The 2015 Franc Mayne has been uncorked and other ramblings....

[JimHow]

This is really nice at the get-go, very expressive nose of violets, rich deep purple, alive and fresh and feisty, this is a Southern California vibe kind of wine. I'll be in LA for a 24 hour period in May, hoping to hook up with Mr. Leve, when are you going to be there, MichaelP?

[JimHow]

What is going on with this transphobia out there, it seems like fascism is alive and well in this country.
I really wish the "Republican Party" <rolls eyes> would just die and go away. Man, they are dying hard, though, with their autocratic tactics.
They will die, though, I predict it. I'm actually loving Orange Head pasting that little worm from Florida into the ground. Orange can't possibly win another election, right? ..... Right?????

[JimHow]

Man, Gerry, Le Bruins de Boston are looking pretty sad, I'm predicting another President's Cup first round knockout, talk about arrogance, I think they thought they were just going to have to show up and it was going to be handed to them. I'm predicting Florida in six.

[JimHow]

When I was 13 years old and my voice was cracking as I was emerging into the strapping adult that I am today, my parents bought my two younger brothers and I a tape recorder for Christmas. With the possible exception of the 1976 Strat-o-Matic series, it may be the best Christmas gift they ever gave us. This was back in 1971 in the heyday of Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, and the Big Bad Bruins. Our poor mother was left alone with us three boys in the evenings while my Dad worked the second shift at the mill. My brothers and I used to pretend we were sports announcers and we would leave recordings for my father when he came home every evening after his shift ended at 11pm. We were in bed by the time he came home, he would listen to our tapes and then catch Carson before going to bed. The tapes were heavily influenced by the Bruins and Red Sox in those days, one evening I came up with a little ditty, completely off the top of my 13 year old head (believe it or not):

The Boston Bruins are great
The other team they hate
They work every day
To get their pay
The Boston Bruins are great

I know this doesn't translate, but we sang that ditty over the years into adulthood, and Tom and I even sang it to our youngest brother Dan in his final days before he died a couple years ago, in desperate effort to provide comfort. Sadly, I'm seeing history repeating itself 52 years later, these record-setting Bruins are headed for first round Stanley Cup ignominy, a la those 1970-71 Bruins, who ran into Ken Dryden and the Montreal Canadiens and a first round knockout. Was that 50+ years ago? Impossible.

[Blanquito]

What is going on with this transphobia out there, it seems like fascism is alive and well in this country.
I really wish the "Republican Party" <rolls eyes> would just die and go away. Man, they are dying hard, though, with their autocratic tactics.
They will die, though, I predict it. I'm actually loving Orange Head pasting that little worm from Florida into the ground. Orange can't possibly win another election, right? ..... Right?????

Yeah, the tactics we’re still hearing about (even more revelations just today) that Trump, Giuliani and their minions pulled in Georgia (and presumably elsewhere) are truly shocking and scary. I mean, as we just heard more about today, go ahead and breach the integrity of a couple of voting machines in rural Georgia with the illegal complicity of local election officials and use this “breach” as proof and grounds for seizing machines systematically, calling in the military, rejecting the certificate of the election, etc. That their schemes, for which they have been caught red handed, failed or never materialized is small consolation, as the fascist, authoritarian will and intent are evident for anyone who wants to see and it’s likely to get only worse in 2024.

[JimHow]

and it’s likely to get only worse in 2024.

Yes, this crowd is relentless. The one small consolation that I'm having is that the left FINALLY seems to have caught up on the fact that we need to win at the local and state level. The right was like 15 years and two census counts ahead of us on that, but I think we are finally starting to get it, as evidenced by the 2022 midterms and other anecdotes, like the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race. We continue to see some setbacks, in places like the latino votes in south Florida and Teyyyxass, but in the end this is a dead ideology, as evidenced in the latino vote in places like Arizona, Colorado, etc., and what we've seen in state house advances in MI, WI, PA in the past couple of years. we will kill these fools in the end. But they will die hard. And in the meantime, we need to continue to stomp their faces into the mud, and not let up. I still say there is violence ahead, including assassination attempts, but I think the left is FINALLY getting it, and that this venereal disease that is Trumpism will succumb.

that Wisconsin Supreme Court vote was an ENORMOUS moment in American democracy. A turning point, really.

Hey, the B's are up 2-zip in the second period, the C's are down at the end of three in ATL but I'm a little less concerned about them. Life is good! Now if only the Pat's can get a decent QB.

Meantime, this 2015 Franc Mayne is absolutely delicious. Okay, a little internationalized, okay, I'm not saying this is Chateau Lafite, but it is crisp, sharp, VERY floral, it has nice racy fruit, raarrrh... Rating: A strong 92 points. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

[Nicklasss]

Stop writting stuff like that Jim. I will begin to think that Trudeau is a good Prime Minister (roll eyes).

In the meantime, i don't know if i would prefer to meet Orange Head, or the LA Insider Bordeaux critic guy?

[JimHow]

Ha ha, Nicola, Canada is my second favorite nation, I guess I still haven't given up on the the good old U.S. of A. Canada's biggest problem is that it borders the US. I hope I don't have trouble getting across the border next month!!!

The 2015 Franc Mayne was very solid last night, a Jean-Nicolas Maltais kind of wine.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for your musings Jim, which I always enjoy reading, and the note on the 2015 Franc Mayne.

I own a case of this and I was somewhat concerned by some of the CT notes suggesting that it is an unbalanced woody wine, where the oak treatment went a bit OTT. Did you get any sense that this was an issue with this wine?

[JimHow]

I didn’t seem to find it a problem, Ian, this was one of those wines where the bouquet jumped out of the bottle immediately upon uncorking. I found it very crisp and pure.

[AKR]

When I was 13 years old and my voice was cracking as I was emerging into the strapping adult that I am today, my parents bought my two younger brothers and I a tape recorder for Christmas. With the possible exception of the 1976 Strat-o-Matic series, it may be the best Christmas gift they ever gave us.

Whoa! For like 15 years I was hugely into Pursue the Pennant, a Strat-o-Matic variant with a league that continues today (although I'm not in it, having left around the turn of the century). Strangely folks I introduced to it are still in the league...

[JimHow]

Ha indeed, Arv, it was back in the days when we knew every player on every team, year after year.
About a dozen of us in the neighborhood had a draft each summer, we had a 162 game league.
We had a draft each year, Cesar Cedeno was first pick two years in a row due to his classic five tool strengths.

[marcs]

Grew up playing strat-o-matic. Still remember those white cards and the many HOMERUN lines on Reggie Jackson’s card…

[JimHow]

Yes I remember Reggie's card, he and Richie Allen had four HOMERUNS in the one column one year.