Wine

It’s not the first time over the last 6 seasons that Don has ordered an Old Fashioned. I am happy, however, that he still does. For a while there, the show was overrun with Seagram’s alcohol and Johnnie Walker. It just got hard to write about things. However, this was just a nice, simple Old Fashioned. from AMC TV In 1935, my grandpa was a bartender. I currently have a couple of his bartending books, published in the 20s and 30s. I know Old Fashioneds have changed a bit since cocktails have become such an art, but I still like to page through the old books. This recipe (use the bourbon of your choice) really gets to the simplicity of the cocktail. From “Old Mr. Boston DeLuxe Official Bartenders Guide,” 1935: 1/2 lump of sugar 2 dashes bitters 1 jigger water Muddle well, then add a jigger of Old Mr. Boston Rye or Bourbon Whiskey and a large cube of ice. Stir very well and decorate with a slice of Orange, a twist of Lemon Peel, and a cherry. Serve in an Old Fashioned Cocktail glass.

The time has come once again for you to give your digitus secundus (that’s your index finger, by the way… you creep!…) a momentary workout by using it to click on your favorite finalists in the Wine Blog Awards voting, this being the 2013 version thereof. I’ve got a long (in Internet time) history with the WBAs: I’ve been a winner, a criticizer, a judge, and an improvement-committee-member (yeah, I know, that last one does not quite roll mellifluously off the tongue, does it?). This year, I’m a finalist in the Best Overall Wine Blog category (thanks to the judges, and most especially to you for that!). Please consider voting, as the recognition of hard work and efforts well-spent probably means a great deal to those who are among the finalists. Also, it’s the easiest way to fill your good karma quotient fit the day. And if you don’t vote, then the fleas of one thousand camels might infest your armpits [ editor's note: this may not actually be true ]. You’re under no obligation to vote for me, of course, unless you want Ron Washam to lose a bet in which he will publicly sing classic Journey hits while wearing a baby costume – seriously, I swear that’s our bet! [ editor's note: this may not actually be true ]. Whatever… look, just drink up and vote, okay? Following are the finalists in the Best Overall Wine Blog category: Hosemaster of Wine 1 Wine Dude Terroirist The UK Wine Show Steve Heimoff Along with those mentioned above, there are some very interesting picks in the finalists across all of the various categories this year, and many of them are passionate and relatively new voices in the wine blogging crowd. Personally, I’m particularly pleased to also see academicwino.com, The Wine Curmudgeon, Hawk Wakawaka, Bigger Than Your Head, On The Wine Trail in Italy, Washington Wine Report, Jameson Fink, The Drunken Cyclist (despite his terrible taste in NFL franchises), and my Portuguese brother-from-another-mother Andre Rib also being recognized as finalists in various categories this year (though Andre’s listing was subsequently removed, for reasons not yet explained to me as of the time of this writing). If you aren’t familiar with them, go check them out. Voting remains open through this Friday, May 24th, so… prevent bad karma flea-infestations and GO VOTE! As for some personal thoughts on all of this WBA stuff (hey, it’s my blog after all)… I’m happy and surprised to be a finalist again; even though it seems as if people expect 1WD to make the finalist cut in some way/shape/form during this annual wine blog love-fest (as one first time finalist told me earlier this week, “this is old hat to you!”), *I* don’t expect it every year. The lack of consistency in the WBAs year-to-year doesn’t help in terms of boosting one’s confidence, either (example: several of last year’s winners aren’t even represented in the 2013 finalists list… I mean, what kind of universe are we living in here, where Jamie Goode and Alder Yarrow don’t make the cut?!??). I take chances with 1WD. I do shiz on here that would be considered certifiably, straight-jacket, get-the-meds-now, balls-on, bat-sh*t crazy just about anywhere else (especially in print). In other words, it’s my truest self in writing terms. Some days I’m amazed that anyone reads the stuff, which means I’m always (always!) grateful when they do. I couple the bat-sh*t craziness with an insatiable urge to tweak, and an unhealthy defiance of convention. The minute that something appears formulaic to me, and even when my own version of bat-sh*t crazy starts to feel formulaic to me, I pilot the ship in a slightly different direction, ripping off those whose literature has inspired me…, er, incorporating different writing influences, and basically doing everything that I possibly can to make 1WD feel like nothing else that’s out there. I haven’t always gott

May Showers (of Wine) Bring Happy HoursThe scariest thing about this wine is an empty bottle.It's such a lovely time of year - but not so lovely that it couldn't be made a little lovelier. Tip a glass or few of these fine wines and let their euphoric glow bring a sparkling sense of well-being to sunny and blustery days alike. Also they're super-cheap.

Commissioned to write 1500 words on “global warming and the SA wine industry. How rising temperatures have affected wines and farming methods locally and what will it bring further” my thoughts have been somewhat focussed of late. Although writing from a cold and rainy Cape Town, it’s hard to believe in global warming – especially [...]

Should wine’s first duty be to pleasure the senses or to stimulate the brain? Manfred Krankl, Sine Qua Non (Central Coast, California). My knee-jerk reaction is to say "pleasure the senses" because to me, at the very core of it all, that is what wine's essential function is. Particularly if one ventures beyond the very high-end wine market. I know a number of people who are not wine geeks; they do not study the subject or get too deeply into it all and so they certainly don't spend much money on wine, but they still get a lot of pleasure from a rather simple bottle. READ MORE »

Sub Regional Series. Wilyabrup, in this case. Made by Cliff The Biff Royle with cheese.

Source: Dallas Morning News May 22, 2013 By Rebecca Murphy Powers, Columbia Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 When Oklahoman Bill Powers saw eastern Washington in the late 1950s, he must have felt right at home. On the west side of the massive Cascade Mountain range, Seattle’s famous gray skies and lots of rain are the norm. But the east side is high desert — dry, with hot summers. In 1982, Powers and his son Greg planted their Badger Mountain Vineyard. They started converting their farming practices to organic and were certified in 1990. In addition to making wines from their estate grapes, they work with grape growers throughout the state to create well-priced, high-value wines. This Columbia Valley cabernet is a lot of wine for the money. It’s got plenty of plump and effusive blackberry, blueberry and black currant fruit, with an inkling of dried herbs. It’s medium-bodied with plenty of snappy acidity, finishing with dusty tannins. Serve it with barbecued ribs or a grilled steak.

May Showers (of Wine) Bring Happy HoursBuy a Chateau Epernay Corkscrew and you'll be able to open wine for people. What other gift could be better than THAT?It's such a lovely time of year - but not so lovely that it couldn't be made a little lovelier. Tip a glass or few of these fine wines and let their euphoric glow bring a sparkling sense of well-being to sunny and blustery days alike. Also they're super-cheap.

Please consider voting for steveheimoff.com for Best Overall Wine Blog. You can click here, then push the red “VOTE” button and scroll down. Voting is only open through this Friday. Thanks. * * * Loathe as I am the wander into the blood alcohol limit debate, I’m making an exception this time, to come out against the proposal to lower the drunken driving threshold to .05, down from its current .08. The idea is being floated by the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent agency of the U.S. government established in 1967 within the Department of Transportation. The NTSB plays an important part in keeping this country’s transportation infrastructure safe; for instance, it investigates airline and rail accidents. So I hope the government keeps them well-funded. It’s just that, this time, they’re wrong. The .08 limit was signed into law in by President Bill Clinton, who at the time called it “the biggest step to toughen drunk driving laws and reduce alcohol-related crashes since the national minimum drinking age was established a generation ago.” The law’s passing exemplified the growing power of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in the power halls of Washington, D.C., throughout the late 1990s. I have always had mixed feelings about any laws that curtail people’s freedom of behavior. Of course, we need a criminal code to keep people’s worst instincts from running amok, and there are many curtailments on human activities that are needed in order to protect the greater good and safety of our communities. The problem always is in defining precisely where the line should be drawn between freedom and government restriction. The recreational use of pot is a good example. I suppose the .08 limit made sense. It seems to have worked: traffic fatalities in this country caused by drunk drivers are down since then. In 1999, they numbered 15,786; by 2011, that number had fallen to 9,878, a significant reduction. (Although it’s also possible that other factors, such as safer cars and increased driver awareness, contributed to the decline.) So why not go this next step and lower the limit to .05? Couple reasons. For one, different people react differently to alcohol in the blood. There’s no question that alcohol, taken to excess, impairs driving ability, but it also seems obvious that millions of people have a drink or two and drive everyday, with no harmful results. A perfectly good, safe driver could find himself in jail simply for drinking a beer or two with lunch. Another reason I’m against the proposal is because I don’t like laws that nobody obeys, with no consequences of punishment. I don’t like HOV lanes because single drivers abuse them all the time, with little fear of getting stopped by the Highway Patrol. This disregard of laws makes laws less esteemed among the public, and when a nation disregards and disrespects its own laws, it’s on some kind of slippery slope. So why criminalize a behavior (moderate drinking and driving) that tens of millions of Americans are going to completely ignore anyway? It just makes a mockery of the concept of “law.” Moreover, the tests that measure blood alcohol are notoriously inaccurate. What if the machine says I’m .051 when I’m actually .049? How do I defend myself? Finally, why stop at .05? Why not come up with a law that prohibits any trace of alcohol in the blood, regardless of how low it is? If any drinking at all constitutes risk, then we should outlaw drinking and driving, period. I should add that I, personally, never drink and drive. I haven’t since 2001. Not even a half-glass of wine or beer. I simply can’t afford the price that a DUI or collision would cost me, financially, legally and reputationally. Whenever I’m out drinking, I’m with someone else who’s doing the driving, or I walk or take the subway. (It does get to be an inconvenience!) I understand the impulse to try and prevent all the death and injury we can. But I do think we need to draw the line someplace in our efforts to

May Showers (of Wine) Bring Happy HoursSweet Sparkling Riesling! That's what you can start yelling when something surprises you.It's such a lovely time of year - but not so lovely that it couldn't be made a little lovelier. Tip a glass or few of these fine wines and let their euphoric glow bring a sparkling sense of well-being to sunny and blustery days alike. Also they're super-cheap.