Sheila Doherty got into her car this morning on West End Avenue and found a deck of Angel Cards mysteriously placed on her front seat. These are the original Angel Cards, designed by Kathy Tyler and Joy Drake.
Sheila drove to the office and placed all the cards in a bowl. Denyse volunteered to be the first person to pick a card.
Denyse has been very worried about the company's finances. Business is tough. So, Denyse moved into an open, receptive space and declared her desire for her goals to be met.
She then invited an ANGEL to join her in making this wish come true. She let the Angel move into her, raising and heightening her consciousness. Denyse felt the contact had been made and immediately opened her eyes and picked a card.
At least that's how this is supposed to work in the Angel Cards User Manual.
The card Denyse picked is pictured below.
Denyse asked for a gift from the ANGEL, following the instructions in the User Manual, and is waiting to see what comes her way. She is also pondering the word ACCEPTANCE in all its multi-faceted and profound shades.
Mine can't. With or without Novocaine.
Sheila can channel some woman she sees in the rear view mirror of her car (see below),
but that's all.
I've been anxious to speak with my father and former New York City Mayor Abe Beame the past few days. Does anyone have a psychic who can help me out?
I woke up at five in the morning screaming in terror!
What is this dream telling me?
Unfortunately, Sheila Doherty has had Novocaine shots and cannot read my dream life today.
That's right. The San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood Vigneron of the Year is in New York and will be showing his beautiful wines at tomorrow's Skurnik tasting.
This tasting is only open to invited members of the wine trade.
Don't miss Chris and his stunning wines.
How can you explain this?
I took Zaggy for a walk and ran into this woman yet again! Readers will recall, I spotted her several times when I was recently in San Francisco.
There is something hypnotic and all-knowing about her. I tried to talk with her, but she hurried across the street. Walking with a cane, I was not able to keep up with her and lost her in the 57th Street crowd.
Sheila is having dental work and is being shot-up with vast quantities of Novocaine.
It is a little known fact, but Novocaine interferes with all psychic powers. We are without her spiritual guidance today.
I'm taking it easy. Denyse and I are visiting our daughter and attending her gallery opening tomorrow.
This is the first time I've been here in March and there is no snow on the ground. Montreal is a great city and I always love my time up here.
That's right!
Everyone of Louis/Dressner's major competitors is on a hiring binge of people who know our wines well. There are rumors on the street that Rosenthal is also about to hire someone.
Congratulations to Linus Kessler MW who has just joined up with Peter Weygandt. Peter has a great book and Linus should be very effective selling Peter's wines.
Is there integrity without morality?
Sheila Doherty, Channeler and Louis/Dressner Executive
She's giving you all weekend to think this over.
What's the role of morality in today's world? Is the wine trade supposed to act morally or is anything that makes money justified? How do you combine morality with the pressures of daily life and hold yourself to a high standard? Can you justify buying wine from Southern Wine & Spirits?
Constantly questioning your behavior and trying to do better for yourself and everyone you touch is what life at Louis/Dressner Selections is all about.
Start every day with a renewed commitment to morality! You, your colleagues and loved ones be thankful.
The Fairfield County Wine Retailer of the Year!
All our congratulations!
Is today's Sheila Doherty Angel Card Saying.
This is an important concept, central to Louis/Dressner Selections.
How do you apply this concept to your day?
Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle has just reviewed Baker and Banker restaurant in San Francisco. Bauer likes the restaurant, but writes about the wine list:
While I appreciate the International bent of the menu at Baker & Banker, I find it difficult to warm to the wine list. It's as if the restaurant tried to collect every exotic varietal on one compact menu.
Aside from Chardonnay, the most listed varietal is Chenin Blanc and Malvasia, the main grape in a Croatia selection. I'm sure the 2007 Clai Bijele "Sveti Jakov" from Croatia is a hard sell at $74, even if it is a good wine.
The tendency is even more pronounced in the red wines. Among the 33 on the regular list, there are at least five wines using Rhone varietals, and four Gamays. There's also Zweigelt from Austria, Frappato from Sicily and Hondarribi Beltza from the Basque country.
What's actually on this wine list? Take a look:
A Great Wine List!
Amazing! Someone puts together an interesting wine list and gets attacked in the press. The critic doesn't have anything to say against the quality of the wines and how they go with the cuisine....all he can say is that there's too many foreign names and too much weird stuff.
What's behind the attack? Whether it be local boosterism or plain ignorance, it is inexcusable that a major daily puts such weak material into print.
To read the review go to:
Chronicle Review
The Slanted Door is constantly attacked for not having Californian wines. The Baker and Banker list has a lovely mix from various countries and it is still not enough to satify the Chronicle.
Bunch of Idiots!
Chris Brockway lives in the Tenderloin district (near the Golden Coffee on Sutter Street), has a winery in Berkeley, is a Nebraska native, wants to make fresh, natural wines and is trying his best to do so on a shoestring budget.
Broc Cellars Rocks and Chris Brockway has won his first Tendy, honoring this year's top winemaker from the Tenderloin District!
While I think the wines are a project-in-work and in general I have trouble with California wines (I think they mostly have the wrong soil, vine stock, geology and winemaking techniques), I think Chris is making the effort to find something out there. Along with other pioneers like Jennifer and Kevin Kelley at the Natural Process Alliance, Chris is that glimmer of hope that the long search for good wine is making inroads in Northern California.
Chris is sourcing fruit from Paso Robles and is looking for sites that won't go crazy with spoofulation. His most valued vineyard treasure is a patch of 120-year-old Carrignan:
Chris has a lovely philosophy up on his web site:
Broc Cellars was nothing more than an idea not that long ago, about making wines that were "site specific". Where the wines true character came from using only sustainably, organically, or biodynamically grown grapes from areas that most would consider marginal climates.
Believing that vineyards develop 'true' character and complexity when they have to struggle to survive. This can come from many different aspects: poor nutrient and water holding capacity, steep slopes, cool temperatures, or from old vines that are dry farmed.
True asphalt winemaking, in an urban winery.
All our congratulations to Chris Brockway, the First Annual San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood Vigneron of the Year!
Plans are on the way for the award ceremony night and hopefully Senior Real Winemaker Steve Edmunds will be the master-of-ceremonies.
On a personal note: I have no commercial connections with Mr. Brockway. I'm not even wild about the wines. But I find the spirit behind the project to be moving and with great potential. It is the international spirit of the real vigneron.
Many important wine importers and distributors are now using mystics, spirits, channelers, coaches, therapists and unemployed guidance counselors to improve their companies.
Rumor has it that one distributor in Wisconsin is now even using a Ouija board to source wines!
Building a company is a difficult proposition in these difficult economic times. Anything that helps will benefit all wine lovers.
Sheila Doherty has two words today.
Balance.
Community.
We all got to work today and she handed out Angel Cards. One card had the word Balance, the other had the word Community.
We are now all sitting around and discussing what Balance and Community means to each of us as an individual and to Louis/Dressner as a community.
I'm secretly blogging with my cell phone under the table because I am beginning to doubt Sheila's powers. Isn't our Balance and our Community all about wine? What's with all this motivational and mystical nonsense. And who made Sheila Doherty the source of all wisdom?
I'm beginning to wonder....who's running Louis/Dressner? Is it Louis or Dressner or McKenna or is Sheila now the voice of power and authority at the company?
I've been unable to sleep the past two nights.
I've been haunted by a vision. I don't know who this man is but there is something inspiring about him.
Now is today's Sheila Doherty Word to Live By.
Think about it.
Living is really pretty simple. Living happens right now; it doesn't happen back then, and it doesn't happen out there. Living is not the story of your life. Living is the process of experiencing right now.
Live.
Now.
Sheila Doherty's channeling powers have been blocked by the snow storm which has engulfed New York City.
I'm hoping to have a spiritual revelation in San Francisco today, where the weather is overcast but conducive to self-discovery, personal growth and competitive breakthrough.
Is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Word of the day.
Sheila Doherty, Channeler and Louis/Dressner Executive
Compassion is a central concept for us at Louis/Dressner. Compassion for our colleagues, our loved ones, our friends, those of us less privileged who have to drink crappy industrial wines and compassion for those of us who work at horrible wine distribution companies who are couldn't care less about wine.
Compassion is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Word of the day.
Is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Word of the day.
Sheila Doherty, Channeler and Louis/Dressner Executive
Communication is very important at Louis/Dressner Selections. In some ways, Communication is what we are all about.
This is particularly true today. All our phones are down and Sheila is alone in the office waiting for the Verizon repairperson. Denyse, Kevin, Lee, Eddie and I are out of the office and there is no way for anyone to dial into Sheila.
Communication is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Word of the day.
I hope Sheila starts channeling something spiritual real soon.
I'm scared being here.
Farm Wines is our distributor here in California. Keven Clancy and Jeff Vierra are doing a fabulous job getting our wines into the marketplace. Not to mention Robert Brownson in Los Angeles.
I've noticed there are a lot of California wines here in California, but despite this Keven and Jeff have quickly placed our wines at key restaurants and retailers. God only knows how much Croatian wine and Overnoy is going into the California marketplace.
We believe New York and California are the two most important markets for vignerons in America and we are delighted to be associated with Farm Wines. Farm Wines share our vignerons culture and is on the road, after nearly a year, to great success.
Thanks!
Once in the Tenderloin Section of town, the other time on the border stradding the Western Addition and Nobalito. I had already seen her two days ago on Jones and Eddy Street.
Am I being stalked?
We had a great Drinking last night at Terroir. I'm no longer doing consumer tastings but have switched over to consumer drinking. The consumers seem much happier drinking than spitting. Does every wine event have to be pretentious and a copy of the 1976 Paris Tasting? C'mon guys, let's loosen up a little....life is too short.
We then went to Bar Tartine where there was an amazing Rabbit Dinner organized by a bunch of folks from Chez Panise (American's great restaurant) and the fabulous Andrew Tarlow. Andrew Tarlow is the co-owner of too many great Brooklyn Restaurants (Marlow and Sons, Diner, Romans) and is single-handedly trying to wrestle the New York dining experience out of the hands of the Dry Cleaned, James Beard Awarded crowd.
Tarlow is one of the great heroes of the American food and wine scene, joining Alice Waters and other luminaries.
Is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Word of the day.
Sheila Doherty, Channeler and Louis/Dressner Executive
We at Louis/Dressner are dedicated to serving vignerons. All our daily activity is directed to the goal of making it possible for great vignerons to continue to make great wine. We serve our vignerons by marketing their wine to American consumers, a necessary component in our dedication to vignerons service. If we can make a living through vignerons service dedication, so much the better, but making money is only a necessity of life, not our culture.
We have a culture here at Louis/Dressner Selections -- Vignerons Service. It is a culture that is unique and that we are proud to serve. It is the folks in the fields, in the cellars, the people who bring the earth alive which makes it a privilege to be in the wine trade.
Yes, Service is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Work of the day.
Sheila Doherty is not only the International Operations Manager of Louis/Dressner Dressner Selection, she is also the Official Wine Industry Mystic Channeler (OWIMC).
Victor Schwartz has a great palate and I have long enjoyed many of his wines.
My favorite has always been their Chateau Puy Arnaud Maureze Côtes de Castillon.
My Silver Medal would go to the Niedermenniger Herrenberg Spätlese from Hofgut Falkenstein. That blue slate goes a long way!
What's your favorite wine from the Victor O. Schwartz portfolio?
Denyse and I are in San Francisco and did a trade drinking for select buyers. We highlighted about 26 wines and 28 customers and it was a thoroughly enjoyable event at a select restaurant in a select neighborhood.
It is amazing how quickly rumors spread in the wine trade. A sommelier from a major restaurant (great reviews, Wine Spectator Awards, James Beard Awards) asked me if it was true that we were leaving our New York distributor for VOS Selections.
While we have always had great admiration for Victor Schwartz and all the hard work he and the Schwartz organization are famous for, we remain loyal to our distributor of ten years. Ten year relationships in the fast-moving wine business are something to cherish and built on and we have no intention of jumping to the Schwartz's because they might offer us a better deal and increased sales.
Sheila Doherty's Angel Card word of the day is Integrity. As Sheila has pointed out, Integrity and Honesty are two sides of the same coin.
Is the Sheila Doherty Angel Card Word of the day.
Sheila Doherty is not only the International Operations Manager of Louis/Dressner Dressner Selection, she is also the Official Wine Industry Mystic Channeler (OWIMC).
Sheila Doherty discovered this power last week while pulling her mini-SUV out of a parking lot on Lafayette Street in New York City. A mysterious spirit appeared in her rear view mirror.
According to Ms. Doherty, Integrity is key to our personal development, happiness, professional advancement and holistic digestive future.
It's far from my beloved Tenderloin, but I'm looking forward to this event.
It's not really a tasting though. In fact, I'm no longer doing tastings, I'm only doing drinkings.
I'm also going back to banning I-Phones at wine events. Drink the wine and forget about your newest apps. Any I-Phone pulled out at Terroir will be confiscated.
There will be no tasting notes.
There will be no price sheets.
If you're nice, we'll tell you what you're drinking and answer any of your questions about the wines. If you don't like the wines, so what? What makes you think you're so important?
You broaden horizons and meet new people.
I've met lots of new people here in San Francisco just by walking around the Tenderloin district, where the famous Carlton Hotel is located.
First, there was this lovely woman I men on Sutter and Larkin Street:
I asked her what her hobbies are and she answered Traveling, Reading, Snowboarding and Hiking. I was surprised, but she answered in initial caps.
Next, I ran into a charming young woman who loves to travel at the corner of Turk and Leavenworth:
Her favorite spots include Nashville, Florida, Barbados, London - England, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Cuba.
I then rambled over to Jones and Eddy Street and ran into yet another lovely tourist:
This lovely tourist had left the cable car on Powell Street and gotten lost on one of seamier streets in the Tenderloin. I was able to direct her to some of the safer highlights of the Tenderloin, including the Mitchell Brothers complex on O'Farrell.
I visited nine cutting edge Napa Valley wineries. I didn't really like anything I drank.
I much preferred my time in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. I've been visiting old friends like the Golden Coffee, the Royale Café and my favorite room at the glamorous Hotel Carlton.
Strangely, I went out to breakfast this morning and ran into Andrew Tarlow of Diner/Marlow & Sons/Romans. What a coincidence! He's in San Francisco to eat lots of rabbits.
I'm a long distance from Sheila Doherty, the Wine Industry Mystic Channeler (WIMC), and didn't sense her presence during the weekend. Then again, Sheila doesn't work weekends.