The Wine Press

Joe the piano tuner—industrious son of mirthful Bob and green-thumb Mary made a splendid discovery last week and Greg intends to find a home for it at The Wine Press.

Hiya, baby grand.

In this light I have been compulsively “googling” jazz, Gaslight Square, and the like. The piano is so evocative of this neighborhood’s footprint and may help remedy the Official Gaslight Square website lament, “Then Gaslight Square died... allowed by lack of political will, police protection, and public apathy to fade, to dim, and to die….Not a trace of Gaslight Square remains today, aside from this website.”

Doesn’t music live forever? The history of Gaslight is sketchy and referred to as sketchy. Here, and gone again was a counter-culture; a generation wrestling with new awareness of social values and changing perceptions.

Gaslight Square most certainly hosted a provocative culture that included Woody Allen and Gypsy Rose Lee. This was nurtured by Jay Landesman, a man instrumental in the area’s success and owner of The Crystal Palace.

Wikipedia and researchers at UMSL provide these photos and a narrative.

Change is a comin’ and generally change is good — it ain’t easy, but it is good.

Well, The Wine Press is offering change, too. Maybe not the “Change We Need,” but something you would like. Certainly, something you can choose on your own after having been administered that bailout package medicine (yeah, I am taking it, too).

Salads, grilled tenderloin, new wine selections and an expanded beer list. Sweeeeet, much easier to enjoy and digest. I should also note this was a grass-roots change.

If you are like me, you are looking around wondering what’s next (hell, what happened), and who is in charge? I am pretty sure — I have no idea what these events will mean for us (was there a warning label: may cause dizziness, stay out direct sunlight?).

It’s an enigma, but here is something familiar you can listen to, David Bowie’s classic song, Changes.

We can get you something straightforward to imbibe and if you can't come by right away, blog-on and tell us what you think.

Let me clarify that the dates for the upcoming Presidential/VP debates are: OCTOBER 2, 7 & 15

Joe sent an e-mail saying, "I believe the debates are October," in response to an e-mail I've sent. I am a hack for printing the wrong dates, but I found this post about last night's debate by Mark Helprin for Time Magazine to be well put.

Grading the First Presidential Debate

What did you think?

Julie

I am sending out a big hello and thanks to Catherine “Cat” Neville over at Sauce Magazine for stopping in to visit. Here is the link to her podcast about The Wine Press from 09/24/08 with McGraw Milhaven that airs weekly on Wednesdays, at 11 on KTRS 550.

The Wine Press is located in Gaslight Square, an area seeing a renaissance. This new establishment is serving the Central West End, an attractive, well-maintained neighborhood and it offers a convenient place to meet up at (or head out to) all points west.

In Catherine’s review she shares that “It’s a great place for before or after the theater because it’s real close to Grand Center, so If you’re going to the Fox or to the show, pop in for a glass of wine and some nibbly-bits.” She also mentions that the “quality of what they are serving is really nice,” and it is a “very relaxing quiet, cool place to have a nosh.”

The Wine Press does offer theater-goers a special when they present that day’s theater ticket stub. The promotion is good for a bottle of our red or white wine of the week with an appetizer, or dessert for $25. It is limited to one offer per couple before or after the show. Ask about details.

It is a little more upscale than an average bar and offers guests a relaxed atmosphere. The Wine Press has outdoor seating, generous parking and a smoke free environment.

The perfect place to pop in.

De Gustibus Non Disputandum Est. Or, in English: In matters of taste, one should not argue.

The culture of being a more educated wine drinker has reached mass appeal. Check out the grocer — placement accommodations are bigger and better for wine than what you find for Frito-Lay.

Passing is the paranoia that the wine police are lurking in the wine list. De Gustibus Non Disputandum Est makes for a good credo. It invites everyone to the table; snobs, slobs, sloven and sophisticate. There is a lot to discover about the world of wine and each other. Expanding our grip of wine offers a common interest, and a lubricant to exercise conversation. Kind of like watching the Olympics.

Let’s visit this thread on wine.

On Wine: No one is safe from wine fashion police

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

By RICHARD KINSSIES
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

We tend to think that the criterion for great wine is absolute -- that winemakers in the best wine regions of the world have figured out long ago what constitutes a great wine and set about producing them, occasionally foiled only by poor weather or an invading pestilence. We believe that winemaking in Burgundy or Bordeaux or Tuscany has changed little over the years and that newer regions such as California, Oregon and Washington are simply trying to figure it out and once they do we can expect few changes in style.

But this is simply not true.

Fact is, nobody has it figured out. Styles are changing everywhere to conform to what is perceived to be the latest fashion in wine. That’s why there was a stampede to plant chardonnay when that grape became popular, then came merlot and now syrah.

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/35989_wine22.shtml

The same is true, in polite circles of conversation about politics, sex and religion. We love it when we encourage someone to unearth a new found insight and to discover a previously unknown possibility

Pooling talents, The Wine Press brings together a cosmopolitan/metropolitan mix of guys. Industrious, insightful and illustrious individuals, each in their own regard.

Greg – conversant and self-described chief cook and bottle washer, owner and proprietor.
FAVORITES
Place – Pebble Beach
Wine – Steele Zinfandel
TV – Bill Maher – Real Time
Movie – Hondo
Rant – George Carlin’s Seven Words Banned by the FCC
Expression – De Gustibus Non Disputandum Est & Piece of Cake

John – newly relocated, optimistic-minded general manager with a penchant for wine and a practical joke.*
FAVORITES
Place – Glasgow, Scotland
Wine – Chateauneuf Du Pape
TV – South Park
Movie – The Godfather & Battle Royale
Rant – Anything by Billy Connolly
Expression – Gay Ba’ole o wah’yne

Adam – Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss constitution, an eye for detail and a gracious hospitality.
FAVORITES
Place – Anywhere with friends and family
Wine – Poker Face by Sine Que Non
TV – Entourage
Movie – Man on Fire
Rant – Kat Williams Pimp Chronicles
Expression – Do unto others, as you would have them, do unto you

Parez – energetic, gregarious and lives to celebrate special events and occasions, like birthdays.
FAVORITES
Place – The lake or park in 70 to 90 degree weather
Wine – French Merlot
TV – Cartoons, Football & Basketball
Movie – Forty-Year-Old Virgin
Rant – Kings of Comedy
Expression – Be thankful for the past and the present, and the future will be prosperous.

*when you least expect it.

This week The Wine Press rolls-out a bar with bigger better choices. Woo-hoo. The beer list alone hosts one of my favorite libations – an award winning ale from Scotland’s Orkney Brewery, Skull Splitter. SkullSplitter is robust with a distinctly smooth almost creamy taste (8.5% ABV). It is named for Thorfinn Hausakluif (SkullSplitter), the Seventh Viking Earl of Orkney. The Orkney Islands lie off the northern tip of Scotland at latitude 60 North. For 600 years they were ruled by the Viking Earls who owed allegiance to Norse Kings. *

John may sound a bit like the Earl of Orkney. Ask him about that.

* http://www.legendslimited.com/skull.html

Early in August The Wine press celebrated opening its doors to family, friends, our neighborhood and the curious. The efforts and enthusiasm of many have led to this opportunity. Thank you, and here we are!

Opening has been a collaboration of patience*, blood, sweat and tears recruited by persistent and frustrated resolve – no doubt building character. So, even as the new kid on the block The Wine Press (an amalgamation) has roots, right here, in the people who have contributed their time, energy and influence. Again, thank you.

Check it out – we’re open!

* this includes hair-loss, mumbling and stress-induced binge eating.