on behalf of elise and myself let me say that we could not be happier for you both. that is a true blessing and i say that because the only two things i ever have had for 17 consecutive years are my son and my baseball glove.
on behalf of myself let me also add how impressed i was with the obvious thought and care and time peter took to get especially dressed up for renee on this most special and auspicious of occasions. if i am not mistaken the dead giveaway to the formal dress code was the johnny cash black jeans reserved instead of the usual blue jeans. nicely done!
but for real, your celebration sounded like a truly memorable way to spend such a special occasion and you have all of our best wishes now and for the future.
the newer, cleaner quarter may take some getting used to - i am holding out hope that the clean-up initiative did not affect clover grill TOO much; that would really ruin the effect.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Anniversary Weekend in Louisiana
Renee and I just returned from Louisiana where we spent our 17th wedding anniversary.
We started in NOLA on Thursday night, where we had a very special meal at Gallatoire's. Our waiter, and sommelier, Mark (shown with us below) was a big fan of Paso Robles wine. When he found out that Kevin and I had been bottling there five days earlier, he rolled out the red carpet. Amazing meal, and all the wine stewards, treated us like celebrities. We promised bottles of Bin 504 for everybody!
After another day in NOLA, we headed out Saturday morning to Lafayette for Festivals Acadien, the best Cajun festival in the world. Each year a band called Les Traiteurs, made up of some of the best Cajun musicians around, play a charity gig there. Their picture is below. Some of you might recognize the guitarist. He's Sonny Landreth, clearly one of the best guitarists you'll ever hear. He opened up Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival this year...and is probably best known as the guitarist on John Hiatt's classic albums, including "Slow Turning (thanks Bluesgirl!)." Amazing slide guitarist...just draw-dropping. Well worth checking out his solo albums.
Another favorite, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, played Saturday night at a club called the Blue Moon Saloon, a great place to hear live music. Steve, who is a great friend of ours, and one of the best accordion players around, can be seen below smooching with Renee. The band smoked Saturday night! Just rocked the house.
That car shown below was our rental for the weekend, shown here piled high with treasures we bought on our annual pilgrimage to a shop in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, which you can see in the background. That's usually our final stop on the way back to New Orleans, right after brunch at Cafe des Amis, one of our top ten restaurants. You'd know why if you ever had the andouille cheese grits!
By the way, the quarter looked great! So clean it practically sparkled...you can get the idea from the picture below of the great balcony on Dauphine.
Needless to say, we left very reluctantly on Monday morning!
We started in NOLA on Thursday night, where we had a very special meal at Gallatoire's. Our waiter, and sommelier, Mark (shown with us below) was a big fan of Paso Robles wine. When he found out that Kevin and I had been bottling there five days earlier, he rolled out the red carpet. Amazing meal, and all the wine stewards, treated us like celebrities. We promised bottles of Bin 504 for everybody!
After another day in NOLA, we headed out Saturday morning to Lafayette for Festivals Acadien, the best Cajun festival in the world. Each year a band called Les Traiteurs, made up of some of the best Cajun musicians around, play a charity gig there. Their picture is below. Some of you might recognize the guitarist. He's Sonny Landreth, clearly one of the best guitarists you'll ever hear. He opened up Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival this year...and is probably best known as the guitarist on John Hiatt's classic albums, including "Slow Turning (thanks Bluesgirl!)." Amazing slide guitarist...just draw-dropping. Well worth checking out his solo albums.
Another favorite, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, played Saturday night at a club called the Blue Moon Saloon, a great place to hear live music. Steve, who is a great friend of ours, and one of the best accordion players around, can be seen below smooching with Renee. The band smoked Saturday night! Just rocked the house.
That car shown below was our rental for the weekend, shown here piled high with treasures we bought on our annual pilgrimage to a shop in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, which you can see in the background. That's usually our final stop on the way back to New Orleans, right after brunch at Cafe des Amis, one of our top ten restaurants. You'd know why if you ever had the andouille cheese grits!
By the way, the quarter looked great! So clean it practically sparkled...you can get the idea from the picture below of the great balcony on Dauphine.
Needless to say, we left very reluctantly on Monday morning!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Bedroom Aging?
Perhaps a few words of explanation might be in order. Kevin (aka Deano) and I just returned from a wonderful weekend in wine country -- Paso Robles, California -- where we bottled our first vintage. We call it Bin 504. Some of you might remember we picked half a ton of grapes in Paso two years ago. Since then it's been aging in in a friend of ours barrel room in Paso. On Saturday we blended and bottled the wine. We experiemented like mad scientists, but eventually agreed on a 90% cabernet, 5% malbec, 5% merlot blend.
One of the things we learned this weekend was about "bottle shock" -- all wine tends to go into a bit of shock after it is bottled. It will be about four months more before that bottle shock ends and the wine is able to be fully enjoyed.
(Although the shock of being in Kevin's bedroom may mean the wine will take longer to recover. At least we all know the temperature in that room will never get too warm, if you know what I mean.)
So get ready, everybody, a bottle of Bin 504 is in your future -- and will soon be on sale in New Orleans. Although we have absolutely no objectivity, in our humble opinion, Bin 504 is more than drinkable. It's a real in-you-face cabernet blend.
More to come!
One of the things we learned this weekend was about "bottle shock" -- all wine tends to go into a bit of shock after it is bottled. It will be about four months more before that bottle shock ends and the wine is able to be fully enjoyed.
(Although the shock of being in Kevin's bedroom may mean the wine will take longer to recover. At least we all know the temperature in that room will never get too warm, if you know what I mean.)
So get ready, everybody, a bottle of Bin 504 is in your future -- and will soon be on sale in New Orleans. Although we have absolutely no objectivity, in our humble opinion, Bin 504 is more than drinkable. It's a real in-you-face cabernet blend.
More to come!
Monday, October 8, 2007
First Vintage of Bin 504 has been bottled
Barrel aging is important, as is bottle aging, but not many know of the most crucial stage of the aging process...bedroom aging. This stage is very important for expanding the versatility of our wine. In the coming weeks, not only will these 26 cases hold the day's mail, the kid's homework, and both clean and dirty laundry, but they will also endure countless profanity-laden outbursts from me as I stub my toe on them attempting to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Talk about your bottle shock.More pictures and stories to follow.
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