Be Safe with Gail !

[Phil C]

If I might ask. For those of you praying for the snow and rain to stop. Please change the wording of your prayers and start asking the Good Lord to not stop this snow and rain, but ask him to move it to Arizona.��

[Pa SxS]

Dodged the bullet, only 9" in south central Pa but I"ll be sore tomorrow.

[Andy]

My parents up here are still snowed in. Still waiting for the guy who plows their driveway because I can't get equipment there. The plow came by twice and the apron at the end of their driveway is about a foot over my mothers head. She's a petite 4' 6". She was trying to get the mail and at 78 years old she wisely turned around and went back inside. Will sure be interesting muzzleloader hunting tomorrow on snowshoes...

[Hammer Gun]

Well we just got a lot of freezing rain with sleet and later a dusting of snow Ice is a quarter inch thick, so walking is out of the question right now, as far as wine goes got plenty of that just bottled a Shiraz, Spanish Garnacha, and Italian Corozon. But tonight after dinner it will be a Port, Black Currant Port to be exact, Gary

[Andy]

On the menu tonight:

"Christmas Story" with Ralphie and his Parker....uh, BB gun...

Hot tub and a 375ml bottle of 1974 Warres Vintage Port that has been standing upright for a few days

[Joe from MO]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

I love reading about these boutique wines and just local wines from my region. However, after 30 years making my living buying and selling wines, I realize that I never made enough money to afford the overpriced examples I was selling "and tasting". I trust that very few of you can taste test a $65.00 boutique wine against an $8.00 wine, similar varietal, from your local wine store and tell which is the best. After 30 years of daily tasting, I have a hard time telling which is "best". However, I have the greatest respect for the new vintners who are marketing their wares. I will support the new vineyard that is breaking ground less than a mile from my home, as well as others who are almost as close.

There are definitely some very nice $10 bottles of wine out there. I will say this though, I've never had a $10 bottle of Pinot Noir that was very good, I tend to like my Pinot's on the heavier side though. In my experience. And, I am not an expert on wine by a long shot. But, a bottle of wine in the $20-40 range can be every bit as good as a $100 plus bottle. And, you canb usually find these on sale for a lot less than that... The reason the $100 plus bottle exists, is usually because not much of it was ever made. Most expensive bottle of wine I've ever had, as a $550 bottle of Bryant Vineyards 2014 Battina proprietary red.... It was very good, but in all honesty it was not any more enjoyable than some bottles I've had in the sub $50 range. But, I wasn't footing the bill for that one, we were on our way to MT for a Muley hunt, and one of the guys going is a wine collector, so he brought that and paid a corkage fee for us to drink it. Funny thing was, next night in MT, he pulls out the rifle he brought for the trip, and his rifle was not worth as much as that bottle of wine... hahahaha. I still give him crap about that, and helped him upgrade his rifle for this years trip...

In the end, I can't tell you if a wine has blackberry or current aftertones, etc... But, I like what I like, and tasting a wine prior to buying is best way to make the decision, not just by the price. After that, the winespectator ratings are usually dependable, and rarely get a stinker on a 90+ rated wine...

[Cold Spring]

Here's my snowplow Jeep yesterday morning. 19" at the home digs nearby Rock Mountain (PA) and Mike told me it was 20" there. One brother in law lives near Hausmann's and he had 25".

Weather people said the official depth for this storm at the nearby Scranton Airport is more than the total snowfall over the last two years combined.