Diamond D - Sally Got A One Track Mind (1993)

I likes this track. Gotta love Diamond D. All you fellas makin' dough, watch for Sally, aiight?

Listening to this makes me miss New York. So the dedication is to everyone in New York city in the summer, no Hampton's or Martha's vineyard or whatever, I'm talking about everyone who stays in the stanky city during the dog days. This one's for you. Peace.

Wine for young lawyers

This blog, just like ODB reminded us about Wu Tang during the grammy's several years back, is for the children. In that spirit, I conducted an informal tasting for an IP law firm last night, sort of a 'lets show the summer associates a good time' type of event. Hopefully there was some value added as well, so that they learned a few things about wine, can at least fake intelligence on the subject during a date or dinner function, and, if I really did my job well, can develop better taste than a few of the partners of their firm (if you guys are reading this, I am only joking. Sort of. Well, not really, but who am I to tell you what to like and not like). Anyway, the structure of the tasting was to taste a classic French wine, give some background info on the region, and then taste a California example of the same grape variety. The only notable exception was a bottle of 2005 Mollydooker Enchanted Path Cabernet-Shiraz McLaren Vale, thrown into the mix by special request of one of the partners (which explains my previous gentle jab about taste).

A list of the wines:

FLIGHT 1 - Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Kathryn Kennedy Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Domaine Cherrier & Fils Sancerre

FLIGHT 2 - Chardonnay
2005 Chandon de Briailles Pernand Vergelesses Iles de Vergelesses 1er Cru
2005 Au Bon Climat Nuit Blanches Au Bouges XXV Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley

FLIGHT 3- Pinot Noir
2005 Domaine Gerard Seguin Gevrey-Chambertin Vielles Vignes
2006 Paul Hobbs 'Ulysses Valdes Vineyard' Pinot Noir Russian River Valley [another one that was not my pick, I wanted to do Calera, but this was another partner special request]

FLIGHT 4 - Bordeaux/bordeaux blend [at least it was going to be before the 'dooker request]
2004 Langoa Barton St Julien
2005 Mollydooker 'Enchanted Path' Cabernet Shiraz McLaren Vale

There was some engaging, interesting conversation with the summer associates. They show a lot of promise. They noticed how different the French wines tasted from their CA counterparts and asked why (I gave them the short answer: more sun, warmer weather, riper grapes, predilection towards toasty new oak in CA; less sun, cooler weather, higher acidity in grapes, hundreds of years experience in France). We discussed the role of the AOC system in France and compared it to patent law. We talked about sourcing grapes from different vineyards, why this tactic is employed, and why sauvignon blanc from Potter Valley will be different from the same grape variety grown in Napa.

Thank you to Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal for allowing this wine geek and aspiring arbiter of good taste to teach the children. To the summer associates, I encourage you to finish up law school without any scandal, drink good wine, and hurry up and make partner, young men.