The Pitch, April 11, 2012

Today was a volunteer wine day, and we had a large selection of above-average distractions. That is one of the reasons why the meeting seemed so happy. It was truly an international sampling. We enjoyed two malbecs, a 2010 Bodega Elena de Mendoza and a 2009 Ben Marco. From Italy came a 2010 Bric de Bersan Dolcetto, and from Spain came a 2001 Aancieano Gran Reserva Tempranillo. Winding up the happiness was a 2010 Pacific Rim Riesling from Columbia Valley in Washington. A bottle of Marietta Cellars Old Vines Lot 56 ended up in our attic cellar. Just wait…it may turn out to be the best of the lot.

It was nice to see Sandie Lampe again. She was visiting with our speaker, attorney Frank Asaro, himself a former member and a past president of our very own club.

Tom Fisher’s demotion dinner will be held at 6:30 PM on June 27 at the Rock Bottom Brewery. This was at Tom’s request. More details will follow.

Frank Asaro spoke to us about his book, “Universal Co-opetition.” He described co-opetiton as the balancing of cooperation and competition in an effort to find a middle ground between the extremes and find true solutions to the challenges and problems of the world. In Frank’s words, the concept is “a tool to assist us to reach the optimum levels of our endeavors, whether they may concern our personal relationships, whether we seek to better understand ourselves, or whether we wish to understand more about the world around us.”