Everybody was Kung fu wine-fighting.

Thud and I bought this Kung Fu Girl, 2017 Riesling (Colombia Valley AVA), simply because we both liked the label.  But also because he was planning on cooking Chinese food for dinner.  (The Kung Fu Girl [KFG] was the first Riesling we spotted whilst out shopping.)  On Thud's part it reminded him of the killer-kiddie-Kung fu moves of his youngest daughter: on my part I thought that it would pair well with Thud's, own recipe, 'Chinese Chilli Chicken'.
The KFG did not disappoint.  What was initially a rather pedestrian wine, the KFG turned into a delightful citrusy, white-peachy, unexpectedly medium-bodied, food friendly wine.  When consumed with food this wine went through a really remarkable transformation.  Not only did it pair well with our dish, it didn't fight with the food - always important.
Admittedly, buying a State of Washington wine (in Costco) whilst on holiday away from the US is a little odd.  However, sometimes, when deciding on what wine to buy, I just throw my hands in the air like I just don't care.  Or like a drunken Kung fu-fighter.

Pizza, beer and wine.

Thud's pizza oven gets awfully hot.  I risked life and limb to get this photograph, as it was super, super toasty.  And that high heat is the reason that the pizzas are ready to eat after just 90 seconds of cooking.  Simply fabulous.  Copious amounts of Peroni aided Thud and his culinary-accomplice, Monkey, in the making of a dozen pizzas, mostly with all different toppings.  I polished off a bottle (well, not the entire bottle) of Amalaya, Blanco De Corte, 2016 Torrontés-Riesling (Calchaquí Valley, Argentina) with my pizza-dinner.  The wine paired well with most of the pizzas, but not the Thai Chicken one.  But that's OK, there were plenty of other pizzas that did pair with this Argentine-quaffing wine.  Yum.

Friday night wine.

My journey to England was fantastic.  Well, the connections and timing, that is.  The transatlantic portion of my trip was super bumpy.  I have never experienced such turbulence on a flight, it didn't bother me at all.  After decompressing for a couple of days, Thud treated me to a really nice wine on Friday night (paired with the best wood-fired oven pizzas).  He'd purchased it from my favourite shop, Marks & Spencer.
The Amalaya, Blanco De Corte, 2016 Torrontés-Riesling (Calchaquí Valley, Argentina) was delicious; crisp, fruity, aromatic and refreshing.  Ever so slightly off-dry, the blend worked well with the acidity of the tomato sauce and especially with the crispy pancetta pizza.  Yum and yum.
It's good to be home.

A charming Riesling.

I love this wine (sorry, loved - it's all gone).  The Chateau Montelena, 2014 Riesling (Potter Valley AVA) was surprisingly moreish.  This Riesling had a beautiful, but subtle, nose of lemon and rose Turkish Delight with the faintest waft of petroleum.  The wine had a lemony-loveliness with the first palate-pleasing sip, which was followed by something decidedly tropical, then finished with a whisper of key lime. Oh, and the merest trace of residual sugar which gave the wine a wonderful mouth-coating appeal. Great balance, just delicious.
I have steered clear of Chateau Montelena wines for the longest time because I found them somewhat thin and uninteresting.  But Matt Crafton, Chateau Montelena's new winemaker, has crafted (sorry, I couldn't help myself) a really, really nice domestic Riesling.  I am looking forward to see what Mr. Crafton does with the reds.
I am really starting to appreciate wines made from the Riesling grape.  It's taken me a while, but I am beginning to understand why most wine connoisseurs consider Riesling to be the greatest of all wines.

Fagiani's.

As is our tradition, Vinomaker and I like to surprise each other with a visit to a new restaurant on each other's birthday.  My surprise eatery this birthday was The Thomas at Fagiani's in downtown Napa.  I had been wanting to visit The Thomas for a while now as I had heard good things about it.
Fagiani's was originally a bar and liquor store that closed down in 1974 after a ghastly murder on the premises.  The building remained shuttereded until it was sold to the current proprietors some 37 years later.  The restaurant's name, the bar is still called Fagiani's, comes from the original establishment, (the building was built in 1909, historic for Napa), which was a restaurant and a boarding house.  Interestingly, The Thomas was operated as a speakeasy during prohibition.  And that's about where my interest in The Thomas ends. 
Mediocre service, mediocre food, (except a special mention should go to the baked brussel sprouts which were instead carbonised), and a mediocre 'wine by the glass' wine list, overall The Thomas was a disappointing experience. Hate when that happens.  
Vinomaker did manage to find a couple of wines that were quaffable; a Navarro Vineyards, 2012 Riesling (Anderson Valley AVA) and a Giornata, 2012 'Il Campo' - a Sangiovese blend (Central Coast AVA).  On a positive note, because there are so many great restaurants to choose from in the Napa Valley, I never have to eat at The Thomas again.

What wine goes with...No. 7.

...venison?  Despite my best efforts to pair a red wine with this brown sugar/bourbon marinated game meat - I had two different Cabernet Sauvignons, a Cabernet Franc and a Syrah at my disposal - the wine that actually worked best with the venison was, surprisingly, a relatively unassuming Riesling.  Now, I'm not saying that Riesling is a so-so wine varietal.  On the contrary, many top wine critics (think Hugh) consider Riesling to be the world's finest white grape variety.  So who am I to argue?  It's just that the Dr. H. Thanisch, 2010 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling is, at approximately $20, a reasonably priced and reasonably accessible wine.  Nothing too special.
This Riesling, grown on the steep, slatey, sun-facing slopes along the banks of the meandering Moselle River, is what I'd expect a typical Riesling to taste like.  But what does a typical Riesling taste like?  From bone dry to staggeringly sweet, I am coming to the realisation that Riesling can be a rather delicious wine at any sweetness level.  Well balanced acidity and sugar (with a citrusy, flowery, slatey-minerality thing going on) meant this medium-bodied wine paired well with the sweet, tender dead deer on my plate.  A fact that I can only attribute to the acidity of the wine pairing well with the sweetness of the meat.  So at a measly $20 it was a deer wine after all.  Sorry!

TMI!

When does a customised cork carry too much information?  When there is so much ink one can't even be bothered reading it all! Besides, much of the same information is printed on the back label of the wine bottle.  This cork has the most inked information on it of any cork I have ever seen.  It's a veritable thesis.
As for the wine it was pleasant, but nothing to write home about (except I am indeed writing about it).  The Ravines, 2010, Finger Lakes Dry Riesling, was a gift from a friend (the same friend who also gave me and Vinomaker the bottle of Lamoreaux Landing we had both enjoyed so much).  This Riesling was not bad; it had some petroleum notes, the acid was so-so...it just wasn't the zippy glass of wine I wanted after a warm afternoon of pruning Cabernet Sauvignon vines.  (I started to prune the red grapes yesterday). So I switched to a Sauvignon blanc instead.  Much better.

Sprechen sie wein?

It's week 5 of my Wines of the World class.  Tonight found me and my fellow students traipsing through the cool-climate vineyards of Austria and Germany.  With 17 wines being poured again this session, I had some exploring to do.  After allowing myself a brief, internal titter in reminiscing about the Austrian wine industry's diethylene glycol scandal of 1985, I immersed myself in the task at hand.  It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it!

Even though these two countries more or less share the same language, I found the wines of Austria and Germany to be quite different, at least that is what seemed to be the case in the sampling of Teutonic wines being offered.  You don't have to be conversant in the lingo to understand German weins although one particular German word did keep popping into my mind.  Not surprisingly, that word was zucker.
Overall, the German wines displayed just a tad too much sweetness for my palate.  I did however enjoy a Mönchhof 2009 Spätlese Riesling which showed a perspicaciously finessed balance of sugar and acid.  My favourite wine of the evening turned out to be Austrian, a Laurenz 2011 Grüner Veltliner which was clean and fresh with a subtle white peachy-spiciness.  And it was dry.

Next...

Beware!

"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties. And things that go bump in the night."

Yes, it's almost Halloween and I'm quite enjoying all the festive goings-on, including the harvest party at TWWIAGE last night. Good food, good wine, and good friends were all featured in bountiful amounts. Thankfully, the Moselland 2009 Zeller Schwarze Katz was not on the wine list.

To the superstitious out there, people who think that black cats are generally bad luck, I am here to reinforce your worst fears: do not let this black cat cross your path...or rather, your lips.

Black Cat Riesling, sweet and scary, just like Halloween itself.

Riesling hunting.

Another great Finger Lakes wine - a 2008 Red Tail Ridge Dry Riesling. Very tasty; lovely citrus notes (mainly lime), a very appealing minerality, and a zesty acidity that reminded me of the Lamoreaux Landing I had recently, but even nicer. Better still, it's available in my local wine shop: no hunting online necessary.

A bevy of whites.

Optimistically hoping that the weather will one day be warm enough in California to eat out on the deck, Vinomaker and I did a quick white wine tasting - in part to decide what wines we need to stock up on. Generally, we both prefer to drink more white wines over the summer months, but I do know people who will drink nothing but red, no matter what the temperature is. Here are some speed tasting notes;

Mayacamas Vineyards 2001 Chardonnay - as the old adage goes, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything.

Lamoreaux Landing 2008 Riesling - a delightful, lemony-minerality. Nice acid man!

Artesa 2008 Albariño - peachy, tropical, clean. Nice.

De Rose 2000 Viognier - aging and flabby, though still showing telltale signs of ripe apricots and orange blossom. A passable attempt, but it is no Condrieu.

There you have it. The Lamorueax Landing won hands down, but seeing as it was a gift it would take a bit of an effort to stock up Vinoland's wine fridge with this particular wine. Oh darn, I'll just have to do more research.

All stirred up.

Washed, sliced and stir-fried. My first courgette tasted fabulous.
Vinomaker paired his dinner with a California Reisling. Vinogirl paired her dinner with a Napa Cabernet sauvignon.
More veggies please.