Tasting Wine with Friends

 

Our good friends Bim and Patti suggested we accompany them to an open house of a winery up in Cloverdale, the most northern town in our county. Since we weren't familiar with this winery, we happily agreed to go with them. I always enjoy wine tasting with Bim - being a wine maker himself, he is very knowledgeable about wine and the wine making process. 

He was very clear about why he went to the open house.

But then we were here for the food as well - they had cheese and charcuterie boards and a food truck served the most delicious pizza I ever ate outside of Italy.

Everything was beautifully decorated.

Our guys...

... and las chicas.

There were two tasting tables, one with their white wines and the other with the red ones.

An interesting board with all the different clamps and connecting pieces for the fermenting steel tanks you can see behind Bim.

It was such a lovely day, warm and sunny. The wine wasn't too bad either...

I loved the deep color of this Syrah.

Sometimes the Geek is the only guy in a group (we call that "Hahn im Korb", rooster in the basket). He sure enjoys that.

Is there anything better than having a wonderful time with really good friends?

Of course I couldn't leave AI (Gemini) alone... all of these faces are for Nicole's Friday Face Off. Cheers!

Remains of Ancient Times

Brittany is home to the largest collection of prehistoric stone structures in the world. There are so many dolmens, tumulus and menhirs, most of them from the Neolithic period (around 5000 - 3000 BCE), that you can hardly see them all in just two weeks. I'll start with our first visit to a megalith structure, Allée couverte de Ty Lia or Île Grande (covered alley of Île Grande). I personally would describe this as a tumulus which refers to an artificial elevation often covering a burial site.

This site was located just off the narrow country road with just a short gravel strip for parking. While these sites are all marked in maps and have signs, they are not particularly established as an attraction site - probably there are so many of them. There is one spectacular exception, but I will get to that in a later post.

It is called covered alley because it actually has an "alley" that is covered by a megalith and you can crawl in there.

It is interesting to look at the inside of it. These are huge stones and you really wonder how the people managed to move them. Often these stones come from places further away. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding these stone structures, and I wonder whether we will ever know everything about them and the people who lived at that time. I only know that our modern buildings will not stand the ravages of time like these megaliths have done.

Seeing Kaefer here points out the size of the tumulus.

Of course the most famous megalith is Stonehenge in England. This one was way way smaller, but still very impressive.

The lichen on the rock tells its own fascinating story.

I particularly liked this seasnail on top of it; I think it might be a limpet.

This was just a first taste of these fascinating megaliths. There will be more to come in future posts.

Now I need a drink for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Yesterday we went wine tasting (with food pairing) with our good friends Bim and Patti - we love to spend time with them, they are our dearest friends and very close to our heart. We always have interesting conversations, but we also laugh a lot together. It's exactly the right mix. No surprise that yesterday's afternoon turned into the most pleasant hours we had that weekend.

The Art & Soul of Spring

 

After spending most of the past weeks at home with only short walks in the neighborhood because of my stupid knee, I drove to the lake last Wednesday. While I couldn't walk for an extended period, I did a bit of walking and sat on a bench, writing in my journal and just enjoying the view and being out in nature. I had missed that so very much. In March I will have surgery on the knee and I hope that after that I will eventually be able to hike again.

That Wednesday was the only day in the week with some sunshine; all the other days it rained and especially this president's weekend has been quite stormy again. Nevertheless, on Saturday we met up with friends for some wine tasting and this serves as my ticket for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

The rest of the rainy days I was working on a new spread in my art journal. I started out with a page where I had already spread some leftover paint and now glued down several torn book pages. It looked rather chaotic and not very inspiring.

I had a half-baked idea in my mind and wanted to add some pink or magenta.

Oh dear! That was a little bit too bold even for me, so I tried to tone it down with some titanium buff.

I was struggling how to get out of this ugly phase and just left it for a day. When I came back later, I painted the entire page with a layer of titanium buff and added some pictures of mainly pink flowers.

That already looked a lot better. I decided I didn't like the look of the titanium buff and mixed white gesso with just a little bit of quinacridone magenta to achieve a light pink color that I painted around the pictures and across the page. I also pressed a heavy fabric stamp into parts of the gesso mix and painted that with watercolor.

Finally, I stamped randomly with my French text stamp, called the page "The Art & Soul of Spring", glued down some bits of texts I had cut out of German magazines, framed them with watercolor crayons, added a flower-shaped ribbon and used a stencil with differently sized dots and white gesso - done. 

I'm quite happy with the result. I hadn't thought that I would end up with this after I had got stuck in the "ugly phase". 

I hope everyone has a good T Tuesday and a lovely week.

Wine Tasting in the Vineyard

 

A couple weekends ago our friends M and J took us out for a wine tasting at a lovely winery where they are members. We got a table right at the vineyard under a huge tree and thankfully there was a sunshade as well which came in handy when it started to sprinkle during the afternoon. The sky constantly changed from blue to grey and back. But it was warm and we enjoyed being out in this lovely setting, despite the occasional shower.

The view to the other side was just as lovely with a majestic willow, vineyards and the gently rolling forested hills.

M had prepared some charcuterie, cheeses, spreads and bread for us to share. It was perfect.

Of course there was wine! It's been more than 20 years since we had visited the winery the last time - during our early days in Sonoma County - and we were quite happy to see that the winery hasn't changed very much. Unlike many other wineries in the area it doesn't have all the fancy-shmancy that seems to be so popular with wine tourists. Instead, it offered excellent wines.

These wine glasses, bottle and mason jars for the water is my ticket for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

Fall was definitely arriving in the vineyard - the leaves started to turn. This is one of the Pinot Noir vineyards where the leaves eventually will turn to a stunning red.

We spent several hours at the winery, tasting, eating, talking, laughing. I always treasure time spent with good friends and if you get home with a case of delicious wine - even better!

Sunday Wine Tasting

Last Sunday we went to our favorite winery in Healdsburg, Sapphire Hill Winery. We have been members of their wine club for several years and their wine seldom disappoints us. The winery doesn't have its own vineyards but buys the grapes from different vineyards and then makes their wine. It is owned by Chris and Lisa, and in addition to offering really nice wine, Lisa is also a great and experimental cook. Their wine tastings are always accompanied by food (at least for the club members). They used to do sit-down wine and food pairings (entire dinners) in their barrel room, but since the pandemic this unfortunately is a thing of the past (we hope that eventually they will come back). On Sunday we wanted to pick up our winter and spring shipment and since the weather was wonderful - sunny but not hot - we decided for a tasting on their patio.

We started out with a delicious warm brussels sprout dip - oh my lord! - paired with three sparkling wines (white, rosé and red).

We then had a potato leek soup with a dry Gewürztraminer followed by a red beet salad that had been pickled in the rosé that we were drinking with it. This was so refreshing!

On to the main "course", meatloaf sliders paired with a Zinfandel - I could have had more than one, to be honest. Zinfandel is my favorite red wine; the grape was brought to California in the mid 19th century and is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštelanski and Tribidrag as well as the Primitivo variety that is grown in Apulia, Italy. However, even though it is grown across the United States, Zinfandel is essentially a California grape, and Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley is one of the very best locations to grow it (aren't we lucky). 

The only thing left was the dessert - a warm brownie with salted caramel sauce. Lisa bakes these with ther raspberry-jalapeño jam in the centre that then oozes out when warmed. No, there is no heat and no taste of raspberry, just rich chocolate. This was paired with a full-bodied Old Vines Zinfandel.

You can probably guess where I am linking to - Elizabeth's T Tuesday and Kathy's Food Wednesdays. Thank you, ladies, for hosting!

T is for Tasting Wine

 

Last week I had to skip Elizabeth's T-party because it was so busy. This was not what I thought my life would look like after quitting my high school library job in the summer. I had dreamed of quiet afternoons spent in the garden tending to my plants or reading piles of books. There was this fantasy that I could take long hikes in the breath taking nature around us. And, of course, that I could write many many blogposts.

The reality looks quite different - I've been very busy with the German School since I had added another class that I was teaching in the evenings. That came to a close last week, but the regular class work still needs to be done (and I simply love teaching) and I also find myself planning which additional classes I could offer in the spring semester. The shop has been very busy, and since my bestseller (warm socks) is made to order I'm knitting every day. However, it does feel good that my items are wanted by people and I'm proud to offer good customer service.

But last weekend, the Geek and I finally went for some wine tasting again. We live in the midst of wine country and could choose to go to a different winery every weekend. However, we opted to go to one of our favorite ones where we are also members in the wine club. This winery doesn't have its own vineyards, but purchases the grapes instead and then make their own wine. Most of their wine is delicious. Lisa, one of the owners, is also a great and experimental cook and she always has food to pair the wine with (or vice versa) on the weekends. This time we got a six-course food pairing.

This was only for starters - afterwards I forgot to take pictures of the other food. Most of her food she cooks with one of their wines and she already inspired me a lot in the kitchen. She is one of those people that you like right from the start - I remember meeting her for the first time several years ago and she was so warm and welcoming. She is someone who laughs a lot and is full of energy. This welcoming feeling and warmth is something that defines this winery - they treat you like family.

It was such a lovely late autumn day, sunny and warm. We were sitting on the patio, having such a good time. It was relaxing and peaceful - and their selection of champagne sure helped as well!

You might notice that they use fabric napkins as well as real silverware and china serving plates. The plates and bowls were all made from compostable material - nothing went to waste here. Another reason why I like this winery and happily support them.

The last course was dessert - and they served Lisa's signature bownies - crisp on the outside, gooey on the inside and a saltted caramel sauce on top.

I'm so glad that I am able to participate in Elizabeth's T Tuesday this week. Thank you for hosting it, Elizabeth! To those of you who are in the US I wish you a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. There is so much we can be grateful for.