Carolyn Tillie

From the theatre of the absurd: I would like to prepare a French Laundry-style feast for the Last Supper. Something about the image of Jesus holding one of those minature cones and Judas arguing over the wine pairings...

Not necessarily -- it is just that this is a surprisingly freakish year with budbreak having occurred a full six weeks early. Last year, we were still harvesting into the first week of November.

What is "dropping fruit"? Also, if the fruit is trimmed off as part of suckering, does it continue to "ripen" off the vine? Or is it waste? If it's waste, how is it determined which fruit gets cut off and which fruit stays on the vine? Are the trimmings composted to be used to amend the soil next year, or does the risk of disease mean you can't compost the trimmings? Well, "dropping fruit" is literally that -- clipping it from the vine and letting it drop to the ground. I was wrong in assuming we were dropping fruit during suckering. It was just leaves and vines being trimmed. Fruit is dropped when they are 90% colored -- the ones that are dropped have a percentage (30% to 50%) green to still to them. Also there is "second crop" which are little clusters that start to form on the vine -- those are dropped so the vine won't keep working to produce them.

Mumm started yesterday so we're 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. My group will pick Sav Blac early Sept. Then the reds will come. Champagne; whites then reds. Any idea's Carolyn since your in another county and higher than us? I'm in Sonoma. I'd be surprised if we started any earlier than the second week of September -- and that will be REALLY early for us. Like Winesomona said, I'm in another county and much higher in elevation. I am seeing PV vines on the valley floor that are at full verasion and quite beautifully purple where our's has not a hint of color yet.

Okay, New Yorkers! SOMEBODY has got to go in there and get the scoop for us here on the other coast... I loved the show - I loved the drama - I loved the back-stabbing, guilt-ridden, product-placement, anxiety-driven angst! PLEASE????

Go figure -- I couldn't see it before but can now! I'm like Balmagowry -- buy 'em all! I can't get enough Historical Cuisine books and continually fight the urge in buying more and more. While I am concentrating on researching and writing about Victorian cuisine, I can't say I really have a preference. I started out doing culinary historical recreation for the Renaissance Faire. Then some Freemasons hired me to create a feast honoring the supposed meeting between Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin (a la The Crusades). Then a group wanted to do ancient Greek and Roman feasts. It has been downhill from there!

While reading Balmagowry's comment this thread about stinky cheese, I realize there are some hilarious cheese names out there. Balmagowry laughed at Hooligan as being almost as funny as Stinking Bishop. My favorite is Lamb Chopper. What are some others?

You are exactly in the ballpark -- but it includes more than excess leaves, but also whole stalks and sometimes fruit as well, although "dropping fruit" can be a separate act often done several weeks after suckering. In our case with the PV vine, we suckered AND dropped fruit simultaneously.

I asked because the winery I work at (a stone's throw from Neal) is also an appointment-only establishment. As we speak, I am building an Excel spreadsheet on how many guests we see who buy vs. who does not buy. It is not a given and when I get a reasonably accurate number, I'll post it here. I could guess that 60-70% buy wine, but it would only be a guess.

Shawn and I only have a single 45-bottle cheapo fridge similar to this one - however we found it when Home Depot had it one sale for $139 (after Thanksgiving). It holds 40-some bottles and may be similar to the one the Melkors have. I will probably buy another one this year (maybe two). The bottom line is that our "good bottles" go in this fridge and the rest are stacked in cases around the house, getting warm. "The Rest" are the ones that we know are probably getting slightly ruined however the intent with these is to drink them within a year so long-term cellaring is not an issue. I wish I had a cellar and have considered constructing a walled-in area in our garage that would be like a walk-in to which an air-conditioner could be attached. I've seen this done in numerous California houses to great success. Probably a bit costly for us. While I'd like a large, cabinet model like a EuroCave, it is easier to justify spending that kinda of money on wine! I'm always interested in those folks with so much money that they hire cellaring companies to store their wine. There are ton of them in business and while I can see the benefit for the wine's sake, it is still hard for me to conceive of having so much money that one would always have a stock of good wine available AND have more of it stored elsewhere for later drinking.

Ahem, as one who was born in 1959, allow me to introduce myself and ask, How can I become your best friend? I don't think I could ever have enough best friends! But in this case, I have to admit that I didn't own or even purchase the bottle. WNissen and I also participate in Robin Garr's Wine Lover's Discussion Group and this particular chat group often has what they call "offlines" which are similar to eG gatherings except that participants always bring fabulous wines from their cellar to share. In this particular case, eleven of us met in a Berkeley restaurant bringing over 20-some wines to share. Here were the notes, written by the guy who organized the event (although WNissen posted notes as well but the search is not producing those right now):

Hathor, I'm sorry I didn't get around to re-shooting the vine right after it got suckered last week. Hope you can see the difference here: Funny that verasion is starting almost everywhere else (heck, Winesonoma even said that Mumm has started HARVESTING!). it just means for a longer blog, my friends...

The continuing news -- Lawyer Says Clients Want to Sell Rocco's

It is part of my charm!

I'd also like to welcome you, Mark! I feel a bit guilty -- the Neal Family vineyards are a mere stone's throw from where I am and I have yet to get there and taste. I must admit surprise that you buy a wine you can't stand "out of courtesy." It begs a general question -- does one feel obligated to purchase just because one is given a tour and/or barrel taste? What compelled you to purchase a wine either their $45 or even $80 cab you didn't like?

Freak! The most important thing is to eat it in such a way that the butter runs all the way down your arm to your elbow. Squeat Yeah, well, we KNOW I'm a freak -- 'cuz I like my corn NAKED! No salt, no butter -- just the sweet 'lil kernals all on their own, row-by-row...

I admit it -- I eat my corn-on-the-cob rather obsessively. I bite a bit off both ends, but then I have to work the rows rather systematically -- sometimes two or three rows at a time, but it drives me nuts to see those who bite right in the center and have half-eaten kernels just dangling there, out of order. When I am getting close to finishing, I have a neat, tight little square of kernels left. Sick, huh?

I'm beginning to agree -- whenever I make a roadtrip from NoCal to SoCal, I stop to buy stuff for the freezer, but it is really only good if it is brought home and cooked immediately. The restaurant is WAY overrated and hideously expensive for what you get.

That's awesome! I live in the Bay area... Where do you get it? Well I am up here in Napa -- I get it at either Vallergas Market in Napa or Sonoma Market in Sonoma. That probably doesn't help you if you are in the city...

Too many stories... which are the yuckiest??? Shawn and I bought a used refrigerator that a friend had in a storage unit for 5 years which really smelled bad -- heavy discussion on how to get rid of smell (coal? coffee? much was debated). We started cleaning and couldn't figure out how to get rid of the smell. Finally, a piece of the freezer unit broke out and out fell *something* wrapped in plastic. We don't have a clue what it was -- but the smell soon dissipated. Shortly after the Northridge earthquake (in the month of January), I had to start house-hopping amongst friends (my place was demolished). I had some very nice friends across town who offered me a room. I never could eat in their house because the kitchen was too much of a mess. Finally, not being able to stand it anymore (mid-February), I started cleaning. I shortly found their THANKSGIVING left-overs from the previous November. I went back to being homeless and living in my car, finding it preferable to the maggots I was living with (not my friends, the actual vermin). Okay, that's enough yuck from me -- I'm realizing I have too many of these stories...

Okay, explain this to a Californian... WHY did New York make raw milk illegal??? I believe that it is also illegal in CA. I've been buying it for years -- according to this site, this is a list of the states that do and do not offer raw milk. And, after googling a bit, I've learned a lot -- not realizing it WAS illegal in certain states! (go figure).

Okay, explain this to a Californian... WHY did New York make raw milk illegal???

Very well said, Brad. The few additions I might add would be that great consideration must be made in how a wine is cellared -- I believe there is a misconception among those who believe that "cellaring" is nothing more than leaving a wine lie on its side, assuring that the cork is wet. The length of time a wine has in a bottle is greatly lengthened if the bottles are kept at a constant 55°, with little or no light, mild humidity to assure the cork does not dry out, and an occasional turn of the bottle (once a year?). As I've never had a Pinot from Burgundy, I didn't realize it was a grape that stood up to time -- sadly, I've only had California and Oregon Pinots that were fading well before a five-year date! Brad is again correct on the correlation between New World wines and European wines. Burgundian-style Chardonnays can have 15 to 20 years ina bottle that a California Chardonnay would never have (maximum 5 to 8, IMHO). On the Riesling question, I recently tasted a Riesling from 1959 that was pretty spectacular, although it had a "kerosene" nose that some might find questionable but I am learning is pretty acceptable to older Rieslings. Lastly, on the Sauterne - there is no reason a REALLY GOOD Sauterne and many dessert wines with high sugar can't be cellared for fifty years or more! I have tasted some 80-year-old Port and Sauterne that were exquisite.

Why is a small pour important? If the bottle is corked, there's no difference between a small pour and a big pour...its all getting dumped. Where I live it's getting returned and replaced. Maybe not the exact same vintage but something close. Very true. Do not dump a bad bottle -- a reputable dealer should replace it and it is much easier to return a bottle that isn't half empty if it is bad. Also, Adegiulio, if I get an jerk for a waiter who doesn't know about proportion in a glass, than I have a glass that is too full to significantly swirl -- for that, I want a small pour so I can *force* the tatse open to see how the tastes are going to develop after the bottle has been open for a while. It is much hard to give a heft swirl to a full glass.

Other additions to the list would be Pilar's in Napa, La Toque in St. Helena, and Sonoma Saveur in Sonoma.