http://ignoregon.com/rss/carlton Aggregated Blog Posts From Carlton Tue, 7 Feb 2012 07:23:05 +0000 en http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/06/wyden-at-newberg-2/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/06/wyden-at-newberg-2/ Mon, 6 Feb 2012 19:14:00 +0000 Ron Wyden at Newberg town hall/Randy Stapilus Two to three years ago, turnout at Senator Ron Wyden‘s Yamhill County town hall ranged upward of 100, to 200 and more. Big crowds that filled large rooms. Not so much this weekend, when Wyden came to Newberg; only about 20 county residents showed up. (The lower turnout [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/squarespace/CpLt/~3/tB9N_dMyds0/5000-wines-a-year.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/squarespace/CpLt/~3/tB9N_dMyds0/5000-wines-a-year.html Mon, 6 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000   I saw a comment recently from a wine writer noting that they tasted over five thousand wines a year. I could only think how sad. Was this some sort of punishment? Did someone commit a crime? What a pity to turn such a pleasure into such a grind. Another comment on a forum noted that the writer first scored the wine 88 points , but that it had mellowed into a 89 point wine after about thirty minutes. It improved by a point? I could only think how sad it is to force flavors and aromatics into one point increments. Again pleasure becomes a grind. While I was attending a wine faults seminar by the University of California at Davis the professor passed off the answer to a question as obvious when someone asked the equally obvious question. “Professor I’ve noticed that the sample with the VA was very strong at first, but now that I’ve gone back to it several times and it gets harder and harder to pick up,” said one of the winemakers in the seminar. The professor almost off-handedly commented that was just how your nose worked. It could take twenty minutes or so before it reset itself. So, as the Ph.D. from Davis noted, if you get a nose-full from a a wine loaded with VA or Brett or a long line of wine faults you will be severely disabled aroma-wise for a signifiant period of time. Then there is simple palate fatigue on top of that. What does this mean? It means that the people that taste five thousand wines a year or those that nudge a wine by a point after a half hour are just kidding themselves. It can’t be done, we’re humans not machines. Your senses lose the ability to accurately judge wines even after just a dozen or so. The idea of defining the difference between 88 and 89 points as a relative quality value is simply a joke. Mother Nature did not give us the tools required. This, of course, extends to all the major wine publications and wine competitions. What they claim to be doing can’t be done. Fact and end of story. In addition to the fact that they’re totally inaccurate as an indicator of quality, marathon tastings and pointy nit-picking just take the joy and pleasure out of wine. They are also a slap in the face to the intellectual side of wine appreciation. One thing I appreciate about wine bloggers over the traditional wine press is that instead of pounding through dozens of bottles and pumping out points, most take a more thoughtful approach. Wine blogs are full of tales of wines at the table, which is the only place you can really get to know a wine. Wine writing about the experience of the true pleasures of wine tells you more than any point ranking or gold medal ever can or will. There are so many good wine blogs out there these days that they cover more than enough wine to fill anyone’s needs. What you won’t find in the blogs are reviews of Screaming Eagle or Lafite, but let’s face it, if you’re buying those wines you don’t really care about reviews anyway. My mind keeps drifting back to the person tasting more than five thousand wines a year. It sounds so terrible to me. I’m more than happy tasting a few hundred or so a year. It also means I get to enjoy wines that I really love more than once. I think it often takes a few bottles, consumed over a period of time with different foods, before you really know a wine. I doubt there are actually five thousand wines in the world that I want to try. Someone else will have to take that punishment for me. No thanks. http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/04/one-less-candidate/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/04/one-less-candidate/ Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:08:00 +0000 This week’s column by Chris Carlson mentioned several prospective Idaho political figures for coming years. One of them, Douglas Siddoway, responds: Please let your readers know that, while I respect my good friend Chris Carlson’s political acuity and appreciate his belief that I would make a good governor, I have no intention of doing anything [...] http://www.scottpaul.com/events/in-carlton-buisson-charles-meursault-tasting-12-5p-sat-feb-4th http://www.scottpaul.com/events/in-carlton-buisson-charles-meursault-tasting-12-5p-sat-feb-4th Sat, 4 Feb 2012 18:47:00 +0000 Join us in Carlton on Saturday Feb. 4th from 12n-5p – this is an absolute don’t miss tasting for Burgundy lovers of all stripes. We’ll be pouring all five of the outstanding 2009 Meursaults from top-drawer producer Domaine Buisson-Charles. Though perhaps not as famous as Lafon, Roulot or Coche-Dury, the Buisson-Charles wines are at the [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/03/steve-appleton/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/03/steve-appleton/ Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:05:00 +0000 Never met the man, so such personal qualities as Steve Appleton had could only be extrapolated, from this vantage, from what public actions he made. Without getting into the kind of hagiography normal for the recently deceased, especially for the successful recently deceased, there are a few things that might be said, even from a [...] http://www.scottpaul.com/events/scott-paul-pdx-first-friday-tasting-5-7pm-february-3rd http://www.scottpaul.com/events/scott-paul-pdx-first-friday-tasting-5-7pm-february-3rd Fri, 3 Feb 2012 18:35:00 +0000 Join us in NW Portland at Scott Paul PDX as we kick-off our series of First Friday Happy Hours – Friday February 3rd from 5-7pm. We’ll be pouring our hand-crafted Oregon Pinot and a selection from our import portfolio – with a “Splurge Pour” of Grower Champagne also available (just in time for Valentine’s Day, [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/03/national-redistricting/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/03/national-redistricting/ Fri, 3 Feb 2012 18:01:00 +0000 This sounds like an idea that must not be new but sure doesn’t seem familiar: Instead of each state redistricting their congressional districts, that work would be done by a national National Commission for Independent Redistricting. Starting, if the legislation were passed, in 2020. The proposal, by Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer, will be immediately set [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/03/wa-bill-of-the-day-hb-2588/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/03/wa-bill-of-the-day-hb-2588/ Fri, 3 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000 Striking headline in a Tacoma News-Tribune editorial: “It took Richard Nixon to go to China, Bill Clinton to reform welfare and state Rep. Jeannie Darneille to push House Bill 2588.” It’s apt, and it could mark a breakthrough. DNA evidence is something relatively new on the civil rights screen, and complex to deal with. DNA [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/01/carlson-five-to-watch/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/02/01/carlson-five-to-watch/ Wed, 1 Feb 2012 11:41:00 +0000 Chris CarlsonCarlson Chronicles Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter says he will seek a third term. Good! With the way he is “mailing it in” that may provide Democrats with the first real opportunity to occupy the executive chair since then Attorney General Larry Echohawk lost to Phil Batt in 1994. In 2014 it will have been [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/31/bonamici-d-in-the-or-1st/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/31/bonamici-d-in-the-or-1st/ Wed, 1 Feb 2012 00:34:00 +0000 Suzanne Bonamici Annals of a congressional district that knows what it is and what it wants: Winding up a special congressional campaign that started last summer – last spring, really, when the first challenger got in – Democrat Suzanne Bonamici was elected Tuesday, over Republican Rob Cornilles, to the U.S. House from the Oregon 1st [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/30/a-battle-in-washington-if-theres-one-nationally/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/30/a-battle-in-washington-if-theres-one-nationally/ Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:43:00 +0000 The Seattle Times has a roundup of presidential campaign activity in Washington state, which often – with its relatively late March 6 caucuses – isn’t a big factor in presidential nominations. If the battle for the nomination is still alive then, though, Washington could be a hotbed. In some ways, it’s a national mirror. The [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/29/l93s-big-helicopter-districts/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/29/l93s-big-helicopter-districts/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:59:00 +0000 Every decade, it’s the same: As population crowds into urban areas, legislative (and congressional) districts that cover rural areas have to stretch into larger and larger areas. It’ll happen again after 2020. Even so, I’ve been looking at the Idaho Redistricting Commission’s L93 map (yes, that means there have been that many formally submitted) adopted [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/26/renewed-drawing/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/26/renewed-drawing/ Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:45:00 +0000 After spending a little time with the Idaho redistricting commission, things look a little more upbeat than earlier this week for the prospects of it completing its task sometime soon – possibly Saturday (they’re prepared for a Saturday session), maybe sooner, but likely not a whole lot later. This was the commission called back to [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/25/wa-bill-of-the-day-house-bill-2703/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/25/wa-bill-of-the-day-house-bill-2703/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000 A significant change in status that doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of attention yet. To this point, when Washington state officially talks about its “state universities,” it means the University of Washington and Washington State University – those two and no others. (Similarly, the only official “state college” is the Evergreen State College [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/25/carlson-the-best-governors-my-list/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/25/carlson-the-best-governors-my-list/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:12:00 +0000 Chris CarlsonCarlson Chronicles A former newspaper editor and sometime reader of this column recently asked who I thought, other than Cecil Andrus, were great Idaho governors. A bias I have is this: The best governors almost always first served in their State’s Legislature. Why this contributes to success is obvious. Having served in the legislative [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/24/romney-gingrich-and-idaho/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/24/romney-gingrich-and-idaho/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:34:00 +0000 In an Idaho Statesman piece, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, who’s co-chair of the Mitt Romney campaign in Idaho, remarks that “I would have bet you a month ago that this would have been over with by the first of February. But things have changed.” He’s certainly not alone in that, or in moving to the [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/24/id-bill-of-the-day-senate-bill-1255/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/24/id-bill-of-the-day-senate-bill-1255/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:12:00 +0000 There seems to be an ethic in our politics these days that lengthy pieces of legislature are only lengthy to provide loopholes and work for lawyers: if it’s worth doing, surely it can be expressed in a sentence or two. Legislators who’ve been around the circle a few times come to understand that things rarely [...] http://www.scottpaul.com/scott/more-2010-burgundy-love http://www.scottpaul.com/scott/more-2010-burgundy-love Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:18:00 +0000 More love for the amazing and miraculous 2010 Burgundy vintage, this time from IWC’s Steve Tanzer �" “At their best, the 2010 reds offer compellingly fresh and complex aromatics and site character; silky but sharply delineated palates; and suave, long, gripping finishes featuring firm but harmonious tannins. In their aromatic complexity, energy, intensity and clarity [...] http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/23/toward-an-august-primary/ http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2012/01/23/toward-an-august-primary/ Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:38:00 +0000 The Idaho Legislature, which has before it a bill that would move the state’s long-running May primary election to August, might as well go ahead and pass it. Candidates and election officials will need the time, because the odds now are that no new legislative redistricting plan will be adopted in the short term – [...]