Season's Greetings to all the new readers of The Better Drink A Sparkling Wine and Living Magazine and a special hello to all of our returning visitors.  The Better Drink continues to grow as an online magazine that explores sparkling wine, art, literature and people.  At the core our magazine is a celebration of the human spirit.  The Better Drink has a new look for the Holiday issue that serves to organize and highlight the main subject areas of The Better Drink in a series of links along the left side of each of our web pages under the title "In This Issue".   The Daily Column: In Search of the Champagne Life heads this navigation section.  The magazine is then organized in three sections--Sparkling Wine, First Person and Art & Literature.  The Sparkling wine section covers the industry and it people, product, history, and science.  This can be fun educational and informative.  In this issue spend some time with the winemaker from Jepson Winery in Northern California.  The next section, First Person, brings out voices of people sharing their passions, loves and losses.  The final section, Art & Literature, offers poetry, fiction and the Marcia Reed virtual gallery, which is dedicated to bringing new art of our times to the reader.  Our Holiday issue also introduces a new section called Under the Goldlight true champagne tales.  Definitely explore this new section and go out on a night with Dave Brown.

        Before I sign off, I must voice a special thank you to Laurent Perrier for providing a brut rosé to our wine reviewer, Mark Kernaghan.  See his review of rosés for the holidays. And a big thanks to G.H. Mumm & Cie and Mumm Napa Valley for generously providing bottles of Cordon Rouge, Joyesse, Mumm Napa Valley Brut Prestige and Blancs de Noirs.  The Cordon Rouge exhibited stately character lending an air of importance to this classic party wine.  The Joyesse demi-sec so completely surprised me with its depth and rounded feel that I will no longer shy away from the demi-sec.  The Brut Prestige of Mumm Napa Valley shared distinct qualities with its French cousin including a fine and distinguished structure. The Blanc de Noirs went to one our tasters and will be reviewed soon.  Pleas have a fun, safe and bubbly holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Timothy Smith