Cabernet Sauvignon from Navarro, Spain
Purchase Price: $11.99
Wine Enthusiast 93, ElsBob 90
ABV 13.5%
A clear dark cherry red color, aromas of black fruit, licorice, and spice. On the palate it is acidic, subtle tannins, smooth, with a long finish.
An excellent table wine at a great price. Not as bold or complex as a Napa Cab but still interesting and worthwhile. Drink now. Cheers.
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During the late 18th century French Revolution, the peasants laid their grievances at the feet of the nobles and took their heads in lieu of apology and retribution. As the years passed the revolutionary fervor subsided, Napoleon’s reign was brief yet transformative, and finally Louis XVIII, replacing Napoleon, restored the French nobility which brought peace to the land but also returned the country to the immoral customs of yore, not that they really went away, of avarice, promiscuity, and vice. Themes that Honoré de Balzac vividly paints in Old Goriot (Gor-e-u or Gor-e-ot), his greatest novel, first published in serial form in 1834; a fearless reflection of the Realist artistic movement taking shape in his time.
In this forlorn, unflattering critique of French society he uses a fine brush to sketch the uncomfortable and unseemly details of a decayed culture like a faded relic of indulgence, stripped of its former grandeur, except now the lower classes join the upper crust in a race to the dishonorable depths of unprincipled shame.
Honoré de Balzac’s Old Goriot tells the tale of unrequited, selfless paternal love thoroughly blind to the selfish indifference of his two young daughters, Delphine and Anastasie who have forsaken their father for wealth and prestige. Eugene de Rastignac, a young but poor law student, pursues the married Delphine with the blessings of her father with little thought about the moral implications of his ambitious desires or the Faustian struggles they entail. Vautrin, a criminal mastermind, enters the scene to put an exclamation point on the plot’s everything is inbounds, nothing is forbidden in early 19th century Parisian life. As Goriot dies alone, broke and broken, Eugene must decide his path in a city of corruption, indifference, and immorality. To succumb to the ruthless ambition of Parisian society or fight for a moral existence to save his soul.
Source: Old Goriot by Honoré de Balzac’s, 1834. Graphic: The Stone Breakers by Gustave Courbet, 1849 (Realism art movement).
Mencia from Bierzo, Spain
Purchase Price: $12.99
James Suckling 90, ElsBob 90
ABV 13.0%
A deep garnet color with aromas of black fruits, plum, and spice. Medium-full body, medium acidity, tannic with a hint of black pepper and slate. Will pair well with red meat and spicy vegetable dishes.
An excellent table wine at a great price. I’ve seen this wine listed as low as $11—well worth picking up a few bottles at that price. Drink now. Cheers.
Trivia: Bierzo is Spanish DOP wine region in northwest Spain that has grown grapes since the time of the Greeks and Romans, but it was the monks of the Middle Ages who brought the area viticulture into prominence. Currently the DOP has 1030 growers and 74 wineries, covering less than 6000 acres, producing in aggregate about 7 million bottles of wine each year.
Port from Australia
Predominately but not limited to Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro, and Cabernet
Purchase Price: $99.99
ElsBob 92
ABV 19.0%
A deep tawny color with aromas of licorice and raisins, full-bodied, sweet with a long finish. A perfect after dinner dessert wine.
An excellent non-vintage port at a fair price. If you look around, you might find it for about $80. Drink now. Cheers.
From Penfolds Overview: With each vintage, varietal batches are selected for Grandfather. These batches are individually aged in seasoned old oak casks before being blended together at 14 years of age. This blend is then introduced into the ‘Grandfather Solera’. This Solera consists of six stages that are designed to fully integrate all components offering consistency and freshness with a final minimum average blended age of 20 years. (Ed. Current vintages in the Solera range from 1960-2004.)
Cabernet Sauvignon from Lodi and Napa California
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Purchase Price: $14.97
James Suckling 90,Decanter 90,Wine Spectator 89, ElsBob 90-91
ABV 13.9%
A deep ruby to a dark purple wine with aromas of black fruits, a taste of vanilla and spice; medium-full bodied, smooth tannins, dry, slightly acidic, with a medium finish. This wine will pair well with beef, lamb and chocolate desserts.
An excellent fine wine at a great price that is just entering its peak age range. Cheers.
Bretton Woods, a monetary system established during World War II, sought to stabilize the global economy by making the US dollar the central currency for international trade. Other currencies were pegged to the dollar, which foreign governments could convert into gold bullion at a fixed rate. This framework functioned effectively for decades, however, by the late 1960s, inflationary pressures stemming from the Vietnam War and the domestic spending initiatives of the “guns and butter” era, coupled with a growing accumulation of US dollars in foreign accounts, strained the system’s stability. In 1971, the United States suspended the dollar’s gold convertibility, effectively collapsing the Bretton Woods framework and transitioning to a market-based system of freely floating exchange rates, setting the stage for the dollar’s decline.
Since the demise of Bretton Woods, the US dollar has lost approximately 85% of its purchasing power due to inflation, a monetary phenomenon driven by increases in the money supply. Free trade has exacerbated US economics, including the loss of 6.8 million manufacturing jobs between 1979, the peak of manufacturing employment, and 2019. Many of these jobs shifted to China after its entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. Middle-class wages have stagnated, remaining at an average of $40,000 per year (adjusted for inflation) since 1970, while housing costs have tripled to $400,000. Meanwhile, the rising costs of child-rearing, $310,000 per child in 2023, have contributed to a declining fertility rate, which has fallen from 2.5 to 1.6 children per woman.
China’s role in US economic decline is significant with a trade deficit of $263 billion in goods and services for 2024 alone. Chinese tariffs protect key industries such as steel and electronics, leaving US manufacturing unable to compete. Federal Reserve policies, including a 40% increase in the M2 money supply since 2020, have inflated asset prices like homes and stocks but failed to meaningfully raise middle-class wages. Wealth inequality has intensified, with the top 1% controlling 40% of the nation’s wealth while Middle America’s share continues to shrink. Trade deficits reached $1.2 trillion in 2024.
Trump’s tariffs can be seen as a reaction to these trade imbalances and loss of domestic manufacturing. Additionally, new measures are seeking to rewrite regulatory and fiscal policies, to address these global inequalities. By 2030, projections suggest 2 million new jobs could be created, including 200,000 to 300,000 directly tied to tariffs, with blue-collar median wages rising to around $60,000. A stronger dollar, inflation below 2%, and a revived manufacturing base could potentially revive the American middle-class, making families more optimistic about the future. Continuing on the same trajectory as the past 50 years risks further erosion of the American dream.
Two recent Earth science studies by Barrett et al. and Bermingham et al. explore the origins of Earth’s water and indirectly, organic matter, key prerequisites for the development of intelligent life. Their findings support the early delivery of needed chemicals to form water and carbon molecules by inner and outer solar system planetesimals such as asteroids and comets.
Barrett et al. shows that an inner solar system sourced enstatite chondrite (EC) asteroid found in Antarctica is isotopically similar to Earth material, (not surprisingly, this supports the 270-year-old Nebular Hypothesis) capable of delivering substantial hydrogen during Earth’s accretionary phase (~4.56–4.5 billion years ago). The ECs contain hydrogen as H2S in silicate glass, linked to pyrrhotite, sufficient to account for up to 14 times Earth’s ocean mass. This hydrogen was systematically incorporated in the hot inner solar system via nebular processes, suggesting water was an inherent outcome of Earth’s formation, not a later addition. ECs also contain trace organic matter contributing modestly to Earth’s carbon inventory. Despite the chaotic “billiard table” trajectories of early solar system collisions, the stability of H2S in glass ensured survival during violent accretion. This early delivery of water and organics established a foundational habitable environment, priming the Earth’s prebiotic chemistry for the creation and evolution of intelligent life.
Bermingham et al., taking a different investigative track, analyze molybdenum isotopes in meteorites and Earth’s crust, concluding that water was delivered during the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB: 4.1–3.8 billion years ago) by planetesimals, including inner solar system asteroids and outer solar system comets, as hydrous minerals or brine. This late accretion, post-Moon-forming event (4.5 billion years ago), suggests a stochastic bombardment enriched Earth’s surface volatiles. Comets and carbonaceous chondrites, rich in organic matter, likely delivered significant carbon compounds, enhancing the prebiotic chemical environment. The chaotic early solar system facilitated this influx of outer solar system organics, complementing earlier inputs.
Both studies align with life’s prerequisites by ensuring water and organic delivery to the planet. Barrett et al. provide the bulk water budget and trace organics via ECs, creating an early aqueous environment, while Bermingham et al.’s LHB bombardment added more water and substantial organics, boosting conditions for life’s emergence. They agree on asteroids’ role, possibly including ECs, but differ in timing (early accretion vs. LHB) and outer solar system delivery contributions (minor in Barrett, significant via comets in Bermingham). Barrett et al.’s early delivery of water and organics can be viewed as foundational and Bermingham et al.’s LHB as a surface-enriching supplement, together enabling the chemical and evolutionary path to intelligent life.
Source: Barrett et al, 2025, Icarus. Bermingham et al, 2025, Rutgers. Graphic: Comet Cometh, Grok3.
Albert Hofmann, employed by Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, was conducting research on ergots, a toxic fungus, in 1938 to identify potential circulatory and respiratory stimulants. While synthesizing compounds derived from the fungus, he inadvertently created lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), an alkaloid of the ergoline family, known for their physiological effects on the human nervous system.
Five years later on April 16, 1943, Hofmann became the first person to experience the hallucinogenic effects of LSD while re-synthesizing the compound. He accidentally absorbed a small amount through his skin, leading to vivid hallucinations he later described as a dreamlike state with kaleidoscopic visuals. With two groundbreaking lab accidents occurring five years apart, The Daily Telegraph ranked Hofmann as the greatest living genius in 2007.
During the counter-cultural movement of the 1960s, LSD emerged as a popular recreational drug, attracting advocates such as Timothy Leary, a Harvard psychologist who famously urged people to “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Leary championed the use of psychedelics to explore altered states of consciousness and challenge conventional societal norms. LSD also played a pivotal role in Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which focused on the horrific abuse of patients in mental institutions. The book, later adapted into a film starring Jack Nicholson, significantly influenced awareness of the cruelty of mental institutions. However, LSD’s trajectory took a sinister turn beyond recreation when it became a tool for government mind-control experiments.
Starting in the 1950s, the CIA launched MKUltra, a covert program designed to explore drugs and techniques for breaking down individuals psychologically. LSD became a central component of these experiments, often administered secretly to unsuspecting individuals to study its effects. Targets included prisoners, drug addicts, prostitutes, military personnel, CIA employees, and even random civilians. It is difficult to ascertain which acronym took the greater hit to its reputation: the CIA or LSD.
Source: Albert Hofmann by Morgan and Donahue, All That’s Interesting, 2025. Graphic: Albert Hofmann in 1993.
Bordeaux from Bordeaux, France
Merlot 100%
Purchase Price: $14.99
Vinous 92, James Suckling 92, Wilfred Wong 91, ElsBob 90
ABV 14.0%
A dark ruby to a dark purple wine with aromas of cherry and a touch of vanilla; medium bodied, smooth tannins, dry, with short to medium finish. This wine will pair well with ambrosial aromas such as lamb but stay clear of overly spicy foods.
An excellent fine wine at a great price. You should let this vintage sit for another year or two and hopefully it will develop a little more character. Cheers.
Note: The label does not explicitly mention that this wine is 100% Merlot, nor does it say it’s a Bordeaux. The retail shops refer to this wine as a Bordeaux and the only grape it mentions on its label is Merlot–the only varietal that the Clos de l’Esperance vineyard grows. Lussac-Saint-Emilion is a wine appellation located in the Bordeaux region and as such it can be called a Bordeaux.
“Have no fear of perfection; you’ll never reach it.” – Dali.
Salvador Dalí was the entertaining, surrealist voice of the masses. His dreamlike spectacle of melting clocks and flamboyant persona captivated popular culture, injecting eccentric brushstrokes into the lives of the disengaged and disinterested. Dalí spoke directly to the public’s fascination with dreams and absurdity, transforming art into a theatrical experience and a giggly poke at the eminent egos on high altars.
Dalí was a 20th-century Spanish artist who drew from influences such as Renaissance art, Impressionism, and Cubism, but by his mid-twenties, he had fully embraced Surrealism. He spent most of his life in Spain, with notable excursions to Paris during the 1920s and 1930s and to the United States during the World War II years. In 1934, he married the love of his life, Gala. Without her, Dalí might never have achieved his fame. She was not just his muse but also his agent and model. A true partner in both his art and life. Together, they rode a rollercoaster of passion and creativity, thrills and dales, until her death in 1982.
Dalí had strong opinions on art, famously critiquing abstract art as “inconsequential.” He once said, “We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images. Abstract art will have been good for one thing: to restore its exact virginity to figurative art.” He painted images that were real and with context that bordered on the not real, the surreal. For those who believed that modern abstract art had no life, no beauty, no appeal, he provided a bridge back to a coherent emotional foundation with a dreamlike veneer. Incorporating spirituality and innovative perspectives into his dreams and visions of life.
The Persistence of Memory (1931) is Dalí’s most recognizable and famous painting, but his 1951 work Christ of Saint John of the Cross is arguably his most autobiographical and accessible piece. A painting dripping with meaning and perspective, Dalí claimed it came to him in a dream inspired by Saint John of the Cross’s 16th-century sketch of Christ’s crucifixion. The perspective is indirectly informed by Saint John’s vision, while the boat and figures at the bottom reflect influences from La Nain and Velázquez. The triangular shape created by Christ’s body and the cross represents the Holy Trinity, while Christ’s head, a circular nucleus, signifies unity and eternity: “the universe, the Christ!” Dalí ties himself personally to the crucifixion by placing Port Lligat, his home, in the background. He considered this painting a singular and unique piece of existence, one he likely could never reproduce because the part of him that went into the painting was gone forever.That part is shared with his viewers, offering a glimpse into Christ’s pain, Dalí’s anguish, and his compassion: an emotional complexity that transcends mortal comprehension.
Source: Salvador Dali by Robert Descharnes, 1984. Graphic: Christ of Saint John of the Cross, Dali, 1951. Low Res. Copyright Glasgow Corporation.
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