HELP NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRE VICTIMS!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED!
TOGETHER WE SENT OVER 1,800 ITEMS--
AND MOST OF THOSE WERE BULK ITEMS!--
TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRE VICTIMS!

Mentor Me has let me know they are at capacity for goods and sends a million thank you's! 
I will be updating this post soon with more ways to help! ❤️❤️❤️

Also, there seems to be some confusion. Some people think this was a shop I set up and was selling the goods personally or that I was in collaboration with Amazon and was receiving commission. I want to be clear that I did not profit from any of the donations that were made. This was an Amazon wish list that I set up on my own accord, that I promoted and maintained, it was filled with goods from many different sellers, and it was sent straight to Mentor Me. The only thing I got out of this was knowing I was helping in a way that I could, and it breaks my heart to think that people think I was exploiting an emergency in my home state, with my own community, for monetary gain.

---

Dear friends, I made an Amazon wish list with supplies that will be sent directly to the Mentor Me at the Cavanagh Rec Center in Petaluma. The center already has 500+ evacuees and is helping distribute goods to ten other evacuee centers in the area. Face masks, blankets, pillows & pillow cases are much needed and at the top of the list, but the list contains everything from toiletries to baby supplies to pet food to phone chargers. Please help in any way you can and share the list with others! Also please let me know if something on the list isn’t working and I will fix it! ❤️❤️❤️

Nicolas Carmarans "Maximus" Aveyron Fer Servadou

Nicolas Carmarans "Maximus" Aveyron Fer Servadou
Varietal: Fer Servadou
Region: Midi, France
Year: 2015
Price: $28
Retailer: Lou Wine Shop
Importer: Fifi's Import

There's a Seinfeld reference for everything. But over the years, there has been one particular Seinfeld reference people associate with me over all other Seinfeld references. It is episode one, season six. "The Chaperone." This is the episode in which Elaine is told you either have grace or you don't. I am not known for being graceful. I'm brazen & boyish, high strung & kind of aggressive, very polite but equally inappropriate. And you can't acquire grace, you can't just pick it up, not even at the Silverlake farmer's market. And it's fine because I don't have grace, I don't want grace, and I definitely do not say fucking grace. But Nicolas Carmarans' "Maximus" makes me think that maybe I could have grace. 

The title boasts machismo and excessiveness, and you almost expect to be hit over the head with the bottle after pouring. Instead you are met with an inextricable mix of soft and bold. It's driven by its acidity and carbonic quality, and that is the electric spine the wine is build upon. After the initial hit of acid, you are met with a smooth femininity of floral and red fruit that gives way to a sinewy, dark berry quality; the strength, the muscle of the thing. It has bite with astringent tannins and some brett, and carries a little bit of weight with touches of oak. But it all comes together harmoniously, making a wine that is both light and charming while warm and interesting. It's fucking graceful. 

Because having high energy or bite or even slight flaws doesn't mean something can't also be graceful. Grace isn't just a singular quality of pristine elegance, grace is also fluidity, cohesiveness, the sum of its parts. And perhaps we're all a little more graceful than we give ourselves credit for. 

Tasting Notes: Smells like cranberries & cherries tossed with gravel and roses, dusted with warm black pepper and zested with lime. Tastes like unadulterated cranberry juice, bright pomegranate, and roses & peonies, with hints of peppered ripe cherries tucked into a cigar box with some brett. Light, dry, with astringent tannins but oh so drinkable. This is my third bottle this week so. Proof is in the purchases. 

Ross Test: Gets super herbal, but still quite quaffable! 

Hervé Souhaut "La Souteronne" Gamay

Before we get started, just want to clarify the deal with the wine's attribution: Hervé Souhaut is the winemaker and Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet is the winery he founded. Souhaut is on the front and the winery is on the back. Cool? Cool!

Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet (Hervé Souhaut) "La Souteronne Vin De Pays" Gamay
Varietal: Gamay
Region: St. Joesph, Rhône, France
Year: 2016
Price: $34
Retailer: Lou Wine Shop
Importer: Jenny & François

I try to only write about wines I've had at least two bottles of. Not right before I start writing, jesus christ, I'd never get anything done. I mean, two bottles I've drank previously before writing. Or at least have the second bottle be the one I'm writing about. This is very helpful in my reviewing/writing process.

If I know I definitely want to write about something, I buy two bottles. But often I don't know if I'm going to want to write about something, so I buy one bottle and usually go back and get another. The problem is that sometimes those bottles are then GONE. EVEN WITHIN TWO DAYS.

All this to say, I opened this bottle and wanted to write about it. I got my tasting notes in and then went back to Lou today and they were gone.

This wine is delicious and super small production,
so if you see it, BUY IT. TRUST ME.

Tasting Notes: Smells like raspberries over a wood fire, dusted with mint. Tastes like cranberry tires burning out on a eucalyptus tree lined suburban street paved with schist in a cloud of fine black pepper smoke. Smooth, juicy, structured. There is a touch of VA, but well integrated in this bottle. 

Ross Test: Juicy and spicy and bigger than most Ross Tests I recommend, but bigger sometimes is better. 

Cantina Ribelà Garbagorba Rosato

I'd been saving this bottle of Ribelà Garbagorba rosato since June for this exact moment, for immediately after I came home from Italy. You may be thinking, "Who needs more Italian wine after drinking only Italian wines for over a week?" and bless your naive heart. Of course you need more Italian wine when you get home from Italy, you can't just quit this shit cold turkey. Italy is the strongest drug in the world, with the hardest come down. I knew I was going to need a spectacularly dreamy wine to take the edge off returning to the states and take me back to my travels with winemaker/oenologist Danilo Marcucci and distributor/travel sage Amy Atwood, who I now never leave home without. 

But I didn't realize what this bottle was when I was saving it. I knew it was Ribelà, I knew it was Cesanese, and I thought it was the red I had in April. I loved that red, so I put a tag on the bottle reminding myself not to be an asshole and drink it while feeling mischievous (which I am liable to do), and hid it in the back of my wine fridge. I had no idea it was a rosato that there were only a handful cases produced of until I was in Italy last week. We shared glasses over a few al fresco lunches, each bottle ending with a joking "Please don't write about this."

Because wines like this are not just wines, they're trysts. They are romantic in their rarity, held intimately in their inaccessibility, and are so personal that its impossible not to feel possessive. They're Bobby Darin lyrics, Humphrey Bogart quotes, and ultimately, ships passing in the night. They are idealized and nearly impossible to have, which is why I probably shouldn't write about them.

Which is why I have to write about them.

Because while you may never drink this wine, I want you to know these wines are out there. For me, and for you. With natural wines, these precious gems are often as close as your favorite wine shop. They may not be the same wines I'm drinking, but you must know there are wines in the world that are so small in quantity yet large in love, and to not seek those big hearted wines out with the same burning ambition that drives us to find anything else desirable in this life, is a mistake. 

It's not about having THIS ONE.
It's about having YOUR ONE. 

(Also, please note, by "one," I mean "as many as you can find.")

Anywayyyyyy. I came home from Italy, and had to have this exact wine for this exact moment. It took a long time for it to open up-- approximately two & a half hours in a decanter in the refrigerator. But like any good love, it was well worth the wait. 

The Ribelà Garbagorba rosato doesn't taste like it did last week, but they never do. I don't know if the wine is lighter and more carefree in Italy, or if I'm lighter and more carefree in Italy, but it doesn't matter. Leaving Italy changes you; whether you're a wine or a woman, the distance weighs upon you. But even with barbells in each side of your ribcage, this wine does nothing but make your heart want to sing. It doesn't matter what it tasted like last week because today, it is still lovely.

This wine is so fun and spontaneous. It is a crush pushing you into the pool at dusk on a balmy summer night. All the plants have just been watered, and while you're immediately plunged into refreshing minerality, the breeze is hot and heavy with fresh cut fruit and warm flowers cooling in the shade of twilight. And while it seems like simple flirting, you know it's something you will remember until the end of time.

Ribelà is one of my favorite wineries, not just for its Roman oasis of a vineyard, but because their wines are so modern while still honoring the history of the region. I have a lot to say on this subject, which is another piece for another publication after I have more time to properly contemplate it all, which up until this moment has felt overwhelming. This trip to Italy changed me in ways that only my future work will be able to adequately demonstrate, and I'd be lying if I didn't say it has been keeping me up at night. Often with clarity comes anxiety, the "I KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" meeting the "FUCK. HOW DO I DO THAT? CAN I DO THAT?"

But with Garbagorba by my side, tackling the incredible topic of the evolution of Italian natural wines doesn't feel so enormous. It feels, and tastes, very exciting. 

Tasting Notes: Looks like gauze made from the brightest tropical coral. Smells like bing cherry morning dew dripping off cold gardenias. Tastes like you're devouring a watermelon filled with pomegranate juice trimmed with limestone, lemon rinds, and almond shavings. Refreshingly modern with a depth of terroir and tradition. Mio cuore canta (one of three Italian phrases I have DOWN). 

Ross Test: This is my first time Ross Testing from a decanter. And it was good, although, if you're going through the trouble to decant your wine you should probably put it in a glass. Also, you just straight up do not get enough wine when you're drinking out of a decanter without risking spilling the whole thing all over your face and wasting all this wine you are madly in love with.

Strekov 1075 "Vavrinec" Svätovavrinecké

Strekov 1075 Vavrinec
Varietal: Svätovavrinecké (St.Laurent)
Region: Slovakia
Year: 2014
Price: ~$25
Importer: Jenny & François Selections

I first met the Vavrinec in May, and it was love at first pour. And I poured, and I poured, and I poured. What was meant to be a wine review turned into a whirlwind romance; fast, lusty, effortless. It was everything I loved in a wine-- light and bright with crunchy, tart red fruit, floral wisps, and dashes of salt. Gamay who? This Svätovavrinecké was a most delicious wine, and I devoured it passionately without a thought of consequence. I watched the bottle slowly empty like watching the sun inevitably rise from the depths of a night you never want to end. But those nights, those bottles, those romances always end as swiftly as they started.

And the next day I was left without Vavrinec, and without a review. 

It's not uncommon for me to finish a bottle before I finish writing about it. Often I'm sharing the bottle with Ben, or I simply need more time to think about it. This usually isn't a problem because usually I can just go buy another bottle. Except this was a huge problem. Those consequences I ignored while blissfully glugging the Vavrinec? They were that the wine was gone and no one fucking carried Strekov 1075 in Los Angeles. And it was a 2014 vintage. I was madly in love, and totally fucked.

BUT I HAD TO WRITE ABOUT THIS WINE. HAD TO. After calling everyone I knew trying to track it down, I finally broke and shamelessly begged my friend Phil Sareil of Jenny & François Selections,* who gifted me the bottle, for another. There was only one case left, and Phil, sensing my deep thirst (on so many levels), generously sent me another bottle from New York.

After a month & a half, tonight I pulled that bottle out of my fridge. I was nervous. What if things weren't the same? What if it was weird? What if I wasn't really in love? What if it was only meant to be one magical night between me and the Vavrinec, never to be had again?

I poured it slowly, brought it to my lips, and took a small, deliberate sip.
And it tasted as though we had never parted.

It was like hearing a favorite song; familiar but just as moving as the first time time you heard it. The acidity is like an electric guitar pumped through a twangy pedal, both strikingly energetic and dreamy. It keeps the wine moving as idyllic, sour summer berries and perfumed flowers softly float along as the melody. 

The difference was I knew the song was going to end this time, for good. No rewinds, no repeats. This would be my last dance with Strekov 1075's 2014 Vavrinec. And while it tasted just as beautiful as I remembered, it broke my heart knowing I would never have this wine again. 

The magic of wine is also its misery. The variations from vintage to vintage are what keeps it interesting and endlessly enchanting. But they are fleeting; it's that one night, it's that one cologne mixed with the oils on that one neck, it's that one year of grapes in a bottle. 

But as they say,
It's better to have drunk and lost than never drunk at all.

Or something like that.
Who the fuck knows,
I hate the participles of "drink,"
and am just drunk enough not to care. 

Tasting Notes: Looks like unpolished garnets in the sun. Sour blackberries, cherry blossoms and almonds on the nose. Tastes like salted raspberry fireworks over a farm on the Fourth of July, exploding with acidity, and glittering with rhubarb, cherry, and barely budding, super green, red roses. So juicy and fresh, with a pleasantly tart and herbaceous finish. It is fun and flirty, but also a balancing act of grit and grace. One of the true loves of my wine life.

Ross Test: Like something I dreamed into life [weeps].

*Full Transparency: Yes, this wine was gifted to me from Phil from Jenny & François Selections, but was not in trade for a review. Just wine buds sharing wine! 

Collecapretta Vigna Vecchia

Collecapretta Vigna Vecchia
Varietal: Trebbiano Spoletino
Region: Umbria, Italy
Year: 2016
Price: $30ish
Importer: SelectioNaturel

There is no place my mind wanders to more frequently than Italy. On both good days and bad, I often dream of picking up my life in California and unpacking it somewhere in Umbria; close enough to Rome, but far enough away to be alone, and explore more of what has quickly become one of my favorite wine regions. While I'd been a fan of the wines for awhile, visiting Umbria this past spring with Matt Mollo of SelectioNaturel seared the Italian countryside into my heart. (And into my ankle. Not sure if you saw on my Instastory where I stayed in an Umbrian hotel that was a converted grain silo, but my room had essentially a carpet slide to accommodate the original structure. After a lot of wine that evening, I obviously had to drunkenly slide down until Mary Bartlett and I got the perfect two second video, and subsequently I gave myself the gnarliest rug burn on my ankle bone which has since scarred, and I consider it my first, and only, tattoo.)

I first had the Vigna Vecchia at Collecapretta in Umbria this past spring. The tiny hamlet that has been helmed by the Mattioli family since the 1100's currently has about four hectares of old vines and the winemaking is mangaged by the head of the family, Vittorio, and his stunning daughter, Annalisa. I have this bottle today as a gift from Danilo Marcucci, basically the Yoda of Italian natural wine, who works closely with Collecapretta and considers this wine the one that changed his life. This particular type of Trebbiano is only found in Umbria, and has only recently been revived after decades of the region being gutted of indigenous grape varietals. 

Drinking the Vigna Vecchia now, there are two sides of it. Or at least, I have two sides of it.

There is the side that conjures so much from my experience at Collecapretta. It's the barely budding maple trees and the white, dusty road that runs along the vines. It's the potted Meyer lemon trees and flowers that line the stone drive, with wafts of wet rock from recent watering. You can taste the closeness of the cellar we huddled in after a long lunch of homemade charcuterie and spinach ricotta ravioli (which this pairs perfectly with). It makes me want to move to the countryside and spend endless hours drinking this glass of emulsion blended sunshine and jasmine while watching the horizon disappear into the evening sky. 

But then there is the side that I taste as though I never sat at that table or walked those hills. 

And that side of this wine tastes like a decadent tropical vacation.

The Collecapretta Vigna Vecchia also tastes like that perfect day-buzz on a sandy beach with the right amount of salt in the air and some sort of rich, pineapple drink in your hand. It's confident, it's passionate, it's lusty. As a skin-contact white, with it's fuller body and modest tannins, it's even a bit grabby, and makes you want to rub tanning oil all over a lover's (or a hot stranger's?) back. And then be like, "Do me now. Don't forget to lift my straps... And no, you are right, I didn't quite get my sides..."  and then you share a melon, smoke an indica-hybrid, and blow each other on lounge chairs after dark, or some equally romantic shit.

But this is what I love so much about wine: It is so subjective and based on your experiences. What you taste in this wine could, and very well may be, entirely different than what I taste.

But whether it takes you to Italy or to a distant beach, the Collecapretta Vigna Vecchia is a daydream of a wine you'll never want to leave. It is so warm yet so refreshing, that it is almost impossible to have another care in the world while drinking it.

Not only that, but it is constantly evolving. You will think you have it figured out, but each sip is slightly different. And before you hit your next pour, you will notice that the wine has taken on more petrol and cashmere qualities, almost reminiscent of a aged riesling.

The Collecapretta Vigna Vecchia is like a good lover: It just keeps giving. 

But....

Tasting Notes: Looks like strewn gold in direct sunlight. Smells like salted, wet rock and white floral breezes of pineapple, apple, and papaya. Tastes like concentrated pineapple, and like dousing jasmine in gasoline and burning aflame with green melon. Has a long, warm cashmere finish of orange peel. Constantly evolving and endlessly flavorful, this has to be one of my favorite white wines ever. I'm in awe of it. 

Ross Test: Bitter pineapple juice. It's quite good, but not as good as out of a glass. But don't get me wrong. It's good. 

Minimus "I Have Brett" Rosé

Minimus "I Have Brett" Rosé
Varietal: Pinot Gris
Region: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Year: 2016
Price: $30
Retailer: Lou Wine Shop

This is my third attempt at writing this review. Which in and of itself, is a testament to the wine. It has perplexed, and hypnotized, me for two days. Just this afternoon, I literally cried a little over it. Because I could not find the right words, and because I was out of the wine. That sounds like a shallow and well-branded joke, but it isn't. I legit had tears. I then went back to Lou's and got another bottle. 

And now, I am ready to tell you about the Minimus "I Have Brett" Rosé.

It's a Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood song.

If you have ever listened to Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood's LP Nancy & Lee, you know that it is an album of harmonious chasms. You have Nancy's flowery voice floating and Lee's deep, spicy baritone coming in hot. There's breezy tambourines and celestial violins mixed with deep bass lines and ominous drum beats. We won't get into the random trumpets and country crooning, but it's all there. A first spin leaves a listener confused, but a third listen has them obsessed. Even if they can't explain exactly how the extreme breaks in "Some Velvet Morning" went from jarring to joyful. It just is. 

The Minimus "I Have Brett" Rosé reminds me of that album because it has so many conflicting notes that unexpectedly become an addictive melody. It's very dry and savory and reminiscent of a Tavel rosé, but has a tight, throbbing acidity, a punch of red fruit, and a floral halo. And then it has this incredible tannic structure and long finish. It's both light & bright, and warm & spicy, and that brett they make a point to call out is so well integrated into its complex profile that I doubt most people could pick a note of "barnyard" out of the glass while being so beguiled by its spiced cornucopia of cranberry and white flowers. 

I attribute its multiverse of flavors and sensations to Minimus winemaker Chad Stock's proprietary "Reverse Saignée" method. 

Alright so first things first, Saignée is a method of making rosé where a producer is making a straight-up red wine, and then bleeds off some of the juice early in fermentation. (This sort of thing is in my book BTW and you should pre-order it OKAY SORRY SORRY JUST TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING HERE.) Chad does not do this. Instead:

'Reverse Saignée' is what my team and I call the method where by we add additional juice to a fermentation on skins as opposed to the typical Saignée, where juice is removed from the fermentation. We fill a tank full of whole cluster Pinot Gris grapes, we then take a portion of the same fruit and whole bunch press it to collect white juice.  We then pump the white juice into the tank full of whole clusters. The fermentation ensues for about three weeks to dryness.  We wet the cap three times daily but otherwise never punch down, so the clusters remain whole and ferment carbonic with the white juice surrounding them.

And subsequently, Minimus has created a highly energetic yet extremely structured wine that is easy to ponder upon, and lose yourself in. And I'm sitting here still dazed by it.

This is not a wine you just drink.

This is a cerebral tongue fuck,
an endlessly stimulating yet ultimately unsolvable rosé Rubix Cube.

Tasting Notes: The color is close to Pantone's "Tangerine Tango," but with a touch more red, vibrant and glowing and expanding like a molten sun. Texturally it starts very smooth, like a well-polished gem, but softens in the glass. Smells like salted hibiscus and those freeze-dried full-sized raspberries from Whole Foods 365. Tastes like cranberry concentrate, red current, white lilies, and warm, spiced orange peels. And yes, that bit of brett, and all the mysteries left to ponder by this "Reverse Saignée".

Ross Test: Doable, but put it in a glass for me. I mean, for you, but do it for me. 

PREORDER TODAY! WINE. ALL THE TIME. THE BOOK!

ACT NOW!
WINE. ALL THE TIME. THE BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!
LEARN HOW TO TASTE WINE!
HOW TO BUY WINE!
HOW TO DRINK WINE WITH YOUR FAMILY WITHOUT KILLING THEM! 

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

EACH COPY OF WINE. ALL THE TIME. COMES COMPLETE WITH
A GREATER SENSE OF CONFIDENCE & REAL OUT LOUD LAUGHS. 

SET IT & FORGET IT! 
PREORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

Milan Nestarec 'Forks & Knives' White

Milan Nestarec 'Forks & Knives' White
Varietal: Grüner Veltliner
Region: Czech Republic
Year: 2015
Price: $25
Importer: Jenny & François Selections

The real reason I write about wine is because it has always been an escape for me. And not in the emotional, alcohol dependency way. But in the transportive way. I've always loved wine and writing about it because I can be somewhere, for even just a moment. 

And the Milan Nestarec 'Forks & Knives' White takes me to one of my favorite scenes in the world: This photo of the Kaufmann House by Slim Aarons. I asked for this huge print of it years ago, before I even had a wall to put it on. It sat unrolled and unframed for years, waiting for the moment I had a place to put it. Everyone asked why I would ask for a five foot poster of something I had nowhere to hang, and it was because I knew the next place I lived would have the perfect place to hang it. It was aspirational, and it still is.

I look at this picture every day, but the 'Forks & Knives' White is one of the few wines that tastes like that photo makes me feel. Like it's the Magic Hour on a perfect 81 degree Palm Springs afternoon. It has the fruitiness and acidity of an optimistic, tiki-inspired cocktail, something you would very much be drinking poolside in the early 1970's. The kind of drink that is so delicious and juicy, that you drink a few too many of, and consider becoming a swinger for a second because you're a bunch of rich people at the Kaufmann House in 1970 being photographed by Slim Aarons while listening to Henry Mancini and JESUS CHRIST, WHY NOT. 

It's sophisticated, but mischievous.
Like all good hosts should be. 

Tasting Notes: Looks like cloudy sunshine. I know that makes zero sense but just imagine a glass of cloudy sunshine please. FIIINE, IT'S LIKE STRAW GOLD AND CLOUDY. JESUS LET ME HAVE MY METAPHORS. Smells like Le Labo Jasmine Perfume and apples. Goes down so easy, but has a nice weight to it. Tastes like pineapple Martinellis with honeydew, a twist of lime and a hint of juniper. 

Ross Test: "WAIT, IT'S GONE?!?!?!?!!" good. Watch for sediment, babe. 

WINE. ALL THE TIME. THE BOOK. THE COVER. THE PRE-ORDER.

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER FROM YOUR PREFERRED BOOK SELLER NOW

Wine. All The Time. the book is happening. Like really truly happening, no going back now, HOLY SHIT I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT ON JUNE 27TH 2017! really truly happening. It still hasn't quite hit me, even as I write this. This time two years ago, this book was barely a glimmer of a thought of a possibility. By June of 2015, I had spent everything I had emotionally and financially selling it. I had naively thought that would be the hardest part, but as it turns out, writing a book is really fucking hard. Quite frankly, I do not know how I am even alive right now considering how little I slept and how much I stressed in 2016. I probably shaved a few years off my life, but it was worth it. I'm really proud of this book, and am so excited to share it with you guys.

I've been getting a lot of questions about what the book is exactly. No, it is not a picture book (although, bless your sweet hearts for thinking I could sell a book of photos of me chugging wine) and no, it's not a memoir (also, very sweet to think anyone would read that lol).

Wine. All The Time. the book is my guide to wine, from how wine is made to how to taste wine to how to buy wine to how to drink with your boss and not get fired. It is me giving you everything you need to be a confident wine drinker, and a smarter wine buyer, without any of the heady shit. Of course, I hope the book inspires you to get into the heady shit too, but this is the book I wish had been around when I first started getting into wine. Obviously it is told in my voice, so there's lots of humor and personal anecdotes, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as you learn from it.

And! An audio version of the book will be available as well! And I'm reading it! AHH!

Also, it's so exciting to finally release the cover! Penguin and photographer Andy J. Scott did an excellent job translating my vibe, and I'm so happy with it. For those of you who have been following my writing since Tangents & the Times, you know this is totally my color scheme. Originally, I did not want to be on the cover (odd considering how vain I am, I know). I wanted it to look like an old, vintage cocktail book, but it only took like three super flattering emails from my editor and publisher to change my mind. I was nervous, but all the great friends (wines) I got to have in the shot with me really helped boost my confidence. And yes, those are the shorts. The same men's Levi's cut-off shorts I have worn for everything I've ever done for the last eight years, and while part of me believes they need to be retired, part of me is now convinced I'm actually a Never Nude. 

So, there it is! My first book!

PLEASE PRE-ORDER IT! Because you love wine! Because you want to be a confident wine drinker that picks out notes of raspberry pop rocks and takes no shit and doesn't even care that you can't pronounce terroir correctly (although I will teach you how to do that too)! And because you love me? Maybe? 😁 

Photography by Andy J. Scott, Hair & Makeup by Sydney Costley, featuring wines from Brendan Tracey, Vini Rabasco, Partida Creus, Michael Cruse, Scribe, Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Jean-Claude Lapalu.