May 12, 2006
I’m one of those guys that likes to get to the airport early, well before my flight. It’s a thing I have about being paranoid about missing the plane. Plus, I like airports.There’s something about watching lots of people move about in a transitional state that I find fascinating. It’s going to get easier to enjoy my early arrivals when I fly out of Sacramento. A report in USA Today notes that San Francisco-based Taste, Inc got approval to open…
May 12, 2006
Early and productive morning. Got up at 5am…did some work, got the kids up, fed them, then headed off to take some spring morning shots of Bucklin’s Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma Valley for projects we are working on. It’s beautiful in the vineyard at 6:45. The sun is just coming up over the Mayacamus Range on the east side of Sonoma Valley. The Old Hill Ranch vineyard is just starting to leaf out. This is one of the best…
May 11, 2006
First, Georgia, the former Soviet satellite, sees Russia attempt to kill its wine industry by instituting a ban on importation of Georgian wine, and all for political reasons. Then, this headline comes out of Georgia: HAIL DESTROYS 80% OF VINEYARDS IN EASTERN GEORGIA What’s it take for a poor little Georgian winemaker to get a break? First it’s Mother Putin then Mother Nature out to get these guys. Eastern Georgia is the source of a significant percentage of the Georgian…
May 11, 2006
How do you know it’s time to break open the Dry Rose? When your seven day forecast looks like this. Yesterday I decided to move up my official "Rose Break Out Day" from Memorial Day to, well, yesterday. The opening salvo in my attack on defining "pleasure" was a 2004 Ravenswood Rosato. It was cool, had a darkish hue, brimmed with early raspberry aromas and flavors and the requisite acid backbone necessary to be the quaffer it was designed as….
May 9, 2006
Mystery and Anticipation. Surely these two characters are the Imps of our soul. The constant dance they do at the outer edge of our thoughts is the jig that can lead to an outer life of searching and exploration, two pastimes that can lead to trouble as well as revelation. Nevertheless, it seems these two troublemakers cause more good than bad. Mystery is that circumstance of information and events that present questions needing answers. We tend to be drawn to…