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Fantastic wine tasting tonight at The Wine House in Manlius. Started out with a Prosecco.

Moved into the Matua Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from the Marlborough region of New Zealand (see the map) and then to the Hollywood & Vine 2480 Chardonnay 2006. Switching to reds it was a Burgundian Pinot Noir, the Louis Jadot Chambolle-Musigny "Les Fuees" 2006, which I reviewed last about a year ago. After that we tasted the Swinto Old Vines Malbec 2006 from Mendoza, Argentina.

The last of the night, a phenomenal treat was the Concha y Toro Don Melchor 2005 from Chile, one of the best Cabernets out there, and definitely the best from Chile. The 2005 received a 96 from Wine Spectator and a 94 from Robert Parker and this was a great opportunity to taste this wine.

I'll write up individual reviews for all of the wines over the next few days, but I wanted to get out the kudos to the folks at The Wine House for putting together this exceptional tasting for about a dozen lucky customers. As I said a few entries earlier, the reason I enjoy wine tastings is the opportunity to learn about the wines, the regions, and the stories from friends about the wines they've had before as well as what they're looking forward to trying next. Thanks!

Just a quick post to recommend another two CNY food blogging sites - with a nod to one of them for their props for Dinosaur BBQ in NYC that mentioned the First Lady and daughters picking out this fine gem of a BBQ place. Anyway, recommended blogs, worth a read - Chus on Chow - http://chusonchow.com/ and Pulled into Syracuse at http://pulledintosyracuse.blogspot.com/

As most people know, Syracuse's food scene is not equivalent to NYC, Boston, DC, Philly, or even Albany. That's not to say there aren't some decent finds out there, but you have to work at it a little bit. There are also some great dives, good appetizers, and of course the one, true, amazing standout, Dinosaur BBQ.

Lauren Young, of youngeats.com, does a great job of profiling the places you don't want to miss in Syracuse and the surrounding area. She also travels and writes about the places she find. Her review of the Brickskeller in DC was right on. I think La Tasca's review could have been a bit better - while I agree places in the US don't do justice to tapas like Spain, La Tasca (at least the one in Old Town Alexandria I ate at last weekend) was pretty darn good. Especially the meat plate and cheese plate. The sangria didn't come close to sangria in Spain, but let's be honest, that has as much to do with being in Spain as the taste of the wine! (And I should know, I spent 2 1/2 years in Spain enjoying sangria AND tapas!)

But I digress, essentially I was recommending her food blog because she showcases good finds in Syracuse. And no one else I've seen has ever profiled Chuck's specials.

OK, these are great products, and I like the recycled/sustainable angle. I think I'll have to buy the barrel stave platter, it will make a great piece to serve cheese and such on. http://www.rosehillwinecellars.com/3rsV2/access_products.php?manufacturer=barrel_products&category=wine_access

I wonder if Spring is the death of many web sites as new authors get distracted and go outside to plant gardens, do landscaping, or do the hard work of painting? I know it was the distraction that kept me from writing. Well, that and catching up with friends on Facebook. I often note that when authors start to explain why they haven't been posting, that they end up posting even less! Hopefully that won't be the case here. I still have lots of wine to to taste and write about, but I've also given some thought to new things that could be useful.

First, I'm interested in cataloging local resource for food and wine, as well as travel related to these. So, sites that talk about the Finger Lakes wineries, restaurants on the wine trails, great places to visit while out in the area, and food, local markets, and points of interest in upstate are all going to be featured here as I come across them. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to gather information on wine tasting events in the upstate area that are open to the public - having opportunities to taste wine are is the key to learning to appreciate the breadth and depth of what's available and finding what you really enjoy.
 
So, on that note, one that I found that I thought worth posting was Cookin' in the 'Cuse. Her photography lends interest to the site, and possibly what hooked me was the photos of food and landscapes in Israel. When I was there in 2007 on three separate trips I found some of the local food to be incredible, including things like freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Anyway, her writing is great, she covers a lot of things that I enjoy locally, and I recommend the site to you.

This morning my daughter flew from Syracuse to Cedar Rapids on American Airlines. It cost roughly $600 for a round trip fair. She flew round trip on United at Thanksgiving. It cost roughly $350. My son flew round trip from Syracuse to Minneapolis at the same time. His flight was $50 as a result of using frequent flier miles. Quite a lot of variation for essentially the same distances in a relatively short amount of time.

Both of them were delayed two days at the beginning of their trips, neither had delays on their return flights. Sure, the airlines let us change for free at the beginning of the trip due to weather delays, but the result was a two day shorter trip for each of them, plus extra trips to the airport. My daughter said this morning on the way to the airport "We sure go to the airport a lot, don't we?" She's right.

Ah, the joys of travel, holidays, and families going in multiple directions to spend time with families.  FWIW I used Expedia, Travelocity, and United's sites when booking and planning.

Just wanted to share one of the better Lightroom information sources that I use. O'Reilly Media has a regularly updated site with great tips on how to use Lightroom. The site is Inside Lightroom. In addition to helpful tips, it has information on how to use Lightroom for creative imagery. Terrific site, useful information.