Happy Holidays from Wine and Comics

Whether your holidays are joyous, bittersweet, or sad, they're going to be made better with wine and comics ;)

Merry Xmas, Happy Hanukkah, Felice Navidad, and Habari Gani?

Whichever EOY holiday you celebrate, or even if you don’t celebrate at all (in fact, maybe especially if you don’t), here’s to life being made a little bit better by finding the right wine and comics to enjoy.

I’m currently in the far north of Michigan (“Tip of the Mitt”!) in a little town called Petoskey, weathering the weather - bomb cyclone, anyone? - but enjoying the old comics my parents kept tucked away in a drawer. PARADISE X, CONAN, THE LOSERS, THE GOON, great stuff here. Plus I’ve been devouring the ATTACK ON TITAN manga on my phone - already on Volume 22!

As for the wine, I’m enjoying the up-and-coming wine industry of Michigan. Historically only known for their sweet wines (especially non-grape fruit wines), the past decade and change have seen Michigan getting serious about their dry whites and reds. From obscure cold-weather varietals such as Marquette, Petite Pearl, and Frontenac Gris, to fascinating terrior-driven versions of Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Reisling, and I even found a Blaufrankisch! (German and Austrian varietals grow well here, due to similar climate.)

And Michigan sweet wines have gotten a bit more interesting, too - a late harvest Reisling and honey-soaked Mead, and don’t forget the insanely delicious and crowd-pleasing Ice Wine you can find here. Soooooo goooooood.

If you’d like to consider having some Michigan wine shipped to you, my favorite winery up here near Petoskey is unquestionably Mackinaw Trail Winery, who have the widest selection of styles and varietals with consistent high quality. I heartily recommend their Rose of Marquette, dry Marquette, Blaufrakisch, Unrestricted Chardonnay, Unrestricted Cuvee No. 7 (solid Bordeaux blend!), and their sweet Mead.

Dallas is also on the East Coast, New York, South Carolina, and Manitoba (he’s half-Canadian), so also braving the current crazy weather. Back in our home SoCal, it’s currently mid-70’s and sunny. But what the hell, I like a white xmas. Though I could do without the cyclone-speed winds.

This has been a bittersweet holiday season for myself, having suffered through a divorce, a blisteringly fast move, two surgeries and two lengthy recoveries, all within the latter half of 2022. Traveling and celebrating solo, after being a couple for nearly a decade, makes this year a very raw experience.

So I understand - at least a little bit - how this isn’t necessarily a joyous occasion for all. I hope you have your (relatively healthy) vices that get you through, such as wine and comics for myself.

Thank you all for joining us so early during these first few episodes and substack posts. We’re going to level up tremendously in 2023, and both expand the types of episodes and fine-tune the run times and production values. We appreciate every one of you, and look forward to bringing you wine and comics content that will expand and sometimes even blow your mind!

Here’s to things to come!