There has always been some speculation as to whether I really write a wine blog, and I have even been questioned by other writers, because it may take some paragraphs to actually get to the wine. As I have stated often, I do not write about technical facts per se, I prefer to write how wine enhances the moment and normally the wine is the climax of the memory. I have often even written that I normally do not like using descriptors about the wine, when discussing the nose of the wine, or the elusive, esoteric terms describing the taste. It is just me and I do enjoy reading other writings about these terms, but it just doesn’t sound like me, because I tend to write the same way I talk in conversations, and sometimes I am verbose and other times my conversations are rather economical, and thankfully I do not get paid by the word; actually I do not get paid, as it is just something I enjoy doing.

My Bride and I enjoy exchanging gifts, though we usually know what we are getting, at our age, the need for surprise has diminished. Then there is the “raconteur factor” as I would call it, which has been curtailed over the years, as she claims that I spend too much money for items, which she feels she can get for less of an outlay. I have to admit that since I have been in retail all of my life, I do not shop, I buy. My Bride is more economical, unless it comes to children or grandchildren and not the child that is writing this article. Well she pulled a fast one on me this year.

She joined her sister and a friend on a trip to Las Vegas, and she also had a chance to see our children and grandchildren that live there. While there she also had the chance to see some shows and dine at some of the fine restaurants that have turned Las Vegas into a “foodie” paradise. She had my surprise presents shipped from Las Vegas as the weight would have been viewed as an overweight suit case by the airline. The girls dined at Bouchon, the wonderful, but more casual dining experience of Thomas Keller, and my Bride and I have dined at The French Laundry and two different Bouchon locations. So she bought for me (and perhaps a bit for herself) a two volume set of cook books by Keller for those two restaurants that we have been to, plus another single cook book from one of his newer restaurants “Ad Hoc,” a family style restaurant that he opened in Yountville as well. Now one might ask what all this discussion about the largesse of my Bride have to do with a wine blog, and I will respond, that without some wonderful memories of trips to restaurants, the discussion of the wines would be so much less exciting (at least to me). I might also add, that all three books were autographed and when I looked at the index to The French Laundry, if one gave me at least a week, I could duplicate though not nearly as well, my greatest dinner in my life. And this friends, is how I can sometimes write an article about wine without any wine being written about.