Wine

 "It's treacherous out there," said the young man pouring samples of pinot noir at John Tyler, "every year several bikers get killed, mostly mowed down by trucks." We sampled the delicious pinot, the Russian River flowing within, and we ignored the warning. We mounted our bicycles and headed deeper into Westside Road, toward Gary Farrell. No amount of admonishment could counter the allure of  this wine trail.We first rode this road four years ago on a lengthy 45 mile day coming in from the chilly, foggy Pacific Coast at Bodega Bay - on a typical mid summer there - through[...]

A patient of mine gave me a bottle of Rombauer Cabernet Sauvignon as a Christmas present on the eve of her death. She was a diminutive, late middle-aged lady with a raspy voice and cheerful disposition. Many years earlier I had saved her from certain paralysis of her legs with a spine operation, and she was grateful. Thereafter she saw me regularly for lesser, chronic spine ailments. We became friends. In various office visits we discussed family, photography, wine and, most precious to her, European travel. Then one day she announced that she had cancer. When she told me the[...]

I had planned a Napa Valley theme for this blog. In the meanwhile the great Napa earthquake occurred exactly a week ago. I therefore thought I should diverge and first give my perspective on the event. Here in Stockton, 80 miles southeast of Napa it was a non-event. Some felt it, some not. My wife and I slept through it as it hit around 3 a.m.However, epicentered near the town of Napa (in the south valley), it made itself known in lots of nearby but distant locations including Santa Rosa northwest, Vallejo southwest where friends of mine reported a scary,[...]

A San Francisco friend recently posted a Facebook photo of the impressive, multi-course menu you see below, a meal she much enjoyed at the Four Seasons, Maui. She then lamented that she knew little about the wines served. So here is my present to Sibel, a brief blurb about each wine. It will necessitate a whirlwind tour through Italy.A bunch of appetizers, mortadella crostini, caprese balls and salami arancini balls,  were paired with prosecco, Italy's champagne. Well, not quite! Hailing from the Veneto and Fruili-Venezia-Giulia regions (Verona, Venice &; Trieste being the main cities), prosecco is made from the varietal[...]

"Are you from the neighborhood?" I asked a young man sitting next to us at the bar. We were at Cocotte, a small French bistro in San Francisco, distinguishing itself as a "French Rottisserie", chickens roasting inside a prominent grill at an open kitchen in the back of the room. It was a small store-front restaurant with a tiny entrance into which they had managed to squeeze an L-shaped bar for ten."No," said the man in a friendly tone, "we're from the South Bay." He then proceeded to describe all that his group had ordered. I was surprised. The place[...]

"Four men will do anything to pass the most difficult test you've NEVER heard of," says a review in Rotten Tomatoes, about the movie Somm (2012),a documentary directed by Jason Wise.  I finally got around to viewing this film and, wine savvy as I think I am, I too had never heard of the Master Sommelier Exam that this movie depicts.It is about four thirty-something sommeliers preparing for this very difficult exam, vying for a much coveted - and rare - Master Sommelier title, and the red lapel pin that comes along with it. The test has a meager pass[...]