Since Thursday, the Wine Road has taken me to a memorable dinner in Napa Valley, a pinot harvest in Mendocino county, and our wine bar’s groundbreaking celebration in Santa Barbara county. In Napa for dinner with friends in Yountville, we awoke to take our gracious hostess Jan to breakfast at Gordon’s, where you’re as likely to sit next to Napa’s famous as next to a tourist from Des Moines.
Leaving Jan’s place we noticed neighbors milling about in the streets. "What’s that, an ad-hoc homeowner’s meeting?" she asked. Then we turned the corner and drove towards th
e Mayacamas mountains and saw what everyone was looking at. Smoke. Lot’s of smoke. The photo at the right shows the view from Gordon’s parking lot last Friday morning. Though it looks as if the fire is coming from the building across the street, it’s in the mountains, several miles behind it. We speculated as to the safety of Mayacamas Vineyards and Mount Veeder Winery, decided they were too far south to be threatened, and went in for breakfast hoping we were correct.
Breakfast at Gordon’s is an interesting mix of small town breakfast spot and tourist trap. Many of the latter stop in to see the former, and this may be the reason for much of its success. But in the opinion of one in our party, it is because of Gordon’s great rough-hewn wooden tables, which make interesting lines when you color on them. I do, however, believe this to be the minority opinion.
We were on our way to Mendocino’s Anderson Valley for, among other things, an early morning pinot harvest at the Abbey Harris vineyard.
Continue reading ‘"How big is a Small Fire?" and "Pinot Harvest"’
“I can take off my Dora sandals when I’m on the airplane” our 4-year old daughter infor
med us with the glee that accompanies her fresh insights, “because there is no light saying you can’t have bare feet!” Makes sense, there are lights telling her to fasten her seat belt, or that the restroom is occupied, or…
We were flying from California to Pennsylvania for a family wedding and had been barraged with the unending series of “Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the signs?” directives that greet air travelers. In the face of all these DO NOTS, the fact she still COULD take off her Dora sandals gave her great satisfaction. Ahhh, freedom.
Some years back I enjoyed a similar escape from the chains of convention the first time I succeeded in disproving the old dictum “White wine with Fish, Red wine with Meat”. This early success encouraged me to seek other contrarian pairings, a pursuit which renewed my love affair with wine…
Continue reading ‘"Barefoot in the Air", or "Rule-Breaker Wine & Food Pairings"’
September 11, 2006 filed in
Wine.
Tags: aroma therapy, aromatherapy, aromatic, chenin blanc, daniel gehrs, roussanne, tablas creek, tudor, vina robles, Wine.
"I’d like to tell you" I said to the perky sales associate "that this is the best shaving cream I’ve ever used. But I loathe coming in to buy it because of your store’s over-powering assault on my nose!" Seeing her dismay I quickly added "You see, I work with wine, where a sensitive and well-trained nose is a valuable tool."
My comment had been offered in sympathy for the workers in this boutique shop, which features hand-made soaps and cosmetics with no packaging. I figured they too must dread the over-powering essence of jasmine, watermelon, cucumber, Ylang-Ylang and dozens of other scents figuratively screaming for the attention of every nostril within 50 feet. But my words were not taken kindly. Visibly bristling, the Sales Associate gave me a look she likely reserved for the heathen, the non-believers…
Continue reading ‘Aroma Hooey?’
e Mayacamas mountains and saw what everyone was looking at. Smoke. Lot’s of smoke. The photo at the right shows the view from Gordon’s parking lot last Friday morning. Though it looks as if the fire is coming from the building across the street, it’s in the mountains, several miles behind it. We speculated as to the safety of Mayacamas Vineyards and Mount Veeder Winery, decided they were too far south to be threatened, and went in for breakfast hoping we were correct.
Breakfast at Gordon’s is an interesting mix of small town breakfast spot and tourist trap. Many of the latter stop in to see the former, and this may be the reason for much of its success. But in the opinion of one in our party, it is because of Gordon’s great rough-hewn wooden tables, which make interesting lines when you color on them. I do, however, believe this to be the minority opinion.
