Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

Oct 31, 2005

Blood Red Wine

DON’T FORGET TO RE-BOOKMARK OR RE-SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW FERMENTATION BLOG———————————————————————————————————–As any parent who has come by the Wark House the past few halloweens knows, we offer an open bar. Well, not necessarily an "open bar" as much as an Open Bottle. So what should the the bottle be? Clearly it needs to be blood red. In my world that leaves out Pinot Noir. I think the choices are obvious: Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouchet. Did you know that Alicante…

Oct 30, 2005

Welcome to the new FERMENTATION

Forced to abandon the name "Fermentations", we are reincarnated as FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog. Why and how were we forced to abandon the "S"? Long story. Suffice to say, it involved a number of lawyers, some of whom believed damage had been visited on a particular business of the same name due to my use of the name. But what is an "S" anyway besides the 19th letter of the alphabet? Well, it’s certainly the very essence of "pluralness"….

Oct 18, 2005

A PLEA….

A plea directed at the generous…. I’ve once again taken on the task of helping build a a set of auction lots for my children’s school fundraiser here in Glen Ellen, California: The event:The Dunbar Elementary School "Moondance Dinner and Auction Each year we see more and more cuts cuts to eduction on the District and State level. The task of funding the educational needs of our children falls on parents and friends of schools. My contribution is organizing the…

Oct 17, 2005

Tasting Room Do’s and Don’ts

I worked in a tasting room on Sunday. I’ve never been employed in a wine tasting room in my life (though the first wine job I was ever offered was at the St. Supery Winery tasting room in Napa Valley. It was advertised as a "public relations" position. I turned it down.) However, I have filled in here and there over the years for clients in their tasting room. Yesterday, one client needed some help because most of the employees…

Oct 12, 2005

The Death of Shiraz

"They pour freshly squeezed grape juice into clay pots, which are then placed in freshly dug ditches before being covered with sheep droppings to aid fermentation." It was not always this way. In this place, Khollar, they once grew an abundance of grapes that were harvested and taken to the town of….Shiraz…..where they were turned into wine that carried a reputation throughout the Middle East. Now, this Iranian town supports a mere 250 residents who furtively bury crushed grapes under…