Trade Benies

So damn lucky ... that's what I can't help but repeat. We have an amazing seafood link - a connection with someone that loves our wine as much as we love the les fruits de mer.
We have been able to enjoy the bounty of the Pacific Ocean in exchange for wine many times over the last year. I'm compelled to write a list of the deliciousness we have been able to dine upon only hours after it was plucked from the sea:
- Tuna
- Salmon
- Dungeness Crab
- Shrimp
- Octopus
Wow, the hits just keep on comin'!
The quaintest part is the hubby's desire to go out to the ocean for more after we've had plenty. I've asked him, "but why? ... do you want to tire of it?"
His quick response: "but I can give some away."
True. He loves taking apart an entire salmon and giving steaks to our staff or friends, or cleaning ten crabs and inviting folks over for a crab feast after giving a couple to our nieghbors. He seems to get so much pleasure out of sharing the wealth - definitely not a Teabagger, eh?

Mid-Harvest 2013

It rained yesterday - just one day, just enough to freak out all of the grapegrowers. It should be a good year for late-harvest botrytized wine - if you need to look at the bright side.
The smell of first season wet earth was sweet and succulent - something I wish we could bottle so that we could demonstrate it as a wine descriptor accurately. It's not moldy or earthy or musty. It's fresh in it's own sweet way, something you just have to experience to know.

Today was going to be a mellow Sunday. Especially after a week of hurried activity of winemaking and wine sales. I woke without an alarm and began to prepare a wonderful Sunday breakfast of chantrelle, comte, chive and tarragon omelettes with fresh strawberries and cinnamon buns. My plan was to have our morning meal, then dive into garden duties to gather what had not burst from the rains.
A couple of hours earlier my husband had said, "come up and get me for breakfast." So, I went to get him but fate had conspired to bring extra grapes along with a shortage of staff. "Bring it up here!" - he requested while bustling about.
Ah, but his earl grey tea was cooling and well .... we obviously wouldn't be enjoying the morning paper together.

At that moment our dining room chairs that we ordered months ago arrived in a big semi-truck at the same time another grape truck rolled up into the winery driveway. Turning the stove off, I dashed outside to help unload our chairs. Moments after getting them settled and inspected next to the house, Rick rattled into the house and I made him sit down and eat for 5 minutes before  he was off and running again. Just after I finished my breakfast, the phone rang. "I really need you to help me right now - we are buried and Robin won't be in till 12:30, pleeaaasssse!"
Sigh .... I change shirts, pull my messy hair back and put on some jewelry, then head to the tasting room to greet the public. No shower in the near future.

Moments after Robin arrives, I'm back in my sweats and into the garden picking tomatoes, then hauling in 40  pounds of butternut squash. I gather the padron peppers that are ready and lop off a couple of purple cauliflower heads. After that, the recycling bins are emptied, a load of laundry started, the kitchen cleaned, the mudroom swept and the dining room chairs swapped out.

Eek! I've only got one and a half hours to shower, go shopping for our BBQ stuff that we need for this afternoon, caramelize the onions, prep the burgers and pack for our outing. What the hell happened to the day!

Run, run, run ...... eventually our 4:00pm rendezvous with friends turns into a 5:30 venture into the wilderness for some relaxation. Why? Why do we even make an attempt to plan anything during harvest? I say this every year, multiple times. "Oh, it's a mellow day, not much fruit coming, no problem."  HA!! It always changes and always takes two hours more than anyone expects - and it is inevitable and uncontrollable, so why plan anything? Just wait till November, make it easy.

The owl has begun hooting outside in the redwood now and I think it's my time to end this rant and go listen to the beauty of the tranquil night.

Another day in ...

Paul Robeson tomatoes

Well, life in the wine country carries on ... and continues to be pretty damn nice. Yesterday we went to the Healdsburg Plaza to listen to Nick Gravenites play the blues. As usual, the event was a giant block party of wines and great food. A friend brought a giant platter of roasted Padron peppers to share, another had an interesting and tasty bottle of sparkling Petite Sirah - the food vendors provided lamb tacos, shrimp tostadas, heaping helpings of onion rings and savory Gyros, charcuterie plates and lavender lemonade.

Good friends were everywhere and the weather was perfect!

After the music festivities, we grabbed a bottle of port and a lemon to join our neighbors in their kitchen to cook up some port poached pears for dessert. We were picked up in a vintage convertible with yummy white and red leather upholstery and driven next door with a sea of bright stars overhead. Ahh .... the pears were delectable!

This morning I awoke to host a wine shop owner for a walk in the Calliope vineyard with fresh coffee in our cups. We then took samples of the vineyard grapes to test for sugar and maturity. The cat followed us around as the fog gently cleared and sunshine warmed our path. After testing the grapes, we tasted the previous year's vintage from that vineyard then packed up some cucumbers, tomatoes and asian pears for his departure. He happened to bring a gift of two beautiful packages of local cheeses from Cowgirl creamery - which we will most likely enjoy at the picnic table at the top of the vineyard with a cold glass of rose' this evening.

Now then, what's with the picture of the tomatoes? This is an heirloom variety that we planted for the first time this year and I am preserving that event here in this blog. They are the most flavorful and delicious tomatoes that I have had to date - a perfect balance between sweet and savory tomato goodness. Next year, I'll plant two plants of these as they are not the most prolific.

Well, gotta go get the lodging ready for a visiting intern, do some laundry, deliver some wine and finish correspondence with one of our distributors. Another day in paradise!

don't stop believing ...

2005 and 2013

What is the significance of these two photos?

I'll tell ya. Both are the same rock on Sweetwater Springs Road. Both were taken during a heightened state of longing. 2005 was a dream, 2013 might be as well, but closer ... much closer.
OMG - let it be.

Weather Update

Well, I've been a Sonoma County resident for sixteen years now. And I have to say ... THIS IS THE COLDEST WINTER I CAN REMEMBER!
For several weeks now the mornings have dipped into the twenties and some of the roads are red and rusty from the salty gravel treatments on the ice. I took my hubby to the airport recently and returned around 8:30am to see many frosty vineyards - sparkly canes amid white grassy rows. Pretty and also pretty unusual. A week ago my honey and I escaped the chill and went to the lovely island of Maui. I can still hear the waves that we listened to each night while falling asleep. Here's a pic:

This is Napili Bay - a charming little beach in Maui where I snorkeled for the first time and encountered turtles and the beautiful state fish called the Humuhumunukunukuapua`a.
(say that three times really fast!)
I think I can still count on one hand the number of sunrises I've actually seen - voluntarily! Getting up at 3:00am, we went to see the sunrise at the top of Haleakala. When we left the condo it was 71 degrees outside. When we reached the top of Haleakala in the dark, it was 36 degrees. Wait a minute, I thought we left Sonoma to escape the cold!? It was majestic and beautiful ... would I do it again? Probably not. It did make for a productive remainder of the day however. By noon we had already had tea, toured a botanical garden and visited a Hawaiian winery.  I would go back to Napili Bay - it's not full of thousands of tourists, the location is great and the prices are not bad.
Now ... back to my coffee ...

Winter Wonders

December - I love it just as much as the rest of the seasons here, though I didn't think that I would when I first arrived from sunny Southern California. Rain and cold!? Scarves and gloves!? Ick.

However, the rains bring those magical fungi out of the ground - in many colors and shapes - and a few tasty ones as well. This morning we had a fresh golden chantrelle omelet and homemade biscuits. Yum! After that I went for a walk in the misty rain and came back with a handful of unusual mushroom specimens to gander at. (don't worry, we don't experiment with the myriad of samples I see popping up around the trees.)

The garden is mostly turning to compost with the exception of the beets, kale and celery. A few hearty herb plants are hanging on valiantly to be featured in my winter soups. The artichoke plants that do their late fall dramatic die-back are shining with big serrated green leaves - always a surprise when they bounce back every year.

The house is awash in the aromas of baking granola. If you are a relative of mine, chances are this is what you are getting for Christmas. My hubby says I've perfected the recipe and he LOVES it - and so do I. So, I figured that I would share the love. I'll include the recipe in this post. Enjoy.

Amber’s Granola

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

½ cup sliced almonds

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds

½ cup pecans

1/3-cup coconut oil

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup honey

1/8 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Grated peel of ½ an orange

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans and grated orange peel in a large bowl.

In small saucepan, gently heat coconut oil, maple syrup, honey, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together until warm. Pour mixture over dry ingredients. Use a wooden spatula to fold mixture until evenly coated.

Spread mixture into even layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  (Or divide onto two baking sheets)

Bake, stirring every 6 minutes until granola is light golden brown – about 15 – 20 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before transferring to airtight container.

Can be stored at room temperature for one week.

Women and wine ...

A nice gathering - so glad that Barb encouraged me to attend.

I feel so blessed to be considered a peer among these wine industry folk that are at this event enjoying the fruits of Marimar Torres' labor: Barb Gustafson of Paul Mathew Vineyards, Judy Davis of Davis Family Vineyards, Lynn Berglund of Joseph Swan Vineyards, Zina Bower of Woodenhead Winery, Tobe Sheldon of Sheldon Wines and more!
We all enjoyed a beautiful succession of thoughtfully paired foods with the Torres Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
I can't say much more, it was something I hadn't dreamed of 15 years ago when I sat underneath a grapevine in a strip mall in Southern California and wished so hard that I could be delivered into Sonoma County's wine country. Pinch me.

Please reference February 12, 2010 on this blog

 then click below:

Why I live here ...

Too many tomatoes?

Every October I am plagued with a Catholic-like guilt regarding my Roma tomatoes. "OMG - they're all ripe at the same time, hordes of them just dripping off the plant like an overloaded Christmas Tree. What to do!?"

It's amazing what only two plants can produce - and I say to myself: "'cause ya know, you only planted two plants cause they're only good for sauce - and what if you only planted one and it didn't make it? Then you'd have to go  a year without sauce!!"

So, ... the ripening time always comes at the same time as the grape harvest - leaving my husband and I little time to spend in a steamy spotless kitchen with soup pots and glass jars taking over all available counter space.

One year, when I was just pretending that the tomatoes weren't there, I just couldn't handle the guilt - they were so perfect that year! They were all evenly red and ripe and pretty - just begging to move on to the next level of being - alongside some Angel Hair and Italian Basil, coated in extra virgin olive oil.

Anyway, I ignored them. So much so that they even grew noses to try and get my attention.

One day, the husband just couldn't take it anymore, so in between pressloads of grapes, he picks as many Roma tomatoes as he can fit our largest stock pot - all the way to the top baby! No roasting, cutting, seeding, peeling - only a quick stem removal before joining half a bottle of red wine for a very long jacuzzi session. Hours later, we have tomato sauce - reduced and cooled overnight.

Well, in his haste, we didn't discuss canning so without any jars, we just packaged the cooled sauce into gallon-size ziplocs and filled the freezer. ... and put the extra bags in 2 other freezers elsewhere. Hmm.... we're still working on those bags .... chipping away literally.

The next year, I saw a post from a friend about an offer to help with excess tomatoes by turning them into a stellar bloody mary mix and canning it. Well, why the hell not? Brilliant! No wasted tomatoes - just wasted consumers after enough vodka is added. The tomatoes yielded 14 pints of excellent juice with horseradish and spices.

And now? This year I've contracted the same friend to turn this year's bounty into jars of Marinara - something I will enjoy having readily available in the cupboard instead of the freezer. A three day process  - so worth the investment in saving my little darling Romas and making them proud.

Salute!

Oh I hope so.
Let's see. June of 2011 was my last post. Then Facebook came and distracted me all to hell. After that my husband and I began a sales trip marathon that lasted from January 2012 to June 2012. It was not easy but it was successful and that's what mattered. Throw in a month-long trip to Europe as well - visiting Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland. Fun, fun, fun.

Now we are home (yeah, home!) and moving swiftly into the beginning of Harvest. Very soon we will have a parade of visitors from all over - folks helping with winemaking, etc.

I love all of the wonderful people that come in and out of our lives, break bread, sip wine, admire the natural beauty of this place and create memories. But I still dream of someday having an entire month alone at home with my husband just doing domestic type stuff and enjoying each other's company.  Sounds kinda boring to most I imagine, but I'm ready for it. That's a different beginning.

Then there is this election thing just prior to the Mayan calendar thing. And I'm hoping that that will be an entirely different beginning altogether.

-Peace out

Let the bidding begin ....

Click here for a piece of wine country action - oh, actually wine country auction. This Saturday, June 5th at Thomas George Estates - Single Vineyard Night. See you there!

Blame it on Facebook not the Sonoma Coma

No posts for six months!! Well, ok, I can't blame all of it on Facebook. There has been a series of whirlwind sales trips followed by catch-up, catch-up, catch-up. Grandfather memorial at Lake Powell, then prep for my Art Show that opened a few days ago. Oh, and family drama episodes ... well, you get the picture - generally, life sometimes gets busy.
However, I must say that this crack-head addiction to Facebook is stupid. You log on thinking "I'll just take a glance at the news feed and check my messages" - which then turns into "I'll just see what my pals that won't have anything to do with me are up to" - followed by "what does his girlfriend look like?" click, then "she knows him too!?" click, to "I didn't get an invite to that event!?" to "who else went?" click, to "maybe my cousin has posted some more baby pictures" click, to "who haven't I friended from work yet?" ... and on and on .... Two hours later, you could have written a nice blog post instead. DOH! (oh, and now it's hard to get to sleep)
Well I'm not going to write six months worth of missed blogging here now, but I do have to give you a weather update. It's weird. Again. At this moment, it is chilly and raining heavily like a typical day in January ... only it's June 1st. Hey!! It's like we've transported ourselves back to the last blog post! How ironic!
Anyway, the grapes have been going through bloom for the last week and a half and are trying to finish in between bouts of rain. This is not good farming weather unless you have your spring veggie starts in the ground and are a lazy boob that doesn't remember to water the garden.
I've never seen a summer start out so wet. The locals are calling it "ridiculous" - we are so spoiled. I'll insert a picture for you here that shows what we are usually doing about this time of year.
Now to be fair, that picture was actually taken on May 13th, so it hasn't been all gloom and doom. We've actually had some pretty glorious days - we're just spoiled, so we can't wait to express outrage that it could rain on our perfect little Sonoma County Parade.
Let's just recap and be thankful for the past few days of idyllic wine country living.
The weekend began with a cooking class taught by Vanessa Barrington at the next door neighbor's house where we learned how to clean a squid (and why it is a sustainable food source), make homemade yogurt and butter, properly disassemble a raw artichoke, make fish stock and much more. We sat down to a lunch of Spring Salad made up of peas, asparagus, artichoke, favas and ricotta - followed by a fabulous Fish Stew of fennel, calamari, mussels and clams. We washed it down with a Sauvignon Blanc made by Merry Edwards. All local goodness!
After the cooking class, I motored down the hill in a hurry to prepare the cheese plates and dessert trays for my art show. A five minute change of clothes and viola! About 60 guests came over to view my photos - it was a lovely evening of friends, family and new acquaintances - a few art sales as well!
The next day was mellow - a bit of cleanup and wine deliveries, then off to the home of one of our winemaking friends and his wife. They invited us to an intimate blind tasting gathering featuring Petite Sirah. Everyone brought a dish to share and the food was stellar! Mediterranean Lamb stew and polenta, Mushroom, leek, rice and cheese tart, vegetarian Bourgogne. A few older wines were brought out of the cellar - the highlight being a 1975 Dehlinger Petite Sirah! Still kickin'!
Monday was Memorial Day and although I had intended to get some work done, fate conspired against it. Another pal invited Rick and I over for a vegan brunch and suggested that I take some photos of her garden which was blooming in abundance. After a lovely meal and a bit of Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee' sparkler, we went outside for a photo shoot and a hike through the forest across the creek and behind their house. Lovely!
After returning home, there was little time to do much - although Rick got in a few rows of vineyard mowing before we left for our next social engagement - a blind Pinot Noir tasting and BBQ at a local grape grower's ranch. Oh darn! Lots of our friends were there, several winemakers and folks in the business as well as new friends to make. Rick's '09 Pinot Noir - Halo's Hill and Terry's 2009 Pinot Noir - Russian River Valley (Castalia wines) both took the winning slots in the tasting. Two tables of seven wines, one winner at each table. It was amazing! The setting was beyond idyllic. Perhaps I should show you here:

That's the view from the patio. Not bad huh?
Another friend had come up from San Jose to visit us. He joined us that evening at the tasting and BBQ, then he explored some wineries the next day and came back with goodies to make for dinner. Locavore experience #28: Preston wine, olive oil, bread and fresh veggies plucked from the dirt only an hour before at the Preston farm. Our friend commented a few times while nibbling the oil-drizzled bread (Preston grows the grain for the bread too), "I could get used to living here."
Yes, you can.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig ...

A full riot of narcissus was waiting to greet me the day after we arrived home - I picked a large bunch right away to freshen the house. My winter lettuces plumped up while we were gone and the slugs were closing in ... oh my!
Unfortunately, I did manage to catch a cold just before we left the east coast - just like last year. Doh! My sweetie kept the house warm with a cozy fire and made me lots of tea - we slept until noon on Saturday - much needed and I must say that it worked wonders - today, Sunday, I feel much better, though I'm still not quite out of the woods.

Dinner last night was home-made chicken soup and a nice salad. The cats are oh so happy to have us back and hanging around the house to adore them. Rick and I spent a few hours planning our vacation in June, it is coming together so well - we'll be drenched in purple wine on my birthday in Haro, Spain at the "Battala de Vino." All that after a week in Burgundy - the epicenter of Pinot Noir. As much as we love being home, it's a bit disconcerting that we will be away for a good portion of the next year. The vacation doesn't count as the the "disconcerting" part - we will have earned that time off once we've completed our business trips to Las Vegas, Texas, Florida, Los Angeles, etc. It will be so nice to get this brand high in the air and not have to pound the pavement so hard to expose folks to this yummy wine. Come on economy, let's get a move on!!
Cheers!

Life on the Farm

Not my farm mind you ... ours is not really that farm-like. I'm at Crow Farm in the tiny burg of Kennedyville, Maryland. Over three hundred hundred acres of land with cattle, pigs, chickens, barn cats, miniature horses and lots of geese flying overhead.

Like a cat, I've found my perch inside the glass enclosed alcove that lets me hear the birds, enjoy the last bit of sun and see the calves frolicking in the browned pasture. My beloved is upstairs in our room at this lovely B&B - he is resting from a rather frenetic work week that began 7 days ago, and now we have a break. Ahhhh.... a much needed break. Each day, we worked with sales reps, Rick with one, I with another in various towns here on the Eastern Shore - Annapolis, Baltimore, Washington DC, Wilmington, etc. At the end of the week we took part in a winemaker dinner, then a pouring/bottle signing the next day, then another pouring/bottle signing the next day followed by a long drive to the coast for another winemaker dinner which we arrived at just in time to haul our suitcases up the stairs, breathlessly change clothes then hurry downstairs to mingle and promote our product.

We've been invited to this quaint little bit of quietude in the country by our hosts Judy and Roy. They have a newly planted vineyard and are currently planning a winery for the property. Rick is a wealth of knowledge and has already given them a pretty good pruning lesson. We'll chat later about more of the winery plans and how they began the project that is Crow Farm. In the meantime, I'm soaking up every bit of country solitude that I can. Work begins again tomorrow.
The top photo was taken the day we arrived, the one here is the next morning.

The Crab is Back!

That is the new name of the former "Crab and Fennel Festival" and it summed up the evening pretty succinctly. The day began with a local seafood wholesaler stopping by the winery with a giant cooler full of steamed crab that had been caught that morning. This guy loves our wine and wanted to trade wine for crab. Shit yeah!!! How much crab? Rick takes a look (and a sniff) in the cooler and says "I'll take it all." 13 crabs for six bottles of wine. Every member of our staff working that day got to take home a fresh crab for dinner.
THIS IS WHY WE LIVE HERE.
Later that night we are at a winery-related business function with neighbors and fellow winemakers and growers. Beautiful wines abound to taste: William Selyem, Rafanelli, J Winery, Joeseph Swan, LaFollette, George Wine Co., Ramey ... too many to mention. Locally made St. George cheese is sitting nearby in a huge wheel for nibbles plus other goodies.
After the meeting, we invited one of our friends to join us for a crab feed at the house. Lots of chardonnay, some fresh bread from our local wood-fired bakery and a lovely salad. As we're cracking, peeling, sipping and and exclaiming .. somebody has to mention, "those folks sitting in Ohio or wherever haven't got anything on us - if they were here eating freshly caught crab and wild mushrooms ..."
"... and great wine!" I have to add.
I've recently heard about what some people think of California - and thier opinion is rather disparaging. But the locals, the folks that actually live here have a different view - or at least the ones in Northern California do. (Coming from Southern Cal. I don't remember anyone ever showing up with fresh crab, abalone or porcinins and chantrelles and saying "hey guys! Let's feast!) Anyway, the consensus at our table while we were eating some of the sweetest dungeness and washing it down with premium Chardonnay, is that we are pretty friggin' lucky and we know it. December 1st and the "Crab is Back!"