Vintage Tuesday - Wine, Food, Travel and Insanity

I looked in the mirror this morning and was horrified to think I was actually turning green.  Not Incredible Hulk green (I don’t even have that  kind of body style), more like Martian green.  Trixie is forcing me to become green and Earth Day is a not so subtle reminder.  Green, of course is to be environmentally conscious.  I am happy just to be conscious let alone the environmental kind.  Recycle this, conserve that, set the thermostat back in the winter so I turn blue, etc. etc.….  Come on!  I recycle corks, I can turn them into hot pads, bulletin boards and all kinds of cool things.

We now even recycle glass wine bottles which I think, due to our Vintage Tuesday “research projects” has been enough to make windows for every house in a small country - although the windows would have a green tint.   Hey wait a minute!  Many wine bottles are already green, does this mean they are eco-friendly?       …. probably not.

Trixie has gotten so obsessed with this green thing that she is now riding a bicycle to run errands near by.  She mumbles something about the #&% oil companies and how they can stick their almost $4.00 a gallon gasoline up their….  uh…       …well I’ll just say the suggested location is not a natural gasoline storage receptacle. 

This whole green thing is to save the earth from all of us humans.  Most of us may be good natured people (especially the wine drinking crowd)  but I guess we are a bunch of pigs with our planet.  The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 and was begun partly because of a photo taken by the first astronauts to orbit the moon.  As they swung around from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (technical astronomical term) they took the first ever photos of the entire earth from the moon’s perspective.  Shocked at how small the earth looked (it’s an object that is much larger in the rear view mirror) the photo quickly made us realize we better take care of it because you can’t plant grapes on the moon.  

Apollo 8 astronaut  Bill Anders was quoted as saying “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth”  They also finally confirmed the moon was not made of green cheese!  What kind of wine goes with green cheese anyway?

So… enough of the history lesson, I’m wasting way too much energy!  The real question - what kind of wine do we have to celebrate Earth Day?  To satisfy Trixie’s recent green streak,  we picked up a bottle of organic wine - no pesticides or chemicals - Not a bad idea.   We picked up a bottle of Natura from Emiliana of Chile.  At around $9.00 a bottle, this is a mix of 87% Carmenere 4% Syrah, 4% Petite Verdot and 1% Malbec.  Organic wine is something new for me so I was not sure what to expect - essence of pine cones?.  I wasn’t even sure if I was suppose to be wearing Birkenstocks and laying under a tree somewhere.   The wine had a flavor of heavy berries and darker fruits.  I think there was some chocolate in there too.  Remember, Mother Earth says clean up after yourself (and recycle those wine bottles!)

Cheers,

Angus

I told Trixie, we can’t be in San Francisco without visiting Haight - Ashbury.  She thought I was insane - and once again she was probably right.  We headed off to this famous intersection to take a trip back to the 1960’s and the Summer of Love.    We found it.  There are still a lot of Tie dye clothes, street performers, “smoking accessory stores” (a.k.a. head shops), tourists and of course hippies - although many with “A Touch of Grey” to quote Jerry Garcia, founder of the Grateful Dead and past resident of 710 Ashbury Street.  We wondered our way down Haight Street until it ends at Golden Gate Park which was home to thousands of hippies in the late 60’s.  Today it is filled with bicyclers, skaters, walkers and today - Trixie and me! 

Along the way, I saw a huge store front called Amoeba Music.  Could this be?  A record/CD store as big as a bowling alley?  Hey wait a minute, this was a bowling alley years ago.  Inside were albums that you will rarely find anywhere else.  Anyone remember “Hocus Pocus” by the Dutch band Focus?  Their album was there.  Syd Barrett, one of the original members of Pink Floyd?  His stuff was there too.  I was like a kid in a candy store and spent over an hour roaming around in my quest to find some of the most obscure rock that I forgot existed.

On our way back to the hotel (our latest home for the week) we passed by Bia Restaurant and Wine Bar  You’re kidding?  A wine bar right in the middle of tie dye hippie land city?  OK things have changed a little since the 60’s.  Feeling a moment of obligation we have to duck inside and check it out.  Where is everyone - this place is empty?  It was not empty - we just were not in the right place. They had a secret garden outside in back with outdoor seating among the many plants, trees and bushes.  What a nature fest.   It was a total escape from the street performers and other crazies on Haight Street. 

Our server asked if we would like to sample 3 different wines in a “wine flight” Trixie and I looked at each other and thought -  Us?  Would we like 3 glasses of wine?  Do you know who we are?  Do you know our reputations?  Whoops, lets skip the part about our reputations.  YES, we will try three wines.  

We were presented with 3 Merlots,  Fusee from California, Sticks from Australia and Paul Mas from France. Humm sounds like global wine wars here.  The game was to swirl, sniff, sip, get all wine snobby, grade each wine and pick a winner.  As our readers know, we are about as far from being wine snobs as you can get.  I tried a sip from each one but I could not (would not) pick my favorite.  This little contest was not fair!  Pick my favorite of 3 wines?  That is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child.  I love them all equally - just in different ways.  One was a little more mellow - probably the first born of the wines, one had a rowdier character - obviously the second born, and the third one was just completely different - probably just to be different.  I refuse to pick just one!  I’ll leave those decisions up to the real wine snobs.  I wonder if they have a favorite son or daughter?

From the Corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets - “What a Long Strange Trip its Been!”

Cheers!

Angus

Life is just weird.  The evening began with a really bad bottle of wine and ended up with “get your hands in the air” being shouted at me by one of our local policemen carrying a very deadly looking gun. 

It was the first day where the temperatures were finally warm in the State of DeNial.  It has been a very long winter!  After a busy day, Trixie and I decided to enjoy the evening with a nice bottle of wine while sitting on the deck overlooking the woods.  Listening to the birds during their evening feeding, a bottle of Bordeaux in hand and we were ready to just relax.  I poured the first glass and took a whiff.  Uh oh, this doesn’t smell that great.  Trixie took the first taste and I could tell by the look on her face that this was not good wine.  I tried it and thought, “this won’t even be good by the third glass” - a theory that I always count on.   

Trixie said “do you want a seriously good wine?”  I’m thinking that she meant I raid the top end of our wine collection.  She told me to go into the kitchen and there is a bottle of Seriously Good Wine under the counter.  I asked what the name was and she said “Seriously Good Wine.”  I know, you already said that but what label is it?  She again said “Seriously Good Wine”  OK  I remember this gag, who’s on first - right?

How about that, there really is a bottle named “Seriously Good Wine”  who knew?  It is a 2005 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stag’s Leap District. I popped the cork and we were on our way.  This was really a seriously good wine.  There was an awesome scent of heavy berries and since we were sitting outside, I could imagine the smell of our grapes on the vines towards the end of summer.  We were sitting in the Adirondack chairs sipping wine without a care in the world when Trixie saw me with a strange look on my face.  (stranger than my face normally looks)  “What happened?” she said.  I just bit into a bing cherry!  She was confused.  I said I picked up a taste just like those big huge dark cherries - it was awesome, now I wanted a cherry pie.  No cherry pie but we did barbeque a few shish ka bobs and finished the bottle.

One of the things I love to do on a quiet peaceful evening is lay outside on the lounge chair under the stars… and sometimes I fall asleep.  This was one of those nights.  Drifting off into another land, I began to dream I was a deer stuck in the headlights.  Out of nowhere a blinding light hit me in the eyes.  This wasn’t a dream, this was real.  What was this, the light is so bright I can’t see a thing.  Then I hear it.  Put your hands in the air!  said with a very loud and authoritative voice.  Huh?  Jake is that you?  I hear it again.  Put your hands in the air this is the police.  Not sure what to make of it, my hands go up as if I am about to become part of an episode of Cops or Reno 911.  I am thinking what the hell is this?  Trixie and I live in a pretty quiet rural area where the most dangerous thing that happens is when a squirrel gets stuck in the fireplace (another story!). 

The bright light moves around focused right at my eyes.  I yell out - “Hey I Live Here!”  The light goes off and the officer says he had a report of suspicious activity in our back yard.  Yes there is usually a lot of suspicious activity when I am home.  Over the years, our neighbors have become used to it and even look forward to it.  Spontaneous back yard barbeques, wine tastings, music filling the back yard including anything from Sinatra to the Ramones and everything in between. 

To the North of us live Mr. and Mrs. North (what a coincidence).  They know that I travel a lot for my cork slaying adventures however last night they had no idea I was actually home.  Being the great neighbors that they are they were watching out for Trixie.  Mr. North heard a noise in our barn (me looking for seat cushions) and suspecting trouble in our quiet little neighborhood he called the police.   The next thing I know I hear “Get you hands in the air” guns ready and the whole bit. That was a new experience for me that I don’t care to repeat.

After a few laughs, I thanked Mr. North and our local Policeman for watching out for Trixie and Vintage Tuesday’s corporate headquarters.  This morning my heart was still pounding and my underwear was quite a mess.

Stick em up!

Angus

Oh no what did I do?  After finally getting over my nasty cold and flu, Trixie now has it.  Up to her elbows in tissues and surrounded by bottles of aspirin and other cold medicine, she is not very happy with me right now.  She says I got her sick on purpose.  Yep that was all part of my master plan.  Get her sick and then keep all the wine for myself.  

With her constant coughing and nose blowing, she said she has been feeling kind of gnarly in the head.  “Hey wait a minute” I said, I think we have a bottle of that!  She just glared at me with her red nose, frizzy hair and fuzzy slippers.  To confirm my theory, I head off to the Vintage Tuesday supply room (our basement) and sure enough I emerge with a bottle of Gnarly Head.  How about that, I can find a bottle of wine for any occasion!

While she is laying on the sofa looking all pitiful for my benefit, I do what I do best.  Pop the cork!  It was a Gnarly Head  2006 Old Vine Zinfandel produced by Gnarly Head Cellars in Manteca,  California.  The vines are located in Lodi and the label on the back of the bottle mentions some of their vines are 80 years old.  Wow, that would mean they were planted in the late 1920’s DURING PROHIBITION!  I can hear them explaining it now,  uh…..  Jelly, ya that’s it….  we’re going to make grape Jelly. (wink wink)

I’m glad they don’t make Jelly - it would be a waste of good grapes.  This wine has a great berry flavor with a distinctive spicy taste.  If I had a plate of spaghettii, the evening would be complete but with Trixie down for the count, it was time to pick up the phone and order a pizza. - which by the way, also goes great with this wine!

I poured a glass and sat in the family room with the ailing Trixie lying on the sofa.   Smiling at her I swiped a line from Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca and said “Here’s looking at you kid”   I quickly found out Trixie’s middle finger still works.

Cheers!  I’m feeling much better now!

Angus