Just jotting down bulletpoints (first draft of this blog started on March 5):
Sensei comments
Snow in Chicagoland
Fritz Westover
Pruning Cabernet Sauvignon St. Louis 01-2008
Concord Grapes 01-2011, 02-2011, 03-2011
Photographs
Tim Mondavi, Carissa Mondavi, and Gary Vaynerchuk
A couple of things to mention...
Spring is coming no matter if it snowed today or not in the Chicagoland area. Dave Mustaine revealed in an interview recently that his sensei taught him, "You get knocked down 7 times, you get up 8.". The temps are warmer than they were 45 days ago. The last 36 hours have been a wild ride with respect to the weather. Torrents of rain followed temperatures peaking at 59 degrees Fahrenheit, all of which was followed by a think blanket of snow cover (not even more than an inch on the soil - couldn't stick to the concrete). The temps are now at 27 degrees.
I am hopping a train tomorrow night to meet up with a buddy of mine so we can drive to St. Louis by Monday morning where our families are. St. Louis is where my family resides and it'll be great to see them again. I know they also desperately want me to trim up the Cabernet Sauvignon vine. I hope to absorb as much Fritz Westover teaching as possible before I unfasten the safety on the pruners come Monday. 2012's crop depends on it.
One of my partners in crime planted some Concord Grape cuttings today, starting them inside the house and in pots, in Grayslake, Illinois. The pot technique has produced about a 58 % success rate for me when starting cuttings in them in a structure with four walls and heating through April of any year. (That percentage is completely arbitrary, by the by, but probably not too far off in all actuality.)
In addition, my friend also wrapped up the Vitis Riparia to get them ready for a brief period of stasis and eventual planting. That entire question has not even been explored. Again, the madness piece comes into play, but it is loads of fun to consider the possibilities of seeing how Vitis Riparia reacts and responds to care and structure as opposed to wanton living on the frontier appellation of Belvidere Road and McAree in Waukegan, Illinois, Lake County, Illinois.
I also am well aware that Gary Vaynerchuk is ramping up to produce his 1000th show in a matter of days. Today I visited his site at www.winelibrary.tv and realized he just posted a lovely two-part interview with Tim Mondavi and his daughter Carissa Mondavi, both hailing from Continuum Estates in the Napa Valley. I don't know a thing about Tim Mondavi - the name obviously triggers an association with Robert Mondavi, but I thought it was a decent interview. There was mention of the famed Judgment of Paris, something I know little about other than a Stag's Leap reference, and also Tim Mondavi spoke of the importance of the 60 Minutes televised broadcast of 'The French Paradox' from Nov 17 1991. By the way, that article on The Judgment is by Mike Steinberger, longtime wine columnist for Slate Magazine. Mr. Steinberger also visited Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV in recent years.
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..........Finishing this a million years too late. Anyway, www.winelibrary.tv has now been reconfigured and maybe could be considered as at the tail end of matriculating to www.dailygrape.com. Pretty interesting advances.
Also, just watched 'Bottleshock' with a friend the other day and that had some remarkable cinematography. Jeez Louise it was good viewing. It was a movie, but pretty damned cool overall.
Gotta publish this now because loads of cuttings are already growing and it is dy-no-mite all over the place. Major thunderstorms today, as well in the Chicagoland area and region. Super, fast, funky.
Out!!!!! Current temperature on first day of spring is 54 degrees Fahrenheit folks. (finally published on March 21 2011 Sunday morning, wee hours. Birds singing loudly, etc. 2:36AM, if you know what I mean.)
