This is D's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following D's activity
D
Recent Activity
Omg, that was funny! Thanks for linking it, Alice.
"I'm going to drive up to that shithole Monkton and throw bottles of Chinon and Beaujolais at his house!"
Downfall video redux
You have to watch it. Even better than the first time around, which you must also see. The powers at Red to Brown Wine Review have the touch. Even before I heard my name mentioned with Jamie Goodes, I was rolling on the floor.
There is also overthinking things, Alice. Sometimes the pleasures in life should just be taken at face value. Never look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak. I've always been of the 'I don't know if it's art, but I know what I like' school in all things. And I've found that being much more zen about it all has made me much happier all around. Control, afterall, is an illusion. Lock a cask spigot? They'll just punch a hole in the tank. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. May as well enjoy the ride as best you can while it lasts because it doesn't last long.
And that aside, why are you always sick? Probably the lack of meat. ;)
Giving thanks for Abe Schoener
Tonight I dragged myself out of a sick bed, dived into the Arctic temperature, heading to a loft on Essex street to listen to lecture #1 of the Metaphysical Lecture Series, given by ex-philosophy -prof-turned-winemaker, Abe Schoener. There was a packed room, many of them collect his eccentric ...
Government ineptitude and bureaucracy or corporate greed ala Monsanto...damned if you do, damned if you don't. Doing business here with government is painful enough but I'd sooner attempt performing open heart surgery on myself with a rusty spoon than deal with the Italian government for business.
The peach tree in Cascina degli Ulivi
Let's talk about the peach tree. Remember when the Rome wine store, Bulzoni was busted for having a section of wines devoted to natural? As there was no such thing as natural wine, selling wine as natural was a fraud perpetrated on the innocent wine drinkers of Italy. During that debacle the a...
Somtimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The last remaining cigar maker on la palma
One of the most frustrating bits of being a writer is when you've got a great story and can't find anyone to buy it from you. Last year, on the canary island of La Palma, José, Carballo and I went to visit the last remaining cigar maker, Don Antonio González García. The deal was Carballo gave...
Congrats AF, it's well deserved.
Imbibe Mag's wine person of the year? Me.
I hope you don't mind this sharing. But I was really stunned and honored when Imbibe magazine chose me as their wine person of the year. And so a little love doesn't come by that often, I had to post. There's more on their FB page and website, but this is a profile, I'll definitely cherish. Than...
He's not a journalist, he's a critic. He gets paid to opine. A journalist gets paid to report the news - not create it. So long as those in the know understand that there are no rights or wrongs, when it comes to subjective taste, what does it matter? May as well get upset that the sun shines on the just and unjust alike.
Michel Bettane and the scourge of natural wine
What happens when you, like Parker, base your life's work on one kind of wine, ignoring a whole subculture that has found a huge audience? What you do, especially if you're incapable of saying something like, "I didn't know that," you go on attack, because you perceive danger. Vini naturali. ...
Holy macaroni! How much was that bottle?!?!
Henri Jayer Echézeaux
"Which one?" the gentleman asked me. "Jayer," I said. Quite frankly I didn't even note the producer or the year on the Meursault alternative. There was no choice. No matter what you think of my life, this curtain or the box scenario doesn't happen that often. Becky and Russell spoil me and I...
Anyone that large is not a "craft" product any longer. Even that aside, their argument is wholly selfish and patently absurd. Imagine a resto that wouldn't change its food/wine/cocktails...ever? If people aren't missing their product when its out of rotation then they didn't really care about to begin with and the problem doesn't lay with the restos taking their product offline.
Craft beer goes Kraft
Did you catch the The beer story in Shanken Daily News entitled, Craft Controversy: Rotating Drafts Spark Concern Among Brewers? It seems that Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, Missouri, a big craft produer with $36,000,000 in sales had a complaint. Bars that refuse to dedicate draft handl...
Oh come on! The hospitality/booze industry is one place where women have a distinct advantage. I have over 20 years in the industry and have probably forgotten more about food/drink than most people will ever know for themselves. I can't count the times where I've been shot down looking for work because XYZ company 'doesn't hire males' or has their quota - which is usually 5-10 females to every one male. Granted that advantage is one that rapidly diminishes with age - ageism the other major problem in these industries - but they still have a distinct advantage nonetheless. Oh yes, and most of the marketing departments are headed up by women so you can blame men for objectifying women in these cases.
The Drinks Business throws women under the bus
"Do you ever have problems in the field, because you're a woman?" So goes the oft asked question. After all, even if there are young men involved, there is an old boy network at the top. And so, I instead of telling them the truth I say, no, I get a hard time because I'm short. I've always felt...
This is why you should drink Bollinger my dear. They still give a damn.
Krug Grande Cuvée; of love lost
"If only I could photograph its aroma and taste," I said mournfully. And for the first time in a long time I understood with my blood why the Krug Grande Cuvée was the desert island wine of many. There are bottles that bring you to your knees, that make you a believer or something. Anything. ...
There's a beautiful Hebrew proverb everyone should remember when it comes to the passing of people we love....
"Say not in grief, "He is no more.", but live in thankfulness that he was."
Respectfully
Cutter
Jean-Paul Rocher
It was a nagging cough that wouldn't go away. Then came the diagnosis in the summer of 2011, lung cancer. Jean-Paul never smoked. On Saturday night his daughter Marie texted me, Dear Alice: My father died this morning. Je t'embrasse. Oh, Marie. This is a girl who worshiped her father in a way th...
D is now following The Typepad Team
Sep 15, 2012
Subscribe to D’s Recent Activity