Acknowledging the Nudges, Remembering Life’s Little Tales

I’ve been witnessing from my computer seat quite a bit of fury these past few days.  Along with that, I’ve left my mind completely open to every possible opportunity that presents itself before me.  The scenarios playing out are working both sides of my brain, rendering me both exhausted and yet somehow enthused.  And I’m [...]

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Notice of Tasting Cancellation – My Involvement at Least

  Well, after bringing lots and lots of folks to Mr. Smith for free business through my many blogs and weekly emails, I THOUGHT he and I had agreed to begin working together. I have an e*mail string here that I’m reading, trying to make heads or tails of Mr. Smith’s latest knee-jerk reaction, but [...]

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Tomorrow’s 1st Tasting at the “New Winery”

Afternoon, Well it’s certainly been interesting out here for the past few weeks, that’s for sure!  I’ve witnessed countless hours of research, paperwork and travel, all aimed at the final goal of launching a new winery permit.  For the folks following the blog, you’ve come to understand the heartaches, the headaches and the occasional triumphs [...]

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Groundhog Day

  With aching muscles and a tired mind I return to the keyboard again, a glass of wine and a worn out telephone beside me.  The last two days and a total of 20 working hours saw me organizing a former client’s home wine cellar.  The wines being stocked were nearly all from my old [...]

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Houston Wine Idealist Introduces French Country Wines (The Shop)

One of the finest aspects of this country’s fourth largest city, this city known as Houston Texas, is its inhabitants’ eager ability to embrace new and exciting trends.  “Feast”, that funky, fantastic creation by the eclectic, tattooed English duo of Knight and Silk, where diners will be just as shocked as overjoyed by the culinary [...]

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HWI Does the Underbelly of Houston’s Wine Scene

  So it’s early afternoon on a cloudy, humid day here in Houston and your consumer proponent is working up the energy to make the drive to 2410 Smith Street.  It’s been a leisurely day so far, the usual errands complete, consisting of Little M’s school run, a few paragraphs typed for articles due to [...]

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HWI’s Latest Favorite in More Ways Than One

Continuing now with the reviews of locally available GREAT wines at smokin’ prices, I stopped by what promises to become my personal wine shop yesterday.  Having not yet informed the proprietor of my intentions, thus thinking perhaps I should ask for his permission before blurting his name out in these pages, I rang his bell [...]

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HWI’s First “Official” Review

  25 years in the wine business now find me authoring a blog about wine from a very different angle.  I’ve been writing for more than a decade, as authoring prose represented my most successful means of marketing to my customers.  Now, however, I’ve become a sort of consumer’s proponent; I’m now reviewing wine, local [...]

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Houston Wine Idealist Week II

As a consumer in this nation’s 4th largest city, I now find myself in a very different position than the one I held over the past decade.  From 1999 until very recently, I was a merchant of fine wine, offering the city’s inhabitants wines that could best be described as exclusive, esoteric selections from a [...]

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