an indulgent monday evening

We signed up for the Pride Vineyard mailing list. Usually wineries advertise how they are holding an event at the winery, but this time they held a tasting at the Ritz-Carlton in SF. Mostly to introduce their new wine maker who learned the ropes from Robert Foley. I immediately replied, which was a good thing, because it was immediately filled.

In order to make it to the city on time, we went to work early so we could leave early. We had a wonderful time and particularly liked their Cab Franc, the Viognier (I don't know how they get those flavors out of that grape, but they do, time and time again), and the reserve Merlot. All of those were quite wonderful. The Chardonnay and Merlot were not as good as when we tried it a year or two ago at the winery. And we have to say that the Reserve Merlot beat out their Reserve Cab Sauvignon. Fortunately, they also offered wonderful food to soak up the lovely vino we were drinking.

We also met another couple who actually lived on our side of the bay and hit it off with them much of the evening.

We could have stopped with the Pride wine tasting and ended our evening there. That in and of itself was plenty indulgent. It's fun saying, I went to the Ritz-Carlton for a winetasting. But, no, we had already made it an evening and had reservations at La Folie, a french restaurant 5 min from there to continue the fabulous drink and food.

We had the 3-course meal there. Rhett ordered an item called warm pig feet sweetbread, which you know we had to order. OMG! I can't describe it. All I know is that it fell apart with the touch of a fork, and just had astounding flavor and texture. I had a starter with three seafood tastes including one with uni, seaweed and keffir lime infused roe. This was quite good but on the delicate palate side. For dinner I had the salmon and Rhett had the halibut with the optional shredded truffles. And now we know why people kill for truffles. As an apertif, Rhett had an absinthe martini made of course with our favorite St. George Absinthe and Hangar One Vodka. I had a blueberry mojito which was good, but not quite what I had expected. Accompanying dinner, we had a Chablis Grand Cru 2002 from Burgundy, France, which was nice and crisp and paired well with the savory food.

I packed up half of my salmon so I could make it through dessert, a vanilla brioche in peach soup with buffalo mozzerella. But what I love about dining at restaurants like La Folie are the little extras they throw in, these small dishes that keep your mouth live waiting for the next thing: the poached egg, the taste of cherry and creme fraiche to cleanse the palate, and finally after dessert, the petit fours.

What I love about great food and wine is the adventure and excitement from something new and particularly like in an evening we had, the layer upon layer of flavors and textures. It's one thing to say, yeah I can taste the particular ingredients, it's another to say wow, taste how they blend and merge together to create something else. And grant it the mind comes out a bit relaxed and sleepy from the wine, but there is an added layer buzz on how the mind is engaged. It's the same sensations that I love when I travel and visit some place new. So being able to get that here, without leaving too far from home, makes living in the bay area that much more addicting.

the wind turns up the soil

Spent yesterday afternoon in Livermore winetasting that area. We ate at Garre. They are a restaurant/winery. Their spinach/crab dip appetizer was quite good. The duck confit was overly sauced for my sister's taste. The meatballs and linguine were more meatballs than anything else and slightly overpacked. But a decent meal overall, not great, but decent.

The wind kicked up outside and we walked by the Bocce Ball court where a group of friends popped open a couple of bottles of wine and aimed for the small white marker ball. Their tasting room was free. We tried their flight but weren't really impressed by any of them. I was sipping and spitting since I was driving afterwards. Maybe they needed more time, maybe more aeration and maybe we won't buy a bottle right now.

Next stop was Bodegas, where my sister loves the pinor noir or was that petite syrah. They carried a very tasty flight. I bought a bottle of the merlot. The wind whisked away any warmth between the doorway to the car. And my sister thought her tongue was done, but I convinced her, eh, let's try one more, a threesome, so we stopped by Steven Kent and LaRochelle which sit on the same lot. Steven Kent was packed with folks since it was in the middle of their winery row, called Tesla Road. They set aside large blocks of gruyere for you to carve and a table full of costume jewelry for sale. Lots of distractions. The wine was a bit better than Garre, but the price and the taste just didn't work for us.

Off the main building was nice cute building marked LaRochelle. It looked closed. But when we entered, there were tables and wine glasses lined up on each side of the tables. For $15, you could pick one of two flights and share a food pairing for the wines. Hmmm...ok...we could find room in our stomach for this one and we could sit in the car while I waited out the wine consumption. We had a great time here, nice leisurely sipping, with a full plate for various cheeses, olive and fig tapanade, and truffle mousse to mix and match. My sister got one flight and I got the Pinot Noir flight. We found the Pinot Gris just as the description noted, "assertively acidic". Fortunately the triple creme French cheese killed its assertiveness and really brought out the softer fruity side. I ended up buying a couple of bottles of an Oregon Pinot Noir that I thought was both good and at a decent price.

My sister tells me that they don't want to be like Napa. And even though they don't want to be like Napa, some of the places sure price like Napa! Alot of young wineries here many which cropped up only in the last couple of years, so it'll be interesting to see how they develop.

wine on the lawn

I ended up coming across a group of folks on campus who gather for intermittent wine tastings. They don't really happen on a regular basis, just whenever someone declares them. My group moved to a lovely office with a courtyard lawn, so I thought it was a good time to declare one. Unfortunately the warm weather didn't make it to Friday, but it didn't stop people from coming. Usually we have maybe 10 people, this one drew a good 30 folks with 15-16 bottles of wine. I think we went through 10 of them and half way through 4 more with only 2 left unopened.

Along with my "mystery" (scraped off the label from a 2005 2 buck chuck Chardonnay - the California State Fair winner), we also enjoyed:

Villa Creek 2005 Mas de Maha Tempranillo from Paso Robles - a very good screw top Tempranillo. It was great because we didn't have a bottle opener yet and it was the only thing we could open. We have since rectified the situation of the wine bottle opener.

Another wine that people enjoyed was Edmeades Zinfandel, but I didn't get to it before it reached the bottom.

Another wine I enjoyed was a Malbec, but I didn't catch the vineyard, all I know is that there were ants on the neck label. The ants were meant to coincide with the theme of "grass".

For those who didn't drink there were tons of snacks and just all around good conversation. Grant it people couldn't resist talking "shop", but somehow "shop" is so much easier to talk about while sipping wine.

One person brought their sweet beagle who sat on her hind legs at everyone who had food sending her dog telepathy, "drop the food. drop the food".

People enjoyed themselves so much we're thinking of doing the next one in December perhaps with a Champagne theme.

sit n' spin, sip n' spit

Dad loved the Rosenblum Heritage Clone Petite Syrah my sister and brother-in-law served at their wedding so much we all went to Rosenblum to try a few more. I think they turned quite a few people into wine drinkers.

In between sips I demonstrated to the BIL the technique of sipping then spitting, which really does let you really taste the wine as opposed to swallowing. But beginner spitters might want to wear black and watch for the backsplash. The BIL decided to practice at home first before sidling to the spittoon in public.

The Heritage Clone Petite Syrah 2005 is the best of fruit and body. A fruit filled jammy beginning that mellows in a bold body. I'd say you could even sit on this one for a few years.

Nice part about Rosenblum is that tasting is free and they don't skimp on what they're serving in the free five either. $5 gets you a taste of 3 of their higher end bottles, again a very reasonable price.

I don't recall the Chardonnay they served, which probably means it wasn't too memorable. It was probably decent and drinkable.

Three standouts and one boner (sorry for the pun!)

Annette's Reserve Zin, Rockpile Road Petite Syrah, Monte Rossa Vineyard Reserve Zin (which we had at a party the night before, but I'll include here anyway), and Kathy's Cuvee Reserve Viogner.

The three reds above were just delightful. The Rockpile Road is not as bold as the Heritage Clone, like the medium younger brother, but just as wonderful from tip to swallow.

If you like dessert wines, the Viogner (which they do have as a dessert wine), is like a lighter dessert wine, sweet fruity and crisp. Perfect wine for a hot summer afternoon!

While generally Rosenblum puts out some great wines at very reasonable prices, the dog of the day was the dog of the barrel, Chateau La Paws Cote du Bone Roan. Bad puns aside. Drinking this one was as if your tongue was the chew toy. It literally holds the tip of your tongue and doesn't let go! And while there were other aspects of the wine, that tip of the tongue thing irked me. The aroma was buttery, the kind I'd expect in a Chardonnay. Just a strange strange tasting wine overall. I wanted to like it, but eh, you can't like 'em all.

two buck chuck wins double golds!

Charles Shaw 2005 Chardonnay aka Two Buck Chuck for its $1.99/bottle price has won double gold at the California State Fair this year and named best California Chardonnay! We actually bought a couple of boxes for the hell of it and tried it out. We've bought single bottles that cost more than a case of Chuck. I was kind of skeptical, but it's actually a lovely wine. It's not the buttery oaky variety as it is more the crisp fruity chardonnay. The flavor does fill your mouth from front to back with a good weight to it. I found myself easily sipping through a glass of it.

Two buck chuck is a rather hit or miss wine even from year to year. And I've often skipped it as there are plenty of bargain wines of more reliable quality on the shelves. Grant it, it takes its licks as the cheap wine, about as close to the boxed variety as you can get, it does serve a purpose of selling a wine at a price range that everyone just has to try at least once. There will always be the people who drink Bud Light, but then there are the people who try Bud Light then ask themselves, there has to be something better.

I've come to realize everyone has a level in which they like to be at. How can I complain about Charles Shaw for filling that niche of people that want a Bud Light priced wine? That's just business. And while I have to fight the bias of wanting to avoid drinking two buck chuck because it's not "real" wine, I do always have to keep myself open to the possibility that hey anyone can get lucky.

Lately I've been doing alot of comparing and contrasting of photographers/photography, wines and wineries, martial arts and artists, and what often makes one better than the other is the ability to increase their odds of being successful at what they are executing. That no matter the field one is in, less is more. Like the master chess players, what separates them from beginners is that beginners waste time exploring every single option, while the master chess players know which paths are worth exploring. So it's not to say that a beginner might get lucky and pick a good move, it's just that the master chess players have the experience and knowledge to improve their chances of picking a good move. The master photographer who understands lighting, positioning and their equipment need only click a few times to get the right shot, but still spontaneously takes photos just in case they get lucky while in the meantime they are constantly improving their skill so they can get lucky more often.

Heritage Clone Petite Syrah

I'm going to rave about Rosenblum Petite Syrah Heritage Clones. This is actually the wine we just purchased 6 cases of for my sister's wedding. They are now sitting in my garage storage to make sure the wine doesn't disappear in advance of the nuptials. And it would, because the wine is that good. I had it a couple of weeks ago doing a tasting at Rosenblum, then again today at a retirement celebration.

Priced at $18 a bottle, it's a wine you don't have to wait for, just uncork and serve. Rich berry, spice, good structure and nice full flavor through to the back of the throat. It was lovely with the Duck Confit and spinach salad at Le Rose Bistro.

I did also have the Cuvee Blanc, that while buttery, crisp, and delicious by itself, it just didn't work with the duck.

Mama said Knock You Out

Tonight opened a bottle of Molly Dooker "the Boxer" Shiraz from Australia. And like the boxer on the label, it's a big bold shiraz that might very well knock you out the way LLCoolJ says.

Inky, big, chewy, raspberries, coffee, dark chocolate. I opened up the bottle, poured a glass, checked on my laundry, and when I came back its smell filled the entire room. With 16% alcohol it will blow away even the most aromatic Californian wines.

The initial tastes were dry, perhaps overly, and had me reaching for a glass of water. (I like the dry wines that make you want to drink more of the wine.) But if you're the kind of person who has never been sure about the flavors and smells in wine, this would be a great in your starter kit, plus it's screw top, so know fussing with the corkscrew.