Rebel Rose

Date: Yesterday A group of giggling young women. My tasting assistant, Dan, poured our sangiovese-cab blend for the first one on the left, and explained at length what it was. The second woman held out her glass and said, "I'll try that. What is it?" Explanation from Dan. Third woman, "I'll try that, too. What is it?" Dan takes a deep breath and explains again. Fourth woman has not been tasting because she only likes white wines. Suddenly she asks for the syrah. Dan pulls it out and she shrieks, "O wait! It's red?" Dan assures her that it is indeed, very red. She points to the tasting list and wails, "Oh, but it says here that it tastes like blueberries and chocolate! I really wanted to try it." What color did she think it was going to be? I have a firm rule that we are not allowed to laugh until customers reach the end of the driveway. It was a long wait.

Actually, now that you mention it, I don't like wine with eggs. So when we have a frittata for dinner I prefer ice tea. I also prefer ice tea with pizza. In fact, I really really like unsweetened herbal ice tea--I make my own with orange, mint and hibiscus, and often prefer the tea over wine, even with more elaborate dishes.

Brooklyn, did you check out the Best Dining in San Francisco index? It has hundreds of posts and opinions in a ready-to-research format.

I'm having a little trouble visualizing this, as I usually wash the dirt off my food before serving it to guests. Could you be a little more specific? Was there dirt on the food when it was plated? That makes for a gritty meal. Or were there baskets of freshly harvested produce displayed? Or were guests taken on a tour of the farm and surprised to see vegetables growing in dirt? I'm sorry, but I have this wacky visual image of a hundred people at an Outstanding in the Field dinner staring in dismay at their glazed baby carrots in a clay mole with a sprinkling of vermiculite, served with a fizzy limestone water. On the fish/boar issue, it sounds like these people really didn't have a clue what they were doing, and I would have run, too. Not just because their behavior toward the animals was callous, uninformed and gross, but because if they don't know how (and when) to properly dispatch their dinner, I'd have serious concerns about their ability to prepare it. A group of us got grossly and uncomfortably ill after an annual overnight pig roast. Instead of our usual Sunday morning Bloody Mary cleaning up party, we were all drinking Pepto Bismol on ice. You do not want to go there.

Yeah, that's on the cover of the dinner menu, isn't it? Where did that come from? Gosh, I'm so rockandroll illiterate, it's probably a verse from something . . . Joni Mitchell stayed at Esalen for months on end, writing and strumming. Do you think . . .?

A friend and I were just reminiscing about our formerly frequent visits to Big Sur, so of course the subject of Nepenthe came up. Aside from the gorgeous views, and in spite of the low-to-mediocre food, just thinking about the place makes me smile, because it is such a throwback. The last time I ate there, the waitresses were all confirmed tie-dye and Birkie types, and st- uh, easily distracted by the beauty surrounding them. While I placed an order for a sandwich, my waitress cocked her head and stared intently into an upper corner of the room, as though waiting for Gazoo to make an appearance and guide her. After she left the table, my friend and I checked the corner too, but didn't see anything remarkable. When she delivered our meals she set them down dreamily without ever looking down, then floated away. The aroma of *cough* custom-made cigarettes frequently wafts over diners out on the outdoor deck. California culture, we call it, and a dying breed. Do you have any fave hippie/counter-culture/60's throwbacks, or Nepenthe stories?

I hope Bruce will continue with a vineyard report from Sonoma, but in the meantime here's an April followup from our syrah lot in west Paso Robles: Vigorous April shoots enjoying a stretch in the sun. April was a continuation of an unusually rainy spring. Our weather year starts on July 1st, and typically west Paso Robles receives about 20 inches of rain a year. So far, we have received 42.63 inches. This is a closeup of the flowers and buds that will eventually become grapes. And this is a bat. Bats are welcome here, and in fact, we have two bathouses on our wine barn--a single bat can eat 5,000 fruit flies a night. We opened our storm doors last week and found him stunned on the ground. He must have crawled under the door to stay dry. I was afraid we had broken his wings or worse with the heavy door, but I scooped him into a jar (to protect him from the cats), gave him a twig to cling to and hoped he would recover and fly up to the bat houses. We named him Mason the Bat (after the jar). He recovered and has now set up housekeeping with his wife Kerr. I also took a picture of a recent badger hole in the syrah, but it's not as interesting in digital form. It just looks like, well, a hole in the dirt.

The Saturday Templeton market was slimming down on brassicas, but there were still plenty of greens and cool-weather root vegetables. My eye was caught by this pretty tub of Yo Choi, and of course the vendor, Maria, bossy as ever, convinced me that they're good for stirfry, salads and pizza, and she threw in a huge helping of mesclun just to prove her point. Maria says Yo Choi is 'Italian broccoli.' That made it immediately acceptable to my Italian SO, who will not otherwise eat flowers. Chandler strawberries outshone the other varieties available, according to sidewalk votes. Mui fresca! One lady informed me they're the best for taste, but don't hold up as long. Hmph! Three boxes didn't last as many hours. This weekend I've promised to pick up a flat.

Huh. It's possible, I suppose, but seems a bit far-fetched. Even if you can chemically remove the TCA, it will have already interacted with the wine and changed its profile. I'm guessing that if it does work, it would work only with very young wines. It would be great if it's the answer to TCA, though! By the way, TCA can infect entire cellars. It's not just a cork problem. The cork can be fine and the wine still infected with TCA if the winery has poor sanitation.

Beaujolais Nouveau - Clunk or Classic? Biodynamic Winemaking - Voodoo or Veritas? Champagne under $50 Corkage Fees Corkscrews Decanting Dessert Wines for the Holidays DIY Winemaking: Kits, Clubs and Supplies East Coast vs. West Coast Palates Eminently Drinkable Plonk For $10 or Less Glassware Great Wine Costs at Least $100 Guerilla BYO Tactics High Alcohol Wines: Over 14% The Age of the Purple Powerhouse It's Their Party, But Your Wine! Learning About Rhones Looking for Closure: Wine Bottle Closures Marketing Wine to Women Odd Wine News - Weird and Wonderful in the World of Wine Overheard in the Wine Shop . . . Robert Parker and the Wine Advocate Is he the Prince of Points? Sending back a bottle in a restaurant Summer Sippers Sweet Wines Terrible Terms (for otherwise fine wines) Terroir: Earth vs. Man Vineyards are not farms! Banned from the circle of life Who Gets the Wine List? Wine and Chocolate Wine Labels: What's in a Name? Censorship in U.S. Wine Labeling The Wine Clip The Wonders of Winespeak (Cat piss in pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc) What's the most expensive bottle you've ever dropped? Wine and Cheese Wine List Markups - Painfully Priced Wine Lists Wine Literature for the Serious Student Wines of Alsace Wines to Cellar Wine Tasters from Hell Winter Warmers - Sherry and Port

No kidding. I have a wine club member who is a pharmacist. He thinks it ridiculous that pills can be sent in the mail, where they'll sit in sunbaked mailboxes, and where skateboarding kids passing by can swipe them, but he can't have wine delivered directly to his door.

Well of course not; then they'd have to give up the search.

Wisconsin is still a reciprocal state. The only difference is that some carriers are not allowing private individuals to ship wine. Primarily, I think, because many (most?) private individuals are not aware of state shipping laws. So for now only licensed wine shippers can package and ship via common carriers. Some UPS packaging stores are licensed to ship wine. If anyone is interested in shipping wine, you should call around and find a packaging store that can do it for you. And if you're lucky enough to live in wine country, you can always find a friendly winery with a Wisconsin registration and UPS wine shipper's contract who'll send it for you. Also, this is a useful link for anyone with questions about shipping wine to another state. Just click on the color coded map and it will link you to a synopsis of each state's shipping laws. http://www.wineinstitute.org/shipwine/

I have not had the 1998 Justin Isosceles yet (although I have some in the cellar). I would be surprised if it didn't have some herbaceous tones as 1998 was a cool, rainy vintage and the most difficult vintage in the last 15 years. On the other hand, I prefer cabernets that have some herb and spice notes and find many cabs to be uninteresting without that element. As long as it's not green bell pepper, mind you, or sagebrush, or . . .

That's a very key point, and when I teach seminars on food and wine pairing, it's the one I stress the most. A successful food and wine pairing leaves the palate fresh and ready for more. In fact, while I usually eschew red, fatty and marbled meats because they're too rich for my taste, I find that a slightly tannic and acidic red cuts the oily taste of the meat, making each bite seem like the first one, and the fat and rich taste of the meat counterbalances the tannin in the wine, making each sip seem like the first one. Another key to enjoying a successful food and wine pairing is to sip and evaluate, not gulp, during the meal. (Unless you're dining with in-laws or annoying people.) Cachan is right, it's better for digestion to consume only small amounts of liquid during a meal. It always amazes me to see people absent-mindedly gulping water, ice tea or wine while eating. It dilutes the flavor of the meal, and dilutes the stomach acids and enzymes necessary for proper digestion.

Welcome to eGullet, Besos! Thank you for joining us! (I am also envious. What a great service.)

Can I put in an order for Meyer lemons?

An interesting article on petite sirah in California Wine & Food: The Blue Tooth Tour

It works well in the wine forum to have both types of topics. As Susan has pointed out, people searching for information on a particular beer will be able to identify threads devoted solely to that beer, while general discussions on particular types of beer or ingredients will probably have more participation. It's actually fun to have both, and even though a specific review might not generate a lot of discussion, sometimes they spark a separate, more general discussion. I say go for it! PS: My SO and I are amateur beermakers and will be starting another batch soon. We're still working on ales, but may attempt a lager soon as we feel we can utilize our ultra-air-conditioned wine cellar for it. It's just that our cellar is also our tasting room. What would we say to visitors when they walk in and sniff, sniff, gee, what's that strange beer-like aroma?

This is a very simple step, but it was a revelation to me when I first learned it. (Sort of a "doh" moment.) When we steam artichokes, we like to put tons of herbs and spices on top of the trimmed choke (we go heavy with lemon pepper, but also use minced garlic, thyme, paprika, etc.). Then we pour the olive oil slowly over the herbs, opening the leaves a little so all that goodness sinks in between the leaves. These recipes are giving me serious cravings, especially Soba's.

I'm very fond of the reds from Henry's Drive in Padthaway. They're affordable, too.

That's a good question, tana. Actually, one can discover more information on sustainable farming by visiting most of these sites. Your small farms blog apparently covers quite a few organic/sustainable California producers. Do they have websites that you can list here?

Monica, so happy to see your blog! The henna party looks fun, and the photos are gorgeous. (I use henna powder on my hair, love the way it hides the gray and makes my hair springy and shiny. Last time I ran out I couldn't figure out why, and I was standing there shaking the box, puzzled, until my SO walked by and asked me nonchalantly to order some more. Now we'll try it with tea, lemon and egg!)

Here is a link to Wine from Sky to Earth: Growing & Appreciating Biodynamic Wine, by Nicolas Joly. I've read it several times, and while it suffers from poor expression and poorer translation, it's still an interesting book, if you're curious about biodynamics. Certain California wineries, I seem to recall that Fetzer is one, are burying the ashes of bull horns at the end of vineyard rows under a full moon. I forget why. Personally, I was interested in the part (actually I think this was in Rudolf Steiner's books) about getting rid of leafhoppers and other beetles, but I'm not sure I have the time or energy to burn them, sift their ashes, measure the x100 appropriate amounts into water and stir a large tub of this concoction counter-clockwise by hand for two hours while the sun is ascending. I kid you not.

Thanks for the notes, Craig. Your descriptions are making me hungry . . .