I will not clot.

We made that determination one night after we closed, as the four of us drank one of our last BenMarco Expressivos (we have one left until next year!), discussing the heart healthy qualities of the beverage we were enjoying. Strictly medicinal, of course.

Anyway, we kicked off the weekend with a well-attended tasting, as Esther poured wines from Italy, France and Chile. People said si, oui and ole, and drank quite a few of the night’s selections. And, some people drank outside the box, picking wines from our shelves to follow the tasting wines. It won’t be long before people can have a bite to eat with their wine.

Oh, the kitchen? I’m glad you asked. Plumbing and electrical rough-ins have been inspected and passed, framing has been inspected and passed, insulation is in and drywall starts Wednesday. Sinks and work tables are being delivered today, and other equipment is on order, so it won’t be long before the room really starts to come together. Although, all this activity has me writing really big checks, so I don’t sleep much these days.

As Warren Zevon said, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Of course, he is sleeping right now, so perhaps I need to adopt a different philosophy…or get some high powered sleep medication. Or a horse tranquilizer. Something.

But it will all be OK, once that sucker gets open and we start putting out unbelievable food, all will be right and good, birds will sing, clouds will part and the sun will shine.

Well, actually, the sun is shining right now. It is beautiful, and people should be coming to the beach and drinking wine.

We had a fair number of wine drinkers in Saturday night, and they got a real treat. Dave and Jeremy played, but the highlight was Simon. Dave’s son has played bass a time or two for a couple songs at The Grind, but Saturday he strapped on an electric guitar, and he carried the show. I am not kidding. Eleven years old, ripping out awesome solos, and jamming right up there with the big boys. And Dave didn’t have to give him near as much direction as he had to give Lou the week before! Speaking of Lou, he will be playing Friday, along with Garcia and the percussion man.

There is word that Simon may be back again Saturday…

Thursday, we have a new guy in for the tasting, from a company that just started working our side of the street. Drew, from Alliance Wines, will be tasting us on some Spanish and New Zealand wines, as well as a reserve Syrah from northern Cali. A nice line-up, and since he is the new guy, come on out and show him some love (or at least drink some of his wines).

Today (Tuesday) we are going downtown to Deluxe, for a wine event. Juice (you may remember Amanda from the Tarrica tasting) will be showing about 30 wines, so if I don’t send this out until tomorrow, you will know why.

OK, so I guess that was fairly predictable…I actually tasted 32 wines, along with the bottle we drank at Café Phoenix because we were a little early for the show. A lot of good stuff, including some big boys from Tor Wines (poured by winemaker Tor Kenward). Big boys with big price points, but I sure would like to bring a couple of them into the shop…perhaps for the restaurant wine list. Anyway, Juice has a great book, as they really specialize in boutique, low production wines. This was a great opportunity to taste some fantastic wines.

Well, I can hear the screwgun in the kitchen, meaning drywall is being hung as I write this. Excited? Me too. So, don’t be shy, come on out to 2 Wine Guys @ The Grind and let us pour you a glass!

Shawn