Good-bye to an old friend, Classes, Subscriptions, and Wine Walk

There’s so much to report this week, that I don’t know where to start!

What do you want to hear first? The bad news or the good news?

Let’s start with the bad news.

Jimmy’s Café is now closed. I am incredibly upset, not only because it means the end of the cutest little café in the city, but also because of the loss of the fabulous wine club, the Sunday brunch, and (my favorite) The Crossings tri-tip salad. Along with a glass of Pinot Noir, it was ethereal and perfect. Jimmy is very busy right now (I understand that a golf course made him an offer he couldn’t refuse), and just couldn’t do everything at once. All he needed was 48-hour days. Sometimes the toughest decisions are, well, *tough* to make. The wonderful restaurant stands empty and we are all the poorer because of it.

Best of luck to Jimmy with his future endeavors and here’s hoping that he’ll find the time (ha!) to open another restaurant in the future. We love you! Now what the heck am I going to do for those days when I want a Sunday brunch?!?

Next, a request to my readers.

SUBSCRIBE!!! Somewhere on the right-hand side of this Blog is a place where you can go to subscribe. Please do it and help me reduce my spam-level mailing every week! It will also help justify the money I’m paying each month to have a service manage my mailings and subscriptions! Thanks.

And now for the good news!

The Combatting Swirl Envy – Lite! classes are really rockin’! I can’t believe how much fun we’re having and great everything is going. There’s always something different in each class!

I’m always being asked if each class is truly different from the other. Yes, they are. For instance, last week’s class was on bottles, bottle shapes, opening, pouring, storing, etc., wine. Next week’s classes will be different. Considerably. Let’s just say that lots of sniffing with actual specimens is involved.

You may have noticed that I used the word “classes.” As in plural. Yeah, I did.

Thanks to Khoury’s Fine Wine and Spirits, there will be a class on Tuesday, February 4, at the South Durango store. It is the basic, beginning Swirl Envy class. Wednesday’s class is still at our base camp, Valley Cheese and Wine (the Stinky Cheese store) where we began this fun endeavor. We are looking to expand to make the classes available to more wine Neophytes in the Valley. Stay tuned for more locations and classes!

Check out the link to Local Wine Events for more information!

Next week I will be talking about more stuff in Vegas which I had intended to do this week, but the closure of Jimmy’s Café really surprised and saddened me. We’ll get back to regular stuff next week.

By the way, I joined the local wine meetup (http://www.meetup.com) in order to learn more about local tastings, home and vendor events, and other wine-related stuff. When you go the site, just do a "wine" lookup based on your local zip code. I haven't attended an event yet, but it looks like it's a lot of fun! What a great way to meet other wine folks in the local area!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. If you participated in the Wine Walks for the last couple of years or so, you will be happy to learn that they are no longer going to be at Lake Las Vegas. Beginning in April, the Wine Walk will be in The District in Henderson. Woo Hoo! That’s so much closer for me, especially since I live in the NW valley. As I get more information, I will report it, and I encourage you to participate since it’s for a good cause. “Good Cause” means that it helps kids. Pay money, drink wine, help kids who need it. What’s better than that?

Later!