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The summer has been interesting, to say the least. I've been supervising the rehabilitation of a 200 year old building which is to become the new corporate headquarters for my latest financial venture. I've been working with friends of mine in the intel and military communities (congrats on those promotions!), and…I have been drinking wine. Maybe I've been drinking too much wine. With the consumption and all those other distractions, I haven't found much time to write. Maybe I can change that….Nah, probably not! Wino Bob emailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked me for tips on places to visit in Baltimore. I sent him a few, then asked him if he would be interested in joining S.A.W. Sharon and me for a tour of our hometown. After that, I didn't hear from him again. I guess he didn't get through the security checkpoints I assigned for the upgraded risk holiday weekend (or, he nabbed a private dinner with Robert Parker and chose not to invite his WinoStuff buddy). Anyway, Bob, that's all that I'll comment. I won't reveal any of the stuff you told me prior to the visit. I hope that none of the natives showed you the set of the Homicide TV show in an upclose and personal manner. Last weekend, prior to writing this article, I stocked up on some white wine. I have a cellar with a 2000 bottle capacity. Naturally, that means that all of my house guests expect me to have the latest and greatest wines available when they visit. Typically, S.A.W. Sharon and I keep about 30 bottles of white wine in our 55 bottle wine cooler in the kitchen. Since the majority of our neighbor visitors imbibe the white stuff (better than when we moved in years ago and they imbibed the pink stuff), we try to keep a ready supply upstairs to avoid the trip downstairs (where we keep the really good stuff!!). Well, with the weather somewhat rainy this summer, we were home most weekends instead of travelling to the beach. Quickly, the upstairs supply disappeared. Then, I was dipping into my downstairs supply. Before I knew it, I was sharing my last bottles of Landmark's Lorenzo, Chateau St. Jean's Robert Young Vineyard and others. I decided that quick and decisive action was necessary, so I made a trip to my local wine purveyor, Corridor Wines in Laurel, Maryland, and purchased 84 bottles of various whites. One of my favorites, Sonoma Loeb Chardonnay, was sold out, so I bought less than a 90 day supply (S.A.W. Sharon can keep up with Wino Bob, so yes, 84 bottles will go in about 60 days or so). Some of the wines I bought were: Kendall Jackson Reserve Chardonnay (at $8.99 a bottle, this keeps the less-than-enthusiastic wine imbibers away from the really good stuff), Edgewood Reserve Chardonny, Apex Chardonnay (a fairly robust chardonnay from Washington State), Chateau St. Jean Robert Young Chardonnay, Chateau de Chamirey (a very good French Chardonnay since I usually go West Coast and a steal at $15.99 per bottle), Toasted Head Chardonnay, La Crema Chardonnay, and Trefethen Chardonnay. Check out some of these if you're looking for a decent white wine. Wino John and I played a few rounds of golf together at the WinoStuff golf outing in Ocean City, MD. We didn't invite Wino Bob since he's been known to hit the sauce before completing his round (say it isn't so, Bob!), but we had a good time anyway. There were a number of Jersey residents in this year's open and Tom and Dan will be two guys that John and I will party with again. Of course, no one compares to one of the first Jersey guys to compete, Wino Guido. Wino Guido claimed that he owned the cement company that poured cement for the construction of Giants' Stadium in the Meadowlands and that it was possible that the Boss (Hoffa, not the other boss) could have been memorialized in the end zone. We know that Wino Bob has a few friends to lay claim to the same duty, so we'll not try to claim that Wino Guido was right or wrong. He was entertaining, however. The September 30 issue of the Wine Spectator featured an article by Matt Kramer claiming that the next really big red wine would be Syrah. Matt, Spec, where were you two years ago when Wino Bob named 2001 as the Year of the Syrah? Maybe you were reading 'Stuff and needed to put some distance between 'Stuff and your article in the Spec. Anyway, there's nothing new in the Spec that hasn't already been covered in 'Stuff. Lastly, I bought a place in West Virginia this spring. Essentially, I needed an East Coast distribution point for shipping wine home and staying legal. It's a felony to ship wine to Maryland, but it's perfectly legal in West Virginia (as long as you're 21). North Carolina and South Carolina just legalized shipping two cases a month to individuals. When are the other doufuss states going to wise up? Keep up with the latest through our link to Free the Grapes. Wino Wally |