Jo Rhett's Wine Blog

diary of an Endorphin Junkie

Cooler than Jesus
No writing tonight, but it's okay. I'm cleaning. Or, I'm not cleaning. I'm arranging and throwing things away (mostly the latter). And rocking out to some old-school techo dance music, in case you didn't recognize the title ;-)

And delving into a spectactular Arista Pinot, yeah, that too.
The lucidity moment of a nice wine drunk
Tonight I cracked open a 2003 Sangiovese from Solis, down in Morgan Hill. Shocking, either I misremembered or this wine has gotten much better in the bottle. It was incredible.

Having finished the bottle (and finding that the Peterson 2004 is not up to the same snuff) I am on that light edge of tipsy, happy and quite enjoying myself at the moment. This is what I call the Lucidity Moment. A lot of my finer ramblings have come out of this moment. My favorite is posted here:

http://www.bitchandwine.net/jorhett/Ramble/rant2.html
France is our bitch?
So I found a wine in my rack that was left over from my wine club experience and not one of my local wines. Les Fumáees Rouges is a Syrah Cabernet from Vin Ve Pays D'Oc 1999.

It's rather good, but really what the hell are the French doing naming wines after the grape? I though that was left to us amateurs californians!?!?

Anyway, it's rather good. Yum. No, it's the second bottle. Really. I mean, I can still type, right?
Whine, wine, wine...
Yesterday didjiman and karisu_sama rolled up to my house, then we swapped into my minivan and raced up north for the Summer Fest at Eastside Wineries.

Unfortunately, traffic was horrible all the way up there so we didn't arrive until 3:30pm. I'd like to thank Cristopher Creek, Acorn and Mietz Cellars who all let us in after the 4pm cutoff. Yummy good stuff.

Before leaving we ran by Mill Creek to pick up some nice, dry Gewürtzraminers. On the way home we stopped at Lococo's Cucina Rustica, one of the best (and affordable!) italian restaurants in the bay area.

Sweet day.
Free food and wine?
So like tomorrow AM I'm heading up to Russian River for a food and wine festival. Free food, and lots of just released wines to be had.

Unfortunately, all my normal targets are out of town. jjustisp is cruising around the Mediteranean, and half of the known universe is at Costume College this weekend.

Of those of you still in town, want to share a trip up to Russian River?
Wine, wine wine... tequila!
Friday night bovil and kproche escaped their overly-tight schedule and ran up to my house for dinner. A home cooked meal and 5 bottles of wine ... yeah, lots of silliness ensued.

In the morning we grabbed breakfast at a local joint, then ran up to Russian River for me to pick up wine deliveries and for them to try out my favorite jaunts. A nice relaxing afternoon of tasting, with fresh-baked bread and cheese lunch by the pond at Hop Kiln. Then a 2-hour haul back to the bay area for work (me) and singing (kproche).

I escaped from work to join them for the closing antics at the 25th anniversary party for SCCLA. The party wandered from there to someone's house, and we traversed from wine to chipotle vodka and almond tequila. Yowsa! Lots of talk about kink, and highlights from the Eurovision competition.

Absolutely one of the best evenings I've had a in a long time, and I thoroughly enjoyed being around like souls for such an extended period. Unfortunately they spent most of the late night discussing the local drama and politics, which reminds me why I bailed on those communities so many years ago. But it was a sweet experience, and I need to find ways to hang with these people more often (while avoiding the politics!)
Whine and Jeez.
Saturday didn't happen. By the time I got to my first party for Saturday it was Sunday, and fun fun fun. A rolling cast of BASFA folk were clustered around jaylake, until kproche and bovil had the audacity to break the poor man over the hot coals of Chipolte Vodka.

I left far too late, and returned south early AM to go hit Livermore Wineries with kproche and bovil. They did the driving, so I got to be silly. 'kay, sillier than usual anyway. Good fun.

We visited Bent Creek, Cedar Mountain, Steven Kent, La Rochelle and finally Thomas Coyn. Thomas Coyn was absolutely the star of the bunch, although all of them were quite good. Hit them in exactly that order!

And today I am south again, with these fools yet again. Yowser. I don't think I've seen most of these folk this much in a year of conventions prior to this weekend.

johnnyeponymous wants to give a shout out to all his Homies.
Dinkin' with the drinkin', tinker and bell...
So Tuesday I wandered back down to Russian River valley and hit some of my favorite wineries. Arista was closed, but I got to catch up with Porter Creek (organic and bio-dynamic). I raced past Davis Bynum before my taste buds died from proximity, then wandered by a few other Westside Road wineries on the way home.

cmdrsuzdal had liked Hop Kiln but I figured it was just because she was drunk last time we went. Turns out, she was right. They have a muscat/chardonnay blend that was just fabulous this year, and their big red is understated in title. Nice stuff. And they had hot bread and good cheese for me to pull together a snack lunch. Some innovative mustards, and wow before I knew it the bills were rolling.

From there I wandered down to Belvedere, a place I remembered more for the garden (nice) than the wine. Memory has failed me, or they improved. A dry, sophisticated gewurztraminer, and a killer, absolutely killer Pinot. Some splendid organic Zinfadels as well, but at $35 a bottle I was feeling too broke already to indulge. But the wine server was splendid company, and we chatted our way through the afternoon.

Last stop was Roshambo. The queen is dead, long live... yeah, Naomi is gone. She apparently broke up with the husband/boyfriend and sold Roshambo. Everyone there is trying hard to stay positive, but the fun feeling just wasn't there. I hope it recovers.

Finally, I wandered into Healdsburg and found a decent place to eat for decent prices (that's actually a Find! in Healdsburg). Chatted up a server, and found out the local dive bar. Went there and played pool (badly) drank (too much) and generally made a nuisance of myself. Left a little too late and had to struggle to stay awake on the drive home.