2009 Eat Out Awards Critics’ Picks

The Lifetime Achievement Award
HENRY BISHOP (A.K.A. THE WINE SHERIFF)
When Henry Bishop succumbed to throat cancer March 12, the local food and drink industry wasn’t alone in its loss—the entire city lost an artistic genius who elevated our town above its brick and mortar to add to its unique soul. We could tell you of Bishop’s dry, biting wit or how he wove an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure wines and esoteric music into a career that spanned two decades and included stints at Spiaggia, Topolobampo and Salpicón. But perhaps better insight comes from one of Bishop’s own writings: “I tried to incorporate a new paradigm of descriptors for wine that transcended the clichés of fruits, vegetables and the occasional Beethoven symphony. Who said you couldn’t describe wine in terms used to discuss comic books, krautrock or ambient installation art? For me, for example, nothing describes Kaz’s old-vine Sonoma County Lenoir better than a recapitulation of a line from Ordell the gun dealer, describing an AK-47 assault rifle in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown: ‘When you absolutely, positively gotta blow away every merlot fancier at the table, accept no substitute.’”—Heather Shouse

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