Weekend Wandering...

This weekend I went for a drive and ended up in Sacramento at my dear friends "quirky" apartment (her words, not mine!).  Since the day was more sunny than rainy, we made the in town stops as soon as possible (Hobby Lobby!  Chick-fil-a!)  and then headed up into the Sierra Foothills and Placer County to see what we could see.  

Our first stop was at the Courthouse in Auburn.  A fine, majestic piece of architecture that has been refurbished in a befitting manner.  In the right light, it has a golden glow to it.  Of course, I was on the wrong side of the sun, but it's still impressive. There's a small museum inside that we wandered about, before heading for the wine trails.

We managed to make stops at four wineries, but only tasted wine at three. One of the wineries smelled of something "off" and so it was a quick in-and-out stop.  We found out later they had a skunk in the roof of the hillside cave.  Oops!

Mt Vernon

Vina Castellano

View from FawnRidge (Have you been "fawndled" today?)

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset over Dona Dal Cielo

The next day found us up and out to Thunder Valley for a look at the breakfast buffet (pass...) where we instead had a delightful meal at the cafe' instead.  We christened the nav system in the new car "Trixie" as she correctly gave us directions to the "tricky" to find Lone Buffalo winery.  There's no way we would have found the place without her.  The owners of the Lone Buffalo recommended us to the Pescatore Vineyard who recommended we stop at the Wise Villa Winery, where we met Rolando and his horse J.T., of Cuba originally, although you could tell by his "hey y'all" that he had spent a portion of his life in the south...

Between Pescatore & Wise Villa, we ran across the Gold Hill Cemetery.  I'm always willing to stop at an old cemetery, just to wander around and check out the dates and names.  This is a small cemetery and old.  But clearly, still maintained.  One of the more unique headstones was covered in broken marble.  And this resin angel is standing guard over another's love. 

The drive home in the rain was uneventful, I think mostly due to the fact that folks were home watching the football games. 

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Bernardus, 1997 Marinus Reserve

Bernardus Winery
1997 Marinus Reserve
Carmel Valley

This weekend we celebrated our 24th anniversary at Morton's in San Jose.  Since we can usually handle a bottle of wlne with a big meal like that, we raided our cellar for something special to take with us.  This is the last bottle of three we purchased some time ago. 

We had taken a nice trip to the Monterey/Carmel Valley area for some time out and wine tasting.  Bernardus was probably the nicest wine we had that trip.  The Marinus Reserve was already tasting quite good, and we ended up purchasing the last three bottles in stock.  I can recall the previous bottle, fruity and ripe, also served with a steak.  This one was, again, clearly past it's prime, but still presenting well.  A bit light when tasted by itself.  Still fruity, but soft, with nearly no tannins left.  A bit of caramel on the side.  Mark's nose said oak still, but aged and vanilla.  When drunk with the steak however, the fats and carmelized fond smoothed it even further, and made the wine taste just fabulous. 

I'm sad to see it gone, as it no longer will be around to bring back memories of a great trip to Carmel, however, it was time to go.

David Bruce, 2000 Carneros, Pinot Noir, Truchard Vineyard

David Bruce
2000 Carneros
Pinot Noir
Truchard Vineyard

I recently cleaned out under the stairs, our otherwise known as wine cellar.  Wine Club boxes were racked, a few (or more) from the last trip into Napa/Sonoma were slid into place, and all of a sudden, I have no room left.  A quick count revealed that if I open a bottle a week, I've got enough to drink for three years, assuming it's not all turned to vinegar.  And that's not counting the champagne, odd lots, and other adult beverages in my bar.  In order to give some purpose to my "buying problem", I need to make some headway into this backlog of vino.  I'm planning on doing an inventory list this week, so I can find the ones that need to get drunk sooner than later.  And, know where those special anniversary bottles are located.

Tonight I opened up the David Bruce wine linked above.  The wine is spicy and warm, but a bit light on the body.  The tannins have all but disappeared.  Although clearly past it's prime, it will go well with our dinner tonight, and even tomorrow too.

What a weekend....

Saturday:  Brooks & Dunn Last Rodeo Tour

Sunday:  Sonoma County Wine Tour

Geyser Peak:

2005 Alexander Valley Meritage
2005 Ascentia Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
2005 Kuimelis Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley

2007 Block Collection Merlot, J & J Fay Ranch

2005 Merlot, Alexander Valley

Clos du Bois:

2005 Clos du Bois Briarcrest Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Clos du Bois Reserve Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Francis Ford Coppola Winery:

2007 Director's Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvingon

Trentadue Winery:

2005 La Storia Meritage

Dry Creek Vineyard:

2005 Endeavour Cabernet Sauvignon

David Bruce Winery

This past weekend we went for a very short drive up our mountains to one of our favorite wineries - David Bruce Winery.
It was just a quick trip with a purpose - to pay back my BIL. When he visits Hawaii (quite frequently!) we sends me bags of Kona Coffee. And not just a couple, but more than enough to keep my habit satiated.

But you can't go to a winery without tasting, even if you know what you want to buy. So we tasted. Or, rather, I tasted, he sniffed. They were pouring four different wines last weekend -

1. 1. 2002 Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido - a vineyard wine made with grapes from only the Bien Nacido vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley. This was by far the best wine we tasted this afternoon. It was fruity with just a hit of tannins to keep it from being too soft.
   2. 2005 Sangiovese, Paso Robles - Paso Robles is a beautiful section of California between here and Los Angeles. It's a straight shot down Highway 101 into the valley and has some great wines and vineyards in the local. Unfortunately, I don't appreciate Sangiovese. It's spicy and seems to be watered down when I taste it.
   3. 2005 Petite Sirah Central Coast - Sunset Magazine named this a "food friendly wine", and I can see that. It's a very mild wine that will not overpower most anything you could throw at it, and has a sweet red-fruit flavor that most people will like. I personally prefer a Merlot for that - it's just got a bit more body to it than the Petite Sirah.
   4. and another 2005 Pinot Noir - I don't remember if it was the Sonoma Coast or the Central Coast, but it was not as good as the Bien Nacido Pinot Noir. It was a bit weak and watery and not really what I was looking for.

I had a good time tasting, but picked only the Bien Nacido from the tasting to forward on to the BIL. He also received some Pinot Noirs from the Russian River and the Sonoma Coast. To your health!