Sangria in Puerto Rico

The origin of Sangria? Who knows? Here’s my story. A long time ago, the Spanish had a problem: what alcoholic beverage to drink when it is really warm out? Beer wasn’t their alcohol of choice in the first place; neither were distilled spirits. What Spain does have though is wine, especially red wine. Drinking red wine on a hot day does nothing to cool you down, it just gets you drunk. Putting ice cubes in red wine is an offense against the laws of nature (or some such reasoning). What if you put fruit in with the wine and let them stew together, and then add ice? Sangria!

You don’t want to use your good wine, but you don’t want something terrible either. A wine that is relatively light bodied and fruity is called for. (Light on the tannins please!) Tempranillo or Garnacha (Grenache), the primary red varietals in Spain, work well in their less expensive incarnations. Working with California varietals, I like Zinfandel or even Merlot for the Sangria base.

As far as what else goes in the Sangria, there are undoubtedly thousands of different recipes: different fruits, additional alcohol (brandy, liqueurs), sparkling water or lemon-lime soda even. White wine Sangrias are also pretty darn good.

Lori and I split a pitcher of sangria at a sidewalk cafe.

Lori and I split a pitcher of sangria at a sidewalk cafe.

On our recent trip to New England and Puerto Rico, I ended up having a lot of Sangria. It was served at the wedding we attended in New Hampshire, and then with the heat in Puerto Rico, something was a necessity. As I’m not a huge fan of rum, and rum is the major alcohol of Puerto Rico, I needed something else to drink, and there was my long lost and newly rediscovered friend, Sangria.

Sunset over old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sunset over old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

As far as I can count, I had Sangria at six different places in Puerto Rico, almost every night. I’ll blame it on the sunset colors reminding me of Sangria. I missed the first night because I had one of the Puerto Rican beers; didn’t make that mistake again. And I missed the last night because we were doing a nighttime snorkeling trip in a bioluminescent bay and got back to the hotel too tired to drink. (By the way, the bioluminescent bay swim was one of the coolest things ever. Swimming and your hand trails strands of light in the water. Magic. Belief in a higher being. More than just science. Do it if you ever get a chance.)

The danger with Sangria is that it can easily get too sweet. The wine you’re starting with typically isn’t going to have a lot of acid, and you’re adding fruit and potentially other components that have some sugar. I encountered this quite often. It was still good, but not great. The two best from the trip were at Aji Dulce, a restaurant in Old San Juan, and at the Tamboo Tavern, a bar/restaurant right on the beach in Rincón (Sandy Beach). Both were nicely balanced takes on Sangria, and earned a second glass.

I’ve talked before about rosés as great for warm weather, and now I’ll keep Sangria on that same list.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Wine, Cheese and Chocolate in New Hampshire

Kim and Jason at the altar, on the beach at Newfound Lake, NH

Kim and Jason at the altar, on the beach at Newfound Lake, NH

Lori and I were in New England last week for a wedding. End of September in New England: beautiful weather, beautiful leaves, old friends, the son of those old friends getting married; how could we not attend? Driving up from Boston to New Hampshire for the wedding we stopped at a rest/tourist information area. Glancing through the brochures we found one titled Wine, Cheese and Chocolate Trails in New Hampshire. OK, you had us at wine, but the rest is not bad either. We had a free day after the wedding, and wanted to tour around; might as well have wineries etc. as a target for that driving.

We first visited Gilmanton Winery and Vineyard. Actually, bad timing on our part. They not only make wine, but also serve brunch on the weekends, and it’s a very popular place. So popular that they didn’t have anyone to serve us in the tasting room. The closest we got to tasting was grabbing a couple of grapes from the vines growing there. What was growing there was Concord grapes (perfectly ripe), so it was just like tasting grape jelly.

Getting to Gilmanton involved a couple of dirt roads, and took us past a small pond where the leaves were just starting to turn colors. Beautiful day, beautiful scenery.

Kellerhaus

Kellerhaus

Chocolate was next on the list. We went to Kellerhaus in Weirs Beach, which boasts of having an ice cream sundae smorgasbord. It did, and we did. Choose the cup size and ice cream flavor(s), then serve yourself hot fudge, marshmallow sauce, butterscotch sauce and all sorts of toppings. They also have a full selection of chocolate truffles and other candy delights.

Newfound Lake Vineyards tasting room

Newfound Lake Vineyards tasting room

Last on our list was Newfound Lake Vineyards, just on the other side of the lake from where we stayed for the wedding. They grow some of their own grapes right there, and also get some grapes from Suisun Valley in California (just east of Napa Valley). What they grow there is a white varietal called Edelweiss, which was pretty good. We bought a bottle and took it back to our friends’ house, where we had it with Thai food the next night (a pretty good pairing). The California grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which they make into both individual varietal wines and also a blend, called “Wicked Good Red,” or WGR. We liked the WGR a lot, and bought a bottle, which was consumed that evening with our friends and the bride and groom while watching the lunar eclipse.

Newfound Lake vineyards

Newfound Lake vineyards

I don’t think wine should be your primary reason for going to New Hampshire, but if you’re there and wandering around, visiting wineries is a great way to see the state and have some extra fun while you’re at it.

L’Chaim,

Larry

First Day of Harvest 2015

First day of kindergarten; first day of harvest 2015

First day of kindergarten; first day of harvest 2015

I don’t think Winemaker B (Brandon Lapides) will soon forget the first day of harvest this year. In one of those interesting coincidences, the first day of harvest for Armida Winery (Pinto Gris brought in) was also the first day of kindergarten for his first-born, Winemaker-in-Waiting Elliana. Wednesday August 19th was a big day for everyone in the family.

Winemaker-in-Waiting Elliana

Winemaker-in-Waiting Elliana

Winemaker B and WiW Elli were out in the vineyards yesterday morning checking sugar levels. The first Zinfandel was supposed to come in today; likely Sauvignon Blanc later in the week.

Winemaker B is cautiously optimistic about harvest this year. Yes, harvest is early, but the growing season started early, so the grapes got the right amount of hang time. Couple that with no sustained heat spikes, and the grape quality should be good this year. Balancing that is a reduced yield, due primarily to the drought. Still trying to figure out how much the drop in volume will be. So cautious optimism for now, but we’ll check in with him in September to see how the harvest is shaping up.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Harrison Clarke for Rhônes

At the Wine Bloggers Conference last year, one of the sessions was on Ballard Canyon AVA Syrahs. Ballard Canyon is one of the newest AVAs in the Santa Ynez Valley, and has made its reputation based on the Syrahs and other Rhône varietals that are typically grown there. I tried Syrahs from 7 different wineries in that session, with typically two vintages per winery.

Panel on Ballard Canyon Syrahs at the 2014 Wine Bloggers Conference

Panel on Ballard Canyon Syrahs at the 2014 Wine Bloggers Conference

One winemaker on the panel described Syrah by comparing the wines from this varietal to the dancing hippos from the movie Fantasia, but substituting the dangerous animals of the Nile for the cute animated hippos. (The music to that scene is Dance of the Hours, by Amilcare Ponchielli.) Not a bad analogy: Syrahs can be big and bold and graceful, and dangerous to novice winemakers.

Regarding the wines from the seminar, my favorite was the 2010 Syrah from Harrison Clarke Vineyards. It was still a bit young, but to my tastes a better balanced wine than any of the others, one that would have been great with a meal. So when Lori and I went to Santa Ynez Valley in July, a visit Harrison Clarke was high on our list.

We started with a tour of their vineyards, about 12 acres currently planted, with Roger Harrison. An interesting walk, as we seemed to stop every 5 steps for another 2 minutes of discussion about one aspect or another about the vineyard: differences between the top of the hill and the bottom, differences between the edge of the vineyard near a tree and the middle of the vineyard, differences between newer and older vines, differences between the Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre that they have planted their. Roger is in the vineyards every day, and his love of the grapes was obvious. By the way, they’ve also got a great view from the vineyard down Ballard Canyon.

Hilarie Clarke outside the Harrison Clarke winery.

Hilarie Clarke outside the Harrison Clarke winery.

We then adjourned to the winery and tasted with Hilarie Clark, whose love for her wines was as compelling as Roger’s love for his grapes. She’s no novice; the wines were big and bold and graceful, as I remembered from a year ago. Not only are they growing other Rhône varietals, they are making those wines. So we tasted Syrahs, and GSM (Grenache / Syrah / Mourvèdre) blends. There was also a very nice rosé of Grenache. We liked it all, but choices had to be made. In the end, the wines that made the cut and got taken home with us were

2011 Eve e Marie (70% Syrah, 30% Grenache blend)
2011 Cuvee Charlotte Syrah

Now we have a dilemma: We want to open these wines, but we also want to let them age for a few years or more. It’s a tough problem, but somehow we’ll face up to the challenge.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Qupé Is Central Coast Syrah

Family legend has it that my parents used to trade Dodgers tickets for Qupé wine. According to Bob Lindquist, owner/winemaker of Qupé Winery, there was at least one discussion about that, but it never happened. So it’s just legend. We do know that my parents met Bob just after he started Qupé, while he was still working at another winery in the Santa Ynez Valley. Lori and I will take credit for that, since we were living in Santa Barbara at the time, and took my parents to that other winery. Shortly after, my job took us to the East Coast, but my parents kept up the relationship with Bob over the next 30+ years.

30+ years of wines in the Qupé library.

30+ years of wines in the Qupé library.

In that 30+ year interval, all Bob did was to build Qupé into the leading producer of Syrah on the Central Coast of California, establish the Central Coast as a valid and valuable growing region for Rhône varietals and establish himself as one of the godfathers of those varietals in the state. That’s quite a résumé. We reconnected with Bob at last year’s Wine Bloggers Conference, and he was our first call when we starting planning our trip to the Santa Ynez Valley this year. He didn’t have a lot of spare time, so he invited us to come to the winery and share their daily staff lunch. As befits a godfather, he made us an offer we couldn’t refuse: Come to the winery, located in the middle of the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard, taste Qupe and Au Bon Climat (ABC) wines (Au Bon Climat, headed by Santa Barbara Pinot Noir and Chardonnay pioneer Jim Clendenen, shares the winery with Qupe), and have lunch with Bob and the winery team.

This was one of the most memorable meals we’ve ever had. Kudos to Enrique, Bob’s cellar master, for the meal: flank steak, spare ribs, fava beans and kale, braised cabbage, salad and garlic bread, served buffet style in the winery. Aside from Bob and Enrique, joining us for lunch were Katie, their marketing person, Marc Piro, who while he has no official title is essentially the assistant winemaker, and Louisa Sawyer Lindquist, Bob’s wife. As we sat down at the table we noticed the line up of wines:

The lunch table at Qupé Winery.

The lunch table at Qupé Winery.

Qupé 2012 Syrah Central Coast
Verdad 2012 Tempranillo, Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard
Armida 2013 Parmelee-Hill Zinfandel
Armida 2013 Il Campo, Dry Creek Valley (field blend of about 80% Zinfandel, 20% Petite Sirah, estate grown)
Qupé 2011 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard, Highland Bench

Since they had to work after lunch, and we had to drive, there were individual spit cups lined up on the table, as well as larger buckets. You’ll notice some white wines in the photo, but since this was really a red wine meal, I quickly skipped and spit through the whites to get to the reds.

The Central Coast Syrah from Qupé is their largest production wine. Grapes from all three vineyards that they source from are included. This is a really nice Syrah, and at $20 per bottle it’s a great value.

Verdad Wines is Louisa’s brand. She’s been in the wine business for decades herself, starting on the sales and marketing side of the business. The Tempranillo grapes come from a vineyard Louisa and Bob planted in the Edna Valley area, closer to San Luis Obispo than to Santa Ynez. The vineyard, the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard, is farmed biodynamically. Tempranillo is an underappreciated varietal in California, with our abundance of great reds. But Tempranillo, cared for properly, can have complexity and subtlety and can age well. I’m not sure how the Verdad wines will age, as we were drinking fairly young wines, but this was among the best Tempranillo we’ve had from California. While we drank and enjoyed the 2012 Tempranillo with lunch, we bought a bottle of both the 2012 and 2011, so we could compare vintages at some point in the future.

Armida is the winery our son, Brandon (Winemaker B), works for. We figured that a) bringing wine for lunch would be a good way to pay for lunch, and b) that bringing Zinfandel, the flagship grape for Armida, would be the way to go. Also, while there is Zinfandel grown in the Paso Robles area, there’s really none in Santa Barbara County, so Bob and team don’t get to try to many Zinfandels. The Il Campo was as expected, fruity and big, with the Petite Sirah boosting the body of the Zinfandel as it’s supposed to. The Parmelee-Hill was as we expected, but not what Bob expected. This vineyard is in Sonoma County, not too far from the Carneros region, and therefore is a much colder vineyard for Zinfandel than usual. And it produces a much more nuanced Zinfandel than most in California. Delicious.

One block of Bien Nacido Vineyard, near Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County

One block of Bien Nacido Vineyard, near Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County

The Qupé 2011 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard, Highland Bench is the flagship wine for Qupé. Bob doesn’t make a huge amount of this wine; he can’t, there aren’t enough grapes in the block. But this wine gets special care, and it shows. This was Syrah with restraint, Syrah that was showing off its style on the catwalk and you wanted to see it from all angles, noticing the little touches and subtle flair in the execution. This was Syrah produced by an experienced hand, comfortable in his own skin, not trying to impress anyone but just making the wine he wants to make.

Best. Lunch. Ever.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Mosby Features Italian Varietals

Mosby Winery

Mosby Winery

Why Italian varietals? Why Italian varietals in the Santa Ynez Valley, when other grapes grow so well? Sorry, I don’t know, but I do know that I enjoy going to Mosby Winery and tasting Bill Mosby’s Italian varietal wines, like Pinot Grigio, Cortese, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Lagrein and more. Most of the grapes are grown by Mosby, but a few wines are imported from Italy.

The last time we visited Mosby was 2003, on a visit to Santa Barbara to celebrate my mother’s 70th birthday. There’s a photograph that was taken on that visit that is etched in my mind, of my father, myself and my two sons lined up at the Mosby tasting room bar. Unfortunately, I can’t find the photo, and I’m pretty sure it was taken with film and not on a digital camera. (Remember those days of old?) Probably in a box in the garage.

Lori and Larry (right) with our cousins at Mosby

Lori and Larry (right) with our cousins at Mosby

On this visit my cousins met us at Mosby. We went through a number of the Mosby wines, with Louise helping us through the tasting. We really enjoyed the Pinot Grigio and the Cortese of the whites, and all of the reds we tasted. Our favorite was the 2008 “La Seduzione”, made from Lagrein grapes. We bought a couple bottles of this, and opened one of these just the other night with a dinner of homemade falafel, tabbouleh (a salad of parsley, mint, bulgar, feta cheese, and whatever else you’d like) and halva for dessert. The La Seduzione was a great complement to the middle eastern flavors of the meal, with a relatively light body but nice fruit flavors.

Mosby 2008 La Seduzione (Lagrein grapes)

Mosby 2008 La Seduzione (Lagrein grapes)

In addition to making excellent wine, the Mosby labels provide some of the best art in the wine world. Almost worth the visit just to see all the labels.

Vineyards at Mosby. The flag on the right is a pre-revolution "Sons of Liberty" flag.

Vineyards at Mosby. The flag on the right is a pre-revolution “Sons of Liberty” flag.

Mosby flies a U.S. flag at the winery and vineyards, and also a second flag. This second flag gets rotated every few weeks we were told. When we were there it was a variant of the Sons of Liberty flag, a pre-revolution flag of the U.S.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Carr Winery Shows Off Area Varietals

Carr tasting room in Santa Barbara

Carr Winery in Santa Barbara

We met Ryan and Jessica Carr last year at the Wine Bloggers Conference, and enjoyed talking with them and drinking their wine. Actually, I only got to try the Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as part of the Pinot Noir Heaven tasting night, and their Pinot Gris was worthy of special mention that night. Ryan started out doing vineyard management and still does that, and Carr Vineyards & Winery gets their grapes from vineyards Ryan manages. This knowledge of the grapes shows up in their wines. A good example of the old adage that the first job of the winemaker is to get out of the way of the grapes.

Painting on display at Carr Winery

Painting on display at Carr Winery

Carr was our last tasting stop on this trip. Their bottle storage, and a tasting room, is in the Santa Ynez Valley, and the wine making and another tasting room are in downtown Santa Barbara. It was the Santa Barbara site that we visited. Small facility, but they have a nice tasting bar and can accommodate more than a few people for tasting. They also feature a couple of local artists in the Santa Barbara tasting room, with different artists each month.

Jessica was in the tasting room, and led us through their wines. The Pinot Gris that I liked so much a year ago was great again, now in the 2014 vintage. We bought a couple of bottles of this, and opened one the next night with a Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup.

In addition to the Pinot Gris, we really liked their Rhône varietal wines. The 2014 Crosshatch white blend (70% Viognier, 30% Marsanne) was very nice, as was their 2012 Syrah (Morehouse Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley). Our favorite was their 2012 Grenache, with the grapes coming from the Paredon Vineyard in Carpenteria, just south along the coast from Santa Barbara, and not from the Santa Ynez Valley. The vineyard is high up, at 1200 feet, so above the fog and direct marine influences, but still a cold climate vineyard. The Grenache was deep red, full bodied, fruity and just plain delicious.

Oil companies self-promotion at a Santa Barbara beach park

Oil companies self-promotion at a Santa Barbara beach park

As we were leaving the Santa Barbara area, we stopped at a beach park that we had never seen before. It appears that the park was built by the oil companies that support the offshore oil rigs and other oil activities in the area. Seems to me that building a small park is an absurdly low price for them to pay for the environmental damage they’ve inflicted on the Santa Barbara coast and channel. But maybe those oil execs feel better now, and can sleep at night.

Oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara

Oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara

L’Chaim,

Larry

Dierberg and Star Lane Make a Great Pairing

Dierberg and Star Lane share a beautiful tasting room in the Santa Rita Hills area.

Dierberg and Star Lane share a beautiful tasting room in the Santa Rita Hills area.

The Santa Barbara County area – Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria – is known for producing very good Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah (and other Rhône varietals). So we went to the Dierberg – Star Lane tasting room, in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills AVA, the original Pinot Noir growing region in the Santa Ynez Valley, with an eye to taste the Pinot Noir.

The garden at Dierberg Estate Vineyard.

The garden at Dierberg Estate Vineyard.

Dierberg Estate Vineyard and Star Lane Vineyard are the two brand names that the Dierberg family uses for their wines, with the Dierberg label used for the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, and the Star Lane label used for the Sauvignon Blanc and red Bordeaux varietals grown at the Star Lane Vineyard in the warmer Happy Canyon area of Santa Ynez Valley. The tasting room serves wines from both brands, and is located at their Drum Canyon Vineyard. They also have a third vineyard, producing grapes for the Dierberg label, in the Santa Maria area.

Bean bag toss at Dierberg.

Bean bag toss at Dierberg.

As I said, we were looking to taste their Pinot Noir, and we got to do that. But we were also able to taste the Star Lane wines, and these were a revelation. An excellent Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc, really well balanced, led off the tasting. (Yes, bought a bottle of the Sauv Blanc.) After going through some of the Dierberg Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, we went to the Star Lane Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignons. They make a few variations on these, ranging from a Cabernet Franc at about 90% Cab Franc, to a standard Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec), to a high end Cabernet Sauvignon (called “Astral”, with just Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), to the “Roots” Cabernet Sauvignon. This last has just a bit of Merlot blended in (4%), with the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes coming from a block of the Star Lane Vineyard that was planted with actual Cabernet Sauvignon root stock instead of the usual American grape root stock with grafting of the Cabernet Sauvignon. The Astral was very good, very balanced, as one would expect from their high end wine. But the Roots caught our attention. There was a lot going on there, from the fruit in the nose and the entry, to the big body, to the tannins on the finish. Loved it, had to buy a couple of bottles.

We were seated outside for the tasting. Beautiful day, beautiful wines. Our tasting was led by Megan, who has already passed her first level sommelier exam and is studying for the second level. She was incredibly knowledgeable, and responded to both our basic and advanced questions with easy to understand answers. So a great tasting experience also. Megan thinks the Astral will age better than the Roots, but I put my money (literally) on the Roots Cabernet Sauvignon. I’ll check back in 10 years or so and see where we are on this one.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Central Coast Wine Trip Itinerary

Lori and I just completed a short trip to the Central Coast of California (Santa Barbara through Paso Robles) to celebrate our anniversary. While more details about each winery will be provided in future posts, here’s the itinerary we followed:

Monday 13 July

Drive from home to Paso Robles
Lunch at Basil, Paso Robles (on the main square)
Chronic Cellars, Paso Robles
Presqu’ile Winery, Santa Maria
Dinner at Succulent Cafe, Solvang
Kronborg Inn, Solvang

Tuesday 14 July

Qupé, tasting and lunch at the winery in Santa Maria (not tasting room)
Mosby Winery, Buellton
Dierberg / Star Lane, Lompoc
Dinner at Industrial Eats, Buellton

Wednesday 15 July

Zaca Mesa, Los Olivos
Foxen Winery, Santa Maria
Lunch at Los Olivos Café, Los Olivos
Harrison Clarke, Solvang
Dragonette Cellars, Los Olivos
Dinner at Ballard Inn, Ballard

Thursday 16 July

Lunch at Cold Springs Tavern, Santa Barbara
Carr Winery, Santa Barbara

For a wine tasting trip like this, I highly recommend the sniff/swirl/spit technique. Although all tasting rooms have dump buckets for extra wine, these can be awkward for spitting, so bring a paper cup (one for each day) for spitting. Doing this will keep you able to drive, keep your taste buds fresher, and leave you with more energy at the end of the day.

Wine on the floor of the hotel room

Wine on the floor of the hotel room

Some of the places we had visited before (including 25 years ago when we lived in the Santa Barbara area), some of the winemakers we had met at the Wine Bloggers Conference last year (WBC posts), some we had tasted wine from at some time in the recent past, and some were chosen just on reputation. We had set ourselves a budget for the wine we were going to buy on the trip, not in terms of dollars but in terms of numbers of bottles. With a budget of 2 cases, we bought 2.75 cases (33 bottles). It will be tight, but I know I can fit the extra 9 bottles into our wine refrigerator.

When we had previously lived in the area, our favorite restaurant was the Cold Springs Tavern. This is a 100+ year old stagecoach stop at the top of San Marcos Pass, between Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley. It looks essentially the same as 25 years ago, which is probably pretty much the same as 100 years ago. They have a reputation for game meats. Lori had the venison sausage burger, which was great. I had the chili sampler, which included cups of their original chili (beef/tomato), pork chili verde, and black bean and game (buffalo, rabbit, venison) chili. Wonderful. One of those rare places that was just as good revisited as it was in our memory.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Barbera and Barbeque

It seems no coincidence that Barbera and barbeque sound alike, as they go together even better on the table than on the page.

Perry Creek 2011 "Altitude 2401" Barbera

Perry Creek 2011 “Altitude 2401” Barbera

On July 5th, we invited a friend over for the Women’s World Cup final (Go USA!) and barbeque. Ribs and corn and homemade cole slaw, with the ribs done in our plum barbeque sauce. To go with this, we opened a bottle of Perry Creek Winery 2011 Barbera “Altitude 2401”, El Dorado County. I am not the biggest fan of Barberas in general, however, this wine was very good with the meal.

Flying the flag on the Fourth

Flying the flag on the Fourth

This is the type of grape that grows pretty well in the Sierra Foothills, a red grape with big, bold flavors. Many of the wineries get too caught up in the big flavors, and make a wine that has just one note – the big fruit. This wine from Perry Creek was much better than that, and really enjoyable with the meal.

Perry Creek Winery in Fair Play

Perry Creek Winery in Fair Play

We visited Perry Creek last summer, as part of a day of wine tasting in the Sierra Foothills (Fair Play area in El Dorado County), while visiting Lori’s mom. (I’ve already said in my previous post that winery visits are not the only reason I visit my mother-in-law.) Perry Creek does a great job with Zinfandel, especially with their “Zinman” brand, and that was why we were there. We definitely bought some Zinman, but the fun in visiting a winery, any winery, is finding that surprise wine. On this occasion it turned out to be the Barbera. To our delight, it was just as good a year later at home as in the tasting room.

L’Chaim,

Larry