One of my favorite things about being a wine guy is making new discoveries and sharing those discoveries with others.   In order to make those discoveries I often need to get out of my comfort zone and drink wines I have never heard of from places I am not familiar with.   There is some risk associated with trying new things, I often taste wines that I do not like at all (a wine variety from Arizona called "Symphony" comes to mind), but finding new wines that I would have not otherwise enjoyed more than makes up for any bad experiences.    Most of the time when I go out to dinner with friends, because the majority of our friends are not wine guys, they ask me to pick the wine.  Most of them only drink a few brands from California or play it safe by always ordering wine from Napa or Sonoma.  I can see the look of fear and bewilderment in their face when I end up ordering a white wine from Spain or a red wine from Washington State.  Napa ...

One of the things that bothers me most is people that put artificial barriers on the wines they drink.  It makes me cringe when I hear people say “I only drink reds” or “I only drink whites” or “I only drink Napa Cabernet”.  “You big dummies”, I think to myself, “you are missing out on so much good stuff and great experiences by limiting yourself”.    I recently realized that I am missing out by not taking the same approach to life that I take to wine. I recently flew back home for the funeral of my cousins wife.  A wonderful person whose loss was a major blow to my cousin and their son.  I wanted to be there to offer whatever comfort I could.  Following the funeral we were all invited to lunch at a nearby restaurant.   As happens at weddings and funerals folks that don’t see each other that often get a chance to reunite.  It was open seating and I found myself sitting with a group of people that I had seen several times in my ...