My wife said last night, "You know, now that Christine has joined your staff why are you still just as busy? I thought you were going to have more time to spend at home." Gulp. Our business is at an all-time high with sell-out classes, memorable private tastings for clientele, and festival seminars, and fun, educational travel. But we are slightly out-of-control as we steer an increasingly faster car. Hence, this newsletter is two days late. Oh, and the Vinitaly 2006 wrap-up, including Germany & Swiss travel-related photos--yep, being pushed into next month. The photos and captions are too striking to rush and deliver an amateurish effort. As always, thank you for being a subscriber, hanging in there with our broken links, missed deadlines, and shameless self-promotion. This monthly effort always has been and still is a medium to purge pent-up passions in wine & food. Cheers! Michael Bryan

	Wine on the Road by Greg McCluney, Wine & Travel Editor All Aboard--Cool Riding Thru Canada's Wine Region There is no better way to escape the steamy, sticky Summer heat than to head North--North to Canada. Greg shares his "Wine on the Rails" experience with delicious cuisine, Canadian wine, and Ahhh-scenery. Full Article
		New Line of Wine T-Shirts Beer & Spirit companies always produce T's, but wine I guess has felt the gesture beneath them. Corkscrewedtees.com however has taken aim at wine critics, along with other well-known quips and quotes and produced some fun t-shirts. Click on pics to expand pictures or simply visit their website.
Atlanta Wine School's Calendar of Events
	Viva Italia May 23rd The "land of wine" discussion will feature 10+ wines, maps and entertaining conjecture on the world's largest producer. More Info
	Wines & Cheeses (12 seats remain) June 7th Guest Chef Michael Tuohy of Woodfire Grill will take guests through 10 artisanal cheeses, while Atlanta Wine School Director Michael Bryan will slake everyone's thirst with 10 unique wines. Due to space constraints this class is limited to 24 people. More Info

• Estimate Your Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
  A fun tool from Intoximeters that we've incorporated into the Atlanta Wine School website will estimate your BAC based on certain data you input. Give Yourself a Test
• River Room Restaurant's Spring Wine Dinner
  The River Room offers not four, or five but SIX Course Wine Dinners. There Spring Wine Dinner on May 15th features Sonoma's Ferrari Carano wines. $80++ Visit their new website for more info.
• New Wine Website Offers Wine Quiz, Global Cheers, More
  Jennifer Rosen is probably the wittiest wine writer I've come across, interweaving humor into solid wine know-how. I also hear she is quite the entertainer and I'll find out this Summer at the SWE Wine Conference in Eugene, Oregon. For now visit the "fun" section of her new Website
• A Wine Tasting Musical?!
  Purportedly the world's first wine tasting musical will debut at the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience, Memorial Wknd, 2006. "Wine Lovers" tells the story of two mismatched students attending a wine class led by an effervescent teacher and their journey of discovery. Attendees even get sips of wine during the show! More
• Internet Doo-doo
  Ok, so we have plenty of crap floating around the internet, from urban myths & hoaxes that too many people still fall for, to mis-truths. But some of them are slightly humorous...hence this one on Water vs Wine. WATER.. It has been “scientifically” proven that if we drink 1 liter of water each day; at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli bacteria found in feces, in other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of Doo Doo. WINE … However, we do not run that risk when drinking wine because alcohol is created through fermentation. It is my duty to communicate to all of you who are drinking water, to STOP doing so, immediately, if not sooner; it is UNHEALTHY and BAD for you.
  WATER = Doo Doo
  WINE = HEALTH
  Free yourself of Doo Doo, drink WINE!! It is better to drink wine and talk Doo Doo than to drink water and be full of s***. HERE ENDETH THY LESSON
• Wine-Themed Hotel?
  35 partner wineries each sponsor and personalize a hotel suite, decorating the room with artwork, wine labels and other materials from the winery. More
• Did You Know...
  ...that over the course of a year, Olive Gardens across America pour 30,000 cases of wine as free samples. Not 30,000 tastes, not 30,000 glasses, not 30,000 bottles… 30,000 cases! Assuming 15 samples per bottle, that’s well over half a million free tastes every year. This according to W.R. Tish of WineForAll.com
• Bye-Bye Black Chicken
  I had heard about the legend of Gallo Nero, and how it became the symbol of the Chianti organization. This symbol signifies a true Chianti from the premier central region in Tuscany. But a certain company in America didn't like how the name was similar to theirs, and upon entering the Italian wine market, sued and won, and now the ancient name is forbidden in the USA to publicize the Chianti wines. More
• "It Gives Me Strength"
  This was the answer Bobby Fetzer, son of the winery's founder, gave to visitors to his farm when asked how he felt about having perhaps the largest oak tree growing in North America on his property. Tragicly, last week Bobby drowned while rafting down a swift river swollen with snow-melt. More
• South Africa Takes One on the Chin
  A Chairman of Judges for a recent international wine competition, in response to the high number of corked wines from South Africa responded, "SA has the worst corks in the world." More
• Japanese Comic Strip Features Unlikely Hero
  Swashbuckling wine steward? Between wine tastings he solves complicated crimes and always gets the pretty girl, all in a Zen sort of way. More
• New Vintage Rule Gives us Consistency--OH BOY!
  Those who know me know I am a proponent for natural, unfiltered wines that reflect the year, the maker, and the land. So I'm not happy about a new US law which will lower the amount of grapes harvested in a year for citing the vintage on the label from currently 95% to now 85%. And who's influence and money do we have to thank for this? Here is what Daniel J. Leonard, treasurer of the Ceres, Calif.-based Bronco Wine Co., advised federal regulators. "Consumers, in turn, will get the benefit of greater consistency in the taste profile of their wine." Never heard of Bronco wine? They make the wine in the box and two-buck chuck.
  More
• Alcohol Levels in Wine Moving 1-Point/Decade
  Writer Paul Gregutt of Wine Enthusiast takes on the topic of "Wine on Steroids", the issue of how big should wines get? Many wines of the 1970's which weighed in at 12.5% alcohol are now 15%+ -- that is a 20% increase! More
• State's Rights to Regulate Alcoholic Beverages Changed in WA
  State of Washington argued that the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which ended Prohibition, gives states the right to regulate the sales and distribution of alcoholic beverages. The judge, who ruled in favor of COSTCO, decried that such restraints are not a valid exercise of state power, saying state's interests "do not trump a federal interest in promoting competition, even when the restraints may be minimally effective in advancing the state's interests." More
• The Man Comes Around
  Robert Parker's just-published report on the "epochal" 2005 Bordeaux vintage in his quarterly publication the Wine Advocate opens with lines from The Man Comes Around, Johnny Cash's spine-tingling hymn to the apocalypse. More
  
  

Caught in the Act! Check out the following photos:

April 30th ~The Third Annual MIT Alumni, Atlanta Chapter, Wine Social, held at Violette Restaurant. Good French wines and food!

February 12th ~ Corner Wine & Art in the Virginia Highlands hosted the Atlanta Wine School Alumni get-together. Spanish wine & tapas for 220.

February 13th ~ The final class of the Intro to Wine Course which started on January 9th.

April 30th ~ We are building a wine cellar, step by step, piece by piece. Here is my oldest daughter Berkley priming the walls. More photos soon.