Alright, Alright, Alright Y'all!

I'm working on my use of "y'all" as I accept the invitation to return to the Austin area as a judge at the Texas International Wine Competition in February! Airline tickets are purchased and details are coming together. Now to tweak for weeks over what to pack.

I'm excited to return to this competition, it is small (about 40 judges), but well run and they treat the judges like royalty. Small, doesn't mean unimpressive by-the-way, this is 3 days of tasting and rating some of the top wines from around the world. Another one of my favorite things about this comeptition is that they are set-up to donate proceeds to The Whole Planet Foundation: their mission is to empower the poorest people in the world with a micro-credit to set up a home based business to support their families. Many of these people are women that receive a small loan, I'm talking $100 or less, and buy a sewing machine or similar tool. They learn how to create some kind of commodity by sewing items or crafting something and selling these items. The stories are incredible and heartwarming and I love being a part of a competition that thinks about how to help the world become a better place.

What I love most about this competition is the people. This competition, crafted by an expert wine judge, has gathered some of the best professionals from around the world including a Count who was the 20th person in the world to receive the prestigious Master of Wine title...ever, as in he's a big deal. He has been living and teaching in Bordeaux for most of his life, but flies to Buda, Texas for this competition. There is also the editor-in-chief of Sommelier Magazine from the Czech Republic who became my 'Wine Godfather' last January when we met at this same competition and he deemed me worthy of his great kindness, generosity and professional sway with some of the best competitions in the world. And then there is a surgeon and wine educator who is responsible for the non-profit charity Intervol that collects unused medical supplies and sends them to countries in dire need via 'Raise a Glass Foundation' which is affiliated with The Great American International Wine Competition in NY that I also have had the honor of judging at. These are only three incredible people out of a room full of greats that I now proudly call my friends.

To fully appreciate just how cool this little competition is, imagine you are half way around the world and bump into one of your favorite people you met at the Texas International! In the mysterious hills of a small town in the Czech Republic at a small International Wine Competition called Vinnex (thank you Wine Godfather!), I found myself hugging one of my favorite judges. Talk about random right? In the wine judging world, not so much. My 1st year judging at Great American International, I was fresh and new and in a sea of unfamiliar faces at that very large competition. I met some lovely people and enjoyed my experience very much, but it wasn't until this past year when I made connections at Texas, that my experience at Great American really wowed, they seem to build on each other. In a beautiful stroke of luck, I was invited into the inner circle of wine judges and part of a private tasting at the Doctor's room. He brought some of his special wines he has collected in his private cellar to share with a small group including the Count. You might be picturing a stodgy group of wine geeks all trying to impress each other and be snooty about what the greatest wines of the world are, but I assure you, this is a group of exceptional people that are appreciative of what each of us bring to the table, LOVE wine and want to share that love, appreciate the hard work winemakers have put into their product and a group of hilariously funny people! The Doctor and the Count have a rapport after many years of friendship, that is so entertaining that it makes you want to pull up a chair and just watch them interact. The Doctor has a delightful Irish accent and sharp wit mixed with a youthful carriage that makes his age difficult to determine, The Count has an English accent and is a dapper, wisecracking older man with white hair and beard that looks very distinguished. Between them they have a heavy arsenal of wine knowledge and experience, but it is the jolly sing song of the dueling accents as they verbally jab at each other that is so fabulous. Needless to say, I was excited to spend an evening with them.

Now, most hardcore wine geeks have had a wine MOMENT, a special A-Ha experience where tasting a particular wine was so thrilling an experience that that became the beginning of the end for losing themselves to the world of wine. Remember that scene in the movie 'Sideways' where Miles has just met Maya and they chat in the Kitchen asking each other what their moment was? They then name wines and ooh and ahh over each others answers. Well, my wine I had that night with the Doctor and the Count sitting along side a handful of other lucky judges. Having been in the wine biz now for 17+ years, you would have expected that I would have already had that experience, and while I did have exciting moments of tasting spectacular wines, tasted wines that inspired me or meant a great deal to me, nothing compared to my MOMENT in NY. Clearly my love of wine runs deep, after all I didn't need an a-ha experience to dedicate my entire adult life to the industry.

Back to NY; a small group of us circled around the Doctor (the TX competition organizer was one of them) as he opened the 6 magnificent wines he'd set out. The Count and his stunningly elegant wife, sat stretched out on the bed, fittingly like the King and Queen of the room. It was somewhat like the excitement a child has waiting to be handed that first gift Christmas morning, the room was quiet, full of anticipation. Of the epic wines we tasted, each more amazing than the last, was a 1978 Saint-Julian (my birth year), a 1986 Margaux and a 1964 Spanna from Italy. I was in heaven, these wines showed why they are revered, still stunningly brilliant after decades. But it was the 1964 Spanna that was my MOMENT, the wine was still so epically beautiful! "Epically" is that a word? See? The wine was so amazing, the only way to describe it is to make up words! Seriously though, after 55 years, this wine managed to have intense character, layered complexity, depth, perfect elegance and delicate aromas. I was so struck by the capability of a winemaker to create a wine that could last this long and stand up so exquisitely that it blew my mind and seized my heart in a fist's grip. I sat, in my own little world, savoring each perfect sip, while silent tears streamed down my face. I was truly overwhelmed and in awe of this wine, a treasure held in my hand that in an instant reminded me of how breathtaking the world can be. The Count's wife touched my arm and broke me from the wine's spell, I looked up surprised and she asked if I was OK, my tear stained cheeks having caused her and the Count concern. I smiled a giant, wine stained smile and said "it is the most beautiful thing I have ever encountered. I'm brought to tears over the idea that someone created this 55 yrs ago". The room full of purple teeth smiled back at me, they knew they had witnessed my A-Ha wine moment and everyone was genuinely touched to be a part of it; all friends from Texas International Wine Competition.

Once again, across the world, this time at the prestigious Berliner Wein Trophy International Wine Competition in Germany this past summer, I met a wine judge that after talking a bit said "Oh wow, you are the judge the Count was talking about! He said he had seen a wine, when tasted was so beautiful, it made a Sommelier cry!", I've since heard other stories of how the Count and the Doctor share the story of my wine moment, little old me, at wine competitions, both touched by having been witness to a moment of true awe. 

And so, with great excitement to see my wine judging family, meet new judges and tour Texas wineries, I ready myself for 3 days of intense wine competition analysis and beautiful new wine memories to be made. Wish me luck y'all!

Remember, no matter where the world takes you, Wine First!
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Time to Celebrate!

I wanted to write about our adventure in Santa Fe, a staycation mixed with work at the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). I wanted to tell you about the incredible contacts we made, but everything has been obliterated by my recent MRI.

Here is where the sappy me floods the page with how meaningful life is. I can feel my teenage daughter rolling her eyes even as I type, but it is true! My struggle with a pituitary tumor (that's located in your head people. Don't worry I didn't know that in the beginning either) started a little over 4 years ago when symptoms riddled my body and sent my doctor on a wild goose chase trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Most people would panic when the news came that they had a brain tumor, and believe me there were a lot of tears, but I was also so relieved that we found the cause, that I exclaimed "Great! When can we pluck that baby out?!?". I know, a surprising reaction, you should have seen my doctor's jaw hit the floor.

Cut to (hahaha that is unfortunate language to use there) months and months of specialists and brain surgeons and the 'We need to wait till it gets bigger to ensure a successful surgery' while my symptoms were getting worse and worse and worse until I was spending more time in bed than I was on my feet, managing the pain with medical marijuana card benefits, and preparing for the worst, and then a miracle happened. My doctor urged me to go see a specialist that doesn't take my insurance and pay out of pocket, a big ask with me hardly working. I stepped into her office and she instantly got it. She consoled me as I explained the agony I was in and that the surgeons weren't moving fast enough. She understood how dire this was and she suggested we try something extremely out of the ordinary, a drug that they administer to people for a horrible fungal infection, but that has the side effect of greatly lowering cortisol levels. Cortisol is the mega beast you know of as the "stress hormone" and while we usually ignore it, this tumor had my body creating insane amounts of it...and that created all my symptoms. She explained the risks, we would need to monitor my liver and other organ functions every couple of weeks and I wouldn't be able to drink even a drop of alcohol during the 4 months we'd attempt this wacky treatment.

I'll let that sink in for a moment. I, me, the wine obsessed woman writing this. The woman who's job it is, is to drink, would not have even a sip for 4 months. I said yes before she could finish her sentence. I needed help in a bad way and this was a life line.

Within only a few weeks, I was able to better manage my pain levels. I had nausea, but wasn't constantly on the verge of vomiting (that was with my CBD/ THC tincture, without it, I was on the bathroom floor), and within a couple months, I was even getting my life back! Another unfortunate side effect of having massive levels of cortisol saturating my body for so long was that it greatly compromised all the tendons and ligaments in my body. That meant that seemingly banal actions resulted in a catastrophic ankle sprain followed by a dislocated shoulder. Side note: why do they call any level of ankle sprain a 'sprain'? Doesn't it sound like something small, insignificant? Well this should have been called a sprake, cause it would have been easier if I'd broken my ankle than 'sprained' it. 2 ligaments blown completely out, 2 tendons badly torn and the muscle up my calf that attaches to the shin pulling away...evidently that is the true site of the 'sprain' and the rest was gravy. My husband actually managed to pop my shoulder back in himself, after watching YouTube videos, while I moaned in pain, but there was damage to the tendons and ligaments as well as muscle there too. Amazingly, I didn't complain, I happily limped my way to activities and soaked in the feeling that the rest of my body was on the mend. I outline those injuries in order to give you an idea of just how intense it was to be feeling better finally. I could cry right now just writing those words, but I will try not to create a scene in the coffee shop.

So where are we at now? Well, that drug, or maybe the continued use of cannabis (they have studied the positive effects of cannabis on brain tumors), caused the tumor to spontaneously shrink! Something they never see, these tumors become inactive and they grow, but they don't shrink. As of this newest MRI, it was gone. Getting that news was truly powerful. I didn't realize how much stress and worry I had been living with, the fear it would all come back. But now, I feel like I can relax, take a deep breath and pour a giant glass of wine. I'm grateful to everyone that road along with me on that crazy journey, I hope to have this be the last of the "brain" blogs I write.

Cheers and no matter what life brings you...Wine First!