Rumor has it that summer is here. OK, it has been raining, but I know that you can't be a winemaker unless you are an optimist. According to the calendar, it is time for all those summer things: graduations, good weather, barbecues, swimming, SPF 45 and a fun book. Graduations: I have attended and listened; the graduation speakers were wonderful this year. Yes, summer must be close. Weather: It continues to toy with us. If ...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:7Q72WNTAKBA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=4jgw6c4TuBI:6GFGrejcpVk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates/~4/4jgw6c4TuBI" height="1" width="1"/

I recently had some great, single-source chocolate at the Nimbash event, put on by Nimbus Arts, in St. Helena. (There was good wine at the event, too.) Their name: TCHO. (Pronounced "choh!") Doesn't that sound as if you should then say, "Geshundheit"? They are making great chocolate in San Francisco but got my attention when they brought a chocoholic's dream kitchen appliance to Nimbash. It looked like a KitchenAid but its granite wheels turn cocoa nibs into chocolate! ...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:7Q72WNTAKBA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=FvioFX_FMbA:8rnzm8SrZz0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates/~4/FvioFX_FMbA" height="1" width="1"/

You have to be about my age to remember the classic line from "The Graduate": "The future is plastics." That may be true if you are talking about toys that come with your Happy Meal, but we have determined that Great Futures actually is about wine?and blue teeth. This weekend is the official start of the Nickel amp;amp; Nickel 2009 Futures, when we taste the latest vintage of our single-vineyard Cabernets from barrel. They are young?maybe even ...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:7Q72WNTAKBA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=HmX1PHliadc:128K-3F_biY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates/~4/HmX1PHliadc" height="1" width="1"/

We had the mother of all pit stops at Nickel amp;amp; Nickel this week. The California Mille stopped here?they were invited, so it was OK. If you love vintage cars (which means that you don't judge a car by the size or number of its cup holders?or if it has cup holders, you don't mind knowing your mechanic on a first-name basis, don't need those wimpy airbag thingies, don't need that GPS doohickey, know how to ...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:7Q72WNTAKBA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=WPmZvZqZOhw:YS8iR3KQ8tI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates/~4/WPmZvZqZOhw" height="1" width="1"/

Last night I heard our resident owl hooting. Today I saw her and the name fits; she is great. ("Great" sounds more important, wise and aloof than "huge.") I assume that pretty soon we will see one, two or three baby owls peering out of the hole high up on the oak tree by the Sullenger House at Nickel amp;amp; Nickel. They have been returning each spring. I doubt that they are finding it quite as ...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:7Q72WNTAKBA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?a=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates?i=Ymw4VZ92Rqo:iuRJuiEiOq0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Winetastetv-LatestUpdates/~4/Ymw4VZ92Rqo" height="1" width="1"/