2008 Finnzies Winners Named (Aaaaayyyy!)

For those of you who read this blog and who don’t live in the greater Memphis, TN area let me apologize for writing a blog that won’t really pertain to you unless you decide to vacation here.

With that said, it’s time to give the 2008 year-end Finn Wine Awards, better known as the “Finnzies”. (At this point, I need for Henry Winkler to say “Aaaaayyyyy!“) By winning one of these you receive nothing more than recognition, but really, isn’t that why you got into the wine business to start?!?

Category 1: Wine Shops and Wine People Who Pissed Me Off This Year

Surprisingly there were no winners in this category. Maybe my annual “kind to all” New Year’s resolution has actually softened up my heart. I’ve also elected to apply this resolution to people making Facebook friendship requests and now I accept all of these requests. It has made for some very strange bedfellows to say the least. I intend to keep this resolution next year even if it means accepting a friendship request from a certain N.Y. Times, Houston based writer if asked. Of course, the ultimate test won’t occur until my ex-wife makes a request (click on the link to see my ex-wife). Fortunately I don’t see that one happening.

Category 2: Novice Wine Drinker Of the Year

This year’s award goes to Mike Marshall, attorney-at-law. Mike has done several things to earn this award: (a) he has “gladly” offered up some of his personal wine collection to me, (b) he has offered up his home for wine tastings and parties, (c) he has attended Sip Around the World in each of the last two years with me (I would ask that you don’t judge him too harshly for this), and (d) he has offered me free off-the-cuff legal advice as needed. Congratulations Mike!

Category 3: Best Wine Merchant

This year’s winner is Josh Hammond, proprietor of Buster’s Liquors located at 191 S. Highland St., Memphis, TN 38111. Josh has always taken great care of me. Here are just a few examples:

• He has always carried out my purchases for me. Why he does this, I don’t know since I am larger than him, but it’s just one more example of the level of customer service he offers.
• Since I have purchased numerous cases from his shop — some when he was there, some when he was not, some with plastic, and some with cash — he almost always gives me a case discount even when I’m not making a case purchase from him.
• He will special order wine for me when his wholesalers can get it.
• He will let me in on some his very-hard-to-get stuff before it hits the floor.

In short, if you ever form your own wine group and make most of your purchases with Josh then he will take care of you. Also, since Buster’s sells more wine than anyone else in the State Of Tennessee (take that Frugal MacDoogal’s in Nashville) he usually has the largest and most varied selection since his wholesalers are usually going to give him first crack at anything they have.

Please make sure you tell Josh I sent you! It will help both of us.

Category 4: Best New Wine Merchant

Latham Oates is the owner and general manager of Forest Hill Wine Merchants located at 9087 Poplar Avenue, Suite 101, Germantown, TN 38138 (in the shopping center on the southwest corner of Poplar Ave. and Forest Hill-Irene Rd.). Latham is a reformed attorney and a great guy who is wonderful at helping the clueless masses in their quest to find the perfect bottle of wine (the right price, the right taste, paired with the right food). He has a selection of wines whose breadth is incredible and I love the layout of this rather large wine shop. In short, I really, really, really need this place to succeed, because I really, really, really like shopping there and it is convenient to my home. It is definitely a “destination” shop.

Once again, make you mention to Latham where you read about his shop so he can help you out.

Category 5: Best Winery Owner

I am officially retiring the owners of Adelsheim Vineyard from this category. As such, I feel obligated to make this statement one last time: they are the nicest owners of a winery I have ever met. The private tasting they gave me was so far beyond the call of duty I can’t even begin to describe it. Their Pinot Noirs are some of the best made on the planet and everyone should always have at least a couple of their bottles in their private cellar. 

I am also retiring Morgan Clendenen, wife of Jim Clendenen, owner of Au Bon Climat, from this category. A couple of years back Morgan ended up in a bidding war on some cigars against me and one of my friends at a L’Ete du Vin auction. At the time, we did not know who she was, but we told her we would quit upping the bid if she would give each of us a couple of cigars from the box. Although we figured we would never see her again she tracked us down and gave us the cigars. She was then promptly introduced from the stage for all of the wines she had donated to the charity auction. She is truly a class act. As a side note, the same friend once had lunch at Au Bon Climat a few years later with Jim Clendenen and he continues to rave about how nice he was and what a great experience he had.

With all of that said, this year’s winner is Dr. Michael Dragutsky, owner of Cornerstone Cellars. Dr. Dragutsky is a Memphis and he always donates, and more importantly shows up for Sip Around the World. Dr. Dragutsky is passionate about the great Cabs he produces. Year in and year out his creations consistently receive high ratings. On top of this, Dr. Dragutsky is always willing to patiently discuss his creations with both knowledgeable and novice wine tasters alike. In short, he is an extremely nice guy and a very good wine maker.

Category 6: Best Local Restaurant Wine List

There are a lot of Memphis restaurants deserving consideration in this category. Grisanti’s has always been noted for their wine list. I also like the wine lists at Encore, Spindini, Flemings, Ruth’s Chris, and Three Oaks, but my favorite wine list this year was found at Napa Cafe on Sanderlin. If you ever have a chance to dine in their wine cellar, I would encourage you to do so. Just be prepared to have your conversation interrupted by the wait staff coming in to find the various bottles which have been ordered by other diners. However, the ambiance and privacy more than offset these few minor interruptions.

Category 7: Best Wine Gospel Apostle

This one was rather easy. Carol Tidwell Simpson has created a Facebook group for oenophiles called “Folks Who Think Wine Should Count As A Serving o’Fruit in the Food Pyramid” that in a very short amount of time has grown organically by leaps and bounds. It has a comments section and discussion boards that are growing. It is well worth creating a personal Facebook page to check it out.

Category 8: Best Wine Critic (Outside Of Me)

Another easy category this year. The winner is James Molesworth of Wine Spectator. James was the writer who picked this year’s top WS selection, Casa Lapostolle’s Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley 2005. If you click on the link to JM’s name you can see a video of him discussing this pick. By the way, James has an enjoyable blog on the Wine Spectator site that I would recommend reading, but only after checking to see if I’ve had a recent update.

That is it for this year. However, I will from time-to-time give “shout outs” to those individuals making a difference in the wine world who I deem worthy.

Now go out and Vici Vino!

Memphis Remains the Center Of the Universe

WMC-TV is the local NBC affiliate in Memphis. On Monday night of this week they ran a story about a porn video being shot in a local public park. The woman featured in the video appeared on a playground where the  neighborhood children are reported to play, although none appear anywhere in the video. This raises (pun intended) a number of obvious questions:

• Many Memphians want to know how the reporter managed to locate the website within a week of the video shoot? 
• Will Memphians now be referred to as Memphomaniacs?!?!?
• Does the “news” department employ a full-time research assistant who does nothing but surf for porn and how can several of my friends apply for a similar position?
• Remind me again why they refer to the station refers to itself as Action News Five?
• Will WMC-TV report only hard news from now on or will they still do the occasional puff piece? 

As if that weren’t enough on Tuesday night the same station ran a follow-up story and reported that the same woman had posted another film of herself this time at the local Putt Putt Golf and Games. Since it has already been publicly reported on several websites, I’m not really telling you anything new when I divulge the name of the website. It is foxyjacky dot com for those of you who feel the need to research this issue more thoroughly.

At this point, many of you are probably expecting me to editorialize on the numerous nuanced (say that five times fast) moral issues pertaining to this. Well there are plenty of erudite people already doing just that on a number of other sites and I’m not sure I can add anything illuminating on this topic.

However, it is amazing to me that this story is being picked up nationally. Memphis has a lot of events deserving national attention, but apparently sex really does sell in this country so we’re now going to be known as the place where that girl flashed her cooter on the playground and then at putt putt (insert your own punchline about putters and poon here).

That brings me to my point. Although much of the world doesn’t understand why anyone would voluntarily live in my city, I’ve got to tell you: there’s never a dull moment here in the news center of the universe!

10 Places To See and Things To Do In: Memphis

From time-to-time I plan publish lists of 10 places to see and things to do in a place I have visited. Today’s list is from my adopted hometown of Memphis:

1. Eat ribs – Regardless of what Chicago, North Carolina, and Texas think we have the best barbecue ribs in the world. For starters they’re pork and not beef. Secondly we don’t put vinegar or cole slaw in our sauce. Third, we order them dry and then add the sauce. With that said, we usually send tourists downtown to The Rendezvous or out east to the original Corky’s to eat ribs. Locals, however will go to either Interstate Barbecue or to the Germantown Commissary.
2. Visit Sun Studios – It’s overplayed, but it’s also ground zero in the history of rock and roll. Sam Phillips owned the place back during the day. If you have a chance you should watch two movies before going on the tour: (a) Forty Shades Of Blue which was directed and co-written by Memphian Ira Sachs. This movie won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Film at the 2005 Sundance Film Fesitval. The protagonist is loosely based on Sam Phillips. (b) Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy Of Sun Records assumes you are somewhat familiar with the history of Sun Records and some of the characters from the early days. Historically, this is an important documentary although It wasn’t as well made as it should have been. Sun Studios was where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins all made their first studio recordings. Since then U2, Beck, Tom Petty, Ringo, and Def Leppard have all recorded there.
3. Beale Street is the home of the blues. Almost every worthwhile blues musician has lived within 100 miles of Beale Street at some point and most have performed there at some point. The list includes: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, and Albert King. Today, Beale Street has a lot of fun nightclubs. If you’re here in May you can attend the Beale Street Music Festival.
4. Graceland – There’s just no way around it. The “mansion” is kewl — especially the trophy room and everybody’s favorite the jungle room. The automobile museum is also great. Elvister is August 16th and Elvismas is January 8th if you happen to be in town.
5. Stax Museum Of American Soul Music – Although the importance of Motown cannot be understated in the history of R&B music, Stax was every bit as important and is often totally overlooked. Motown represented formulaic music with its lush orchestral arrangements. Don’t get me wrong it was a great formula and The Funk Brothers are one of the all time great house bands, but are you always certain you’re listening to a Four Tops record and not a Temptations tune? Stax, on the other hand, was the music of the street. It was because of this that Atlantic Records sent Otis Redding and “Wicked” Wilson Pickett to Stax to record with their house band, Booker T and the MGs, while Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin were sent elsewhere to record their albums complete with lush orchestral arrangements that sounded just like they came from Motown. Before visiting you might want to watch the documentary movies The Stax Records Story and Wattstax. Both are very well made.
6. Autozone Ballpark or the FedEx Forum – Memphis actually has a baseball stadium that is as nice as any major league baseball stadium. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. It is home to the Memphis Redbirds who are the triple-a affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. If it’s not baseball season then take in a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game at The FedEx Forum which is located at the east end of Beale St. As long as the Lakers aren’t in town you can usually buy a 5 to 10 dollar ticket and then sneak and sit downstairs in the nice seats.
7. The Memphis Zoo – This really is the nicest small zoo in the U.S. The zoo is a very easy walk from one end to the other. It has some great natural habitat exhibits including the China exhibit which houses the pandas and the Northwest Passage exhibit where on most days you can watch one of the polar bears swimming up close to the glass sides of their pool.
8. Mud Island – You can see the several blocks long scale model of the Mississippi River. Afterward you can have lunch and sit on the banks of the river and watch the barges go by.
9. The world famous Peabody Ducks. They reside up on the roof. Each morning they get on the elevator and ride down to the lobby where they hop into the lobby fountain for the day. Late afternoon they march ’em back up to the roof. In the interim there is a great bar out in the lobby where you can sit around and watch all forms of humanity.
10. Ride the downtown trolleys. From there you can see our Pyramid, Main Street, the River, the Orpheum Theatre, and Beale Street. There are lots of stops where you can shop or eat.

Of course there are plenty of other worthwhile places to go and activities to partake in (the Orpheum Theatre, Shelby Farms, etc.), but if you can do everything on this list you will have outdone at least half of all lifelong Memphians. 

Some other movies you may want to see before visiting Memphis include: Great Balls Of Fire!, U2: Rattle and Hum, Mystery Train, Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, and Elvis: The Miniseries.

We really do have a great city, we just don’t know it.

The Day I Scooped CNN – Or Not

I once worked for a consulting company whose specialty was turning around financially troubled not-for-profit hospitals. The core of the company is still around even though it has been bought out twice. Many of the same people I used to work with are still there and still doing a great job of saving troubled hospitals that are vital to their respective communities.

As you should know by now, I live in a suburb of Memphis, TN. Our charity care hospital is simply called The Med. Besides providing care for the local indigent population, The Med, is also our regional trauma center. From a practical standpoint this means if you are ever visiting Memphis and you are involved in a serious car accident, or if you are seriously burned, or if you are shot by a gun then you should tell the ambulance driver to take you to The Med for your initial care. The Med will provide you with the finest trauma care you can receive in this part of the world.

However, you should also know much of the local populace believes once you are stabilized at The Med, you should request to be transferred to any other local hospital as quickly as possible. In our community that equates to one of the two 800 pound gorillas known as Methodist-LeBonheur Healthcare or Baptist Memorial Health Care. Sure Tenet has a small presence in the form of two hospitals, but it is just that – a small presence.

Part of the reason this perception exists is due to The Med’s track record of poor management. Previously there was poor financial oversight (at least one employee has been convicted of embezzlement), and at times, this was coupled with poor medical care (two couples had their infants switched a few years back). To address this perception and a number of other problems, my former employer was recently awarded the management contract for The Med. I have little doubt, if our two local governments will be supportive and adopt their recommendations, they will accomplish their mission.

So you’re asking yourself what all of this has to do with me getting into the news gathering business? Well, just the other day the famous actor Morgan Freeman was involved in an automobile accident in northern Mississippi. After the paramedics used the jaws of life to extract Mr. Freeman and his female companion from the automobile he was rushed to The Med for medical care.

The next day a friend of mine was asking if I knew anything about the crash and I said “no” I didn’t, but I would see what I could find out. It wasn’t all that tough of a task to accomplish. I simply picked up the phone and called a couple of my former colleagues who told me although he was listed in serious condition it wasn’t that big of a deal. He had a broken arm and some abrasions and a small amount of damage to his shoulder. In fact, he was probably going to be released later in the day.

I then relayed this information to my friend via an online community called Twitter. Twitter allows us, along with our friends, to know what we are all doing during the day. It’s a pretty kewl concept. If you ever want to follow me on there my screen name is Curdreaux. Anway, my friend then relayed the information along to a couple of his friends who are also on Twitter. As you might expect, the news starts to spread in a very fast viral manner that wasn’t possible before Al Gore invented the Internet. The next thing we know CNN is reporting our inside knowledge as fact. If the story had ended here it would have been great!!! I felt like a kewl version of Matt Drudge for about two minutes.

But then everything went to hell in a hand basket. First the damned orthopedist entered the picture and decided he wanted to have a closer look at MF’s shoulder. Since no orthopedist is going to work on a patient at night it meant keeping MF overnight “for observation”. Well, it’s now the next day and from what my now totally unreliable sources are telling me he may actually spend one more night in The Med before they release him.

I’m obviously upset about this. My journalistic credibility was tarnished by people who were just about as involved as anyone could be. In a short amount of time, I went from being Edward R. Murrow to being Geraldo Rivera andJerry Springer! As such I’m now backed into a corner and I’m forced into action. Later today, I am planning on leading a rally to spring MF from The Med. I’m going to sell t-shirts that say “NO Man Can Be Free, Until Morgan Is Truly a Free-Man! DISCHARGE THE MF!” These shirts are going to be flying out of here so order yours now!

A Name Is Everything

Since this is a blog and not a cocktail party with polite company I can talk about things like religion and politics and since it is my blog I can talk about my religion and my politics if I choose to exercise my right to do so. And tonight just so happens to be one of those very rare nights where I will exercise said right.

Just so you know in advance this is a fairly long-winded blog, but hey, I never claimed to be Hemingway.

I recently received an e-mail concerning how I chose the name of my blog. The writer of the e-mail was convinced I was a Jimmy Buffet fan and she was probably thinking at some point I was going to extoll the virtues of listening to parrothead music. For those of you who don’t know, Jimmy Buffet has a song named Fins. The song lyrics say, “you got fins to the left, fins to the right, and you’re the only bait in town.” Poor, silly girl. I only listen to Buffet in very small doses and I’m usually drunk at an outdoor summer party when I do.

So naturally the question is if the name is not derived from the song then where does it come from? Well, as told in the book of Genesis having the right to name something is a fairly serious matter. One of the first duties Adam was given was to name all of the animals on Earth. This was considered a big deal since it essentially gave Adam legal title to all of the animals on Earth. Reputable theologians do not describe this passage of Genesis in this manner, but keep in mind, most reputable theologians don’t know how to party worth a damn and that’s why you always come back to me. I realize I still haven’t answered the question of the origin of the name of the blog, but I think it’s important for you to realize the naming of something is a fairly serious matter and since it is a fairly serious matter you should realize I would not name my blog after something as inane as a Jimmy Buffet song.

The name is actually derived from my very misunderstood political views. You see I live in a fairly conservative, middle-class, southern suburb. In this setting, I am usually considered to be a raving liberal lunatic (Finns To the Left). However, if you were to relocate me to the Kennedy compound for more than fifteen minutes they would consider me to be a conservative neo-fascist (Finns To the Right). Since I figured half of whatever I wrote would be misinterpreted I decided the name was apt, and hey, if I can get regular e-mails from female parrotheads then so much the better.

As far as my political views, the truth of the matter is I’m just a middle-of-the-road pragmatist who is trying to get by while leaving this world in a little bit better shape for his kids than he found it. I’m not an ideologue although I like using the word. I also like to use the word meritocracy although I don’t believe we live in one — so take that “no social skill Bill”! Just so you know I dislike all politicians. I think they’re all a bunch of liars and I think half of them are crooks (usually thieves). Keep in mind, I spent my formative years in Louisiana and I now live just outside of Memphis, TN so I can cite example after example. And now you know why I won’t be spending much time on here discussing politics. I’ve already shared most my thoughts on the topic in this paragraph.

And, oh yeah, the name could also derived from the Buffet song — just in case he wants to give me some kind of recognition or in case I get drunk at some party this summer.

Late.

So Wrong On So Many Levels

Earlier tonight I heard a familiar voice on Action News 5 in Memphis, TN.  Hearing this voice caused me to sit up and actually pay attention to a “fluff” story.  You see, in my first year of college (notice, I didn’t call it my freshman year since I had more than one of those) I attended (notice I didn’t say graduated from) a college in Memphis, TN which was named Southwestern at Memphis (SAM).  Although it sounded like a technical school wanting to be a junior college it was actually a nice little regional liberal arts college.  Unfortunately, as always happens, times change and the school changed its name to Rhodes College (rhodes link) which sounded much better and much more pretentious.  For the record it is now a highly ranked liberal arts college which would never admit the likes of me.  Maybe that’s why I say the name sounds pretentious, but I digress.

Anyway, while attending SAM I had a good friend who is now apparently the Director of Public Relations for Memphis Motorsports Park (MMP) (MMP Link).  For the purpose of this blog, let’s just call him “Doug Franklin” — a purely made up name.  So I’m halfway listening to the news when I heard “Doug Franklin’s” voice.  It turns out there is a woman who wants her husband’s cremated remains to be scattered all over the MMP grounds. To accomplish this she decides to contact “Doug”.  Well, “Doug” being the smart guy he is — and he really is — decides to check the local laws and, as it turns out, it is illegal to dispose of a person’s ashes on private property which apparently the MMP is.  Not to be stopped by a minor obstacle “Doug” through some research discovers it is legal to drop cremated remains from the air regardless of where they may land.  So “Doug”, being the good guy he is — and he really is — contacts Action News 5 who then takes the woman and her husband’s ashes up in their news chopper where she then proceeds to dump him out over the MMP.  Heartwarming isn’t it?!?

All of this brings me to my first point.  Instead of just saying something like this is so wrong on so many levels, I think it would be far better to illustrate this point by giving a vivid example.  I decided to do this, because I once had a college speech professor who told us it was always better to make your point with a real world example that your audience could relate to, and since he was a professor he was obviously right.  Just ask him.  So here’s my example.  Picture yourself hanging out with Junior (his real name, given at birth) at the MMP watching the races and saying things like, “whoo wee, them cars sure is burnin’ some serious rubber” when all of a sudden the exhaust from one of the cars kicks up some dust of which a small portion lands on Junior’s ice cream cone.  Well you already know he’s going to eat it just like you know telling him not to eat it will just make him ornery and ruin an otherwise great afternoon.  And then it occurs to you…  there’s now another fan out there helping Junior feel a little closer to racin’ —  or maybe he’s just helping Junior digest things a little faster and you know I’m not referring to his thoughts.

BTW, if you don’t believe any of this tripe, here is a link to the story:  http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8709689

As you will learn as you get to know me I normally don’t publish my thoughts on seemingly inconsequential  topics like this, however, there is more to this story.  You see, I spent a number of my formative years in Baton Rouge, LA going to LSU football games.  During this time, my parents had a regular group they went to the games with and with whom they hosted tailgate parties.  Three of the participants in these tailgate parties were the brothers Dupuy: Charlie a/k/a “Big Time”, Bill, and Mole.  Charlie and Bill were both tall guys who at one time had both been the Tiger mascot at the games.  Obviously, I’m talking about the guy in the tiger costume.  I’m sure Mole would have also been the mascot, but he suffered from numerous health problems and he was small in stature.  In fact, I was always told his name was derived from the expression that “he wasn’t any bigger than the mole on a dog’s ass.”  Anyway, Mole eventually succumbed to his health issues and the tailgate parties were never the same, but don’t think Mole quit going to the parties or to the games.  You see, the brothers Dupuy had Mole cremated and his ashes are now spread in a number of different places:  the tailgate party location, inside Tiger stadium and in all other SEC stadiums, as well as, in the stadium’s of several big time opponents (read Notre Dame).

So now I have to ask, what are we coming to as a society when we compete not only in life, but even in death?  Do we have to always win at everything?  Well, just let me be the first to state the obvious answer, “Hell Yeah, U-S-A, U-S-A!” and if you don’t agree then go and pull for the Godless (cuz they don’t worship the right God), Taliban-led team from Afghanistan during the Olympics next month.