Slow news week. Or two.

Yup, not a lot going on in Vinoland besides veraison, baby-chicken watching and waiting for harvest.  So I was interested to read this article in the Daily Mail that Thud forwarded to me.
Some enterprising, vino-loving Italians have revived historic, so-called 'wine windows' as a way to socially distance whilst still permitting folks to enjoy a glass of wine.  Apparently there are 300 of these windows in Tuscany, known as buchette del vino, that were traditionally used in the 1600s, in times of plague, to enable that the local citizenry could still get a goblet of their favourite tipple.  Minus the scabs, sores and pustules that come with pestilence, of course.  Quaint and genius.
I can't personally recall seeing any of these windows when I holidayed in Lucca.  And if I had, I probably would have assumed they were religious niches.  Who knew?  I didn't.  But hey, I'm all for walking along the street and a hand pops out of a random window and offers one a glass of wine...a nice Chianti, perhaps?  So civilised.

True Wine Lover 14.

Whilst sitting in Heathrow, waiting for my flight back to San Francisco, and feeling a little sorry for my already-homesick-self, it was nice to see a familiar face smiling at me from a page in The Daily Mail. 
It escapes me right now how I first came across the 'Knackered Mothers' Wine Club' blog: writer Helen McGinn may have commented on Vinsanity first and I simply, and nosily, followed the link to her blog.  I'm glad I did, I really like how she writes, both style and content.  Apparently, lots of other people do too.  Ms. McGinn has been receiving a ton of well deserved recognition and critical acclaim of late, the accolades have been coming fast and furious.  Helen is a Brit who worked for a long time as a wine buyer for a supermarket chain.  She is a busy mother of three who finds time to be a columnist in a daily newspaper (see photograph above), regularly updates her blog, and has just recently released her first book, The Knackered Mothers' Wine Club.  With all this activity going on, she still finds time to answer comments on her blog, which most bloggers who achieve some measure of success fail to do.  No wonder she's so knackered!
I have never met Ms. McGinn (then again, I have never met any of my TWLs), but this particular knackered-mother is one of my True Wine Lovers because I am convinced she is the genuine article, i.e., truly a wine lover.  And our paths may never cross, but I wanted to acknowledge that Ms. McGinn unwittingly did me a favour when she smiled up at me from the page of a tabloid.  I smiled back.  Thank you Helen.