Last year I was smart enough to prepare a blog entry a week before new year’s eve. This year I wasn’t. As I’m only now starting to recover I didn’t get around to posting the obligatory empty bottle of champagne any sooner. Anyway, here’s that belated Happy 2010 to all the people in France and other countries where you can wish everyone a Happy New Year during the whole month of January. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to hibernating; please wake me when temperatures seriously start rising, ok?

Some 10 hours after it started, 2009 hit me full in the face with the results of mixing an ordinary Alsace Pinot Gris, my fair share of the fabulous “Les Amis de l’Abbaye” 2006 (white Burgundy), a drop of “Chateau Potensac 2000” (red Bordeaux), a sip of “Cyprès de Climens” 2004 (Sauternes) and a teeny bit of the bottle in the image. It seems mixing wasn’t such a good idea, just like the past 20 years or so. Anyway, happy 2009!