VERTICAL by Rex Pickett, sequel to SIDEWAYS

Flush with plenty of dough and crippled by an extreme fear of flying, Miles cooks up a plan for his old traveling buddy Jack—divorced, out of work, and pretty much pickled—to assist him on this venture. The goal is to transport Mom to her sister’s home in Wisconsin, up the west coast via the International Pinot Noir Festival in the Willamette Valley, where he’s to be the keynote speaker and guest.

The unlikely crew springs Mom from the home, enlists the aid of her pot-smoking Filipino nurse Joy, and pilfers her pet Yorkie, Snapper, from the paws of one of Miles’ former trysts to set the wild and crazy adventure in motion. As they travel up the coast, nostalgically stopping  by favorite tasting rooms and vineyards along the way, buddy Jack laps up the love leftovers, enjoying fame and attention-by-association all too much.  I can’t wait to see how some of these outrageous scenes are interpreted on screen.

The story takes a twisted turn away from the typical guys’ road trip to a mother-and-son story that ends up so touching it took me by surprise. In the bittersweet ending, it’s just Miles and Mom coming to peace with each other…and themselves, confronting and resolving a dysfunctional life of distrust and hurt feelings. The ending of VERTICAL totally redeems Miles/Pickett in my heart and as a serious writer; he’s not such a louse after all. VERTICAL will earn Pickett continued fame and an even steadier pipeline of Pinots, particularly from the Willamette Valley this time around. Gotta love a man who knows how to shamelessly leverage his wine.

Look for VERTICAL on the big screen soon.

See this book review and others, including CRUSH by Adam Jacobson, another wine adventure, at http://thevirtualscribe.net.

Verde Valley Wine Trail bound & Wine Wipes testing

I’m off on my maiden voyage up the Verde Valley Wine Trail in northern Arizona for a short 3-day wine tour of our own design. I’ll be blogging all the way (or at least taking notes for an early posting next week) of the many Arizona wines,  people, processes, and provisions along the way. For the first time, I’ll be experiencing these wines in their home court.

We’ll also be testing Wine Wipes and Pearly Wipes, two natural products provided by EverythingButWine.com that help fight off teeth stains, specifically from all that red wine tasting. Stay tuned for four very discriminating women’s honest reviews.

Cheers to your happy wine weekend too!