drinking from a hearty white ceramic coffee mug — the kind you might see an old fashioned shaving cream brush resting in. It was either that or the flimsy cellophane-wrapped plastic water glass. Here’s my tasting note:
I can’t believe I still sometimes entertain a fantasy of living in a small town. I can’t wait to get out of here and back to a city that doesn’t go to bed at 10 o’clock.
As you can see, I don’t actually have any real wine content to offer tonight and I gotta go watch some jai alai.
Vinos Pinol Ludovicus 2005
Love the name. For some reason I want to pronounce it “vee-nuss pine-all loo-dawv-uh-cuss” but it’s really “vine-us pee-noll loo-dove-ick-us.” It tastes a little bit like a sweaty gym shirt and I like it. I’m not suggesting I generally like the smell of sweaty clothing. Really.
Compulsory Video of the Moment
“There’s a cell phone in my underwear and it wants to make a c-a-a-ll…”
Some of the actual comments from actual commenters…
“the lyrics, the singer, the overall image!!! You got an A+!!! Fantastic!!”“We all appreciate your patriotism. Bring the boys home!”
“that song is soooo good and catchy (and nasty & frightening). And that singer is a super fox. I want the album… can i download it somewhere? bring the troops home!!!!”
and my personal favorite…
“It’s only funny because it addresses sex so frankly, and that’s unexpected, especially in this context. At it’s core, it is hauntingly tragic, addressing the fact that the war is placing extraordinary burdens on our soldiers, keeping them on interminable tours of duty, and failing to allow them sufficient time to attend to their own personal needs and the needs of their families.”
Hot Country Singer Has Message for the Troops
2003 Foris Siskiyou Terrace Cabernet Franc
When I open a new bottle I have an immediate taste for a quick first impression. I’ve found that most wines benefit from at least a few minutes of air so I’m not worried if the first impression isn’t good but it’s especially delightful when the first impression pleases because I know I’m going to at the least enjoy the wine and possibly even be smitten. I’m smitten. Call it a crush, if you will, but I think I have a new wine-friend. The first taste is naturally preceded by sticking my nose in the glass and, in this case, it was love at first whiff.
In spite of the early Spring freeze that’s blanketing the East coast I am transported to an Autumnal California hillside garden. I smell fresh herbs, vegetables and dirt. I taste dried sulphuric cherries and cranberries and feel a light chalkiness coating my tongue and mouth. This is why I drink wine… aroma, texture, flavor, sense memory and, yeah, I’ll admit it, the buzz.
75% Cab Franc, 19% Cab Sauv, 6% Merlot, 100% oak, 14% alcohol and all good.
Quiet Rural Lifestyle Disrupted by Wine Tasters
This is absurd. People actually complain about a winery that offers tastings on site. In this article Mike Giles and Laurence Graves sound like whiny ass bitches. This is one of their complaints
Increased traffic on a private road they share with Pescatore, the threat of wine-intoxicated drivers on narrow, winding Ridge Road, and the fear their quiet rural lifestyle will soon come to an end, are some of the concerns Giles and Graves list. They’re asking the county for stricter enforcement.They point to an Pescatore Vineyard alcohol-use permit that doesn’t allow public tastings and a county-issued use permit that forbids on-site wine tasting.
Regardless of the legal technicalities, how is a winery offering tastings any different than a bar or restaurant that serves alcohol or a household of pagan wine drinking hippies? People drink wine and drive cars. There are laws against driving under the influence just as there are social mores against the same. I’m assuming that what these panty-waists are really upset about is that their precious quiet rural lifestyle will be hampered by having actual people driving actual cars down their quiet rural street.
I think Pescatore has a leg to stand on.
But Wegner said that his seven-year-old winery is zoned for agricultural use and his business should be treated the same way the mandarin grower down the road is - by allowing on-site visits and tastings.
This is how wineries in Georgia get away with allowing not only tastings but sales of wine on Sundays. But don’t get me started on the ridiculousness of blue laws…
This Foolish Fool Fooled Around and Fooled Himself
Can you believe it? April Fool’s Day came and went and nary a word from the Wine Foolster hisself. My bad, as they say. I’ve been drinking wine, of course, but not taking notes or blogging. Mostly because I’m in over my head with my professional responsibilities that have not a thing to do with wine. I foolishly decided to undergo a major re-design of my yoga studio web site at the same time we are cross-grading our studio management software both of which consumed more time than I anticipated and neither of which is done.
I did manage to slip in a decent April Fool’s joke on my yoga students which I’ll link to in a minute but you need to know a little something about Bikram Yoga in order for it to work. Bikram Yoga, while designed for practitioners of all levels — including absolute beginners — is challenging. It’s practiced in a room heated to 105 degrees and discipline is a huge part of what we practice. All classes are 90 minutes and there are a few ground rules that we strictly enforce: classes start exactly on time and no-one is admitted late; everyone must stay in the room for the full 90 minutes; our posture sequence never varies — we practice the same 26 postures in the same order without variation in every class; we don’t drink water during the first four asanas… you get the idea — it’s strict and in fact, many of the benefits are a direct result of the commitment, dedication and hard work required of all students. This sets the perfect conditions each year for some fun on April 1. Here’s this year’s installment…
Wine talk to follow eventually. Thanks for checking in.