The post title above is a bit mis-leading; adding the varieties and being a winner are only loosly related, make that very loosly related.

We play Onze(a rummy-like card game with a French name. Don’t know where the French name comes from) fairly regularly with friends. We play for quarters – everyone starts with $5 and at the end of the night, it’s obvious who the winners and losers are. Last night, I ended up $3.50 — I’m a winner!

During that very enjoyable night of cards, I opened a bottle of Gritsch Gruner Veltliner that I had purchased from Jill at Domaine547. This is my first Gruner Veltliner and It was very tasty. For me, it was a lot like a riesling with veggies. Noticable petroleum and minerality mixed with some broccli and maybe a stalk of asparagus — that along with just the right amount of sweetnes. Great balance. I prefer good riesling, but this was good and I got to mark off another variety.

Just so you don’t mistake us for lightweights, we then opened a bottle of one of my favorite summer whites – Twisted Oak Verdelho from the Twisted Oak Winery , the Silvaspoons Vineyard in Alta Mesa – ummmm very yummy.

We followed that with a very nice Zinfandel from Rancho Zapaco in Sonoma county – just to add a little heft to balance off the “whiter shades of pale”.

Did I mention that I ended a winner? Oh yeah, I guess I did.

So, ok the Verdelho is not a new variety and we had to finish the night with something new – at least a new variety (or two) for me.

We opened a bottle of Lustau Deluxe Cream Sherry. I don’t know that I’ve ever tried sherry before and I really didn’t know what to expect. The “Cream” part had kind of set my expectations toward something like Baileys Irish cream but there wasn’t anything cream-like in the color or texture. It was, however very tasty and an excellent way to finish the evening. Taste-wise, it reminded me a bit of Port, without the full body. I liked it ok, but in the future when I want something like that – I’ll stick with a good 10 or 20 year port. Good QPR with the Sherry as this bottle ran around $12 whereas a good 10 – 20 year Tawny will run upwards of $40 – $50.  So, what are the two new varieties? The cream sherry is made from Palomino and Pedro Ximenez grapes – two varieties that (to my knowledge), I have never had before.

My trek towards Wine Century Club qualification is now at 67 varieties – only 33 to go.

So, the wine was excellent, I picked up three new varieties, and I won $3.50 playing Onze – can’t get much better than that!

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 10:22 AM GMT-0500

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The Amazon Kindle – I think I want one!

I wouldn’t say I’m a voracious reader; but I do read quite a bit, I would say one to two hours daily. I often find myself reading two books at the same time – usually a fiction book for entertainment and then a non-fiction about some technical or self-improvement idea that I’m interested in.

I also listen to audio books from Audible, mostly when I work out in the morning – about an hour a day. The other time that I always listen to audio books is at the Dentist – I hate going to the dentist and the audio book distracts me from the unpleasant goings-on – and for me, everything going on at the dentist is unpleasant.

I mostly buy books online from either Amazon or Powell’s and I generally buy the gently used ones which cuts the price roughly in half. I can always apply the savings to the purchase of a good bottle of wine.

So what is it about the Kindle that makes me think I want one? There are several things actually:

1. First and maybe foremost – it’s a neat gizmo/gadget and I am, after-all, a gadget freak.
2. Paper books take up a lot of space and create a lot of clutter, not to mention the eventual negative environmental impact. You can throw them in a closet, or box and gather them up every six months – take them to Half-Priced Books and collect enough for another bottle of wine.(hey, that’s not such a bad idea afterall)
3. The on-demand availability of content is a factor that favors audio books and the Kindle. You shop online, find something you like, buy it, download it, and bang you’re done, no waiting for mailing, shipping or anything.

There are probably several other factors about the Kindle that intrigue me, so what’s holding me back?

1. I’ve never actually seen, held, used one and am unsure about it’s usability/acceptability
2. It costs $400 (Just think of the wines you could buy with $400)
3. It does not currently support PDF format (Many/most of the technical documents that I often refer to are available in PDF format). This would be an added bonus, but not a show-stopper.
4. The Kindle does not support images – most fiction books don’t have images either, but the non-fiction technical documents do and they are important. Just like number 3 above, this capability would be a bonus, but not a show-stopper.

So, is there anything that would make me pull the trigger right now? Yes, if the price were $200 I would buy it as-is. At the $400 price point, It would need to support PDF format at a minimum, and preferably images also.

The Kindle is still very new, in it’s first generation. Availability has been very limited and I assume demand is high. That being the case, it’s not likely that we will see a 50% price reduction anytime soon and I suspect that new features like PDF/Image support will come at an additional cost.

Oh Well, maybe in a couple of years I can pick up a used gen 1 Kindle for a $200 on EBay.

Posted by DRHamp as Gadgets & Stuff at 9:34 AM GMT-0500

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