Salad Is Slaughter

I really like having the entire week off.  The only down side has been the constant rain.  We were thinking about taking a quick trip to the mountains to ski last Sunday but decided that the weather was so bad that even though we would make it up there, we probably wouldn’t make it back until really late.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in Napa and Sonoma.  Janet’s friends are visiting relatives in San Ramon so we thought it would be nice to see them and replenish some of our wine supplies at the same time.

We started off at Charles Krug to pick up some Sauvignon Blanc.  At only $ 16 per bottle it’s a good value for a tasty white wine.  The guy serving wine suggested a couple of other wineries to try.  We had about 45 minutes until our lunch reservations at the Culinary Institute so we tried the winery that was closest.

We were not impressed with Duck Horn winery.  I felt that their wines were over-priced.  The Duck Horn Sauvignon Blanc at $ 23 per bottle was inferior to the Sauvignon Blanc we had just bought at Krug for $ 16.  The Cabernet Sauvignon priced at $ 58 did not taste like a $ 58 bottle of wine.  The only wine we would recommend from Duck Horn was the Howell Mountain Merlot, and even then I would have a hard time picking one up at $ 65 per bottle.  We walked away from there without buying anything.  We decided not to trust the recommendations from the Charles Krug guy; it was the second time that someone there had steered us wrong.

Lunch at the CIA was fantastic.  We started off with the temptations, which is a variety of small appetizers that change daily.  They were wonderful.  Janet and I split a foie gras that was fantastic.  For the main course she had scallops on risotto that was flavored with squid ink.  It was great.  I had pomegranate chicken which was amazing.  One of our friends had the special steak and it was also really good.  The only down side is that they no longer have the “final temptations” dessert selection.

Dinner took quite a while and we were running out of time.  Janet’s friend wanted to stop by Cakebread and pick up some Chardonnay.  We sampled a few wines then bolted from the lecture because we were running out of time.  We picked up a couple of bottles of Chardonnay then tried to decide where to go for the last tasting of the day.

For our final stop of the day we just pulled into one of the first places that we found.  Groth winery normally requires an appointment but they waived that requirement because the weather was so bad and nobody was coming it.  We arrived at about 5 minutes before closing and began tasting.  The white wines were ordinary at best and I wouldn’t recommend them.  However, the merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignons were quite drinkable.  We thought the merlot was particularly impressive, but we found out that they are discontinuing that variety.  I hope they change their minds, because their merlot was really good.

On Wednesday we wanted to do an animal themed tasting – just go to wineries with animals in their names.  We started off at Ravenswood.  Since we’re club members we get a discount and drink free.  The merlot was really good, but sadly nothing else overly impressed us.  It seems like lately Ravenswood has lost some of the bite that we originally liked.

We continued our animal winery quest over in Napa.  We tried to find Frog’s Leap, but they didn’t look too inviting.  We found out later that their tasting was by appointment only.  So, we headed to our next stop:  Goose Cross Cellars.  We pulled into their driveway and saw a sign that said that tasting were by appointment only.  It looked like our animal themed tasting was in serious jeopardy and we sadly decided to abandon it.

In frustration we stopped at a neighboring winery flying Canadian flag.  Cliff Lede was a surprising find.  Their sparkling wines (also known by some as champagne even though their not from the Champagne region of France) wearing the S. Anderson label were incredible.  They tasted more expensive than $ 35 per bottle.  I wasn’t nearly as impressed with their red wines.  I did like the Pinot Noir I tasted, and the Syrah was pretty good, but it was the sparkling wines that really stood out.

After Cliff Lede we drove down to Stag’s Leap.  They had two tastings available – one for $ 15 and the other for $ 30.  The thirty dollar tasting was for 5 of their premium wines.  Janet and I decided to split this and just pay for one tasting.  The Stag’s Leap wines are very pricy and extremely good.  The chardonnay had flavors of green tea, of all things.  Just like real green tea, the first taste is unexpected and not really great.  And just like green tea, it’s an acquired taste.  My first impression was “I’m not sure about this wine.”  After I had drained the glass I was looking for more.

The reds at Stag’s Leap are amazing.  These were some of the best wines I had on this trip, or any trip.  Yes, the wines we sampled were expensive:  $ 75 to $ 150 per bottle, but they were delicious.  Paying the thirty dollar tasting fee made sense.  We even got an extra taste of the $ 100 dollar bottle because the server lost his place with us and poured the same thing twice.  We enjoyed Stag’s Leap.

Our final stop for this trip was at Chimney Rock Winery.  I wanted to stop there because I liked the name.  I was a bit concerned that Stag’s Leap had altered our taste buds and even if Chimney Rock had good wine, we wouldn’t like it very much.  We remembered the first time that we tried Cakebread reds after tasting Opus One.  We thought that the Cakebreads were ordinary even though later we decided that they were really good.  The Opus One had set the bar too high, and we were afraid the same thing was going to happen at Chimney Rock.

Our fears were unjustified.  The wines at Chimney Rock were almost as amazing as Stag’s Leap, and at a better price.  We were so impressed that we decided to drop our Ravenswood wine club and sign up for the Chimney Rock club.  They even had a pink wine – the Rose of Cabernet Franc – that we loved.  And we never drink pink wine.  Chimney Rock was a very happy discovery for us and their wines are highly recommended.

When we got home we finally unpacked the wine refrigerator that we got for xmas.  We have lots of tasty stuff to put in it.

Last weekend we rented quite a few movies.  We still haven’t gotten around to watching The Punisher but hopefully we’ll get to that one soon.

The Bourne Supremacy:  I gave this one a C+.  It’s mindless action, cardboard characters and a simple plot.  It’s mindless entertainment with wit and car crashes.

Dodge Ball:  I usually hate anything with Ben Stiller in it but thankfully he had a pretty minor role.  Maybe this movie was helped by that second bottle of Retzlaff Merlot but I have to give it a B+.  It was pretty funny and I’d watch it again.

Hero:  Yes it had subtitles.  So why did we keep telling the dogs to be quiet so we could watch the movie?  It’s not like we understand Chinese so what difference did it make how loud they were?  You had to pay attention to what was going on, but this was a really good movie.  Give this one a grade of A.

Bobby Jones, A Stroke of Genius.  A little slow at times, but that’s golf.  It was interesting watching the last true amateur hit golf clubs with wooden shafts.  It was a good story with interesting characters.  I liked this one a lot.  A+

A Day Without A Mexican:  Quite possibly one of the worst movies ever made.  It’s nearly as bad as some of the crap that Michael Moore has put out.  Any recordings of this movie should be degaussed, any films destroyed, and all copies of the script burned.  This was a solid F-.

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We’ve had our xmas tree up since Saturday.  It’s got lights, traditional ball-type ornaments, unusual ornaments, stuffed Shrek figures, a Lisa Simpson figure, an SJ Sharkie puppet, and so on.

When we first brought in the tree Rolfe didn’t pay too much attention to it.  After a day or two he would sniff around the tree, touch some of the ornaments with his nose, but mostly he left it alone.  Yesterday Janet was working upstairs in her office when Rolfe dropped the Shrek Donkey at her feet.  There were no chew marks on it, no dog spit, nothing to indicate that he had been playing with it.  We figured that the Donkey had fallen out of the tree – it’s still spreading into its final form – and Rolfe brought it upstairs as if to say, “Mommy look what happened.”

Last night we were watching TV when I noticed Rolfe sniffing around the tree again.  I figured he was curious; after all he is still a puppy.  He brushed his nose against a couple of tree branches, touched an ornament or two, then lifted his leg.

Friday night was the first time in quite a while we’ve been to the San Jose arena. I haven’t had much of a reason to go down town because of the hockey lockout. On Friday we had tickets for a concert by a couple of bands we wanted to see.

First up at 7:00 was Keith Emerson, formerly of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer fame. In my younger days I really liked ELP and I was looking forward to this show. While they played a lot of the old ELP standards, overall this group that Emerson put together was unimpressive. They just seemed to lack energy and passion. Part of that may have been because there were only a couple of hundred people in the arena and they had no crowd energy to feed off of.

What really bothered me about this first group was that I don’t think they were really playing half the time. I could see where the lead guitar player had his hands, and they didn’t match the notes I was hearing. Also, at the beginning of songs I would hear the keyboard, and Emerson was three feet away from the instrument. Not only is it annoying, it’s cheating the audience. They could have dropped this band from the show and no one would have cared.

Next up was the band Tesla. They were really good – powerful, energetic, and into the show. They played mostly old songs but added stuff from their new album. I enjoyed both and wouldn’t mind seeing Tesla again some time.

Finally we got to The Scorpions. Like Tesla they played with power and energy. They also concentrated on their older songs while dropping in the occasional new song from their new CD. I thought they were a bit too loud for the San Jose arena – it doesn’t have the best acoustics – so the sound came out a bit muddy. I also thought they could have done a better job in the sound mixing department. There were guitar riffs that I remember from the studio versions of songs that almost disappeared in the live performance. Still, it was a really good show.

The crowd was about what you’d expect: a mix of tech geeks, blue-collar types, and a younger crowd that has discovered rock. I approved of the way that many of the women dressed – I consider it additional entertainment. In general, I endorse the wanton display of female flesh. However, if a woman decides to attend a rock show dressed as a cheap slut, she should have the body to do it. A revealing outfit three sizes too small that accentuates fat rolls is not a good idea.

Friday night was a late night, but an entertaining one. Now if we could just train the dogs to let us sleep in the next morning…

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