BobThompson??

WINE TALK
1

Not seen anything by or about BobThompson for quite some time.
But no obit out there. Should be in his upper-70’s.
I once stopped by & visited him at his home in StHelena in the mid-'70’s. We talked for several hours. Great guy.
Anybody have the inside skinny on how Bob’s doing??
Tom

2

Alive and well. Still living in St. Helena. Enjoying life.

3

Thanks, Bob. I couldn’t find anything out there about his death.
I gather he’s not doing any writing these days?? I gather you’ve been serving on judging panels with him??
I should make a follow-up visit next time I’m up in Napa.
Tom

4

Wow! A whole new genre of WB thread: “Is X dead yet?”

Endless potential here, I’d say.

5

OK, John…I’m game:

Philip Seldon
Reed Foster
Gerry Boyd-------Alive
Terry Robards--------Alive
Bruce Cass-------Alive
Paul Cassayre/Mike Forni------Paul Alive, founder of Cassayre-Forni wnry
Mike & Arlene Bernstein--------Alive, Founders of MtVeederWnry
Mike Robbins
Dick Sherwin/Dee Sindt------DickAlive, publisher of WineWorld and owner of LyttonSpringsEast.
Jim Roberson
Bill Cadman
Jim Allen------Alive…Founder of SequoiaGrove
Bob Keenan
Jim Prager-------Alive
Justin Miller-----Gone/gone…Inventor of the MillerWay Process for sparkling wines
Michael Topolos-------Alive, former owner of Topolos at RRV wnry

There…that should be a good start. [stirthepothal.gif]
Tom

6

Tom-Bob tells me that he is done judging wine competitions. He likes to take longer to evaluate a wine than most competitions allow. One year when I was running the Pacific Rim Competition I talked him into judging for me. I gave him a great panel (friends of his and great judges), gave him the wines he wanted and gave him 1/2 the number of wines as the other panels. It still wasn’t pleasurable for Bob. He has stopped judging (although from time to time he may go to a small regional in Washington state)

We try to have lunch or dinner with Bob and Harolyn each time we are in or near Napa. Great man–amazing amount of knowledge

7

Terry Robards is alive and well (last time I checked). He lives and runs his own wine shop in Lake Placid, NY:

http://terryrobards.com/

8

Gerry Boyd is alive and well and living in Sonoma County. I think he runs the Alameda County Fair wine competition.

9

Saw Mike & Arlene Bernstein not too long ago.

10

Tom-I talked with Bob Thompson tonight. He is not writing anything about wine these days. As he put it, “I don’t even write tasting notes these days.”

He just finished reading a book called, “The Table Comes First.” Said it’s a great read.

11

Thanks for the update on Bob, Bob. Sad that he’s not writing about wine anymore. He’s one of the best around
and has a wealth of experience to share w/ these young-uns.
Thanks for the head’s up on his book. I’m certain it’s worth reading.
Tom

12

Jim Cassayre still has his engineering shingle up and active in Napa. And the author of the book Bob was reading is Adam Gopnik, who also wrote “Paris to the Moon”, which was a most enjoyable read.

13

Alive seen him around at industry events and have seen postings selling equipment and juice.

14

Bruce Cass is also alive and well. He heads up the Bruce Cass Wine Lab - a wine education venture - in San Francisco: http://brucecasswinelab.com/

15

I hear from Dick Sherwin from time to time - he’s up near Hopland I believe - involved in antique panoramic photography.

Jim Prager is not terribly involved in the winery these days - enjoying his retirement. The Port Works was one of my first winery visits in Napa way back when…