I am not very good at the science of it (that is what I have a father for: you should see his cellar!) but in Europe it is not the grapes but the region of origin that matters. Same grapes in different soils give a different character to wine. That is what they called origin denomination.

I am mostly into reds, though I found the other day a fun white with no pretensions called René Barbier in World Market. My partner is the one that does the wine thing in a scientific manner. I am only a dilettante

When H and I had just separated, one of my sisters came over to spend a week with me. The last weekend I had had a terrible row with H (I gave him a heartfelt letter of how everything he was doing was affecting our R and he gave it back to me without finishing it saying:'I'm tired of being insulted'!!!!). Anyway, I was furious and went totally absolutely dark: did not answer pages, did not answer the cell phone and went to stay in a hotel with my sister and my daughter. That Saturday we had dinner with friends and then my sister and I hit the town! It was such fun... That is when I discovered a really cool place in Fort Worth called Wine Scapes. They have 'flights' of wine: sampling of 4 different wines with a common denominator (e.g. California wines, Australian wines...). I loved it. There were also cheeses and patés to accompany the wine. It was real fun And we were in a perfect mood both of us!!! I had not had that much fun in a long. long time!

The following day, my H broke up with OW and left her house storming... as I learned later from her.

"You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little" Tom Smith in "Seabiscuit"