On Soif weekend, we come to the center of thirsty conviviality in Chicago-- where we will hold a quick little seminar in the midst of the madness.

Twelve of you plus me at a table. We will pour 6 wines for you and I will share with you my reflections about the effect of place on making wine. I am thinking about this a lot right now as we prepare to bottle wines both from crazy, old, vineyards near Los Angeles and totally normal vineyards from Northern California.

I don't simply mean the effect of the land on the grapes and the eventual wine, but the effect of both the physical and social environment on the winemakers themselves. We will pour some wines from Napa, and some from LA.

This is an expression of ongoing reflections-- I am going to broach the same topic in Marfa, Texas, on the way to Soif.

We are pricing this so modestly in the spirit of Soif and Easy Does It. And to prepare you for the casualness of our service on this occasion.