AFG turns six! With 2010 Laurel Glen Vineyard cabernet sauvignon

Rich, thick textured ("sugary"), deeply black, plummy and spicy; its deliciousness differs from the deliciousness of our previous wine, which had a flash of (I think) cool climate thinness and acidity running through it. All wines have each their own nice little traits and attributes, don't they?

And yes, on this New Year's Eve we remember that today At First Glass turns six  This year we will celebrate without assigning ourselves a theme for the coming year, since themes tend to fall through.We'll just eat and drink, read and reflect as usual. We might even attend our first hockey game and learn about investing in the stock market -- it seems to be a lot like buying wholesale and selling retail -- but those are subjects for another day.

Just now we'll crown the departing year with a quote from the great culinary authority Brillat-Savarin, because it's fun to quote French that looks so much like English, and because these rich and plummy words should lend a private piquancy to what you observe at tonight's parties. Suffice to say that Monsieur at all times disdains:

those mangeurs [eaters] stupides who merely swallow avec une indifférence coupable les morceaux les plus distingués; 

and those who merely suck in

avec une distraction sacrilège un nectar odorant et limpide.

Limpid nectars, distinguished morsels; culpable indifference and sacrilegious distraction. We would make a New Year's resolution to really read The Physiology of Taste straight through, but resolutions tend to go the same way as themes.

Laurel Glen retails for about $60.