01/25/12

Don't Want to be Wrong

Some people, and maybe you are one of them, have avoided wine for all of their drinking life because it just seems like it’s way too complicated.

Beer is easy to deal with. And it tastes good. You just open the can, or pull the tap, or unscrew the bottle and get with it. It does not ask for much in return, and there are no rules for pairing beer with food. Steak? Yep, it goes with that. Hot dog? Oh yeah, works nicely. Taco chips and cheese? I’m there.

Mixed drinks are also along the same lines. You find something you like, and you determine when you want to have it, more than what you have to have it with. The occasion becomes the driving point rather than wondering if that quality of vodka goes with the trout.

But wines, good gosh, not...

Posted at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

01/19/12

Travails of a Thirsty Man

A man walks into a beautiful bar in his city.

It’s a new bar and someone has spent a lot of money on its décor. A lot of money.  The wine lineup is not all that much. Moving on to the cocktail offering, not much assistance is provided by the people behind the bar. In fact, at one point one of the bartenders (note I never said mixologist) offered to allow the man to browse through a how-to-make cocktails book.

Back to the wine list, the man asked for a glass of Belle Glos Meiomi pinot noir, as noted on the wine menu. The bartender asks three times to repeat the order, and then comes over, holding a bottle of the wine, with the question, “Is this it?”

A man walks into a bar in a historic setting.

Posted at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1

01/12/12

Traveling Like a Cheap Suit

Grapes are truly products of their environment. They reflect the character of the soil in which they are set, and they are absolute recorders of weather history throughout their journey from flower to fruit.

Everything that a grape experiences in its maturing cycle is in its being. And along with a grape's sensitivity is also a penchant for just trying to get along. An easygoing nature has allowed the fruit to find a way to flourish on just about every continent.

Grapes in North America have been an always-here circumstance. The earliest European explorers of our land, the Norse, named this large plot of ground Vinland around 1000 BC. Just coming ashore, they had to chop their way through dense grapevines to see what wonderful things lay beyond the shore....

Posted at 04:45 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

01/05/12

Seasonal Wish Lists

And you thought the time had passed for wish lists. Yes, ol’ Santa is back at the North Pole or on Bayou Terrebonne, or wherever the dude hangs, and we’ve either received what we wanted or are left to scramble on our own to find ways to access that iPad, or Wii, or whatever it is. One of my friends was interested in a new Maserati. I don’t think she got it.

But the wish-list season goes on because now we are faced with the New Year’s resolution conundrum – which is, to make them or not. To be sincere about them or not. To even fool with the concept or not.

In my usual strong fashion, I’m taking a hard stance squarely in the middle of this annual activity. What do you expect from a New Orleanian who lives by the code,...

Posted at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0