Tarla.

Sorry, no time to blog.  As fast as I can prune the Syrah, the buds are bursting that little bit faster.  I'm back in work tomorrow. Help!
Anyhow, had a great birthday. Vinomaker made the whole day a lot of fun; a couple of wine tastings (in Sonoma), lunch at the Oxbow Public Market (a crab taco), a Kara's Cupcakes passion fruit cupcake (which has become a tradition) and last, but not least, dinner at yet another restaurant we haven't tried before. Tarla Mediterranean Grill, located in the trendy-ish west end of 1st Street, downtown Napa, is a rather small restaurant, but they look like they are currently expanding into the next unit.  They need to, people are packed in like sardines - and loud?  Yikes!
Wine list was a little small, but we settled on a inexpensive imported white, Boutari's Elios, an interesting blend of 50% Moscofilero, 30% Chardonnay (what?), 10% Roditis and 10% Savatiano.  Paired well with my Spanakopita appetiser, not so good with the dolma, but went great with my diver scallops and shrimp entrée (spot a theme here?  Crab? Scallops?  Shrimp?  My birthday happened to fall on a Friday in Lent). Dessert was baklava with vanilla gelato, paired with Bonny Doon's Vinferno, a blend of 51% Grenache blanc and 49% Roussanne (produced using an Amarone-like process)...yum!  All yum!
Thank you Vinomaker for my busy birthday day.  I was pooped at the end of it, but a good pooped.  Ta la!

Greece is the word.

I have enjoyed quite a few Greek wines in my time - mainly in Greece. On my last fortnight long sojourn on the Greek Island of Ithaca (landing on Cephalonia and taking a ferry to Ithaca), Thud and I polished off quite a bit of local wine with our evening meals. If we purchased a commercially bottled wine it was usually made from the Xinomavro grape.  However, when eating at the family restaurant of one of Thud's acquaintances  we imbibed in the village-cooperative's wines - grape variety unknown.  Each participating grapegrower's fruit is harvested and vinted with his neighbour's grapes.  The resulting wine is usually served, at the local tavernas, in litre carafes and offered to diners ice cold, straight from the refrigerator.  And they pair perfectly with Greek food. Shocker!
I purchased this bottle of Boutari, 2010, Moschofilero just out of curiosity.  How would the wine hold up to a California February, versus a summer on an Ionian Island?  It wasn't a bad wine, but it wasn't a great wine either. It was a little light and citrusy, a smidgen heavy on the acid and a tad perfumey, but it made a fairly decent aperitif.  The Moschofilero grape is native to Greece, hailing from the Mantinia region of the Peloponnese.  A winsome, pink-skinned grape it reminds me a bit of Pinot grigio to look at.  I think at $10, I may just buy it again.  Maybe.