Sipping Wine at Robert Mondavi

Another of the great and well known wineries we visited during our Wine Week in Napa and Sonoma was the Robert Mondavi Winery in Rutherford, CA.

This is another of those larger than life wineries and is another winery which, because of its size, wasn't on our original daily plan, but because we were there at the end of the day and felt like doing one more winery, we stopped to visit.

The winery is expansive with a large parking lot and big open areas. As always, we went to the reserve tasting to taste some of their wines. The reserve tasting was actually recommended to us by another winery we had visited when the person doing the pouring chatted with us and discovered the kinds of wines we really enjoyed.

I admit--the reserve tasting included four wines with retail prices of $135, but we were able to do a vertical tasting of the reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2006. I love vertical tastings and thins one helped confirm in my mind that right now, my favorite vintage of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon is 2005 due to its complexity and deep tannins. The 2005's we samples around Napa are definitely not for the fruit lovers in us--but for the hard core, rocking deep, complex wine lovers.

As the tastings in Napa go--this one was one of the few that was simple a pour and go. Meaning that they poured our flight of wines and sent us away to enjoy and sample them without the narrative to describe the wines. I have come to like the narrative. I want to understand the wines and the weather conditions that helped to create them.

The other thing I was looking for from this winery was--so what is so special about a wine which retails for $135? And is it special enough to make me want to buy it?

The answer, sadly, is that I found many wines for less than half the price which stand up to these highly priced and special wines--so no, I cannot yet be convinced to buy them. Actually the B.V 2005 Maestro Cabernet which retails for $65 (and was on a half price sale by the case at the winery) matched up real well. OK--better. If I didn't live in Maryland, I would have a case. Thanks Maryland!

But, I did thoroughly enjoy tasting wines that are so far outside my current budget--just to see what makes them special. They were complex, and they were very good wines, but in my opinion--priced about double their true value given the range of wines we sampled during the week.

Don't misunderstand--the visit to the winery was fantastic and I am glad we visited--the perspective was extremely useful. But, I'm not likely to being home a reserve Mondavi in the too near future.

Recommendation: Put this winery on your B list. Visit if you have time, because it is a beautiful stop and a delightful way to end the day. We were in Rutherford anyway. But, depending upon the length of your visit to Napa, there are better places to focus attention on. I admit, we did not take a tour--this was one of those point and shoot stops based upon a recommendation from another winery. If you are really in to Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and the $135 price tag doesn't scare you--this winery should be raised to the bottom of your A list.

Relaxing at Chateau St Jean

One of the things we discovered about the wineries of Napa and Sonoma was that many of them tried to create a unique environment to enjoy and taste the wines. We found the emphasis on mixing teaching with history and a unique experience to be very enjoyable.

One place where we didn't do a tour, but went straight to the tasting was at Chateau St Jean in Sonoma.

It is a beautiful winery and when the day began, it was not on our list. But through the course of the day we happened to decide to stop in and enjoy the wines. It is a beautiful winery--as many of the wineries in Napa and Sonoma are. It is almost as if they are not only selling wines--but encouraging an experience.

We have been to a few wineries in our time, and what we encountered in most wineries in Napa and Sonoma was the need to slow down and enjoy the wines and the atmosphere. While a wine tasting in some places may take 15 minutes to taste 5 wines, here at Chateau St Jean we spent almost an hour and a half tasting six or seven wines--and savoring every mouthful. Learning about the wines and the wine makers. We did the reserve tasting.

And of course enjoying the beautiful scenery.

We received personal service. And we enjoyed wine. Chris is very fond of merlot--and frankly, there isn't a lot of merlot in Napa, so this was a good stop for her. She discovered a very nice merlot.

Sadly, we actually had to truncate our visit here a bit because we had an appointment at another winery about 45 minutes away--but we could have spent a lot of time at this very nice and enjoyable winery.

Recommendation: Chateau St Jean should be on your visit list when visiting Sonoma. A good place to stop mid-day and relax and recover while enjoying well made Sonoma wines.

The Joy of Being Outside in the Evening

Until almost 8:30 pm last evening, Makayla and I enjoyed being outside working around the house and then ending the day with a walk in the deepening twilight.

In a tee-shirt. Doing fun stuff like mowing the lawn, and getting the pool pump put back together and operational in advance of my favorite Saturday of the year--pool opening. And then getting the back deck area cleaned off of all of the tree flower debris.

And I did all of this in daylight.

Yesterday, I noticed that I was once again driving to work being treated to skies that are bright and full of the colors of the dawn. Yay.

It was a short two months ago we were still reeling from the incredible snows and cold--and now, the trees are in leaf, the flowers are up, I have mowed the lawn now three times, and I am seriously thinking of opening the pool in advance of the onset of the summer swimming season.

And look at what is ahead of me--Memorial day, a wedding, Independence Day, vacation, the dog days of summer. I want to be able to enjoy each one in its time and not worry about rushing from one to the next.

All of this because I enjoyed a solitary evening around the house with my dog.

Monday Musings - April 19, 2010

1. I am amazed how many people spent the better part of last week trying to get their taxes done. I mean, I hate paying taxes too--but waiting until the last minute? Well, given I am a huge procrastinator, I could be in the same situation some day.

2. I wrote yesterday about going into church and the first song being one of my real favorites. There is something refreshing about singing songs with energy and full of meaning rather than tired old tunes written in a minor key.

3. I was marveling the other day at how quickly the leaves on the trees have filled in the bare spaces. It is good to see them back.

4. My first adventure to Medieval Times with Ethan and the family did not disappoint. It was a well choreographed show. And Ethan was enthralled. And made out like a bandit--two swords and a shield. I wonder if the celebrations for Ethan turning five are not complete?

5. Springtime helps identify the around the house projects needing to be accomplished during the summer. I think I'll put most of them on the list. Although the last of the storm damaged trees was removed and trucked off to the recycling landfill on Saturday.

6. Someone the other day asked me what the TEA Party stood for--was it a in reference to the Boston Tea Party? And I said it was but TEA is also an acronym standing for Taxed Enough Already. Scary--we ain't seen nothing yet given the mountain of bills coming due in the future.

7. I am happy to report this morning that yesterday was a good day in sports for teams that I cheer for--the Orioles won their second game of the young season and the Penguins took a 2-1 playoff series lead over the Senators by winning in Ottawa. Some days I sing "O Canada" for fun, but not this morning. I guess I like teams with birds as mascots: Orioles, Penguins, and Ravens!

Rejoice in the day

Church this morning started out with one of my favorite Lincoln Brewster song -- "Today is the Day."


Sometimes it is really important for me to be reminded that today is the day that God made and I should rejoice and be glad in it. Sometimes I just need to be reminded that the day will be as good or bad as I make it.

And if I rejoice that God has provided me the capability to enjoy the day and what He has planned for me--then it really improves the day.

It totally changes my mood from looking at the day as a bunch of tasks that I have to do into a day filled with opportunities.

Today is the day--and I will rejoice and be glad.

And I also was able to see my entire family for dinner and another birthday party for the big E who is now 5 years old. Talk about wedding plans and watch a baseball game. And top it off with a stop to Medieval Times for dinner.

Best Pictures of our Week in California

I went back through all of the pictures we took in on our California wine adventure looking for the one best picture that best represented the week and what we enjoyed doing the most.


Funny, I could not decide on just one--but it took two. And neither has anything directly to do with wine, or drinking, or vineyards.

I guess I'm still a country kid at heart because they were both from our trip to the Armstrong Redwoods State Park. Funny--I still enjoy a nice walk in the woods--even on a very crisp morning.


Chris took both of these pictures--and she was being creative, but they also capture something really special.


The first is of the cool haze that was hanging in the morning forest as we were enjoying the natural beauty and marveling at the works of God. The sunlight reflecting off the trunks and stumps and moss covered rocks. Being refracted by the atmosphere. I still remember the cool, clean smell of the forest that morning. And the sounds of the birds high above us in the canopy.


And the second--a sight so easily missed as it was off the trail and the web could only be seen from one specific angle as the sun reflected off it. The silk shimmers in the morning light as the spider, in the center, rests from the work of the night. It was beautiful shimmering there. A work of beauty.


I remember a saying from a long, long time ago--it was about taking time to stop and smell the roses along the way.


And I am glad that we took time out of our California wine adventure to see the natural beauty of the land and marvel at magnificence not created by the hand of man!

Orioles Baseball

I, along with about 13,000 of my closest friends went to the ball park the other night.

It was a raw night--cold and misty.

I was treated to seven innings of great baseball. A pitching duel between the Orioles and the Rays. It was fun to watch--especially since the O's had a 3-0 lead at the end of seven.

I was at the park with Jeremy and we had a great father and son time together. It was my first trip to Camden Yards of the season--one in which the Orioles have sunk to be the worst baseball team in the American League and arguably (with the exception of the winless Houston Astros) in all of baseball.

I love baseball--and it pains me to see a major league team make so many Little League mistakes.

I'm demoralized just watching them. Base running mistakes that run the team out of innings--and a huge managerial mistake at the game I was at where the manager failed to protect the starting pitcher , who had pitched a fabulous game, from being in line to get a loss when he finally tired one out into the eighth inning. He needed to pull him out one batter before he did. Although, it worked out for the pitcher--the team lost their lead and wound up losing 8-6 in 10 innings. I didn't stay after the Rays hit a three run shot in the top of the 10th (shhhh, don't tell Chris, I never leave games before the last out).

It is frustrating to watch.

It must be more frustrating to be a player and be on a team that can find a new way to lose, rather than win , every night.

I have such high expectations for the season. I'm still hoping for 82-80 at least. And 91-71 is possible even with this dismal start. It is early and there is a lot of baseball yet to be played.

So, let's get on with it and start winning. The sports talk radio has been talking about how the fans are booing--but the night I was there, we cheered pretty hard--we all felt like we could will the team to a win.

Yet, I lost my voice for naught. Had a good time with my son. Spent a cold night at the Yard. Imbibed some cold beer.

Does it get better than that? (yup, diving the Vandenberg off Key West)

Complicated Factors

Life has a way of racing out of control. Left to its own devices, the pace of life can cause us to become victims of the life we are trying to lead.

And that is a bad thing.

The hardest part is to try to understand the motivation behind the often competing requests and even harder--to separate fact from imagination.

I have noticed that we tend to naturally impose our own reasoning on a situation and when something happened we say things like: "What they meant was . . . " or even "They did that because . . ." and the truth be known--we really don't know the meaning or the cause. But we need to create one to either justify our own actions or to put meaning into a situation. Even though--we really don't know what is really going on.

I've had a conversation where someone tries to tell me why I did something or said something--and here's the rub, they argued with me when I told them they were wrong!

So let me get this straight--I'm me and you're you, and you know my motivation for saying or doing something so well that when I try to explain it to you that you argue with me and presume to tell me I'm wrong?

That, friends, is a complicated factor!

When we imprint our own understanding on a situation or an action, we complicate the activity by masking the facts with the presumption. It is like when driving and someone changes lanes suddenly in front of us and we need to avoid them--we assess that they were inattentive or distracted while talking on a cell phone. Some of us spend a lot of brain power on that--and cause our own driving problems or blood pressure issues. In reality--we don't know why it happened--and we don't need to know the why, just the fact of the sudden lane change we needed to avoid.

In relationships, we complicate situations by trying to infer motivation for actions--when we what we really need to do is address the fact of the action--and allow the motivation to play out. We use the motivation to rationalize our response--especially if it is retaliatory or inconsistent with our normal behavior.

Yes--it is important to understand the broader situation, and it is OK to have a hypothesis--but to move from hypothesis to assumed fact based upon nothing other that intuition is dangerous. Seek data. Ask questions which probe and help expose the underlying situation. It is probably very different from what we believe (or want to believe).

I have seen many occasions where people believe the worst about a person and presume that they are being deceitful or mean-spirited. But it could be, and most likely is, something far less nefarious like just not appreciating the dynamics of the people and situation, or acting naively.

We also complicate situations be trying to determine "fair"--or more accurately when we believe someone is being less than fair to us and we do not believe we are getting what we deserve. Then the labels start going out--"they like ____ better," or "they don't like me," "poor me," "I deserve ___."

Fair does not mean equal--especially to someone who believes they are getting the short end of the stick! If you look at the definitions, you will find that equal is not a synonym for fair.

We need to allow people to make decisions and assume "noble intent." When we do not, we begin to create problems which may not really exist.

Strive to uncomplicate life by keeping the peripheral issues just that--peripheral. It will allow more time to focus on activity and fact rather than stewing about an incorrect perception. It will help keep the pace of life manageable by allowing us to focus more brain power on what really matters.

Back into Life--Making Lemonade from Oranges?

The hard part about traveling is returning to life, afterwards.

The memories are good. The pictures remind of the fun times.

But when the return to life comes--there they are: bills to pay, events to deconflict, crises to solve.

I feel like I'm going through life right now with concrete overshoes on--trying to get going, but I can't.

I remember this tree we saw in front of Rubicon Vineyards. It was the epitome of everything that can be really funny.

Look at the picture--click on it if you need to--the right branch of the tree is growing lemons and the left, oranges.

It is an example of grafting (obviously) and is a good demonstration for how European grape vines are grafted onto US root stock.



But is this is one of those cases when you have a bunch of lemons and wind up making orange juice?


It can be confusing, if you let it. Just like life.

Schramsberg Vineyard: A Review

A visit to Napa should definitely include a trip to Schramsberg for an inside look at sparkling wine (champagne) production.

The vineyard sits up a hill just south of Calistoga in a picturesque part of the valley.

The tour and tasting cost $40 and was well worth the price. There is a very nice pond outside the tasting room with a statue of Riddler's Night Out in the water--and that is very appropriate for the vineyard. I did get to meet the Riddler in the tour and watch him. He is pictured on their website.

The tour was very informative about the history of the estate and the wines that are made--mostly of the sparkling variety (a/k/a/ champagne). I was impressed that the White House serves these sparkling wines at State dinners--according to the tour. Of all of the cave that we visited at the various wineries on our Napa vacation--these were definitely the most interesting and some of the oldest.

I learned a lot about sparkling wine production and even got a chance to see some bottling in progress.

We did get to sample a Cabernet sauvingnon--which for the red wine lover in me, really appreciated the opportunity--but I learned so much that I would definitely repeat visit this place.

RECOMMENDATION: Visit this winery. They require appointments--so get an appointment. Make it your one expensive winery of the day visit for one of the days you are visiting Napa. Ask questions and enjoy the expensive sparkling wine they will serve as part of the tasting.