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According to Tom Vinger with DPS’ media relations, the agency began receiving court orders from judges waiving surcharges based on indigency (under an amendment authored by state Rep. Sylvester Turner) in October 2011, and despite their earlier representation, DPS now says they “process the court order once the conviction is placed on the record. There have only been 29 orders received and 13 processed.” That’s discouraging. I’m certain there have been many more DWIs pled out than that with clients who qualified for indigence waivers. I’m not an attorney and certainly no expert on what constitutes a successful bar grievance, but IMO it borders on ineffective assistance for a defense attorney not to apply for an indigency waiver on DWIs or other surcharge-eligible offenses when their client qualifies – even though surcharges are technically a separate, civil matter, it’s a direct collateral consequence of the conviction.

In any event, where the real action has been is under the Indigence rules created  (to their credit) by the Public Safety Commission. As of January 9, DPS had received 19,668 applications for reduction of surcharges under DPS indigence rules, and had approved 18,249 of them, or 92%. In addition, more than 100,000 drivers – about one in seven of those eligible – applied for and received amnesty last spring, so the new rules pushed by Grits and the good folks at the Texas Fair Defense Project so far have helped more than 120,000 people regain their drivers licenses.

Why aren’t appointed defense attorneys asking judges for a waiver of surcharges for their indigent clients when they’re eligible? I have no idea but it surprises me so few have done so. The statute has been on the books since 2009, though it only took effect Sept. 1, 2011, so the defense bar should have had time to educate themselves and prepare to use it. By contrast, I’m glad to see significant numbers of people are successfully applying for surcharge reductions (to $250 or less) under the (relatively) new DPS rules.

Grits also asked DPS for more information on when the “Incentive” rules – mandated by the Lege to be implemented sometime this biennium – might take effect. (They’re already on the books, the Public Safety Commission just needs to pull the trigger and make them take effect.) More on that when I hear back.

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You wait all year and know it’s coming, but it always feels like its sneaked up on you. How can it be harvest already? What happened to summer? However, harvest time it is and at Cornerstone we start picking our sauvignon blanc on Tuesday. That realization wakes you up and you start to notice a few leaves on the ground, the shorter and shorter days and a different type of coolness in the evening air. Fall is indeed arriving.

It’s been an unusual growing season, at least that’s the conventional wisdom. In fact, it’s almost like last vintage, which means its been cool by Napa Valley standards. Is this the new “normal”? In my opinion a little cooler is not a bad thing. Cooler vintages give more balanced wines that are more transparent. Wines that clearly show where they came from. The major problem so far with vintage 2011 in Napa is the cool, rainy weather during flowering and set, which dramatically reduced the size of this year’s crop. Our Howell Mountain vineyards escaped this fate as the later flowering up on the mountain meant they missed the early June storms. Oddly our cabernet franc vineyards in St. Helena, Oakville and Carneros ended up with good fruit sets too as they also bloomed late.

So we head into mid-September around two weeks behind normal. That’s really not too bad: as long as the fall rains hold off long enough for everything to ripen. This, of course, is a very big “if”.

I often think there is an over-reaction to these slightly cooler years in Napa. Anyone whose spent time in some of the world’s most famous wine growing regions knows that Napa does not face the weather dangers those growers deal with on a regular basis. We will ripen our grapes. We will make excellent wines. I truly believe that these “cooler” vintages make better wines in the Napa Valley. However, certain critics who define wine quality by girth disagree with me, preferring wines from hot vintages. That formula is simple:

High pH + High Alcohol + High Oak + High Price = High Points

These cooler vintages excite me because of the opportunity they give us to make truly balanced, elegant wines designed to taste their best with food. The formula above gives you wines that taste out well against other wines, but that don’t marry well with food. I don’t like them: I don’t like to drink them, I don’t like to make them and I don’t like to sell them.

It will approach 90 degrees this afternoon. Perfect grape ripening weather. Just like last vintage I know we’re going to make wines that I love. I can’t wait.

It’s time.

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So here’s your chance to fix that in a big way: The New York Wine Expo. It’s big, it’s commercial, and it’s busy, but it’s one of the few chances New Yorkers have to really try a lot of wines in one place.

Regular readers are quite used to my mantra about such tastings. They represent singularly valuable opportunities to educate your palate. Try 40 Merlots and decide whether you really do prefer Pinot. Decide what style of Chardonnay you care for. Try wine made from the Alicante Bouschet grape for the first time. And so on.

The attentive attendee can come away with a much improved palate, not to mention a list of wines to go out and buy that are pre-screened as delicious.

The New York Wine Expo will feature more than 150 different wineries pouring hundreds of different wines, alongside chefs and food purveyors of different kinds. There are also seminars you can sign up for if you want a little more formal education than what you can get by just tasting a lot, plus cooking demonstrations and more.

For information on the seminars and to sign up, visit the event web site.

2011 New York Wine Expo
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City
Friday,March 2, 2012 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Saturday, March 3, 2012 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
655 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001

Tickets are $75 until tomorrow, and then they go up to $85. Tickets can (and should) be purchased online in advance. They go up $10 after February 18th. Use PROMO CODE: VINO for $15 off Friday night tickets, now through March 1. Additional seminars are $30 a pop.

My usual tips for such public tastings apply: get a good night’s sleep; come with a full stomach; wear dark clothes and skip the perfume/cologne; drink lots of water as you go; and spit if you want to enjoy yourself and learn something — if you want to get drunk you can pay half as much at your local bar.

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DUI Arrest of Police Officer

Here we go again. Notice this cop was fired and the “police officer [was only] charged with DUI” This seems to be a recurring theme where employees are fired before the case has been resolved in criminal court. What happened to “presumed innocent?”

Whitpain board fires police officer charged with DUI – thereporteronline.com

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