When the Judge calls do you tell him you’re drinking?

While we were in Napa after the Wine Blogger Conference in July, I got a text message from a Houston criminal defense attorney. No it wasn’t about something I did. Well in a round about way I guess it was. I think we had either just checked into La Residence or had just returned from dinner. He was asking me to recommend some lodging to a Florida Defense Attorney who was planning a trip to Napa.

But this was on twitter– because if you send me a direct message, it goes straight to my phone. Cool thing about twitter. People can contact you without knowing your cell phone number or your e-mail address. I replied that we were staying at La Residence at the moment and it was certainly great so far!  Then we had some wine. And I promptly forgot about further recommendations.

When we returned to Houston, I was wasting time again networking on twitter and the Florida guy tweeted that I still hadn’t provided him with any recommendations. I sent him a direct message : “Here’s my email address; I can’t possibly carry on a conversation in 140 characters.” And I made a few recommendations based on my most recent trips to Sonoma and Napa, and then sort of forgot about it.

Today I got a “thank you tweet” while I was watching the Toledo Rockets “not win” against Ohio State. They were “not winning” so much that we left BW3s at the start of the fourth quarter, when, as wide receiver Eric Page finally crossed the goal line for the first time and went down, the ball popped out of his hands. And in that truly generous way that officials tend to make calls when our mid-major MAC team plays a Big Ten powerhouse, they ruled it a fumble and gave the ball to Ohio State. I’m just sayin’.

I noticed said Florida attorney had posted links to his Napa vacation blog entries and decided to check them out. Wow, he visited a lot of places! In the typical snarky way attorneys have been known to convey their thoughts, he journaled his trip in three posts — each with one or two amusing turns of phrase. My favorite being this one:

I don’t want to make this personal, but some of you Napa Cabernet makers might as well put some oak in a glass and serve that.

I’ve tasted a few wines exactly like those he was describing — just luckily not on my last trip to Napa. Anyway, I liked his posts so much that I asked if we could share them with our readers.

Brian Tannebaum lives in Miami, Florida and works as a Criminal and Bar Admission/Grievance Defense Lawyer.  A sharp tongue and a dry wit, Brian blogs  My Law License, and he likes wine. Here is what Brian did on his Wine Country Vacation, in his own words:

Monday, September 14, 2009. Blogging Wine Country

Vacations are part of life. Even a lawyer’s life. (Sorry BigLaws)

So I’m on vacation.

Instead of coming home and enduring the “did you go here,” I am blogging from my trip to Napa/Sonoma.

First, San Francisco International Airport, exactly how long does it take to bring luggage from the plane to baggage claim? Is this an ongoing legendary problem at SFO? I was starting to think UPS Ground may have worked better.

Anyway, oh, one more thing, when did rental car agencies think everyone who reserves a car, actually wants a different car when they arrive? Renting a car these days…(read more)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009. Blogging Wine Country, Day 2. A Federal Judge Calls

We began day 2 at Verite. These are some of the finest wines made, period. The tasting was expensive, the wine, really expensive, and the experience, outstanding. No latest release tasting here, we drank 10 year old wines. We were the only people there, sitting at the table in the tasting room, tasting along with an employee. You can go to all the touristy wineries and $5 dollar tastings you want, but make some time for the upper level wineries.

And this is where a tip comes into play. You can schedule your trip (assuming you’re not just hopping on a tour) and pick all the wineries you want to visit, but leave some space for the recommendations you will receive from winery and restaurant staff.

Hence, Stonestreet. Never heard of them. Verite recommended we stop by. The grounds are spectacular… (read more)

Saturday, September 19, 2009. Blogging Wine Country, The Rest Of The Trip

So I hit Napa on Wednesday and a new hotel. They have free wifi. It didn’t work. They were apologetic, but man is that frustrating. I wrote the posts in Word and saved them. Now that I’m back, having last posted Tuesday, here goes:

Got some anonymous hate mail Tuesday. Someone says I should pay more attention to my wife on this trip than typing away here. Apparently wine country and he do not mix. Sir, I write these at 5 a.m. in California. My wife is happy to have me typing away while she sleeps. Thank you, have a nice day.

Tuesday was “moving day.” We checked out of the wonderful Honor Mansion in Healdsburg and headed to Napa. Our last stop in Sonoma was our best.

Through a relative, we were able to travel up a mountain to the vineyards of Kamen. Robert Kamen is a screenwriter. He wrote Karate Kid, A Walk In The Clouds (a wine movie), Taken, and others. He bought almost 300 acres in Southern Sonoma and produces his 95-point … (read more)

We know all about free wifi that doesn’t work, which we agree can really be annoying when you’re trying to blog. You seem to get that in a number of hotels and inns in Wine Country. Perhaps they assume most people are there to relax and enjoy themselves, and they haven’t anticipated the Type-As enough to make sure their wifi is always available, and not just “free.”

We encourage you to check out Brian’s blog. He visited a number of wineries that we haven’t yet visited, but they are sure to be on our itinerary for our next visit!

Cheers!