Posts belonging to Category I.M.H.O.

"Red wine makes them live longer, but they get to be a real pain."

This blog supports exploring your feeeelings especially as they apply to wine consumption and appreciation. A questionnaire was recently presented to us that helps all of us consider how our wine fascination came to be and how it is progressing. tBoW share his replies below and encourage you the reader to share your own feeelings here in the safety of our little community among friends of our palates.

A true wine geek goes through the following spiritual stages: (more…)

We were recently struck by two moments of clarity. The scene is a popular Malibu dining establishment where some of the ‘Bu winemakers hang. Our company that evening was Napa winemaker Jim Moore of Uvaggio who at one point was having a conversation about grapes with a local Pinot producer. She asked how many cases he made in 2009 and he said 6,000, “a small number.” He asked and she answered she made 45 cases in 09 to which Jim replied “that’s a hobby isn’t it?” Later the same week when I called Jim on the phone he asked me to call back because he was “loading a truck with cases.” Got me to thinking…what is it like to be a full time winemaker on a day to day basis in 2010? (more…)

All of a sudden I am totally bored with wine. All I think about when it comes to wine is how I do not want to think about it at all. I still like drinking wine. I am just out of gas when it comes to describing the experience or even caring about it.

Maybe it is because we are at the end of a summer that hardly got started. Maybe it is because I have decided to drink less for health reasons. Before I get an email about the French Paradox let me make my position clear right now…who cares. Wait…it gets worse. (more…)

When it comes to Pinot Noir we are entering unchartered territory, if you will, irregardless of goodness of fit. Pinot Noir, like “common” language, is becoming absurdly stylized and impossible to understand. In the attempt to create individually expressive Pinot Noir wines that can win big Parker Points, a phalanx of PN wines has emerged that does not taste like Pinot Noir while at the same time tastes remarkably alike. Either my palate is becoming more finicky or there are more and more of these big fruit big alcohol Parkerized fiascos.
The whole movement to re-make Pinot Noir as a new world vision began when the alcohol levels crossed 14.5%. The tBoW has tasted a Pinot Noir above 16%. tBoW liked it! as the excessive alcohol was balanced by the excessive fruit. Kind of like hippoes in toe shoes. The flavors one associates with Pinot Noir are barely present in high alcohol Pinot Noir. (more…)

[ed. tBoW webmeister Dr. Dionysus practices Chinese Medicine in his "pro" life. He shares some wisdom concerning balance in life and wine drinking.]
In the practice of Chinese Medicine the topic of lifestyle choices and their impact on health comes up on a regular basis.
Our lives can be shortened and otherwise undermined by choices such as a sedentary lifestyle, smoking cigarettes, and of course drinking. Healthy choices include the obvious ones such as exercising, quitting or not smoking and not drinking. However, a balanced lifestyle also recognizes that enjoying life also contributes to a longer and happier life.
That’s why I use the 80/20 rule. If you really want to prevent disease, live a long healthy life, etc., simply do the right thing 80% of the time, and the remaining 20% go ahead and drink wine. I still think you should get off your butt and put out the other butts, but enjoying life and drinking wine have both been shown to interact well, so 20% seems like a reasonable apportion. As long as you balance with the 80%. (more…)