John Brown has been a wine and food columnist in West Virginia since the 1980’s. His regular columns appear in the Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail under the title Vines & Vittles and in The State Journal - a statewide business weekly
WineBoy in Transition
WineBoy is dead….long live WineBoy ! Well, he’s not actually dead, but he is in transition as this Gazette Community Blog has been renamed Vines & Vittles.
Why, you ask? For those of you who have followed WineBoy from its inception in January 2007, you will remember that it was first and foremost a webcast that allowed me (in the guise of WineBoy) to create several characters who had their own unique views about wine appreciation.
The WineBoy webcasts were produced by the Gazette and shown on this site for a little more than a year before they became too time-consuming for the newspaper to continue in light of the increasing demand for hard news video.
Since the demise of the webcast, this blog has continued to provide you with written information on wine and food, but without the weirdly insightful, sometimes outrageous and always wacky opinions of my alter-egos: Wine Astrologist Marcrazi Umberto Lupini, the Right Reverend Red N. White, English nobleman and wine critic Sir Reginald Winesot Clydesdale, Frenchman Pierre N’Cest Pas (wine cynic) and Cowboy Oenophile Spud Dumplin.
I am in the process of developing a website where I hope to reprise the WineBoy characters and archive many of the older webcasts. In addition, I will move my blogs to that site after they appear here first. I’ll let you know when my new website is up and running and hopefully you’ll be able to view some of my WineBoy webcasts as well as some new ones I’ll be creating.
Vines & Vittles (I know… the proper spelling is “victuals”) more accurately describes where my emphasis is with this blog, and I’ll continue to provide you with my take on wine and how food makes the beverage we all love so much better. Nothing here will change except the name of the blog.
So today, I’ll lift a glass to WineBoy and those intrepid characters who made telling you about wine so much more fun than it should have been.
*****Wine and Roses Fundraiser
The Roark-Sullivan Lifeways Center (RSLC) is a very special organization with a great group of dedicated employees and volunteers. The center assists individuals experiencing homelessness with services that help them become self-reliant.
For the past several years, RSLC has been hosting a fund raising event at Capitol Market called “Wine and Roses.” Wouldn’t it be great to help programs like Roark-Sullivan and enjoy good wine and gourmet food, too?
Well, you can! Join me and other wine lovers at the Roark-Sullivan Lifeways Center Wine and Roses event. Wine and Roses will be held indoors at the Capitol Market from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 4.
Area wine distributors and locally owned Napa Valley winery, Falcor, are donating the wines. And believe me, there will be exceptional wines available for your sipping pleasure from all over the world. In addition, there will be an assortment of gourmet appetizers you can pair with the wines.
I’ll be there to answer your wine questions and chat about the tasty treats we’re sipping. And, hey, if you find a wine you like, you can stroll right over and purchase it immediately from the nice folks at the Wine Shop.
Tickets are $35 and you can get them at the door or by call RSLC at 304-414-0109 . You may use your credit card or send a check to: RSLC, P.O. Box 1707, Charleston, WV, 25326.
I hope to see you there.
Why, you ask? For those of you who have followed WineBoy from its inception in January 2007, you will remember that it was first and foremost a webcast that allowed me (in the guise of WineBoy) to create several characters who had their own unique views about wine appreciation.
The WineBoy webcasts were produced by the Gazette and shown on this site for a little more than a year before they became too time-consuming for the newspaper to continue in light of the increasing demand for hard news video.
Since the demise of the webcast, this blog has continued to provide you with written information on wine and food, but without the weirdly insightful, sometimes outrageous and always wacky opinions of my alter-egos: Wine Astrologist Marcrazi Umberto Lupini, the Right Reverend Red N. White, English nobleman and wine critic Sir Reginald Winesot Clydesdale, Frenchman Pierre N’Cest Pas (wine cynic) and Cowboy Oenophile Spud Dumplin.
I am in the process of developing a website where I hope to reprise the WineBoy characters and archive many of the older webcasts. In addition, I will move my blogs to that site after they appear here first. I’ll let you know when my new website is up and running and hopefully you’ll be able to view some of my WineBoy webcasts as well as some new ones I’ll be creating.
Vines & Vittles (I know… the proper spelling is “victuals”) more accurately describes where my emphasis is with this blog, and I’ll continue to provide you with my take on wine and how food makes the beverage we all love so much better. Nothing here will change except the name of the blog.
So today, I’ll lift a glass to WineBoy and those intrepid characters who made telling you about wine so much more fun than it should have been.
*****Wine and Roses Fundraiser
The Roark-Sullivan Lifeways Center (RSLC) is a very special organization with a great group of dedicated employees and volunteers. The center assists individuals experiencing homelessness with services that help them become self-reliant.
For the past several years, RSLC has been hosting a fund raising event at Capitol Market called “Wine and Roses.” Wouldn’t it be great to help programs like Roark-Sullivan and enjoy good wine and gourmet food, too?
Well, you can! Join me and other wine lovers at the Roark-Sullivan Lifeways Center Wine and Roses event. Wine and Roses will be held indoors at the Capitol Market from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 4.
Area wine distributors and locally owned Napa Valley winery, Falcor, are donating the wines. And believe me, there will be exceptional wines available for your sipping pleasure from all over the world. In addition, there will be an assortment of gourmet appetizers you can pair with the wines.
I’ll be there to answer your wine questions and chat about the tasty treats we’re sipping. And, hey, if you find a wine you like, you can stroll right over and purchase it immediately from the nice folks at the Wine Shop.
Tickets are $35 and you can get them at the door or by call RSLC at 304-414-0109 . You may use your credit card or send a check to: RSLC, P.O. Box 1707, Charleston, WV, 25326.
I hope to see you there.
