Posts Tagged ‘san fransisco 2009’

First I would just like to mention I have one more installment for my China trip I would eventually like to get posted, I’ve just been too busy with work, being sick, and wine tasting . Anyhow this post is supposed to be about San Francisco, so here it goes.

I’ve been to San Francisco previously about two years ago, with a friend specifically to do some wine touring. I’ve been into wine for a few years now, and have traveled to California, Italy, and France. I’ve tasted some amazing wines along the way, although some of the best have been from California. This time around, I was brought back to San Francisco for work. I left early so I could spend the weekend in Napa, and met up with two friends to join me in my wine tasting. We started out at Hartford Winery and moved on to Martinelli and Hook and Ladder. I was surprised at the quality of the Zinfandel at Hartford, fantastic dark inky color with huge earthy flavors and a smooth finish. As usual, Martinelli was producing some great Pino, and Hook and Ladder had a surprisingly good Cab Franc (this seems to be a trend nowadays). For lunch we stopped by my favorite winery, Reverie, and partook in their annual release party. I’ve been a huge fan of Reverie ever since I acquired (and drank) some of their 1996 Special Reserve, after which I visited two years ago and signed up for the wine club. When I called to let them know I would like to pick up my shipment, I was delighted to hear they were having their release party and dinner the weekend I was planning on stopping by. Subsequently, I also attended their dinner which was fantastic, although I’m not sure how I feel about eating in a cellar. With the temperature around 55-60 F, you are noticeably cooler and consequently your food also cools off much faster. When your eating multiple courses, this isn’t as much of an issue, but I still felt my food was much cooler than I would have liked. Moreover, when drinking wine, the wine never really has a chance to warm up to the point where it can really open up.

Now for some commentary on wine tasting in Napa. I love Reverie principally for their wine, however there are a number of other appealing aspects which I find are absent in other wineries. Reverie is family owned, and there is no doubt in my mind their primary goal is to make some of the best wine possible. Too often marketing takes precedent, and before you know it you’ve got a winery with a massive tasting room with fancy bottle labels catering to weekend wine tasters carted around in limos, who don’t know a damn thing about wine. Imagery Winery is an excellent example. When I visited two years ago and was impressed with their Petit Verdot. However upon my most recent visit I was overwhelmed with a crowded tasting room, live music (I guess they have this every weekend now), and wine that really didn’t impress me. Their parking lot was filled with annoyingly long stretched Lincoln Navigators (one of which I nearly hit on the way out), and felt as though I was alienated since I was tasting by myself and not apart of one of the groups. Thankfully Provenance was able to redeem my day with a fantastic tasting (comped), which was staffed by knowledgeable people who cared about wine. I guess my point is a winery shouldn’t be in business of making money, they should be in the business of making great wine, the money may come after that happens. And as I’ve always said, drink what you like. If someone thinks your less of a “wine expert” because you prefer an 88 point wine over a 92 point wine, who gives a damn, your not drinking for someone else.

And we’re off again! I’ll be traveling to San Fransisco near the end of the month for about a week and a half on business. Hopefully this will be more enjoyable than Miami, actually I know it will, and you can once again enjoy some random useless commentary combined with a few pictures here and there. I’ll be doing some wine country tours which I’m looking forward to, especially Reverie and a few other wineries, along with some random restaurants and other fun things. So sit back and get a glass of wine as you read my drunken writings from the West Coast.