• About
  • Indiana Wineries
  • Michigan Wineries
  • Wisconsin Wineries

Howard W. Hewitt

~ … The "W" stands for wine!

Howard W. Hewitt

Tag Archives: Retirement

Looking for good in 2020

30 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by Howard in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chateau Landereau, Joseph Drouhin, New Year, New Year's Eve, Retirement, The Wine Shop by Vine & Table

When writing regularly for more than 20 newspapers and additional websites, I always did the traditional Top 10 wines of the year. It wasn’t always much fun but felt necessary or something like an obligation.

Yes, I’m trying to re-start my occasional musings on wine and thoughts of life, Covid, and whatever else occupies the mind of a retired journalist, marketer, and wanna be bon vivant. I just use bon vivant because who wouldln’t like that label?

2020 sucked on many levels – there it’s been said and now we can reflect. So far I’ve managed to avoid the bug. I’m all in on mask wearing, social distancing (for the most part), and becoming a germophobe. I get an A on mask wearing. I worked through the summer and continue to work now. I am thinking hard about January if predictions come through about a huge outbreak.

I’m retired and if I don’t work I sit at home alone. That’s not a plea for empathy it’s just reality for many seniors. Cold weather means I can’t ride my bike and it’s tougher to even walk the dog, though he doesn’t seem to care about temperatures much.

So I push ahead.

A few real bright spots from 2020:

  • In December, I had my 3.5-year visit with my oncologist and remain cancer free from a two-round bout with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which started in 2015. I’m humble and thankful for the treatment I recieved, particularly an autogolous stem-cell transplant.
  • I continue to meet, at least on a superficial basis, really great people through my work at The Wine Shop. Our customers are interesting people who are living life to the fullest. New faces, old friendly faces, and daily adventures like a week in December with no furnace.
  • My job obviously affords me the opportunity to taste a lot of great wine. No Top 10 List – I swear – but how about two standouts? I’m not going to say these two are best I had but they are darn near close.
  • A 2017 Joseph Drouhin Vosne Romanee was a great glass somewhat by accident, or nagging. It’s about $80 a bottle at full retail. Most of our Wine Shop staff was working Christmas Eve. The boss was opening a few bottles and we suggested, maybe more than once, that the Vosne Romanee might be a delightful choice. Well before leaving the shop to the old guy and young guy, he popped one open. It was one of the best examples of Burgundy I’ve ever enjoyed. I have a couple bottles of that wine, different producers, at home and look forward to the day I open them.
  • Chateau Landereau Entre Deux Mers 2019. I’ve always enjoyed the Entre Deux Mers region since a brief visit about seven years ago. A wonderful and flavorful blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon – tropical fruits, wonderful mouthfeel and lingering finish. Great taste and great value (about $15) can be found if you just look hard enough.
  • Yard work. I know, how boring. But I rediscovered the pleasure of mowing my yard as needed – something I hadn’t done for years. Always joked I had a Lawn Boy ……….. a nice kid. With a little young muscle, I also did some planting with more to come. I’ve jumped on the lawn care madness and fertilized and worked on having a beautiful lawn in a few years. Thank goodness, it’s small.
  • Finally, I’ll be at The Wine Shop New Year’s Eve and probably get to see a lot of those customers. I really look forward to it. Stop by if you’re in Indy. We have a wide selection of bubbles at all price points. And, you won’t feel like you’re at Wal-Mart. (Obvious dig at new competitor! :-O)
  • One of the biggest downers was no travel this past year. I’m hoping that changes in the new year. I need to visit a friend in Napa, a tough chore obviously. I’ve thought of putting together a group trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley for the fall (something I’ve done before). Who’s interested? And, I’d always go back to Burgundy with a few hours notice.
  • Happy New Year. No, REALLY – Happy New Year

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Huber’s – Not just about wine anymore
  • Where have the all the biscuits gone?
  • Just what is a ‘bad wine?’

Grape Sense on Instagram

Have you met Karen? She works mid week mornings at the shop and is reminding everyone to join us for Saturday Sipps this weekend. We will be pouring the popular Auntsfield Sauv Blanc, another new Rose, and a Pinot noir from the Loire Valley! It all begins at 11 AM through the afternoon
Very mixed thoughts about an unplanned visit to Nonna’s Italian Italian in Plainfield just off I 70 from last night. Unexpectedly stuck in town for a couple of hours thought I would try it out it’s an odd set up where you have to order at the register. Calamari was great my salad was great the lasagna was good except for some odd white sauce top of the marinara which was delicious the white sauce was congealed and tasted bitter… The home-baked roll was delicious… The glass of Gabbiano Chianti was OK well I paid 1150 for a glass that sells for eight bucks … total bill $36 for those items which I thought was a little high mostly the wine cost. Service seem confused and disjointed but they were all very pleasant I’d probably give it a second chance not sure
Join Curt and I Saturday at the Wine Shop for Saturday Sipps. We will be pouring an unusual and delicious Austrian Rose, Italian Vermentino, and Sicilian red! Of course, all three 20 percent off Saturday only!
New coffee shop in Greenwood! Paul Jacquin, in photo, owner of Vino Villa has opened up Cafe Euclid in small house behind the wine shop and restaurant! Lovely patio for outdoor seating and good coffee!

Categories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,651 other followers

Howard’s Wine Ratings

"Very Highly Recommended" - Drop everything and rush out to buy this wine!

"Highly Recommended" - Wine is varietally correct, well made, great balance, a must buy!

"Recommended" - Good wine and a good value. Not spectacular but a solid choice.

"Not Recommended" - Run the other direction.

Wine Travel Photos

My Magazine Stories

Friend Me On …

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Archives

My Summer With Lymphoma: Lymphoma, My Stem Cell Transplant

Good news on cancer and eyes

I have failed miserably at keeping ‘the cancer blog’ updated – and that’s a good thing, I suppose. I have now been “clean” since my April autologous stem cell transplant. I had a PET scan in June and a CT scan this week (Sept. 11) and both showed negative results. My oncologist was very pleased […]

Decisions, Decisions – Job & Health issues

  It’s been two weeks since my last update, one week-plus since I dropped one of my three antibiotics, and 97 days since my stem cell transplant for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.   So there are a few things to update and a few thoughts to share. Let’s start with the cancer. My team of oncologists at […]

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Howard W. Hewitt
    • Join 3,651 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Howard W. Hewitt
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: