AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY
A non-profit corporation

John Marshall Chapter


DECEMBER MEETING:  Jan and Guy Close the Books in Style — December Meeting Sets Policy for Coming Year: Do It Grand.

They’re still talking about it, the meeting of the century:  the foods, the wines, the decorations, the festivities, the people-watching. And, of course, business was conducted; motions were made; minutes were taken; decisions determined; and goals exceeded. Jan and Guy Beakley did it all, and set the standard for meetings in the future. Wow! Jan and Guy, from the heart of a grateful nation, thank you. The stonemasons are, even at this moment, carving your faces into Mount Rushmore.

Your wine scribe was not there, having urgent affairs on the other coast, but sources tell him that the business session was sandwiched between offerings of, first white wines, then reds. The white wines came from The Grapevine, 389 W. Shirley Avenue, Warrenton, Virginia, and were selected by owner Gary Amato, who offered comparisons between California and French wines of the same ilk:
Rick Stafford then presented a wide selection of red wines from South Africa: a Pinotage, a Cabernet Sauvignon, blends of Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot and Shiraz/Carignan/Grenache, and a positively zinful Zinfandel Ruby Port. Anyone interested in Rick's wines can email him at rstaffor@erols.com (no d), or talk with him in person at the next meeting.

High on the business agenda was an examination of whether wine is improved by magnetism. The stage was set earlier in the month when Mary Anne emailed all of us an article about experiments that indicate that wines improve significantly when magnetized. They purportedly reach a maturity and mellowness long before their half-life. So the multitude assembled at the Beakleys was presented with wines that had sat on magnetic coasters and were asked if it was so. The reckoning of those present, the record shows, was, "Yes, the wine tasted different, and no, we don’t like it." End of discussion.

But on the left coast, your wine scribe was intrigued by the comment in Mary Anne’s article about magnets in shoes making for easier walking by repelling gravity. So he tinkered in the laboratory, tweaked, and today stands before you with a true wine breakthrough. Behold: You know those ankle weights they sell in the sporting goods stores? You fasten them to your ankles, and get a workout by dragging 10 pounds of weight around as you walk. I took a pair of them and magnetized them. They’re filled with buckshot, so that was easy.

And what did I find? Walking does indeed become easy, but, not by repelling gravity, ah, no. Instead, the magnets suck the wine down your legs and into your feet. Before long, your feet become quite mellow and oblivious to mileage. The only drawback, and I would rate this very low on the scale, is the squishing sounds that comes from your shoes. I also found it works best with white wines; red makes a mess out of leather.

JANUARY MEETING:  Looking for Wine in All the Wrong Places, presented by Rick Stafford ~ Grace Cathedral, The Plains, Virginia; Social – 6:30 p.m.; Meeting – 7:00 p.m.

"Don’t mix grape and grain!"  That was the advice given years ago by older fraternity brothers to new pledges bent on guzzling anything with alcohol in it. What they meant, of course, was not to mix wines with bourbon, scotch, gin, and other derivatives of fermented barley. But what about the other grain?

Come Sunday, Rick Stafford will revisit the line of poetry, "…to see the world in a grain of sand…," and ask us to see if there’s wine in that grain too. Wine in the desert? Are you plumb loco? Yes, Rick has chosen to present the wines of Arizona — all three of them — and one is a rosé so that doesn’t count. This may be a very short presentation.

But wait, perhaps we judge too quickly. For it is known that some very excellent wines come from some very strange climes. The great Pinot Nnoirs of Burgundy, for instance, grow in gravel. And, Gruet Champagne comes from New Mexico — another desert just like Arizona — and they produce Cabernets in Texas now, too, don’t they? That’s a bigger wasteland than television. Holy mackerel, Andy, maybe Rick is onto something here! He sure got it right with South Africa.

Join us Sunday to see if Rick is crazy like a fox. Bring a canteen — it’ll be dry and dusty out there — but leave the stemware at home. We’ll supply that, and the camaraderie, and good cheer. It all begins on at  6:30 p.m. at Grace Church in The Plains.

Directions:
Happy New Year to you. See you Sunday!

~ Bruce ~

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