Life – As We Know It…

Life – As We Know It…

Its hard for me to behave, knowing that one day I am going to die. Every day I spend an hour eating in a small box, an hour playing with my kids in a small-medium box, an hour talking to my wife about my day in small boxes, two hours cleaning or organizing or getting ready for my days in small boxes, three hours driving in a very small box, six hours sleeping in a slightly bigger box, and finally ten hours sitting and working at a desk in another small box.  My life, love, connection, exploration, pleasure, challenge, triumph and defeat exist purely in a state of isolation from the diversity and wonder of the world at large. There is a lake high in the Sierras that sits atop a mountain.  At its south shore a sheer cliff opens up to a wide open valley.  In...

Ghost Pines 2008 Cabernet (Napa & Sonoma Blend)

Ghost Pines 2008 Cabernet (Napa & Sonoma Blend)

C ountry: USA State: California Region: North Coast Sub-Regions: 68% Napa County, 32% Sonoma County Label: Ghost Pines Varietal: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Petite Sirah, 1% Cabernet Franc Year: 2008 Aroma Blast of plum, overtone of raw bacon //hickory smokiness with a little lemon grass tang//. Taste Medium acidity, a little bite.  Not too peppery, a little bit of tobacco.  Hints of cassis, boysenberry and blackberry.  It is a little too filtered for my taste, I like my Cabs a little murky.  It is balanced, with light fruit, and bold but not too bold.  It could be overbalanced, it doesn't seem to have as much depth or character as most North Coast single vineyard Cabs I'm accustomed to.  I wonder if blends work well with lower...

Optimus/Pessimus Prime

Optimus/Pessimus Prime

History is riddled with stories of great mathematical minds.  Individuals that saw patterns no normal eye could see, correlations no sane mind could reason. Carl Friedrich Gauss, for example, is rumored to have been such a prodigy that by age three he was already correcting his father's arithmetic.  My personal favorite Gaussian anecdote happened during his primary school years.  A teacher by the name of J.G. Büttner gave his class what was supposed to be a long and drawn out arithmetic exercie, adding all the numbers 1 through 100.  Before Büttner had finished writing the problem on the board, Gauss had scribbled 5050 on his little chalk board, flung it on his teacher's desk, and exclaimed Ligget se, "There it lies" in peasant tongue.  To see how he...