Autumn Glow wine destroyed in mishap

The Rebec Autumn Glow wine referred to in the last post has been destroyed by the unwitting acts of my outgoing roommate. (Note that the ex-roomate's name has been changed, because I'm a nice guy.)

Sometime between the hours of 3:15 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. this past Sunday, my roommate Rob arrived at The Castle in a mentally-curbed state. For some reason, Rob believed that we had not consumed enough beer earlier in the day at Buffalo Billiards and Cafe Citron, and that he should help himself to my personal collection of wine.

What happened next is not known, not even to Rob. However, he did successfully remove the cork from the bottle. Rob later wrote: "I honestly drank that when I wasn't necessarily in my right mind."

At approximately 8 a.m. Sunday morning, I discovered the Castle main door wide open and the wine bottle smashed on the concrete steps leading up to the front door. A wine bottle opener (waiter style) and various of Rob's possessions lay strewn about the front porch.

Autumn Glow, the color of which is representative of an autumn sunset, met the harsh light of the morning sun. It is believed that Rob consumed very little of the wine and most of it laid the foundation for a very large, brownish stain.

Rob lost his cell phone at some point during the mishap. But, following intense negotiations, a good Samaritan returned the phone to Rob for a "voluntary" contribution of only $40. Rob sees this transaction as saving him at least $60 given that he will not have to buy a new phone, not to mention the invaluable digits contained therein.

Update 10/5/05: Last weekend when he moved out and I was out of town, Rob swiped at least two bottles of my favorite wine (difficult to replace), an assortment of leftover liquor, my leftover Chinese takeout (which is delicious by the way), and some old frozen food. He has never confessed to swiping a battery from the DVD player remote control, but I guess one has to let some things go. Negotiations are underway for an out-of-court settlement.

The Herndon Jazz & Wine Festival Rocks

Two weeks ago, I attended the annual Herndon Labor Day Wine & Jazz Festival. Ten Virginia wineries were represented. At an average of six tastes per winery booth, it was a good thing that the tasting ended an hour before the jazz did.

Some of my favorites . . . no deep insights here.

Cooper Vineyards (website) held the poll position at the festival, and their Cabernet Franc is wonderful-- the wine has a powerful caramel aroma with a smooth finish of plum and chocolate flavors. I picked up two bottles of this relatively inexpensive wine ($14), which is actually 75% Cabernet Franc and 25% Tannat. Other wineries offered commendable Francs (Davis Valley and Barboursville Vineyards), but at twice the price. Cooper Vineyards is located on a "sunny sloping hillside with a well-drained soil that is a mixture of volcanic ash and eroded ridge line."

Davis Valley Winery clearly had the best Chardonnay at the festival, not to mention the best label, featuring an artsy diva. I also picked up a bottle of the American Red Wine.

The Williamsburg Winery (website) came through with the best Merlot ($10.50) of the festival, which is to say it is decent and inexpensive. When I passed this wine around at a friend's housewarming, it was a big hit with her. Of course she had already had a few glasses of wine by then. The Breaux Vineyards offered a comparable Merlot for $28. The Williamsburg website is very fancy, complete with music clips from Resphigi's Ancient Airs & Dances.

Rebec Vineyards (website) featured several tasty semi-dry wines, but none so amazing as the Sweet Sophia ($9.50), which boasts of an incredible flora aroma. Don't bother drinking it, just inhale; although it may be illegal to do so in seven states. What is in Sweet Sophia, anyway? Rebec's Svetlozar Kanev was kind enough to provide me with addition insight via e-mail:

This is a recipe from my home town in Bulgaria. What we do is we take 20 gallons out of a tank with sweet wine and heat it up to boiling then steep the herbs for half an hour in the batch and strain them, then the flavored batch is used to flavor the whole tank. I can not give you the combination of herbs we use, [because] then [I would] have to kill you lol. Most people recognize the thyme, basil, and the sage.

Apparently Bulgarians take their wine very seriously.

I also procured a bottle of the Autumn Glow ($10.50); it cost only $6 because I bought two bottles of the Sophia. This sweet wine, which is a blend of Riesling and Pinot Noir, gets its name from its color, which is reminiscent of fall sunsets.

After a good deal of tasting, it was time settle down with some jazz. I caught the last hour, which featured the Liz Briones Band. Briones has a sultry voice with a soulful delivery consisting of jazz, blues, and r&b.

Las Vegas Museum of Art: Where's the art?

I have vowed to visit the art museum of every major city in the United States. My original goal was to visit the art museum of every state capitol, but I soon discovered that the residents of Annapolis, MD are terribly deprived. So far, I have visited the major art museums in D.C.; New York; Los Angeles; Denver, CO; Indianapolis, IN; Columbus, OH; Portland, OR; Philadelphia, Norfolk, VA (not that Norfolk is a "major city"); and Baltimore, MD; among others.

I was passing through Las Vegas during the day, on my way to nowhere you need to know about. I decided I would stop by the Las Vegas Art Museum and add another museum to my list. Traveler's advisory: the Las Vegas Art Museum is a waste of time and money ($6) for out-of-towners.

The entire museum consists of two rooms, I kid you not. And there wasn't a whole lot of art in those two rooms. In fact, there was more artwork in the museum gift shop. The building looks large from the outside, but about 2/3 of the structure is really a large atrium and a spacious community library.

Room number one featured some nice Chinese art. Room number two had a number of unremarkable works of art-- posters?

The most interesting work of art in the spacious, rather empty Room number 2 states simply "Birth -- Thank you -- Death." Touring the museum took about as long.

As I understand it, the museum rotates the exhibits on a regular basis. So it might make sense to buy a yearly membership if you live in Vegas. That's $25 for the first year, $50/year thereafter. But for the visitor to Vegas it's not worth it. Stick with The Strip-- it's a lot more interesting.

Coming Soon

Welcome. This blog, should I get around to getting it off the ground, will explore art museums, wine, travel, and other cultural topics. And of course, Salvador Dali.

This sign is located in Portland, Oregon.