CLOS DE GILROY, EASYGOING IN THE RHONE RANGE
In a recent Friday night tasting a dark red wine appeared in a slope shouldered bottle,blinded as all our bottles are. It had a subtle smoky nose and clean, light-berry fruit with a dash of bacon. It moved on to a pleasantly fruity, unoaked, acid finish. It was an easy drinker, nothing magnificent, simple but amiable. Many of us, myself included, guessed it as a Cotes du Rhone. We all liked it.When unveiled, a surprise! It was domestic, from Santa Cruz, California. An old friend."I cut my Grenache teeth on Clos de Gilroy," I remarked to my puzzled tasting mates.Composed[...]
A TALE OF TWO CONTERNOS
In a recent Friday night tasting we received a special treat. Dr. Browne contributed the bottle you see below, a 1971 Barolo from a well respected wine maker, Conterno. Before it was unveiled, most of us guessed Barolo already. It had an obviously old, earthy nose and was lean on the palate, with lots of acid, and moderate tannins. While not a wine that would endear the hearts of California Cabernet lovers, it was nonetheless grand and, more to the point, alive.Two weeks later another Conterno appeared, this one contributed by our friend Dr. Padmesh, a 2006.It looked and tasted[...]
JENNY
A strange real life experience with an imaginary person! Her name is Jenny. I realized how intimate I am with her.As I wrote my collection of stories, the scenes I created ran in my head like a movie. I created numerous characters, many based on real life people. They, in my mind's eye, looked like themselves. Other characters were totally fictional, Sadri for instance, the hero in On The Night Bus To Fethiye, or Gita in Appassionnata, two major ones. Jenny was also fictional, entering as support cast into the first of my three Jarvis stories. She was unique in[...]
MUSING ABOUT CLIMAXES
Today I discovered that I am climax oriented. No, it's not what you think.I came to this discovery while driving to work, listening to my latest book on tape, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. It is yet another treatise on writing, idiosyncratic, highly personal, different than the others. Lamott's advice, delivered in a format she considers more entertaining, is sugar coated and often too cute for my taste. Her writing psychology is different than mine.Somewhere in the middle of her treatise she issued an edict on climaxes that caught me by surprise. She said climaxes should arise from the story[...]
HOLLYWOOD SOMM IN THE BIG APPLE, SON CUBANO
The last time we checked in with Jerrus Roxas, alumnus of our Friday night wine group, he was a sommelier at Fig & Olive, a swank West Hollywood restaurant (see my 11/9/2014 blog). He has since moved east, working as a manager and somm at Son Cubano, a 280 top New Jersey restaurant along the Hudson Riverfront with spectacular views of Manhattan across.A family owned establishment, Son Cubano serves not only Cuban food but also Cuban culture, in particular, nostalgia for its 1950s glamor. The Son in the name of the restaurant refers to traditional Cuban music of the 1930s[...]
ARISTA; ANOTHER SECRET REVEALED
Another secret revealed. Bay Area life is an endless series of such predicaments.Beginning in the late 1990s, when we had Wednesday night subscriptions to the San Francisco Ballet and Symphony, we had only one go-to restaurant. Located in the Hayes Valley, Absinthe, which opened in 1998, was a touch of Paris not only in food and decor, but also because it was one of a few that served late dinners beyond 10 p.m. We quietly enjoyed its cassoulet, seafood, and duck confit with bottles of Chablis or red Rhone while eavesdropping on nearby conversations among dancers or musicians whom we[...]