The Wine Commonsewer™

2007 True Earth Cabernet/Merlot/Petite Sirah

 Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Three Thieves markets this organically grown, Mendocino County, screw top red wine as.....

.....derived from the fact that organically farmed earth is in natural balance and harmony. We believe that the living soil that organic farming allows for yields wines with more personality and sense of place. Healthy soils, healthy vines equal truly pure wines.

Though True Earth is certified organic, the rest is mostly wishful thinking and ad copy hype. The wine strikes me as flat and uninteresting but at five bucks you could serve it at a party and nobody would complain. It isn't terrible. It isn't sickly sweet. It isn't Two Buck Chuck. It isn't bad. It is pretty smooth with very little aroma. Interestingly enough, for just a moment, the first sip tasted like.....wait for this, now.....grape juice. That didn't last long.

Originally intended to retail for around thirteen dollars US, Mrs TWC picked up a bottle for five bucks to sample. If you can find this wine for five bucks it will work for Tuesday night with pizza. At $12.99 you should keep moving.

As Ever,

TWC

Birds in TWC's Backyard (Hawk & Plane)

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Felice has been asking us to take some back yard bird pictures and I finally got something decent. Course, compared to the pictures some of these guys with lenses they carry around in violin cases get, the picture is just OK. But I like it anyway. 

Whenever the wind tosses deck chairs against the house, the hawks are out floating on the breeze. The airplane was just a little bonus.

Gorgeous day here in the Southland.

As Ever,

The Taxman (TWC)

Revised Documentation Rules To Claim Homebuyer Credit

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Because of the level of bogus claims for the 2008 credit, IRS has been instructed by CONgress to ensure that you don't beat Uncle Sugar out of hard cash by fraudulently claiming the First Time Homebuyer Credit. They think you should actually buy a house before you get a credit. The revised requirements are similar to the rules for the Long Time Homeowner Who Buys A New House Credit.

I made the name up, but it is a real credit designed to encourage established homeowners to uproot their families and move to a new home. In case that makes no sense to you, just remember that this is simply an elaborate way to take tax money from you to benefit someone else, in this case certain homeowners and the real estate industry. 

First Time Homebuyer Credit

In case your forgot, the 2009 First Time Homebuyer Credit is equal to 10% of the purchase price of the home with a cap of $8,000.00.

• Both you and your spouse may not have owned a home during the previous three years.
• Unmarried co-owners may split the credit according to ownership interest.
• Rentals don't count.
• You must live in the home for three years.
• You must ink the deal by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010 to qualify
• There are other caps and technicalities as well, but that is the gist of it.

Here's what the agency wants in order for you to claim the First Time Homebuyer Credit:

• You must file a paper return (no e-filed returns permitted)
• You must properly complete Form 5405 and attach it to your tax return.
  
• Buyers of conventional homes should include a copy of Form HUD-1, Settlement Statement, or other settlement statement, showing all parties' names, property address, sales price and date of purchase.
• Mobile home buyers who are unable to get a settlement statement should include a copy of the executed retail sales contract showing all parties' names, property address, purchase price and date of purchase.
• The settlement statement that must be attached to the return is considered to be properly executed if it is complete and valid according to local law.
• Do yourself a favor and sign the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. Trust me, IRS will like this and it will expedite processing.  

Long Time Homeowner Who Buys A New House Credit

This credit is available to people who buy a replacement house and have lived in their existing house for at least five years.

• Yes you must move
• No, you don't have to sell your existing home

To claim the credit you must attach all of the information noted above and one or more items from the following list to document your five consecutive years of residency.

• Five years of Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement, or substitute mortgage interest statements,
• Five years of property tax records or
• Five years of homeowner’s insurance records.

Form 5405 is available here in a fill-in format (you can type it on your computer). Form 5405 instructions are here.

Basically, IRS is auditing you before the fact to ensure that you ain't a tax cheat.

As Always,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Mrs TWC

Paso In San Diego

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Ten years ago, Paso Robles was an up and coming wine region. Ten years ago, we decided (on a whim) to zip up the coast to Paso Robles for the Harvest Festival. When day was done we booked a room at the local hostelry and rested up for the trip back.

Fast forward a decade and we decided, once again on the spur of the moment, to zip up to Paso for the Harvest Festival. This time, prudence dictated a trip to Travelocity.com and Expedia.com beforehand where we learned there  was no room at the inn. In fact, there were but three chances of getting a room on the Saturday of Harvest Festival in Paso.

Slim.

Fat.

None.

Not a single available room in all of SLO county. 

It would appear that Paso has come of age and is no longer just an up and coming appellation.

PASO ROBLES WINE COUNTRY, one of the nation’s premier wine producing regions, hits the road for its 2010 national Grand Tasting Tour with the first stop scheduled the week of February 23 - 25, 2010 in San Diego. More than 40 winemakers from Paso Robles will converge on San Diego in a number of scheduled tasting events and you are invited to take advantage of any one of these opportunities to meet the winemakers and taste the distinct and different wines of Paso Robles Wine Country.

Whole thing here.

Did I mention that my friends at Sunset Ridge Vineyards are in Paso?

As Ever,

TWC

Rainbow Over the Vineyard

Rainbow Over the Distant Citrus Orchards East of South Coast Winery Vineyards

Same Rainbow Closer With a Little Sun

Photo Credit: TWC ©

Get Off My Lawn

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Me and The Boy were making our way from the camping department near the back of Sports Authority toward the door by way of the shoe section, where a blondish, thirty-something mom in tight jeans was attempting to re-shoe her entire pack of semi-feral boys.

Jake had been giving me some guff about being old and crotchety and after a bit I began to take his point. I offered that it was so. That I was just about a grumpy old man what hated all the neighbors. That I dang sure didn't like much of anything about their puppy mills, their noisy a$$ dirt bikes, squawking jungle fowl, or their gardening crews that set up shop at six AM on Sunday mornings. Yep, son, you're right, 'spose I'm ready to retire and complain about the government full time.

Just about then we ambled past the shoe aisle and I turned and leaned a bit toward Jake. In in a menacing stage whisper I sort of shouted .....

Now, get off my lawn, punk!

Didn't faze mom, she never even looked up. But all four of those boys (ages four to twelve I'd guess), well, they 'bout jumped outta their skin. Eight suacer eyes, just watching me until I faded out of their line of sight. 

Made my day, too. Chuckled all the way to the front door.

As Ever,

TWC

Thoughts on Retirement: Making a Difference

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

As we get older we sometimes begin to doubt our ability to make a difference in the world.  It is at these times that our hopes are boosted by the remarkable achievements of other seniors who have found the courage to take on challenges that would make many of us wither. 

Harold Sclumberg is one such inspiring person.

I've often been asked, What do you old folks do now that you're retired'?

Well ..... I'm fortunate to have a chemical engineering background, and one of the things I enjoy most is turning beer, wine, Scotch, and Margaritas into urine.

As Always,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Gary S

La Bomba Grande Red Table Wine

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Guy I know went to Richland High School (Home of the Bombers!) which was just down the road from the Hanford Nuclear Site.

 

Gene thought the mushroom cloud logo was a little off-the-wall un-pc until today, when he learned there were two of them logos. Well, I suppose he still thinks it's strange, but sheesh, it's not like they're the Redskins or something.

 

The winery is a second career for John Balagna after 40 years as a nuclear chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Is it just me or does the contains sulfites warning on the label seem like the least of your worries? I mean, is the wine made from three-eyed grapes that glow in the dark?  What would happen if Superman drank it? Plagiarized that line without attribution from a guy I know named John.

La Bomba Grande, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Wonder if this is a Meritage?

As Ever,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Benito, whose photo this is, all rights reserved.

Happy St Vals

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The most popular legend surrounding St. Valentine’s Day dates to Third Century Rome under Claudius. It occurred to the emperor one bright and sunny day that young married men weren’t anxious to lay down their lives in service to the Roman Empire. Instead they were much more concerned with matters of love and family.  In a fit of bureaucratic idiocy, the likes of which continue to modern times, Claudius simply banned marriage. In his naiveté, he assumed that absent the opportunity for love and marriage single men would dash to fill his thinning ranks of soldiers. 

Fortunately for many, Valentine understood the uncomplicated truth that Claudius failed to recognize. In matters of the heart the law is meaningless. He continued to perform clandestine marriages, surreptitiously uniting young lovers until he was ultimately discovered, arrested, and executed. 

Priests were permitted to be married in those long ago days and on the eve of his death it is said that he sent a love letter to his wife (in some tales it is a young girl he has fallen madly in love with) signing it simply, Your Valentine. With that simple act of devotion he bequeathed to us a custom that continues today.

May the romance of your Valentine’s celebration remind you of why your heart flutters when treated to the vision of that extraordinary someone in your life.

As Ever,

TWC

Declare the Pennies on Your Eyes

President Obama singing Taxman video here.

As Ever,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Gene T