BITS & BOBS

Most who know me, know that I abhor the New England Patriots. Unlike a lot of folks who simply hate Brady and Belichick, I’ve disdained them clear back to the Steve Grogan days. Watching the Superbowl on Sunday was much easier than past games have been. I don’t like the Rams either, so I was emotionally detached from the game. The Patriot’s defense played the game of their lives and that was the reason for their victory. It was a good, competitive defensive battle.

No one will ever convince me that Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time. Each of the six Superbowl’s won by the Patriots involved an entire team effort. No one person ever wins a football game by themselves. Yes, Brady has come through on many occasions, but overall, it was someone else that made the difference, not Brady. He is of Hall of Fame caliber, that is indisputable. However, there are many quarterbacks throughout the history of the NFL that were and are better than Tom Brady.

Susie and I have been busy scheduling our itinerary for our trip to Europe. I am very excited to visit the land of Barolo and Barberesco. I have appointments to tour wineries there and hopefully, fingers crossed, I am able to get a couple of interviews with winemakers for my YouTube channel. If, for some reason this does not happen, I will make sure to tape a few episodes at the wineries so you can get a feel for where I am and what we are experiencing on our trip. Some of my favorite wines come from this part of the world. We will also be trekking up to Verona where Amarone is the top dog. I hope to tape a few episodes while we are there as well. I will also be gathering a ton of material for future articles for this blog. It is just around the corner and we are both eager to get over to that part of the globe.

I mentioned the importance of decanting wine in my last Bits & Bobs. Since then, I have had many more good experiences with wines that have opened up after being open for a couple of days. I would encourage anyone who is getting into wine to experiment with this at least once a month. Open a bottle of wine, drink a glass or two, put the cork back in the bottle and try it again the next day. Pour a glass, and if it is getting better, put the cork back in and try it again the next day. By doing this, you will be rewarded if that particular bottle is well made and opens up to show its true potential over the course of a couple days. This will also help you to determine if the bottle will respond well to aging. I had this experience with a bottle of 2013 Forgeron Cellars Merlot recently. After being open for a couple of days, it was absolutely ridiculous how much better it tasted. I will be buying some to put away for a few years, knowing it will only get better. Wine and the wine world are a most interesting field of study. It only gets more interesting the more you get involved.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man