Wine & Words

Yes, it was a wonderful night. My son Dan was down from Raleigh. Chef Yvonne fed us fabulously. And when the announcement was made a little after 11:00 that America had chosen a new President, we popped open a bottle of Lanson Champagne that our friend Tim Turner had sent with Dan for the purpose. As I watched the expectant crowd in Chicago's Grant Park, I remembered having been there on a warm summer night 40 years ago.

I was a 21-year-old kid, passionately opposed to the war in Vietnam, attending a rally at the Grant Park bandshell. All the world saw what happened later as Mayor Dailey's police went on a generational rampage. It was time to wake up and smell the tear gas. I would have loved to be back in that spot last night when my fellow Americans rejected fear and division in favor of hope and change. I feel very proud of my country this morning and hopeful that we are entering a new era where we can always talk, even when we disagree; and that we will be respectful of differences rather than disparaging of our diversity.

The message last night was that we have much work ahead of us. You know we here at Wine & Words already know that. Buoyed by hope and by your support, we are redoubling our efforts not only to survive our current crises but to thrive in the midst of a community that believes in itself and each other.

Our Featured wines this month are "Wines for Holiday Feasts," very appropriate in that we have much to celebrate and much for which to be thankful. Come by and try these wines with us. Served to your friends and family at the feasting table, great wines, purchased from your local store, are a tangible expression of our bounty, our richness and the ties that bind.

We're getting to work. Come by and see us...and let's talk!