Don's Gillette's Weekly Wine Blog
Weekly musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Check back here each week for Don's latest thoughts on various wine-related topics. Read Don's full bio...
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Listing
January is my month for coping with lists. Everybody makes lists, but my lists come in multiple shapes and levels of disorganization. Some fill me with enthusiasm, promising new wine discoveries and maybe even some new friendships. Others are just reminders of left-over projects that continue to demand my attention.
Being the World's worst -- aka slowest -- typist, I usually begin January with a task that is close to pure drudgery. It's time to update my tasting notes on the NVWE website. I need to type descriptions for all the wines I was too busy to review during the Holidays. That list, as of this morning includes 108 entries. I have found and "flagged" each tasting entry in my three "current" tasting notebooks, so the fun can now begin.
The corkboard above my desk is covered (no cork visible) with reminders of one sort or another. These involve things like tracking details and credits I hope to get for mis-routed freight; tips from customers about new wineries; promises I made to supply drinking dates for wines in the cellars of a few NVWE customers; tickets to ZAP; and an urgent note to call Jennifer Halleck to bottle-taste her 2006 Pinots before anyone else does. When these notes are cleared away, I will see what missives lie underneath.
I also have "post-its" on my computer and a five-tiered in-tray. The trays are currently stuffed with magazines holding reviews of wines we carry, as is the whole right side of my desk. Those reviews are destined for the website as well. When they are gone maybe I can actually clean my desk, or my computer. I have lists of store items needing repair and an old project I hope to revive involving a new counter display for the store.
Denise (the boss) has just put out a handy list, the January signup schedule for store tastings. Now the new stuff can start to come in on its own. Soon I hope to have some handy lists too, of new addresses in Napa or the Russian River perhaps. Until then, like a weary freighter, I will just continue to list.