Some Days Free Rangers,
Your dogs and the carefree joy they exude are very often the only thing standing between me and a criminal charge. Fridays seem to be a thing now. This one, I came outside to see a mom with her two kids that were playing a game where they would run between my trees and then back to mom. Had they not been tearing off a handful of my Hollywood Juniper and handing it to mom- who then tossed it back into the barrel from which it had just been ripped, I might’ve found it cute too. I yelled at mom pretty good, but kept it concise. “Hey! Please don’t tear apart my trees. I’ve put a lot of work into them. Why do you think this is okay?!” The woman just cowered, unclear if she felt bad at all, or just didn’t enjoy the volume and notion.
Then I opened Saturday morning to see a very cute mini Frenchie peeing on one of our barrels that has the largest ‘no peeing please’ sign on it. The guy walking said cute little dog seemed genuinely startled when I pointed this out. I resisted the temptation to double down. He clearly felt bad. But seriously, who can’t think, “Ya know, I probably don’t want random urine on any of my stuff, maybe whoever planted this beautiful tree and put in out front of the building is also a human person who very likely has similar feelings.”
Whether it be from screen addicted obliviousness or because mom couldn’t care to conceive of what it would be like if a random stranger ran into her home just to rip apart her house plants, it’s just shitty behavior from people who are acting as bad neighbors. But everybody is the star of their own little romcom these days and can’t be bothered to ponder the feelings of the extras on set. The vast majority of these people genuinely know not of what they do, nor the profound ill will they constantly birth in their careless wake(s), but it doesn’t make the receiving end of their actions any less cutting. It’s difficult making the world around you a more beautiful place and caring about things and building something- with a staggering failure rate and indignities one couldn’t have imagined. But I still highly recommend it. When in doubt, go places and do things.
Now, thanks to everyone who came out for our well attended and highly successful Ridge Vineyards tasting on a very high traffic Saturday. Based on the sales, everyone seems to have very much enjoyed the new crisp mineral driven Ridge Grenache Blanc 2023, alongside the 50th Anniversary release of the classic old vine Zin based field blend, Ridge Lytton Springs 2022, and one the best kept secrets in CA ancient vines, Ridge Lytton Estate Petite Sirah 2021. For the rest of you, and/or those who would like a few more bottles going into Turkey Day season, Derek just posted a page with two great very discounted Ridge packs (one very limited):
1) Current release 6-pack of 2 bottles each of the latest arrivals (at 25% off retail):
* Grenache Blanc ‘23
* Lytton Springs ’22
* Lytton Estate Petite Sirah ’21 sale: $204 retail: $272
2) Vertical 4-pack of 1 bottle each:
* Lytton Springs ’16
* Lytton Springs ’22
* Lytton Estate Petite Sirah ’19
* Lytton Estate Petite Sirah ’21 sale: $185 retail: $212
(!) Click here for Ridge Vineyards sale page (!)
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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