7 posts tagged “wine”

Multiple garnachas to try with our tapas. Thanks Mick!
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Zuzu in Napa.jpg

Thanks for putting us up in grand style you two!
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Pam and Norman.jpg

Our view from the top of the valley on Howell Mountain - it's-a-nice!
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Tasting wines that Josefa just started carrying, and yes they are delicious and worth the coin!
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Peter Michael tasting.jpg

Mark here, just wanted to say that I have one month with the new job under my belt, and all is grand.  Even though February is slow in the wine biz, it was a good time to get my feet wet and learn the ropes.  So these are things that I've learned so far:

1. "expressway" is not an apt term for any of the freeways around Chicago.
2. I have an even higher appreciation for BYOB restaurants now that there are twice as many sample bottles in our home.
3. You can't really have too much wine around the house...but we need more friends and neighbors to help us drink it!
4. Chicago suburbs are expansive and diverse, but I would never, ever live in one.
5. Mazuelo is also known as Carinena and Carignan.
6. Spanish wines are awesome.
7. Keen makes an awesome shoulder bag perfect for wine reps!
8. The Northbrook Whole Foods is friggin' HUGE.
9. French wines are awesome.
10. Having a Blackberry with a bluetooth earpiece makes my life MUCH better, as much as I hate to admit it.

That's enough on that...suffice to say that I'm very happy to be selling outstanding wines and not working in a restaurant.  I have the same schedule as Josefa, and having nights and weekends free is a true revelation.

- M

What's one thing you regret doing, or not doing? 
Submitted by ashleyy.

My grandfather is largely responsible for my interest in all thing vinous. He wrote a book called "Elogio al Vino" which means A Eulogy to Wine. The premise was how he traced the origins of wine through the Bible and then how wine became established in the new world with the monastic orders planting their vine cuttings in order to grow grapes to produce sacramental wine.

While he was not a connoisseur by today's standards, he had a great appreciation for a good bottle of wine. My grandfather passed away in 1986 when I was only 22 and still in my beer drinking phase. My greatest regret is that I never had the opportunity to drink a great bottle of Burgundy with my grandfather. I could have no greater satisfaction today than to sit down with this great man, my hero, and drink that 2001 Rouget Cros Parantoux with him.

I can't have him back now but I do know that when I do open that bottle of wine, he will be right there with me, extolling the virtues of one of the great Cote d'Or's that he loved so much.

~Josefa

We will blog about it together......our memorable meals, trips, bottles of wine, and all three combined. Bibendum seemed like a likely mascot for our journey together. The Michelin Man....created by a tire company and then made into this caricature who traveled the roads of France, burning tire rubber in pursuit of great meals.

Nunc est bibendum!    (Now is the time to drink!)

Mark and Josefa