READERS
Unexpected feedback from one of my readers, Ahmet Senol Ozbek of Istanbul delighted me this past weekend. He sent me kudos, but also some specific, useful advice on scene details. His advice complemented those from two earlier readers.Every writer needs readers. These are volunteers who have the thankless job of reading raw, unpolished drafts, often with grammatical and spelling errors, and then returning honest feedback to the writer at the risk of injuring their mutual relationship. I have mine. They are a curious assortment of Americans and Turks.Readers come in three kinds. One group is what can be called cheerleaders.[...]
A NEW BOOK ON THE RUNWAY
New year, 2015. I take stock in my completed short stories. A total of fifteen for 85,000 words. Holy crap! It's already bigger than Dogmeat, my first book, and we don't have an intro, acknowledgements, and other trimmings that fatten the word count. I e-mail Mim.Mim Harrison is my editor. We've never met face-to-face, but I consider her a good friend and a terrific editor. We have a certain special rapport, almost all by e mail, a bit by phone. Carpe diem, she responds. I look it up. Seize the moment. With that, I set my second book, my anthology[...]
DINNER WITH A BORDEAUX CEO, LYNCH-BAGES
In a recent dinner organized by the K&L wine shop of San Francisco, I had the good fortune of sitting next to Jean Charles Cazes, CEO of Chateau Lynch-Bages, a Fifth Growth Bordeaux that enjoys cult status among some, in par with higher classified labels. The dinner featured three Bordeaux brands and was preceded by a tasting of their newest vintage, 2012, currently considered a lesser year. The other two were Chateau Figeac (St. Emillion) and Chaeau Leoville Barton (Saint-Julien). Cazes poured Lynch-Bages from his flagship property in Pauillac and Ormes Des Pez, a Cru Bourgois he owns in[...]
OPEN LETTER TO WINE THIEVES
Congratulations, you made it to the front pages. Breaking into the French Laundry, on Christmas Day of all times, was quite a coup, front page news.Maybe you didn't want that. Maybe you thought you would remain obscure as when you stole twenty-four bottles from Redd just down the street in Yountville, or from Fine Wine International, a San Francisco shop, in 2013. But the French Laundry is one of the best restaurants in the country, if not the world. How could you not have known it would land you notoriety?Seventy-six bottles of Romanee Conti and Screaming Eagle. Wow! Very sophisticated.Admittedly[...]
DOMESTIC MERLOT; TIME TO OVERCOME PREJUDICE
"I am not drinking any fucking Merlot."With that one line uttered by Miles, the Paul Giamatti character in the movie Sideways (2004) the domestic merlot market, until then thriving, collapsed. At the time I was already an Old World wine follower, puzzled by the popularity of merlot among hipsters. I wasn't too sad to see this varietal sink. Since then I have not drank any domestic merlot.Well, it's been more than a decade. Merlot remains in the basement for many, pinot noir, also mentioned in the same movie, nowadays the hip varietal since. So when one of my wine groups[...]
ADIEU ETOILE
An old friend just passed away. Etoile Restaurant in Yountville is no more. It was Domaine Chandon's elite restaurant for decades, a pioneer in Napa Valley fine dining when the area was still a rural backwater. I had various personal memories at Etoile, an early foray into Napa dining, a first date with my second wife, numerous commemorative visits thereafter.When the storied champagne house Moet et Chandon decided upon an American outpost, they went all out and included a fancy restaurant in its grounds, a rarity then with wineries, as it is now. Etoile opened in 1973. Initially under chef[...]