TwentyFour
re: Charles Woodson's winery (http://twentyfourwine.com/twentyfour_2005.html)
A quick check on Google Maps confirms that 2010 Russell Street in Napa, CA is someone's house in the middle of a residential neighborhood. That odd location, along with the incomplete website and November 2008 release date, suggest that Woodson's winery is not quite yet up and running. As a Bay Area resident and long-time Woodson idolator, I see no other choice than to visit Napa this November to investigate first-hand. Any other NorCal Wolverines who want to join me are welcome; just leave a comment below.
According to the wine's website, there is an event at The Chop House on the 18th of July. Would be cool to go, especially if Woodson will be there, but it will probably be crazy expensive knowing The Chop House.
The guys from the '97 team have done a lot of interesting things off the field. Is Dhani Jones's bow tie business still running?
Dhani's site is http://www.fivestarties.com/. Believe it or not he's one of my favorite former players- has been since I heard an interview about his trip to China in '05. Interesting dude. Anyway, the site's still there but there aren't any news releases or events in the past several months, so who knows if it's still solvent.
Wolverbean,
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'd guess Chuck won't open his own winery. The grapes used to make the wine come from the Stag's Leap District of Napa Valley, and most celebrity wines don't actually come from a winery owned by the celebrity themselves, but rather from a larger vineyard willing to produce the wine for them. That and the fact that only 202 cases are being produced point to this being the case. Being from Stag's Leap most likely means Robert Mondavi is the producer.
As for the wine itself, signs point to it being a big cab- can't wait to try it when it comes out- though with production that low it could cost a pretty penny and most likely you'd have to visit somewhere like the Chop House to find a bottle- I'd be surprised to find it available retail.
for crushing my dreams. I was hoping perhaps Charles was lending his name and some cash to someone else's start-up winery (Charles Woodson Wines would have a great ring to it, even to wine snobs who know nothing about football). But you're almost certainly right, and now I'm going to have to shell out for both a plane ticket back to Ann Arbor and a meal at Chop House. Wonder which will cost me more?
I have been fooled by that before. One trip to the health department later, all is good! But not going to fall for that again!
Dhani in Angell Hall when I worked in the computer lab there. You couldn't miss him with his dreadlocks. But he was never using a computer, just sitting backwards at a desk chatting with people.
Hopefully, this wine will have some serious fucking notes of autumn.
I lived in East Quad my first two years (1998-2000) and saw Dhani a bunch of times (he was in the RC). Really good guy.