checkin in on a sultry midsummer’s eve, tom-A-hawk reporting that summer is in full swing.   big summer weather continues with lots of walks to lake calhoun with seger + i wading along the shoreline from 32nd street beach to the boat landing, made my 1st bike trip to twin lake in i don’t know how long last monday - always forget what a great ride that is.   hennepin / lake wine tasting a week ago was a smash - maybe not quite as many cute boys as in the past but as our friend mark likes to say: it only takes one... [mark met up w/ me and my new bud boone under the tent with an icy martini in his hand] ...and there was one, best of show edgy blond caveman and my current favorite member at the gym where i work - plus i got to chat him up, and he was nice!   oh yes, the wine ... i decided to focus on new zealand sauvignon blancs as a starting point, chose the NOBILO ICON as the winner before i moved on from trying to focus on anything.   first selection to knock my socks off was a fair trade red repped by - who else - fetching retro-hip wine guy BRAD from back in the day: the smoky, smoky CALESA CARMENERE, + i enthusiatically seconded boone’s top pick, the LOUIS B. MARTINI 2001 MONTE ROSSO CABERNET.   my friend chris took enough time off from ripping on my haircut (or lack thereof) to tip me off about the 1999 VEUVE available for sampling; thom pham was there, and judging by how he was dressed i’d say he’s single again.   towards the end of the event label art and other subjective qualities became the main deciding factors over what we chose to taste: boone tried a portuguese red with roosters on the label because he was born in the year of the rooster, i tried a south african red called THE WOLF TRAP that happened to be sitting right next to it because i was born in the year of the dog.   the rest of my selections had already become a blur to me by the end of the evening, but walking away with an exhaustive, annotated list is not my goal at this event - it simply serves to rekindle my enthusiasm and appreciation of wine in general, and inspires me to branch out and try something new, like when i went back to hennepin / lake a few days later and was led around the corner to a section i never browse in my search for the nobilo, where i returned yesterday and found the CASA LAPOSTOLLE SAUVIGNON BLANC - 14.5% alcohol content!   the magic was confirmed when i crossed the street to finally get myself some new bumble + bumble shampoo + conditioner and what is sitting behind the counter at jon charles salon but a big case of the same stuff i had in my hand.