Am I permitted to brag?

[balzaccom]

Just back from the annual conference of the American Wine Society, where I was given the annual Award of Merit--their highest honor--for my work in the world of wine. What fun! And the list of previous award winners is quite impressive: Robert Mondavi, Vern Singleton, Gina Gallo, Ann Noble, Andre Tchellistcheff, Warren Winiarski...a who's who of the leaders of the wine industry. I am blushing...

Here's a link to a facebook post from Toshio Oeno, the Sake Sensei, about the event. Pretty darn cool.

https://www.facebook.com/1591524752/pos ... 578941732/

[maverick]

Congratulations! Does this mean a free case of Rombauer Zin's for all HST members?

[austex]

Yes Paul Congrats and for the 2019 meetup I think a bottle for those to share is in order.

[rightstar76]

Of course! Let's all raise a glass to HST's wine expert extraordinaire, Paul Wagner. Salute!

[balzaccom]

Ha! I usually don't take wine backpacking--it's too heavy. But sometimes on a short trip I'll take some in a plastic bottle. Not recommended for long term aging!

[Harlen]

Congrats Paul- you are surely deserving of awards, and soon should earn another for your great podcast.
BTW, I prefer plastic Paul. Firstly, one can drink with reckless abandon without fear of smashing either your teeth or the dropped bottle...
And secondly, of course, less weighty to carry about.

One of our most delightful memories from traveling in island Croatia, was the home made wine scene. You would just show up at someone's neighborhood vat with any old container- and the local container of choice was invariably a plastic gallon jug. For about 25 kuna* you were set! These backyard wineries were defacto wine pubs, with fun people milling about, and no age limits, or any other rules, so our little sons were welcome. Cheers! Ian.

*the Croatian currency name "kuna" comes from a species of weasel, the fur of which was common currency of olde.

[fishmonger]

I recall experiencing intoxicating fumes of a large farm-filled plastic canister of red wine that leaked on a train from Southern France back to Germany, sloshing up and down the train car. It was an oppressively hot August day with full evaporation turning wine into a gas as the leaked fermented grape juice continued to seep from the container and spread out over the length of the car's floor, building up to waves as the train decelerated or accelerated, giving each end of the car an equal share of the aroma. I think I was drunk back on that day in 1980

[balzaccom]

Harlen, that's a good story. Most of the wine shops there sell wine buy the liter...and you use a pump that looks just like a gas station--with a read out as you pump. The last time I was there, you could get a liter of red or white for about 1.3 euros. Merlot was 1.5 euros. And while I was in one shop, a guy showed up with a 15 liter container in a baby stroller. He filled it up, paid for it, and rolled it home!

[Harlen]

The Dude said:

I think I was drunk back on that day in 1980

Yes- drunk for free! But I'm afraid our expert Paul may say you were just alcohol-poisoned.

[John Harper]

Well, this takes the focus off the recent Sommelier exam scandal! Congratulations.

John