What do Winemakers do on their nights off?

Have some sparkling wine of course! Bubble night was a blind tasting of eight different sparkling wines with a potluck to follow. Well, really it was seven different sparkling wines as wine number 4 and wine number 8 were the two bottles of the same wine - which also happened to place in first and 3rd place. Hmmm... must be a winner! It was a nonvintage Anderson Valley Sparkling Rose' by Roederer. Darn tootin! Rick and I will have to get some more on our next Mendocino outing as now we only have one bottle left. Notes: Great acidity, just a hint of appealing yeast, dry but nice fruit quality, fresh clean finish.

What to eat? Roast beef and goat cheese crostinis with tomato olive tapenade, quiche lorraine, home grown vegetable ratatouille, tomato caprese salad, mixed seafood cakes on grilled portabello mushrooms and grilled duck breast. All made by the foodies that participated. What we did not do is decide on the next tasting date and varietal. There was talk of doing "Grenache" and it would most likely be after Crush in November. But ... there is that Halloween party we were all talking about: the "Exotic and Erotic Ball" taking place at a little community hall in Healdsburg. Cool! Wigs, coats, fishnets ... Yeah baby!!

The last concert on the Square

It was crowded, but not necessarily in a bad way. The showing of how we live in this are was wickedly good. Each grouping of picnicking enthusiasts was impressive - the table set ups, the fresh flowers, the passing of appetizers - smoked salmon on puff pastry with creme fraiche and chives, poached shrimp on glass noodles and fresh basil - oh, with so many wines to choose from!
This is wine country living - a Tuesday night outside on the grassy square listening to blues by Roy Rodgers and the Delta Rythm Kings surrounded by friends all toting foods and beverages.
Then there is the farmers market that preceeds all of this decadence. The most beautiful produce you have ever seen.

Add to that orange scones, rock cod fish tacos, paella, watermelon mint agua fresca, fresh flower buckets - the sensory gamut is abundant! I can't believe that I live here sometimes.

Breakfast on a Saturday morning ...

Maybe the last blossoms of the season ... but oh, so yummy! 

The rest of the day was spent working at the winery in the tasting room and office. Dinner at our neighbor's house with tri-tip, broccoli from the garden, fresh sourdough bread and assorted cheeses. Then a jaunt up to the top of the vineyard for a lesson in grapepicking for tomorrow's early AM harvest. (with three bottles of Moshin Pinot to enjoy - 05 Lot 4, 06 Lost Ranch and 07 Russian River)

Raid the Vineyard and put it on the BBQ

It wasn't a joke. 100 gophers in the freezer - six of them ended up on the BBQ on a beautiful August evening. The bane of the winegrowers' farming efforts - gophers can kill multiple vines by eating the roots. Here's one winegrower's solution to the problem.

 

Grape Harvest Pending - Tomato harvest ongoing!

But first a moment from our sponsors ... well, uh ... maybe a sponsor for our moment. And that sponsor is a fine chocolate producer whose chocolate bar I am enjoying right now. Here is how the wrapper defines this bar: "gently scented ylang ylang essences from Madagascar in a mild cream ganache in dark chocolate." Sometimes it pays off to browse the shops in the airport terminals in Europe. My God! - this is one shamelessly sexy piece of chocolate! 

Whew! ... ok, back to the post at hand. We will be harvesting grapes the day after tomorrow! The first ones in this crush and from our little 2 acres right next to the house. They were planted when the winery was built in the spring of 2005 and this will be the first official harvest from this vineyard. Rick is gleefull and will look much like this photo in a day and a half. (taken during Crush of 07)

Meanwhile, the tomatoes continue to ripen faster than we can eat them. Last night we had probably our fifth Caprese salad with heirlooms and fresh mozzerella. For brunch we had BLT's, and as we speak, we are drying the first batch of romas in the dehydrator. The sungolds have overwhelmed me with their sugarplum sweetness and abundance. 

Camping before the Storm 2009

We were rained on after six days of gloriously perfect weather and lots of swimming, squirrel watching, hammock napping, reading, photographing, wood gathering, gin & tonic drinking and eventually coming to the conclusion that co-habitation with the jellow jackets is really just a microcosm of human existence: "they'll only get your lunch if there are more of them than you."