Wine around the world

We interrupt your normal levelheaded Vinography programming with the following outraged rant.

Listen up wine industry folks, this whole state fair thing has gone on long enough and it just needs to stop. If I hear one more winery boasting that their Zinfandel won a gold medal at the Butte County fair, and silver at the Cal State Expo, I think I'm going to be sick.

And listen up wine consumers, while I explain to you how utterly ridiculous and meaningless these awards are, and how you should never use them as part of your decision for purchasing a wine.

What I am about to tell you is why, by the way, you shouldn't join the hordes of people who rushed to Trader Joes yesterday after it was announced that Two Buck Chuck Chardonnay won a double gold at the California State Fair wine competition (most every Trader Joe's is sold out of Chardonnay as a result anyway, so you're late to the game no matter what).

State and county fair medals and awards for wine are not entirely bogus, but are close enough that everyone should completely ignore them. I trust a medal from a county fair about wine, about as much as I trust my vegan friends' recommendations on what restaurants I'd enjoy in San Francisco. Which is to say, not even as far as I could throw them.

First of all, I need a show of hands from the folks that actually regularly go to state fairs. Now I need a show of hands for people who have actually watched any of the judging of competitions that goes on at these state fairs. Now I need a show of hands of people who have actually entered things into these competitions.

I'm betting there aren't a lot of hands raised out there, but I'll tell you what. Mine is. I've spent an awful lot of time at state and county fairs in my day, so listen up: the so called "competitions" that take place at these fairs and the awards they give out are exercises in mediocrity and the constraints of a limited playing field.

The primary reasons why no one should ever pay attention to an award given to a wine by some sort of fair:

1. While some of the biggest fairs actually get professional wine critics and winemakers to be judges, many of the judges for these wine competitions are simply folks who just work in the industry, or even worse, sometimes are just people who "enjoy" wine.

2. Every fair I've been to has got about 1000 different categories of competition for each general area of judging. Entrants don't compete for the best wine, or the best red wine, they compete for the best Zinfandel, or maybe even worse, the best old vine Zinfandel. This matters because...

3. Often times there are only a few entries in each category. These competitions are not demonstrations of the best products or talent out there, they are demonstrations of choosing among the best of the (sometimes awful) products entered. While on occasion I have seen fairs decline to give out awards when there are an egregiously small number of entrants (say, less than three) but generally they give out an award no matter what. So winning a gold medal can be simply a matter of being the least crappy entrant in a field of three.

4. Did I mention that the only wines that get evaluated are wines that are deliberately entered by potential competitors? This is a problem at ALL such wine competitions, no matter where they are. The title of "best wine" at such and such competition should NEVER be given much credence by consumers since we have no idea who that wine was competing with. At state and county fairs, this is a huge problem, as it is very unlikely that any category of wine has a "representative" sample of wines to judge against.

5. Oh, did I mention that the wines sent to these competitions are sent by the wineries themselves. You only need to see what happened at the New Zealand Cuisine wine awards to understand the issues with this approach. And can you believe that the folks at the New Zealand competition actually test the wines that are sent to them against samples purchased from retail store shelves to make sure they are the same? Guess how often the California State Fair has ever done that? Right. Never, ever, ever. If you think that every winery simply just pulls a random bottle out of one of their cases that is destined for Joe's Liquor Mart to send to these wine competitions, I've got a bridge in Napa to sell you.

So far be it for me to deny Fred Franzia his upset victory, and the last thing I would want to do is imply that he sent extra special wine to the competition.

But I do want to say that I tend to agree with my friend Jack, who expressed his amazement at the news to me this way: "They should just fire all those judges and start over."

Wineries, stop bragging about your medals and start telling people interesting things about you and your wine, and how and why you make it. Consumers, do yourself a favor and ignore any piece of wine marketing that talks about fair medals. Though you might start noticing the very limited overlap between wines that get scores or good reviews by any wine critic (take your pick) and those that get medals. Coincidence? Well, let's just say that you don't see really good restaurants setting up booths at county fairs for a reason. They don't have to.

The Hidden Mountain

"This image was shot with a special lens that tilts and shifts, a feature that changes the relationship between the front piece of glass and the back piece of glass. Essentially it gives me the ability to set a shallow focus for the image right where I want it. In this case, I was focusing on the two mountaintops. I love the way the back mountain is peeking through the fog and the light."-- Michael Regnier

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking (Mac users, click and hold) on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image and drag it to your desktop.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality print of this image, or any of the other vineyard images featured here on Vinography, you can purchase one on the Michael Regnier Photography web site for $85.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Every Thursday, Vinography features a new image from photographer Michael Regnier for readers' personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect Michael's copyright on these images.

When I think of Italy as a wine producing country, I tend to think to think of it as ancient. It is the home of thousands of indigenous varieties of grapes, and people have been making wine for centuries, sometimes in the very same spot for dozens of generations. This is certainly true in many of the most established and famous of Italy's wine regions. What I tend to forget is that there are other wine regions which are relatively new, in which the standards for what is good and what is not are still being defined by every new vintage.

Tuscany's Maremma is one such region. Mild and coastal, this section of Italy (like pretty much anywhere in the country that has been constantly populated throughout history) has had some grapes grown in it for centuries, but as a wine producing region it was essentially inconsequential until as recently as 30 years ago. This was mostly because up until the early part of the 20th century it was a swamp filled with bandits and clouds of malarial mosquitoes.

But in recent decades the Maremma has started to pique the interest of some Tuscan winemakers attracted to the mild, consistent weather. In 1994 the Bolgheri DOC appellation was established, largely on the reputation of Sassicaia and Ornellaia, the two most famous wines from the region, and the area became a heavy target for investment and winery development.

Interested has cooled slightly, and some very interesting wines are emerging from the region, among which are the wines from the brand-spanking-new estate of Enrico Santini. Santini set up shop as a newcomer in just the last few years, carving out a small 30 acres of vineyards amongst the much larger estates in the Bolgheri DOC. In contrast to some of these bigger wineries, Santini makes his wine in his basement and his garage, earning him the designation as the first Bolgheri garagiste winemaker.

No one would have paid much attention to a young guy with a tiny plot of vineyards and some wine barrels in his garage, except that in his first two years of making wine, with grapevines bearing their first usable fruit, Santini was awarded the coveted Tre Bicchieri award from the Gambero Rosso wine guide for one of his wines.

Needless to say, people are paying a lot of attention to Santini now, even though he is only on his sixth vintage at this point. Santini is a native of the region, having grown up in the village of Castagneto Carducci, and he has settled in with the assuredness of someone whose boots are familiar with the land. He planted his own vineyards from scratch on virgin soil, and planted only as many vines as he thought he could realistically tend to himself. He farms his gentle hillside plots of grapes biodynamically, which pretty much ensures that as their sole guardian, he is out amongst his vines from first light to well past sunset almost every day.

Santini makes three wines, a white, and two reds, one of which is more Sangiovese based, and this Supertuscan style red which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and a small amount of Sangiovese. For his red wines, Santini vinifies and ages each varietal separately before assembling the final blend.

The grapes are babied by hand from the vine to the vat, where they undergo an extended maceration period of an amazing 20-28 days on average, before primary fermentation. The wine ages in French oak barrels for 18 months where it undergoes a secondary fermentation. It is aged for another year in the bottle before release. 1400 cases produced.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample

Tasting Notes:
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a rustic nose of leather and barnyard aromas that lean towards the horsey end of the spectrum, but hold back from being unpleasant in their pungency. Once in the mouth, however, the wine shows excellent balance and a lovely concoction of boysenberry, blueberry and earthy flavors. Light tannins offer some muscle without sacrificing smooth drinkability, which is certainly one of the best features of this wine. A pleasant finish rounds off a very pleasant trip across the palate.

Food Pairing:
I'd love to drink this wine with the classic tripe alla fiorentino (tripe in spicy tomato sauce), though it would go equally well with a classic tuscan grilled veal chop with rosemary and olive oil.

Overall Score: 8.5/9

How Much?: $52, though occasionally deals can be found for much cheaper.

This wine is available for purchase on the internet. Santini's wines are imported by VINTUS imports.

Brothers and sisters, gather round and hear me! I stand before you today, as I have many days before, with the demand that you elevate yourselves for a moment out of the toils and troubles of your daily lives.

I know. I know.

We are not accustomed, in this day and age of endless work, constant travails, and countless other demands on our time, to stepping away from all of this in order that we might contemplate the beauty and the terror of the world in which we live.

For many of us, a sacred glass of wine, enjoyed in quiet solitude or with those who mean the most to us, is the closest we get to a reprieve from the dust storm of our daily existence. And who among us has not simply enjoyed that glass, and all the magic it contains, with little thought or consideration for what serendipity of season and coincidence of climate conspired to forge that wine through the crucible of yet another vintage from the earth.

I am here today to tell you that we are all sinners. Each and every one of us with that glass upon our lips. We all commit the sins of ignorance and of complacency. For while we succor ourselves and take pleasure in the fruit of the vine, we do not often acknowledge that we partake of something that is larger than the workings of human hands and minds.

Brothers and sisters we are all recipients of great gifts from Mother Nature. In every glass we find, yes, the hard work of many men and women, but that is not all. Beyond the winemaking there is always something more, something that Mother Nature gives, and something, brethren, that she also takes away.

Nature speaks to us and through us every day. And whenever Nature speaks she speaks with power. Her language is at once both familiar and also far beyond the ken of mortal men and women. We do not know from whence the wind comes, only that it blows both hot and cold, and we are buffeted.

This week, that wind blew cold across the promised land. And from the heavens, ice rained down upon the most young and tender of vines, wreaking havoc. Without warning and without reason.

Cote Rotie. Alsace. Mythical names that we have praised with voices joined together in rapture. Today destroyed by hail.

A dark cloud has passed before the sun, casting our vintage in shadow.

As devoted followers of the vine, we must humble ourselves in the face of Nature's vicissitudes. This is not the first, nor the last time that the aims of man and the vagaries of weather have been at cross purposes. We must accept it, for there is nothing else to do.

But in our acceptance, let there be compassion -- compassion for those who toil in the path of the storm. Those who labor against the difficult odds of the world in service of the higher good. To these good men and women, whose lives and livelihoods are even now -- amidst turmoil, disappointment, and financial strife -- in service of the higher good, let us give thanks.

And let us also give thanks for the opportunity to cherish that which we might not have considered; to value what we might have just as easily ignored; to celebrate those gifts for which we too often receive without thinking.

Wine is a privilege and a sacrament, and we should never forget it. Join me in the silent enjoyment of a glass together, that we may lend our dearest thoughts to those in need.

Let us drink.

.

All of us wine lovers inevitably discover, in the course of our explorations, our own secret wineries. These are the wines that we hold close to our chest, revealing them to those with whom we share only our choicest of morsels, which often include such things as parking spaces, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and great movies and books.

As I'm in the business of sharing great wine with readers all the time, I can't really afford to hold much back. But I'd be lying if I told you I had reviewed or written about all my most favorite wineries around the world. Some of them I've just not gotten around to yet, and others are just easier to put off writing about with the excuse of wanting to come up with just the right way to talk about them.

But as I'm a blogger, rather than a print journalist, I lack the luxury of thoughtfully composed, well researched, professionally edited prose. The conceit of a considered essay is a blogger's fantasy, for the most part. Instead I scrape an hour or two of my day together out of 15 minute snippets and toss out raw thoughts about the things I care most about, including those secrets that a better writer might spend months deciding how to frame.

Lang and Reed Wine Company is simply one of those labels that represents everything I wish Napa might become over time. Or perhaps put another way, they are something I hope Napa never manages to lose.

Run by John and Tracey Skupny, Lang and Reed winery represents the culmination of a love affair with Cabernet Franc that is perhaps outlasted only by John and Tracey's own romance, which began back when both of them were just teenagers in Missouri, and carried them on adventures together on shoestring budgets throughout Europe after they both graduated from college. From the Midwest to the Loire and many places in between, the Skupnys finally settled down in the town of St. Helena in the Napa Valley to raise a family and to slowly cultivate the idea that maybe, just maybe, someone could survive making wines that contained solely Cabernet Franc. Yeah, they thought that was a pretty insane idea, too.

John Skupny had the length of a whole career in Napa to consider the possibility. Over the past twenty years he has worked for more than twenty five vineyards in the Napa Valley in some capacity or other, but perhaps most notably, he served as the Marketing and Sales Director for Caymus, the President of Clos du Val, and the General Manager of Niebaum-Coppola winery.

It was during his tenure at Niebaum-Coppola that his obsession with Cabernet Franc finally took hold in a way that was impossible to ignore. Plantings of the varietal in the valley were solid and mature, and many vineyards were turning out some great fruit, which everyone promptly blended back into their Cabernet Sauvignon almost without a second thought. But John, with a soft spot in his heart for the Loire wines of Chinon and Bourgueil (and probably some great memories of romantic evenings with Tracey in Angers, France) decided that Cabernet Franc deserved a voice of its own -- a little solo gig in a town dominated by big acts like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and their various ensembles.

So in 1996, John and Tracey began arranging contracts for small amounts of grapes from at first, one or two, and then later, close to a dozen of the best growers of Cabernet Franc in the valley. Their goal was simple: to make a wine that showed what their favorite varietal was capable of in California, and that they would love to drink themselves. They named the wine after their two sons, J. Reed and Jerzy Lang, and did everything themselves, from grape sorting to slapping the labels on the bottles.

And for the last ten years, they've pretty much been doing the same thing. John, an art school graduate who got into the wine business on the bottom run of the ladder (retail), and climbed his way up, takes care of the winemaking, while Tracey takes care of the sales and marketing. When they have time, the two sons pitch in as well, but mostly they help drink the wine.

The Lang and Reed vision for what Cabernet Franc should be is unique not only for its singularity -- up until last year's first ever bottling of a Bordeaux blend, the label made only Cabernet Franc -- but also for its approach to the varietal. One of the reasons that Cabernet Franc is most often used as a blending grape is that it can very easily be turned into a wine with great aromatics, excellent texture, and completely unremarkable presence on the palate. In describing this phenomenon, John will sometimes refer to the "mid-palate hole" that can occur when Cabernet Franc is treated like Cabernet Sauvignon and dumped into exclusively brand new French oak barrels.

Lang and Reed's approach to the varietal is to treat the grape delicately, almost as if it were the thin skinned Pinot Noir: picking carefully to avoid over-ripeness, fully destemming, fermenting whole berries, gently pressing, and aging in mostly neutral oak. The result is a wine that trades the leathery, stiff tannins that can be typical for the Cabernet Franc for a juiciness and accessibility that make Lang and Reed's wines a pleasure to drink. A certain amount of age worthiness is probably sacrificed for this approach, but the wines retain an acidity and a subtle tannic structure that will certainly keep them evolving for some time.

The winery produces around 2500 cases of wine each year in two primary bottlings -- a Napa designated Cabernet Franc, and a reserve bottling named "Premiere Etage" which gets a slightly more traditional winemaking regimen (extended maceration, etc.) and is aged for at least 24 months in mostly neutral oak, but with an occasional new barrel thrown into the mix. The winery occasionally produces a tiny amount of ros�, and much to my delight will soon be making small quantities of a Bordeaux blend called "Right Bank," which was produced only for charity auctions in the past, and has been some of my favorite barrel sampled wine over the last couple of years.

Careful readers will also note that the 2005 wine below has an appellation designation of North Coast, which is the AVA that includes all the winegrowing counties north of San Francisco (Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma, and Solano). The reason for the change in 2005 was simple -- some great fruit sources that fell outside the Napa valley boundary.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2005 Lang and Reed Cabernet Franc, North Coast
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a juicy nose of plum and blackberry aromas. In the mouth it is lively and round with a nice balance, imperceptible tannins, and expectantly juicy flavors of cherry, redcurrant, and spicy notes that merge with faint flower essences that linger into a long finish. This is Cabernet Franc as only California can make it. 2290 cases produced. 9/9.5. $20 Where to Buy?

2004 Lang and Reed Cabernet Franc, Napa
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a shifting nose of mixed red berry compote that at times smells like cherries, raspberries, and even for a brief moment, strawberries. These aromas are underscored by a faint scent of flowers that manifests more strongly in the body of the wine, which is a nice combination of cherry, plum, and wet dirt flavors that bounce on a backbone of great acidity and mix with the floral high notes through the finish. 1924 cases produced. 9 $20 Where to Buy?

2003 Lang and Reed "Premier Etage" Cabernet Franc, Napa
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a more classic Cabernet Franc nose of cherries and violets. In the mouth it offers pure, linear cherry flavors that are bursting with acidity, and incorporate floral and other red fruit flavors, mixed with an oddly pleasant grapeyness. This fruit high-note, if you will, is married to deeper, richer flavors of dirt that make for an interesting taut dynamic that lasts in an impressive finish. A unique and immensely pleasurable wine, that grabs you (gently) by the lapels and insists you have another glass. 366 cases produced. 9.5 $36 Where to Buy?

2002 Lang and Reed "Premier Etage" Cabernet Franc, Napa
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of tobacco, cherry, and fresh violet aromas. On the palate it is juicy and dynamic with cherry, tobacco, cedar and spice flavors that make for a m�lange of great finesse. Medium bodied, this wine manages to have the richness of Napa without the weight and the tannic baggage of many of its peers. Delicious. 334 cases produced. 9/9.5 $36 Where to Buy?

The atmosphere of wine bars can vary as wildly as the flavors and aromas of wine, ranging from pub-like and raucous to modern and reserved. Somewhere in between is a zone that is distinctively cozy, and it is here that the little nook known as The Hidden Vine can be best described. If there weren't a sign outside saying it is a wine bar, patrons walking down the stairs from the entrance off Cosmo Place in Nob Hill might think themselves mistakenly entering the drawing room of a private club.

Plush chairs, coffee tables, and ornate paisley carpet are ensconced within yellow and cream colored walls lit by candles and muted colored lampshades. It would be easy for this same interior to feel stuffy under different circumstances, but the casual pile of wine magazines in the corner, small figures made out of wine corks on the mantelpiece, and quirky design elements like the faux stained glass windows out to the street make The Hidden Vine feel more like a room in someone's home than anything else.

That home, or at least the homey feel, is the responsibility of David and Angela Cahill, relatively recent transplants from the East Coast who decided to leave their careers as consultants for their love of food and wine. You'll quite often find one or both of them at your service as you settle down for a quiet drink with friends or take one of the few seats at the tiny wooden bar, and this is a very good thing. Both owners have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the wines they offer, and are very good at helping patrons navigate their way to something enjoyable.

The Hidden Vine's wine list is made up of a set of selections grouped around a given theme that changes monthly, plus a more static bottle list, some of which can be ordered by the glass. On my most recent visit, the theme was wines from the Loire Valley in France, represented by four whites, two sparkling, and three red wines that were available by the glass, by the bottle, and in one of several flights of two to three wines. In addition to the Loire wines, a flight of Tempranillo based wines was also on offer, as well as a couple of two-wine comparison flights that offered an opportunity to try the flavors of the new world and the old world side by side.

The bottle list offers fifty or sixty wines from around the world, with an emphasis on California and with a bias towards lesser known producers. It's rare that I see California producers on a wine list that I've never heard of before, but there were two or three on there that I had to make a mental note to look up when I got home. Refreshingly, the bottle list also includes some wines that have a little more age on them (we're not talking library wines here, just some 2000 and 2001 vintages) instead of being chock full of only the latest releases that are too young to be drinking well.

Annoyingly, the menus only offer wines by the full six ounce pour or as a flight of three two ounce pours, but luckily the owners are more than happy to offer any wine by the half-glass as well. All the wines ordered by the glass come in large, varietally appropriate glasses, and are served up with as little or as much supplementary information as you care to inquire after from the owners.

Should you want something to eat with your wine, a selection of (pleasingly above average) domestic and imported gourmet cheeses are available, along with charcuterie selections -- each accompanied by a generous pile of sliced baguette rounds, dried fruit, and an interesting fruit and spice chutney. Chocolates are also available for those who are looking to indulge a sweet tooth.

The vibe at the Hidden Vine can best be described as low key. True to its name, this little wine bar lives a somewhat secretive existence in the back corner of the Fitzgerald Hotel, and can easily feel like your own private club on slow nights, a welcome reprieve from the bustle and grime of the nearby theatre district.

WINE LIST:

STEMWARE:

SERVICE:

FOOD:

ATMOSPHERE:

OVERALL:

The Hidden Vine
1/2 Cosmo Place (at Taylor Street)
or 620 Post Street (map)
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-674-3567

Open Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00 PM until Late (Midnight during the week, and 2:00 AM Fridays and Saturdays). No reservations accepted or required.

Street parking is tough, but there is a valet lot just outside the entrance on Cosmo Place (shared with nearby Le Colonial restaurant. The bar is also within a block of MUNI lines 2, 3, 4, and 38 and is about 1.5 blocks from the Powell-Hyde and Mason-Powell Cable Car lines.

Dress is casual.

Well, boys and girls. I'm off to England/Scotland, and I don't know when I'll be able to access this blog until I get back on July 4. I imagine I'll be able to connect at least once a week or so, but in case I can't, I'm making this post sticky.

While I'm gone, here's a few things to keep you occupied:

My Highlights

These are on the sidebar of my blog, but those of you new to the blog you might want to gander through some of these.

General gamingLearn to Love Board Games Again:100+ Ways to Rejuvenate the Games You Already Own3 Stories that Games Tell4 Challenges That Games Provide5 Games You Need to Play to Live Well5 Qualities of a Good Gamer7 Steps to Creating Quality10 Favorite Board Games, My10 Important Aspects of a Game10 Most Expensive Board Games in the World10 Reasons You Should Be Playing Board Games40 Strangest Board Games Released in 200650 steps to a healthy gaming life1200+ Monopoly VersionsAlternatives to Winners and Losers in Competition: 1 2 3 4 5
6 7Are Games Art?BGG.con Report: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19Board Game Blog Links: 20 21Call for Open Source Board GamingCelebrities Who Play Board GamesThe Commonality of all Tabletop GamesEthics in Gaming: 1 2 3 4 5 6 How (and Why) to Play with Your Child in Six StepsHow to Stop Wasting Your Life and Start Playing GamesHumor: A Gamer's HaggadahHumor: An Interview with The DesignerHumor: Player Type QuizMy Son Tries to Play Wargames with MeNational Board and Card Games in Various CountriesStrategic Games: Computers vs HumansThoughts on Gaming ObsessionThoughts on StrategyThoughts on Why We Play GamesWhat is Good Play?Tech10 Lesser Known Secrets of BloggingAre Blogs Art?Board and Card Game Patents 2006: 06 07 08 09 10 11 12; 2007: 01 02 03 04Candaian Copyright Code, in VerseCatalog of Absurd Future Copyrights and PatentsHow to Ruin Your Son's Computer GamesThe Interchangeability of All ThingsMy history with electronic games: 1 2 3 4The State of Music Industry Lawsuits in IsraelThe U.S. Armed Forces code, in verseThe U.S. Copyright code, in verseThe U.S. Patent code, in verseThe U.S. Trademark code, in verseWeb 3.0Literature and Parodies50 Original Six-Word StoriesA Mad Game Club (Lewis Carrol)d6 or not d6 (Hamlet)Encounter: A cyberpunk short story. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Game Koans (Zen)The Gamer's Wife (Edgar Allen Poe)Games and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)The Love Song of J Random Wargamer (T.S. Eliot)The Ludonimicron (H. P. Lovecraft)Roll Against Your Wisdom To Post Here (Samuel Coleridge)Metamophosis (Kafka - humor)Session Report (Tolkein, etc...)Shake, Rattle, and Roll (Merchant of Venice)Tennyson would have played Seafarers (Ulysses)Three By Emily (Dickinson)The Tragic Console Gamer's Tale (John Keats)A True Account of Talking to Monopoly (Frank O'Hara)Wargamer in a Eurogame Zone (humor)Misc54 things about meHow I plan to take over the worldIsrael, By Its ColorsPassover GreetingsYou're With YehudaSome other posts that I enjoyed writing but which are not on the highlights:Luck vs RandomnessGo and MusicSurprise in the Toy ShopPieces of GamesI Wandered Lonely as an AntA Bump in the RoadI'm So MeanThe Ballad of a Game of DvonnChoose your pawnI'm just bitching because nobody invited me to GoFSafety QuizStill waitingTop Ten Most Tiresome Items Found in Top Ten ListsHere and ThereMy Top Five Bad Interviews So FarHow Talking More Equals Saying Less50 Punchlines You Can Use For Your Next JokeThe Ten Trials of Abraham: A Drama for SukkotU. S. Armed Forces Code, in Verse: Chapter 47 (especially starting from verse 83)What's Making a Comeback?Nobody Ever Pays For ContentJudaism promoThe Absolutely Worst User Guide in the Entire WorldBreaking News: God Sues All IP HoldersHow To: Cross-Hiking the Appalachian TrailThe Designer's RulesOpponents say the darndest things before you squash 'emAlso check my sidebar for a list of other great blogs to enjoy while I'm gone.

Yehuda

So I’ve started getting together all the “stuff” I need to send away for my student visa, and I’m getting really excited about my exchange trip this September. I’ve also finished my application for “university-approved student flats”, and I found out that they won’t shove me into a residence building with a bunch of 18 year old guys (thanks again, U of M). Since I’ll be 21 they theoretically have to put me with 21+ year olds. When I found that out it made my day.

Yesterday was my Godson's 2nd birthday party. I swear he is the most intelligent 2 year old ever...and I'm not just saying that because I am related to him - though that probably has a lot to do with it. He can sing the ABC's in its entirety, and he also does a badass rendition of the Batman theme song. (nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana BATMAN!) Plus, he knows at least a dozen different colours and is almost fully potty trained. Yeah, it gives me faith in wanting to have children someday. Emphasis on the someday. Did I mention my sister gave me a lootbag after the party. Yes, I did accept it (you cannot turn down a lootbag...ever). The contents of the lootbag included (but were not limited to) : bubbles, pez candy, goldfish crackers, and marshmallow icecream cones. Great for both 2 year olds and 20 year olds.

I also found a dress for my sister’s graduation party. I know most of you reading don’t care, but for those of you who do (Katie and Trista) it is polka dot and cuts off just below the knee—classy AND fashion forward (well, maybe not forward but at least modern)! Then again, anything I would wear would be considered classy and conservative when I’m at a family function with my three sisters and mother present…some of you have witnessed this first hand already. I'm still waiting forone of them to have a Janet Jackson slip.

My guitar skills are still shit (go figure), and it probably doesn’t help my self confidence when I listen to Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton all afternoon. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will forever and always be a Beatles chord style kind of player. I suppose it will be one less thing to pack when I’m gone for 9 months.

Lastly, I should mention that if I am in a bitchy mood for the entire month of July that it is not my fault—my two brothers are coming to stay with us. Couple that with my stepmother’s sister and her husband and three kids coming for 2 weeks, plus the guy staying with us from Holland, and then my sister, stepbrother, half-brother, and dad and I…that’s what, 14 people? Yeah, I think I will be working as much as possible…perhaps they will be lending my room out anyway.

I was thinking of hosting another B.Y.O.B bonfire this coming Friday, but I’m not sure what time everyone is working until. Let me know. Oh, and this time there will be no Guinness or Heineken supplied. There will, however, be Van Gogh vodka that I will probably share with someone if they choose to be polite.  :)

Yes, you can now legally buy absinthe in the United States for the first time since 1912. The U.S. Alcohol-Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has okayed people to chase the green faerie all you want.For those of you not in the know, absinthe is a spirit the main ingredients of which are grand wormwood, green anise, and florence fennel. It's a very strong spirit with the proof hitting about 124. There are multiple ways to drink absinthe, but it's usually diluted with something, typically ice-cold water poured over a sugar cube.

If you would like to thank anyone for the legalizing of absinthe, thank the friendly people at Lucid. They convinced the U.S Alcohol-Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau that absinthe wasn't any more harmful than any other alcohol.

Lucid hit stores this past week. A 750-milliliter bottle will run you about $59.95. Lucid is one of the highest quality absinthes on the market, well worth the buy. I'm very intrigued to see whether absinthe becomes as popular as it once was. I know that a few of my friends will be very excited.

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