The Wine Lover?s Guide to the NCAA Final Four

Here in Indiana, basketball is as core to the fabric of our regional identity as wine is to California and they have more in common than you might think.

It should come as little surprise that Indianapolis and the entire state of Indiana is much abuzz about the hometown underdog, the Butler University Bulldogs, making it to the Final Four not just last year, but this year, as well.  Lightning does strike in the same place twice and with good reason.  More on this in a second…

Butler is a small, liberal arts and sciences school nestled in a near north side neighborhood of Indianapolis.  At 290 acres you could plop the entire university footprint down in just one of Hahn Family Estates five vineyards—Ste. Philippe Vineyard in the Arroyo Seco appellation being approximately the same size. With just 4500 students, you could spend a lifetime in the city and never bump into a denizen, so innocuous is its profile. 

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A few short years ago, Butler was notable nationally not for its basketball team, or famous alumni (Kurt Vonnegut being mentionable), but rather because their basketball arena called Hinkle Fieldhouse, built in 1928, was an architectural treasure and the setting for the championship game in the movie, “Hoosiers.”

Butler was a nice school, with nice people, and little national renown.

That has changed in the last 13 months and it’s fueled as much by ethos as execution.

What makes Hoosiers so proud of Butler as they’ve mowed through the NCAA basketball tournament the last two years is not the bricked façade as landmark, or the familiar angle of the “Local boys slaying the giant,” though that’s part of it, more importantly, Butler’s success on the basketball court has coincided with a growing national understanding of, “The Butler Way” – a philosophical coda that deeply resonates as more than lip service.  If there’s one thing Hoosiers identify with its integrity – an honest, plainspoken, everyman approach that achieves with hard work.

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The namesake for Hinkle Fieldhouse is Butler’s former basketball coach of over 40 years, Tony Hinkle.  During his lengthy coaching tenure that ended in 1970, Hinkle espoused a credo and five principals of Butler basketball.  Resurrected in the 90s by then coach Barry Collier (now Butler Athletic Director) and carried forward by subsequent coaches who have been promoted from within, “The Butler Way” is quickly becoming a guidepost for doing things the right way. 

The Butler Way:

“Demands commitment, denies selfishness and accepts reality, yet seeks constant improvement while promoting the good of the team above self.”

That credo is buttressed by the five principles that are posted in the basketball team’s locker room:

Humility - Know who we are, strengths and weaknesses

Passion - Commit to excellence

Unity - Do not divide our house, team first

Servanthood - Make others better, lead by giving

Thankfulness - Learn from every circumstance

Are those not life lessons for both the hard court, and the game of life?  Of course they are, and, in particular, they’re lessons that most, if not all, small wineries live by, as well.  A sense of self, commitment, the eye on the prize, a sense of community, an appreciation for the process…

So, as you watch, listen or catch the headlines for this weekend’s Final Four, know and understand that should you be the type of wine lover that loves the small guy, the winery without the budget to acquire the accolades nor match the perceived elite, but a commitment to doing things the right way with integrity, humbleness and a sense of service to the greater good, while earning a place on the national stage, then Butler is your team.  When coach Brad Stevens says, “Everybody in every business and every industry talks about values, mission and vision. The key is holding to them” not only do you believe him, but you raise a glass of wine to him and a team that acts as a beacon of honesty and accountability in a world that is frequently neither of those things.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/the_wine_lovers_guide_to_the_ncaa_final_four/

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Tasting Room Time in the Napa Valley

It?s that time of year again. Bud Break is all around and the vines begin a new growing year in the wine country. That dreary, cold, and raining period is over and tourists now can flock to the tasting rooms again. Wineries are ready to receive and pamper all tourists. Continue reading

Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/tasting-room-time-in-the-napa-valley/

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Honest Cooking: A Digital Food & Wine Magazine

On Monday of this week a new online food and wine magazine, Honest Cooking, launched. An audacious experiment in group blogging led by Kalle Bergman, the site features the writing of over 50 food and wine writers from around the globe. And I am pleased to be a small part of the staff, writing a few posts each week [...]

Honest Cooking: A Digital Food & Wine Magazine originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/89ZRARMmnnE/

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Would you like a Gold or Silver with that Red or White?

Guest blogger and wine judge  Stacie Hunt offers some insight into being a judge at the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition. Stacie is a commentator on wine for National Public Radio, a Certified Sommelier (AIS), an international wine judge, educator, journalist and blogger. Everyone has his or her own idea of spring.  In the city, the [...]

Source: http://blogs.fairplex.com/blog/wine/?p=51

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Jacobs Creek champions wine regions

“Jacobs Creek has almost got a responsibility, as one of the major brands out of Australia, to teach the consumer about some of the great regions within Australia” – Bernard Hickin A refreshing point of view by Bernard Hickin, Chief Winemaker at Jacobs Creek. [apologies for the background noise, but it was busy] I was [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/4LI3hzWYVAg/

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A Spitacular Competition!

For three days, our judges swirled, sniffed and spit their way through more than 3,500 wines from around the globe. Today they wrapped up by choosing the best of the best in each category. Results will be available next month, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy this compilation of expert spitters:

Source: http://blogs.fairplex.com/blog/wine/?p=74

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Emilio Lustau, Sherry Dry Amontillado, ?Los Arcos? NV

Like a lot of American wine lovers, Sherry is a personal blind spot. It’s not that I haven’t had good or great Sherry ? in fact the only wine I have ever rated 100-points is a Sherry ? it’s just the style is hard to get your head around.  For starters, many Sherries are intentionally [...]

Emilio Lustau, Sherry Dry Amontillado, “Los Arcos” NV originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/nOPwDNjwl78/

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