No bugs or grapes were poisoned in the making of this wine....

ZD Wines

8383 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558
800-487-7757
http://www.zdwines.com/
"Zero Defects"   
 I would have to agree, ZD wines have been California Certified Organic since 1999.
The chickens are "Pest Control" and "Fertilizer's"




ZD started out making Pinot Noir, and still does since 1969. The 2008 is exceptional with its medium ruby color and flavors of black cherry. Pinot Noir is my favorite summertime red wine. With a slight chill, it can be very refreshing, and is a great first step into red wine if  you happen to be a beginner to drinking wine.

You probably know about the ZD Chardonnay. Using 0% Malolactic doesn't take away any of the creamy full bodied flavor. It is barrel aged in American oak for 10 months and cold barrel fermented extending the yeast contact. In my opinion yeast contact makes for extra full flavor. Personally I am a fan of  Malolactic which is what give certain Chardonnays that popcorn butter flavor, yum. So I was pleasantly surprised by the 2008 40th Anniversary  Chardonnay having so much flavor and body.

Being a huge fan of red wine, I was most excited about the Cabernet. 2007 Cabernet, Napa Valley to be exact. I had tried this wine at an event and fell in love! I had no idea at the time that ZD made anything other than Chardonnay...silly me. This Cabernet has everything I love in a red wine. It is powerful, dark, dense and not in the same way your significant other might be a considered dense.  This wine is very complex and beautiful!  Sounds like an Internet dating profile...And yes I would date this wine!

Of course if you are looking for a date, I mean wine that is both mature complex and still full of the energy of a fruit forward young wine, try Abacus. Named after the ancient counting device. The final blend of the first bottling in 1999 includes vintages from 1992 -1998 of the reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. 15% of this wine was bottled and the other 85% was returned to a barrel where it waited to be blended again with the next round of young grapes. So the Abacus is always evolving  with added vintages and ever growning complexity. Today this wine is tended to by CEO Robert deLeuze and Winemaker Chris Pisani.

If you happen to be in the Napa Valley and are planning your wine adventures make sure to give Curtis Hecker, the tasting room manager at ZD a call to schedule a Cellar tour. Curtis loves his job and you can tell by the way he talks about the wine and the process  it goes through before becoming available for you to buy. Of course I am not sure how anyone could NOT enjoy a job with such a great view and where drinking wine is required...

I have to say drinking out of the barrel is the only way to go! Of course this will require a much larger wine fridge...or maybe I just need a cave.

Thank you Curtis for all your help!

Wine Tour 2010....just the beginning!

My Trip in pictures.

First Stop, Robert Hall in Paso Robles- http://www.roberthallwinery.com/

A new discovery was made here. A vintage Port, very tasty! Also a 2007 Rhone de Robles awesome! Thanks!

My friends at J Lohr! Thank you Diane for the glasses and you were right we did break one....And Jeannette was a wonderful hostess, thanks for the great pours.

The POM and the PAU Cuvee Awesome! This winery could become a habit.

http://www.jlohr.com/

 

You know the story here. Thanks again Jane!

http://www.concannonvineyard.com/

Steven Kent Winery in Livermore Valley

http://www.stevenkent.com/

Great Chardonnay, if you like the old school kind. 50% Malolactic Fermentation and oak aging gives it the creamy buttery flavors I have learned to love! And don't forget the 100% Petite Verdot big flavorful red. Then there was the Cheese....Beecher's Flagship- Washington- Cows milk. A semi hard cheese with a robust nutty flavor and a slight crumble. SO GOOD!

Thank you Patti for all your help!

If you happen to stop by and visit any of my friends tell them The Wino Sent you, Cheers!

Bitter Sweet...The discovery and the mission.

It is that time of year again, wine road trip! I have learned a lot since last years trip to the California wine country and this trip is shaping up to be the best to date. There is just one problem so far....

Last year I discovered a white wine that made me say "OH MY GOD!" yes, a WHITE wine... It was Concannon's Viognier, (Vee-Own-Yay) it was full bodied high in alcohol, it had honey suckle and peaches on the nose and totally made me think of drinking the juice from a can of peaches except without the sugar shock...SO good! My guy and I bought a bottle last trip... That was our mistake, ONE bottle! Ever since that one bottle I have been on a mission to find another Viognier that stands up to Concannon. No such luck.

Regions for Viognier: France- Northern Rhone- Condrieu

Southern Rhone- Cotes Du Rone, Costieres de Nimes

Washington State -Yakima and Columbia Valley

California- Santa Barbara and Monterey

This year our wine road trip has started up in the Paso Robles area and the Livermore Valley (home to Concannon). I have cash and I am ready to buy a case of that heavenly white wine! I know I can't believe I am going crazy for white....

Yesterday was the day and I was so excited when Jane in the Concannon tasting room poured me a taste of the Viognier....WHAT THE *&%$!*#! HAPPENED!? This was not the wine I remember! It was good....but tasted more like a Chardonnay/ Sauvignon Blanc blend....it was light and refreshing with a "hint" of honey suckle and peach....more like you took a white table wine and put a frozen peach slice in it...BOOOOO! 

I still love Concannon and highly recommend  the Cabernet and the Captain Joe's 2006 Petite Sirah, Awesome reds! Also Concannon has updated their tasting room and has a beautiful building. Ask for Jane, She has worked there for 15 years and is knowledgeable, helpful and very nice. There was no Viognier purchase this year...

 

The mission continues for a Viognier that will make me want to pray...

The Elephant....

OK there is no Elephant. I know I have been missing in blogging action....some of you may have noticed and perhaps given up on me. Please give me another chance! I am not sure why I disappeared...I have been trying to get a baking business going, http://www.shishisweets.com/ and that has been interesting and time consuming. Also I have been focusing on working out...that could change when it is too hot to move around. Also I have a new baby! Well she isn't so new any more and not such a baby at 18 months. This is Brandy.

So stinkin cute right!?

Enough of that, I will try to be here more often in the future...

Chanpagne its not just for breakfast!

There are two important things to know about Champagne.

One, Champagne is wine with bubbles. So it should be drank with lunch and dinner as equally as breakfast! Champagne and Sparkling wine is a great match for fried salty foods. French Fries any one?

Two is that to be called Champagne it must be made in France from french grapes grown in the Champagne region.The main grapes used in Champagne are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, only one of which is a white grape. All other wine with bubbles is Sparking wine. I find it a bit annoying that there are some American wine makers that are calling their sparkling wine, Champagne. Kinda rude?

If you are in Spain Sparkling wine is called Cava mostly from Penedes, near Barcelona. The main Spanish grapes used are Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada. All white grapes. The spanish are not afraid to experiment and are sometimes using Chardonay grapes in the blend.

In California it is Sparkling wine or "Methode Champenoise".

Some helpful information if you are shopping for a sparkling wine is to know how to tell what is sweet and what is dry.

Extra Brut is the driest with only 1% residual sugar
Brut has up up 2% residual sugar and is the most popular style in the world.
Extra Dry (Extra Sec) is the most popular in the US at 1.5% -2.5% residual sugar
Sec 2-4% residual sugar
Demi Sec 4-6% residual sugar
Doux 6 plus %residual sugar

Now for some Champagne trivia for you next party!

There are approximately 1150 grapes used per bottle

The wire cage holding the cork in the bottle is turned 6 1/2 times

And the reason for not pointing the bottle at the people you like while opening is....the cork is expelled out of the bottle at 40 MPH! Duck and cover!

What is your favorite bubbly?

Random Wine Wisdom

I have learned some things lately that might be common knowledge to Wine Geeks and experts, but to those just starting out on the wine journey I will share my new knowledge. Wine Geeks, let me know if I get any of this wrong.


First of all French wine labels are SO confusing! I suppose if I actually went there and drank lots of wine, learned the language, ate lots of cheese and pastries....and then had to go on a diet to lose the 300 pounds I gained in the process the labels would make more sense. Instead, I am just going to have to study harder and drink more wine....darn!



It is two weeks later and I have decided it isn't just French wine labels that are confusing. It is pretty much all the wine labels that are in a foreign language. Oh and if you really want to decider the code that is all the wine labeling laws...drink more wine, maybe eventually it will all make sense or you just won't care!



The most important thing to do if you decide to get into wine, is plan ahead and pay attention in Geography class! If you know where every village in France and Italy are, you will learn this stuff way faster.



Here is one for you new wine people, Bordeaux, is not a wine grape. You know how us Americans say I would like a glass of Cabernet or maybe Merlot...(I will NOT drink any Fucking Merlot! ). Yes I will...I digress. Those would be red wine grapes, well Bordeaux is a region in France where they grow Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, and Malbec for reds and the whites are Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. So when you order a "Bordeaux" it is really just a blend of two or more of those grapes.



Say you are a serving someone a red wine and it says it is a Meritage. First off it is pronounced to rhyme with Heritage, this word is a combination of the two words Merit and Heritage. Also meaning it is a blend of two or more wine grapes. So as you are serving this Meritage and think you have this wine thing under control now, some wine snob says " well what is the blend?" You tell them...Cabernet, Merlot and a touch of Cabernet Franc. Now you are very proud that you remembered to read the smaller label on the bottle ( that is actually the front label...whole other issue) , when the wine snob kinda snorts (at least it seems that way) and says "OH! Its a Bordeaux style blend." DUH! Yeah, true story....



Now I get it, any blend of any of the grapes grown in the Bordeaux region is a Bordeaux style blend. Now you can be the wine snob at your next dinner party, and say " We will be serving a Bordeaux Style wine to go with our Mac and Cheese..." HE HE HE!

"There is truth in wine, though it may take a little time"

Vinification by definition: Attaining quality and style in the fermentation of the grapes and aging of the wine.

Viticulture by definition: Attaining fruit quality through agricultural decisions.

You guessed it there are more decisions to be made once the grapes are grown and the vermin have been avoided!

It is Harvest time! Yay, you say!

Wait!

When do you harvest? Summer of course...but do you pick in the morning, afternoon or at night? And you thought this was going to be an easy question! The easy, short answer is when ever it is the coolest out side, so that the grapes are still firm and less fragile.

Next how do you harvest? By hand or machine? both have their benefits, it usually comes down to a matter of money.

Once the grapes are harvested and safely in the winery it is time for the crushing. More decisions, do you de-stem or leave the stems in tact? Do you crush the grapes by machine or by foot, of course assuming your feet are clean. while machines normally promise they have clean feet, they also may end up crushing the seeds, adding a hint of bitter to the wine. Foot treading grapes is still practiced mainly in Portugal and mainly for high dollar ports. Apparently it is expensive to get people to stomp your grapes.

If a white wine is whole cluster pressed, this is where they press it stems and all. Somehow this causes the wine to be less bitter. Now a little known fact for those who are not wine geeks, all grape juice starts out clear. The color of a wine comes from the skins. If it is a white wine you are making the skins are removed before fermentation. For red the skins are left on, the longer the skins are left on the darker the color, higher the tannins and the more intense the flavors become.

Adjusting the must, is a must, or at least check the must. The Must is the unfermented juice of grapes extracted by pressing before it is fermented. Checking the must is to find out if the sugar levels are where they should be. There are a lot of complicated steps from here having to do with fermentation, first getting the yeast and sugar together so they can become alcohol. Off to the presses! There is a coating of yeast on the skins of the grapes and when they are crushed or split this causes the sugar from the juice to blend with the yeast and so begins fermentation. Now if we are making white wine, the skins are removed before fermentation begins. If it is to be red wine we leave the skins in during fermentation. The longer the skins are left in the mix the darker the color.

At this point we almost have wine! Just a few months to a few years away....lets take a break and grab a glass of wine. With all this wine talk I am feeling parched.

The wino's question to you is, was your wine of choice fermented with the skins on? or Off?

In wine there is truth

Viticulture is the process of obtaining fruit quality through agricultural decisions. The main goal of viticulture is to produce grapes with characteristics deemed desirable to produce a wine at a price which the wine can be sold for a profit. This is no simple task, there are so many decisions that go into growing producing and bottling wine...that it seems almost overwhelming. Every decision from choosing a site for growing grapes, the soil they grow in all the way to the process of aging will effect the quality, style and price of the wine.

Once all these decisions are made the entire process could take up to five years before the wine makers know for sure if all the decisions were good ones. This is not like cooking where you can taste the product along the way. Tasting the dirt probably won't tell you much.

Without overwhelming you with all the gorey detains of Viticulture, there was a detail that I learned about that I found very interesting. Almost all of the worlds grapes grapes are grafted and planted on American Rootstock. A rootstock is a just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system. Due to a little bug called Phylloxera, that loves grape vine roots. This bug originally is from the eastern United States, and our grape roots are immune to this bug, making it the perfect root stock.


Of course the bad news is we wouldn't need to do this if the Americans had not shared our little Phylloxera bug with the Europeans in the late 1800's....thereby destroying the wine industry around the world. Them little bugs travel fast and were really hungry. All is good now, but maybe don't mention it when visiting France...this could explain why they are not that fond of us.


"Life is like wine, the longer you take to enjoy it the more chance you've got of tasting vinegar.”

Missing

Dear friends and followers:
I am not sure what my excuse is for not being here the past couple weeks...Could be the heat, or the fact that after all my vacations I am now on a diet of not so exciting food. Or that my Diva Mom and I have taken up spinning class and it has tortured me into a non creative stupor...

What ever it is I am sorry that I have been slacking and I hope to be back at it soon! Please don't give up on me yet, soon it will be time for good food and fun. That is if the Temperatures outside could ever stay under 100 degrees, and the scale starts to cooperate with me.

See you soon!

The Wino

Always watching for The Green Flash!

For those of you who don't know, a Green Flash is a rare phenomenon that happens when the upper lip of the sun meats the horizon over the ocean. It is some sort of atmospheric flash. Of course when you spend your evening watching for it, you tend to be staring at the sun for so long that when the sun does disappear its hard to tell if its a green flash or just a green dot that floats in your vision long after the sunset has passed.

Since I grew up going to the beach in Southern California I have spent many evening watching for the Green Flash, now its more of a tradition. I have yet to say if I have actually seen it ever!

I have now discovered a Green Flash that is easy to see, has Wine and great Prime Rib!

Armando's

The Green Flash

701 Thomas Ave

Pacific Beach

San Diego, CA 92109

(858) 270-7715

The Green Flash serves Breakfast daily till 11:00, Lunch till 3:00 and Dinner starts at 4:30. There are also sunset specials that are available 4:30-6:00 Sunday through Thursday you must be seated by 6pm to get the specials.

There is great ocean front patio seating and normally the wait isn't too bad. Just know that if you arrive within 20 minutes of the sun actually setting...you WILL be waiting, no one is getting up during the suns final descent! After all they are all looking for that green flash!

The Green Flash of course has fresh fish and seafood dishes, but I am more of a red meat kind of girl. I love their Prime Rib, it is served with vegetables, bread, and your choice of rice, baked potato or french fries at $19.95. I always get the baked potato with my meat. This trip in the hopes that we would not gain 20 pounds before heading home my guy and I decided to split a meal. Of course we got the largest cut of Prime Rib and also got a large Caesar salad for $8.95. And they are not kidding when they say large. Sorry I was hungry and forgot to take a picture of the Salad till it was about gone...oops!

The Kitchen was so nice to split our plates for us, so we wouldn't have to fight over who got the bigger piece.

The wine list At the Green Flash actually has some very good quality wines and they are not ridiculously priced. Two of my favorites are the Louis M Martini Cabernet at about $22 a bottle and J Lohr Cabernet also somewhere around $24 a bottle. If you are not quite as big of a wino, they do serve by the glass also and those are about $7 give or take. I would expect them to charge more for everything considering they are right on the sand looking out at the Great Pacific Ocean...I hope they keep it that way forever!

The Green flash is also a mandatory stop whenever my guy and I are in the area, you can't beat the atmosphere, great food and the great value. I give a 5 sister rating! I am partial to the view!

Senor Grubby's

377 Carlsbad Village Dr

Carlsbad CA 92008

760-279-6040

Senor Grubby's is more than just a breakfast place, it is a great place for Happy Hour, their Happy Hour is 7pm-10pm daily. Seems a little late, but that gives you time to spend the day at the beach a mere couple blocks away. You could even watch the sun set over the Pacific then walk on over to Senor Grubby's for their $3 drafts, or the $5 for a draft and two tacos. Tuesdays its $2 Tecate drafts ALL day!

Grubby's is a casual place where you order at the counter and they give you a number, so they can bring your food and beverage out to you. There is a salsa bar with all kinds of home made salsas and garnishes for your meal. The pickled onions were really tasty and such a pretty pink!

We were there on Tuesday for our first visit, so of course we started with a Tecate! Senior Grubby's is small, family friendly and decorated with what else? Surf and beach paraphernalia.

If you are a fan of tacos and burritos this is the place for you. There is everything from fish tacos to Cabeza tacos...if you watch Bourdaine you know what that is! (head!)

The fish tacos are crispy fried fish on a warm corn tortilla with cabbage salad and a white sauce. They also have shrimp tacos that are grilled and covered in a tangy spicy sauce, three seafood tacos are about $6.50 I got two fish tacos and 1 shrimp taco.

My guy got 3 Carnitas tacos with pico de gallo on the side (he is not a fan of onions)for $5. All tacos come on warm soft corn tortillas.

The next trip (couple days later) we were there for lunch before heading to the beach. That day the special was 5 tacos for $5. I was told by a guy at the bar that I had to try the El Pastor tacos which is a big pile of sliced pork on a pole with a pineapple on top. They shave it off the edges and pile it on tortillas with onion, cilantro and a chunk of Pineapple. For a dollar more I added guacamole. The guacamole was a bit bland, but if you add the green salsa and some salt its pretty darn good! And that little bit of pineapple adds a touch of sweat, very good.


My guy who as we know loves burritos, got the Carnitas burrito. Made with a very large flour tortilla filled with the shredded pork, pico de gallo and guacamole with refried beans on the side, for $6.85. I am told it was quite good, and the beans were mighty tasty, they tasted suspiciously like Rosarita...

And of course what is a mexican food meal without a pitcher of Tecate? We were on vacation after all! On my next trip I will have to try their breakfast, if I can get up and out in time. I give Senor Grubby's a 4 sister rating.

No Shoes-No Shirt-No Problem!

121 Liverpool Dr.

Cardiff By The Sea, CA

http://www.pipescafe.com/

Open Daily 7am-3pm

I know I promised to share the best breakfast place in San Diego County...oh a couple months ago... yeah I have been slacking! Recently I spent eight days in Carlsbad at my favorite Sheraton of course. So it is time to finally share my breakfast finds with you.

First off is a place my guy and I were told about a couple years ago Pipes, and it has become a mandatory stop at least once a trip (usually more).

Pipes is a casual place that is decorated in surf posters and surf boards and surf stickers. The atmosphere is "Totally surfer dude!" I am pretty sure that tattoos are part of the uniform for the employees. They have an out door patio that looks toward the ocean, across the coast highway...

Out on the patio is where the Pipes Coffee Bar is located where you can get Lattes, Mochas, Hot chocolate, cappuccinos and espressos. They also have regular coffee and you can choose from a Kona Blend, French Roast a Kona Blend Decaf, Plus! One of their special blends (Irish Cream, Vanilla Nut, Milky Way etc.)

Pipes believes in large portions, so if you are a light eater bring a friend. My guy tried the splitting thing one time...But usually we can not agree on breakfast, his new favorite is the Burritos and they are huge! This one is the#2 with Eggs, bacon, potatoes, cheese & pica sauce in a flour tortilla only $4.95

For my breakfast I opted for the Sausage Scrambler; Eggs, sausage,avocado &cheese. Scramblers are served with Pipes potatoes which you can get topped with cheese (oh yeah!)and and an English muffin. $6.50

Pipes doesn't just serve Breakfast, they have the Pipes Burger- 1/3 lb fresh ground beef, lettuce , tomato, onion, pickle,mayo, mustard, and ketchup for $5.25 and for a little extra you can add cheese and/or bacon.

There is also a veggie sandwich (it is California!), Tuna salad sandwich, BLT&A (w/avocado), quesadilla and the Pipes Cobb Salad-Romain lettuce, topped with Chicken, bacon, avocado, cheese, tomato & onion all tossed in a creamy dressing for $7.50. Check out the website for more menu items, or surf on over and check it out your selves dudes!

I give Pipes a 4 sister rating!