Monday, August 15, 2011

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Tasting Room...

I was feeling like we've been going non-stop. Then I took a look at my calendar and realized there was a reason for that: We've been going non-stop! Geez, no wonder we're tired!


7/20 - Kickoff lunch for Break the Cycle - Cooking for Love - How do I convince small production, artisan winemakers to donate wine for me to pour at this event? Suggestions? Better yet: Donations? Anyone? Anyone?

www.cookingforlove.org



Continuing...
7/20 - Dinner at FAB's with Shawn - sold a case of Shai Cellars Adome to owner Sebastian! Now Shai is on the wine list!
7/22 - Week 2 opening night for Hurricane Season
7/23 - California Wine and Cheese with Shawn - sold a case of wine!
7/24 - Cornell Winery with Shawn and Marya. Dinner at FAB's - Dan Q. and Rico showed up. It was fun. Lots of wine was drunk, including as yet unreleased 2009 Shai Adome and 2009 Shai Grenache. Great food, too. And great service from Amelia and Tessa.
7/27 - Dinner at Xochitl's with JD, Shawn, Debra, Xochitl and Barry, Barbara and Jack, Mark, Rico, Jane Harrier of Bedford Winery and friend Karen - Great food and fine wines and wonderful company! Maybe we'll all be able to plan that trip to France. Or Italy.
7/29 - Week 3 opening night for Hurricane Season
7/30 - Photo shoot with Rico Mandel, photographer extraordinaire; dinner at FAB's with Shawn
Love my new headshot!
7/31 - Sicilian wine tasting at The Wine House. Wow. There will be a separate post for this event. It was extraordinary.
8/2 - Bistro Provence with Debra and JD to discuss our wine-y future
8/5 - Week 4 of Hurricane Season
8/6 - Pouring wine at Toast and Taste for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica with Shawn and JD and Denise M. and dinner at Il Fornaio Santa Monica. Got to meet Michele, the owner of the Grilled Cheese Truck. Tasty fare, indeed. Maybe we'll do some pairings...hmmm...
8/7 - Rhone Rangers - and dinner at FAB's with Shawn, Rico, Dan Q.! I'm sensing a trend here...
8/8 - Grape of the Night at Valencia Wine - Roussanne. A fairly chaotic tasting. Rusty was subdued, Eve was wired, I was tired, the wines were...OK. For JD and me, the stars were the 2004 Qupé that we brought and the 2007 Qupé that Rusty brought. It was great to compare the different vintages and see how wonderfully the wine ages. Kudos to maestro Bob Lindquist!
8/11 - Tasted Spanish wines at Vendome with Debra & JD - but the real stars were the Vieux Telegraphe and the Cotes du Rhone. They cost extra to taste, but were worth it!

By Friday, 8/12, we had a list of places to go to taste wines, but we came to a complete halt. Stayed home and grilled burgers and drank our own wine. Saturday, slept late, breakfasted with the gang, ran some errands, went to Rico's 50th birthday party - and ran into old theater friends! As always, the world is surprisingly small. Sunday, slept way in, did 5 loads of laundry, and JD made gluten-free pizza that we paired with a Soave that was past its prime.

Still tired...sigh...but happy! Cheers!

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