GrapeScott never goes to a party without a red and a white in hand. So.... here are the wines I'm bringin' for tonights gala :)

Red
2004 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley). Check this link for some details about the winery and their 2003 cab. No product page available for 2004 on their site :( http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/en-row/SterlingWines/wines/napa-valley/nc-cabernet-savignon-2003.htm

White
2005 Sebastiani Chardonnay (Sonoma County)... here's a link with some details http://www.sebastiani.com/wines/wines-t4-2005-sonoma-county-chardonnay.asp

I hope you enjoy these wines... I will post my review of each at (Sterling) http://www.grapescott.com/?p=116 and (Sebastiani) http://www.grapescott.com/?p=117. In the interim I have created a blank page for each where you buzzers can rate, chat about, or comment on 'em.

Happy Holidays
-gs

The second GrapeScott.com virtual wine tasting will be held this Saturday 12/22 at 9:00 PM (Eastern time) on http://www.grapescott.com. We will be trying the 2004 Louis M. Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Here is a page that shows the bottle etc. http://www.thewinebuyer.com/sku30329.html

As we did last week, I will post a review of the wine prior to 9:00. The post will include a polling component where you can rate the wine. You can also post comments via the blog form. In the left sidebar there will be a chat component for anybody that wants to discuss the wine interactively.

At $18.99 - $21.99 this wine is near the top of my "affordable" wines definition. But, I have had it before and as I recall it was well worth the price.

Hope to see you all Saturday night.

-gs

Grapecat and I had a great time drinking the 2006 Grove Mill Sauv. Blanc and discussing its merits and drawbacks last night. We saw quite a few people buzz through, but not too many comments (only 1) and no chatters. I did hear from a couple of you that you could not get your hands on the wine... guess that's always a risk. I will post the wine for next week tomorrow some time.

-gs

Grape Cat just forwarded this to me in an email... and I couldn't agree more with the message. Especially the end ;)

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,

when 24 hours in a day are not enough,

remember the mayonnaise jar and

the 2 glasses of wine

theory...

A professor stood before his philosophy class

with some items on his desk in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly,

he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar

and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and

poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly.

The pebbles rolled into the open areas

between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and

poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar as full.

The students responded with a unanimous 'YES.'

The professor then produced two glasses of wine

from under the table and poured the entire contents

into the jar, effectively filling the empty space

between the sand.

The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,

'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things;

your family, your children, your health,

your friends, and your favorite passions;

things that if everything else was lost

and only they remained,

your life would still be full.

'The pebbles are the other things that matter

like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else;

the small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first', he continued,

'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy

on the small stuff, you will never have room

for the good things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups.

Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes.

Do one more run down the ski slope.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter.

Set your priorities.

The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired

what the wine represented.

The professor smiled.

'I'm glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that

no matter how full your life may seem,

there's always room for a couple of

glasses of wine with a friend.'

Happy Holidays

Over the past year I have gotten a lot of feedback indicating that the readers of http://www.GrapeScott.com love wine but wish they knew more about it. If you fall into that camp, then today is your lucky day. Cuz I am planning to start having a virtual wine party on my site every week! Think of it as a book club for winos... I pick a wine for us all to drink. Then we convene on my blog to discuss what we thought of the wine, etc.

The way this will work is that I will post the particulars of a wine-o-the-week here on my cre8buzz blog every Monday. This will include all of the information you need in order to run out and get a bottle of your very own. Along with the wine particulars, I will also post a date/time that I will publish my review of that wine on the GrapeScott.com blog. That post will include a polling capability that will allow you to rate the wine (probably 1 to 5 stars). If you feel like saying more, you can use the comments on the blog post to let us know your thoughts on the wine, on my review, whatever.

I am really excited about this... I think it should be a lot of fun and should help us all to learn a lot more about wine while discovering some new stuff and making our wine community a bit more interactive.

The first wine of the week for our little experiment will be 2006 Grove Mill Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. Follow this link for more info about the wine http://www.winecountrylyndhurst.com/vsku1428539.html. I will publish my review of this wine on Saturday night 12/15 around 9:00 PM. I hope to see some of you buzzers there :)

-gs