It's birthday time.

Ta da!  Another birthday, what fun!
I had a great day, thanks to Vinomaker.  A wine tasting at Reynolds Family Winery (interesting), lunch at The Oxbow (duck taco, followed by a passion fruit cupcake) and dinner at Eiko's (lots of sushi, yum).
At dinner, I took advantage of Eiko's Wine Wednesday wine list and enjoyed a very refreshing glass of Albariño; a 2014 Calavera Wines, Dragone Vineyard (Calaveras County AVA).  And a few sips of some other good stuff. A very agreeable day.
Oh...and Happy Birthday John Toshack.
Vinogirl loves birthdays.

Mo' wine choice in Napa.

At 6.00 pm sharp, in lieu of a ribbon cutting ceremony, a bottle of Champagne was sabered (the severed cork and bottleneck can be seen on the left) in celebration of the grand opening of a new BevMo in Napa.
It's about time.  Napa has been sorely in need of a wine/liquor store since JV Wine & Spirits closed down almost 4 years ago.  BevMo, a Bay Area company, has 158 stores in total and up until today my local BevMo was the store in Walnut Creek.  The Napa location is a welcome arrival, very convenient.  Local dignitaries were on hand; wine flowed, cheese cubed, coupons redeemed.  And yes, Vinomaker and I managed to find a bottle, or six, that we just had to have. Then we went to a sushi restaurant.
I began pruning the Cabernet Sauvignon vines this morning and my hands hurt already - the wood is just so much harder than the other three grape varieties that grow here in Vinoland. However, the weather was pain free and fabulous - high 70s as promised.  I had finished tying down the Syrah canes on Tuesday after work, so today's cooperative-weather meant I could concentrate fully on pruning.  A good day.

Hold on to your plate!

For Vinomaker's birthday dinner I made reservations at Eiko's, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Napa that opened last summer. Eiko's has received some good reviews in local publications, most notably for their table-side preparation of liquid nitrogen ice cream lollipops. Yes, really.

Eiko's doesn't just offer sushi.  Vinomaker and I shared a tasty calamari, with spicy aioli, appetizer.  For his entrée, Vinomaker ordered seared scallops, atop a sunchoke puree, which he seemed to enjoy.  Both of these dishes paired very nicely with a bottle of 2007 Chimney Rock Elevage Blanc, that we ordered after a little difficulty, which was an unusual blend of Sauvignon blanc and Sauvignon gris.

The decor is rather quite pleasant, though a tad utilitarian, but is unfortunately spoiled by a large flat screen TV that was showing a college basketball game.  Sure, a feature like that would be right at home in a sports bar, but Eiko's seems to be striving to be more than just another, average eatery.  I could not ignore the TV as my seat faced a mirrored wall that reflected the screen right back at me. Eiko's seems to be a restaurant with an identity crisis, a feeling that was blatantly reinforced by the blaring 80s and 90s rock music.  Would madam care for a side of Guns N' Roses with her sashimi?  By far, the most interesting feature for me was the koi fish painted on Eiko's otherwise plain cement floor.

Overall the quality of the food was good, however, I would like to offer a cautionary word of warning - hold on to your plate.  As Vinomaker took a sip of water, and I gazed out of the window at the trees blossoming on First Street, our busboy breezed in and cleared away the calamari dish without asking Vinomaker if he had finished, which he hadn't.  Oh well, it's one way to diet I suppose.

Fishing in Napa.

Thursday night Vinomaker and I hit the town. Well, not quite, we really just went out to dinner. But, it was the celebration dinner for me completing my Viticulture degree at Napa Valley College.
Technically, I graduated when I finished my last classes in June of last year, but I did not want to celebrate until I had my diploma in my sticky little fingers. That happened last October. Then work, harvest, holidays, and life in general got in the way. Until Thursday afternoon when Vinomaker informed me that that evening we were going to Morimoto Napa.
This is not a restaurant review. It goes without saying that one can expect any restaurant in the Morimoto chain to conform to some very high standards; the decor was just so, the service was impeccable, the menu was extensive, the ingredients were of the highest and freshest quality...the prices lofty. I do however think that the ambiance could have been a tad more dynamic. The main dining room is large and open, and consequently somewhat bleak in spite of the energetic level of chatter coming from the other diners. But what do I know? Me, who can be entertained for hours by scurrying insects out in the vineyard.

Vinomaker paired his appetiser and sushi with a 2009 Breggo Gewurztraminer, a well balanced wine with just the right amount of linalool, which he thoroughly enjoyed. I didn't exactly experiment with my wine choice. I imbibed in a Sauvignon blanc, from the winery that employs me (sometimes loyalty is to be commended), but then I can make SB go with just about any food. All in all, a good time was had by both of us.

Thanks Vinomaker.

Napa nest 2.

Never say never!
I was wondering why Vinodog 2 just happened to get into a very vociferous altercation with a male California quail (Callipepla californica) every time she took a wee in a particular part of the vineyard.
I may have thought that spring and chick-rearing was at an end for the season, but apparently not the quail with the baker's dozen waiting to be hatched.  I feel all warm and fuzzy. Or is that the 2006 Cabernet franc speaking?  Probably just the cuteness of it all.