Software Malfunction - Part 2

Computer systems truly ducked up!

After nearly three whole days of being completely invisible, Vegas Wineaux is back online. Still somewhat fractured, but no longer completely broken! It will be back to its usual beautiful self very soon, I promise.

For those of you who may be technically inclined, here is a synopsis of what happened.

Every blog in the world is run on some sort of platform – an “engine” if you will – that performs very basic functions that allows bloggers to manage their blogs. My particular platform of choice is WordPress. I used to have Blogger (Blogspot) as my platform but wanted more flexibility in customizing my own designs and activating certain features. I also wanted to get away from the “Blog” look and have a site that was user friendly and offered a lot of reading, website-like features, better look and feel, and user interactivity. WordPress allowed me to do that, and since I’m a technical person, the hand-coding that had to be done in order to achieve my goals was only slightly daunting.

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Primo’s Steakhouse at the Suncoast

The plans for the evening had been made a week or so beforehand, and I was anticipating this special occasion. I’d already had a wonderful evening of blind wine tasting the night before (Score: Wines-5, Irene-1) and was ready to enjoy some good food and wonderful wines with friends. The arrangements had already been decided upon; since we were going to a concert at the Suncoast, why not enjoy the steakhouse! The steakhouse at the Suncoast is named Primo’s and is only accessible via private elevator to the floor above the Casino.

We all arrived at the scheduled time and were led to our table which had a wonderful view that overlooked the stunning late afternoon Las Vegas scenery. Yes, I said “stunning.” Sometimes those of us who live in Las Vegas tend to be a little too blasé about all that’s here, and we forget to appreciate why we chose this as our home in the first place.

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Software Malfunction

Thanks to everyone for your patience while I’ve been dealing with a software issue of epic proportions. Just like many other people who run their own websites or blogs, I depend on the highly technical people to keep things running behind the scenes. Sometimes “behind he scenes” can be overseas! And because of the rather temperamental nature of the computers, the Internet, and the computer field in general, sometimes an oopsie happens, and it proves difficult to get to the source.

I did identical upgrade processes to both MirePoix Vegas and Vegas Wineaux. MirePoix Vegas is running and beautiful. Vegas Wineaux is still giving me fits! And much of the solution is out of my hands, but I will do my best from my end to get everything up and gorgeous again.

This puts a delay on a couple of my projects, including my new collaboration page with Cruise Holidays of Summerlin and my slideshows. However they are still being worked on, but the launch date had to be moved back while I worked on this issue.

Once again, thanks for your patience. Vegas Wineaux will be up at running at the first opportunity!

Hug Cellars – 2007 Cedar Lane Vineyard Arroyo Seco Sauvignon Blanc. Whew.

It’s a typical hot summer day in Las Vegas. The temperature is hovering somewhere around 105F (but it’s a dry heat!), and the dogs are lying on the tile floor, panting away and enjoying the coolness. I’m hungry and in the mood for a nice Caprese and a glass of wine.

Five minutes ago, the basil was still growing in my itsy herb garden. The small tomatoes I’d picked a little earlier when the morning was relatively cool had been washed and were draining on a paper towel on the counter. I retrieved the container of Trader Joe’s Mozzarella from the fridge and found the Pasolivo California Olive Oil in my cabinet. I was already in Caprese heaven.

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Vegas Wineaux Does Wine Reviews

Okay, here we go.

I’ve been threatening to do wine reviews for a while now, and finally decided that now was the time. However, before I get started, I wanted to give you a heads-up (i.e., warning) about my tasting method. It’s a little different. While the 100-point scale has and continues to serve as the benchmark for wine evaluations, every now and then all you need is a generalization of what wine is about, using words that “everybody” understands. And that’s where I come in.

Let’s face it, no matter how professional the wine taster is, it really does come down to personal taste. For instance, I love most wines, but if I had to do a tasting on Nebbiolo from Italy, I would be a dismal failure. Why? Because I still have yet to find one that I really like. Nebbiolo fans … chill. That means more for you.

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Ampelos Winery at Cordon Bleu Las Vegas

Wow. What an evening!

What *I thought* would be a regular evening of tasting on a Tuesday night turned into something much better. Not only was there a class in winemaking, but there were special treats afterwards.

Rebecca and Peter Work are the owners of Ampelos winery. It had been a dream of theirs and when they had the opportunity to acquire a piece of land in the beautiful Santa Rita Hills of California, they jumped at the opportunity.

On this night, Tuesday, April 15, they brought a few of their wines, their knowledge of the history of the grapes and of their wines, and enthralled the Cordon Bleu students and the members of the American Wine Society who attended the class.

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