Shop, or me, looking for new wines to taste.  Tasting literally everything I can, for friends and family and friends and family of friends and family.  I’ve always seen wine as something to explore and learn from , not a vehicle for self-elevation or status.  No one I taste with sees it that way.  Anyway, last night reconnecting with Westwood’s Roussanne and Caddis’ Sonoma Valley Cabernet.  Had the Rouss’ I think twice before, and Chris’ Cab more times than I’m capable of calling.

Will gets out later, and go to whatever store, and I won’t let myself even look at a bottle that I’m even minutely familiar with.  #vinovinevin is not just about exploration and whim, but a non-meditative search for wine.  Just go out and taste, buy.  What ever happened to whim?  Look at what’s right in front of you.  The name of this shop stems from such a sensibility….  Basically wine repeated three time. 

“How do I develop a more ‘sophisticated’ palate?” Someone asks me.

“Wine.”

“What do you mean?” They ask, puzzled, like I’ve already had too much.

“Taste wine.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Yes, that’s it.  And I return to that simple act and repetition, to where it all stems from…. WINE.

Today in Santa Rosa, already 104 degrees.  And it’s not even one o’clock.  So I think Rosé, or Pinot.  Or, Chardonnay and Pinot.  Make it a Burgundy-fed rile of a day.  There will be a surprising extent of Chardonnay available in the shop, once open.  Why?  I think from all my tasting I’ve found it can be antithetical to its stereotype.  The Roussanne last night reminded me of some of the more affectional and agreeable Chards I’ve tasted lately.  Assembled and accurate in the their speak.

The shop taking shape, with new wines and new trips to new shelves.

9/7/20