Last month, I was one of the International judges in the 2013 Wines of Portugal Challenge, an annual event that was recently opened up to include wine-type-folks from outside of Portugal in the judging pool. The results of that competition have just been published, and as their guest (okay, okay, and to make up a…
Category: on the road
Of Wine Competitions, Panty-less Drinkers, And The Next Punch Down Guest
As you read this, I’ll be missing the after-after-after parties at the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference (insert your preferred sad face emoticon here) so that I can… work. Sort-of. This week, I’ll be undermining the previously stellar reputation of the commercial wine competition portion of the California State Fair, acting as one of the judges….
Toilet Frogs And Whale Tails (Alto De La Ballena Recent Releases)
One could go their entire blogging life and never be fortunate enough to use the phrase “toilet frog.” And yet… here I am, able to use the term from personal experience. I need a moment to revel in this, people. Please, indulge me a moment, for I have met them, in person. T-o-i-l-e-t f-r-o-g-s…. As…
What’s Young Is Old Again (Irony In Uruguay, And Narbona’s Recent Releases)
In Carmelo, about three hours drive from the bustling city of Montevideo in Uruguay, along the river that divides the country from Argentina, there exists the picturesque hamlet of Narbona, the kind of place with such overwhelming quantities of irony that it causes story-relating fingers like mine to nearly freeze at the keyboard. Where to…