Oh man, our pal Remy Munasifi would pick the day I skipped lunch to roll out his newest video, about the culinary delights of chicken wings and hummus. It even has a special Hans Blix reference in the middle. Enjoy: »
I’ve been falling down on the job of keeping up with the monthly installments from the Paso Wine Guy. Below is his ode last month to Grenache Blanc (and overlooked varietal in my mind), and his harvest festival romp, which features the Wine Guy traversing the same zip line I did in May out on Santa Margarita Ranch. Meanwhile, a few of our loyal female readers, noting our fascination with »
Let it never be said that I can’t say anything nice about Jimmy Carter. It’s very nice that he’s an ex-president, for example. (Though the attack submarine is a little much.) I look forward to being able to say the same thing about Obama some day. But lo and behold, it turns out that Jimmy Carter didn’t just de-regulate airlines and trucking: he also de-regulated beer. I believe it was »
Scott beat me to the story (yes, we often scoop each other here on Power Line) about how the conventional wisdom about salt has been turned on its head. Memo to Mayor Bloomberg: Can we have our salt shakers back now, please? Will overturning the conventional wisdom on soda be far behind? One thing we do know: Like Nurse Bloomberg’s dietary dictates, Michelle Obama’s school lunch fatwa is a dismal failure. »
So I’m team-teaching an intensive (six hours a day in the classroom, which is one reason posts are erratic this week) course on the Cold War this week at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University. But all is not spies and beatdowns on the Soviet Union. Here’s how we roll at the Ashbrook Center (at least at last night’s warm-up party at Roger Beckett’s well-stocked house): Stephen Tootle (College of »
In addition to observing our civic obligation to meditate on the Declaration of Independence, it’s also a prime day to celebrate the Great American Barbecue. And just in time, our pal Remy Munasifi is out with a brief video (just over a minute long) observance of how the government is out to screw that up too: »
A reader of my suggested LGBT wine blends a while ago points to a provocation by our friends over at Riccochet.com about wine criticism and wine rating in general, the point of which is that wine tasting is “all hooey.” (Actually Riccochet cleaned up the original material, which was predictably bovine in origin.) Wine experts disagree and often contradict themselves (unlike other experts?); the point-scale rating system is clearly subjective; »
As I mentioned here once before, the fad in California wines for more than a decade now has been the heavy emphasis on what I call MSG wines. No, that’s not a designation of something to order in your favorite Chinese restaurant; rather, it refers to Rhone-style blends featuring Mourvedre-Syrah-Grenache. Many of these blends are knockouts, and adjusting the blend allows winemakers to bob and weave depending on the weather »
And thank goodness it doesn’t. Time for our monthly installment from the Paso Wine Guy, this month extolling the virtue of Viognier. I heartily approve. Can’t get enough good Viognier. Just picked up the new 2012 Viognier from Denner Vineyards, but it needs a couple more months in the bottle before it’s ready to drink. So I’ll be thirsty for a couple of months I guess. Anyway, here it is, »
Ben Boychuk of City Journal California (and the fine InfiniteMonkeys blog) has been after me for a while to write for its pages now that I’ve been foolish enough to move back to the less-than-golden state, but I’ve been too busy to oblige. But when he pointed me to the latest nonsense from the climate capos about how California’s wine industry was imperiled, I had to swing into action. The result »
It’s the first week of the month, which can only mean one thing: a new short video from the Paso Wine Guy! (See below.) This time, about the old mainstay of California winemaking, Cabernet Sauvingon. Meanwhile, the Puffington Host has a feature out today on the Paso wine region, though it is a bit odd in places. For instance, there’s the claim that Paso is less than three hours from »
March means the Zinfandel festival on the central coast next weekend, though I’ll be away, and in any case I’m cutting back right now in my effort to shed a few el-bees. But with the turn of the calendar it’s also time for the latest installment from the Paso Wine Guy; here’s 45 seconds of total oenophilic awesomeness about Zinfandel: »
Michael and Ellie Sheldon of Seattle, Washington, that’s who. Michael and Ellie are the proprietors of Xmedia Communications, a marketing firm (check ’em out), found themselves on vacation down here in my neck of the woods, and asked for some winery recommendations. Better idea: I’ll show them a few. An excuse for a winery trip for me! (As if I ever need much of an excuse to do that.) The »
If you follow the British press, you are aware that the second-biggest scandal in Great Britain, after the ongoing horror of the National Health Service, is the discovery that for years, suppliers of various food products have been substituting horse meat for beef. The horse meat frequently originated in Poland, but recent investigations have found horse meat that originates in Britain itself and has been masquerading as beef. English beefeaters »
No, I don’t mean “Rhone-style” here as an oblique reference to France. Bear with me a moment. Scott’s post two months back (“Hey”) on how Republicans need to study, match or exceed the superb technical skill the Obama campaign showed this year is well-taken. Last week I was privy to a presentation by the Obama’s campaign’s director of digital operations in California, Vance Hickin. Now, you may well be wondering, »
As a person who, like Scott, has occasionally flirted with joining the minority group known as “Hefto-Americans,” I tend to follow news about obesity and nutrition. And like Scott, I’ve become a huge fan of Gary Taubes—though a little less “huge” than I was a few years ago because of Taubes’s advice. But the news reported in the New York Times the other day that overweight people might actually have »
Okay, so gas prices are seriously harshing my mellow for this Saturday’s wine excursion, as the first photo here attests. Plus, the recent heat wave has sped up the fall harvest. Here’s the haul of cab grapes this morning at Calcareous Vineyards: Plus a few more thoughts to get you through the day: Now, what shall I serve with tonight’s wine: beef or lamb? And finally, this important safety tip: »
“Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” Winston Churchill
“Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” Inscription on the Liberty Bell
