The Wine Commonsewer

Student Achievement In America

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

As predictable as Ted Kennedy's five o'clock date with a gin bottle, it always happens at tax time. Mrs TWC will be home for weeks on end, tippity tapping at her laptop on the dining room table, and then, right when things explode into white hot flame, she has to leave town.

Actually, although I'm certain I must have been smoking opium at the time, TWC had originally planned to tag along with her to Scottsdale this weekend. That worked out. What was I thinking? It's tax time.

Institute for Humane Studies is throwing a big donor shindig in Scottsdale and the Missus caught a plane at zero-dark-thirty this morning. She'll treat the throngs to her shocking and awesome tales of education woes in America sometime later today.

One of the more salient arguments she'll make is that while student achievement in the US may not be as high as other nations, it doesn't matter as much as you think. I hear your eyebrows going up. That's because (paraphrasing) it doesn't do Chinese kids any good to be smart because the system doesn't allow them to do much with the knowledge they've acquired.

In the US, we still have a relatively free market system in place, freer than most western nations. The resulting productivity and creativity gains more than offset any competitive disadvantage of lower test scores.

Fascinating stuff and I hope I got it right (here at home she talks fast and waves her arms around a lot and sometimes her voice is a bit muffled when she's throwing clothes into the dryer and I'm at my desk).

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Mrs TWC is Director of Education at Reason Foundation, a free-market libertarian think tank. I don't know where those guys came up with that picture, but it doesn't look much like the chick I'm married to. She looks more like this.

As Always,

TWC

Tax Man Red

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Is this cool or what?

Yes, the white Freesias are past their prime. They still smell good though.

Tip of the Glass to Linda and the gang at Sunset Ridge Vineyards for the specialty, namesake blend that was, frankly, quite tasty. Not as tasty as the Sunset Ridge Petite Syrah, which I reviewed here, but still quite a treat.

Full Disclosure: The SRV Petite Syrah (I know it really is Petit Syrah) was really good and I was one of the fortunate few to taste the inaugural bottling. So, am I biased? Sure. That don't mean it wasn't good wine.  Go buy yourself some. The TWC discount code might still work.

Here's one note I got about the Sunset Ridge Petite Syrah:

A lovely wine! And I had the same experience except I only poured a tad after opening - good but a bit stiff - then later the juice opened up and this was 'full bodied', full flavored  Dark/blackish purple, the empty glass was colored as were my teeth - this is good.... and one of my favorite notes - the Bordeaux-like "lead pencil" aftertaste following the great fruit. Yummy!

I think No Star sent me something equally enthusiastic but danged if I can find it.

Oh, cool video about the wine making with a shout out to TWC the Tax Man. Worth it just for that.

Dogs are all amped up tonight. Restless. Intimidation yelps. Likely there's coyotes circling the casa like so many Dark Seekers. Gotta bring in that black cat. Good night, thanks for stopping by.

As Ever,

TWC

2004 Bodegas El Coto Rioja Crianza

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Now, if you want a good Spanish wine for under ten books bucks this is your ticket. Unlike that funky 2006 Panarroz Jumilla, this is a solid wine.

El Coto's first release was 1975 and it has become the top selling wine in Spain and one of the top sellers in Europe. Coto's vineyards are in Cenicero (Rioja Alta) next to the east bank of the river Najerilla and the soil is mainly based on ferric clay. The rest of the grapes come from selected vineyard owners from the Rioja Alavesa.

Don't that just make me sound like The Man?

That's as far as I got the other night and then I tottered off to bed.

Now, three days later, I can't remember the specifics, and, of course, I didn't take any notes. Notes and me don't do that well anyway.

It's nicely done, you won't go wrong with a bottle or two.

As Ever,

TWC

If You Had To Start Again

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

It don't matter that Tivo is recording Idol and the rewind button on the remote works, you had best keep quiet or risk the wrath of Mrs TWC. Tuesday night, 8:00 is quality family time (read: quiet time) at the Casa. This fundamental fact of existence on the planet tends to escape my boy and The House Blond. Invariable the opinion gene or the choreography gene or the dancing gene kicks in, and Boy Howdy, better stand by.   

That said, I have no idea if Kristy Lee Cook was hot or not because even though the volume ended up dialed all the way to 97, those kids drowned her out. They got a pass on it, too.

Ever since sippy cups and car seats, they've loved that Lee Greenwood song. They never heard it here, so I'm curious about where, but the song touches them on some primordial level, calling out for the promise of the Promised Land.

Maybe there's a liberty gene.

Song only here.

Cute little Kristy plus the judges raving is here.

As Ever,

TWC

Overheard

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

That Boy: When I flipped the dead coyote over the whole side of his face was covered with maggots.

The House Blond: Ew!

That Boy: Wanna go see?

The House Blond: Ew! No!

That Boy: Come on Katie, Pullleezzee?

The House Blond: Did you touch it?

That Boy: No, I used a stick. Wanna go see?

The House Blond: Gross!

That Boy: Katie, It was AWESOME!

As Ever,

TWC

Ouch

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Like an idiot I was stretching and reaching, lower cupboard door open, tippy toe barefoot seeking purchase on the middle shelf (a faux step ladder of sorts, the likes of which woulda got my kids beat for doing), arm extended, hand feeling around like the Addams Family Thing for that that one last blank digital tape. On the top shelf. For to record Sunday's Easter Egg hunt.

Crack.

Shelf collapses, TWC drops full force, toes out, onto the next shelf down. Screaming.

Now, some of you have had a finger jammed. Or bent bass ackwards to how God intended the thing to flex. Now. Imagine, all ten toes, simultaneously bent backwards 90-120 degrees to normal. And then, the underside of them ripped open spewing blood everywhere.

It hurt SO much I couldn't swear.

Prognosis: purple toes for the duration of tax season.

Nice refresher course in Pain 101. Sayid couldn't have done it better.

UPDATE: Bruising is beginning to heal. No infection.

As Ever,

TWC

The Easter Sermon

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Please turn to John 2, verses 2-11. Thankee.

A short time before Passover that year, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Among the guests at this glorious affair, were Jesus, his mother, and the disciples. The celebrants, danced, feasted, and drank wine until there was no more wine.

Once the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him,

Son, we have no more wine.

Always the polite son, Jesus responded thus,

Ma, it is not my place..........

His mother was Jewish and therefore she interrupted him, tapped her foot firmly a number of times, then gave Him THE LOOK. At once, turning to the servants, she demurely smiled and told them to do whatever Jesus might ask of them.

Nearby stood six stone water jars ordinarily reserved for ceremonial washing, each of which held from twenty to thirty gallons of water.

Jesus then said to the servants,

Go to the well and fill the jars with water. Once you have done so, draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.

The servants did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said,

It is to be expected that the choice wine is served first and then the cheaper wine is brought out after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the very finest wine until now.

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee, and by doing so revealed His glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Bow your heads, please.

Amen. Go in peace.

As Ever,

TWC

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Please turn to John 2, verses 2-11. Thankee.

A short time before Passover that year, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Among the guests at this glorious affair, were Jesus, his mother, and the disciples. The celebrants, danced, feasted, and drank wine until there was no more wine.

Once the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him,

Son, we have no more wine.

Always the polite son, Jesus responded thus,

Ma, it is not my place..........

His mother was Jewish and therefore she interrupted him, tapped her foot firmly a number of times, then gave Him THE LOOK. At once, turning to the servants, she demurely smiled and told them to do whatever Jesus might ask of them.

Nearby stood six stone water jars ordinarily reserved for ceremonial washing, each of which held from twenty to thirty gallons of water.

Jesus then said to the servants,

Go to the well and fill the jars with water. Once you have done so, draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.

The servants did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said,

It is to be expected that the choice wine is served first and then the cheaper wine is brought out after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the very finest wine until now.

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee, and by doing so revealed His glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Bow your heads, please.

Amen. Go in peace.

As Ever,

TWC