Visit One to
Rosenblum: Too busy shopping and lunching to show up at the right time. Did not know what I was missing. Blame bad values of friend instead of self. Rushed through event in an hour. Found only scraps of cheese and empty chafing dishes. Memory of wine not able to drink due to time constraints lingers...[NOTE: Glass pic lifted from
flickr only
appears empty...actually half full of bitterness]
Visit Two: Older and wiser. Hanging with a better crowd (Thanks,
Xandria!) Arrived in time to be dazzled by array of cheese, snacks and wine galore. Guzzled
indiscriminately, however, noticed. Wow! These
Zins rock
Latest visit: Most fun of all. First of all, it was a
BrixChick/
Luscious Lush outing and I was lucky enough to attend with Thea. More experience and savvy buddy made it easier to target and appreciate the wines oh, so much better! Unfortunately, am still a tipsy little imp and took the skimpiest of notes:
'06 Mourvedre, San Francisco Bay Love the varietal. This example had a cherry/
blackberry deliciousness with a slight floral character and the normal spare, slightly bitter
Mourvedre-ness that I love.
'06 Maggie's Reserve Zinfandel - Sonoma: Developed black fruit with nice vanilla and curious hints of mint
'05 Syrah Atoosa's Vineyard - Dark, beautiful
syrah with rich fruit forward notes of cherry and earth
'05 Syrah England Shaw-Sonoma06 Syrah Snows Lake Vineyard - Lake county'06 Syrah Fran's Vineyard Reserve - RockpileAll
different---all delightful---all the notes I have are drunkenly sketched happy faces and a blissful sense of Yum!
'06 Petite Sirah Heritage Clones - San Francisco Bay'05 Petite Sirah Rhodes Vineyard - Redwood Valley'06 Petite Sirah Pato Vineyard - Contra Costa CountyOn my price sheet, these three wines had lopsided scribbles next to them that looked a little like pentagrams, but given the context, I'm thinking stars. Ah, Petite
Sirah! High alcohol fire of petite
sirah masterfully done to bring out lots of fruit, floral, spices, mineral aromas and flavors.
Despite the Cliff-iness of my notes, I hold the memory of
kicking back in our beach chairs, dishing on the fashion victims and revelling in an afternoon of fun, wine and Tucker's Zinfandel Chip ice cream---
three cones! Ice cream is low
carb, right?
So, it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. I just got back from a successful, but rather grueling meeting in Incline Village, NV. But if you're going to put in the OT it might as well be in a place as stunning visually as this. Also, a job well done is well rewarded with, in this case, a cocktail. After having actually won money playing roulette, I found myself exhausted, sore footed and in need of something
different and fun to perk up. Not being in the least inspired by the wines by the glass, I turned to the cocktail section. Also not appealing since it was heavy with perennials like Apple-tinis, Cosmo-postors and Random Colada also-rans. We pondered for a second, and then it came to me. However, when I summoned the strength to order, the bartender's eyebrows shot up, his expression aghast, "What?!"[WFT was oh-so-implied]; he had interpreted my wan request as: "Pucker Manhattan." I cannot imagine what foul "Big Apple Nasty" concoction, he thought I wanted. I laughed and pointed, "No, Bookers Manhattan!" He smiled relieved and trotted off to whip up a seriously delightful drink. Or I guess at that altitude and Bookers' 124.6 proof, perhaps delightfully serious would be better said. In any case, Bookers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker is not your father's Jim Beam. It's made in small batches, aged 6 -8 years and brings complex smoky aromas and flavors. The smoothness is astonishing given the whallop it packs. Its vanilla edge is greatly enhanced by a little sweet vermouth as called for in a Manhattan. Being a gourmet ghetto girl, I much prefer the foofy Toschi cherries, but a retro maraschino hit the spot anyway. After one of these, we gambled a little more then called it a night. Yes, people this is a tonic!
