HOT TIP

[Randy Caparoso]

That is, no comment on the fortune bottles. I do like Weibel for transfer process. But the fact is, we have a good 700 cases or so a year of Roy's Late Disgorged Brut produced for us at Iron Horse (for our "chain," we go for the best we can get). I go for the creamier, gentler, yet still fresh-in-fruit cuvees, and then help tool with the dosage (rounding out the edges and playing up the yeastiness). Our current vintage is a '92.

For the Y2K celebrations, we also designed our own dosage for a '91 Blanc de Blancs, which will be disgorged and bottled (3 liters and 750s) with our own label this summer.

The aforementioned has nothing to do with the original subject, but did you hear why the late Sonny Bono failed in his attempt to purchase the original plantings between the old Inglenook winery and Hwy. 29?

Because he wanted to rename it Sonny & Charbono.

I'll stick to wine commentary.