Gluttons Club

If any of you were wondering why I haven't posted lately, I was in California for the last 10 days. I went for a wedding and stayed for vacation. I also had some terrific food and wine while out there.

First stop was LA for Karl and Michelles ceremonial nuptial bliss. The wedding was a great time. I saw many old friends who now live far away and did the usual get drunk and dance with pretty girls thing. The reception had decent wine (though apparently the wrong vintage cab showed up) and tasty food including a pasta station, carving station and sushi station. Man, I love stations. The asparagus in my pasta had a weird effect on me the next morning.

The plan for after the wedding was that Nuno, Dan and I would drive north to the bay area stopping in Monterey. Once there, they were going to stay in San Fran while I went up to Sonoma to visit with family and drink wine.

The trip up to monterey was gorgeous; we took the PCH through Big Sur and the coast. Along the way, we stopped at Laetitia winery in Arroyo Grande. It was founded by the keutz champagne house but have since become independent. They are the proud operators of the last basket presses in California. I saw them in the back room and was quite impressed. They looked like the kind of thing that you'd see people stomping in. The wine was good, I brought back a bottle of their XD sparkling. The bocce court outside was probably the highlight from Dan and Nunos point of view.

In Monterey we visited with my cousins the Dombrowski girls who work at pebble beach. They gave us the tour of the area and the resort and we hit a couple of wineries in Carmel valley for some decent sips. Oddly, one was called Chateau Julien, the other Joulian.

That night, Karen hooked us up with an incredible meal at one of the restaurants at the resort. As a cook in the kitchen, she got us the royal treatment. Appetizers arrived at the whim of the cooks and we enjoyed every bit of it. The sun set over the water while we feasted on an interesting mozzarella made from cow and goats milk, fritto misto, a pasta special with shrimp, shrimp with polenta and a tasty central coast pinot noir from Perell. A full hour passed before we even ordered our entrees.

The osso buco was delicious though it felt a bit weird to be eating a braised meat dish in such a summerish setting. Samples of the lamb and veal piccata were equally delicious. To be honest, I thought the menu was a little odd when it came to entrees. I was expecting more inventiveness and the sort of italian cooking that emphasizes the freshness of ingredients using simpler cooking techniques. Don't get me wrong, they did classic italian dishes like a ragu and piccata very well and I'm very glad with what I had but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Dessert, however, was a flagrant violation of rational eating habits. We were already loaded up on food but the kitchen sent out two chocolate lava cakes, a cheese platter, a creme caremel, a creme brulee, and a sorbetto bowl. I had to go for a walk just to make room for it. The cheese in particular was incredible. I favored the 30 month aged parmagianno but since we couldn't finish it, I put it in my pocket on the way out. No way I was going to let that go to waste.

So, long story short, the connection paid off--we got a nice break on the bill and rolled out of there stuffed full of food and happiness.

The next day we got to SF, saw the muir woods and view of the city from Mt. Tam, and caught a Giants game. SBC park, where the giants play is newish and so I was curious about the food selection. There were the usual hot dog stands but they also had a variety of stands operated by local restaurants. There was a chowder/seafood spot, a soup stand (vital for the cold damp SF summer nights), and the obligatory panda express. The beer selection was ok, sierra nevada and red hook were available but not much else worth mentioning.

The next day was up to Sonoma and the wine tasting began in earnest. John and Deb have good connections to the industry there so we were treated well almost everywhere we went. We went to chateau St. Jean first and had their famous cinq cepages as well as a nice pinot noir. For lunch, we got some bread and cheese and stuff and ate outside with glasses of the cinq.

Next up was Arrowood. This place had some good cabs and we unexpectedly ran into another relative of ours in the tasting room. Downhill from there was Imagery, a winery that had some good variety with sangiovese, lagrein and malbec mixed in with the usual cabs, merlots and pinots. I took home a bottle of cab to stock up my steak wine inventory.

The next day we visited Lynnmar in the town of graton. They had tremendously good Pinots that we all agreed were the best wines that we had had that weekend. We later toured the Dow vineyards, broke some fences and fed the horses. Later we had a beer and appetizer at a local brewpub for a change of taste pace. The events of this day had a strong impact on me and my ideas for the future.

On my final day, it all came full circle as I joined the honeymooning Karl and Michelle for lunch and some tasting in Napa. On the way, I stopped at Domaine Carneros, a sparkling wine house owned by Taittinger. The sparkling samples were terrific though expensive. I brought back a bottle of Brut to be prepared for impromptu celebrations. After meeting up with the newlyweds, we went to V. Sattui and picniced there taking advantage of the big italian deli. The wines were just ok there though the sangio rosato was perfect for the picnic. From there, we went to Franciscan and wow, those were some terrific wines. I bought a bottle of the 2000 magnificat which might be the best thing in my collection. BV came next and last for my Cali wine tasting adventures. BV suffers from major label fatigue but they make some good stuff. After that, it was off to airport and home.

My final take was 9 bottles of wine and a six pack of Fat Tire amber ale, a great beer not available here on the east coast. I ate some great food, drank some great wine and overall had a great time. I am now planning my move to Sonoma to finally make a serious attempt to make a career out of this hobby. More details will follow for those who are need to know.