Originally, Larry Stone, master sommelier, president of Evening Land and one of only two Americans to have won the competition for International Best Sommelier in French Wines and Spirits from Food and Wines from France, was supposed to attend. However, as it often does, life got in the way. But, Natalie made up for his absence with her knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the wines. And when you add the insight from Bailey’s Sommelier, Jennifer Jaco, you have created a wine lover’s dream. FYI – Jennifer has built one of the best wine lists in town at Bailey’s with over 715 labels and it’s on par with the Fairmont Hotel’s, which was the best I have found in terms of fun/unique and scope of wines.

The winery owns land in Occidental Vineyard in Sonoma and Santa Rita Hills Estate in California, Eola-Amity and Seven Springs in Oregon as well vineyards in Burgundy in collaboration with Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtest Lafon. Evening Land is committed to selling the best pinot noir and chardonnay possible. The wines have a color-coded, tiered label system of blue, silver, gold and white, which reflects pricing. Blue is the most affordable and starts at about $25 leading up to the white label, which runs about $120 a bottle. Isabel Meunier is the wine maker in Oregon; Christophe Vial is the winemaker in Beaune, France, and Sashi Moorman in California. Lafon continues to consult in France.

Executive Chef Grant Morgan created a number of dishes matched with the different wine regions from France to Oregon to California. We were served a pinot noir and chardonnay with each course.

Our first course was Foie Gras, Black Pepper Lavash and Apricot Jam served with the 10 Evening Land Vineyards Etoile Pouilly Fuisse ($28.99), France, which had notes of lemon, minerality, a little butterscotch and a nice mouth texture. It was fabulous with the food and the Old World style of white that I enjoy. The next wine served was the 10 Evening Land Blue Label Bourgogne Rouge ($25.99), France, which earthy with notes of black cherry.

The second course was served with my favorite white wine of the night, which is almost impossible to procure since only 100 cases are made. The 09 Evening Lane Vineyards Summum Chardonnay, Seven Springs Eola-Amity Hills from Oregon ($125.99) was a treat. Citrus, apple, tropical and minerality. Very old world style and my favorite chardonnay. When served with the cherry stuffed Oregon quail breast with creamy polenta and sweet onions, it was a match made in heaven. The 09 Evening Land Vineyards Seven Springs Estate Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills from Oregon ($39.99) was the epitome of Oregon in a glass — earthy, Old World, black cherry. I really liked this wine.

We then moved to California with roasted duck breast, almond toast, braised California rhubarb and watercress. The almond toast was almost like dessert, and when I asked Grant about it, he told me I didn’t want to know how fattening it was because it was cooked in duck fat. Sigh. Oh, but it was worth it. The wines served were the 10 Evening Lands Blue Label Chardonnay, which was full bodied with some apple, flint and citrus. The 09 Evening Land Vineyards Santa Rita Hills Estate Pinot Noir, had ripe blackberry and dark fruit with a big finish.

We finished with a fabulous tray of desserts, that I couldn’t stop eating, and joined Natalie and Jennifer for a fun chat about wine and a rich 20-year-old glass of Ramos Pinto 20 Years Old Quinta do Bom Retiro Tawny Port from Portugal.

I wasn’t familiar with the Evening Land wines, but judging from the blogger response on Twitter, I knew I was in for a good tasting.  I had a chance to chat with Mark Tarlov, founder of Evening Land vintners during the event.  Tarlov started his career by writing speeches for Warren Burger and decided to go to Columbia for his law degree.  He served in Washington, D.C., as a federal attorney, but it didn’t fulfill his need to tell stories.  His next job as was at Warner Bros., where he worked in operations and started his own production business, Polar Entertainment.  He spent about 20 years in the movie industry and produced about 20 movies including “Copycat” and “Serial Mom.” 

An avid collector and wine drinker, as it often goes, when he had the chance to buy Occidental Vineyard, a 5-acre panel in Sonoma in 2004, it was going to be his retirement project.  But this storyteller kept hearing about other opportunities to buy other cornerstone vineyards in great locations – Seven Springs in Oregon as well as Santa Rita Hills Estate.  Another big opportunity soon presented itself.  Over dinner one night with legendary Burgundy producers, Dominique Lafon, of Domaine des Comtest Lafon, and Christophe Roumier, he was given the offer to enter Burgundy.  All of these wineries were packaged into Evening Land Vineyards.   

Evening Land makes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from vineyards in Oregon, California and France.  The wines have a color-coded, tiered label system of blue, silver, gold and white, which reflects pricing.  Blue is the most affordable and starts about $20 leading up to the white label, which runs about $120 a bottle.   Isabel Meunier is the wine maker in Oregon; Christophe Vial is the winemaker in Beaune, France, and Sashi Moorman in California.  Lafon continues to consult in France.

So let’s talk about the line-up of wines for the event.  We tried seven wines that night and each one had a very different story to tell:

09 La Source Chardonnay, Seven Springs Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon (Gold) – Floral, apple, peach, lemon and flint.  Definitely more New World in style.

08 Summum Chardonnay, Seven Springs Vineyards in Oregon (White) — citrus, apple, tropical, minerality.  Very old world style and my favorite chardonnay

09 Santa Rita Hills Estate Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills Tempest Estate, California (Silver) – blackberry and dark fruit with a big finish

08 Seven Springs Estate Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon (Silver) – earthy, Old World, black cherry.  My favorite of the reds

09 La Source Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon (Gold) — blackberry, cherry, plum and floral notes

09 Evening Land The Tempest Pinot Noir, California (Gold) — black fruit, great balance, blackberry.  A big Pinot and my favorite “New World” style

09 Evening Land Bloom’s Field Pinot Noir, California (Gold) – blackberry, spice, very fruity

A great line-up and it was interesting to see the same wine making techniques applied to different terriors with such a range in wine styles.  And judging from the number of Dallas-based sommeliers in the room, I’ve stumbled upon a great “insider” winery that I’m happy to share with you.

Last week, I arrived at the Palomar Hotel for Serendipity Wine Imports Texas Tour of 2011.  There before me were approximately 250 wines that I could taste.  Yes, 250 wines.  Absolutely overwhelming.  When I go to these I always try to peruse all the information in advance so I can make informed decisions.  My checklist usually starts out simple – am I familiar with the wines, are they new to Texas, what is the buzz from the other folks attending and what just looks interesting?  I try to hit those first.  Then, I start the reconnaissance portion of the mission by asking the folks who are pouring – if I was to try one or two of your wines, which ones do you recommend?  You avoid kissing a lot of frogs this way.  But, you also miss out on the opportunity at times to try new vintages – but did I mention there were 250 wines?

Sometimes you run into some old friends. I was thrilled to finally meet Mitch Bakich from Donati Vineyards and taste his new vintage of Claret, which was a delightful big red blend.  I hosted some of his former co-workers a few years ago when they came to Dallas and set up some events for them to gain Dallas exposure.  We ended the day with a party at my house.  At one point we figured they were lost as there was a long delay in them getting from the wine bar to my casa.  I later found out they had “committed a random act of wine” by stopping a neighbor and gifting him with a leftover bottle of vino.  My kind of people.

I also was thrilled to run into Ginger Dollins from Domaine Serene, one of my favorite Pinot producers from Oregon.   The full line up of Pinots (06 Evenstad Reserve, 07 Yamhill Cuvee) and one Syrah (07 Rockblock SoNo) were delightful and topped my favorite list.  The Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Grace Reserve was elegant, silky and filled with rich stone fruit.  This wine rocked.

Some of my other favorites included:

• Blue Rock 06 Cabernet Alexander Valley.  Big fruit, cherry, licorice – this wine continued to evolve in the glass.  The name Blue Rock comes from the soils where the vineyards are planted on top of rock.
• Blue Rock 05 Syrah.  Full of vanilla, currant and blackberry.  Sadly, this is the last vintage since I heard several times over the course of this event that syrah doesn’t sell.  That’s a damn shame as this is a great wine.
• Monmartre Brut Sparkling, which just debuted in Texas last month, is a fresh light sparking that is perfect for an aperitif from Montmartre, the heart of Paris.
• Bonny Doon 06 Le Cigare Volant.  This earthy Rhone blend is full of ripe fruit, but with almost a rosemary herbal nose to it.  A nice and well balanced wine.  And, one of my favorites folks on Twitter @megmaker works here, so I was very excited to try the wine.
• Bonny Doon 09 Ca’ del Solo Muscat. This one is delightful but hard to describe as it is a dry Muscat, with the floral nose you would expect, but with a crispness you don’t.

On my way out, I was given a secret handshake from my friend, Eddie Eaken from Veritas, and led to another table.  Behold was a decanter and I had the chance to taste the 06 Poderi Aldo Conterno Colonnello Bussia, Barolo DOCG, Italy.  It was a symphony of flavors in a glass – cherry, earth, herbs, licorice — and it kept me smiling the whole way home.  While I probably only sampled less than 20 percent of the wines featured, I can tell you I am looking forward to continuing my Serendipity research.

Chef Richard Chamberlain served in an emcee role as he ran through the chef line-up paired with some wonderful wines.  He seemed surprised to receive the Cowboys Quarterback Award from Chairman John L. Adams for his tireless work on behalf of the Cotes du Coeur. 

The menu and associated wines are listed below and I have so many personal favorites including Gemstone, Realm, Ceja, Terra Valentine, Jordan and Peju that I’d be here all day talking about them. 

If you want to meet great winemakers, support a cause that impacts all of us and enjoy food from the best chefs in town, I’ll see you on April 9.

This month is a big month for the Dallas Wine Chick.  It’s the one-year anniversary of this little blog and with over 9,500 page views, about 3,100 Twitter followers and almost 600 fans on Facebook, you all have exceeded my expectations for success and created this amazing wine community.

You’ll see a link above to my first advertiser, Wine Chateau, a great online retailer of fine wines, who offers you a shipping discount with the link above.  Thank you Wine Chateau for your support of Dallas Wine Chick.

Recently I had my first wine-related speaking opportunity for EFactor, a local networking group.  Alex Andrawes, the CEO of wines.com and a friend on Twitter, asked me to join a panel session with some esteemed names in the wine business.  So I found myself on a panel with two Texas winemakers — Dan Gatlin from Inwood Estates and Dave Duchman from Duchman Family Wines as well as two personal friends – Andrew Chalk, D Magazine producer for Side Dish and Lindsay Woodard, owner of Retour Wines in Oregon.  About 55 people gathered at Cork Wine Bar to taste wine, hear the discussion and network.

I first introduced myself as the “accidental blogger.”  For those of you who know the story of starting Dallas Wine Chick, I just wanted to share my passion and experience of wine with others.  I started first on Twitter and when I reached a certain following; I thought about starting the blog.  To my shock, it happened.

The discussion was interesting.  We were asked as a panel to discuss the wine industry in Dallas.  Dan talked about how Dallas remains a challenge for him and other markets like Houston are much more supportive of Texas wines.  I talked about how Texas wine – especially in Dallas – needs an image overhaul to occur before consumers can support it.  In my discussions with other winemakers, including Lindsay who was there to debut her wonderful Retour Pinots in Dallas, the market is definitely supporting wines from other regions.

Andrew voiced the frustration of the room when asked about challenges with wine and restaurants.  Because consumers are better educated and know the retail price of many wines, paying triple mark-up is a detriment.  He believes that if restaurants were to even double the price of retail wine, they would immediately see higher sales because people would be willing to buy more wine.  I wasn’t asked this question, which was probably a good thing, but my pet peeve is “cookie cutter” wine lists that have been purchased by a distributor.  If many restaurants would take the same care with wine lists as they do with their food, consumers would have a better experience.

We talked a lot of about social media.  Lindsay doesn’t use social media today because her customers aren’t using Twitter and Facebook.  Dan has an Inwood Estates Facebook page, but it doesn’t seem to be populated often.  Dave has his marketing department handle their social media efforts and they are active.  Andrew uses a blog, but not Facebook or Twitter for business.  So, that leaves me and Alex as the poster children of the power of social media.

There was also some general discussion about the three-tier system and I think many of those in the room were surprised to hear about how wine gets from the winemaker to your home.

All in all, it’s the type of panel discussion that brought together many perspectives – winemaker, wine writers, wine retails.  We just needed a distributor to get a holistic view of the wine business.

As we wrapped up the Q&A, one audience member asked if it was still possible to get outside funding for the wine business.  Dan responded with a well-known, but sadly true quote – “If you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, be prepared to invest a large fortune.”

Since I developed a passion for wine, I have wanted to get involved in this organization. The fact that my younger brother developed a heart condition in his teens, makes the AHA’s goal of improving cardiac health for all Americans while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and strokes by 20 percent, resonate even more for me.

The Big Bottle Party is the kick-off for the season and is thrown to collect large format bottle donations for the “Big Bottle Alley” section of the silent auction of the Gala.  As I pulled up to the lovely home of Pam and Gary Patsley, I knew there would be some treasures gathered.  I was met by AHA Volunteer Melissa Anderson, who I happen to know from the paying gig and from painful exercise classes at Equinox.  After choosing a 08 Cabernet from Groth Vineyard over the 07 Chardonnay, I went exploring or should I say, drooling….  Sea Smoke, Shafer, Dominus and Opus – all the U.S. greats were well represented as well as the major Italian and French labels – many at least 15 to 20 years old.

I hoped to spend a little time with Steve Ellis, the wine chair, but he was in process of judging the donated wines, so I agreed to hook up with him as the Gala moved closer.  The goal of the entire event is to raise funds for a worthwhile cause, and they do that well.  The spring Gala is the largest of its kind in the Southwest and is the number one Gala in the nation for the AHA. During its 19-year history, Côtes du Coeur has attracted more than 16,000 attendees and has raised more than $14 million. 

Judging from some of the bottles that I saw collected, Dallas collectors hungry for top-tier, bottle-aged treasures are going to keep that tradition going.

But blog duty called and I got dressed and ready.  My sentiments immediately changed after being handed my first glass of Raptor Ridge 08 Pinot Noir and talking to the delightful Annie Shull, one of the winery co-owners.   Annie’s husband, Scott, serves as the winemaker and Annie is responsible for all other operational aspects of the Chehalem Mountain-based winery.  Raptor Ridge is named after the many birds of prey that live on the property — red-tailed Hawks, kestrels, sharp-shinned hawks and owls – that share the winery’s 27-acre estate.  The vineyard is named “Tuscowallame,” the indigenous word for “place where the owls dwell.”  In fact, each bottle features a feather from a particular bird.  The winery gives a percentage of proceeds to the Raptor Rescue Foundation and to a program that helps to provide medical and dental care to vineyard workers.

Surprisingly, Annie’s love affair with wine didn’t begin until she met her husband and he introduced her to more subtle French wines vs. the big fruit bombs that she had been drinking.  After they moved from California to Oregon due to a promotion for her successful job in technology, Scott started to take correspondent classes at UC Davis and collaborate with the other Oregon vintners.   After her husband received enough outside kudos for the home wines that he was blending, he decided to give commercialization a try in 1995 – a decision that Annie describes as “a hobby that went awry.”

We started our first course with the Raptor Ridge 09 Pinot Gris paired with Chilled Alaskan King Crab, Roasted Lemon and Pear Salad.  The wine’s pear, lemon and floral notes paired perfectly with the seafood goodness brought to our table.  I wanted this course to never end.

The second course was a Braised Milk Fed Porcelet, Anson Farms Polenta, Goat Cheese and Fresh Fig for the other attendees, but due to my pork allergy, I got a revised version.  The short rib substitute paired perfectly with the 07 Raptor Ridge Reserve Pinot, Willamette Valley, which had big cherry and cranberry flavors with a silky texture.

The third course was the Raptor Ridge Shea Vineyard 07 Pinot Noir paired with a Colorado Lamb Chop; a Dried Cherry, Zucchini Shallot Bread; Acorn, Crushed Spinach and topped with Mint Pinot Sauce.  This was a juicy wine with notes of earthiness pairing perfectly with the lamb.

The finale was a Crème Brule, Almond Cake and Honey Ice Cream paired with the 05 Raptor Ridge Blanchefleur, Pinot Blanc from the Willamette Valley.  I’ve been really good on the diet plan lately, but ended up polishing off half of this before I realized what I had done.  Just sublime.  The presentation for the birthday of my friend Susan, who was in attendance, was a special touch.

The success of Raptor Ridge is a story of hard work, collaboration between Oregon winemakers and a focus on excellence from the vineyard to bottle.  I am so happy that these wines have made it to Texas (hats off to Pioneer Wines) so you can try them.

He’s an agreeable guy and very passionate about wine, so I found myself in the totally revamped Pyramid Restaurant & Bar at the Fairmont – with a tasteful local focus on Texas products and a rooftop garden.  I was handed the list, which received a Wine Spectator 2010 Award of Excellence, and like a kid in the candy store, I started perusing.  As Hunter hand-selected the 250 wines that are on the list, it was important find a variety of on and off “the beaten path” wines at any price that patrons would love.  I especially enjoyed the Underrated Reds and Underrated Whites sections that had a number of wines I have enjoyed in small little wine bars or across the country.  I never expected to see them at a restaurant in a national hotel.  You’ll also find grapes you’ve probably never heard of nor had the opportunity to try like Aligoté, at least in Texas, until now. 

Gruet was one of the selections on the Underrated Reds list and I mentioned that I had never tried its still wines.  In short notice, I had a glass of the 06 Gruet Pinot Noir Cuvee Gilbert in hand.  Hunter also had a large selection of wines that are positioned by varietal vs. region to encourage experimentation of all different types of grapes from around the world.

Of course, because this is Texas, you will find the usual big suspect Cabernets -we all know that restaurants have to carry these to please certain patrons.  Also, I believe that having some of the big steakhouse wines gives people the trust factor to try other wines that may not have considered otherwise.  

Wines that are sustainable, organic and environmentally farmed are given special consideration.  You’ll probably see a future focus on building out the French section of the list in 2011.  Hunter’s credo, like The Wine Century Club, is to broaden the wine drinking scope at every opportunity.  I, for one, look forward to my trip around the world with his wine list as my guide.

So why don’t I start at the beginning?  I was lucky enough to be invited to an unofficial pre-conference trip that originated in Portland going to the Willamette Valley.  Since I was arriving later than the rest of the bloggers I fully expected to fund my own cab for the hour plus trip that began at Solena Grand Cru Estates.  But no, this is Oregon wine country so  I found myself in a car with Amy, a delightful tour guide and person who welcomed me with the biggest chocolate, peanut butter and Rice Krispies covered donut that I’ve ever seen.  After ripping it in half and handing half to Amy, I joyfully took a bite of my first donut in probably five years.

Voodoo Donuts

As we reached the gates of Solena, our bloggers chariot awaited — a candy apple red double decker bus.

The Double Dutch Bus Coming Down the Street

The day only got better from there.  We toured the winery and got to experience “do it yourself blending.  If you didn’t like the blend, you could only blame yourself, but it is hard not to succeed with so many good wines at Solena.

Rolling out the red carpet

We were then seated for a four course lunch prepared by chef Matthew Howard matched with Solena Estate’s wines.  The first course, early summer corn soup with fingerling potatoes, prosciutto and basil oil with 08 Solena ElvenGlade Vineyard Chardonnay.  The second course, Plank-roasted wild sockeye salmon with fava bean puree, shaved fennel salad, rhubard and nectarine compote with 07 Solena Domaine Danielle Laurent Pinot Noir.  The third course, grilled cascade natural flat iron steak with yukon gold potato and leek hashbrown with heirloom cherry tomato relish with an 08 Solena Hyland Pinot Noir.  Our dessert course matched a rosemary and fleur de sel shortbread, oregon strawberries, Bellweather Farms carmody cheese with an 08 Solena Late Harvest Riesling.

Early Corn Soup

Plank-roasted sockeye salmon

Our next stop was Soter Vineyards where we were greeted with a glass of sparkling rose.  Even though it had rained for six weeks straight in Portland, we had an absolutely gorgeous day.  My favorite was the  2007 Mineral Springs Ranch Pinot Noir with big notes of plum, earth and cherry.

Time at Soter

We wrapped our winery tour with Anne Amie, which is well known for its Pinots, but offers a wide array of affordably priced red and white wines.  I was familiar with the Pinot Noir because I discovered it at Veritas Wine Bar in Dallas and it sold out quickly.  We were surprised to learn that the winemaker Thomas Houseman first had a career as a modern dancer.  This was something interesting to try to reconcile after several glasses of wine.

Thomas Houseman, wine maker and former dancer

We were feeling lucky, so our bus stopped off the beaten path so we could buy Powerball tickets and beer.  I can’t imagine what the gas station attendants were thinking when our fire engine red bus stopped and Liza ran in with a fist full of money.  Alas, we were too late.  Powerball had closed.  We decided to donate our money to next year’s Wine Blogger Scholarship Fund instead.  So I thought… but I recently learned that a different scenario actually took place.

Our hospitality continued with a BBQ at Mary and Sean Cressler’s house, who live in the city in a fabulous home in a charming historic neighborhood.   Their backyard was made for entertaining.  Sean had spent the day smoking a pork butt for us.  The wines flowed freely, the weather on their back patio was spectacular, the conversation was hilarious and the food, oh the food.  Because I have pork allergies, I tried everything else from the tofu that they grilled for me (which was surprisingly tasty), the smoked salmon dip, the veggies, freshly baked bread and anything else that I could cram in my mouth.  Everyone else raved about the pork actually before, during and after the conference.  This was the day the diet died…

It was close to midnight so I was dropped off at my hotel – or so I thought.  The Marriott Courtyard had bumped me to another hotel.  When I got there, I was given the only room left – the one with the handicapped bathroom.  I was tired and in hindsight, trying to navigate the shower was pretty humorous the next day after an hour run throughout the city.

We were then off on our next adventure – the caravan to Walla Walla.  Mary had set up a private tour with Bob Morus of Phelps Creek Vineyards where we spent a great deal of time learning about the intricacies of the winery and harvest.  Since I geek out during conversations like this with the winemaker, I was in heaven and thought it was fascinating that they have two wine makers — one American and one French that make two entirely different styles of Pinot.  I personally loved the 08 Cuvee Alexandrine, a big Burgundian style Pinot.

Bob Morus from Phelps Creek

My husband can attest that I am not usually a road trip person and I was a little hesitant to spend hours with folks that I’d met only on Twitter.  However, this was not your usual road trip.  From blasting tunes that I enjoyed from elementary school with Jason (Duran Duran and Missing Persons if you must know) to having a conversation imposed “time out” to force Doug to work on his client deadline while I became even more addicted to the Zombies and Plants game on my iPad, it was an experience that I’ll never forget and definitely hope to have again.

A special shout out to Lynette (and Amy) for their unmatched hospitality.  You truly gave as an experience that will be hard to replicate.

Then snow threatened to get in the way.  I was called to Michigan for work.  I crossed my fingers and flew into the eye of the storm – literally – successfully connecting flights in Chicago and then on to Michigan.  I was relieved to get home, but I was too late to make the original event.  I joined a small group of women for dinner at Salum, a local favorite and I am so happy that I did since Lindsay’s wines exceeded my expectations with the 07 vintage (I was lucky enough to try her first vintage with a friend last year).

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to try her Retour Pinot Noir, it is coming to a wine list near you soon.  Retour, which is only in its second vintage and is the French term for returning home, was rated a 92 and named by the Wine Spectator as “one of the most important new labels in Oregon.”  Bottom line – the Pinot is delightful – big fruit, spice and a long finish.  But what was more delightful was Lindsay.  She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s sassy and she loves what she does.  She took a gamble and left a successful communications job.  She turned her love of wine, knowledge of the industry and her passion into a successful venture while she was in her early 30’s.  She’s agreed to do a Q&A with me for a future posting, so look for that soon.

On another note — I returned from Michigan on Wednesday evening with the thought of writing my article about my dinner at Salum and posting  it no later than Saturday.  Then the mother of all storms hit Dallas.  We woke up on Thursday to a dusting of snow.  It was pretty – nothing that would keep me from going to work.  But, it continued to snow. And snow.  And snow.  Ten and a half inches later, our power went out and wasn’t restored until very late on Saturday.  Because we have a young daughter, we finally threw in the towel, grabbed two bottles of red wine (2005 Del Dotto Cab Frank and 06 Sojourn Cabernet Sauvignon) and went to a hotel on Friday night.  I do have to admit that I was worried about my wine collection and thankful that the power outage happened during the winter months. (No power in August for a few days in Dallas is not good for wine).

So, this Dallas girl now completely empathizes with what has been going on in DC, New York, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit.  What I did gain from this experience is an appreciation for what I have and the knowledge to pack my wine bottles, wine opener, Riedel glasses and head to a hotel much faster should Dallas become a winter wonderland and I lose my electricity once more.