I’ve finally got a decent camera in my phone. Not that I’m abandoning my Nikon or anything, but this does mean more spontaneous pics to share. To wit:

Check out those tartrates!

Is it me, or is that a fingernail floating in the neck of this wine? The label *did* say that this wine was bottled unfiltered. Maybe that means the grapes were trod by foot, in which case, well, I’ll let you speculate about that…

Ever wonder what’s in a wino’s recycling bin?

A weekend’s consumption: canellini beans (tossed with tuna and sauteed dandelion greens), Ridge 2001 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (with 15% carignan, from 80 year old vines), Movia 2006 Pinot Grigio (natural wine from Slovenia), several cans of Modelo Especiale (class).

I’m busy working on an article for the San Francisco Chronicle and therefore can’t think of anything original to say today. However some friends of mine certainly have done so, and I’m happy to spread the love. Here’s what they’ve got to say:

Peter Liem, my friend and colleague from Wine & Spirits who’s currently living in Champagne, has posted about the different vine training systems used for the three grapes of the region, pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay. Three informative and well-written posts, complete with illustrative photos (including the one below, which I think makes the chardonnay vines look terrifying, like skeletal hands digging out of the earth. Or maybe even the fossilized remains of that face-sucking thing from Alien).

And then over at the 7×7 drinks’ blog, my friend Jordan Mckay posted the following video of a beer dispenser in the Tokyo airport. Check it out–it even adds a creamy head!

It’s late night and I’m feeling sated after some delicious homemade potato leek soup washed down with Czechvar (a.k.a. Budweiser Budvar, for you Czech beer lovers). So rather than stare any longer at this computer screen (check it, blogroll updated down there to the right–all great blogs to read!), I’m going to pick up my book and read before bed.

Oh, one piece of news to share: if you like haven’t named your price and downloaded Radiohead’s latest album, In Rainbows, already, December 10 is the last day to officially do so. Go here to start the download (inrainbows.com). After that you either have to wait for the physical version to come out on January 1 or head over to your favorite file-sharing service. If you like Radiohead, that is.

Swamped on production deadlines for W&S tomorrow but I hope to post about my tasting group’s session on Saturday with 2003 Austrian Riesling. So, until then.

Okay, maybe another Czechvar.