I hadn't realized that this newsgroup still existed. My ISP abruptly pulled the plug many years ago, and I thought, "well that's that.". I had met a number of people from this group in person and even more in a virtual sense and was sorry to see them go. They all knew me as Tom S. I contacted Mike Tommasi through LinkedIn yesterday and he replied promptly that this newsgroup still existed. It was a little tricky to find, but here it is and so am I.

I have been a winemaker since 1982 - both professionally and as an amateur - mostly and most recently the latter. I retired 2+ years ago from my day-to-day aerospace career and am now free to pursue my hobbies and interests. I've gone back to college and plan to seek a degree in enology.

I still make barrel fermented Chardonnay (my favorite!) as well as the occasional red. I'm getting a barrel of 2014 Pinot Noir ready to bottle, which will be followed shortly thereafter by my 2015 Chardonnay. Both are, if I may say so, delicious. I recently bottled a 2015 off-dry Riesling that I made on a whim. That was only a little more than four cases. It's a perfect summertime Spatlese style wine that everyone who has tasted it really likes.

I don't do this for the money. It's simply in my blood and a part of me and who I am - just as Bridge, Square Dance, fast cars and good food are.

I doubt that I will have the time to be as frequent a contributor here as I was in the past, but I'll pop in from time to time as time permits. Saludos!

In message >,
writes
>I hadn't realized that this newsgroup still existed. My ISP abruptly
>pulled the plug many years ago, and I thought, "well that's that.". I
>had met a number of people from this group in person and even more in a
>virtual sense and was sorry to see them go. They all knew me as Tom S.
>contacted Mike Tommasi through LinkedIn yesterday and he replied
>promptly that this newsgroup still existed. It was a little tricky to
>find, but here it is and so am I.
>
>I have been a winemaker since 1982 - both professionally and as an
>amateur - mostly and most recently the latter. I retired 2+ years ago
>from my day-to-day aerospace career and am now free to pursue my
>hobbies and interests. I've gone back to college and plan to seek a
>degree in enology.
>
>I still make barrel fermented Chardonnay (my favorite!) as well as the
>occasional red. I'm getting a barrel of 2014 Pinot Noir ready to
>bottle, which will be followed shortly thereafter by my 2015
>Chardonnay. Both are, if I may say so, delicious. I recently bottled
>a 2015 off-dry Riesling that I made on a whim. That was only a little
>more than four cases. It's a perfect summertime Spatlese style wine
>that everyone who has tasted it really likes.
>
>I don't do this for the money. It's simply in my blood and a part of
>me and who I am - just as Bridge, Square Dance, fast cars and good food
>are.
>
>I doubt that I will have the time to be as frequent a contributor here
>as I was in the past, but I'll pop in from time to time as time
>permits. Saludos!

Welcome back!

Sheila
--
---
Sheila Page

wrote in
:

> I hadn't realized that this newsgroup still existed. My ISP abruptly
> pulled the plug many years ago, and I thought, "well that's that.". I
> had met a number of people from this group in person and even more in
> a virtual sense and was sorry to see them go. They all knew me as Tom
> S. I contacted Mike Tommasi through LinkedIn yesterday and he replied
> promptly that this newsgroup still existed. It was a little tricky to
> find, but here it is and so am I.

Hi Tom, how long without news from you!!! It is so nice to see you back
around.

>
> I have been a winemaker since 1982 - both professionally and as an
> amateur - mostly and most recently the latter. I retired 2+ years ago
> from my day-to-day aerospace career and am now free to pursue my
> hobbies and interests. I've gone back to college and plan to seek a
> degree in enology.

And I remember having a couple of bottles of your wine, like 14 years ago.
Great Chardonnay! I still have the empty bottle in my collection of special
bottles. See pic:

http://es.tinypic.com/r/k93z9/9


>
> I still make barrel fermented Chardonnay (my favorite!) as well as the
> occasional red. I'm getting a barrel of 2014 Pinot Noir ready to
> bottle, which will be followed shortly thereafter by my 2015
> Chardonnay. Both are, if I may say so, delicious. I recently bottled
> a 2015 off-dry Riesling that I made on a whim. That was only a little
> more than four cases. It's a perfect summertime Spatlese style wine
> that everyone who has tasted it really likes.
>
> I don't do this for the money. It's simply in my blood and a part of
> me and who I am - just as Bridge, Square Dance, fast cars and good
> food are.

Do your wines make it to this side of the pond?
>
> I doubt that I will have the time to be as frequent a contributor here
> as I was in the past, but I'll pop in from time to time as time
> permits. Saludos!


Hope that's true,

s.

Hola Santiago!

I had completely forgotten about sending that bottle of wine to you! I'm glad and honored that you enjoyed it that much. Unfortunately, in the wake of the 911 attacks it has become impossible to ship things innocently in or out of the Country. :^(
It would probably have to be a hand-carry, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I don't recall for sure where you are located, but my guess would be Spain. I was there on vacation in October of 2001, right after the NYC terrorist attacks. It was a great time to travel. The airplanes were almost empty because everyone was afraid of ending up in another hijacked plane, and the Euro was 87 cents to the dollar. My sister and I visited Madrid for a few days and took in some touristy things: the Prado; Toledo (where I bought a very nice chef's knife); Paloma San Basilio in "My Fair Lady"; and a pretty good flamenco show. Then off to Malaga for a week where we caught some sun, drank some good inexpensive rose, ate paella, and took a trip to Gibraltar. The little bit of Spanish I had picked up at work turned out to be somewhat useful! Now that I'm back in college I'm actually studying Spanish because it's a requirement for enology majors. I'm OK with the vocabulary, but the verbs are driving me crazy!

If you're ever in Los Angeles be sure to give me a call or drop me a line.

Tom S

On Monday, May 9, 2016 at 4:30:47 AM UTC+2, Tom S wrote:
> Hola Santiago!
>
> I had completely forgotten about sending that bottle of wine to you! I'm glad and honored that you enjoyed it that much. Unfortunately, in the wake of the 911 attacks it has become impossible to ship things innocently in or out of the Country. :^(
> It would probably have to be a hand-carry, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
>
> I don't recall for sure where you are located, but my guess would be Spain. I was there on vacation in October of 2001, right after the NYC terrorist attacks. It was a great time to travel. The airplanes were almost empty because everyone was afraid of ending up in another hijacked plane, and the Euro was 87 cents to the dollar. My sister and I visited Madrid for a few days and took in some touristy things: the Prado; Toledo (where I bought a very nice chef's knife); Paloma San Basilio in "My Fair Lady"; and a pretty good flamenco show. Then off to Malaga for a week where we caught some sun, drank some good inexpensive rose, ate paella, and took a trip to Gibraltar. The little bit of Spanish I had picked up at work turned out to be somewhat useful! Now that I'm back in college I'm actually studying Spanish because it's a requirement for enology majors. I'm OK with the vocabulary, but the verbs are driving me crazy!
>
> If you're ever in Los Angeles be sure to give me a call or drop me a line..
>
> Tom S

Good to read you again Tom !

Mike Tommasi

Tom S of Chateau Burbank!
Great to see you here again. Remember meeting you and Kriss Reed in Laguna many years ago.
Glad to hear you are still making wine/

On Sat, 7 May 2016 11:57:35 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>I hadn't realized that this newsgroup still existed. My ISP abruptly pulled the plug many years ago, and I thought, "well that's that.". I had met a number of people from this group in person and even more in a virtual sense and was sorry to see them go. They all knew me as Tom S. I contacted Mike Tommasi through LinkedIn yesterday and he replied promptly that this newsgroup still existed. It was a little tricky to find, but here it is and so am I.
>
>I have been a winemaker since 1982 - both professionally and as an amateur - mostly and most recently the latter. I retired 2+ years ago from my day-to-day aerospace career and am now free to pursue my hobbies and interests. I've gone back to college and plan to seek a degree in enology.
>
>I still make barrel fermented Chardonnay (my favorite!) as well as the occasional red. I'm getting a barrel of 2014 Pinot Noir ready to bottle, which will be followed shortly thereafter by my 2015 Chardonnay. Both are, if I may say so, delicious. I recently bottled a 2015 off-dry Riesling that I made on a whim. That was only a little more than four cases. It's a perfect summertime Spatlese style wine that everyone who has tasted it really likes.
>
>I don't do this for the money. It's simply in my blood and a part of me and who I am - just as Bridge, Square Dance, fast cars and good food are.
>
>I doubt that I will have the time to be as frequent a contributor here as I was in the past, but I'll pop in from time to time as time permits. Saludos!

From a long time lurker, welcome back.

Jack

On 5/7/16 2:57 PM, wrote:
> I hadn't realized that this newsgroup still existed. My ISP abruptly
> pulled the plug many years ago, and I thought, "well that's that.".
> I had met a number of people from this group in person and even more
> in a virtual sense and was sorry to see them go. They all knew me as
> Tom S. I contacted Mike Tommasi through LinkedIn yesterday and he
> replied promptly that this newsgroup still existed. It was a little
> tricky to find, but here it is and so am I.

Hey, Tom! Good to see something from you again. AFW is far less
trafficked than it was when you were last here, but many of the Usual
Suspects™ do still weigh in from time to time. Good to know that
Chateau Burbank is still an ongoing enterprise.

Mark Lipton

--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

Tom S > wrote in
:

> Hola Santiago!
>
> I had completely forgotten about sending that bottle of wine to you!
> I'm glad and honored that you enjoyed it that much.

You can count on that!!

> I don't recall for sure where you are located, but my guess would be
> Spain.

Correct.

I was there on vacation in October of 2001, right after the
> NYC terrorist attacks. It was a great time to travel. The airplanes
> were almost empty because everyone was afraid of ending up in another
> hijacked plane, and the Euro was 87 cents to the dollar. My sister
> and I visited Madrid for a few days and took in some touristy things:
> the Prado; Toledo (where I bought a very nice chef's knife); Paloma
> San Basilio in "My Fair Lady"; and a pretty good flamenco show. Then
> off to Malaga for a week where we caught some sun, drank some good
> inexpensive rose, ate paella, and took a trip to Gibraltar. The
> little bit of Spanish I had picked up at work turned out to be
> somewhat useful! Now that I'm back in college I'm actually studying
> Spanish because it's a requirement for enology majors. I'm OK with
> the vocabulary, but the verbs are driving me crazy!

Sure English is so much easier on the verbs than Spanish.

The bottle I got was from 2000 vintage so it should be around year 2002, I
guess. Not really sure and I do not really have the email account we used
anymore.

>
> If you're ever in Los Angeles be sure to give me a call or drop me a
> line.
>
Will do!

s.

On Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 8:20:14 PM UTC+2, santiago wrote:
> Tom S > wrote in
> :
>
> > Hola Santiago!
> >
> > I had completely forgotten about sending that bottle of wine to you!
> > I'm glad and honored that you enjoyed it that much.
>
> You can count on that!!
>
> > I don't recall for sure where you are located, but my guess would be
> > Spain.
>
> Correct.
>
> I was there on vacation in October of 2001, right after the
> > NYC terrorist attacks. It was a great time to travel. The airplanes
> > were almost empty because everyone was afraid of ending up in another
> > hijacked plane, and the Euro was 87 cents to the dollar. My sister
> > and I visited Madrid for a few days and took in some touristy things:
> > the Prado; Toledo (where I bought a very nice chef's knife); Paloma
> > San Basilio in "My Fair Lady"; and a pretty good flamenco show. Then
> > off to Malaga for a week where we caught some sun, drank some good
> > inexpensive rose, ate paella, and took a trip to Gibraltar. The
> > little bit of Spanish I had picked up at work turned out to be
> > somewhat useful! Now that I'm back in college I'm actually studying
> > Spanish because it's a requirement for enology majors. I'm OK with
> > the vocabulary, but the verbs are driving me crazy!
>
> Sure English is so much easier on the verbs than Spanish.
>
> The bottle I got was from 2000 vintage so it should be around year 2002, I
> guess. Not really sure and I do not really have the email account we used
> anymore.
>
> >
> > If you're ever in Los Angeles be sure to give me a call or drop me a
> > line.
> >
> Will do!
>
> s.

I also got the 2000 vintage Ch Burbank, good stuff it was. I may be in LA over teh summer for a quick visit. Cheers all here

Mike

Well here it is 16 years later and some of the usual suspects are still here. Nice to see that!

Dale - I remember that visit in Laguna Beach. It was nice to put a face to your name.

Mark - I remember asking you a science question that I didn't understand the answer to. Something about negative temperatures (below zero Kelvin) maybe?

Mike - Be sure to let me know if you're going to be in town (Los Angeles) this summer. It would be great to meet you in person. Ian and Jacqui stayed with me around the turn of the century, and also visited with my sister in Sonoma County for Thanksgiving another year. Good times!

I'm at a loss to remember his name, but I recall a prominent AFW member from Austria. Is he still around? And there was also Lord St. Hellier, down in New Zealand, I believe. Several others too, whose names escape me at the moment. A lawyer from Canada e.g., and others. How time flies, and with it goes part of the memory <sigh>.

Tom S > wrote in
:
>
> I'm at a loss to remember his name, but I recall a prominent AFW
> member from Austria.

Michael Pronay, I think.

> Is he still around?

Have not seem him for quite some time.


s.

On Sunday, May 15, 2016 at 10:42:36 AM UTC+2, Tom S wrote:
> Well here it is 16 years later and some of the usual suspects are still here. Nice to see that!
>
> Dale - I remember that visit in Laguna Beach. It was nice to put a face to your name.
>
> Mark - I remember asking you a science question that I didn't understand the answer to. Something about negative temperatures (below zero Kelvin) maybe?
>
> Mike - Be sure to let me know if you're going to be in town (Los Angeles) this summer. It would be great to meet you in person. Ian and Jacqui stayed with me around the turn of the century, and also visited with my sister in Sonoma County for Thanksgiving another year. Good times!
>
> I'm at a loss to remember his name, but I recall a prominent AFW member from Austria. Is he still around? And there was also Lord St. Hellier, down in New Zealand, I believe. Several others too, whose names escape me at the moment. A lawyer from Canada e.g., and others. How time flies, and with it goes part of the memory <sigh>.

I'll let you know. drop me an email so I have your contact info, I will reply.

Saw Michael Pronay make a furtive appearance on facebook recently. Andrew last contact 2 yrs ago.

Hi Tom, yes this aging antipodean still lurks and posts occasionally.
st.helier

On Sunday, 15 May 2016 20:42:36 UTC+12, Tom S wrote:
> Well here it is 16 years later and some of the usual suspects are still here. Nice to see that!
>
> Dale - I remember that visit in Laguna Beach. It was nice to put a face to your name.
>
> Mark - I remember asking you a science question that I didn't understand the answer to. Something about negative temperatures (below zero Kelvin) maybe?
>
> Mike - Be sure to let me know if you're going to be in town (Los Angeles) this summer. It would be great to meet you in person. Ian and Jacqui stayed with me around the turn of the century, and also visited with my sister in Sonoma County for Thanksgiving another year. Good times!
>
> I'm at a loss to remember his name, but I recall a prominent AFW member from Austria. Is he still around? And there was also Lord St. Hellier, down in New Zealand, I believe. Several others too, whose names escape me at the moment. A lawyer from Canada e.g., and others. How time flies, and with it goes part of the memory <sigh>.