Taste of Railroad Square

If there's anything I love, it's boozing and noshing for a worthy cause. It's great to snack for the kids/disease/injustice or in this case to benefit the 6th Street Playhouse, a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, celebrating its outstanding youth and adult School of Drama education programs and a full season of musicals and plays in the G.K. Hardt Theater and The Studio.6th Street Playhouse is a proud member of the Historic Railroad Square Association.For information about 6th Street Playhouse including show and class schedules visit http://www.6thstreetplayhouse.com/. Yes people, drama is important.

We walked around sampling wine and snacks and getting reintroduced to a very cute area, downtown Santa Rosa. The standouts for me were the Sunce wines at Fabulous finds. I love visiting Sunce for the Russian River Valley events and their wine does not disappoint. Rich, fruit forward Zinfandel and Syrah. Both paired well with the pulled pork sandwiches. The Wine Spectrum Bar and shop had a delightful Willowbrook pinot noir---so delightful, I did not miss the no snack aspect. The place itself is super cute and the staff knowledgeable and fun. I'll definitely be back here! The standout wine for the day for me had to be the Matrix and Mazzocco being poured at Sherrie Blondin's Photography. Besides the fact that "Dr. Sherrie" (she can so fix the look of your abs, nose, significant other! The girl has Talent!) was showcasing her work, the wine was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the Matrix '03 Bordeaux Blend. Composed of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 8% Petit Verdot & 4% Cabernet Franc, I got floral infused notes as well as black currant and a delightfule woodsy aroma underneath. I also like the Mazzocco, but cannot remember which one it was! From a snack perspective, my favorite was the Kobe beef slider served with truffle fries! Kobe beef needs to be properly cooked to maximize its juicy goodness and the folks at Stark's did a great job seasoning, selecting the brioche bun and pairing it with truffle fries, which are quite possibly the world's most perfect food. Paired with a nondescript, but serviceable KJ, one longed for a more inspired match, however, the smoky ambiance more than made up for it. Comfortable leather club chairs and a live band serving up late '70's AOR straight out of the movie "FM" took me back to Marin County. Someone find me a peacock feather! Delightful. By now somewhat tipsy, we somehow found a place serving Fred Flintstone portions of *gasp* Cold Stone Creamery Ice cream cake. Ambrosial delights of ultra creamy strawberry ice cream artfully wrapped around tender yellow cake. A few more stops then I reluctantly parted company with the Luscious Lushes, at Bistro Syrah, I grabbed a bottle of Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc to take to my next stop. Railroad Square definitely left me wanting more! Thanks, Thea!!!

Back to my roots

I choose to “retaste” the varietal that first enslaved me to wine.

The David Bruce 2005 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir was a bottle that I just happened to have in my “cellar.” I chose it because Dr. Bruce’s Pinots are the ones that made me the Pinot Noir fan I am today, but it was not the first David Bruce Pinot that I tasted. Here is the story:

Back at the beginning of the 21st century I had an oenophile boyfriend who was submissive. As he wanted to please me he brought me on a little winery tour of the Santa Cruz Mountains which of course included David Bruce. It was there that I realized that Pinot Noir could be heavenly, elegant, and velvety. At that time we were drinking the 1999 and 2000 Pinots from Santa Cruz and Russian River which were so lovely, so well-crafted, so impressive. Submissive Steve was also quite impressive at that time:)

But to this day I wonder if it was the velvet and silk mixed with the cherry and the raspberry, the earth and the vanilla spice that enslaved me? Or was it the foot massages lovingly administered to my aching feet as I sipped the 2000 Santa Cruz Hills Pinot that brought me over the edge Pinot Noir fandom? I continue to ask myself: “Who is the real submissive?” Obviously, I am the slave to the luscious Pinot Noir. Thank you Dr. Bruce for the good memories and the good times… And, oh yeah, the David Bruce 2005 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir was quite good.

Wine Blogging Wednesday # 48 Back to my Roots: Amista Cabernet 2004 Dry Creek Valley

Back to my roots, back to the beginning, seemed like a perfect theme to hop into Wine Blogging Wednesday. Like my fellow Lush Thea, having grown up in Northern California and being of an age to remember when all the tasting was free, I was no stranger to the exceptional QPR of sunny weekend days in the wine country. I remember having the route down pat: Race to Beringer to get the free tour tickets, back to BV, Sutter Home (White Zin: Chicks dig it!) Charles Krug, Inglenook, Louis Martini, and then "drive" gingerly to Sattui to obtain enough snacks so that they didn't get upset when you cracked open a bottle of something else, and drink, nosh and nap until I knew the CHP would not dispute my sobriety. However, the "free" was more the attraction than the wine and I will admit we spent more time thinking about what shoes, what skirts, what hair than what to drink.

To go back to my roots in terms of wine appreciation, I have to skip several checkered episodes involving Almaden French Colombard, Beringer White Cabernet, and house red in a plastic tumbler. Growing up in San Francisco, a lot of my friends were Italian and their dads would always pour dark, tannic red jug wine. But somehow from the allure of underaged drinking, our tender palates were primed to crave big, tannic reds---out of control oak an bonus. It was like a mark of sophistication to crave wine that made you pucker. Affordable cabernet. Of course wine adventures were then, as now, everywhere. And I can identify the event when my tastes took another turn. I'll gloss over the backstory: Crazy friend, her much older-married boyfriend, his Bolinas hideaway, me, innocently along for the ride. Grampa, happy to have two hot 22 year olds to entertain nips down to the cellar for a bottle of the good stuff. In this case, it was a Napa cab that was about 10 years old at the time. Completely wasted on my misguided friend, who practically spit it out and asked instead for some Chateau La Salle. I on the other hand was enraptured. The wine had dark smoothness and delicious complex flavors. It would be years before I met that wine's equal and sadly, I did not have the self possession to write down the name of that elusive treasure. So for wine blogging Wednesday, I grabbed the only Cabernet I could find. Xandria will vouch that for some reason the tide has turned at Chez Liza and all the Napa cabs are gone! So, it was a 2004 Dry Creek Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from Amista. Slow to open, this wine drank like a Shiraz, so memory primed for big, chewy, grippy tannins, I was a little disappointed. But about an hour later, it had opened up to a more cabernet like blast of berry and chocolate. Almost a nod to my old friend Lolita, there was a definite raspeberry Tootsie Pop flavor along with some licorice, black currant and coffee.

This is a food independent wine. Recommended with lamb and grilled meat, it was fine with assorted cheeses especially the perennially delightful delice de bourgogne and my new favorite cave aged gruyere. Except that is was an artically brisk day summer day in San Francisco, the wine and snacks took me back to where it all began: California cabs----BrixChicks dig those!