Wine Comedy Show

We had signed up to attend a "Wine Comedy Show", presented by Mark Phillips, author ("Swallow This"), PBS host of "Enjoying Wine with Mark Phillips" (6 years on PBS, most watched wine show of all time), and new resident at our park, Venture Out in Mesa. It was not particularly a comedy show, though he did tell a couple of jokes, but more of an informative, enjoyable session about wine.

He started by sharing that "experts run the wine world", full of rules and being intimidating to those who aren't "in the know". He prefers the "Who cares?" approach, enjoying the wine you enjoy, and not being forced into thinking you like some expensive wine when you really could not care less!

His book was available for purchase at the event. It is also on Amazon in its second edition.

He did the show 4 times as the amount of people who wanted to attend were too many for the venue he was booked into (Oasis room) -- he tried to get into the ballroom but it was not available for him to use. We attended the last of the 4 scheduled shows.

One of the things he shared with us was an "impressive" way to open a champagne (or bubbly wine) bottle by knocking the top of the bottle off with a champagne flute! He invited members of the audience to come up and demonstrate and two ladies went up to give it a try and were successful!

The majority of his talk was about "Why buying expensive wine is not worth it:" 

There are 5 characteristics, all of which must be right, to make the expensive wine "worth it" -- the probability of all 5 being right is low.

1) Vintage: You need to be knowledgeable about the vintages of the wine. Every vineyard makes wine every year, but some years have too much rain, or not enough rain, or hail -- which can damage the taste of the wine. He gave as an example a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild -- he had purchased a collection of wine from a collector who was moving out of the US and could not take it with him. The collection included several bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, including from 1991 -- a bad year. The bottles of this wine would normally sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars and he knew that in purchasing the collection, he was getting some very very good years, and some bad - like 1991. I just did a search online (to make sure I was spelling the winery correctly) and found that there are bottles available of the 1991 vintage priced from $400s to over $1200 -- for a single bottle of, what is said to be a poor vintage, of wine! He indicated that there are charts online of vintages that you can use for guidance, but it is a lot to have to research if you just want to pick up a bottle of wine for an occasion.

2) Maturity date: Expensive wines (the 2%) are meant to age to maturity, for the ingredients to meld and the flavor to develop. 98% of wines are meant to consume right now, "on the drive home from the store!" 

For the wines that need to mature, sometimes there is a big window to maturity. If you open a bottle and it is "too young" (the flavor hasn't evolved), you can let it breathe - contact with air will hasten aging - put it in a wide carafe (in the bottle is not sufficient - "a sink or a bathtub would be better!"). It may mature sufficiently in a matter of minutes or maybe hours.

3) Taste of older wines: You need to ask, "Do I like the taste of older wine?" 95% of people prefer box wine and won't enjoy the taste of older wines, an acquired taste, no fruitiness, but "complexity".

4) How has it been stored?: "If you have a bottle of wine that you've been saving for a special occasion, you might as well drink it this evening. You'll probably never come to an occasion that you think is *special enough* to drink it, and you probably have not been storing it appropriately and it will taste like vinegar anyway!" 

Wine should be stored at a constant 53-55F, in a dark environment. If you don't have it stored at 55F, for every 18 degrees warmer than 55F (such as at 72F, our normal household temperature) the wine will age 8 times faster - so if it was supposed to age 8 years to reach maturity, it could do that in just a year at our normal household temperature.. "Go ahead and drink it now!"

5) Who you have it with: the company you are with when you consume it. He talked about going out with his "future ex-wife" to The Inn at Little Washington for a fancy meal. They had a special wine on the menu that he ordered for this special occasion - but she was not impressed. He gave another example of taking a fine wine to share with a friend and the friend mixed it with Red Bull (horrors!). 

He told us a story of being on a show where he and another wine connoisseur were being interviewed. The host asked as a last question, "If you were given a great bottle of wine, with whom would you share it?" Neither of them had been prepared to answer this question, but they both immediately said, "No one!" They recognized that the lack of enjoyment by the other person would diminish their own enjoyment, and therefore, they'd rather have it alone!

Other points:

At what temperature should wine be served? The classic answer is that white wine should be chilled and red wine at room temperature. He said:

• 40F - too cold for wine - masks the flavor of any beverage. "You know the beer cans that change the color of the mountain when the can is ice cold? That means that their inferior beverage is now cold enough that your taste buds won't be able to tell how bad it is!"
• 50F - target temperature for white wine, cheaper wine can be served colder. More expensive wines more toward 55F. Lower temps will enhance fruitier wines.
• 65F - target temperature for red wine. Drink cooler than "room temperature" (maybe "room temperature" in the climate of the "wine experts" is generally cooler than what we are used to!). Boxed Merlot serve at 60F. Over 70F will get the heat of the alcohol (I'm not sure what he meant by this!)

Don't buy air removal tools to preserve wine after it is opened; his opinion is that they don't really work. An argon layer works a little to keep it from aging. Another option is to put the leftover wine in a smaller container to exclude as much air as possible (Ziploc bag, Tupperware, plastic water bottle) -- make sure the whole container is full. Still minimize how long you keep it - one day for white wine. You can keep red wine 2-3 days in refrigerator -- microwave it 15 seconds to bring to the correct temperature for consumption -- yes, microwave! He said that high quality restaurants do this to bring the wine that has been kept in the wine cellar (53F) to the correct temperature for serving. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KWfL6KW_A4)

If you've had a party and multiple bottles have been opened and need to be stored, they can be frozen. Make sure that at least 5 ounces are taken out of the bottle (room for expansion in freezing), re-cork, and freeze for up to 6 months. You can also use ice cube trays to freeze wine - a standard ice cube tray produces 2 oz cubes -- good for use in recipes. Don't bother using expensive wine for cooking - even expensive restaurants use box wine for cooking.

At a restaurant -- not a good idea to order a single glass of red wine -- you don't know how the bottle has been taken care of since it was opened -- it may have been sitting behind the bar with the cork in it, not being temperature controlled. If red wine does not taste good, you may find that putting ice cubes in will improve the taste as they will chill the wine. Since red wine should be served at 65F, you may need to put it in an ice bucket to keep it at an ideal temperature based on our ambient temperatures (in Arizona).

If you order a bottle of wine, why does the server uncork it in front of you and provide you with the cork? What are you supposed to do with the cork? He said that there was nothing particular you should do with the cork to determine that you should send the wine back (all possible observations of the cork (dry, moist, moldy outside) could have an explanation that would not damage the wine). Rather, the server uncorks it in front of you so you know that you are getting the wine you asked for. Evidently, there was a situation years ago where a restaurant was found to be re-filling bottles of an expensive wine with a cheap wine and serving it as if it was the expensive wine -- by you seeing the server uncork the wine, you know you're getting what the outside of the wine bottle indicates it to be.

A couple of other videos I found online from Mark Phillips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw1lu_ztScI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wif7iGs91V4

Probably more about wine than anyone wants to know! The net of the talk was, if you have a wine that you like, enjoy it, and don't worry about what other people like or what you are "supposed" to like!

Getting a foggy window repaired

One of Gracie's windows -- the one next to the passenger seat -- has been foggy at times over the last few months. We called the guy who had taken care of the driver's side window a couple of years ago and he was able to schedule for Saturday...

Their technique is that they take the window out...

... removing the window...

They take the window apart, clean, and then reseal the window.

Putting the window back in...

All finished (and beautiful sky reflected in the window!).

They warranty the replacement for 2 years.

The window wasn't in really bad shape (it would only look foggy with certain inside/outside temperatures), but it is a window that we sometimes need to look through when driving, so we want it to be clear just for safety. It is nice that they come to our site and do the replacement.

Friday fun

Friday was our 4th anniversary, and we enjoyed several things...

We went to pool "noodle" exercise (using pool noodles for strengthening in the water) as well as a water aerobics class.

For lunch, we took our friend, Laura, out to the China City Buffet.

Over lunch, we talked about a project that she is involved with in the park - making mats for the homeless by weaving the mats out of plastic shopping bags. I had thought I might join this group -- they crochet, macrame, or weave the mats. Laura had 3 woven ones that she had completed -- this is a picture one of them rolled up that she has also tied with a "rope" also made of shopping bags. She creatively used bags from different stores to create a pattern! I'm still planning to go to one of their meetings, but it could be that the space required for making the mats is more than we have easily available in Gracie.

There was a "Thank Goodness I'm Retired" (TGIR) party in the Bistro...

... with music and dancing...

... many people turned out.

Tom and Cheryl, two of the folks on the Entertainment Committee in the park, were celebrating their 7th anniversary. They always have matching, "interesting" outfits!

Later in the evening, there was the Friday Night Dance in the Ballroom. The band was Thaddeus Rose, and we enjoyed them a lot -- playing quite a variety of music styles. The dance was sold out and a lot of folks were enjoying dancing!

Carl had wondered before we came this season if there would be enough live music options to satisfy him. When he and Sue were at Val Vista Villages a few years ago, the Villages had 10 live music events a week -- varying afternoons and evenings. The music events were free, but you had to pay for drinks and snacks (he thinks that you could bring a bottle of water, but that was it). Here at Venture Out, the main "organized" music event is the Friday Night Dance each week, with a live band, $10/person for tickets, but there are other options through the week -- TGIR on some Fridays (it alternates with a Trivia contest and Karaoke), Musical Jams (musicians in the park or from the area come together to jam together), Music on the Terrace (also musicians from the park coming together to jam together), and other events for special occasions (Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day, Leap Day). Some of them have a ticket required, many are free; to all you can bring your own snacks and drinks. Sometimes snacks and non-alcoholic drinks area available for a reasonable fee ($1 each) - but you can still bring your own. So, Carl is finding that the music options here at Venture Out are plenty sufficient for his wishes!

We had a very nice anniversary celebration!

Thursday morning at Red Mountain Park

Once a week, on Thursday mornings, the Sunlife Amateur Radio Club meets at Red Mountain Park in the morning to set up radios to demonstrate their readiness to provide assistance in case of an emergency, to be visible to the community, and raise interest in the hobby. Sometimes they have breakfast provided which produces a lot more interest amongst the club members (i.e. more people come out)!

On this past Thursday, a number of people came out...

... enjoying a pancake breakfast.

Yum!

One of the members brought his cook trailer and prepared the pancakes and sausages!

As Carl says, "These cheap seniors, advertise free food and they come out in droves... and they are all in line *in front* of *me*!" Hmmm...

Errands

On Tuesday,

Carl attached the lights we had gotten for the awning onto the screen below the awning.

We headed out to do some errands -- on the way, we were amazed by how clear the view was of the Superstition Mountains in the east.

We stopped by the Red Mountain Mesa Library and got updated library cards.

While there, we looked into Thinkspot where there are 3D printers and other tools that library users can use.

We also looked into the VITA (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance) Income Tax Preparation site there at the library. (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers)

Years ago, Dwayne and I had volunteered to help low income, non-English speaking, and/or elderly folks who needed assistance on their tax returns. I talked briefly with the lead of the site. When we did it, we filled out the tax forms manually there at the VITA site and the taxpayer left with their completed return. Now their service now includes an interview of the taxpayer collecting information, and then a separate process of volunteers entering the information into a computer, and the taxpayer returns to the VITA site to get their completed return.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to us! We're celebrating 48 months!!! 4 years!!! Hallelujah!!!

One of the pictures from our day 4 years ago -- folks on the campus where we were volunteering made a wedding cake for us and celebrated our wedding with us.

We continually thank God for the blessing of our marriage!

Monday Maintenance and Repairs

Just a few pictures of things we've been working on...

We started the day on Monday with Stretch and Tone...

... lots of people come out to "maintain" their bodies. Who knew that we'd have to work so hard as we age just so we don't lose ground with regard to our health?!?!?

We followed that up with pool water exercises - no pictures in the pool!

Carl's laptop died while we were in Quartzsite. He wasn't sure whether the problem was his laptop or his hard drive, but since we've been back at Venture Out, he has been able to take the time to determine for sure that the failing component was his solid state hard drive. Unlike traditional hard drives (spinning disk), although solid state drives are very reliable and very fast, when they fail, they tend to fail with no warning, as this one did.

His existing solid state drive was 1 terabyte, so he ordered a new one from Amazon...

Original drive on the left, the new one has a much smaller form-factor.

He spent a bit of time getting the latest full image backup restored onto the new drive, but it is now successfully restored and he is back working again! Good reminder to have backups of your electronic device storage -- and if you have an image (rather than a file and folder backup), you can re-install the whole image in one fell swoop. With the backup software that we use (Macrium), you can also restore just a single file or folder from the image as well.

Right about the time we were leaving Mesa to head out to Quartzsite, one of the hose ends that connects in the water softener sprang a leak. Carl just changed the hose configuration to take the water softener out of the system to avoid the leak temporarily, but that meant that we were dealing with hard water when we returned to Venture Out.

He was able to get a new hose end at Lowe's (the one on the right) which he hopes will be more robust. The old one (on the left) had probably just been dropped on a hard surface, damaging the smooth part below the threads enough that it would leak!

We have a long to-do list of things we want to get done while we're stopped here in Mesa, in addition to all the activities here at the park. I guess it keeps us from getting into trouble!!!