{"id":3143,"date":"2023-11-13T18:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T02:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2023-11-13T18:55:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T02:55:53","slug":"bits-bobs-123","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/?p=3143","title":{"rendered":"BITS &#038; BOBS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/?p=3143\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\"  width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Tempus Fugit. It&#8217;s hard to believe we are at the end of 2023! I have a lot on my plate for this blog. Soon to come (hopefully) will be my &#8220;Top Twenty Wines Under Twenty Bucks.&#8221; I tried forty wines in past articles, which became somewhat of a burden. I think twenty is plenty. It should be an interesting list, I haven&#8217;t decided yet which my number one wine will be. I should have that list out in December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   I started fast and furious with my YouTube channel again, after the big move and vacation to Sicily. I published two, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w-oQLXUqh84&amp;t=764s\">featuring Nero d&#8217;Avola.<\/a> I was quite intrigued by this varietal while on my visit to Sicily. Having tried several over the course of two weeks, I found them to be quite different in style from various producers. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tcVTkVMZjzA&amp;t=1s\">I also reviewed a few wines from Mount Etna.<\/a> Check them out when you get a chance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   Speaking of YouTube, I&#8217;m flirting with one thousand subscribers (I&#8217;m now at 818). I mention this because when I hit one thousand, I start to receive payment when they advertise on my channel. It would be nice to get a small monetary bonus for the effort it takes to put the episodes out there. However, payment or not, I really enjoy doing them. Today, I will have my first segment featuring Thanksgiving wines on my channel. I hope to put up at least three before Turkey Day. After that, I will focus on wines for Christmas dinner, which can go in a lot of directions. Prime rib, ham, duck, you name it. One thing I can say about the era we live in, is that people do not always go traditional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   This year, I will be working in my department on Thanksgiving Day. A lot of you might want to feel sorry for me, but I don&#8217;t. I actually like working on Thanksgiving, because it gives me opportunities to help people find a good wine for their meal. Believe me when I tell you, there are a lot of procrastinators out there who will be shopping for wine on the day of the dinner. Our department is stocked and ready with wines that I believe will fit the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   Speaking of wines that &#8220;fit the bill&#8221; I have been exploring YouTube to see what other wine people are suggesting for Thanksgiving. As my wife would say, &#8220;I&#8217;m gobsmacked&#8221; at the suggestions out there. It used to be there were four to six wines that were always recommended for the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Pinot Noir, Gamay, Zinfandel, Sparkling Rose&#8217;, Gewurztraminer or Riesling. Now, wine geeks are going ballistic with ideas. My approach is simple, use the kiss method (keep it simple stupid). Let&#8217;s face it, you&#8217;re having guests for dinner and you want wines that are both affordable and most likely acceptable for a wide range of people. A popular choice amongst wine people has become both Sauvignon Blanc and Gruner Veltliner. Personally, I don&#8217;t have a warm fuzzy feeling for either of those wines for the holiday meal. If you do decide on Sauvignon Blanc, I would stay away from the New Zealand versions. They can be quite pungent and could over-power some of the side dishes. As far as Gruner? If you walk into a grocery store wine department to search for a Gruner, good luck (other than my department of course). Make it easy on yourself, the meal is a big deal and the wine should not give you a brain cramp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   I have given up on Zinfandel for Thanksgiving. I&#8217;m not saying I will never go back, but for now, it seems to be a mismatch to me. Zin has a very high alcohol percentage which can be dangerous when you are sucking down wine during Thanksgiving. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I love Zinfandel However, I&#8217;ve found it to be too powerful for some of the subtle side dishes of the meal and it can put you to sleep much earlier than a Gamay or Pinot Noir. The last thing you need is a bunch of inebriated guests for the evening. I know it&#8217;s a bit outside the box, but I&#8217;m saying it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cheers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stan The Wine Man<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tempus Fugit. It&#8217;s hard to believe we are at the end of 2023! I have a lot on my plate for this blog. Soon to come (hopefully) will be my &#8220;Top Twenty Wines Under Twenty Bucks.&#8221; I tried forty wines &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/?p=3143\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1011,537,1452,186,204,586,1007,106,1008],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gamay","tag-gewurztraminer","tag-holiday-wines","tag-pinot-noir","tag-sauvignon-blanc","tag-stan-the-wine-man-tv","tag-thanksgiving-wine","tag-wine","tag-zinfandel-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dRZl-OH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3145,"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions\/3145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stanthewineman.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}