The New Year has started and you have resolved to become more adventurous with wine. You have always enjoyed Chardonnay as your drink of choice, but now you would like to break away from the same old, same old, and broaden your horizons. You know that there is more out there besides Chardonnay, so what do you do? Well, I am glad that you asked because I am able to suggest several steps you may want to take to make the hobby of wine more enjoyable.

I was at my desk, minding my own business, when off goes the ding telling me that I have an incoming email. To my delight it was my daughter in Paris telling me that she and her husband had just purchased a bottle of Taylor Fladgate Port Wine; not just any Taylor Fladgate, but the special release, both wine and package, that celebrates the 325th anniversary of Taylor Fladgate being in business.

When I was in the sixth grade my history class drew the assignment of "€œWriting the History of (fill in the rest)."€ I decided that since I liked War History, I would write the History of WWII. The good Sister that read my choice of subject must have gone back to the convent that evening and laughed until she was blue in the face. She finished laughing and realized she was going to have to deliver the bad news to me that a subject so big in scope cannot be explored in 900 words. The subject would have to be reduced to maybe one single event. I was crushed, but after listing to her explanation, I realized that Sister Margaret Mary was correct.