les saisons de la vie

So this blog entry isn't about wine so much as it's about my life, because I wanted to share something with all of you. I found out recently that my boyfriend Julien has been offered a full internship on the set of a new movie shooting in Paris, starting in August. He'll be working with his brother, a very well known film editor in France, and learning about the entire movie making process. Since he's a film major at college, naturally he is stoked.
I'm very happy for him, but I'm not so thrilled that he'll be gone for at least 7 months an entire continent away. I'm going to visit him for a month in January, but still ... that's 6 months apart, minimum. We're determined to make it work, but I've never done something long distance before. I'm a little nervous about how it all works. Have any of you been involved in a long distance relationship, either short or long? Is there anything I should prepare for?
I'll be blogging every loving, painful and pining step of the way ... so be prepared for some lover's lament poetry on Poetry Slam Fridays. Because I'm going to miss him terribly.

poetry slam friday

deepening

your color's exposed
deeper, darker, richer, raw
skins create rubies

featured blogger: beau's barrel room

This week's featured blogger is Beau Carufel from Beau's Barrel Room. A resident of my home-to-be, San Diego CA, Beau is a young wine blogger who, like myself, prefers to write about wine in a fun and casual manner ... as opposed to being all stiff and stodgy with an upturned nose. He'll be at this year's Wine Blogger's Conference in San Diego on scholarship, so wish him luck! I can't go unfortunately because I have play rehearsals, so that means he'll just have to have enough fun for the both of us.

twn - the wino's carbon footprint

I recently read an interesting article on Treehugger.com about the carbon emissions's behind a bottle of wine or a pint of beer. Someone was asking their resident carbon emissions expert which is safer for the environment.
According to Pablo, the item with the least carbon emissions would be a locally-grown estate bottle of wine, since many of the carbon emissions come from shipping the grapes and/or wines to other areas and around the world on planes. Locally-grown and produced beers are also good, but apparently it's hard to find a brewery that will produce its own grains. It's also good to find organically-grown or biodynamic wines, since they don't use any pesticides or herbicides to make their wines. Also try and buy more screw top wines where possible, and recycle your corks!
However, Pablo does make it a point to state that no matter which one we drink, we're harming the environment in one way or another. Which is a good point to consider ... albeit a depressing one. So drink responsibly and make sure to treasure every last drop - Mother Nature is taking one for the team to let us drink delicious wine, so show your respects.

atw - more like FUNdue!

The other day I had a craving for fondue. A serious, serious craving. And as any true fondue fan knows, the craving for fondue can ONLY be satisfied with a delicious fondue. No cheese and crackers will substitute! So Julien and I went with his mother and sister to a little Swiss restaurant in Carmel CA to have some cheese fondue and raclette.
Since no fondue excursion would be complete without a delicious bottle of dry white wine to enjoy it with, we decided to order a bottle directly from the fondue motherland  ... Switzerland. The wine was a 2002 Domaine E. de Montmollin white wine from Bevaix, Switzerland ($32). The grapes were grown by Domaine de Chauvigny on the French side of Switzerland.

The color on this wine was a rich yellow, almost straw-like color. There was noticeable pear and Golden Delicious apple on the nose, as well as Meyer lemon and honeydew. The wine was quite dry but had a bit of a spritz on it as well. The mouth had honeydew melon with a tiny hint of grapefruit, Golden Delicious apples and a honey finish. It tasted great with the fondue, and wasn't bad with the chocolate fondue that followed for dessert! I would definitely recommend it for the next time you're thinking of having or making some fondue.
In other news, as you can see my Web site is officially open for business! Well, the main page and blog page are, anyway. The rest should be uploaded within the week. If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know.
Also, please check out my newest article for Palate Press about being a vegetarian wine taster. It's currently the featured article on the main Palate Press site. Yippee!

poetry slam friday

Well my Web site was finished for my class assignment, but now comes the really hard part of transferring it to my current domain. Had a bit of an incident trying to get it over, and now I have to start all over making it again. Damn damn damn! In the meantime here's a couple of poems for Poetry Slam Friday ... and here's a link to how the Web site will look in case you wanna see it: WELCOME TO WINO RHINO.

new season

the grapes are growing
leaves nestle into vines, quickly
how they become one

---

(this was a poem I submitted recently for an essay contest about how my generation of college students are "one in a million" ... see if you can catch the connect and comment if you find out!)

the definition of one

Open up our hands, our arms

Never cease, never stop

Everything is moving forward now

I dive in, feel our strength as warmth

Never cease, never stop

A single beat above the roar

Many faces turn to us

I realize where we are going

Listen to our

Longing for more than mediocrity

I stop and look at you for hope

Opening up your hands, your arms

Never cease, never stop

welcome to the circus!

Welcome to the new wino rhino! After months of painful work and preparation, I am finally ready to reveal my creation to all of you - a complete web blog and site that showcases who I am, what I do and where I plan on going in my life with the fabulous obsession called wine writing.
So to celebrate I did what any normal wine blogger would do ... I went wine tasting! One of the girls I work with wanted to go out wine tasting, so we headed to Carmel Valley and checked out a few places. One of my favorite Carmel Valley stops is Parsonage Family Winery, a Monterey County winery that produces some fantastic red wines. Their everyday red blends are fantastic for the price, and their Syrah is to die for.
Magically, the wine tasting room host turned out to be non other than Bill Parsons, the owner of Parsonage winery! This was the first time meeting him, although I'd tried his wines on numerous occasions ... so naturally it was quite a treat for me.

Pictured: me coaxing forcing him to pose for a pic :).

We were pretty fortunate to have him pouring the wine for us, because he gave us a real inside scoop into the winery and its fabulous wines. For example, he gave us a some nice juicy details on their delicious new wine, the 2007 Snosrap Cyrano Bordelais (gossip soon to follow). This unique and impressive wine, which boasts a rather high 15% alcohol content, consists of about 53% Cabernet with 22% Petit Verdot, 21% Merlot and 4% Malbec.
The result is a young but firm wine that smells strongly of sweet tobacco, cherries, a bit of curry and some unripened raspberry. The texture on the wine is a bit tight, probably because of the age, but it's actually quite easy to drink. The color is a deep fuschia with a mouth of black cherries, sweet oak, lavender, blackberries and a finish of cedar and tobacco. And it still carried that tiny bit of red curry on it with a tiny bit of herb and grass, which added well to the overall mix. I bought a bottle of this baby and took it home with me, where I am enjoying at this moment as I submit my final homework assignment for my digital media class.
But on to the juicy stuff! Turns out that this wine is .... ILLEGAL.

What a criminal.

Ooh, let the gossip ensue! According to Bill Parsons, it's illegal for him to call the wine a Bordelais, because Bordelais is related to the region of Bordeaux in France, which is a distinct wine region whose name cannot be used. So he's allowed to sell the wine in his tasting room, but it's not being sold in stores.
Kinda feels a bit like tasting some of that bathtub gin in Prohibition America during the 1920's ... so wrong, yet so right.
So if you happen to be in the area, I would definitely recommend picking up a few bottles of this bad boy. It's delicious and should age quite nicely, though if you're like me you're going to want to open it right away!
Also, please feel free to look around the new wino rhino Web site and check out all its wonders. Salut!