Lots of feels this morning. The shop just turned three a few weeks ago. And my daughter turns two in just a few days. Seems crazy. She was an early walker and now zips about at great speeds, climbing up on just about anything she sees too. The past couple months have been particularly special, with an explosion of language, new words every day. Despite my best attempts, Redrum! didn't stick and her first real word was owl. Beyond her mother, her first earnest display of affection was toward a treasured photo of a bobcat kitten. Then she gave her heart entirely to giraffes for a full month before camels curiously won her over. She crushed hard on Elmo too for an appropriate duration, nothing serious now, just on the side she says. Her newest love is a bit forlorn, she is often fixated on the same page of her new favorite book, gazing into the eyes of an illustrated chimp whose cup is empty. Sad monkey she says each time, every night, and gives him a kiss before bed.

Thinking this morning about her first loves, I can still feel a pulse for many of mine from my early childhood... My obsession with hawks. Pirates and ninjas. Thundercats. Kimberly Morrisroe. Purple Rain era Prince. These days, I'm more often fixated on the fleeting and changing (and reimagined and rekindled) obsessions with various bottles that grace the shelves here. Chinon. Arbois. Sicilian Reds or skin contact whites. Pipeños and Pet Nats. As with my little one, I also get to experience the vicarious thrills and joys of customers exploring and discovering many of these regions and varieties for the first time. Some of these new loves burning intensely for months, some short-lived... some, perhaps, theirs forever.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights. French Gamay and Chenin Blanc Flights. New arrivals, new vintages, and new obsessions. Throw your homework onto the fire. Come out and find the one you love. Flights $12 from 5-9pm.

And an ALL PORTUGUAL weekend ahead! ...

SATURDAY 12/7: Special guest, Mark West Teixeira, and SUNDAY 12/8: special guest, Rachel Miers. Both importers will be pouring Portuguese Flights from their portfolios from 2 to 6pm. Sparkling, whites, and reds. Expressive, lively and dynamic new wines from the region everyone seems to be crushing on these days. Come see what the buzz is about and make sure it's true love, before you get that tattoo.


See all you lovers soon,

Daniel