My second full day back from a 5-week intensive wine education program in Napa Valley, CA and I admit it feels very weird to NOT have wine in my mouth at this hour of the day. During full-day classes at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus in St. Helena, Napa Valley, we would sometimes taste over 20 wines a day, a flight or two mid-morning and another flight or two during the afternoon. After class several of us would practice our palates’ new vocabulary by wine tasting at local wineries as well. We estimated our total number of wines tasted over the course of our entire stay in CA approached 800. But before you cry “lush!” remember that we spit pretty much everything.
I had aspired to start blogging about that rare and wonderful wine education experience from the beginning but honestly I was having way too much fun to get more than a few minutes at a computer. I could spend hours typing about it all, but suffice it to say I learned a LOT, I met some fascinating experts (teachers, winemakers, tasting room pourers, afficionados), and I made many diverse, wonderful friends, most of whom were classmates and hopefully life-long companions. (Miss you guys already!)
So why blog? I wasn’t very good at keeping up with it back when I tried a “humorous” wedding prep blog but it was doomed to fail before I even began: 1) who cares about my wedding planning?? and 2) I was too busy wedding planning to write about it. Hopefully this go at blogging will be more successful — I have an immense passion for wine and sharing it with friends, and it was recommended by more than one teacher at school. What better way to combine two things I love — writing and wine – than this?
Let me just get this out of the way since other classmates who did not sit for the CWP certification exam were curious and those of us who did take the test were comisserating before we all parted ways. I have NO clue whether or not I passed. Of the 24″ of books and notes I studied for weeks it seemed like most of what I memorized wasn’t on the test, and about 15-20% of the questions were about things none of us had ever heard of before (since the exam is not purely based on the Wine Immersion program curriculum). Willamette Valley will haunt me forever! Curse you and your major grape and your damn climate! How about some more questions on France eh? Anyway, the blind tasting section was kinda tough too — the white was poured WAY too cold so it took several minutes of swishing the glass in my sweaty, cupped palms to properly recognize it, and the two reds could have been one of a few varietals. And we’ll never know the answers . . . just “pass/fail.” But hell, I definitely learned a lot this summer.
Last night my husband and I reunited after much time apart — he had spent 2 weeks on vacation, partially visiting me and partially visiting his family in LA & on a cruise with them. Natch we had no food in the house so we decided to try something new, a place in Red Bank called “Red” whose chef Darryl Feeney is a graduate of Cornell and the CIA. The wine list was approachable but as a result lacked a variety of Old World choices in favor of catchier names. I recognized a number of them . . . wineries within spitting distance (ugh, no pun intended) of the school, wines we had had in flights in class, and some household names. They even had Plumpjack, Cakebread & Duckhorn. Since my husband doesn’t drink I had to go by the glass but that allowed for more appropriate pairings with each course.
The lump Alaskan King Crab in whole-seed dijon mustard appetizer special and jalepeno yellowtail sashimi went perfectly with the ‘07 Loosen Bros. “Dr. L” Mosel Riesling, which I remember from Riesling day in Mastering Wine II class. It tasted as though the bottle was opened on Sat. but hey, that’s what you get when you buy by the glass. My peppercorn seared tuna (served rare of course) in a beet vinaigrette was a fairly good match with an ‘04 Sidewise Burgundy (Pinot Noir), too obviously named after the Pinot Noir hype resulting from the movie “Sideways”. It was a pretty full-bodied Pinot but not terribly complex or balanced and seemed to be missing the signature earth & minerality of a French wine, but again I wasn’t expecting a miracle by the glass.
Dessert. This is what inspired me to get off my ass and blog. Rosenblum Cellars Gallagher Ranch Black Muscat (rare clone of Black Hamburg Muscat grape). Dark plum color, full bodied, aromas of mission figs, dates, prunes, blackberry pie, milk chocolate, candied walnuts, and molasses . . . all of which melts together on the palate. I highly recommend it. (Went great with the pistachio profiteroles.) I remember receiving a bottle of Rosenblum’s “Chateau La Paws Cote de Bone” (har har, Cote de Beaune) white many years ago from my mom, who knew the animal lover in me would appreciate the animal lover owner of Rosenblum, a retired veterinarian. Cute.
I never thought I’d say this, but I am glad to be home. Napa and Sonoma Valleys are breathtakingly beautiful with rolling hills, endless vineyards, and constant sunshine, and the smell of wine & soil everywhere you turn. Days in Calistoga where I stayed are 100ish and nights can dip down to 50 degrees. But stepping out of the car in my driveway late Sunday night I had to stop for a moment and inhale, watching the copper penny end-of-full-moon on the horizon, feeling moisture for the first time in several weeks, delighting in the soft, sultry, temperate night breeze from the bay, smelling the briny, musky liquor of low tide in the marshes, and being overwhelmed by the deafening symphony of crickets, cicadas and frogs all around me. My wind chimes were gonging a familiar song of home.
Odd that the only thing missing was a glass of wine. Another time.
Try a great wine lately and want to tell me about it? Drop me a line!
Thanks, my friend, I’m lucky to know you.
