Juxtapose Poses

All I wanted was sleep. That unencumbered slumber where life is set to one side to be resumed at a later time. A super light flight—should have the row to myself. I chose my seat, sat down and waited patiently for that split-second of a moment when you know the sandman has his hand on you. “Is that seat taken?” Noooooooooooo………. Why didn’t I say yes? Instead, my mouth betrayed me and whispered “no.”  It’s as if she hadn’t seen a living soul in quite some time and she had … Read more →

Science and Terroir: A Contradiction in Expectations?

There’s an awkward dilemma in the winemaking world.  It fuels a debate between the scientific community and the traditionalists often referred to as Terroirists.  Here’s how it breaks down. A winemaker with a scientific background is most often trained via university education.  Sometimes this is at an institution with a degree specific to viticulture and enology.  But many times a student may study a similar topic such as food science or agriculture and apply it to wine making.  These programs train students via the scientific method. The scientific method is … Read more →

A Peacock’s Tail of Similarities within the Differences

What if our religion was each other, If our practice was our life, if prayer our words? What if the temple was the Earth, if forests were our church, if holy waters—the rivers, lakes, and oceans. What if meditation was our relationships, if the teacher was life, if wisdom was self-knowledge, if love was the center of our being. ~Ganga White The Pinot Noir grape has been called many names:  “finicky”, “changeable”, “heartbreaker”, “cantankerous”.  It is truly a grape that is an expression of its surroundings. Regardless of where it’s … Read more →

Lenné Knows

I attended a wine bloggers conference in Portland, Oregon earlier this year.  I was quite eager to go since GUY and I had written a proposal for the Virginia wine industry and our main selling point was the fact that Oregon went from fringe wine to the #3 wine producer in under 30 years.  Although I had researched the subject, I had never visited Oregon, but of course I’ve tasted many wines from all over the state. For this trip, however, I was seeking a more philosophical approach; I reached … Read more →