http://www.offthecork.com Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:29:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is the 13th installment find the 1st one here   Barnes & Nobel and Borders book stores have become my destination of choice for books to learn more about buying, tasting and producing good wine.  I want to know everything I can about wine.  I have immersed myself in studying and taking ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/10/09/books-on-wine/ This is the 12th installment find the 1st one here   The more new wines I tried, the more I wanted to read about them, find out how they were made, where they came from and what to look for in the new ones to try.  A few years ago I bought a ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/10/08/wine-magazines/ This is the 11th installment find the 1st one here   It was truly amazing!  We actually found a vintage of cabernet that we really liked from a California winery.  My wife even said, “Why don’t you go get several bottles just to have on hand?”  Wow!  That was so out of character ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/10/07/finding-a-vintage-you-really-like/ This is the 10th installment find the 1st one here   My wife and I were invited to a recently acquainted friend’s home near us on the beach.  She is a well-to-do realtor and the evening promised to be fun and interesting.  She offered us a glass of wine and in tandem, we ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/10/03/my-first-great-red-wine/ This is the 9th installment find the 1st one here   In the year 2000, my job moved us to Fort Myers Beach, Florida and for once in our life the closest McDonald’s was not a 30 mile trip to the nearest “big town”.  Shopping was amazing and even the basic necessities were ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/10/03/the-move-out-of-iowa/ This is the 8th installment find the 1st one here   Giving up the hunt for a red wine that we liked in the early 80’s was an easy thing to do.  At a bar or restaurant the request for a glass of white wine was still the cool way to go as ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/09/11/chardonnay/ This is the 7th installment find the 1st one here   It seems like my wife and I were (are) always on a diet of some sort.  Fighting weight is a fulltime job for us.  I hark back to one of the first articles that we read; put out by the diet folks ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/09/11/the-diet/ This is the 6th installment of this story. You can find the 1st one here   Growing up in a beer drinking culture, drinking meant “COLD” beer.  We heard stories of the ‘old country’ where all the beer was consumed warm and we all agreed that we were glad to live in ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/09/09/if-you-drink-it-it-has-to-be-cold/ This is the 5th installment of this story. You can find the 1st one here Most old German families in our rural Iowa community made their own wine.  Not much, but some each summer and not necessarily out of grapes.  What ever was in the current batch was in a 5 ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/09/05/home-made-wine/ This is the 4th installment of this story.  You can find the 1st one here I don’t completely remember when the Iowa Liquor Control Commission (ILCC) actually allowed humans to not only “see” the bottles at the state stores before they made a selection on what type of alcohol to buy, ... http://www.offthecork.com/2008/09/03/public-wine/