URGENT REQUEST -- HELP NEEDED

Hello All,

I am writing on behalf of my dear friend, Kaurie, because she is in desperate need of your generosity. Her daughter has Amelio Genesis Imperfecta. This is a genetic disorder that caused her teeth to form without enamel. Her teeth are crumbling which has triggered a life-threatening and incredibly painful infection. She needs immediate oral surgery to remove all but six of her teeth, the bone prepped for preservation, and eventually dentures. This will cost $7,000, which is far more than Kaurie has been able to save. Kaurie has applied for and been denied for credit to pay for this operation, so her last resort is a grant from ModestNeeds.org.

Modest Needs is a non-profit organization that takes in donations and uses the funds to provide grants for people in need. Kaurie’s grant request has been accepted by Modest Needs, but it still requires funding from people like us. When you make a tax-refundable donation to Modest Needs, your account is credited with points (1 point per dollar donated) and you can apply those points to any grant request in their network. Kaurie needs 6,598 points to receive her grant for her daughter’s surgery.

Any contribution is gratefully received. Kaurie’s daughter needs this surgery as soon as possible. If you can make a small donation to this cause, please review Kaurie’s request here Application 150838. After registering with Modest Needs you can make a tax-deductable donation to the organization and the corresponding points will be allocated to your Modest Needs account. Please then apply these points to application #150838.

Kaurie, her daughter, and I thank you in advance for your generosity. Your donations will go directly to saving a young woman’s life and giving her an opportunity to live her first pain-free days in nearly a decade.

Thank you again,
Erin
PS: Please forward this request to as many people as possible. The more people who donate, the faster Kaurie's daughter can get into surgery.

Vino 2009 Convention

The artistry of Italian wine is coming to the United States at the end of this month with the Vino 2009: Italian Wine Week. Vino 2009 is the first industry convention of Italian Wines in America. It is hosted by the Italian Trade Commission and it will be held in New York, Boston and Miami between January 23rd and the 30th. It will begin in Boston with a series of educational seminars and it will culminate on the 30th in Miami with a day-long Grand Tasting of Italian wines. This convention is one of a kind, and it will introduce a myriad of delicious, artisanal Italian wines to the US wine trade industry. Viva La Vino will be at the Miami portion of the convention and I can't wait to write about all the amazing sights, smells and flavors that I will experience. This convention will also be covered by the team at BarrelandBrew.com, so I will post links to their articles and photos as soon as they go up. If anyone else is planning on attending this event, drop me a comment and let me know. I'd love to meet you all.

Restaurant Wine Etiquette

Whether you like him or not, whether you agree with him or not, Christopher Hitchens can always be counted on to proffer his opinion on just about anything. And he does it with eloquence and aplomb. I just tripped over an article of his in Slate magazine, "Wine Drinkers of the World, Unite," about wine and restaurant etiquette.

Hitchens depicts the scenario where a waiter interrupts the table's conversation (which at Hitchens' table must be pretty entertaining) in order to pour the remaining contents of the wine bottle into all of the glasses on the table, unasked. He cites that the motivation for this rude behavior is to sell more wine by emptying the bottle well before the meal is completed and then pushing a second bottle.

I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me, and as Hitchens' states, not everyone at the table necessarily wants the second glass of wine. When I purchase a good bottle of wine and then have to watch it left unappreciated in the glass for the rest of the night, I feel sick at the waste. Once the bottle is open, everyone at the table is capable of pouring a glass for themselves. Furthermore, the host should be able to take the honor of asking the guests if they would care for a second glass. And if a second bottle is desired, I have absolutely no qualms about signalling to the waiter to bring another.

Hitchens' is requesting social change and I have to say that I am behind him on this one. He suggests that the next time you are interrupted at your table by the waiter attempting to pour your wine for you, you should politely but firmly tell him 'no.' We would not accept the rude interruption from someone from another table, why would we accept it from the wait-staff?

So the next time you are out to dinner, think about the Hitchens' call to arms. Take control of your wine consumption and enforce some restaurant etiquette.

Farewell Mondavi

On May 16, 2008, Robert Mondavi, father of California winemaking, died at the age of 94. Mondavi had a vision of California as a winemaking world capital, and he began pursuing this dream in the 1960s. He was one of the first to produce highly rated California wines, and his name is synonymous with stellar Nappa Valley wine.

For more information on Robert Mondavi, and his unarguably dramatic and interesting life, check out, “The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty” (Gotham Books, $28), by Julia Flynn Siler. Ms. Siler writes for The Wall Street Journal from northern California and is an authority on the Mondavi family. "The House of Mondavi" is a thoroughly researched account of the family's rises and falls, of its successes and tragedies, and particularly exploitative of the passions and personality of Robert Mondavi himself.

His dedication to the art of winemaking and his passion for perfection made him a master. He and his artistry will be missed.