Rock 'N' Roll Wine School.

I did something a bit out of the ordinary today: I went wine tasting.  What?  Is that really that unusual for Vinogirl?  No, not really.  But please, let me elucidate.  I went wine tasting with an in the flesh, genuine rock star - and his lovely family.  Yup, I went drinking with the stars (sounds like a TV show, maybe it should be) at Black Cat Vineyard (BCV).  Being a bit starstruck, it would all have been a bit of a blur if I hadn't been roused out of my reverie by the fabulous, expertly crafted wines at BCV.  A truly fun, and tasty, event.
When it comes to producing fine wine, Tracey Reichow is a bit of a rock star in her own right.  Winemaker and proprietress of BCV, Tracey is a brilliant person to taste wine with, very engaging and terrifically passionate about her art.  Our little, socially distanced group was schooled on the wonders and trials of making wine; the challenges and rewards that different vintages can bring; and the varying approaches and skill sets needed to work with fruit sourced from different AVAs across the Napa Valley.
Our tasting began with a 2018 Napa Valley Chardonnay.  Focused and crisp (lots of Granny Smith apple), aromatic and generous with just a touch of oak (quite Mersault-esque).  The rest of the tasting was comprised of red wines all from the 2017 vintage; the Winemaker's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, the Family Cuvée, the Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and the Rutherford Cabernet Franc.  All beautiful and distinctive.
My favourite amongst the lineup was the Cabernet Franc (CF).  At once intense and subtle, the fresh yet super-ripe-perfumey-raspberry component was delightful.  As the wine opened up in my glass the telltale vegetal characteristic of the varietal began to pop, but not in a bell pepper-like way.  No, the green character in the CF was more like gently bruised grape leaves, sun-warmed and earthy.  Stunningly complex, the CF went from strength to strength, palate-pleasing with supple, polished tannins and just a hint of dark chocolate.  Yum!
Overall, the entire tasting was a lesson in quaffability.  #funfortracey and everyone else.

The Black Cat's meow.

This afternoon, Vinomaker and I spent a pleasant couple of hours at Black Cat Vineyard's harvest/wine club pick-up party.  Proprietor, and winemaker, Tracey Reichow was also releasing her 2014 Howell Mountain Zinfandel and 2014 Coombsville Syrah.  I had a quick taste of both new releases, but due to the rather toasty temperature, (it got to 89°F down the road in Vinoland), I stuck with a rosé that was being poured. And lots of water.  Lots of water.  I tasted enough of the Zinfandel, however, to determine that it did pair well with the barbequed ribs, Italian sausage and beef brisket with crispy grits that were being served, yum.
Good fun and good wine.

Meet Penelope.

Or Peanut to her family and friends, (her name could actually be P-Nut, I'm not sure).  Anyway, I took a day off today and went wine tasting with the Wisconsin Winos (WWs).  And Vinomaker, of course.  The WWs have not visited the valley for a good few years, so I was really looking forward to touring some wineries with them.
First stop was Black Cat Vineyards (where Penelope tasted alongside us), a favourite producer of mine, but one that I'd never actually done a formal tasting at.  I say formal, but proprietor and winemaker Tracey Reichow couldn't have made our happy little group feel any more comfortable and at home whilst we enjoyed her wonderful, small production wines. A particular stand out for me was a 2012 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, just beautiful.
Next we visited Laird Family estate which is located just north of the city of Napa, (off a frontage road along Highway 29).  Built specifically as a custom crush facility, winemaker Brian Mox hosted our tasting and tour which was fun and very informative.  With the (white grape harvest) in full swing, the entire facility was abuzz (like a bee hive on steroids) with lots of folks making wine.  And that was it, we visited just two wineries.
Two wineries doesn't sound like a lot.  However, the time spent tasting and touring just those two wineries was just under 5 hours (they were serious, in depth tastings).  I had lots of fun hanging out with the WWs.

The Great British Barbecue.

Absolutely not one single person in England barbecued when I was a kid, but nowadays it seems that just about everybody does.  I find it a rather strange phenomenon given the awfully unpredictable weather in Blighty.  Barbecuing was just something Australians did. 
Today I experienced my first ever this-side-of-the-pond BBQ.  And the weather cooperated, well, for the most part.  However, it was a distinctly English affair.  Yes, there were plenty of burgers and pizzas, which paired well with a fabulous Black Cat Vineyards, 2010 Howell Mountain Zinfandel, but the pork and Bramley apple hotdogs were my favourite.  Yum!  Dessert, kindly provided by Tenbellies, was Eton Mess (a traditional English dessert that did indeed originate at Eton College), washed down with a mug of Earl Grey.  Double yum!

Pinot grigio harvest 2014.

Vinoland's Pinot grigio was harvested today, whoo hoo!  The fruit looked beautiful.  I was fairly pleased with myself for farming such attractive berries.  Mama loves you little guys!
Finished processing fruit (and cleaning everything up), just in time to enjoy a fabulous harvest party at Black Cat Vineyards: just love Tracey Reichow's rosé of Cabernet franc.  Good friends and great wine.
Long day...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year!
Once again, deprived of the opportunity to celebrate Chinese New Year in any meaningful way (read here, eat copious amounts of English Chinese food), I improvised by whipping up a batch of Chinese Five Spice Brownie Cookies.  Paired nicely, I must say, with a glass of Napa Valley Syrah (Black Cat Vineyard) all of a sudden I felt quite festive. Yum!
I digress.  
Gung hei fat choi to you all!

A new dawn for Coombsville.

This picture, taken last summer, shows sunrise in the quiet south-east corner of the Napa Valley that I call home.  As of this past Wednesday, December 14th 2011, I now live in the Napa Valley's newest American Viticultural Area (AVA).  Or, in this case, Antarctic Viticultural Area as Vinomaker likes to refer to our little piece of Coombsville, (not so affectionately known to him as The Tundra).
The US Department of the Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau conferred upon Coombsville the honour of appellation status, making it the valley's 16th AVA.  The petition, co-authored by vintners Tom Farella and Brad Kitson, took a little over 2 years to be approved by the federal government (your tax dollars at work).
So to celebrate Vinomaker and I are going to imbibe in a little something from a Coombsville winery, a 2008 Black Cat Vineyard Syrah, and toast our good fortune in having Vinoland recognised by Uncle Sam.
Now, let's see what this does to land and grape prices!

Food Truck Fridays.

Every now and again, impromptu food and wine events pop up in Napa and quickly acquire a healthy following of fans. That is until such events hit the city's revenue radar and the powers that be, unable to fiscally benefit from such an event, decide that the location isn't ADA compliant or some other such nonsense.
Food Truck Fridays (FTF) is one such improvised food event held in a downtown car park/dirt plot on the first Friday of each month. FTF had it's inaugral event last November and in just 3 months, with the growing trend towards mobile food, it has become quite the Friday night destination. Forget Napa's $200 degustations (think Morimoto), Vinogirl was in search of just one particular food truck - Dim Sum Charlies.

One of the things I miss most about no longer living in Liverpool is the easy access to great Chinese food, so when I heard about Dim Sum Charlies I was very interested to try what they had to offer. So, Vinomaker and I, accompanied by a few good friends, as many bottles of good wine, and the disliked (but in this case necessary) Go Vino glasses, headed down to First Street to see what all the fuss was about. Sure enough, in the advertised location, we found a bevy of food trucks all, incidentally, offering a dish containing rabbit in honour of Thursday's Chinese Lunar New Year.

Oh fun! Tables, outdoor heaters, good company, lots and lots of people, a crystal clear star-laden sky, and scrumptious dim sum served from a converted Airstream trailer (I want an Airstream), the event was a hit with one and all. Yes, our dim sum order was wrong twice and one order of sui mai never even appeared, but overall the food was delicious and reminded me of home, so these little hiccups can be overlooked. Besides, by then the wine had worked it's magic and all with the world was good.

Whilst dining alfresco, we mused about our friends in Wisconsin with their newly fallen 18 inches of snow and 5 foot drifts...the February weather in California is more often than not a treat.

A belated gung hei fat choi to you all!

Breaking bread.

Last night a pleasant, balmy October evening was spent on the deck at Vinoland, with family, good friends, food and wine. As a thank you and goodbye to the Wisconsin Winos, and a welcome to family OTW, Vinomaker and I pulled some special bottles of wine from the cellar. Among them was this bottle of Mi Sueño Syrah, which seemed appropriate as the WW's had harvested our Syrah. Rolando Herrera's wine was delicious as usual...and a good time was had by all.