Richard, thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you found us, and we appreciate the encouragement. If you watched our show on the Vinturi, you know we agreed that it worked, but didn't like the mess it made or the price tag. There has since been a flood of competing products at better prices. We haven't tested them specifically, but some of them look like pretty good designs. You might give them a look before you sink $30+ into the vinturi.

I promised pictures....

I found a great little photographer's portfolio of pictures here.

And Aegeaadventures posted a travel video / montage on youtube here.

Best I can do for now. Back to work...

Notes on the Boutari Santorini...

Lemon rind, green apple flesh, hot baked bread, honey, pine needles, and brine / sea air on the nose. On the palate: lemon, melon, white flowers, and again... brine. All of this comes at you in layers throughout a respectably long finish. The sea air quality really gets me... it's an Islay Scotch drinker's sort of white wine.

Obligatory 100 Point Score: 93+. But really, why does a wine like this need a score. What are we comparing it to. If you haven't tried one of these (and I hadn't prior to this), this one is worth a go.

While I had read a little bit about Jeff before the interview, I really had no idea going in what a winery chef did. I thought it was pretty educational. And yeah, I guess it was a little slower paced than other interviews. I knew it was a bad day to switch to decaf. C'est la vie.

As for the production (and thanks for noticing), we got to put our location lighting skills into action for this one. It's a whole lot of "How does that look.... Ok, how about now?" But it turned out pretty good.

Thanks for stopping by. Yes, we only post a couple of episodes a month right now. We started out more ambitious, but it just kind of ended up this way. I think it's more entertaining in small doses anyway. It's been my experience that people who listen to me babble on about wine every day are far less entertained by what I have to say.

Yes it was filmed on the same day. Same bad light, same bad hair. But it's hard to pin down Chris to film episodes these days. He's just too busy traveling the world teaching impoverished children to read.

I do still recommend the Oxford Companion, but only if you plan on investing the time to become a serious wine dork. It's kind of the difference between seeing a Star Wars movie and liking it vs. knowing the names of uncredited characters and owning the action figures. At the moment, I'm reading Clive Coates' newly revised "The Wines of Burgundy." No action figures yet, but the day may come.

I had completely forgotten about the T-shirts. But the holidays are right around the corner...

Yes. While general pairing rules still apply, an aged wine becomes subtler, more integrated, and less tannic. Milder food choices become a safer bet. So, for example, you might pair a young Washington Cab with a charcoal grilled strip steak rubbed with black pepper, and topped with a bourbon molasses butter; but after 10 years in bottle, you might consider a simple roast instead. This is not to say that great care need be taken with every bottle of well-aged wine. Some wines will stay tight and retain their primary fruit longer than others. A ten year-old wine that was designed to age gracefully may still be sturdier than a 2 year-old wine that was not.

Now the bad news... not all wine should be considered for long-term cellaring. Even if they've been kept in ideal conditions, your bottles of Columbia Crest may well be over the hill. I took a quick look at www.cellartracker.com, and there appears to be hope for the Cab. The Cab-Merlot may be dicey. If you're opening these for guests, be sure to have a backup bottle. In either case, be sure to decant as there may be significant sediment.