Barrel Tasting the Good Stuff

Our friends Margot and JP are over from Australia. They spent the Thanksgiving holiday on the East Coast and then headed to LA before their long flight back to Sydney.

We took them up to Santa Barbara County for a night to do some wine tasting, enjoy the scenery, and sample some good food.

We spent a couple of hours at Tantara Winery outside of Santa Maria. We last visited Tantara about three years ago. This is the winery where we know one of the owners.


We sampled various Pinot Noirs, Syrahs and Chardonnays from the barrels for about two hours. Fortunately, we didn't have to drive back to LA that night.





After the barrel tasting experience, we headed to Solvang to spend the night and had dinner at The Hitching Post in Buellton. This restaurant was made famous in the movie "Sideways" and is famous for their wood grilled dishes. We did NOT order Merlot (the big joke in the movie).

New Feature on our Blog

We recently added a new feature to our blog - "Our Vino of the Day". Look for the link in the right hand column. Click on the link to see our new, companion blog with postings of the different wines we taste each week. Comments are welcome.

Check it out at this link: Our Vino of the Day

Satire Wine is Coming

We are working with Caren's cousin Barry to create our own cult wines for sale (and personal enjoyment). They will be called Satire Wines from Brandywine Cellars.

We are using Crushpad, a custom crush facility in San Francisco to produce our wines. The first wine to be bottled is a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon with grapes from Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa Valley. It is being bottled this week and should be ready for shipment after the first of the year.

We have a 2007 Pinot Noir with grapes from the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County in the barrel to be bottled later this summer.

We also have a 2007 Petite Sirah from Teldeschi Vineyard in Sonoma County and a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Young Inglewood Vineyard.

We have grapes under contract for 2008 for a Syrah from Stolpman Vineyard in Santa Barbara County and another barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon from Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa Valley.

Watch our blog for an announcement of the release of our first wine and instructions about how to order on the internet.

Matetic Vineyards - there are Croatians even in Chile

After lunch, we visited Matetic Vineyards. The family immigrated from Croatia in the early 20th century and made a fortune in construction materials and mining.

Seems like you can travel thousands of miles from San Pedro and still run into people from Croatia. Our friend Pauline would love this place and feel right at home - she's Croatian.

What a winery building! Amazing modern architecture and a cellar that looks like it is right our of Star Trek. The walls of the cellar are all built out of river rock and kept in place with steel mesh. We're taking this picture from a balcony overlooking the barrel cellar.

And of course, there is the wine. Matetic's EQ varietals are available at good wine stores in the U.S. at a reasonable price. Good QPR as they say in the wine magazines.

Back to Santiago for dinner now.

This is NOT like any deli I've ever eaten at

Our last day in Argentina. Our one night at Cavas Wine Lodge is over. This is one of those hotels you never want to leave. Stunning views of the Andes Mountains, grape vines right outside the door of your room, your own "plunge" pool (with very cold water), relaxing spa treatments, and fabulous food (and wine).

Caren and I did a couples massage session that ended with a wine bath. It looked like we stepped into bathtubs filled with red wine, but it was actually wine colored bath salts that were made of a substance that did not stain your skin or towels.

After checking out (sob, sob), we we drove to the Maipu Valley east of central Mendoza and had lunch at Almacen del Sur. It promotes itself as a delicatessen, but it's not like any deli I've ever been to. Tim, our tour arranger, booked us for the five course tasting menu (each with a different wine). For "foodies" like the four of us, this rated as a "great" meal. One course looked like it was a salad with shredded chicken, turkey, or duck. Not. It was rabbit. Unbelievably tasty and not at all greasy.

Now it's off to the airport in Mendoza for our flight to Santiago.

Tasting Wine with the Robert Mondavi of Argentina

This was a full day of wine tasting. We started at Achaval-Ferrer with a 9:30AM appointment. Nothing like tasting Malbecs first thing in the morning after breakfast.

This winery, owned by four Argentine businessmen and two Italian wine industry veterans, has established a strong reputation in the U.S. for an excellent Malbec at around $20, a blend called Quimera in the $30-$40 price range, and a series of high end, single vineyard Malbecs in the $90-$110 range. We did barrel tasting of the wines about to be bottled for export (clearing space for the harvest that was about to begin).

We then had an appointment to meet Walter Bressia, known as the Robert Mondavi of Argentina. Bressia changed the wine industry around Mendoza several decades ago, by upgrading the growing practices and winemaking techniques. Argentina used to make cheap, bulk wine mostly for local consumption. Bressia changed that and helped make Argentina into a world-class wine producer and exporter.

We drove up to an unassuming building that appeared to be under construction (and in no hurry to be completed). Up drives Walter Bressia and his daughter. Inside the building is the winemaking equipment and a wonderful small cellar. We walked down into the cellar to find they were all set up for us with cheese, salami, crackers, and of course, several bottles of wine. What an experience!

We probably spent 90 minutes talking with Walter (thru his daughter as interpreter most of the time) about his family, the business, the wine industry in Argentina, his future plans, our comments on tasting his wines, and wines in the U.S.. The entire family (wife and children) all work in the business.

The construction is for a new tasting room and kitchen he is building to host more visitors in the future.

The annual production at Bressia is very small. They make a small series of varietals that sell for $20-$30 in the U.S. (if you can find them), a blend called Profundo that retails for about $50, and a limited production blend called Conjuro that retails for about $100. We picked up a bottle of Conjuro to stash in the cellar for a special occasion.

Tim really booked a full day for us. Next stop - Ruca Malen for lunch on their patio. And what a lunch - six courses, each served with a different wine. Kudos to Tim for also ordering up perfect weather. After a lot of food and wine, we weren't sure we wanted to (or could) get up.

But we had another stop to make - Finca Decero. This is a newer winery that is not yet exporting to the U.S.. Built by a Swiss businessman (the founder of Swatch), he spared no expense building this place. The architecture, the interiors, the equipment, and the location all indicate they intend to produce premium wines at this place. We'll have to keep our eyes open for their product in the U.S. later this year.

Uco Valley

This morning we left our hotel in Buenos Aires at zero-dark-thirty (I think it was 4:45AM) to catch a flight from BA to Mendoza. We left from the domestic airport in BA. It looked like the morning commuter jam at LAX with lots of business people checking in for flights to cities throughout Argentina.

The Argentine version of TSA must not be trained by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. We zipped right thru to our gate - no shoes off, everything passed the X-ray machine, and the agents seemed to enjoy their jobs. Definitely not TSA personnel.

Once we arrived in Mendoza, we had about a 90 minute drive south to the Uco Valley. Eventually, we pulled up to Casa Antucura.

We are the first public guests ever to stay here. It is a family house that is being opened to the public as a small tourist hotel. It is smack dab in the middle of Antucura Winery's vineyards and a stone's throw away from their winery building.

There are eight rooms at the lodge and we are the ONLY guests. This is going to be cool.




The Uco Valley is almost a desert. It sits on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains and get little rain. Everything that grows here is due to irrigration.

Our Introduction to Argentine Wines

It's been a long day. We arrived in Buenos Aires early in the morning, checked into our hotel (the Four Seasons in the Recoleta district), and walked around a bit.

Early evening with met Tim and our guide for tomorrow (Cecilia) for a private wine tasting in the hotel lobby bar.

Tim started us out with a Jose' Mounier Torrontes (a crisp, fruity white wine), and then we tried a special white wine, Bressia Lagrima Canela. After that we switched to reds and sampled an Enrique Foster Malbec Reserva, followed by an unusual Chanarmuyo Estate Petit Verdot.

Our conclusion - there is a lot of variety in Argentine wines - it is not all Malbec. There are dozens of producers, multiple wine growing areas, and lots of different varietals. Given the low cost of land and labor, Argentina should be an increasingly large wine exporter to the U.S. and Europe in the next few years.

Argentina, here we come

We booked another trip - this time to Argentina and Chile. No bicycling this time. This trip we are going to focus on wine tasting, sightseeing, and food.

Caren's cousin Barry and his wife Laurie (the wine gurus) are coming along.

Our itinerary starts in Buenos Aires, then we head to Mendoza (the heart of Argentina's wine country), fly over the Andes Mountains to Santiago, Chile, and finish with a few days in one of Chile's wine valleys.

We arranged the trip with Tim Robertson of Robertson Wine Tours. Tim is an expatriate from Great Britain who lives in Buenos Aires. If you ever consider a trip to South America, Tim is THE guy to call. He knows EVERYONE in the wine industry and has set us up with some one-of-a-kind arrangements that your typical tour never experiences.

We should have a fantastic time. It's the start of harvest and crush season down there, so there should be a lot of activity. Hopefully, we'll learn a lot about wines from Argentina and Chile so we can do some more buying for the wine cellar.

More to follow as we post our adventures.

It Must be Fall - Here Come the Wine Shipments

Now that it's nearing the end of October, a lot of wineries in California, Washington, and Oregon have their fall wine releases of new vintages. The weather is cool enough to ship wine without potential heat damage. And the wineries want to stimulate purchases before the holidays.

So, our UPS man has to wear a new back support to carry all the wine shipments to our front door. We're even giving him a few tips on wines to buy and how to store his wine. He had been keeping his wine in a small rack on his kitchen counter in the sunlight. Ooooh! Looks nice, but a quick way to ruin it.

Today, shipments came from Husch (Mendocino County) and Papapietro Perry (Russian River Valley in Sonoma County). Tomorrow, we should get shipments from Arns (Napa Valley), Esterlina (Mendocino County), and Fielding Hills (Washington State).

Another Fun Trip to Stock the Wine Cellar

We just returned home from five days in Northern California. We flew into the SF Bay Area on an absolutely gorgeous day. We had a reunion dinner with some of our fellow travelers from our Morocco bicycle trip in April. Several of them had just returned from a bicycle trip in France, and of course, we're getting ready to head off to SE Asia on a bicycle trip.

The group met in Sausalito at Poggio Tratorria. Lots of wine - everyone did quite well drinking wine in Morocco. This time we stuck to California wine - I don't even think Moroccan wine was on the wine list.

Then we headed to the Dorrs' over in Lafayette because the four of us were leaving for five days and four nights in Mendocino.

During the trip, we visited EIGHTEEN wineries in northern Sonoma county and Mendocino county. We drank some fantastic juice, all from small wineries that you almost never hear of because their distribution consists of sales at their winery, to their wine club, and to a few restaurants.

I think our favorites were:
Breggo Cellars, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County. Great Pinot Noir and whites.
De La Montanya, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County. Great Pinot, Zin, Syrah, and Cab.
Toulouse, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County. Unbelievable Pinot.
Limerick Lane, Healdsburg, Sonoma County. Great Zin and Syrah.

And I can't forget Esterlina Vineyards. The winery sits atop a ridge about 1,000 feet above the Anderson Valley. What a view! We had a picnic lunch on their deck, sampled all their wines, and were very reluctant to leave (but we had more wineries to visit).

It wasn't all wine tasting (although we did feel "pickled" a lot of the time). We did feel obligated to get in some athletic activiity every day before wine tasting. So we went kayaking, mountain biking, hiking along the coastline, and hot tubbing (a new sport).

We stayed at the Stevenswood Spa Resort. The breakfasts were incredibly good (Caren really liked the Waffles made with wild rice, and I liked the Ricotta and Berry Pancakes) and the dinner was outstanding. They have a chef that rivals the best in LA or SF.

John and I tried out the hot tubs and gave them a thumbs-up. It was a perfect Indian summer week for weather, but we needed the in-room fireplace one night. Real pampering - helped John get used to his transition into retirement.

Caren assembled a photo album from the trip. It is a Picasa web album - click on the link:

Our trip to Mendocino

Our Grapes Are Almost Ready to Harvest

Today, we flew up to San Francisco for John Dorr's retirement party. 31 years with IBM - what stamina! Oops, I can't call it his retirement - he refers to it as a "transition."

Before the party, we stopped in at Crushpad and met with the winemaker for our Pinot Noir. Our grapes from the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County (about 90 minutes south of SF) will be picked in another week or two (if the weather cooperates).

Caren's cousin Barry is splitting the barrel with us. I know what question many of you are asking yourselves - how many bottles of wine in a barrel? The answer is 24.6 cases or 295 bottles or 1,180 glasses. Stay on our good side and next year you may get a present delivered to your doorstep by UPS. We can't possibly drink it all ourselves - we need help.

Our wine should be bottled and ready to distribute in about 12 months. Stay tuned for the release of our own cult wine.

Caren was really getting involved in the details of crushing the grapes. We tasted wine out of the barrel from the 2006 vintage that originated in the same vineyard as our grapes.

We also tasted from the barrel the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon that Caren's cousin has aging before bottling late next year.

This allowed us to get in the spirit early for John's party.

Grand Opening of the Wine Cellar

Last night, we hosted a "grand opening" of our wine cellar. As with most construction projects, this one took longer than expected. It's still only 99% complete - there are about half a dozen small items that still need attention.

Here is a now complete photo album of the cellar construction, from start to finish:

Wine Cellar Photos

About 16 people showed up for tapas and a sampling of four different wines. We put out a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Noir from Oregon, a Petite Sirah from Sonoma, and a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawara area in Australia.

Caren worked for several days preparing all the food - she did a fantastic job. Jordan opened the wine bottles - very tiring work.

Our guests brought us gifts - wine to stock the cellar. We received a nice bottle of Caymus Cabernet (from Cinde - Caren's trainer), a Clos du Val Cabernet (from Bryan), a Beaux Freres Pinot Noir (from Ed and Elyn), a bottle of Justin Isoceles (from Joanna), a Stag's Leap Petite Sirah (from Ted and Amber), two French wines (from the Ammons), and a nice Sangiovese (from the D'Amicos of course).

We've been methodically stocking the cellar. We're up to about 400 bottles. And we keep getting shipments from the six different wine clubs we're enrolled in.

Making our Own Cult Wine

Caren's cousin Barry (Laurie's husband) got us turned onto Crushpad. What a great startup business!

They purchase grapes from fantastic vineyard plots throughout California and Washington state. You "buy a barrel" from the vineyard plot you want and make your own premium, hand-crafted, cult wine. If you don't mind waiting while the wine ages in the barrel, 18-24 months after you contract for your grapes, you get to blend and bottle your wine however you want. It's like outsourcing your own premium winery.

Barry's going to sell me (I hope) some of the 1/2 barrel of Cab he has aging that will be ready in 2008, and we are buying a barrel of Pinot Noir with grapes from the harvest later this year.

Who thought up this business idea? Who else. A former computer industry guy that got filthy rich during the Internet boom and raised several million in venture capital to start this firm. Then he went out and hired a bunch of smart people that knew a lot about the wine business and created a compelling business proposition.

I think we'll call our wine "The Boys" and slap a picture of Winston and Spencer on the label. Caren says "not."

Building Our Wine Cellar

When you're home for several months, you start to think about fixing up the house. Caren's cousin Laurie inspired us to do some construction.

We had an unfinished storage area on the lower level of our house that was built into the hillside. We used the area to collect all kinds of junk over the years. Caren called it "the ratroom." That's a long story we'll leave for another posting.

Laurie suggested we build a wine cellar. What a great idea!

Finding a contractor was nearly impossible. With all the remodelling and contruction going on in the area (the wonder of home equity loans in action), no one wanted to tackle a small job and most contractors had never built a wine cellar.

Several hours of Google searches led us to Gabriel - he builds custom wine cellars and wine cabinets all over SoCal. What a find! If you are interested in building a cellar, check out his website and contact him. We don't get a kickback. GLR Custom Wine Cellars

Construction started in February and maybe we'll be complete in another few days. We better be. Jordan keeps buying wine and storing it in a spare bedroom. It's almost impossible to open the door because there are so many boxes.

Check out Caren's photo chronology of the construction:
Wine Cellar Construction

After we put all the wine into the racks, I think we'll put our inventory online and link to it from this blog. Keep an eye out for when we do this so you can order your favorite wine ahead of time when you are coming over for dinner.