I passed and ripasso

Monday was a good day. My lost mail was found and made its way to me, so I feel connected again to the outside world. I got rejection letters from Opus One and Cakebread, registration stickers for my car (which is sitting back in California sucking all my money and sanity away from me), a note from mom saying that my nephew is referring to me as Baby Mary and my first issue of Playgirl. The subscription was a b-day gift from January and I'm finally enjoying the benefits. Guys don't need to wax so much, if you think you need it get a woman's opinion first. The production value of the magazine is ok, they might need to think about getting an editor who's over 30 (models can be under 30 of course), and Johnny Cobalt on page 32 please use some Visine.

I had a phone interview for a cellar job in St. Helena. We talked for a while and I learned the picking probably won't start until mid-September.

I got my first certificate and pin for passing the intro class from the Court of Master Sommeliers. The test was hard and I was prepared to leave empty handed after drinking my fill of post-class champagne, but alas I'm wearing my "Guild of Sommeliers" pin on my wifebeater sleep shirt. It was cool to hang out with 5 Masters who taught the 2-day class, one of which was Roger Dagorn from Chanterelle. My energy and confidence are way up, just don't ask me anything about wine...

Speaking of which, my pick for the evening was an Northeastern Italian red wine from the Veneto region, Valpolicella. It was made with the repasso method, the wine was passed over the lees (dead yeast and grape bits) of dried grapes that were used for making a sweet wine. It was a superiore, so it has at least a year of barrel aging. 2 words: yum mee. It's a luxurious wine that seems creamy, low acid without being flabby. Great alternative to a "fruit bomb" and you can drink it on it's own.