Smell the Cork!

Well, now that I read this article from Slate Magazine that Ben sent me, I have to add on to the saying:

"Love French Wine. Hate French politics"

It's now:

"Love French Wine. Hate French politics. Laugh because we have better sommeliers."

Booyahhhh Jacques Chirac! Seriously, if you need good service USA-style and want to sip on some delicious West Coast Pinot, come on over. You can stay at my cousin Terry's house. He's got a sweet above ground pool and a fridge full of corn dogs.

Domaine Alar...ehhhhhhhhh!

I tried the 2005 Domaine Alary Daniel Et Denis, Cairanne (Cotes Du Rhone) a few months ago and really liked it. It costs around $15 retail and drinks more like a $30-40 wine. What a deal. If you can find it, buy it up. I drank another bottle (with friends of course) tonight, and it was even better than I remembered. Soooo smoooth, settled acid and nice subtle fruit.

My only real concern is, why was the Fonz's "office" the men's bathroom?

My television debut

As a young boy raising horses on my father's Shetland Pony stud ranch, I always dreamed of being on television. I'd ride around the farm in my chaps with my ascot fluttering to the side in the chilly night air, dreaming about being Matthew Burton's hilarious best friend on It's Your Move (probably the most under-appreciated show of all time next to "Freaks and Geeks").

Obviously it never happened. But I did make it on two episodes of the new Food Network show, Heavyweights. Check out "Chips Cash In" and "Big Chocolate". I miss those horses.

Thomas Jefferson and Unicycles...

Last night I watched "The Cultivated Life: Thomas Jefferson and Wine" on PBS. Fascinating.

Did you know that, in addition to appointing Jefferson as Secretary of State, President George Washington made him the White House sommelier? Jefferson also acted as personal sommelier to Madison and Adams.

Earning $25,000 a year as President, Jefferson was known to spend the majority of his cash on importing wine and food from France. At the end of his 8 year term, he was in the red $10,000.

Jefferson was also known to have invented the unicycle as means to quickly and drunkenly ride through his vineyard picking grapes without damaging nearby vines. Okay, I made that one up.

Check it out..

Are you kidding me?

I've had some bad luck lately...

I ate dinner the other night at Azzurro in Richmond
with my in laws, my incredibly pregnant and glowing
wife and newly pregnant and lovely friend, Laurie.
The food was painfully average for the price, and I
had the misfortune (fortune) of experiencing a new
low in wine service.

After telling me that he knew every wine on the list,
the waiter recommended the 2005 Robert Pecota
Sauvignon Blanc. Sounded good to me. So, he brings the
wine to the table a few minutes later and pours me a
glass. I glance at the label as he presents it, and it
looks overly sweaty. HMMMM. I swirl it a little, take in the
aroma and swallow. Warm. Not barely cold. Warm.

So, I passed it to my wife to make sure it wasn't
me. Look, I hate sending back wine. I hate the feeling
of the server going back in the kitchen and slagging
me. Chefs and dishwashers popping out to see who the
a-hole is who sent it back. And I know I shouldn't feel bad,
but I do.

Anyway, after I tell him it's not at the right
temperature, he says, "Yeah, I know, we've been having
some problems with our refrigerator." What?

But...you still served my table a warm bottle? Not knowing the
proper temp to serve a wine is kind-of understandable. But this
is unforgivable.

At the very least, the manager/owners should have pulled popular bottles and put them in buckets before dinner service. My mind is blown.

So, he brought over a bucket with ice, and we had to
wait until our entrees were served to drink it. By that
time, everyone was ready for red.

I'm not a picky guy. I just can't stomach warm white white. And I hate bad service. If I did something that ridiculous at my job, I wouldn't last long.


The Robert Pecota Sauvignon Blanc L'Artiste was nice though – a subtle lime, grapefruit, melon, green apple flavor; crisp, not too electric.

My face is going to explode!

I've had a sinus infection for two weeks and haven't been drinking any wine. Feeling better finally and will be back on the bottle tomorrow.

The wine that saved my "anniversary" dinner

Over the July 4th weekend, my brother and his wife, my mom and dad and Anya and I went out for a dinner at one of our favorite places in Virginia Beach, One Fish, Two Fish. That night, it should have been called, One Douche, Two Douche.

The service and meal was ridiculously bad (I'll spare you the details). And I haven't experienced "food-tude" from servers like in a long time.

The good news is that we had a great bottle of wine – Patricia Green 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. I know that Oregon is becoming known for it's Pinot Noir, but this wine was one of the best West Coast Sauvignon Blancs I've tasted. It reminded me of a well-balanced Sancerre, thankfully void of the trendy, overly electric New Zealand zing (that's fancy wine talk, yo).

Aroma: Green Apple, grapefruit, grass
Flavor: Green Apple, lime, smooth
Price: $17 retail