Getting off my bucolic ass and writing something

That's what my most faithful reader Gail suggests. Says she’s sick of the pretty pictures. So I’ll write about something dear and near to my well-being: wine.

First, one of my authors, a great young guy named Dan Cederholm who wrote Bulletproof Web Design has just launched a tasty and exquisitely designed new website devoted to wine. It’s called Cork'd, “the simple way to review and share wine.” When I saw it, I had another one of those, “why didn’t I think of that first?” moments.

And back to the aforementioned Detroit Gail. She also pinged me with an ad for Illinois wineries she saw on LA Times.com and asked if I was aware of the growing reputation of our local wines. Am I ever! Eight of the wineries, (and one of the best) are along the Shawnee Trail, within 20 miles of Carbondale. This was already a region known for its peach and apple orchards, and now they’ve begun growing grapes as well. Some of the results are surprisingly quite palatable, even for a California wine snob like me. At the very least, who could fail to enjoy a sunny day on the terrace at the neo-Tuscan Blue Sky Winery listening to live Chicago blues, sipping an Illinois red (Chamburcin is my favorite) and dipping crusty bread into olive oil?

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