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Good News!
I just received the results of my brain EEG. Everything is fine.
Although this might mean that what's wrong with my brain has yet to be detected.
In the hope that I am suffering from a major brain disease, despite my Brain MRI and my Brain EEG showing no noticeable brain damage, I will be doing an Ambulatory Brain EEG next week.
Lucky I drink lots of healthy wine! I just read several articles in The Wine Spectator about how wine and the wine lifestyle are good for your health!
Blogging Hiatus
I have to apologize to my many readers out of there, but I have been on a blogging lull.
I've planned several articles, but don't have the time and energy. This has been a difficult time for me, with various family problems. But the blog reader public is unforgiving, I know that well, and I have to get back to blog work.
I've also recently contracted some sort of contagious neurological disorder. Tomorrow, I am taking something called an EEG, which hopefully will be a useful diagnostic tool. Apparently, the doctors put on a shower cap laced with electrodes and can figure out not only what is wrong with your brain but also what is wrong with the way you interact with your loved ones. Last week, I took a brain MRI, which was also a very enjoyable experience.
I'm planning major coverage on fake "natural" wines as soon as I get the shower cap off and my brain waves corrected. See you then.
Moving on to Chambers Street
Back to work!
Don't miss Saturday's big tasting at Chambers Street Wines. That's right, this Saturday, starting at 4:05 pm.
Wines will include:
Sparkling
Larmandier Bernier Saignée de Rosé Brut NV
Whites
Pepiere Clos des Briords 2005
Bera Arcese 2004
Pernot Puligny Mont AC 2005
Chidaine Montlouis Clos Habert 2005
Laurent Barth Riesling Rebgarten 2005
Reds
Breton Trinch! 2005
Clos Roche Blanche Cabernet 2005
Pernot Bourgogne Pinot 2005
Esmonin C-D-Nuits 2004
Richaud C-d-Rhône Garrigues 2005
Cappellano Barbera d’Alba Gabutti 2001
Dessert
Infantado LBV 2000 (polaner)
Another highlight of the tasting will be the guest appearance of Rahsaan Maxwell, legendary wine geek and scholar. There are also rumors that elusive internet wine personalities Jayson Cohen and Don Rockwell will be attending incognito.
Don't miss this event!
Words to Live By
I would like to thank all the people who have sent me e-mails, text messages, Pinger notices, Facebook and Myspace commentaries, and AIM messages of support since my father died on November 29th.
We are a family of Presbyterians and apparently, by Presbyterian law, I am not supposed to blog for at least a year after my father's death. I am also not supposed to go to happy occasions other than Presbyeterian christenings, and I am to be somber and say Presbyterian prayers nightly.
November 29th
Various highlights of November 29th, past and present:
1967 -- Robert McNamara resigned as Secretary of Defense
1947 -- United Nations Votes for Partition of Palestine
1895 -- Busby Berkeley was born
1944 -- Felix Cavaliere of The Young Rascals was Born
1981 - Actress Natalie Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island at the age 43.
1961 -- Enos the Chimp launched from Cape Canaveral and orbits the Earth twice
1982 -- Cary Grant died at the age of 82
1998 -- Swiss voters reject legalizing heroin
1530 -- Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, former adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.
2006 -- My father Sam Dressner died peacefully at 10:13 pm in New York at the age of 88
We Import Numbers 42 and 98 of The Wine Spectator Top 100 List!
Congratulations are due to the producers for these fine efforts.
Don't Miss Michael Kane from Rosenthal Wine Merchants at Francos Wine Shop Today!
That's right, Michael Kane will be tasting a range of delicious wines from Neal Rosenthal's portfolio today at New Canaan.
Mr. Kane is the Eastern Regional manager for Mr. Rosenthal. He's a charming, articulate and knowledgeable wine professional who will be highlighting several artisan selections from Mr. Rosenthal's excellent choices throughout Europe.
The tasting is from 1 to 5 pm.
This looks to be an even more exciting tasting than last week's Port tasting with Mr. Arnold Trabb, the Eastern Manager of Premium Port Wines.
Don't miss this event!
What's With All the Tarragon?
I hate the taste of tarragon and can smell it if I am in a five block city radius from someone cooking a dish seasoned with this horrible herb.
Lately, I've had a succession of meals with tarragon. This herb used to be the rage in the late 1970s and 1980s but mercifully disappeared. It seems to be poised for a comeback. Has the CIA (the Culinary Institute of America) started a new craze? Are trendies sick of cilantro?
I just had a salad today in a Greek diner on 86th Street and 2nd Avenue. The salad stunk to high heavens of Tarragon.
I had Halibut in Montreal on Saturday which had been bathed in the stuff.
What's going on? Is it all these graduate students who want to interview me? Are they poisoning my food because I won't discuss the intricacies of the American Wine Distribution system to them?
Help!
Attention Graduate Students!
Nine graduate students have contacted me in the past two weeks to enlist my aid in their important research into the exciting wine distribution racket.
Please don't send inquiries.
I'm too busy and my health is too poor to help out.
Just today, I had a tooth extraction, for instance.
I want to thank you in advance for leaving me alone.
Beaujolais Nouveau!
Has anyone tasted it yet?
I wait for tomorrow.
I'm a law-abiding citizen.
Québec!
I'm off to Québec for a small vacation and to police my children.
I'm taking up a case of Mollydooker with me, the new taste sensation from Australian, and am looking forward to the whole experience!
See you soon!
Les Grands Crews
That's right, not crus, but crews.
I had never heard about this wine category until last night's wine dinner in Fort Lauderdale.
Turns out there are lots of luxury yachts here and they account for almost 35% of the fine wine market. The problem is that the yachts want to buy all their provisions from one wine retailer. The yacht owners might be drinking Romanée-Conti or Château Margaux, but they are not serving those wines to their ever-thirsty yacht crews. Apparently, yacht crews are big fans of Kendall-Jackson and no respectable retailer can expect to move boxes of Romanée-Conti if they cannot also supply far larger quantities of Kendall-Jackson for the dockhands. Surprisingly enough, the yacht crews are also big fans of Freixenet.
Who would have guessed?
This is why I love getting out and about in America. Every wine market is particular and we are now putting together a Louis/Dressner Yacht Crew Promotional Package to tap into this dynamic market.
We're considering a commerative Captain Steubing bottling of Ménu Pineau Pur.
I Packed the Wrong Sports Coat!
I'm in Fort Lauderdale and have a busy day ahead of me trying to convince Florida wine buyers to purchase our wines.
I didn't realize until I unpacked last night but I brought a ratty, old sports coat with me. One I've owned for dozens of years and which has permanent stains, rips and an inner lining falling out all over the place.
Florida is a very chic spot and I fear all is lost. I thought I had bought my natty, newer sports coat (I bought it about five years ago) but now I'm sunk.
I also stupidly packed short sleeve shirts, assuming that it is hot here. In reality, it is cold here as everything is air conditioned to death. At least the shirts are in relatively good shape.
Unfortunately, the pants I brought along with me all have grease marks on the right leg. I ride a bike everyday when I'm in New York and the grease from the chain gets all over my pants legs.
What are the Florida buyers going to think of that!
Frankly, I'm one of the worst dressed men I know. I pride myself on making idiosyncratic and personalized choices in everything I do, but dress like a lowlife. Of course, being a large fellow who needs special sizes (I wear a size 15 shoe, XXL shirts, 37 sleeves and no glove ever fits me during the winter) does not help. Nevertheless, I view this as a regretable lack of panache and style. I have some money in the bank and perhaps should start making custom shirts and pants, but I wouldn't even know where to have such work done.
My apologies in advance to the Florida market. I am going to look like a broken down liquor salesman. The sort of guy sent out to pasture by Peerless a decade ago.
In other news, I highly recommend the new T-Mobile Dash telephone and I also highly recommend Eric Texier's 2004 Cote Rôtie. Eric's wine is a model of restraint, tightness and focus, what Syrah ought to be in the Northern Rhône. I even bought myself a case, spending money which might have been better invested in a new wardrobe. The T-Mobile Dash is a model of what s lightweight Smartphone ought to be.
You'd never catch me walking around with a Blackberry or Treo. I'm the sort of guy who has to make a statement by having a phone that no one else in the market is using. Can't I bring this daring and reckless style into my wardrobe choices?
October 24th Tasting a Nice Event
We bloggers are supposed to traffic in superlatives. Instead, I decided to go for a modest evaluation.
Unfortunately, many invited guests like Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page did not attend. And where was Melissa Clark?
Nathan Vandergrift won the blind tasting award, Lucien Walsh won a DVD of La Grand Illusion, Robert Callahan was in attendence, and Alice Feiring did an excellent seminar before the tasting on the history of natural wine.
There is a nice article about the tasting on Eric Asimov's blog: Eric Asimov Article on Tasting and Other Stuff
Texier Flight is Off and Running!
Eric had to rebook his flight earlier this morning because of delayed TGV train from Lyon, but was able to rebook on American Airlines. The plane is now over the Atlantic and Eric is comfortably seated in 15E.
Eric is currently watching the film The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci.
Anna Hathaway, Stanley's daughtder, plays a young woman from the Midwest freshly out of college who gets more than she bargained for when she moves to New York City. She becomes a writer and ends up as the new assistant to the tyrannical, larger-than-life, editor-in-chief of a major fashion magazine played by Meryl Streep, who recently triumphed in the film adaptaton of William Styron's novel Sophie's Choice.
Monique and Pierre Luneau Closing in to Newark Airport!
Their plane is far past Chicoutimi and the flight attendants have collected all the garbage in preparaton for landing.
Pierre just called our offices in New York for directions on how to fill out the customs declaration for foreigners. It's true, those forms can be very confusing.
Monique and Pierre Luneau Flight On Runway in Roissy
Unfortunately, Eric Texier did not make it on this flight!
The Luneau's are seated in Aisle 24, Seats B and C.
Films being showed today include: Hoot, The Neverending Story, Poseidon and Click. There is also a Comedy Programming Network which includes such hit shows as: Will and Grace, Four Kinds, Malcom in the Middle, Living with Fran, Everybody Hates Chris, and Out of Practice. Will and Grace, which is no longer on America television, is still being showed in France and is traditionally a high scorer in the Nantais television market.
Later in the flight, passengers on board will be treated to a sumptous meal including a choice of beef or chicken entrée.
Eric Texier has Missed His Flight!
Eric's high-speed train was delayed in Lyon on his way to Roissy and he missed his Continental flight. Unfortunately, he will have to book at considerable more expense on a later flight on a competing airline!
The unfortunately complication is that Monique and Pierre Luneau are on the same plane and do not speak English. They were counting on sharing a cab with Eric from Newark to my apartment in New York, where they will all be sleeping.
Eric, Monique and Pierre do not know each other, so they were all going to have little signs with their names printed on them when they get their luggage at Newark. I fear Monique and Pierre are going to be standing around for a long time waiting for Eric to show up.