jZepp

Haiku: Wine Snobs and Hors D'oeuvres

Pour a Chardonnay
Serve caviar on crackers
Lie when asked the truth

Words by Adrian Speyer

inspired by Adventures in Fast Food

One of these days...

Hello, JZepp readers. I'm Tim and I'm a wine geek. Nope, not somewhat new to the party like my blogging buddy Beau, but a guy who got the wine bug 25 years ago while in college near the Napa Valley. But that's not why I've decided to blog here for the first time tonight.

When I finally said I wanted to contribute here, almost a year ago, I thought I would write my first post about music and wine. At the time, a new CD from Neil Young - an artist I've followed almost obsessively since 1976 - was just out and my plan was to blog about each song and pair a wine with them. How wine geeky is that? Well, so much so that I thought better of it until this evening.

You see, the CD in question is the great, "Prairie Wind," and today the movie version was released entitled, "Neil Young: Heart of Gold." As I blog this entry, I'm watching the DVD (well sort of, anyway) and listening to an impassioned live performance of all the songs on the CD (or "album" if you are as old as me). Not only is Jonathan Demme a great film director and music lover, but he has reinforced his reputation as the best concert film practitioner. Yea, I know, he's only done two concert films, but both are the high watermarks of the genre along with the controversial Martin Scorsese picture, "The Last Waltz" (ironically featuring a coked up performance by Neil from back in the day).

So what wine goes with such viewing? I'd have to give the nod to the great grape of Burgundy, Pinot Noir. The particular example I'm enjoying as I watch this performance is from Willamette Valley Vineyards, their 2004 "Vintage Selection" Pinot Noir that will set you back about $22 or so. It's got everything you would want or expect in a fine Pinot Noir: the brilliant ruby color, black cherry and earthy 'Pinot funk' aromas and satisfying, if not a bit tight, black cherry and raspberry flavors with sleek tannins. I'd give this one a bit more time in the cellar and drink up the 2003 while I wait for this one to smooth out. Somehow, the aggressive attack and slightly closed flavors seems just about right for Neil right now... pick up both if you are so inclined.

Cheers!

Tomorrow

By Adrian Speyer

Words in the air,
Unspoken.
Stingy lips keep still.
Tomorrow waits,
On a blank sheet,
Unwritten.

So much left to do:
A promise for the future,
Moments for action fading fast,
Dreams unrealized,
Until you awake the next day.

Time is not still,
The future is not an abyss,
Stop lying to yourself.

Now is the time to love,
Today is the day to speak,
This is the moment to do it.
Get around to it now!

Tomorrow is an excuse,
A gambler’s losing bet,
No guarantee of second chances,
So grab time by the neck and act!

A Spring Poem

Possibility
By Adrian Speyer

Smell the wetness of spring rain.

Falling on brown grass.

Inhale the promise of tomorrow today,

Within the possibility of mind and spirit.

Take the time for thank you,

Watching how the clouds form roses,

Between breathes of air,

On deserted streets of dawn.

Find the clarity you need,

Before the big day,

From miracles all around,

Available to open eyes.

Everything is possible in a smile,

Even at the bottom of a hill.

One step at a time,

Begins any trip to the top.

Spring celebration time

Most cultures in the northern hemisphere seem to have a celebration of spring.
In my mind, that's the one thing that the Gregorian calendar got terribly, terribly wrong: it reworked the start of the year into the dead of winter instead of spring, where it belongs.

I took a walk near the water today, and found a kildeer and her nest.