Trip Reports - California - 11/17-28

1117
We arose in the wee hours only to find the water off -
all we got on trying the taps was a quantity of red-
brown sludge and copious air, not significantly superior
to what we could produce ourselves without difficulty.
So we got into the car dirty and grumbly and went off
to Preflight, where a smily and tip-hungry shuttle
driver got us to the airport maybe half past 5.

Checkin and security went quickly, and I had a good
visit with Susan at the club and a chance to impress
Carol with the vast variety of Flavia beverages
available, all of which she found yucky.

US 231 BWI PIT 0645 0743 734 1AB

An uneventful flight, nice crew. Got in a bit early so
went to the club, where I asked about our upgrade: the
lady at the desk said that there was one seat open, but
it didn't look good for another. We waited around until
everyone would have cleared before going to the gate and
asking the agent, who confirmed that there was but one
seat available, so we punted that and went back to the
exit row (quite nice, actually) on

US 73 PIT SFO 0835 1103 319 2F/9AB

where we had more legroom than anyone would want
anyhow, so the downsize from 321 to 319 after I'd got
the tickets wasn't resented (too much, anyway). Just
before we took off, they surprise upgraded a blonde
(bleached, says Carol, cattily) from the second row of
coach; she took her stuff and happily strutted up to
take her (the FT/MMer in me says MY!) seat. No food
on either flight, I think, but what do I know, I
snoozed most of both flights.

We came in half an hour early, so we had our bags and
rushed to the International Terminal food court about
the time we were scheduled in; we'd received a message
from our friend JT, who had just worked UA870 out of
Sydney. She'd checked for us on all the UA passenger
lists she could think of and drew a blank (I'd sent her
our itinerary, and she must have ignored the US, as
what would a 1K be doing flying into San Fran on
anything but UA?) and was frantic. The message said she
would have waited for us, but the flight had come in
way early; she could hang around until 10:30, but was
really bushed and couldn't stay much longer (had to
drive 40 miles home while jetlagged). Scoped the joint
out - she was gone - and sat around a while; we were
joined shortly before noon by KathyWdrf (on her way
to Venice) and VPescado (in the area anyway).

It was a fun visit, spiced by the fact that VPescado
is a dead ringer for Carol's younger son, from fuzzy
beard to fuzzy sense of humor (I hadn't noticed, but
once she pointed out the resemblance, it was really
pretty striking and amusing). Amid the hilarity, the
food was kind of forgotten - Carol and I had agreed
to do a comparison of burgers from Willow Street and
Lori's, but there is a certain aridity to horizontal
tastings of airport food. Suffice it to say that mine
was okay, ordered medium-rare and gotten medium, and
hers was okay minus, ordered medium-rare and gotten
medium-well. The most notable difference was that her
tomato garnish was plasticlike and mine cardboardlike.

VPescado very kindly drove us to our royal digs at the
Travelodge Airport South (in Millbrae right by the
intermodal station) so we could wash up before shopping
and dinner.

The room was average in every way, but the shower was
wonderfully large and luxurious (remember that we'd
been deprived of running water for nearly 24 hours
before you evaluate this statement!). A quick freshen,
and off on the BART to Carol's destination of choice,
the Lush store on Powell, whose smell nauseates me, so
I retreated to the Gold Dust across the street for a
draft or two. Luckily, Carol spent a relative pittance
so she could afford to join me for a drink before we
strolled to the shops at the ferry terminal, where we
sniffed cheeses and sausages, sampled olive oils,
lusted after caviar and rich wines, and bemoaned our
inaccessibility to a kitchen; soon it was time to join
Bob (Mr. squeakr) for the trip (long, stuffy, slow,
overcrowded - there had apparently been some delay
earlier on, for which we paid) on the N-Judah to Minh
Tri, a homey restaurant in the Sunset District, where
the happy diners included squeakr and Bob, VPescado and
travelkhatt, tattikat2, and the two of us. squeakr and
Bob were greeted as old friends by the proprietor, who
sold us on a bunch of bottles of a rather too light
Vietnamese beer called Halida; probably the weakest
part of a quite good meal.

The flyerpeople gabbled on happily about challenges and
certificates and Singapore and Shanghai while Carol sat
quietly rolling her eyes. No matter, she's getting used
to it (at another gathering, GoingAway had said "you
don't get it, but you'll learn") and reaped the rewards
on this trip with three first-class seats and an exit-
row one out of four tries. It was an especial pleasure
getting to know tattikat2, whom I've met before but not
had that much chance to talk to.

Started off with an assortment of fresh rolls - pork,
pork and shrimp, vegetable, all nice; and spicy and
regular chicken satays.

With the full dinner comes a spicy shrimp soup and
dessert; we were kind of encouraged to get the dinner,
and that turned out to be excellent advice. The soup,
even in its sinus-clearing incarnation, was well
balanced, with seafood flavors coming out nicely
through the spiciness. The proprietor had a certain
evil glint in his eye when VPescado and I ordered the
stuff "as hot as you can eat it," and it came out nice
and spicy - not fatally so, but probably as hot as he
could eat it.

Main dishes:

Spicy squid was insufficiently spicy, until some of
us who shall remain nameless added a dollop of heat
to our portions.

The seafood soup was crammed full of interesting
creatures and quite a bargain, I thought. I tasted
Carol's spicy version, which was yummy, but travelkhatt
appeared to be kept busy with her "no spice" iteration
as well.

I'd jumped at the spicy beef as soon as it was pointed
out that it was prepared with eggplant; I was well
pleased by it and had more than my share of it; a
judicious watering with hot pepper stuff made the
flavors jump right out.

A Vietnamese crepe was much more crepelike than
versions I've had elsewhere, where they're either more
pancaky or more omeletty. Quite good, though, and a
really generous portion.

Tofu and asparagus and ginger chicken were well-made,
delicious even, but I didn't pay much attention to
them as I have often prepared these dishes myself,
sort of similarly, except that the chicken was
sweetened with a teaspoon of sugar, something I would
probably not do.

When dessert time came, we were all, even those who
had asked for the a la carte option, presented with
bowls of coconut ice cream with bits of pineapple
and sided with a plump fried banana. Yummy.

The bill was agreeably small.

More chat at the table and then out onto the sidewalk,
after which we went on our ways, Carol's and mine made
easier and happier by VPescado and travelkhatt taking
us back to the motel on their way back south. We fell
into bed early and had a good night's rest.

1118
On further investigation and a good night's sleep, the
shower turned out to be merely okay, with a certain
cinderblocky resemblance to a locker room shower. But
it was clean, had a massaging showerhead, and provided
lots of nice hot water. We were just finishing a long
and leisurely holiday getting-up process, when I
decided to call dgolds to firm up the day's plans; good
thing, too. "Didn't you get my e-mail?" "The wireless
was down at the motel." "They called a mandatory 2:00
meeting." "Oh, [poop], but there's a train in half an
hour." So we put ourselves into high gear and got out
to the station in good time. Convenience to the train
had been the deciding factor between the Travelodge and
the Radisson Miyako, which I like and which was offering
some large number of bonus points as I haven't stayed
at a Radisson in a while. And so we lucked out again.

dgolds met us at the Santa Clara station and took us to
one of his favorite Indian restaurants, Dasaprakash,
which is apparently run by members of some kind of
religious vegetarian sect. If they could smell the meat
on my body odor, they didn't say anything and were as
nice as can be. The food was terrific. We have a very
good vegetarian Indian restaurant in Columbia, but we
don't get there too often, as it's 20 miles down the
road, and I'm a meatarian anyway, and this was maybe
not better, but certainly comparable.

I had the North Indian thali, which consisted of:
cauliflower-coconut chickpea curry, excellent;
yellow dal-cabbage curry; very good if a tad salty;
brown dal in a thin sour gravy, very refreshing;
a thin tomato preparation that packed a hidden
secondary punch; dal and spinach, less tasty than
the other dishes; and yogurt that was so thick and
sourly delicious that even I ate it. Dessert was a
cashew goo that I've had before but can't recall
where. All was very tasty and rather spicy; Carol
could eat only little tastes of my dishes.

Carol's South Indian thali was surprisingly much milder
in heat although still well seasoned. A tomato salad
with plenty of cilantro was very much to her taste,
although not my style at all. The star was a carrot and
some other root vegetable (cut small and unidentifiable
- turnip perhaps) curry with a fruit flavor (tamarind?
we originally thought raisins of some kind), very yummy
indeed. Other dishes were curries of potato, eggplant
and bell pepper (in deference to my fondness for
eggplant, Carol gave away much of this), and chickpeas.
Her dairy foods were raita and the dessert, a not-too-
sticky-sweet gulab jamun.

dgolds' potato dosa was simple by comparison, but the
pancake part, which I tasted, was quite nice.

After lunch, we went off to Mountain View for a cup of
coffee before dgolds had to rush off to his meeting.
I went on directly to the train station, where I worked
on the laptop for an hour while Carol shopped; then we
took the Caltrain to Tamien, where my friend Ken met us
and took us home to visit his family and pet budgie.
Candy and Kyler and Erin were by shortly, and we had a
nice visit, the oldsters (Ken and myself being the same
age, Candy and Carol a bit younger) everlastingly
impressed by the vast reserves of energy of the kids,
who after a shy period became quite familiar, and then
rambunctious, and then went off (after politely inviting
us and receiving the expected regrets) to watch Super
Mario or something. When our tummies started rumbling
again, we all went off to Fat Wok, aka Soong Soong,
their local favorite for Taiwanese food. Shortly after
we were seated, my uncle Peter joined us, and then the
parade of delicacies began. We started with a seafood
chowder, Hong Kong style, very delicate, then went for
something rather more earthy, a pressed tofu salad with
julienned root vegetables. I was surprised that the kids
enjoyed this as much as we did, although Kyler had to be
bribed to eat his vegetables with a scallion pancake.

The main dishes were standard pork and green beans and
beef with baby bamboo shoots (not quite so standard, as
the bamboo shoots were fresh, not canned), the very
Taiwanese chicken in clay pot with basil, a deftly fried
sweet-sour fish, walnut shrimp (fried shrimp in sweet
mayonnaise, combined with unsweet fried walnuts - I
think maybe a Hong Kong dish), and baby clams in black
bean sauce.

Peter was shocked at the amount of food on the table,
but somehow almost all of it disappeared in due time.

Much fun eating, talking, and chasing the kids around
(there were some romantic couples in the restaurant
who were probably not overpleased by the change in
ambience, but, hey, I thought, the best form of
birth control).

1119
Nice day, and Uncle Peter took us to the Monterey Bay
Aquarium to see the fishies. Watching fish makes me
hungry, so we took VPescado and travelkhatt's
recommendation and had a late lunch/early dinner at
Abalonetti on Fisherman's Wharf. A rather surly host
slouching at the bar; a cheery and efficient waitress
who appeared to be doing everything. Good food: started
with an antipasto of, let's see, squid salad, fennel,
olives, artichokes, eggplant, zucchini, feta, broccoli
rabe, broccolini, and a whole roast clove of garlic.
Carol ordered a special of the day, seafood in white
wine sauce over penne (the real special was in red
sauce, but they gladly substituted white), excellent;
Uncle Peter had the calamari combo - breaded steak,
rolled with cheese, and with eggplant a la parmigiana,
all good. After having eaten the bulk of the antipasto,
all I had room for was the fried squid appetizer. Beer
was a perfect accompaniment. As the sun set, we drove
back north for our encounter with the SF Symphony at
Flint Center, where we heard a good performance of a
somewhat dull piece, the Martinu Sinfonietta La Jolla;
a dull performance of a great piece, Mendelssohn's
violin concerto as done by a young girl, Tamaki
Kawakubo; and a somewhat good performance of a somewhat
good piece, the Oxford Symphony by Haydn. The conductor
was Edwin Outwater, a youngish fellow who shows promise.

1120

We went along with Uncle Peter to the Morgan Hill
farmers' market. He helps out, mostly for Swank Farms,
on Saturday mornings. Seems it started out years ago
when Aunt Julia used to buy stuff there; she was
convinced Swank had the best produce around, and she
went from being a satisfied customer to a shill for the
place, standing out front and telling everyone what
great fruit and veg they had. When Aunt Julia died,
Uncle Peter started doing the same thing, and what the
heck, it gets him out, and he gets his week's veggies
for free. There's also another fellow, a former Lucent
exec and now Silicon Valley entrepreneur named Victor,
who helps out, just for the heck of it; a high-school
kid who also works for vegetables; a farm worker who
gets paid (I hope so, anyhow), and the owner, Everett.
The stand has a variety of stuff, with excellent
tomatoes, handmade salsa (the hot is good), jalapenos
(Everett gave me one to try, and I chowed it right down,
so he gave me some more because I amused him; then some
other person tried one and started to choke and cry,
and so had to buy a pound of them), and some kind of
corn that manages to be sweet even though it's almost
at the dent stage. Anyhow, that was what was there in
the middle of November. We spent some time chatting
with Everett and Victor and then excused ourselves to
wander the block-long market and see other things.

Other things: a kettle corn guy (it is said that the
owner is a nasty piece of work and one shouldn't buy
from him), a couple of bakeries (good cinnamon buns),
a farm that specializes in Asian greens, several apple,
grape, and persimmon farms. And the tamale guy, from
whom we got a pork tamale (pretty good chile verde
inside) and a cheese and pepper tamale (lots of cheese
and jalapeno halves, which Carol pulled out and gave
to me). A pretty festive atmosphere, and I was pleased
to see Uncle Peter enjoying himself. Back home with
armloads of stuff, none of which I got to taste, as we
had dinner plans and then were leaving in the morning.

= =

Met my friends Brian and JT and their twenty-one-ish
son JF at Mexico Lindo, Foxworthy and Cherry, in San
Jose - a very successful local chain serving homestyle
cooking. I used to do gigs with Brian when he was a
young freelance musician, but then he grew up and got
a doctorate in physics and became a professor at San
Jose State; JT is a many-year veteran flight attendant
for United - she was hired on right out of music school
to star in United's roadshow (someone at headquarters
must have been hot for music back then, because that was
around the time United bought the rights to Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue, which at the time I thought a horrible
blow to musical purity [g]), and when they dissolved the
roadshow some years later, they told her she had to
actually become a FA instead of playing one on stage.
They are completely different and both dear old friends.
We had a bunch to talk about - old and new musical stuff
and the state of the union (the AFA, that is) and what
our mutual friends are doing. Then the food came, and
this sort of stopped all conversation.

The guacamole was odd - with a spritz on the tongue;
the salsa and chips, however, were excellent. Lots of
sangria (decent), but not so much as to make us drunk,
so I thought.

On the table: carne asada (Brian)(I didn't taste);
a couple combination plates that were good and copious;
(un)fortunately JT's chile relleno was so spicy she
couldn't eat it, so I got that in return for a few
shreds of my carnitas, which came in a massive portion
(Uncle Peter also had this, but we could have easily
split one dinner). Carol had machaca (scrambled eggs
with beef), which was weird but filling. A pleasant
meal, all told, despite the horribly out of tune
singing by some preadolescent crooner that the house
band periodically pulled in to garner sympathy tips or
something. Ended up splitting the bill down the middle,
doing the dueling gold cards thing, and then went down
to Jazz and Java in Willow Glen, where we heard a
Japanese singer who did quite well until she tried to
scat sing, which she couldn't do at all at all.

1121

Uncle Peter dropped us off at Diridon Station, our bags
augmented with a couple dozen persimmons from his tree.
We said goodbye and headed into the station; but when I
went to get our Caltrain tickets ... it turned out I had
JT's credit card and she mine. Called Brian up on the
phone and got him to roar out to the train station a few
minutes before our train was to leave. Unfortunately, JT
and my card were nowhere to be found, but at least I
got to hand hers over. Seventy easy minutes down to
Millbrae; met nologic98 on the train; we exchanged
pleasantries, and then he went back to the phone to
fight for an upgrade on his flight to Frankfurt.

Ian and Jacquie were standing on the platform to greet
us and help us with our junk. We went to the parking
lot and piled our luggage and ourselves into the back
of the rented red Sebring and roared down the street
to Fook Yuen (at least a quarter mile), where we met
VPescado again. We were seated fairly quickly, and
then, of course, the food people started coming up
immediately, and, of course, we ended up getting too
much food.

Started with a double order of suckling pig (rather
expensive, but I thought it worth it until I found out
that some among us thought it was duck). Crunchy skin,
just enough fat, tender meat, and lots of those funny
little baked bean things.

The chive dumplings were fabulous, as were various
kinds of shrimp dumplings (the ones with scallops as
well as shrimp, which I have not learned to tell by
sight or Cantonese name, are not as good, but somehow
I always end up with one order of them).

Shao long bao (Shanghai juicy steamed buns) were not so
juicy as I would have liked, but otherwise fine.

Bean curd sheet with vegetables were nice, but as you
know I'm a meatarian, and the beef rolled around enoki
mushrooms with braised red onion were better - terrific
aroma and taste of beef fat: for some reason the gals
had most of the former and the guys most of the latter.

For the veggie lovers, we had orders of gai lan,
eggplant, and green beans. They were actually quite
good, although I don't see the point of ordering gai
lan when I can make it way better at home (no sitting
around in the steamer for ages at home).

I requested the baby octopus with seaweed for a treat:
turned out not to be anyone's treat but mine. Ian had a
couple and no more, commenting (falsely) that the main
appeal of the dish was textural; VPescado, who I thought
liked them, didn't (it's travelkhatt who likes them);
and Jacquie and Carol were grossed out by the mere
prospect.

We were plenty full, but mango pudding called, and at
length we toddled out more than satisfied.

We did a few sightseeing things, such as going up to
Twin Peaks for the panorama of the city, and then headed
north to the Doubletree Sonoma Wine Country, which is
not exactly in wine country, but let that pass. Carol's
and my room was a pleasant one with a giant bed - bigger
we thought than a California king. After washing up, Ian
and Jacquie took us to meet our guides, or whatever they
were, Marina and Lee (unfortunate juxtaposition of
names, but truth is stranger than fiction), who have a
dairy farm in Penngrove, and then out to the Thai Orchid
in Rohnert Park, where Ian said he had had one of the
best Thai meals of his life earlier in the week. It's
rather unprepossessing, a seedy little storefront in a
strip mall, the tiny kitchen being off to the left and
the dining room decorated in sort of Chinatown yuck. Be
that as it may, the food was really quite good, though
angels did not sing over this head while I ate, loudly
anyhow.

Tom kha gai and tom yum goong, the standby soups of the
American Thai restaurant, were both good, as was the
chicken satay. Tod mun, fried fish cakes, were a little
greasy, as well as being odd-textured and very mild in
flavor. I have had good tod mun only once anywhere in
the world, and I forget where that was, but Ian wanted
to try them.

A seafood combination dish, ordered in two versions
(mild and Thai hot), was pleasant and abundant; pork in
yellow curry, Thai hot, was very tasty but only only
somewhat hot, which led us to debate whether "Thai hot"
means really, really hot or just authentically hot,
because the dish (perhaps) is not meant to be the
spiciest of all foods. A beef in green curry, Thai hot,
was a bit hotter, but I added more hot pepper to the
scoop on my plate, which I thought improved it much.
Carol confined her attentions to raad nar noodles with
seafood - the noodles were more al dente than I'm used
to for this dish, but that was a nice change. The
seafood was fresh. A big winner was duck in red curry,
smooth and just spicy enough. I think there was coconut
ice cream for afters, but I'm not sure; I was too full
to notice.

1122

We hit the ground running with a 10:00 visit to the
function room at Caymus, where the tasting room
director poured us three wines:

Sauvignon Blanc 97 - clear medium gold candy oak
tropical fruits more candy coming back, long
boiled-sweet oaky finish ($25/btl) - not offensive,
but notable only for the novelty of a 7-year-old
SB new release

Zinfandel 01 - medium clear red, lots of berries,
a tad bitter on opening, tannic, spice, moderate
acid, lots of berries on the finish. I rather
enjoyed (11% Petite Syrah; $36)

Napa Cabernet 02 - deep color; flowers and pepper
on the nose (Carol said roses); plums on the palate;
Ian got chocolate; I got nuts and mushrooms. A
surprising sweetness at the end. I kind of liked
this one as well, but maybe not 70 bucks worth
(11% Merlot; $70).

Next, St. Supery down the road, where the message
board read Welcome Ian Hoare and Friends. Here, we got
a tour of sorts, not very interesting, at which Ian
kind of put his foot in things by asking were the
sorting tables were (there aren't any). The guide was
pretty full of herself and her wines, which we thought
okay but not up to the standards of before or after.

Sauvignon Blanc 03 - cat pee and grapefruit, green
gooseberries. Light color. Pleasant tropical fruit
on the palate; light finish

Virtu 02 - Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon about 50% each
Juicy Fruit (as in gum), thankfully less cat pee;
some spice and lemon drop

Unoaked Chardonnay 03 - honey, acid, a bit of the
same chewing-gum flavor, a little orangey, some
spice

Dollarhide Chardonnay 01 - good oak; rich tasty
citrus, mostly orange; a bit of smooth butteriness
that Ian thought took over; longish smooth finish -
as I like oak, I'd consider drinking this one

Napa Chardonnay 02 - Ian rather liked this; I thought
it an uneasy compromise, with not enough oak to be
convincing. I found an almost strawberry quality that
was disconcerting

Napa Cabernet 00 - quite green, a touch of vanilla,
rather unpleasant

Meritage "Elu" 00 - lots of beeswax, thankfully riper
fruit than the above, good finish

Rutherford Cabernet 00 - classic blackberry opening,
again wax and ripe fruit, fairly nice

Dollarhide Cabernet 00 - opens a touch sweet with
lots of black fruit, very ripe, honey and black
cherry on the long finish; quite a bit of tannin,
a pretty good wine.

Our guide did a mild pitch but left before she could
see if we followed up on it; we didn't bite.

= =
The rest of the party had gone peckish, so we tried
to get a quick meal; pulled into the Rutherford Grill,
which told us there would be a sizable wait, whereupon
Ian exercised his charm on the hostess, pleading time
pressure, bad planning, ignorance, and so on, and we
were seated in just a couple minutes. We ordered food
we thought would be quick in coming, and in fact we
got out of there in half an hour. No drinks.

A cheeseburger and chips was deemed to have been the
best cheeseburger Jacquie had ever had, so that's
saying something. Ian's "bangers and mash" were rather
more recherche sausages than one'd expect, quite meaty
and flavorsome; and the mash were a variation on
colcannon. Despite being a purist in things culinary,
Ian did not complain.

Carol had black bean soup with chicken and goat cheese,
a hearty and good-tasting bowl, followed by a standard
Caesar salad. My roast chicken (the specialty of the
house, with the rotisseries quite prominent on the back
wall and the aroma permeating the house) was garlic-
rubbed and very delicious, although it would have been
too garlicked for a really good wine. I asked if I could
have all dark and got a drumstick and 3 thighs, quite a
generous serving (theory: a drumstick had gone for a
kid's portion), and rather mundane Spanish rice on the
side. But most importantly, we were out in about the
right amount of time. So we dropped the ladies off at
Robert Mondavi, where they professed to admire the
architecture, and took off for Stony Hill, which gives
its address as 3331 St. Helena Highway, St. Helena.

Note: Rutherford Grill is part of the Houston's chain.

Well, we were a bit behindhand to begin with. Then the
traffic in town was abominable. Then we couldn't find
the place at all, and when we tried to call, the number
Ian had in his database was wrong. Eventually we found
it - you go into the state park road, and just before
the park you turn into a tiny winding driveway with
posted signs all over the place, and then you go up it,
climbing steeply, for a couple miles. We were a good
half hour late for our appointment, but the guide was
good-humored and accommodating, and the winemaker, Mike
Chelini, was informative and amusing.

We went down to the barn and were drawn barrel samples
of the 04s, which had just finished or were finishing
fermentation:

Unoaked Chardonnay - appley, still working a bit,
crisp and with a bit of flint at the bottom

#1 vineyard Chardonnay - also rather appley but
more interesting than the above, a bit of butter
or vanilla, I'd drink this any day

Chardonnay for blending, in new American oak -
still good fruit but with a ton of oak almost to
the point of bitterness that oddly wasn't apparent
on first taste but sneaked up on one and paralyzed
the taste buds

Gewurz - gone a bit dumb, with more apples, no spice
to speak of except later on on the edge of the tongue.
Tropical fruit in the background. A disappointment.
Turned out it had been sulfured the day before.

Riesling - quite fruity with apples and pineapple,
just at the end of fermentation; long ripe fruit
finish; probably a winner, with all the characteristics
I'd have expected of the Gewurz.

Our guide, Mary, took us to the "tasting room," which
is a table and chairs behind the house that serves as
the winery offices. There we had two quite different
wines:

01 Chardonnay - honey, slight slight sweetness, good
acid, fruit, honey finish

03 Chardonnay - more glycerin than the above, very
dry and flinty, bright.

Mike joined us for the tasting and told us that these
were designed to age well, which I believe, since the
01 is just coming into its own and probably would
improve for a few years yet, and the 03 is downright
juvenile.

Unfortunately, we were behind schedule and couldn't
taste the 03 White Riesling, but when we offered to
buy a bottle to take home, Mike said, just take it,
which we did (left Penngrove without ever tasting it,
though, as there was plenty of wine there already).

Hurried down the road, and as we went down the St.
Helena Highway, we were passed by several police cars
followed by several ambulances. This actually seems
to have helped the traffic along, so we were only
maybe twenty late for picking up Carol and Jacquie,
who, they made the point of telling us pointedly and
several times, had been worried by the sight of the
emergency vehicles and had had terrible visions of
our having been in some catastrophic accident. Despite
the catastrophe having clearly taken place in the
opposite direction from the one we had gone in.

Luckily, Niebaum-Coppola is next door to Mondavi, so
there was still time for a good walk around the
property before it got dark. Kevin, our guide, was
genial and informative, although I thought his
presentation was a little pat, as if memorized. Still,
we learned a lot about Gustav Niebaum and the
transformation of the property from country haven to
winery to sanatorium and back to winery, first of course
Inglenook, and then Coppola Family, and now what it is.

The private tasting facility overlooks the barrel room,
so everything showed a little oaky, but that was fine.

Diamond Series Sauvignon Blanc 03 (Napa) - a distinct
pear opening with lots of tropical fruit coming on;
I found it metallic; good acid. Fruit and wintergreen
later on, and a medium tapering finish

Diamond Series Pinot Noir 03 (Monterey) - bright ruby,
lots of color, good legs; spice and black cherry; a
little bitter. Hot dusty finish

Diamond Series Syrah 02 (California) - smoky nose, mint
and a bit granitic with red fruit on the palate, very
good concentration and legs; moderate finish

Cask Cabernet Sauvignon 01 - aged 24 months in American
oak. Vast amounts of black and red fruits, lots of tannin.
A little mintiness but pretty well balanced. No bargain
at $65 but my favorite at this winery.

Tasted the three reds above with Vella Dry Jack, found
the cheese went well with all three, improving (smoothing)
the first two a lot.

Of course, all these wines were compared with the
legendary Rubicon, and Rubicon this and Rubicon that
had spiced the historical presentation as well. When
the wine in the nice decanter on the sideboard had
turned out to be the Cask Cabernet, I think we all
heaved a small sigh of disappointment ... but then,
Kevin said, with a light in his eyes, would you like
to taste Rubicon? You can guess what the answer was,
so he took us back down through the museum (Oscars and
props from movies and stuff - none of this registered
with me at all) and through a side door to the public
tasting room, where people were charged plenty of money
for the privilege of tasting, or imbibing, or getting
sozzled, depending on how much they wanted to spend.
Also, here cigars were sold (which led some of us to
wonder about the propriety of tasting good wine with
strong cigars, but then Ian brought out the fact that
Andre Tchelistcheff himself smoked like a chimney even
while tasting wine), and there was a clubby bit of
atmosphere. Kevin came back with another decanter and
proceeded to pour us tastes.

Rubicon 00 (93% Cabernet Sauvignon, some Petit Verdot,
touch of Merlot) - aged 28 months in American oak.
Coffee and black fruits predominating (Carol got cherry).
Very smooth; I found spice, perhaps Mexican chocolate
after Ian's suggestion of chocolate. A good wine but
not up to its amazing reputation and price. Spice and
apricots on the finish.

Again, we were artfully steered to the retail department
at the end of the tour; again, we cleverly sneaked out
without buying anything (well, we'd offered to buy at
Stony Hill, but there we were oddly foiled by the staff
- I would be interested in their passito, though, and
may try to order some sometime in the future).

Back to Penngrove, where Marina's brother Tom, who has
a winery called Chateau Burbank (that's where he lives -
the grapes aren't from there but rather from Santa Maria,
just north of the Santa Barbara AVA), had arrived with
some of his wares: we tried one:

Chateau Burbank Chardonnay 01 - orange and other citrus
on the nose, quite a lot of oak, long finish.

Yum!! And thank you! Your reports always give me good ideas for future travel meals.

I'd forwarded Magic111 instructions on getting to
the farm, which is in a kind of obscure location, and
I hoped he could find his way there, as the place is
not well marked and is half a mile off the road down
a rutted narrow track, so his appearance was extra
welcome (although it turned out he had had no trouble
finding it). Magic took us to what is reputed to be
the best Mexican restaurant in the area, Taqueria Mi
Pueblo in Petaluma. As with many of our dining spots,
this represents good value in a pretty informal
setting. We went in what looks like it might have once
been a KFC or something, but the smells are the real
thing. It's pretty hopping, with most of the tables
full, but we did have a choice of a couple. As soon
as we got there, a waitress brought good fresh chips
and a moderately spicy salsa fresca as well as a quite
spicy regular salsa (Magic, who has a hot tooth, being
a regular here).

Magic had soft tacos with carne asada and carnitas;
Carol had enchiladas in green sauce with those same
meats. My soft tacos with beef tongue and chile verde
were very good: I don't get tongue much, as it's much
less popular than when I was a kid, but it has also
gotten quite expensive in the supermarket. The chile
verde was good, but not so good as what Carol makes.

Everything comes with okay rice, a celery-rich slaw,
and quite good beans (available whole, thus not
greased - Magic took advantage of this, or refried,
thus high-calorie - Carol and I both had this).

Flan was a tasty and affordable luxury for dessert.

Afterwards, Magic took us for a tour of Petaluma (I
didn't see much, as it was dark, but the gesture was
much appreciated), pointing out the sites of several
of the other better restaurants in town, including the
ones that Marina had recommended.

Thanks, Magic, for dinner and the outing!

Yum!! And thank you! Your reports always give me good ideas for future travel meals.

Thank you for reading!

I'll soon be posting the wine country reports - probably starting a
new thread ... those are l-o-n-g ...

[cot'd from other th read, getting unwieldy]
1123

An early start to the Westside Road and Gary Farrell,
where we beat the staff in and found some guy, so we
started talking to him as though he were working there,
and he started talking to us as though we were working
there, and we had to be rescued eventually by the
tasting room lady, who showed up right on schedule.

It's a beautiful hillside setting, with the windows
giving a panoramic view over the Russian River; as the
tasting room lady said, "Gary spared no expense"; and
it looks that way. The lovely, spacious, airy room
made this tasting extra special.

Marina and Lee showed up partway through the tasting.

02 Chardonnay (Westside Farms, RRV) - apples, pears,
lemon drop, well-integrated oak, long candied finish,
good balance

02 Pinot Noir (RRV) - red cherry color and taste, a bit
flinty, lots of acid, very clean, uncomplicated

02 Pinot Noir (Starr Ridge Vineyard, RRV) - this is
Farrell's own vineyard - quite dark cherry, nice
spiciness, violets, very elegant, worth buying

02 Pinot Noir (Allen Vineyard Hillside Blocks, RRV) -
lots and lots of acid, cherry, spice, vanilla wafers?!,
violets, red currant, rose on finish: a lot lighter
than the Williams Selyem made out of grapes from the
next hill over, and I think truer to the Burgundy style

02 Zinfandel (DCV) - 45% Maple Vineyard, 40% Sawyer, 15%
Bradford Mountain - medium color, green peppercorn,
berries, very flinty, not at all opulent, taste of
unripe grapes, spice, hint of beeswax, medium finish.
Definitely not my favorite, and the only one of the lot
in which I detected substantial unripeness

02 Zinfandel (Maple Vineyard, Tina's Block, DCV) medium
color, plum and blackberry, quite dark, cedar, lot of
acid, long finish (Wine and Spirits gave this 95 - it
might deserve that)

01 Merlot (Hillside Vineyard, Sonoma Co.) - 84% Merlot,
16% Cab S - red fruit, black and green pepper, coffee,
wonderful on the palate, smooth, medium-long finish

01 Cabernet Sauvignon (Hillside Vineyard, Sonoma Co.) -
80% Cab S, 11% Merlot, 9% Cab F - blackberries, black
cherries, black pepper, lots of tannin, long drying
finish; a long way to go but sure to become a fine
wine in a few years.

We were pleased, and all of us left with bottles tucked
under our arms.

= =

Williams Selyem is just up the road, and we were
privileged to get a tour and tasting there, conducted by
Sam Lando, the director of marketing (what a job!
marketing a wine that always sells out before release).

02 Pinot Noir Flax Vineyard - thick, rich, lots of
glycerin, coffee, black cherries, plums, pineapple,
apricot, cedar, apricot finish, unending layers of
flavor, but not my idea of Pinot. This vineyard is
next door to the Allen Vineyard (from which Williams
Selyem makes some wine as well, but there was none
available to taste) that produces the grapes for the
Farrell wine I liked so much

02 Pinot Noir Coastlands - very black, very acid;
touch of sweet. Good balance, pronounced American oak:
going for ageworthiness. On the strength of this I put
us on the waiting list.

There was time for a quick bite before Ridge Lytton
Springs, so we took Marina's recommendation of the Dry
Creek General Store and had takeout - an assortment of
tasty but rather costy sandwiches, and some really poor
chili. I just had half a pound of Braunschweiger in
butcher paper and a 3-oz bar (shared all around) of
Scharffen Berger 62% semisweet, a nice chocolate but
not as nice as $4.

On the way to lunch I noticed that across from Dry Creek
Vineyard, Pezzi King was gone, replaced by Passacqua.
I suppose we could have poked our nose in to see what's
what, but we didn't.

After lunch, it was Lytton Springs time, a real treat,
just a few miles down the road.

Ridge Lytton Springs. Ian, having been given incomplete
directions, was concerned that we'd miss the place; I
told him it was probably the biggest building on the
Lytton Springs Road, and soon, there it was in all its
glory. We were given the backstage tour here, from the
bottling line (the first day for the new bottling
equipment, and there weren't tons of shards and purple
liquid on the floor, so all must have been well) to the
big blending tank (40594 gallons - I told Ian that there
was no way we could have missed a building with that big
a tank, and he sort of looked sheepish). We also went
out a little ways into the vineyard and tasted a few
Zinfandel grapes, which was fun. Back to the tasting
room, where we were offered only the wines that were
available to the general public, but that was plenty.

97 Jimsomare Zin - honey nose, black fruit, black black
on plate, huge tannin, raisins on finish

01 Mazzoni Home Ranch (45 Zin, 50 Carignane, 5 Petite
Syrah) - stems, alcohol rather prominent, meaty fruit:
Ian says redcurrant, I wasn't able to differentiate;
medium finish

02 Ponzo Vineyards Zin (96, 2 each Petite Syrah and
Carignane) - rather bitter, black fruit, petroleum
distillates, didn't like

00 Geyserville Zin - red fruit, honeylike but not sweet,
flowers, very long, liked this pretty well

01 Lytton Estate Grenache - ripe tannins, pineappley,
roses, quite ripe indeed, medium finish, stylistically
not my favorite

02 Paso Robles Zinfandel - very ripe, very big, dried
plums and raisins, honey, flowers, enjoyable

02 Lytton Springs Zin - flowers, ripe black and red
fruits, oak, plum finish, also quite nice; maybe I
shoulda oughta hadda buy some of the above two, but I
was mindful of the carryon situation and didn't

01 York Creek late picked Zin - sweet aroma but not on
the palate; alcoholy, "rote gruetze" flavor of red
fruit and creamy vanilla; very big tannin, hard to
match with food was the consensus, long finish, quite
an oddity.

They had a bin of older vintages for impressively high
prices; Tom bought a couple. It had been a shortish
tour, so we showed up at our next destination early.

Acorn Vineyards - a boutiquey type of place, growing
many grape varieties in a small space, the vintners
being an ex-lawyer and his wife; pleasant folks but
rather distant in an odd way.

02 Sangiovese Alegria Vineyards (RRV) - 1% each Mammolo
and Canaiolo blended into the Sangiovese - cherry,
spice, good oak; vineyard says plum, I don't detect,
touch of chocolate, candied finish, moderately yummy

02 Dolcetto Alegria Vineyards (RRV) - 3% Freisa and
2% Barbera - plums, blackberries, blueberries; tiny bit
of vanilla and a bit of citrus; acidy; medium citrus
finish with tannin and vanilla coming out at the end

02 Medley Alegria Vineyards (RRV) (38% Cabernet Franc,
28% Zinfandel, 5% Petit Verdot, 5% Petite Syrah,
5% Cinsault; 3% Alicante Bouschet, 2% Mourvedre,
2% Viognier, 2% Merlot; 10% "various red and black
muscats" - flowery perfume, pepper, cedar. Fattish,
vanilla coming out later; sour cherry and citrus;
pepper. Medium to long finish

01 Axiom Alegria Vineyards (RRV) - 99% Syrah,
1% Viognier - cedar, mint, mixed berries followed by
spice and red berries, lots of vanilla; I liked this
a lot

02 Axiom Alegria Vineyards (RRV) - 99% Syrah,
1% Viognier - estery; winemaker claims "mocha,"
which I didn't see at all. Licorice, cinnamon, leather,
vanilla. Ian and Carol liked this.

We chatted a bit, excused ourselves, and discovered
that we had an extra half hour on our hands, so off
across the street to

Rodney Strong, one of my old favorites now grown fat
and commercial, but still pretty distinctive. The
tasting room has that irritating commercial quality,
but I've been drinking their wines for twenty years.

We were pressed for time; the rest were pretty tasted
out; so I skipped the regular wines and went for the
reserve tasting, $12 for 5 tastes of wine and a Rodney
Strong Overture glass.

01 Reserve Pinot Noir (Jane's Vineyard, RRV) - coffee,
cherry, tropical, more red fruit later, longish finish

01 Cabernet Sauvignon (Alden Vineyards, Alexander
Valley) - 98% Cab, 2% Merlot - lots of chocolate, oak;
darkest fruit and some odd wood (not oak) on the finish

00 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma County) - with
13% Cab Franc, 8% Merlot - green olive, green pepper
(not much), black fruit, softer than I recall; lots of
fruit on the finish, strawberries

99 Symmetry (Alexander Valley) - 61% Cab S, 29% Merlot,
10% Cab Franc - gone a tad dumb. Very smooth, black
fruit, green beany, coffee, chocolate - not the nutty
blockbuster I recall from previous years

01 Knotty Vines Zinfandel (Sonoma County) - black
cherries, tropical fruits coming on, spice (white
pepper), medium finish; this was not on the reserve
tasting but I asked for a pour to compare with the

01 Reserve Zinfandel (Sonoma County) - quite blackberry
jammy, cinnamon, chocolate, black pepper; more pepper
and blackberries on a very long finish.

And so we closed the place down and went back home for
a vertical of Tom's wines:

Chateau Burbank (Santa Barbara AVA) Chardonnays

99 - green-gold, lemons, good structure, good oak

00 - lemon color, lemon drop aroma, rich flavor, long
finish, moderate oak

01 - bright gold with a tad of green, legs in wide
sheets, most likeable butterscotch/toffee; a bit
puckery on the tongue, flinty finish; different
from the 01 we had had before

02 - very forward oak, spicy, racy, citrusy, good fruit,
longish finish - I guessed this as the 01

03 - apples, oak, more oak! lemon candy, long finish

04 barrel sample - light yellow, lots of apple, good
acid, tropical fruits later on. Started out very wimpy,
grew on me. Medium finish

04 barrel sample (Hungarian oaked) - as above, lots of
lemony aspect and more pronounced oak.

Dinner.

Dungeness crab appetizer - this was supposed to be a
formal course, but Marina had bought some crabs that
turned out, she said, to be dead or spoiled, so we
ended up getting a few teaspoons of the stuff, plain
steamed, served in a glass.

Cajun-spiced salmon, made with Tom's secret rub (I
sort of left him speechless when I told him I could
probably duplicate it); asparagus grilled with white
truffle oil; rotini with pesto. Simple, good with
Chardonnays.

We chatted a bit - I sort of hoped for a rubber or two
of bridge, but that didn't happen - and then it was
time to head back to the Doubletree.

24th

Ian showed up late to pick us up at the hotel. He was
in a bit of a state, as Jacquie had gotten some sort
of infection and was at the urgent care. We returned
there and discovered Jacquie was nowhere near ready,
so with her blessing the three of us went off to
Carneros.

Our first stop was Acacia, a well-regarded Chardonnay
house, where we were greeted by the winemaker Anthony
King, who actually seems more proud of his Pinot Noir
even than his Chards. He gave us a delightful hour's
tour of the facility, punctuated by barrel samples of
some very interesting wines. With Ian's comprehensive
knowledge of barrels and vinification and my cobbled-
together bits of recently-gleaned same, we somehow
convinced some of the winemakers that we were more
interested in techniques than we were (or at least
than I was).

04 Wente/Muscat clone Chardonnay, Francois Freres
Hungarian oak barrel - recently sulfured. Appley,
toasty - but I think the sulfurization dumbed the
fruit characteristics and enhanced the influence
of the barrel quality

04 Wente/Muscat clone Chardonnay, Damy barrel - less
apple, more tropical fruit. Oak forward, buttery,
preferred to the above, but probably because of the
sulfuring of the former rather than the barrel

04 Viognier - white peach nose, grapefruit. Good
flowers on the palate and more peaches; Jell-O finish
which disappointed, because otherwise a nice wine

04 Estate Pinot Noir, experimental batch harvested at
28 Brix, fermented to 0.7% residual sugar - very grapy
and sweet; don't know what it would be used for unless
to mellow out a batch of something really raw

04 Estate Pinot Noir, Martini clone from 45-year-old
vines, kept in 1-year-old French barrel - spicy, coffee,
vanilla - I liked this quite a lot; but it's destined
for blending with

04 Beckstoffer Vyd. Pinot Noir, very black and
overwrought, also picked at 28 Brix - very big fruit,
honey, violets, I didn't care for this for some reason,
even though it's destined for some premium bottling or
another, and would have preferred the Estate stuff by
itself, but I have no experience blending, and that's
what winemakers are for, isn't it.

We had time only for a couple bottles in the tasting
room before it was time to move on:

03 Chardonnay "Wine for Wildlife" - what they do is
they filter the lees of their regular Chard and make
this, giving the profits to an environmental charity
called The Marsh Project: I thought it like pineapple
juice; Anthony said "pina colada"

03 Carneros Chardonnay - this is their standard blend,
and I'm pretty familiar with past vintages of this.
Just bottled, the nose was a little lacking, a whiff of
tropical fruit and vanilla only; on the palate, still
lots of pineapple, good oak; lemon candied finish

03 Carneros Pinot Noir - also the standard release.
Meaty, lightish cherry, a bit of cheesiness blew off;
not much finish - not ready but destined to grow up
to be a good midrange food wine.

Luckily, Saintsbury is just down the road. The staff
are chummy enough - the function chef at Acacia is
married to the lady who arranges tours at Saintsbury,
and we sent greetings from Anthony to his competition
down the road, which were happily received. Winemaker
Jerome Chery gave us a detailed tour, again with barrel
samples. Here, where tours are given only to the trade,
there is no tasting room and no sales facility; any
transactions are completed in a big bare room just off
the main entrance. By the way, there is no sign or any
other indication that the winery is there; you either
know it's there or have to guess from the setting.

Just as we were beginning, Tom showed up with Jacquie
in tow. She had been given some antibiotics and was
feeling much better and continued on with us for the
rest of the day.

Chardonnays

03 Carneros - scheduled for bottling next week -
good oak, lemon drop, lots of fruit, slight tropical
fruit, alcohol blows off, nice balance, medium-long,
touch wintergreen

04 Carneros stored in 1 year-old Francois Freres
barrel - just finished fermenting - acid, appley,
tropical fruit, apple-lemon finish

same in new Francois Freres barrel - more oakiness, a
tad bitter, more lemony, otherwise similar; tropical
fruit on finish

04 Green Acres in Treuil (Brive) barrel - very acidy
nose, veiled; people said almost Sauvignon Blancish;
of course I didn't care for it; almost soapy finish

04 Wente clone Wilson Vyd Chard in new Francois Freres
barrel - toasty, very savory, I liked

04 Estate Chard in 1-year-old Louis Latour barrel - good
weight, exceptional mouthfeel; fruit in the background
to the oak; slight bitterness on finish

04 Brown Ranch Chard, Clone 96, Francois Freres barrel -
quite oaky, acidy, I thought it beautiful

Pinot Noir

04 Brown Ranch Block E Clone 115 in new Francois Freres
- red fruit, good dark fruit on the midmouth, honey,
long finish, potentially gorgeous

04 Brown Ranch Block H Pommard Clone - very spicy, touch
of that bitterness, beeswax, good finish

04 Clone 115 from bought grapes - red fruit, honey, no
dark fruit at all but oddly bigger tannin. Game or sweat
on the nose and big gamy finish, pretty weird

04 Vin Gris (rose de Pinot Noir) - tropical sweet nose,
berries, nice dry finish.

Our allotted time was up - it had been nearly two hours
- and people were getting hungry, so we asked Jerome for
recommendations. The place that got his highest praise
was Angele, 540 Main St., Napa, with Zuzu, a tapas bar
down the street, as a second choice. We decided to go
with the former, even though that meant we'd be behind
schedule for our afternoon visit to Cline Cellars.

I told the maitre d' that we were in a bit of a hurry,
because we had an appointment with Cline, but also that
we were recommended to the place by Jerome; he chuckled,
said that Jerome came in often, that we would surely
have a fine meal, and Cline would duly be called to
inform them of our tardiness.

The day had warmed up considerably, and we were seated
both in the sun and under some electric heaters, so we
had to juggle ourselves around depending on who was
heat-sensitive, who was sun-sensitive, and so on. This
took a few minutes. Ian reminded us of our obligations
and suggested we order things that would take less
time, and one course only, please. I didn't care for
that idea and said we should give the restaurant the
respect which it deserved. So they all had sandwiches,
and I had a real dish, giving in to the time pressure
by not having an appetizer.

Bread came for the table - French-style country bread,
very good, with perfect butter. Almost convinced the
others to put off the afternoon visit, but not quite.

Ian and Jacquie both had the bifteck hache au fromage,
aka cheeseburger and fries. Good burger, great fries.
Was the menu listing a joke, or did pretentious wine
tourists expect this? Shrug; still it was nice food.

Carol and Tom both had the croque monsieur; it too
was tasty if a bit greasy. In addition Carol ordered
a side of macaroni and cheese, which was made with lots
of butter and real Cheddar and was delicious.

I had chicken with chestnuts and turnips, the heck with
everyone else. A roast breast half with wing of free-
range, just slightly overhung bird in a salty, buttery
jus and cubes of vegetable - a lovely dish that would
have gone really well with a nice glass of mature
Cabernet. And I ate leisurely.

Even with the maitre d' calling ahead to the next winery,
we felt too hard pressed to have dessert (which are said
to be wonderful).

An odd thing: at one point during the meal Ian had
glanced over at the next table and emarked to his wife,
"that looks just like Maggie," whereupon a bunch of
speculation took place at the table as to what this
Maggie (which one, I wondered - Thatcher? Beer?) could
be doing in the middle of Napa, California in the
middle of November. Ian went over to check.

Turns out the woman in question was in fact the expected
Maggie (a journalist of some repute, whom Ian and
Jacquie had lately seen someplace in the Perigord but
who lives in London). After these principals had made a
bunch of "small world" talk during which time the rest
of us could easily have had dessert, we were finally on
our way.

=
Cline is known for its value-priced wines, and I'd
agreed that it might be interesting if only for a look
at what the low-to-midrange consumer would have
available. I actually will jump on a Cline wine at a
restaurant, as it's sometimes the only potable thing
available in my price range. Though I would have been
happier eating more at Angele, it turns out the people
were really nice, and the tour really interesting.
Charlie the winemaker gave us a history lecture as he
took us around the property; then we poked around the
Pullman car that they use for functions and oohed and
ahed at the collection of ornamental pheasant and
quail; then Charlie had us pile into his van for a
trip up the mountain to look down at the vineyards,
as he and Tom and Ian exchanged trade small talk;
and finally we went back down to take a look at the
rather industrial winemaking facility.

A bunch of barrel samples, including many wines I
was unaware Cline was making, so that was instructive.
This is a winery that adds oak by infusion, which is
something I had known about but which I hadn't seen
done. Charlie was perfectly jolly about it, showing
us the staves that he hung in the steel tanks for
that purpose; and I must admit that the method is
effective enough and the product tasty enough.

03 Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre - black fruit, flinty,
mint, lots of tannin, walnut finish, nice wine

04 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Vineyard) - black raspberries,
honey, flowers, also worthwhile although of a lower
order than others

03 Mourvedre - medium red-purple, good legs, smoky,
spicy, a disconcerting opening and palate of A-1 sauce
(or perhaps tamarind, according to the more tactful
among us)

04 Mourvedre - menthol-eucalyptus, very deep color,
somewhat sweet still - couldn't tell where this was
going

04 Jacuzzi Pinot Grigio - light blush, apple scent
and flavor, a bit petillant, a bit sweet: Charlie
found Asian pear in this; I didn't agree

04 Palomino - I really liked this, surprisingly, as
its reputation is as suitable only for sherry, where
of course it can be superb - opaque gray color, floral,
tropical fruit, citrus. Ian found an affinity with Fino
sherry on the sides of the tongue; stretching the point
I thought I could detect a tiny bitterness, but that
was about all

04 Viognier - golden opaque, light floral aspect, good
fruit, a Juicy Fruit gum aspect, medium finish

04 late harvest Mourvedre - one of us asked Charlie
what one could do with this stuff: he said "Put it into
little bitty bottles and sell it for $35 each," which I
thought fair enough - I got raisins and honey and
motor oil, a little disconcerting. Quite sweet without
the acid to balance it out (12% residual sugar)

04 Mourvedre rose - flowers, pineapple, good balancing
acid; I wouldn't be inclined to drink this too often,
though, but then I'm not a cold wine person

03 Sangiovese - when asked to characterize this, I
said "like overoaked Cab" - really huge wood, mint,
eucalyptus, pepper; this is where the artificial oaking
sort of fell down, I think.

It was getting dark when Charlie let us go with a
discussion of the market forces that make him make Red
Truck; we went back into the office, where the help were
being given their Thanksgiving bonus, two bottles of red
(I'm not sure which). We headed out into the sunset and
looked for a good grocery store, for it was our night to
cook. In Petaluma we found the G & G, about the same as
any other supermarket anyplace, except there was more
wine. Same national brands of everything, the produce
just as sad as we'd get in New England. Bummer.

P.S. Joke from Charlie. We were below a eucalyptus tree,
and he picked up one of the nuts and said, "what do you
do with this?" None of us could think of anything, and
he told us that we should take any old plonk and drop a
couple eucalyptus nuts in and, voila, Heitz Martha's
Vineyard. "Try it!" he said. We all pocketed a nut or
two, but to my knowledge, nobody has tried it.


At Penngrove:

Nichols Pinot Noir 97 (Pisari Vyd., Monterey Co.) -
phenol, red fruits, rather hypermature, overripe
fruit, medium overripe finish with ?figs

Ian made a garbure Bearnaise, a soup-stew of pork
or goose, cabbage, beans, and root vegetables, with
which we drank two old Cabernets.

Ch. Burbank Cabernet Sauvignon 87 (Rutherford) -
quite brown, which didn't promise much, throwing
sediment like crazy. On the nose and palate, green and
black pepper, light oak, surprisingly good fruit
throughout, long finish

Ch. Burbank Cabernet Sauvignon 88 (Napa) - very
transparent brown, dirty musty nose dissipated on
swirling, sweet overripe fruit coming out; tapering
raisin finish. Improved after half an hour in glass

My contribution was cannelloni with salmon and
mascarpone in a tomato cream sauce, with which we had

Rex Hill Pinot Noir 01 (Willamette) - slight greeness,
peppery, stemmy, a touch of residual sugar, milky,
slightly muted, medium finish - a bit dumber than I
would have hoped

After these two substantial appetizers, either of
which might well have been a main dish, we had braised
pork with onions and white wine; breaking the rule of
like with like, we drank

Torii Mor Pinot Noir 02 (Willamette) - mint, pepper,
red and black cherries, slight stems, also a bit sweet,
open, good minty finish.

A plate of cheeses and Mathilde liqueur de peche ended
the meal. I passed.

We came over around noon, the extra time alone being
most welcome; furthermore, blessedly I got off from
what would have been my most onerous task of the week,
peeling a pound of chestnuts (which ended up being
dissolved into the mush of the stuffing, anyway).

The impromptu midday meal was leftover garbure, which
had not surprisingly improved overnight.

Marina and Tom made the holiday dinner, which was
scheduled at 4 but which came out at a more sensible
6:30, with minimal help or hindrance from the rest of
us. Ian did the Brussels sprouts, Carol the gravy,
and I only the carving.

A turkey, previously brined, was roasted in a bag,
which made a wonderfully tender but rather pale-fleshed
bird; the stuffing, of course, was also a bit pale and
soggy. Good mashed, of which I had very little, because
even soggy stuffing is better than good mashed.

Tom's thrown-together sweet potatoes with pineapple was
good for those who like sweet sweet potatoes.

There was a recipe out on the counter for creamed
onions, and Marina followed it, except for one thing:
she omitted the cream, which she found all measured out
in a cup hiding in the fridge next day. Nobody said
anything about the onions, but I bolted mine without
chewing, after the first one.

Brussels sprouts, baked in butter by Ian.

Cranberry sauce from two cans: whole and jellied.

Five Pinoty things with the meal:

Ch. Burbank Pinot Noir 00 - very ripe cherries, grapes,
lots of acid, little dust, bitterish cherry finish

Ch. Burbank Pinot Noir 01 - sweeter, less acid, ripe,
tasty, plums, sweet cherry finish

Ch. Burbank Pinot Gris 03 (not for sale) - bright rose,
spicy, medium dry, citrus, touch of spice, touch of
vanilla, longish acidy finish

Cottonwood Canyon Sta. Maria Valley extra dry rose nv
sparkling wine - slightly oxidized, quite dry, grapy
midmouth, grapy finish

Lazy Creek rose de Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley) 03 -
medium pink, fairly rich, sulfur that blows off, acidy,
bit of mint, cherry, medium finish

And for dessert, apple pie, which I had only a modest
serving of, to save room for

Ch. Rieussec 99 - good golden color, very smooth,
candied fruit (pineapple, apricot), creamy finish.
A big winner.

We sat around and chatted by the roaring fire until
we got all groggy. There are cute pictures of Tom
snoozing on the couch. Carol was even cuter, but when
she woke up she let it be known that there would be
heck to pay if anyone had taken any pictures of her,
which, being the very souls of discretion, we hadn't.

Ian luckily was sober enough to drive us back to the
Doubletree and get himself back home.

1126

We headed off latish for Rafanelli, where Dave Rafanelli
(the grandson of the original winemaker and the father
of the current one) met us. We'd called in the morning
to confirm the appointment that Marina had made for us,
and Dave said, essentially, what appointment, we're
closed. But he opened up for us and a couple other
parties, and we had a good time. Bob Robertson, the
guy from Barrel Builders, came in and joined us; he's a
friend of Ian and Tom's, and it turned out there was a
flash of recognition when Bob and Dave figured out that
they'd met a couple years ago at an event in Bordeaux.
After the getting acquainted round, they all got down
to business with a spirited discussion of wood borers,
which I found actually rather boring, before our walk
around the facility.

The tour of the caves, though, was much fun. The
family had had the neighboring hillside bored out so
they could put 600 yards of tunnels and, incidentally,
also a dining room, where Dave plays opera arias;
says it makes the wine better.

As one might expect, the Rafanelli wines are big and
generous, rather eccentric, and homestyle. Quite
different from all the others we tasted - rather like
the wines of the rugged individualist Ray Ward in the
Barossa.

02 Zinfandel - massive, deep purple, dark fruit,
quintessentially zinny character. A bit rough and
tannic, oak coming out on the nosing, lots of acid.
Coffee, modest oak at the beginning of the finish,
dark fruit (plum) at end

01 Merlot - pepper, again lots of acid; Ian and I
agreed that this was a Merlot made in a Zin style: he
called "Merfandel." Black cherries and plums on the
palate and the long finish

A girl came in with a big box of custom-stamped
chocolate from Peter Rabbit's Chocolate Factory: we
were offered a few tablets of it. It was rich and
dark, a little too sweet for me, very nice though.
People thought it went well with the Cabernet, but
I of course was in the minority.

01 Cabernet Sauvignon - plum, spice, pepper, vanilla.
Not as distinctive as the above two wines, but still
in that big old muscular California style.

The winery is almost sold out and is readying for a
new issue; there was a limit of one or two bottles per
party for each of the wines. Tom and Marina, both fans
of big wines with forward fruit, bought our allocation.

= =
Quivira, a half mile up the road, was next. Jacquie
and I, wanting to stretch our legs, walked, sneaking
a few of Dave's grapes along the way, while the rest
went in autos. We were only about 5 minutes later than
they were. On this day there was a big old tasting,
and the place was jammed. A carnival aspect that I'd
imagined would be found only at the big wineries.

02 Sauvignon Blanc (Fig Tree Vineyard) - lots of oak
moderating the citrusy quality; still quite clean;
many golds for this one including the Sonoma Harvest
Fair, LA and Orange County Fairs, Chronicle wine
competition - I thought it decent, which is about the
most I'll grant any SB

98 Zinfandel (DCV) - acidy, lots of oak, blackberries,
medium finish (winner Tchelistcheff Award)

99 the same - cranberries, spice, quite acid; I enjoyed
this and bought a bottle

00 the same - lightish, pineapply, a tad of pepper, but
I thought wimpy compared to 99

02 the same - peppery, raspberries; very pleasant; also
a ton of gold medals, but after a bit of thought I
thought the 99 just a bit preferable especially for
current drinking

00 Syrah - blackberries, earth, a touch sweet; not my
favorite

97 reserve Zin - pleasant, blackberries going away; I
thought a touch over the hill; Tom agreed with me; Ian
and Marina thought it lovely

99 Zin (Dieden Vyd) - nice nose, massive ripe black
fruit, well oaked, one of my favorites; I got a bottle,
and Ian got several

99 Zin (Wine Creek Ranch) - spicy, blackberry, not quite
as evolved as the Dieden. Pepper on the finish. Won more
awards than the Dieden, but I preferred the other

00 Zin (Anderson Ranch) - blackberries, the winemaker
and I agreed; the writeup said cranberries, and I said
"huh?" Thought it wimpy and just ok

00 Zin (Standley Ranch) - dry-farmed 120-year-old vines;
very spicy and lots of blackberry; very elegant. 95 case
production means twice as expensive as most of the
others - good, but not worth the price differential

01 the same - nice fresh fruit, quite pleasant, oaky
finish; also limited production (240 cases), also too
expensive.

- -

Next we hied ourselves to the newly facelifted
Michel-Schlumberger, just up Wine Creek Road, which
runs between Rafanelli and Quivira. We had an
appointment, but the rather severe young lady greeting
us looked with disfavor on our motley appearance and
mostly on the fact that we'd brought three extras with
us; I hope our tasting etiquette and expertise mollified
her somewhat later on, though.

02 La Brume Chardonnay - oaky, pineapply, rich on the
palate, long finish

00 Syrah - meaty, a tad bitter, white pepper hotness,
with an apricot finish coming out

99 Syrah - very rich, excellent fruit, smooth, ready
to drink; my favorite

We had some discussion on the merits of the two
above: I was in the minority - the only one among
us who preferred the 99.

00 Cabernet Sauvignon (actually a Meritage) - nicely
ripe, good fruit, lightish, apricot finish

98 reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - pepper, big nose,
lightish fruit but deep earthy-tobaccoey flavors.
Slight cheesiness at the beginning of finish, with
lots of apricot coming on. Still quite tannic and
begging to be aged for 5 more at least.

It was a briskly, professionally conducted tasting,
and we were out in maybe half an hour. At the end Ian
had a chat with Isabelle, the functions manager (he has
a soft spot for French girls, especially cute ones),
but still we had time for a nap and a washup before the
big event of the trip.

= =

TFL

Our driver Renee was right by to pick us up at 7, and we
had a nice raucous ride down the roads of wine country,
secure in the knowledge that none of us had to sacrifice
our wine experience to the fear of the highway patrol or
the ditch by the side of the road. We arrived about 15
early, but our table was ready, and we were seated right
away, greeted with a glass of Gimonnet blanc de blancs
followed by the famous amuse of salmon tartare with
chive creme fraiche in a pastry cornet dotted with black
sesame. And the lists, which were three: the regular,
the vegetarian, and the tasting. We all got the tasting
menu, to facilitate wine selection.

The menu listings follow in all their quotation-marked
glory and then my notes on the dishes and the wines.

"Oysters and Pearls" - "Sabayon" of pearl tapioca with
"Beau Soleil" oysters and Iranian osetra caviar - people
really loved this dish. The oysters, were just barely
heated through, two plump and milky little beauties with
a bit of that Pacific meloniness. The egg sauce was
pleasantly neutral, but the tapioca folded into it had a
wonderful savoriness that one doesn't expect of tapioca:
must have been poached in oyster liquid or something, so
the flavor resonated with the oysters, and the texture
and roundness resonated with the caviar, whereas the
flavor contrasted with the caviar, and the texture
contrasted with the oysters, the sauce binding it all
together. I thought there was a tad much caviar and used
the egg sauce to dilute its saltiness (should have just
gave half of it to Carol). With this we continued with
the Champagne, whose considerable toastiness set off
the dish very nicely.

=

Salad of Big Island hearts of peach palm, "Yali" pears,
celery branch and Tellicherry peppercorn "gastrique" -
I had a taste of Carol's; it was nice, somewhat neutral;
I didn't detect anything peachy about the peach palm;
the Yali pear tasted actually a bit more peachy, though
I understand it should be more peary. With the pepper
essence taking over from these mild flavors, I would
have expected it to have been paired with a spicier wine
than the 03 Robert Sinskey Pinot Blanc (Carneros), an
elegant, minerally wine with a touch of apples and
tropical fruit, and good acid. I had just a sip of this
and kept the rest of my glass for later, as I didn't
want this salad or this wine at this point in the meal.
Nor did the cold torchon of foie gras that was offered
as an alternative (at a $20 supplement) appeal to me,
so I had a dish off the regular menu as a substitute:

Sauteed Moulard duck "foie gras", Sierra Beauty apple
"confit", pickled cranberries and an apple peel
"gastrique" - a decent but not by any means large two
slices of the stuff, done a hair more than I would like,
with a couple not very confit tiny turned apples on the
side and a fugitive sauce. The cranberries added just a
tiny spritz of tang. An enjoyable dish, but both Jacquie
and Carol, who tasted it, having long ago eaten my own
version of this dish, found mine better. Carol of course
has her prejudices, but I thought that Jacquie would be
more impartial. With this the 99 Kiralyudvar Cuvee Ilona
Tokaji - rich thick texture, almonds, apricots, oranges,
every which kind of candied fruit, botrytis coming out
both in the nose and on the finish with a little bitter
prickle - went famously well.

Tom didn't seem to like the idea of hearts of palm salad
either, but he was not to be outdone with his choice of

"Carnaroli risotto biologico" with shaved white truffles
from Alba ($80.00 supplement), which was about three
tablespoons of pretty nice tender risotto, over which he
allowed to be shaved over about that much or a little
more of fresh truffles, causing a tastebud-overwhelming
experience (he gave me a teaspoon of it, which I shared
with Carol). Several times through the evening people at
other tables ordered this, and one could immediately get
that truffle perfume, which then flavored everything one
had on one's own plate (not bad, until the mignardises).

= =

Crispy skin filet of Japanese medai, baby bok choy,
sweet peppers, breakfast radish "filaments" and a young
ginger "aigre-doux" - the medai is a firm, meaty-fleshed
fish that (we were told) is in the snapper family. It
had been pan-seared skin side down, then finished in the
oven, done just a tiny bit more than I'd have liked. It
rested on a bed of vegetables that Ian thought sublime,
but which I thought balanced too much toward the peppers
end. The fish was gorgeous with the rather sweet "aigre-
doux," which was delicately ginger-scented. The radish
shavings were an amusement. They poured the 03 Selene
Hyde Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (light in color, but full
of flavor and a surprisingly heavy body, lots of lime
and tropical fruit), but I drank the Sinskey, which I'd
carefully held out for the purpose and think went better.

= =

"Beets and leeks" - Maine lobster tail "cuit sous vide"
with melted green leeks, "pommes Maxim" and red beet
essence was uniformly admired. The lobster, done just to
medium-rare, was delightful, and the rather grassy beet
essence went perfectly, as did the little nut of leek
confit that went beside. Pommes Maxim are a sort of tour
de force, fried potato rounds (perfectly uniform in size
and cut to translucent thinness), joined together as if
they were a stained glass panel; they don't taste like
much, though, and are there mostly for the ooh ah factor
I think. With the lobster the 03 Staglin Chardonnay was
offered, whose oakiness and vanillariness complemented
the lobster nicely and minimized the beetiness of the
beets, with a nice muted presence of tropical fruits in
the background. I wondered what the Sauvignon Blanc
would have tasted like with the beets.

= =

Four Story Hills Farm milk-fed "poularde farci aux
truffes noirs", savoy cabbage "fondue", applewood smoked
bacon "lardons" and sauce "perigourdine" was done in an
almost demi-deuil style, with truffles stuffed under the
skin; the meat (white) was so uniform in texture that I
asked if it had been brined; the kitchen was consulted,
and I received a negative answer, that the tenderness
and almost lack of grain of the breast had been a result
of a cooking sous vide, but I don't quite believe that.
After the primary cooking, the skin had been crisped by
a quick sizzle in the pan (I think). We drank the 02
Lazy Creek Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley) - black and red
cherries, spicy, very elegant, picked up the truffle
aromas well. Others found red berries, but I didn't.
Ian thought this Perigourdine the best he'd ever tasted.

= =

Herb roasted saddle of Elysian Fields Farm lamb, wilted
arrowleaf spinach, forest mushroom "ragout", caramelized
salsify and red wine sauce - the lamb was three nice
slices of bright pink meat with a somewhat salty sauce;
the spinach had been gently cooked to a most sublime
texture, and the mushrooms, chanterelles mostly, were
delicious. Salsify is a nice enough thing but provided
just bulk to this dish.

With the lamb the 01 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon and the
01 Colgin "Jubilation" Merlot - the former a blockbuster
wine, oaky, curranty, plummy, with a touch of cedar and
mint like a Bordeaux, but still in the hugely-fruited
California style; the latter also enormous and more
Cabernetish than Merlotish, minty, mushroomy, and rich
with dark fruit - it's available only here.

"Tomme de Savoie" - Globe artichoke "mustard",
thyme-infused extra virgin olive oil and arugula salad -
a moderately ripe cow's cheese (not from Ihsan Gurdal's
Formaggio, where many of the cheeses come from, but from
someplace I believe called Cheeseworks), not all that
special, rather oddly smooth. With the Tomme, the Dirler
Alsace Grand Cru Spiegel Gewurztraminer Vendage Tardive
(didn't catch the vintage); an odd pairing, I suppose to
bring out the fruitiness of the cheese, but I didn't
care for either - I thought the wine despite its rich
and honeyed nose not sweet enough for the purpose - it
was just killed by the cheese, which wasn't even that
strong. The "mustard" was mostly mashed artichoke hearts
with some seasoning, and although it was clever with the
cheese, it didn't go particularly with the wine either.

= =

Coconut sorbet, Persian lime jelly and toasted coconut
"gianduja" - really nice; smoother than Toscanini's,
but maybe less fatty and less flavorsome.

[Two of us didn't like coconut sorbet, so they had
Oregon huckleberry sorbet, a lemon bar and sweet
yogurt sauce; these were impeccable but not special.]

= =

"Valrhona chocolate tasting" - "Manjari chocolate
"ganache", "Guanaja" chocolate brownie and "Caraibe"
chocolate chip ice cream - the ganache was rich, the
brownie less rich, and the ice cream, whose base tasted
of white chocolate, least rich of all. All fine.

With the desserts, the 01 Ridge essence of Petite Syrah
(Lytton Springs), 75% Petite Syrah and 25% Zinfandel
(thick and plummy, very dark, spicy, an odd wine that
went okay with chocolate, but I can't think of any other
use for it, well, maybe I can, as a Port substitute),
and the Kiralyudvar Tokaji again, of which Ian, in an
excess of good spirits, ordered a whole bottle.

= =

"Mignardises" (lemon tart, shortbread, chocolate
tartelette, jellies) - we tasted a small sampling of
these, and Tom asked for a box and took the rest of them
back to our driver who was sitting patiently out front.

On the whole the meal was what the top restaurants in
this country aspire to, even with Mr. Keller absent
(he spends half of the year here and the other half at
Per Se in New York). I've seldom had its equal, and
aside from my first meal at Cheong Liew's Grange, my
only meal at Tetsuya's, and a couple of multi-etoiles
in France, never its superior.

The bill, well, we'll draw a discreet veil over that.
Suffice it to say that Bill Gates wouldn't want to eat
here every day.

Renee, who had waited patiently for us, did the return
trip in jig time, and after dropping the rest off in
Penngrove, was so kind as to take us back to the hotel.


1127
Took the scenic route over the mountains - Trinity Rd.
to Oakville Grade, very pretty on this gorgeous day.
Ian expertly and effortlessly guided the Sebring around
the narrow curves without incident; but as we descended
steeply into the valley, we passed a fenderbender by
the road: clearly someone had slipped on the leaves,
lost control, and whammed into a truck. Good thing the
truck was there, too, as otherwise there was a many
feet drop off from the edge of the road. It appeared
that nobody was seriously hurt: people were just
standing around looking embarrassed and waiting for the
tow trucks; so we passed them by and arrived just a tad
early for our tasting at Phelps. As we stood around
looking at the oak groves, Bob Robertson roared in, and
it was time, so we went down to the reception area.

Joseph Phelps

We were met by Claude Leruitte, a wine consultant and
educator whose relationship to the company is obscure
but who clearly has the run of the place. We were
just beginning to make excuses for Tom, when he arrived
huffing and puffing, with Marina also in tow. Claude,
upon discovering that we were more than he'd been
told, he excused himself briefly and then took us to
the Insignia Room, where he had put out some more
glasses and scavenged a couple more chairs from
somewhere. He was in his element, comfortably showing
off even to people with a fair palate, and bursting
with pride in the wines he was serving. We tasted by
pairs: the two whites, the two Rhone blends, two Cabs,
two Insignias, then the Backus blockbuster by itself
in a giant Riedel.

02 Ovation Chard (15 months in oak) - attractive light
gold. Vanilla and citrus on the nose; good oak. Very
spicy and oaky on the palate; I didn't care for the
spiciness. Apple finish with more spice coming out,
almost a hotness

03 Sauvignon Blanc (3 mos in oak) - pale greeny gold,
sort of urine and grass both in appearance and on the
nose. On the palate, surprisingly more tropical fruit
than citrus. Claude said he serves this in problematic
places in a meal, because it's clean and has no finish
(goes away in 2 seconds, according to him). I think
this the most classic of the SBs we tasted, which of
course means I couldn't stand it

02 Pastiche - this is, well, a pastiche - 30% each of
Syrah and Grenache, with the rest Bordeaux and Rhone
varietals. It's purply and light, youthful in color,
with an aroma of violets, red fruit, and ?meat. You can
tell that I was tasting according to a scheme, as I was
under Claude's watchful eye, so am more detailed and
disciplined in my descriptions. Flavors of pepper and
honey, with black fruit taking over from red midpalate.
Finish fairly long. A nice wine although sort of lost
its way in the Massif Central someplace - doesn't know
whether to be eastern or western

01 Mistral - usual Rhone blend of Syrah, Grenache,
Mourvedre. Dark purple. Gamy nose with red and black
fruits. Flavor hottish with black fruit and pepper.
Pretty long finish, hottish, tannic. Not ready to
drink yet; needs a year or three

86 Backus (Oakville) Cabernet Sauvignon - Claude said
this was the last bottle in stock, chosen to contrast
with the freshness of the next wine. He said some pretty
deprecatory things about it, over the hill, losing its
fruit, and so on, but I liked it a lot. Color still rich
ruby, just a touch of brown. Very smoky on the nose,
pepper, mint, chilpotle pepper, and honey. On the palate
rather harsh, very peppery; still smoky, the fruit (plum
and spice) definitely in the background but there; long
smoke and honey finish. Maybe he was right, a bit out of
balance, but still a fascinating wine

01 Cabernet Sauvignon - dark, almost blue. Black fruit
on the aggressive nose; the aggressiveness dissipated on
the palate, which gave rich and pleasant plumminess.
Moderately long fruity finish

98 Insignia - perfect Bordeaux color, dark and rich ruby
red. Chocolate malt and stems on the nose; minty and
chocolaty on the palate, with beeswax coming out later.
Strong red-and-black fruit on the finish. Reputed to be
one of the best Napa wines of a difficult year

01 Insignia - dark, almost black. Cassis, plums, and
some of that malted quality on the nose, with the fruit
continuing throughout the palate. Much tannin - probably
not ready to drink for another 5 years. Sort of muted
finish - maybe in a dumb or somewhat inarticulate phase
(how's that for wine talk?)

01 Backus (Oakville) Cabernet Sauvignon - also very
dark; closed-in with mint and pepper coming out but only
after furious swirling. On the palate, much plum. Big
tannins. Peppery finish with a touch of jarring tropical
fruit (pineapple?) at the end. Or not at the end - as
we headed down the road after the tasting, coffee and
chocolate came out: an enormous wine. Parker gave this
a 93, and Wine Spectator gave it 79 - clearly not to
everyone's taste. Parker is closer to right this time,
I think, and the winery obviously thinks people will
agree with him, as the price was not cut a penny from
its list of 150- a bottle.

Claude was ready to pour us the 97 Delice du Semillon,
which I was eager to try, but a couple hours had passed
and we were meeting people at Montelena and reluctantly
said our goodbyes.

Piled into our vehicles and followed Bob to the Chateau,
about 15 miles away, which distance we covered in record
time.

Chateau Montelena

This was a visit that Bob Robertson arranged - it's
one of his clients, and they were supposed to comp us
the tastings, but we discovered on arriving that we
were going to be charged by the young idiot girl in
front. Bob, embarrassed, pulled out a fistful of bills
and put them on the counter, but at that moment the boss
came to the rescue and re-waived the fee. Good thing.
The regular tasting wines were unconcentrated, and the
reserve wines, although good, couldn't hold a birthday
candle to what we'd had at Phelps. Lee came up for this
one; although not a grand gourmet or anything, I think
he would have done better showing up at Phelps instead.

In the public tasting room, we were introduced to a
number of fairly mundane wines, not worthy of the
reputation of the winery - at best, similar to the
midrange offerings of other producers; at worst,
really unattractive:

03 Potter Valley Riesling - pineapple, acid, medium
fruity finish, rather monochromatic

02 Napa Chardonnay - vanilla, light oak, a touch of
sweetness, apples, lemons, candy; dull, the sort
of thing you'd find at the Red Carpet Club

01 Estate Zinfandel - moderate oak, black cherry,
blackberry, spice coming on midmouth, pretty good

01 Napa Cabernet - green, green, green - wretched.

Chris, who seems to be the supervisor of the tasting
operation, led us to the private tasting room, where
we got a lecture on vineyard soils (alluvial, volcanic,
and something) and got to taste the real wines:

98 Estate Cabernet - pepper, tannin, phenol, green
grass, green peppers. I thought it awful, but Carol
and Marina thought it the best this house had to offer

99 Estate Cabernet - ripe fruit, no greenness, pleasant,
not much staying power, though - too bad, because it
otherwise didn't have any flaws I could detect. Okay,
this was an elegant wine, no doubt about it, and worth
the $25 charged to the polloi for the reserve tasting,
but not Insignia by a long shot

00 Estate Cabernet - stems, tannin, fruit coming on
midmouth and at the finish. Possible future for this.

Parker gives these three 93, 95, and 94, respectively.
I'd say about 80 (surely less than 85), 90, 86 and
would like to do a retasting but in reverse order.

Bob, who lives nearby, suggested the Calistoga Inn for
lunch: it's a historic old place, insofar as anything
in California can be historic old. Good food, good beer,
reasonable prices, he said, so what could be bad?

There is a dining room and a bar; we poked into the
dining room and saw these cute little tables and cute
little old ladies; so we figured that pushing a few
tables together in the bar side would make more sense
for a party of 8.

As Carol loves soup, and I love split peas and ham,
I heartily endorsed her plan to start off with the
soup of the day, yellow split pea with ham hocks:
salty but yummy. She followed up with a cheeseburger,
which was crisp and brown on the outside with just a
little pink in the middle to justify the medium-rare;
it was pretty tasty. Lee and Marina had the skirt steak
sandwich, which looked good, as did the chicken breast
sandwich, which I noticed at a couple places at the
other end of the table. Ian had huevos rancheros, which
he pronounced delicious, and I, not having had enough
turkey, had one of the specials of the day, turkey hash
with gravy and poached eggs, certainly leftovers, but
no big surprise. The only possible reason I might have
regretted this is that the sandwiches came with really
delicious garlic french fries; but I sneaked enough
off Carol's plate so my garlic fix was satisfied. We
said goodbye to Tom, Lee, Marina, and Bob, promising
to get in touch soon, and Ian and Jacquie tried to
kidnap us to Stony Hill for a revisit, but as it turns
out the winery was closed for the weekend, so they just
deposited us back at the hotel an hour before our bus.