Max Koch Uncorked

Wine-soaked adventures through a twisted life…

Max Koch Goes to GRAPEVINE, TX., Part ONE (New Video)

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Welp. I’m in love with a dude.

Now before you scream out loud, “I KNEW IT!!”, just know that I’m talking about my new baby nephew, PJ (as I’m calling him). PJ is the sweetest, most gassy, most gurgle-y, most gremlin-y, most adorable, most intoxicating little human I have ever met in my life. My sister and bro-in-law have done a fantastic job producing a tiny mortal. I am seriously smitten. And can’t wait to see him again.

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The problem is, he lives in Texas. But I DID just get back from a whirlwind visit down there and caught some fun footage I think you might enjoy. I’m choosing to break it up into shorter segments because I finally realized that people only have so much to give, attention-wise, to a video. Especially a video featuring an infant.

I gotta say, Grapevine is a very charming town. It was snowing the whole time, which was nuts, but more importantly, it appears to be a sincerely burgeoning wine region! And check THIS out. My sister Ashley (PJ’s mom) even made the cover of a Grapevine brochure. She’s the brunette on the far right at the table in the middle. (Forgive me, I’m a VERY proud big brother…)

Grapevine brochure

Anyhow…to see the vid, click the pic of my sis with her boy below in the snow and GO! More to come…

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WINE PAIRING: I was so busy being cooped up with family, I wasn’t able to check out the D’Vine Wine tasting room on Grapevine’s Main Street, which I’m madly curious about. Next time!


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Grapevine-bound…

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I’m flying to Dallas early tomorrow morning. I’ve never landed at Love Field before but I am looking forward to it. Word is, however, there’s going to be a snow storm. So I could wind up in a world of shit, traveling-wise.

Wait. They have snow storms in Texas???

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I’m going down there to meet my baby nephew PJ for the first time. He just turned a month old. I look forward to holding him and passing him back to my sister when he erupts with gas or any kind of tangible human waste. My sister lives in a suburb of Dallas called Grapevine. That name excites me to no end because, well, as some of you may have surmised by now…I’m a bit of a wino.

I don’t really know how much wine I’ll be drinking on this trip, though. My sister claims she’s ready to knock back some sparkling Pinot Noir with me, but…I’m just not sure what’s going to be available to me. See, I’m only there for three days and I don’t know what they’re pouring down there. I’ve tried a few decent Texas wines on occasion, but I don’t know if I want to be spending my whole visit running to and from the market. 

Wait. Does it mean I’m an alcoholic that I’m actually PLANNING my drinking?

My brother-in-law, Mr. Perfect, is evidently drinking “old fashions” now as he is all strung-out on “Mad Men”. I’ve never seen “Mad Men” but I’m open to cocktails. As long as they’re fruity and contain no olives. I. HATE. OLIVES.

My mom and stepdad will be flying down from Kansas, too, by the way. So now it appears to be turning into some kinda mini family reunion. No WONDER I might be planning my drinking in advance!

The point is, I’m very excited to meet my nephew. I can’t remember the last time I held a baby. Oh, you needn’t worry. I won’t hold him if I get too tipsy.

WINE PAIRING: The affordably-priced Pedernales Cellars 2012 Texas Tempranillo kinda has me curious, now that I’ve looked into it. Maybe I can step out to a Grapevine wine shoppe at some point while everyone is napping…


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Organic Wines with Green Girl (New Video)

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Happy Friday!

My dear ol’ pal GiGi AKA Green Girl came over yesterday and brought along some awesome organic wines for us to enjoy. Now while I use those fancypants canvas bags when I go to the market or whatever, I have to admit, I’m not NEARLY as versed on the whole “organic lifestyle” thing as much as my friend here is. And as far as organic wines go, per se, the only titles I’ve ever tasted before were courtesy of lovely Pipestone Vineyards in Paso Robles.

Anyhow, I thought I’d make a little video of our pesticide-free festivity. Click the pic of my buddy n’ me below and GO!

WINE PAIRING: I have to say, after sleeping on it, of the two delicious Frey wines we sampled here, I mighta been partial to the Pacific Redwood 2003 Organic Syrah!


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At-Home Film Festivals with Wine Pairings!

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Here’s a way to spice up your over-two-decades-long relationship: At-Home Film Festivals with Wine Pairings!

We’ve enjoyed 2 now over here so far. The first one I curated, back in January. I called it “Venge-Fest”! Here, I even made a flier:

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All you need to do is choose a theme that speaks to or means something to you, assemble 3 or 4 films you wish to present over the course of three weekend nights (or week nights if you’re not a REAL working stiff), and provide a few little fun factoids before each movie before you settle in. For example, with “The Last House on the Left”, I made it clear to my wife that the version I was showing was, in fact, a remake of the 1972 exploitation-horror classic written and directed by Wes Craven.

NIC: So…why aren’t we watching the original?

ME: Because I really love the re-make. I mean, wait’ll you see the ending. Aaron Paul from “Breaking Bad” is in it! And you just gotta see this Sara Paxton in action! 

NIC: Something tells me YOU gotta see “this Sara Paxton” in action.

ME: Listen, I’m not gonna lie, she looks ravishing in just a bra and panties swimming in a lake.

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Then, this past President’s Day weekend, Nic was up to bat, and so she chose the topic of movies about unions. Next thing ya know – boom – “Union Fest”! Of course, the wife didn’t bother to draw a flier like I did but she did assemble a most appropriate collection of cinematic efforts.

Friday night was 1978’s “Blue Collar”, written and directed by Paul Schrader. This was a very odd, gritty little drama that I actually really dug. It contains some truly explosive performances by younger versions of Yaphet Kotto, Richard Pryor, and Harvey Keitel. I’m not entirely certain what the goofy guises were about during this theft scene, but I must say, I was surprisingly gripped throughout.

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“Norma Rae” was the highlight of the fest (other titles included “Hoffa” and “Silkwood”). What IS it about this little Field-y thing? I don’t even know what to do with her, she’s so good. Best of all, she kept sniffing her armpits throughout the movie and talking about how hot and sweaty and ripe she is. Yum City. I like her! Right now! I like her! 

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As for pairings, Nic got a little creative when it came to “Blue Collar”. She actually served Blue Moon BEER with Cara Cara Orange slices! Really brought home the taste and feel of the working class, I’ll tell you what (wait…I guess we should have been drinking Bud and/or Pabst, in that case).

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It was kinda profound, though, since everyone drinks beer during “Blue Collar”. Especially after their work shifts at the bar that resides ON the grounds of the plant. In other words, hard-working folks would bust their asses all day on the line only to place their earnings BACK into the company! Crazy.

WINE PAIRING #1: For “Hoffa”, we enjoyed the Toccata 2009 Nebbiolo Barbera from Santa Barbera…a robust, Italian varietal and passionate pour. Which makes sense as Jack Nicholson’s Jimmy Hoffa makes a mob ally in fictional crime boss, Carol d’Allesandro, played by Armand Assante. I mean, does it get ANY more robust than Armand…?

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WINE PAIRING #2: For “Norma Rae”, it was the Tres Hermanas 2008 Cab Franc/Merlot blend, again from SB County. It was like sipping Sally Field herself from the bottle. Only not NEARLY as sweaty, embattled, and worn-out as the poor dear winds up in “Norma Rae”.

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Great wines. Great movies. GREAT to be home. Let me know what kinda at-home film fests/wine pairings YOU put together…


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I’m Going Out…

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I’m going out with a friend tonight and I think I’m ready. I’ve been kinda reclusive these days and that’s not entirely been a bad thing. As it is, I have a fairly steady at-home gig that keeps my acting and improvisational chops greased…but for the most part, outside of errands and a meal or two with a person I care to see, I’ve not left the house for an extended period of time since last Saturday night! It was then the wife dragged me to a Hollywood bar called The Well as part of a Groupon deal, and just driving over the hill to the damn place was an absolute undesired nightmare. Between the traffic and the construction up and down Vine and Gower streets and the clusters of wax-moustachioed hipsters farting about the Hollywood Palladium on Sunset…and the inability to even properly locate this sufficiently-hidden establishment (Waze was NOT on our side)…it was simply enough to ask, “why the hell are we doing this again when we could be HOME???”

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It should never take me an hour to get to Hollywood. And The Well didn’t even seem that interested to have us. Perhaps they right-away disliked us because we had the stink of Groupon on. I have no idea, but we immediately found the perfect booth when we walked in, sat down, and waited. And waited. And wait–

ME: So…is the bartender going to come take our order?

NIC: It doesn’t look like it.

ME: Maybe there’s a cocktail server we-just-can’t-see-because-it’s-so-dark that will come around.

(10 minutes later…)

NIC: It doesn’t look like it.

ME: So you’re telling me this place is so hip that WE have to go to HIM to get served??  

NIC: If we ever wanna get served.

Ugh. Fine. I spent the entire evening getting up and down and down and up, from the booth to the bar, from the bar to the booth, bussing and carrying my own damn food and drink items. I shoulda tipped MYSELF at close-out but instead gave my usual 20% to the subdued bartender because I, too, worked in service for many years and am now permanently stuck with a debilitating case of WAITER GUILT (over-tipping even if the service blows). Add it to my endless list of foibles. 

I did enjoy the jukebox at The Well very much. I had forgotten how fond I was of “Celluloid Heroes” by the Kinks. I wish I could be a celluloid hero. I also wish I wasn’t so bummed out listening to this song again right now as I type.

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are
And those who are successful
Be always on your guard
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood Boulevard

Great. Now I’m totally depressed and don’t even WANT to go out tonight. Alright, alright, I don’t mean that. Do I…?

Look, what can I say.  I can’t deny that I have gotten crankier and more withdrawn in my 44 years of suffering thus far. But I think that just might be part of my late-blooming desire to tend a little more to the needs and wants of MYSELF before others…at least once in a while. Just reading that back makes me feel like a selfish dickface. But that’s been ANOTHER one of my biggest problems: I’ve been the eager-to-please guy for so long, I’ve forgotten what it is I want out of life. And right now, it’s to hunker down in my house and figure out what the hell I want to create next. And I am wholly aware of how fortunate I am to have such a luxury. And so I am weighing my options. And planning. Scrapping ideas and birthing new ones out. It’s been a real process.

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Have you ever seen the 1974 horror movie “It’s Alive”? About the mutant baby that’s born to a couple who have no idea what they’ve spawned? The thing erupts from the mother’s vagina and slaughters every doctor and nurse in sight. Then it crawls up into the hospital’s air ducts and spits itself out into the world. The world of Los Angeles at Night…where it proceeds to destroy nearly everything in it’s wake…including a poor, unfortunate milk delivery man!

I don’t know why I’m bringing up that dopey flick but that’s the kind of baby I feel like I’m just about to give birth to over here. One that really makes an impact! No, no, I don’t want my baby to murder everyone…I would just love to “kill” an audience on an emotional level with whatever it is I manifest next. 

I guess we’ll just have to see what comes. Meanwhile, I’m gonna go out. Yeah, yeah, I’ll catch a breather from this desk. I think it’ll be good for me, come to think of it. I’m gonna hang with my friend. I’m excited! I might even have some wine. And see a band play. And try not to think about how I should be back home hiding in my office conjuring up things I may never see through.

You can see all the stars as you walk along…
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain

La la la la…

Oh, celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh, celluloid heroes never really die
I wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die

WINE PAIRING: Hollywood and Wine. Because an entertainment industry guy like Doug Barr got the hell out of here and made NEW dreams come to fruition…


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“Sideways” the NOVEL

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Stunningly enough, I had never read Rex Pickett’s 2004 novel of “Sideways” until the beginning of this year. I think I avoided it for so long because I was so hopelessly smitten by the film adaptation, I didn’t feel I wanted to cheat on it by reading the book (the movie’s in my Top 5 of all-time). Plus I’m not a real novel guy, per se. I mean, besides Bukowski, Burgess’s “A Clockwork Orange”, and Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”, I’ve never been moved to read things that are fake or made up or imaginary, a life choice I might be starting to regret a little. No, it’s always usually been biographies or true crime or Hunter S. Thompson stories for me. Well, after “Sideways”, I am happy to report that is all going to change now. For I endured a truly powerful wave of catharsis reading this great work of wine-soaked fiction…and plan to seek out more. In fact, I’m already half-way through “Vertical”, the SEQUEL to “Sideways”! That’s gonna be a whole OTHER post!

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“Sideways” the novel is a total crusher. I don’t necessarily mean that I think it’s a depressing book. In fact, it’s chock full of hearty belly laughs (You won’t believe Miles and Jack and the boar hunter. THAT scene never made it to the movie and should have). But the manner in which I identified with the character of Miles Raymond, a broke writer on a road trip with his cocksure actor buddy, Jack, who’s about to get married…was totally profound for me. In fact, as soon as I closed the flaps upon finishing and set the book down, I sorta sat in stunned silence for about 20-40 minutes…during which time I broke down weeping. I was pummeled that hard by it.

You see – and this would be considered a SPOILER warning – throughout both the book and movie, Miles is waiting to hear if his novel gets purchased by a publishing company called Conundrum. Inevitably, as it is reported to him by his agent, Evelyn, while Miles is up in wine country trying to celebrate Jack’s last days as a bachelor…Conundrum decides to take a pass. Miles is crushed like a grape. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been crushed like a grape. Oh, my life’s endured quite the array of similar conundrums as well. I’ve created projects that came close to selling but something went wrong and they passed. It does NOT feel good, my friend!

“It’s a very difficult situaaaation!”

But what was so incredible? Miles’s friends didn’t care. They still believed in him. In his talent. And I could deeply relate to that. Because no matter how many times I’ve achieved degrees of success in my life, I have thrice the time been prone to failures and/or rejections. Believe you me, I have grown a very thick skin over the years, as a result. A now-protective coating, if you will. Yet in the end? I only lost the people who chose to not stick it out with me. May they live (and eventually rest) in Peace. Those who truly love me and accept me for all my flaws and remain confident in my gifts? Well, hey, they’re still here at the Koch party. Enjoying the shit out of themselves. As loyal and supportive as ever.

There are so many other ways in which “Sideways” eerily reflects my life. My friend Adam aka The Counselor WAS Jack. At least before he got married. We took many road trips together and shared many of the same hilarious dynamics Jack and Miles do. Adam/Jack as the arrogant, womanizing, I-got-all-the-answers man.  And me, Max/Miles, as the heart-sick, neurotic, misanthropic mess of an artist type. I mean, we were transparently opposite in so many ways…yet we are both August Leos who share a great love and passion for women and wine. Today, I believe, with age and maturity, we are as similar as we have ever been. Sometimes, though, I kinda miss getting pissed off at him all the time like Miles does with Jack!

Rex Pickett is an eloquent, edgy, extraordinary writer. A fresh, new hero and inspiration of mine. And clearly his stuff has to be mined from true-life occurrences. I’m just dying to know how much so.

Read “Sideways”. Please. You will take a really wild trip with these two guys. You, too, might even benefit from a good emotional release. Bring along some wine. Plenty of copies available out there.

WINE PAIRING: Most of “Sideways” takes place in Santa Barbara Wine Country. So why don’t we go with the Foxen 2013 Pinot Noir? Something tells me Miles Raymond wouldn’t scoff too disdainfully at that choice.


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“Blue Ruin” and Thoughts of REVENGE

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So ya know when a bunch of bored moms and housewives get together on a Monday night twice a month to talk about the latest book they were all suppose to have read at the same time? Like, a BOOK club, right? Well, that’s sorta what I got goin’ on with The Cutting Room Movie Podcast. Only we’re a handful of dudes. And there’s usually no chicks unless we have a female guest on. And we’re always talking about movies instead of books. And most of the time, we’re usually drinking booze versus herbal tea. And we don’t eat any gluten-free cookies because we’re all behind microphones talking on Skype cuz that would be gross.

I’ve been doing this show for a few years now, and I have to say, it’s been a great stimulator for my brain. My cohorts deem me the “wild card”. And I think what they mean is…I tend to ask questions that go well BEYOND just what we thought of a certain film. I’m FAR more interested in how the movies reflect our lives on a personal level. And so sometimes I tend to really go for the jugular in my line(s) of inquiry. But I can’t help that. It’s who I am. Once I get behind a mic – or even in front of a camera – as myself? All bets are usually off. I feel I become my TRUEST version of me, really. I am fearless. And I deeply thrive on that feeling.

Speaking of being fearless, the new season of The Cutting Room has commenced. We start with a two-parter: the theme of REVENGE. Each Cutting Room cast member gets to curate three movies that we all have to see, depending on who’s scheduled for the show. Our leader and main host Thomas Dettloff chose revenge. And I think that was a very wise choice. Revenge is a sincere universal desire to act unimaginably. We’ve all had such terrible thoughts. But most of us have wisely not acted upon them. Because we know better. I mean, I’ve taken a TON of hits in my life and I know I’ve courted thoughts of comeuppance to those who wronged me. But I swallow my anger. And hope that either karma or the law eventually catches up to the culprits.

On this latest episode, I had the pleasure of introducing, as we call it, 2013’s “Blue Ruin”, a revenge thriller currently streaming on Netflix. I talk a lot about all the bad shit that’s happened to me. I gotta say, it was pretty good to get it out of my system. Amazing how trauma can mildew and corrode within you over time.

Click the pic below to listen!

WINE PAIRING: In “Blue Ruin”, kickass actor Macon Blair portrays the solitary, bearded beach bum, Dwight Evans. A broken man who becomes hell-bent on revenge. So I thought the Evan’s Ranch 2012 Lone Oak Pinot Noir would be just the way to roll with this one…


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I’m an Uncle!

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I don’t have kids. I most likely won’t EVER have ’em, either. That was a choice I made when I married my wife. Kids or no kids, honey? Answer: no kids. I still married her. Well, it wasn’t her fault she never really cared for children. I mean, I was cool with them growing up and used to daydream about being surrounded by 8 daughters. But that’s just not gonna happen now. And you know what? I’m fine with it. Being the misanthropic mess I have become in my now-middle age, I am absolutely, positively FINE with it. Just look at the world! Or better yet, don’t. Hide in denial, drink wine, and watch Netflix.

What helps is having a kid sister who just pooped out a 7lb. / 6oz. baby boy named Payson James. Everyone else is planning on calling him “Pace” for short. But not me, no sir. No, I plan to be different. PJ will be his name! Little PJ…Poopsalot. Well, my nickname for him is still in the developmental stage. The point is, I have a nephew now. And I plan to be a very active, very present, and very WEIRD…Uncle Max.

And I’m so excited.

Payson James Dent

So wild to think I once changed my kid sister’s diapers and she’s now changing her own kid’s diapers. Yeah, yeah, “Circle of Life”, but it really IS freaky.

I have 3 uncles. One’s dead, one’s building houses in the midwest, and one is living “off the grid” in the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. That would be my Uncle Patrick. We were very close once. We drank a lot, partied a lot, camped out together a lot. I even almost made a movie about him back in 2006. Shot the whole thing with The Counselor, but only managed to drop a trailer before getting derailed by other stuff. But since he left California wine country, where he owned a dream-like piece of property in the heart of Sonoma County, right off the Russian River, we have since…drifted apart. It saddens me. But I root for him. I know we’ll hook up again someday. Hopefully.

Little PJ, however, will always know his Uncle Max. I will fly down to Texas where he lives to visit him. I will send him Christmas and birthday gifts. I will call him on that stupid Face Time. And I will eventually be a VERY bad influence on him.

I can’t wait.

WINE PAIRING: In honor of my Uncle Pat, let’s uncork a 2013 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. I’ve had it. And it’s delicious. Rub a drop of it on the roof of your baby’s mouth!


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Sick…

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Look, I’m not gonna tell ya anything revelatory here: Being sick SUCKS. Yeah, man, I had a terrible cold all through the Christmas holidays. And then I was awesome for the new year, ready to take on the world, when all of a sudden, outta no where, WHAMMO!…relapse. No idea how it happened. Two visits to the doc…all the big white horse pills I could swallow…Codeine cough syrup benders and raw nose Kleenex wipes. Disgusting. I wanted to kill myself. I still kinda do. But my sister’s about to pop out a baby any minute now so I really wanna stick around to meet it. Him. It’s gonna be a boy. I prefer girls, but…in this case, I’ll take it. Him!

Sick Max

Not only was I sick, but the WIFE got sick, too. So then we were BOTH sick! AT home. TOGETHER. For DAYS. I don’t think that’s EVER happened before. Surprisingly, there wasn’t one single blow-up. That I can recall. No, it was really just us two pathetic slobs camped out on the couch every day, burning through books and movies and all ten episodes of “Transparent” (extraordinary work by the recent Golden Globe-winning Mr. Tambor…you BELIEVE him…HER!)

Understand, my wife is NOT a binger of television. Everything with her has to be ssssssssprrrrrreeeeeaaad ooouuuut over time. But she was so helplessly ill, she surrendered to the binge. It helped that “Transparent” was so damn absorbing. That Jill Soloway, boy, she knows how to channel the angst and anguish of modern families under duress (“Six Feet Under”, anyone?). And ALWAYS a pleasure seeing drag queens and transgender people and lesbians boppin’ about. Keeps things interesting, I think. You even get a once-chick with a BEARD! And it’s NOT Kathy Bates from “American Horror Story: Freak Show”. Really impressive actor, this Ian Harvie.

Infinitely frustrating was how much ambition I had installed within myself when the new year turned over. But then I got sick and lost all sense of time, energy and will. I was a LOAF. Useless! Despaired! Out of the game. Benched!

I needed a RESET.

So now I am going ahead and pretending that TODAY is my new official January 1, 2015. There is so much I want to do besides sit around watching everyone ELSE’S incredible content. Am I inspired? Of course. Always. But am I anxious to get back to work on MY shit. More so now than ever.

One thing I wanna do with Max Koch Uncorked is start interviewing people again for a new podcast. I’ve got well over 200 hours of jibber-jabbering behind a mic under my belt just from Mimosa and The Cutting Room shows alone. My idea would be to pair a bottle of wine with the guest that we would drink together throughout the 45 minutes (or so) we’d be talking. I even bought a beautiful new USB mic called a Yeti which plugs straight into my Mac and it’s good to go! I’ve already tested out how I’d record everything on my own. 

More about all this soon. Meanwhile, there’s videos to make. There’s blogs to write. There’s travel to be done. There’s laughs to be had. There’s tears to be shed. And there’s WINE to be drunk. No more sickness, damn it!

UPDATE:  Oh, shit!  My sister just had the baby. Did I mention it’s a boy? Gotta go…

WINE PAIRING:  Hey, what could be a better choice after a relapse but a reBOUND? Namely, the Juicy Rebound 2011 Grenache from Sonoma County!


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As a Cartoonist…

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I have to say, the recent and terrible events in France punched me hard, right in the gut. Mainly because 5 of the 12 victims in the vicious attack against Charlie Hedbo were CARTOONISTS.

Soak it in: Cartoonists are getting killed in the first month of 2015. And why? Because of the offense taken by their satirical depictions of the world around us, it’s people, and it’s people’s gods. Well, that just takes the wind out of my sails. I mean, where the hell are we suppose to go from here?

“…political cartoons engage and enrage more than articles do because they are visual and transcend language barriers…” – Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes

Listen, I used to self-deprecatingly refer to myself as a “wannabe cartoonist” because I didn’t believe I was allowed to certify myself as an “official” cartoonist unless I was actually getting PAID to draw. Well, that was absolute horseshit. I’ve been paid COUNTLESS times to draw. I just felt insecure. But now? Today? At this moment? I proudly declare myself, officially, a cartoonist. Because I WANT to be known as that. Because I now aspire to be as brave and hilarious and biting as those who lost their lives at Charlie Hedbo. I am inspired by them more than I initially realized.

Why, just this morning I drafted a fairly unnerving portrait of this pretty horrifying woman I saw at the Vons supermarket this morning:

And can I tell you? It felt GREAT to draw her out and free her the hell away from that huge, angsty space in my head where so much of my artistic suffering dwells.

Here’s a few other cartoons of mine from the past (as I’ve been sort of re-assessing my so-called “work” today…):

Yeah. 2015 is the year I get back to my cartooning. It’s a cathartic thing for me. And it helps me deal with my frustrations against the world…and it’s people. I feel kinda…re-born.

Oh, and here’s a Buzzfeed article you should check out called “23 Heartbreaking Cartoons From Artists Responding To The Charlie Hebdo Shooting”. I was especially moved by number 22.

WINE PAIRING: In honor of the fallen cartoonists in Paris, let’s open something from the region of France. I think that would be most appropriate…

Santé!
Á votre santé!
Á la votre!


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