Colin Blogs

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Yellow Daffodils (February 13, 2012)

2012-02-15T11:54:00.001-08:00

I belatedly report that the first bud on one of the yellow daffodils in the garden opened the day before yesterday, February 13. Before long, there will be clusters of them in bloom around the garden. Our two-toned white and apricot-colored daffodils always bloom later.

The yellow daffodils opened in 2011 on February 2. The first bloom date was February 5 in 2010 and February 5 also in 2009, for years of 365, 362, and 376 days. In other words, the daffodils are rather late this year--although the average year calculated by the daffodils is about 368 days, only slightly longer than a calendar year.

Rain: Rain Through February 13, 2012

2012-02-13T21:59:00.000-08:00

Today was clear and sunny, if cold, but we've had another 0.3 inches of rain since last reporting. That brings our 2011-2012 rainy season total to 13.5 inches, which is more than 10 inches below the average for February 13 historically in Santa Rosa (just under 23.8 inches). More rain, please.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Domaine Maby Lirac "La Fermade"

2012-02-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, you think of a typical southern Rhône red overflowing with the scent of violets (the good ones, anyway) when you hear the name Lirac. I can't remember coming across a white Lirac before, but I knew that it existed (the rules allow Clairette Blanc, Grenache Blanc, and Bourbelenc, as well as Ugni Blanc, Pipoul, Marsanne, Rousanne, and Viognier, the first three of these being the principal grapes). I found a bottle in the newer Santa Rosa Whole Foods (at Coddingtown Mall) recently and decided to try it tonight. I must admit I was partially persuaded by a sticker showing that this wine won a Gold Medal at the 2008 Concours des Vins, at Orange--an honor it seems to have deserved. Brief tasting notes follow.

A very pale, clear, slightly green-tinged wine. The initial impression on the nose is a fresh sappiness, with a certain waxiness in the background. There was something that reminded me of pencil shavings and there were floral hints as well--but rather restrained flowers--hawthorne perhaps or pear blossom. Overall, a fresh, attractive, delicate but fairly characterful nose. Seemed a bit closed at first on the palate but then quietly burst with sweetness that was followed quickly by citrusy flavors and then by something sweet again. Has a certain bitterness as well, that nicely offsets the fruit. I've had well made Soave that tastes like this. Very good length. Really lingers and seems to keep flitting back and forth between fruity sweetness and a delicate acidity as it slowly fades on the tongue. Delicious. Recommended. Reasonably priced at $9.99 a bottle. I'm likely to go back for more of this.

2010 Altovinum "Evodia" Calatayud Old Vines Garnacha

2012-02-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight I tasted a wine from Spain's Calatayud DO, in the western part of the Zaragoza province of Aragón. The area is heavily planted with Garnacha (Grenache), among other varieties. This "Evodia" is made from old vines, some as old as 100 years, according to the label. The vineyards in the area are generally at high elevations on stony soil. This particular wine was grown on slate soils. Brief tasting notes follow.

A very pretty, deep ruby red. This is a young wine, but it doesn't have the brash purple-red color of many young wines. Herbal scents on the nose--not sage, but something along those lines. Wood and vanilla. Red berries--not quite strawberries, not quite red raspberries. Red currants, perhaps? Something suggestive of bitters, or root bark. With a little time, it began to smell jammy, suggesting fig jam. Later I noticed some smoky, flinty scents. Nice, rich attack on the palate. Full, fruit sweetness. Jam, but interlaced with licorice. Remarkably sweet. Given the sweet fruitiness and the somewhat medicinal flavors of roots and bark, you might be forgiven for mistaking this for vermouth. Very light, very soft tannins. Moderate to low acidity. Immediately appealing, with seductive fruit making the wine all too easy to drink too much of, but ultimately not very well balanced. Worth trying at least once, however, if you like wines that are all fruit. This will certainly appeal to some palates. Fairly reasonably priced at $9.99 a bottle, at Whole Foods, Santa Rosa (Coddingtown Store).

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Daphne Odorata (February 6, 2012)

2012-02-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

The first flowers opened on the fragrant daphne Daphne odorata, under the coral bark maple behind the house yesterday, February 6--quite late for this plant, which bloomed in January in each of the three previous years, on January 23 in 2011, January 18 in 2010, and January 20 in 2009, for years of 363, 370, and 379 days, averaging to 370 days.

Rain: Rain Overnight (February 7, 2012)

2012-02-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

I heard the sound of rain last night as I fell asleep--the steady, quiet dribbling sound of a gutter on the far side of the house. This morning, I found 0.55 inches in the rain gauge. It's still raining, but that brings our 2011-2012 rainy season total to 13.00 inches--better, but still well below where we should be at this time of year (nearly 22.5 inches). Let it rain....

[Update: It did rain a little more. We got an additional 0.2 inches, bringing the total to 13.2 inches.]

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Pink Flowering Japanese Plum Prunus Blireiana (February 2, 2012)

2012-02-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

Our double pink flowering plum tree (Prunus blireiana) started blooming today, February 2. Only one or two flowers have opened, but it will soon be in full bloom if the warmish weather holds. The plum bloomed on February 17 in 2009, but I can't find a record for 2010. The tree bloomed on February 4 in 2011. Thus, it's calculated a year of 363 days.

Birds I'm Watching: Kinglet Feet (February 1, 2012)

2012-02-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Recently I've been photographing a lot of birds for use on my birding website. I was recently looking at photographs of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and I've begun to notice that there is a very big variation in the color of the feet of these birds. Some have feet about the same color as their legs, some have feet that are strikingly yellow. No one I've asked seems to think the color indicates anything especially useful about the birds. They ascribe it to individual variation. I continue to wonder about kinglet feet.... Compare the feet of the bird above and the bird below. Hmmmm......

For information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Found Art: Razor Wire, Barbed Wire (January 27, 2012)

2012-01-27T08:51:00.001-08:00

Razor wire and barbed wire, tools of exclusion or incarceration, would seem remote from art, but I liked the rhythms formed here by the overlapping coils of razor wire and by the barbed wire and wall behind them. Art is where you find it.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Pink Flowering Japanese Plum Prunus Mume (January 23, 2012)

2012-01-26T10:59:00.000-08:00

I belatedly report that our pink Japanese plum has started blooming. The first bloom appears to have opened on about January 22, although I didn't notice the flowers until a day or two after that. The tree bloomed on January 19 in 2011, yielding a year of 368 days. I don't seem to have earlier records for this flower, probably because the tree is still small.

Music I'm Listening To: Santa Rosa Symphony, Jeffrey Kahane Playing and Conducting Mozart, Rachmaninoff (January 22, 2012)

2012-01-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

What a pleasure to see and hear Jeffrey Kahane with the Santa Rosa Symphony again. Kahane is making guest appearances in a series of three concerts playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3, conducting both pieces as well. I attended yesterday's performance (Sunday, January 22).

Kahane gave a delightfully lively and crisp performance of the Mozart, I thought, adding to the fun by playing an expansive cadenza of his own composition. I thought the symphony players were in fine form, with the woodwinds a standout, particularly the flute and the bassoons. The audience was very appreciative. Some in the crowd waved enthusiastically to Kahane after the performance, as if to say "We've missed you."

The choice of a large 20th century symphony for the second half of the program following the Mozart concerto was not an obviously logical one, but I trust Kahane had his reasons. I just wish I could ask him what they were. I can't really say much about the piece as I'd never heard it before, and it's not music that immediately grabs you. It gave the impression of being rather too full of ideas not fully developed or linked, but I suspect that apparent fault is as much a reflection of my ignorance as it is of anything else. Having said that, it seemed to veer from the pastoral to the grandiose and back again, sounding here like something quite modern, there like something more traditional, and in one or two places rather like generic film score music. Nevertheless, there were some interesting textures and some unusual percussion effects, and the musicians showed the same concentration they exhibited playing the Mozart. Kahane seems always to get the best from the Santa Rosa players (although there were a lot of unfamiliar faces among the musicians this time). Again the reception was warm. Kahane and the orchestra received a second standing ovation. As the audience began to leave, the conductor hopped onto the podium and began an encore.

As if to provide an antidote to the unfamiliar Rachmaninoff piece, Kahane and the Santa Rosa Symphony began to play the overture to Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss II, a piece the audience was better able to warm up to. It was well played and enthusiastically played and the crowd left quite pleased. The concert was worth it just for the Mozart, but the Strauss was a fun and unexpected way to end the afternoon. I hope we see Mr. Kahane often in the new Green Music Center. We do miss him.

Photo of Jeffrey Kahane courtesy of the Santa Rosa Symphony.

Rain: More Rain Overnight (January 22-23, 2012)

2012-01-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

More rain overnight (accompanied by lightning and thunder) added 2.55 more inches to our total for the 2011-2012 rainy season, bringing us to 11.45 inches. The historical average for January 23 in Santa Rosa is 16.67 inches. Thus, while we've made up a lot with the nearly seven inches we've had in the past week, we are still 5.22 inches behind where we should be. Still, the vegetation looks fresh and alive in a way it hasn't for many weeks. Things are looking up.

Books I'm Reading: Eiffel's Tower, by Jill Jonnes (January 22, 2012)

2012-01-22T23:38:00.000-08:00

I found Jill Jonnes's Eiffel's Tower (Penguin Books, 2010) both a pleasure and a disappointment--but a disappointment that reflects my own misplaced expectations not any real fault in the book. I had imagined a more technical piece, something along the lines of David Mccullough's The Great Bridge, about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Eiffel's Tower is as much (or more) about the exposition the tower was built for than about the tower itself (with a strong emphasis on the doings of such people as Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Thomas Edison, Whistler, Gauguin, Van Gogh, James Gordon Bennett, publisher of The New York Herald, and, of course, Gustave Eiffel). There was very little about the actual tower in most of the second half of the book. I should have paid more attention to Jonnes's subtitle: The Thrilling Story Behind Paris's Beloved Monument and the Extraordinary World's Fair That Introduced It.

Having said all that, I very much enjoyed Jonnes's clear, well-paced narrative--I don't mind a good digression or two. I hadn't known that Buffalo Bill's show, complete with dozens of native American performers, had been in Paris during the 1889 Exposition Universelle, or what a sensation the show had been. (Annie Oakley was especially popular. Enamored of game hunting, the French aristocracy, in particular, admired anyone good with a gun). I hadn't realized that Eiffel had mostly been a builder of bridges before he designed his famous tower. His bridge works range from Europe to Vietnam to Chile and Peru. I hadn't known about the troubles caused by the lower level elevators, which seem to have stemmed mostly from repeated tweaking of the curvature of the tower's legs, each tweak necessitating an adjustment in the design of the elevators.

The elevators remain impressive today. My own first ascent of the tower remains most vividly in my mind because of the way the large cars travel along the legs, moving at a considerable angle off the vertical, a kind of motion not usually associated with elevators, and they move at a good clip, making a great deal of noise. Eiffel's insistence on elevators that ran along the legs of the tower was required by his desire to avoid having to use a central vertical shaft for the lift equipment, which would have ruined the effect created by the great open space between the four legs of the structure.

When I was an exchange student in Japan in the late 1970s, I remember going up to the top of Tokyo Tower, which is based on the Eiffel Tower but with just such a central elevator shaft. I found it amusing that the Japanese were so proud of their tower. At the upper viewing platform there was a large panel with statistics comparing Tokyo Tower with the Eiffel Tower. The latter is 984 feet high and made of about 7,300 tons of metal held together by 2.5 million rivets. It was completed by about 300 workmen in two years, two months, and five days, between 1887 and 1889. The Japanese version is 107 feet taller (at 1,091 feet). It was built by around 400 workers in about one year, five and a half months, completed on October 14, 1958. It weighs only about 4,000 tons--considerably less than the Eiffel Tower, despite being taller--and that has long been the principal Japanese claim to its superiority. What Tokyo Tower's boosters always seem to forget is that Eiffel and his team built their tower nearly 70 years earlier with no precedent to rely on, they did it using less technically advanced metals, and they achieved their results infinitely more elegantly. I've always thought Tokyo Tower rather ugly, precisely because of the central elevator shaft; there is no open space under Tokyo Tower to enjoy. It has none of the lightness of Eiffel's design. Still, it serves its purpose, mainly as a broadcasting tower, and it was surpassed as the tallest structure in Japan only recently, with the completion of the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Eiffel's Tower paints a wonderful picture of the Exposition, its centerpiece (the Tower), and of the world's reaction to these as France celebrated the 100th anniversary of its great revolution and sought to proclaim its technological prowess in an industrializing world. The book makes it clear just how strong the structure's spell on the world was--even before its completion--a spell that remains unbroken today. Although I had hoped for more about the technical aspects of the Eiffel Tower's construction, the panoramic view of life Jonnes gives us from the perspective of the Tower is ultimately engrossing. By the end of the book, which coincides with the end of the great exposition, I felt a twinge of melancholy, as if I had been at the Exposition, had witnessed its most compelling sights, and, with regret, watched its final closing. Recommended.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2005 Interlude Twin Creek Vineyard Napa Valley Barbera

2012-01-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

I picked up a bottle of the 2004 Interlude Twin Creek Vineyard Barbera a few days ago at Grocery Outlet, and I liked it very much. I went back to get more, but it was gone. Instead, I bought half a case of the 2005 vintage on the strength of the 2004. Tonight I opened the first bottle of the 2005, hoping it was as good. Brief tasting notes follow.

A medium garnet, the wine looked older than it actually is, but it was nicely fragrant, suggestive of something floral--gardenias almost, although not nearly as strongly and sweetly scented as the flower. Suggestions of cranberries. There were leathery scents in the background. Although this is a very alcoholic wine, at 14.9%, the nose was not especially suggestive of alcohol. Chocolatey and a bit hot on the palate, however. Still, fairly good length, soft tannins, delicate acidity, and with an interesting mid-palate bite. Hints of dark cherries, perhaps. A nice lingering bitterness on the finish. Decent everyday wine. Paired well with lamb chops and a side dish of sautéed mushrooms (eryngii--also known as king oyster mushrooms, among many other things--and shiitake) with bok choy. Reasonably priced at Grocery Outlet at $5.99 a bottle. I may go back for more, although I think the 2004 had a bit more presence.

Rain: Finally Some Rain (January 20, 2012)

2012-01-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

It began raining last night. It continued all through Friday the 20th and into the night. This morning, the morning of the 21st, the rain gauge has 3.7 inches in it, which is great news. That brings our total for the 2011-2012 rainy season to 8.75 inches. While that's an improvement and the plants in the garden are visibly refreshed, the historical average for January 21 in Santa Rosa is 19.34 inches, which puts us more than ten inches behind normal. December 2011 was one of the driest Decembers in Santa Rosa history. Average annual rainfall here is normally just under 32 inches. Let us hope that February and March are wet.

[Update: Yesterday, Saturday the 21st, was mostly clear, but it began raining again overnight and it's been pouring this morning, Sunday the 22nd. As of around 10:00AM we had added another 0.15 inches, bringing the total to 8.9 inches, but that will surely go up if it keeps raining like this.]

Art I'm Looking At: San Francisco Fine Print Fair 2012

2012-01-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Once a year, usually at the end of January or first week of February, some of the best fine print dealers in the country come to San Francisco's Fort Mason Center to show and sell fine prints and drawings. The quality of the offerings is consistently very high. The show this year will be Saturday, January 28, and Sunday, January 29. There is a preview on the preceding Friday evening (6-9PM, with a $20 admission charge, including wine and hors d'oeuvres), but the fair is free on Saturday and Sunday (10-6 on Saturday, 11-5 on Sunday). I'm looking forward to it. I plan to be there on Saturday morning. I'll try not to buy anything and will succumb only if I feel that I absolutely must--in which case, it will have been the right thing to do.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--White Flowering Japanese Plum Prunus Mume (January 15, 2012)

2012-01-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

January 14 brought the first blossoms of 2012 on the white flowering Japanese plum in the side garden. This is Prunus mume, a wonderfully fragrant plum that can make half the garden smell like spring. It's usually among the first plants to flower in the new year. Last year, in 2011, it bloomed earlier than usual, on January 4. Thus, the tree calculated a longish year of 376 days. It bloomed on January 21 in 2009 and on January 19 in 2010, for years of 350 days and 363 days. So far, a year as viewed by this particular tree, has averaged 363 days--a little short of an actual year.

Found Art: Liquidambar Seed Pods, Santa Rosa (January 16, 2012)

2012-01-16T19:23:00.001-08:00

I recently saw these seed pods on a liquidambar, or sweet gum, tree. They reminded me very much of some of the photographs of Karl Blossfeldt. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Places I'm Visiting: The Green Music Center (January 2012)

2012-01-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I visited the new Green Music Center in Rohnert Park, on the Sonoma State University campus. Subscribers to the Santa Rosa Symphony are being given the opportunity to see the place and state their seat preference for upcoming seasons (not that I expect anyone but the wealthy and well connected to get what they want). For reasons I still don't understand, the new hall is about 160 seats smaller than the old Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (or the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts) that it will replace. Would it really have destroyed the acoustics to have made the place 10 feet wider to add a couple more rows of seats? Shouldn't the new building have been more capacious, if anything? Surely there was a solution that would have delivered great sound without making it harder to get good seats. I've been a subscriber for going on 12 years now. I had a seat dead center, about two thirds of the way back, which was perfect (in the new hall, a seat a little further back and therefore a little higher would seem to be ideal). As I don't have the means to make large donations, I suspect my new seat will be a disappointment. We'll see.

That said, the sound seems likely to be superb, and it certainly seems to be even, with no dead spots. It sounds good just about anywhere you listen from, even from the upper balconies--although the sight lines are not very good from the side balcony seats. There is a clarity to the sound that is already apparent from listening to some of the performers that were playing on stage while I visited, allowing patrons to get a feel for the space.

The new concert hall is undeniably beautiful. All clad in satiny wood of various grains and colors, you simply want to reach out and touch everything. On the downside, there is a somewhat cramped feel to the place, particularly in those side balcony areas. I think they will be difficult for some of the more elderly people in the audiences to navigate (and the symphony concerts are attended by a mostly elderly crowd, unfortunately). The rise of the main floor is quite gradual. I suspect shorter people will be disappointed, especially in the center orchestra section toward the front. Perhaps most worrisome, the stairways are all made of the same beautiful woods that cover the floors--beautiful to look at, but treacherous; even I had trouble in places seeing the edges of the stairs. The wood strips run parallel to the stairs and, depending on the angle of the light, the sea of parallel seams can create an illusion of a single flat space. This seems like an accident waiting to happen. I'd be willing to bet that either a guest falls or, before that, someone involved in management will see that some sort of material needs to be added to the edges of the steps to provide a visual aid. Let's hope it's the latter.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Pizzato Vale dos Vinhedos Chardonnay (January 11, 2012)

2012-01-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Today I tasted the 2007 Pizzato Vale dos Vinhedos Chardonnay from Brazil. I can't remember seeing Brazilian wines on the shelves of stores here before, and this is the first Brazilian wine I've tasted, but the Pizzato Chardonnay appears to have a fairly long history. Brief tasting notes follow.

Very pale straw color. Not nearly as deeply hued as most Chardonnays. Fairly distant on the nose, but with sappy scents and something waxy. Knowing nothing about this wine, I might have guessed it a Semillon from the scent. Not much suggestion of oak, if any. On the palate, deceptively light at first, but it had something suggestive of a Pinot Blanc--a certain restrained richness offset with delicate acidity on a respectably long finish. Hints of pineapple. Reminiscent of one of those good Italian white wines that seems insubstantial at first but gradually grows on you. This is subtle and interesting--far more interesting than I expected it to be. Not your typical Chardonnay. I suspect wine drinkers used to California Chardonnay won't get this, but it seems well made and I found it enjoyable. Very attractively priced at only $4.99 a bottle at Grocery Outlet in Santa Rosa. It normally sells for around $18 a bottle. Having said all that, in the course of a meal it began to seem a trifle flat. It could have used a little more acidity to keep it interesting. If you try this, I'd recommend drinking it immediately. I suspect the 2007 wine has appeared discounted at Grocery Outlet recently because Brazilian wine is not that well known among average consumers in the US and because newer vintages are available. I'd be interested to sample this wine in fresher vintages. Still, worth a try at least.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Cyclamen Coum

2012-01-08T21:04:00.000-08:00

As in past years, the tiny cyclamen Cyclamen coum has become the first flower to bloom in the garden in the new year--today, January 8. The plant bloomed on January 8 also in 2009. It bloomed on January 3 in 2010. In 2011, it bloomed early, on December 23, 2010--not actually into 2011. This year, it's back on schedule, so to speak. Cyclamen coum has thus calculated a long year of 381 days, following a short 352-day year last year and a 360-day year the year before. The average since I began checking has been 364.5 days, almost exactly a calendar year--supporting my supposition when I started this project that years calculated by plants from first bloom to first bloom are likely to average to a calendar year over time, even if there are aberrant years.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2001 Chateau Julien "Private Reserve" Monterey County Merlot

2012-01-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight I tasted the 2001 Chateau Julien "Private Reserve" Monterey County Merlot. I knew nothing about Chateau Julien and I have little experience with Monterey County Merlot. I chose this wine simply because it was inexpensive and--being called a "Private Reserve"--I was hoping it was solid enough in its youth to have stood up to the 11 years it's been in bottle. Brief tasting notes follow.

Pretty to look at. Moderately deeply hued, but not at all a dark, inky wine. Garnet-tinged edges. Showing its age. Herbal on the nose, suggesting red vermouth or bitters. Not a lot of fruit scent, but attractive nevertheless--although I suspect many wine drinkers used to young California wines would find the nose rather foreign. Distant suggestions of licorice. Something reminiscent of sun-dried tomatoes. With time, gained some floral scents. Overall, rather delicate on the nose. My first impression on the palate was disappointment, but the wine got better as I lingered over it. It would be easy to dismiss this as past its prime--which it is. Clearly it's tired. There's only moderate fruit left and the attack seems weak--but it has its charms. For example, there are some good plummy flavors on the mid-palate and the finish is long enough and just complex enough to keep things interesting, despite a lack of real body and presence. In particular, the finish has an attractive nuttiness, a hint of sweetness, and delicate tannins that I enjoyed. If you like your wines bold, brash, fruity, and alcoholic, skip this one, but, if you like the sort of flavors typical of mature wines, you might give it a try. At only $5.99 a bottle at Grocery Outlet in Santa Rosa, I'm not complaining. The current vintage (2008) sells for $42 a bottle on the winery's website. I was just in Monterey last week. I wish I'd known. I might have visited the winery to try some of this producer's more recent efforts. (Although, the fact this is for sale at Grocery Outlet, heavily discounted, may say more about the storage of this particular batch of wine rather than the wine itself.)

Places I'm Visiting: Carmel, Monterey, San Simeon (December 29, 2011-January 1, 2012)

2012-01-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

On a short year-end trip to Carmel, Monterey, and San Simeon I visited the Hearst Castle for the first time in many years. The tours are set up in a much better way now than they once were. You can visit one or more of a few sets of rooms with a tour guide and then you're left free to walk around the gardens and visit the indoor pool at leisure. When I last went to San Simeon you could see the pool only on specific tours and you were never set free in the gardens. I took the Grand Rooms Tour, which lets you see the main living room, the dining room, the billiards room, and the theater. Other tours take you through the more private rooms in the house. One goes through the kitchen and other work rooms in the house.

There is much beautiful art in the house. I noticed a very nice altarpiece in the living room, but wasn't able to ask the guide about it. There were some good persian tiles, and a great deal of interesting furniture and architectural detail, much of it shipped over from Europe. Aside from the above-mentioned altarpiece, though, there aren't a lot of paintings in the house, which is a bit strange. Hearst's taste ran to the grandiose and it seems to have been best indulged by acquiring sculpture and buying pieces of buildings. I can't think of another man so wealthy that didn't accumulate a lot of paintings.

There's a great deal of sculpture in the gardens. Some of it beautiful, some of it in comical bad taste. The collections are very uneven. I wonder how much of Hearst's art collection consisted of things he liked, how much consisted of objects he bought because he could afford to and was advised to by others? I liked the lions on a large stone fountain in the gardens (top). A guard told me the fountain was Italian. Although it's topped with a replica of Donatello's David in Florence, the fountain looked more Spanish to me. The young woman with her arms raised at left is an example of one of the more kitschy works in the gardens. As they say, there's no accounting for taste.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the indoor Roman Pool is among the highlights of the castle. The entire place is decorated with gold and lapis tiles. The gold tiles are clear glass with gold leaf infused into them. Many of the mosaics show sea creatures. The gold patterns at the bottom of the pool are intended to evoke a starry night sky. The handrails at the pool exits and the posts supporting the distinctive lamps are made of lightly veined Vermont marble. The statues around the pool are modern copies of Greek and Roman originals made for Hearst in Italy. The pool is directly below a number of tennis courts with glass panels set into them that light the pool from above. One of the guards told me that architect Julia Morgan advised Hearst not to proceed with such a plan as it would surely leak and damage the ceiling, which it has. It remains a very special space nevertheless.

Birds I'm Watching: Carmel, Monterey, San Simeon (December 29, 2011-January 1, 2012)

2012-01-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

On a short trip at year-end, showing around friends visiting from Japan, I went to Carmel, Monterey, and San Simeon, going to the Hearst Castle for the first time in many years.

I got up early to do a little bird watching each morning. I enjoyed seeing Heermann's Gulls at all three locations, in both breeding and non-breeding plumage. These are birds that have already left our area (Sonoma County) for the year and that rarely show up there in breeding plumage with their snowy white heads, scarlet bills, charcoal backs, and jet black legs. These are among the most beautiful of the gulls.

At the Best Western Hotel a few miles from San Simeon, I took an early walk on the beach and was rewarded with one of those memorable birding moments: At one point I could see two Wrentits, a Song Sparrow, a Lincoln's Sparrow, a Hermit Thrush, a Snowy Egret, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Say's Phoebe, and a Black Phoebe without turning my head. The Say's Phoebe posed for me (left). Other birds I saw included Least Sandpipers, Marbled Godwits, a lone Black-bellied Plover, the Heermann's Gulls, American Crow, and American Pipit. One strange sight was numerous Great Egrets apparently standing on the water, well offshore. They were actually standing on kelp mats, hunting for fish. I've never seen Great Egrets out at sea before.

For information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Found Art: San Francisco Show Window (January 2, 2012)

2012-01-02T10:33:00.001-08:00

I was in San Francisco on New Year's Eve. Oddly, Union Square was completely closed off and nothing was going on. I enjoyed looking at some of the store windows, though. I particularly liked this one. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Tidbits: RIP--Helen Frankenthaler (December 27, 2011)

2011-12-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

I saw today that artist Helen Frankenthaler died yesterday. I always liked her work. In the lobby of the Winters National Bank, in Dayton, Ohio, there used to be a very large weaving based on one of her paintings that I always liked very much (this would have been back in the 1970s, when I was in high school, or younger). I wonder if it's still there? I wonder if Winters National Bank still exists? Funny the way the Internet has changed the weight of such musings. There's no longer any need to wonder about much of anything, is there? If I really want to know, I can just Google it....*

Frankenthaler was known for the style that came to be called "color field painting"--using large washes of color, sometimes poured directly on bare canvas. I wonder how those paintings have held up--physically, I mean. I wonder if the paint and thinner has damaged the unprimed canvas over the years? Reminds me of one of Kurt Vonnegut's books--Bluebeard. Anyway, tonight I will raise a glass to Ms. Frankenthaler. RIP.

*And so I did. It seems Winters National Bank is now part of JPMorgan Chase. I learned a few other things. I had known that the bank was associated with the family of comedian Jonathan Winters, who was from the Dayton area. I didn't know that Winters studied cartooning at the Dayton Art Institute. Now you know, too.

Wines I'm Making: Bottled the 2011 Sangiovese Rosé (December 23, 2011)

2011-12-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Between bouts of late Christmas shopping and food shopping yesterday I found the time to bottle the 2011 Sangiovese rosé from our backyard grapes. I'm quite pleased. It's come out a nice medium-deep orange-pink and, based on some quick sampling while siphoning, it has good flavors and length. It will be a big improvement from last year's thin wine, made from grapes that just never ripened fully--even if it's not as good as the excellent (as good as any rosé I've ever tasted, if I say so myself) rosé I made in 2009. Just in time to open the first bottle tonight, on Christmas Eve, with friends and family. Now I need to design a label....

Miscellaneous: New Cocktail (December 21, 2011)

2011-12-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

Cocktails have never been my thing, really. I've always been a wine drinker, but recently I've become curious and done a little research (the seed was planted several years ago when, driving on a whim across the country, I spent two nights at the ancestral Ohio farm of a college associate. He made us martinis on the porch. Then, this summer, I met up with my first college roommate for the first time in decades, in Seattle. He introduced me to the Zig-Zag Café and the wonderful and mysterious concoctions made there).

So far, a classic Manhattan is my favorite mixed drink, although I can appreciate a classic Martini as well (sorry, Mr. Bond--stirred, not shaken--and made using a good, distinctively flavored domestic gin--about one part gin to 1/2 part dry vermouth--none of that silly I'm-so-manly-I-need-no-vermouth routine; if you want straight gin, don't call it a Martini). When I say a "classic Manhattan," I mean a Manhattan made with rye (not bourbon), red vermouth, and Angostura bitters--nothing else--garnished with a real Marasca cherry (expensive, but tasty--the cherries, that is).

There are so many cocktails, though.... It becomes fascinating (and daunting) rather quickly. I wish I weren't such a lightweight. My experimenting is, of necessity, going at a measured pace. Tonight, trying a little alchemy, though, I hit upon a combination I rather liked. Try this: I call it a "Fertile Eve" (Eve because of the Calvados and apple connection, fertile because of the Grenadine, derived from pomegranates, traditionally considered a symbol of fertility).

Fertile Eve (by Colin Talcroft)
1.5 oz Calvados
3/4 oz Red Vermouth
1/2 teaspoon Grenadine
2 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
Juice of a quarter lemon

Place ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon slice (squeeze the juice into the drink and drop the slice in the glass). You can adjust the sweetness of this drink. If it's too sweet for your taste made according to the recipe, use a little less Grenadine, a little more Calvados, and a add a little more lemon juice.

Try it. You might like it.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Albino Armani "Incontro" Soave

2011-12-15T21:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight I tasted the 2007 Albino Armani "Incontro" Soave. I'm a fan of Soave. It's among my favorite Italian wines--when it's at its best--but the quality of Soave is highly variable. Sadly, most US consumers seem to know only the least interesting types.

The traditional growing zone, near Verona, in northern Italy, gets the designation "Soave Classico." "Soave Superiore" wines are theoretically better still. Areas around the Classico zone (not necessarily of the highest quality) were allowed to use the name "Soave" starting in 1968. Then, in the late 1980s, the rules for Soave were modified to allow the grape mix to be up to 30% Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, or Trebbiano di Soave (the traditional Soave grape is Garganega). The expansion of the Soave zone and the changes in the rules seem to have caused Soave to polarize into the more common, simple, mass-produced wines usually made from overcropped Garganega delivered to local cooperatives on the one hand, and wines made in the Classico zone (or outside it) from carefully tended, low-yield Garganega vineyards, often with additions of other grapes. Anselmi, Gini, and Inama are among my favorite producers in the latter category. There are surely many more that I've not yet had the opportunity to taste. This maker, Albino Armani, was new to me. Although this is not Soave Classico or Superiore, it has presence and it's significantly more interesting than the (ridiculously) low Grocery Outlet price would suggest. This wine in fresher vintages seems to retail at around $18. Tasting notes follow.

A very pretty, medium straw color with a hint of green in it. Hawthorne flowers, wood, and apples, on the nose--or is it pears?. Good concentration on the palate--not at all in the light, throw-away style of poorly made Soave. Delicate at first but with a wave of mid-palate fruity sweetness and a mild bite after the sweetness, followed by a hint of sweetness again. The wine then lingers long on the tongue with slightly bitter, woody hints that I liked very much. A bit low in acidity (most likely a trifle tired because of storage issues--the Grocery Outlet effect) but still in decent condition. As I say, I'd like this better if it were a bit crisper, but it's still quite enjoyable and a true bargain at only $2.99 a bottle at Grocery Outlet in Santa Rosa. If you buy this, however, don't sit on it; drink it up over the holidays. A good aperitif wine. Paired well with Miyagi oysters and, after dinner, a soft goat cheese.

Rain: First Rain Since Thanksgiving (December 15, 2011)

2011-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a little rain finally--although not enough. We got about 0.3 inches. It was the firs rain since around Thanksgiving. It brings our total for the 2011-2012 rainy season to 5.05 inches, which is well below average. Average for this day in Santa Rosa is 9.7 inches.

Music I'm Listening to: The San Francisco Symphony with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leila Josefowicz

2011-12-11T23:06:00.000-08:00

I attended the Thursday, December 8 performance of the San Francisco Symphony with guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and soloist Leila Josefowicz. The program opened with Pohjola's Daughter, by Sibelius, followed by Violin Concerto, by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen himself. After intermission, soprano Christene Brewer joined the symphony in excerpts from Wagner's Götterdämmerung. I enjoyed the Sibelius and even liked the Wagner, but the main reason I wanted to attend this concert was to hear the Violin Concerto and see Salonen conduct, particularly as he was conducting a composition of his own--and what a thrilling performance it was. Salonen is dynamic on the podium, using broad gestures with both hands to communicate.

It would be difficult to try to describe something so complex as Salonen's Violin Concerto in detail, but I can start by saying how impressed I was that Josefowicz played it from memory. The more abstract music becomes and the less dependent on devices such as themes and variations and development of themes, the more difficult it must be to remember. They say muscle memory takes over, but the feat of recall involved here was nearly as impressive as Josefowicz's playing, which was impressive indeed.

The Violin Concerto opens with the soloist unaccompanied and it starts as if already in progress. The intensity is high from the get-go and the music feels relentless until the more pensive middle sections. Josefowicz played the early portions with a look of fierce determination on her face, at times seeming possessed, at other times looking somewhat more relaxed--even smiling--but there was a palpable tension even in the quietest passages. Particularly interesting was the use of a very rich percussion session that included numerous gongs and much else that was hard to see from the auditorium.

The music seemed highly original--modern without being modern in the sense of being stylistically linked to what we think of as modern music when the word "modern" brings the early 20th century to mind. Surely this music has antecedents. Some sections reminded me of Khatchaturian's violin concerto. Some sections had the portentous feel of a film score. Some sections put me in mind of Shostakovich. In the later movements, there are passages that introduce the feel of pop music. Yet, the overall impression was of music new and different.When I hear stories about Mahler conducting early performances of his own symphonies or of Beethoven premiering a new piano concerto, I wish I could have been present. What's more exciting than the thought of being in the presence of genius as it presents new ideas to the world? I had the feeling that I witnessed a bit of history on Thursday--that I was present at the sort of performance that will be talked about in the future by people looking back, wishing they'd been able to see Salonen himself at the podium conducting his own compositions. The music seemed like a cantilevered beam reaching into the future, even if it's too soon to know exactly what might lie beyond the reach of that beam--what it might be creating a bridge to. This was one of the best concerts I've attended in a long time.

Doing a little research, I see that Salonen's Violin Concerto had its premiere in April 2009, with Josefowicz as the soloist, and that it was written for her. I won't be surprised to see it enter the standard violin repertoire; it's likely to be played for many, many years to come. I was also able to confirm that Josefowicz is about four months pregnant, as she appeared to be--what it must sound like to the baby in there....

Photo of Esa-Pekka Salonen by Sonja Werner. Photo of Leila Josefowicz by Henry Fair. Photos Courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Cabernet Racked Again

2011-12-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I racked the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc off the sediment following the copper sulfate treatment I gave the wine on December 2. I had noticed a hydrogen sulfide smell, which apparently can result from a low level of yeast nutrients during fermentation, a function of the weather's effects on the grapes. It's not a problem I've had before, but it turned out to be easily cured. The treatment works virtually immediately. The copper sulfate binds other sulfur compounds and creates copper sulfide, which is insoluble in wine. It drops to the bottom of the container and is left behind by a subsequent racking. Apparently it's a common practice. I had planned to do a follow-up treatment with yeast hulls that is designed to remove more, but after consulting with my wine advisers (the people at our local wine supply store), I decided it won't be necessary.

I don't like to add anything to the wine, but tiny amounts of residual copper are much better than sulfur stink. Also, I figure that we are exposed to small amounts of copper all the time anyway--as most modern water pipe is copper. I took the opportunity also to add the oak staves that will give the wine its oak exposure through to bottling at around this time next year. The wine tastes a little light--probably a consequence of the cool summer and the late rains, this year but it's too early to know for sure. In other winemaking chores, it's about time to start designing a label for our 2011 Sangiovese rosé. I'll be bottling that ahead of Christmas. The photo above shows a 6-gallon carboy cleaned and rinsed, awaiting a wine transfer.

Found Art: Drain Cover and Green and White Paint (December 6, 2011)

2011-12-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

Walking along a street in Healdsburg recently, I came across this little composition. I love the splash of green paint on the iron drain cover, the splash of white paint on the sidewalk beside it. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine (December 3, 2011)

2011-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

I took a walk around Lake Ralphine this morning--around the lake at the water's edge and then along the ridge trail that connects the lake with Spring Lake. There were a couple of unusual birds. I saw my first Varied Thrush in about four years. There was a nice Fox Sparrow on one of the trails. There was a Horned Grebe on the water, which is very unusual at this location--the Horned Grebes usually stay out at the coast. Among the gulls (mostly Ring-billed Gulls and California Gulls) there were four Mew Gulls, which don't usually show up at Lake Ralphine. One is pictured above.

For more information about Lake Ralphine and bird watching in Sonoma County generally, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Malolactic Fermentation Finished (November 29, 2011)

2011-11-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

Today I racked and sulfited (to 55ppm) our 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. The wine was undergoing malolactic fermentation, which may or may not have gone to completion after three weeks. The only way to know for sure would be to do a paper chromatography test, which I may get around to eventually. I decided to go ahead and rack the wine despite the uncertainty because it was beginning to get a hydrogen sulfide smell, and all the books recommend getting the wine off the lees sooner rather than later if that happens (separation from the lees and aeration usually solves the problem). So, to be safe, I did. In the photo above, you can see the pink layer of dead yeast and other solid matter that had settled to the bottom of the container. Now the wine is mostly free of sediment. Tomorrow I will add oak staves, and then all that remains to be done is to wait for a couple of months until it's time to rack the wine off any new sediment that forms. Tasting the wine today, it seemed a little low in acidity, which may need some adjusting.

[Update: On December 2 I treated the wine with 5ml of 1 copper sulfate solution, as advised by the people at The Beverage People, our local winemaking supply store. Copper sulfate reacts with the sulfur compounds that create the smell I was noticing to produce copper sulfide, which is insoluble in wine. It drops to the bottom of the container where it can be left behind by another racking, which I'll take care of in the next day or two. After that, I will add yeast hulls, which absorb any residual copper--although there should be very little and the initial dose was just under the legal limit--not that that matters; I don't sell my wine, but I'm assuming the legal limit is based on safety factors. After about two weeks with the yeast hulls in, I'll rack again. The copper treatment works wonders. In about five minutes, the hydrogen sulfide smell was entirely gone.]

Food I'm Eating: The Farmhouse Inn, Santa Rosa (November 26, 2011)

2011-11-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

My son went to a friend's house today and ended up getting invited to stay the night. It seemed like a sudden opportunity for a rare night out for good food and wine with my wife. I called Terrapin Creek Café, in Bodega Bay, a restaurant I've enjoyed several times in the past, but no reservations were available--probably the result of its recent gaining of a Michelin star. I decided to try the Farmhouse Inn, another Michelin-starred restaurant in the area (technically, in Forestville), and was offered a table that someone had just cancelled. I've been to the Farmhouse Inn only once before--about eight years ago--and it was wonderful. I had high expectations. I decided to take along an old bottle of Burgundy from my cellar, a 1986 Vosne Romanée 1er Cru "Les Suchots" from Moillard.

I have to say I was disappointed. The meal generally was good. The service was good. But the food really should have been great--it should have been the sort of meal that keeps you saying "Wow!" to yourself as you eat. Isn't that what Michelin stars (and the prices that go with them) are all about? As it turned out, fairly ordinary appetizers and main courses--neither served quite as warm as I would have liked--were book-ended by what turned out to be the highlights of the meal--the amuse-gueule and the desserts. The former was a tiny cup of frothed "soup" made from jerusalem artichokes that had a wonderful earthiness enhanced by smoky bacon flavors. It was served with mushroom paste-garnished crostini. The desserts were wonderful, particularly a pumpkin cheesecake that somehow managed to taste like cheesecake and a good pumpkin pie at the same time. The coffee was excellent.

The wine, although 25 years old, was fresh and delicious--classic Burgundy. Wonderfully fragrant, it suggested violets, cumin, and celery seed, and it was nicely balanced on the palate between fruity sweetness and smooth, mature tannins. I will say that the wine server did an admirable job decanting the wine, which must have been challenging because the drive to the restaurant stirred up a deposit in the bottom of the bottle that had formed over decades. I bought the wine in Tokyo, probably around 1990.

We had the Grilled Mediterranean Octopus and House-smoked Duck Breast Salad for appetizers, the Roasted Breast of Guinea Hen and Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit for main dishes. The Octopus was tender and nicely seasoned, and I enjoyed the accents provided by tiny chunks of chorizo and the olive tapenade spread under the meat, but the duck salad was very disappointing. The duck slices were tiny and not very flavorful. The salad was mostly a pile of the same sort of greens I can pick any day from my own garden (frisée, arugula, and mizuna). The greens were fresh and in no way bad--but as a whole, the salad struck me as uninspired and uninspiring and somewhat skimpy (and I stress that I'm not a big eater).

The rabbit is called Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit because it's a trio of rabbit dishes in one--rabbit loin wrapped in bacon; a roasted, Frenched rib rack (looking like a miniature rack of lamb); and rabbit leg confit in a mustard sauce. The loin seemed the most successful of the three--the meat was tender and infused with bacon flavors--but the tiny ribs, although fun, were not very flavorful. The leg confit was mostly interesting for the whole-grain mustard sauce that was on it. The meat, however, seemed lacking in character. It had a washed-out flavor that reminded me of the disappointment of oysters shucked and washed so carefully that all the scent and flavor of the ocean is gone from them. The meat tasted somehow sanitized (although I don't mean to suggest anything unwholesome). The food was simply not as good as it seems it should have been given the prices and the reputation of The Farmhouse Inn. Game should be gamey. This was not. I felt much the same way about the guinea hen. Good enough, but not exciting.

Finally, I have to say that $35 for corkage is well over the line between reasonable and excessive.

Rain: 1.15 inches around Thanksgiving (November 24, 2011)

2011-11-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

Overnight on the 23rd and into Thanksgiving Day we got another 1.15 inches of rain. That brings our 2011-2012 total to 4.75 inches. As 6.08 inches is normal for this day of the year (November 25), we're somewhat behind, and no rain is in the forecast for the next few days.

Wines I'm Making: Sangiovese Rosé Finished Fermenting (November 20, 2011)

2011-11-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

Tiny bubbles continue to rise from the fermenting Sangiovese rosé, but a quick hydrometer test showed the specific gravity at 0.992, which indicates the fermentation is over (after a very long 26 days). I racked the wine off the lees today and sulfited it very lightly, using two Campden tablets in the three-gallon carboy, which should put it at about 43ppm. Now all that's left to do is wait a little longer for the wine to completely clear. I'll keep it in the garage now, where it's cool. In the past, a fine layer of tartaric acid crystals has always formed over whatever yeast was left at the bottom of the container, which makes the final racking a breeze (with all the remaining loose matter encapsulated under the crystals). It'll be ready to check again in a couple of weeks. So far, so good. Time to start thinking about a new label design.

Rain: 0.15 inches Overnight (November 18-19, 2011)

2011-11-19T18:01:00.000-08:00

We had a little rain overnight last night (0.15 inches). Today, the 19th was cold but clear--although by early evening it was raining again. Last night's rain brings our 2011-2012 total to 3.1 inches, a little behind normal rainfall for this time of year, but we'll see where we are tomorrow.

[Update: We got another half inch last night (the night of the 19th). That brings the total to 3.6 inches. Average rainfall in Santa Rosa for November 20 is more than five inches, so we are well below normal at the moment.]

Wines I'm Drinking: Pedroncelli 2010 Dry Creek Valley Dry Rosé of Zinfandel

2011-11-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

Rosé of Zinfandel? If those words bring "White Zinfandel" to mind and make you cringe, you're probably not alone, but that's an unfortunate effect of the huge commercial success in the 1980s--mostly among unsophisticated wine drinkers--of White Zinfandel, a wine that was usually blandly flavored and cloyingly sweet, and thus a travesty of Zinfandel. From a marketing perspective, it was a stroke of genius, however: it provided an outlet for large quantities of (red) Zinfandel grapes in the US, where demand at the time was mostly for white wines. But relax: White Zinfandel has largely disappeared from the shelves, and few seem to lament its demise.

Setting aside the White Zinfandel association, why not rosé of Zinfandel? Any good red grape ought to make a good dry rosé, and I've often wondered why we don't see more dry rosé wines from Zinfandel or from Cabernet or many other grapes. I suppose, the answer is purely one of economics. No commercial winery will make such wines if they believe they won't sell, and few Americans appreciate rosé. No winery will use grapes to make rosé if they know a fully red wine from the same grapes will sell better and at a higher price. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see this wine. I decided to try it because the label emphatically calls it a "Dry Rosé of Zinfandel." A dry Zinfandel rosé is a fairly rare beast.Tasting notes follow.

A pretty pink--somewhere between coral and watermelon with something of the scent of strawberries and suggestions of honey or honeysuckle on the nose. Unfortunately, this is not bone dry. To my palate, it's sweet (although it's not White Zinfandel). The sweetness is moderate and offset by decent acidity, and there's even a hint of tannic bite. The fruit flavors suggest very ripe strawberries rather than the dark, brambly flavors I usually associate with Zinfandel. Moderate length on the palate.

I suspect I'd have liked this if it had been truly dry. It's got just enough sweetness that it tires the palate quickly, however, and I find it hard to think what food it might go with--spicy foods or garlic-laden foods, perhaps? Probably best on its own as a sipping wine. This may appeal to some, but I'd call it fruity, uncomplicated, and easy to drink, but with no attributes to give it any special interest, and I won't be buying it again. $9.49 at Oliver's Market, in Santa Rosa.

Wines I'm Making: Sangiovese Rosé Still Fermenting--Day 19 (November 13, 2011)

2011-11-13T12:18:00.001-08:00

We picked our Sangiovese grapes on October 24, 2011 and I pressed them the following day. The juice has been fermenting--very slowly--since the 25th. Today is day 19 and tiny bubbles are still rising in the carboy. The main activity is finished, though. CO2 is no longer keeping the spent yeast and other solids suspended, so the wine has mostly cleared and the true color is becoming apparent. I transferred the new wine to a smaller (3 gal.) container on the 11th to minimize air contact. In the next day or two it'll be time to rack it off the remaining lees and lightly sulfite it. Normally there's time for two rackings to completely clear the wine before Thanksgiving, but this year we picked so late that we'll probably have to wait until around Christmas for new rosé.

Birds I'm Watching: Spring Lake (November 12, 2011)

2011-11-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

I've been very busy with work the past few days and have had little time to write anything. Sitting at a computer all day gets tedious rather quickly--but work is work.

Yesterday, feeling the need for a break and some exercise, I took a brisk walk around Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, which is just down the road from me. I didn't see anything unusual, but got to watch this very pretty Townsend's Warbler picking insects out of the willows along the shore. Below is an inquisitive Ruby-crowned Kinglet that was with the warbler, along with Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Bushtits.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Bottled/2011 Cabernet Pressed

2011-11-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (November 7) I put capsules and labels on the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc wine I bottled yesterday. The day before, I pressed the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc and transferred it to glass carboys. Yesterday, Monday, I inoculated the new wine with malolactic bacteria to start the malolactic fermentation. Malolactic fermentation converts malic to lactic acid, a routine procedure in making red wines. Malolactic fermentation is a bacterial fermentation that requires a little more warmth than the yeast-based primary fermentation. So, the carboys are wrapped in blankets in the living room with a small electric blanket between them to keep the temperature up. Malolactic fermentation is somewhat mysterious. It can take anywhere from three weeks to two months and it doesn't always show outward signs. The only way to really know what's going on is to do a paper chromatography test that shows the levels of tartaric, malic, and lactic acid in the wine. Sometimes tiny bubbles form at the top of the wine, indicating that some sort of activity is going on, but not always. I tend to take it on faith that the process is under way, but I'll be looking for signs the next couple of days.

The Sangiovese rosé fermentation is just about finished. I'll need to rack that wine off the gross lees soon--probably tomorrow. The wine is beginning to clear. Less carbon dioxide production means the suspended material is beginning to fall out of the wine. I think we'll end up with a very pretty pink. The harvest was so late this year, though, that I don't think the wine will be ready by Thanksgiving, as it usually is. We'll have some for Christmas though.

The 2010 Cabernet is finished now. I put the back labels on today. I'm pleased with the labels I designed for both the front and rear of the bottle. I decided red capsules would look best with the deep red of the front label. The capsules are on. The wine is ready to drink. The samples I tried while bottling and with dinner after bottling was done suggest the wine is good despite the cool summer last year. It seems a little soft compared with other years, which suggests it may not age as well as other vintages, but only time will tell.

Books I'm Reading: The Bird (November 7, 2011)

2011-11-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've just finished Colin Tudge's The Bird (Crown, 2008). The full title gives a little of the book's flavor--The Bird: A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came from, and How They Live. I imagine Mr. Tudge is an interesting man to talk with--about virtually any subject. Evidence of deep curiosity and subtle thinking is on every page of the book. I have no doubt that millions of people ask themselves from time to time things like "How do birds fly?" or "Are birds really dinosaurs?" or "Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?" Mr. Tudge has considered questions such as these, and many, many more, and he offers answers.

Having not long ago read this author's book The Tree (Crown, 2006)), I had an idea of what to expect. The books are organized in the same way. Following a discussion of how birds are believed to have evolved (and, yes, birds do appear to be the descendants of a particular group of dinosaurs), Tudge lays out the entire world of birds as they survive today. Much of the book is a catalog of all the birds in the world, family by family, with discussions of where the birds in each family live, how they relate to each other within groups, and how the various families interrelate. While some families are very small--the peculiar remnants of once much larger groups, many are very broad and astonishingly diverse, with members finding their way into nearly all the ecological niches available. It's impressive to see how frequently animals (in this case birds) have evolved independently along similar lines.

Tudge points out many examples of convergent evolution--for example, the case of swifts and swallows, which are not at all closely related. Swallows are passerines, or perching birds, with feet adapted to automatically cling to what they alight on--a twig or a wire fence--with a long back toe and a locking mechanism that allows them to hold on without using their muscles (one reason passerines don't fall out of trees at night when they roost). The swifts (family Apodidae) can barely perch at all (the root of the family name means "footless"). They roost by clinging to rocks, trees or buildings, and one or two species of swift spend almost their entire lives in the air. Yet, swifts and swallows have the same sickle-shaped wings, similar forked tails for maneuverability, and their feeding strategies are virtually the same--they hunt for insects at high speed on the wing.

The latter part of the book is more expansive, covering topics such as: how birds eat (and there are many strategies and adaptations for each strategy); the endlessly fascinating phenomenon of migration, with much attention to what makes arduous and dangerous journeys worth the effort; the sex lives of birds; the social relationships of birds; and the intelligence and modes of thinking of birds. On this last subject, the feats of memory of the Clark's Nutcracker and the Western Scrub-jay (both birds that cache food in the autumn for winter use) are particularly impressive--Clark's Nutcracker can hide and remember the hiding places of thousands of seeds each season. The final, somewhat melancholy chapter touches on the relationship between birds and humans and what the future is likely to hold for the birds of the world. There is much to lament. Many species are in rapid decline. He emphasizes that much more and better science is needed and that awareness built on good science will be essential to helping birds survive. Tudge ends on an only somewhat hopeful note in an epilogue called "A Matter of Attitude," pointing out that attitudes about birds (and about animals and conservation in general), have long been dismally unappreciative. However, he believes that approaches are beginning to change, at least in some quarters, with scientists and others seeing birds as more intelligent, more socially complex, more thoughtful creatures than in the past. Let us hope Mr. Tudge is right, for birds are fabulously diverse and beautiful. We have lost too many already.

Found Art: Glass and Shadow (November 7, 2011)

2011-11-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I went wine tasting in Napa with a guest from Japan. At Opus One there is a covered balcony that overlooks the vineyards. The shadows of the lattice overhead and my empty glass looked like art to me. Found Art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Rain: 0.6 Inches Overnight (November 5, 2011)

2011-11-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

We had 0.6 inches of rain overnight. It was supposed to rain today (November 6) as well, but it's bright, clear, and sunny. Today I will be pressing wine and also bottling last year's wine. I was afraid I was going to have to do it in the rain. The new precipitation brings our total for the 2011-2012 season to 2.9 inches. That's slightly below the average for November 6 (3.23 inches). Average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa is 31.91 inches.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Fermentation (November 5, 2011)

2011-11-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Cabernet is mostly done fermenting. The cap is no longer rising, my punch-down tool has started sinking into the liquid (rather than riding on the cap), and the liquid tastes like wine--there is no longer any trace of sweetness. Just to be sure, I tested the wine using my hydrometer and got a specific gravity reading of 0.996, which indicates fermentation is mostly finished. I will probably press the wine tomorrow, although I had planned to bottle the 2010 Cabernet tomorrow. We'll see if there's time to do both.

I crushed the Cabernet grapes on October 24 and inoculated them with yeast on October 28, so the fermentation took only eight days, although the wine has been on the skins for 12 days now. Eight days is faster than some fermentations I've done, and usually at warmer temperatures (because earlier in the year). I'm not sure why this cooler fermentation was shorter, but every fermentation is different.

The Sangiovese rosé continues to bubble gently. Fermentation appears to be continuing. The intense red of the liquid just after pressing has softened considerably. The wine is now a nice medium pink, but it's hard to know exactly what color the wine will be until the CO2 gas stops rising and the suspended matter begins to fall out of the wine. So far, the rosé has been fermenting for 12 days.

Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine, Santa Rosa (October 31, 2011)

2011-10-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

I took a quick walk around Lake Ralphine today, in Santa Rosa's Howarth Park. The winter ducks haven't arrived yet, although there were about 100 Coots on the water. I watched a Belted Kingfisher dive for fish and got to see a pretty Townsend's Warbler, but the highlight was this handsome Great Blue Heron fixated enough on his fishing to let me get rather close.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Wines

2011-10-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Our Sangiovese rosé is now in its fifth day of fermentation. The container is fizzing lightly and a great deal of the deep color present initially has already disappeared to leave behind a pretty pink. The color of the finished wine won't be apparent for another week or two, but so far it looks good. The fermentation is proceeding slowly (by design). I expect it to last another seven or eight days at least.

The Cabernet Sauvignon/Franc is also undergoing fermentation, soon to enter its third day. I added the yeast on the morning of Friday, the 28th. I'm punching down the cap of skins that rises on the surface four times a day, as I usually do. The liquid is a deep, inky purple. As I did a four-day soak before adding yeast, the skins have been giving up color for nearly a week. Fermentation will probably last another eight days or so. The 2011 wines are moving along nicely.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Sangiovese Pressed and Inoculated

2011-10-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at around noon I pressed the Sangiovese grapes we picked and crushed the day before. The grapes were crushed at around 5:00PM, which means the juice was on the skins for about 19 hours. That yielded rather more color than the same amount of time has in the past, probably because the berries this year were much further along toward full ripeness than they ever have been. I hope the wine doesn't come out too deeply colored--but it's early. Some of the pigment in the liquid will fall out during fermentation.

I inoculated the must shortly after pressing, using the Epernay II yeast. This morning the yeast was not very active, probably because it was cold in the garage overnight, but moving the container into the darkroom and then later in the day into the living room, the usual foam is beginning to develop on the surface of the liquid and the airlock has begun to bubble. The trick will be to keep the fermentation going without letting it become too vigorous. A fermentation of about 10-12 days should be about right. Last year it took 14 days. In the first couple of years I made rosé, I didn't understand that a fast fermentation can allow a lot of good flavor and aroma components to escape, and I let things move too quickly. At the extreme short end, one fermentation went to completion in about four days--which is too fast. So far, everything is going smoothly this year. The Cabernet is pressed and in its second day soaking. I like to give the Cabernet a pre-soak of about four days before inoculating, as that seems to result in better color and more flavor extraction.

At left is a photo of our 2010 Sangiovese Rosé--I finally got around to designing a label and getting it on the wine, although there are now only 11 eleven bottles of it left. It was a very light, pale wine (the deep red-orange carpet behind the bottles in the photograph make it look much deeper in color than it actually is). It's pleasant but doesn't have the depth of the 2009, which is the best I've made so far. I have one bottle of the 2009 left. It needs to be consumed, but I hate to see the last of it disappear....

Wines I'm Making: Harvest 2011

2011-10-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

I decided today was the day to pick our grapes. The somewhat warmer weather of the past few days seemed to be doing little to raise sugar levels and I was beginning to see signs of mildew in a few clusters, so there seemed little reason to wait further. It was a small harvest--having lost a great deal to animals this year. We picked 20kg of Sangiovese, or 44lbs and 43kg of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, or 94.6lbs. This is the latest we've ever picked. I waited in the hopes of getting the sugars up, but it just wasn't warm enough. The unfortunate timing of the rain we had in October complicated things. Some berries swelled with water and split, allowing mold to begin to form. All in all, the grapes look pretty healthy, but mold can take hold very quickly if left unchecked, so better to get the fruit in.

After crushing and de-stemming the grapes, we ended up with 4.75 gallons of Sangiovese must, which I sulfited lightly with three Campden tablets to add about 41ppm of sulfite. The must tested at 20.7 Brix by refractometer and a specific gravity of 1.084 by hydrometer. The pH tested at 3.35. pH squared times Brix equals 232--not at all bad for making a rosé. I took the measurements at 63 degrees F, so I didn't bother to adjust the hydrometer reading for temperature (according to my books, hydrometers are usually calibrated at 59 degrees F, or 15 degrees C).

We got about 10.5 gallons of Cabernet must, which I sulfited lightly with seven Campden tablets (about 43ppm). The must tested at 22.6 Brix by refractometer--somewhat lower than I was hoping for, but respectable, and at a specific gravity of 1.094 by hydrometer. The pH was 3.42. pH squared times Brix yielded 263, which is right about where it ought to be.

I will press the Sangiovese already late tomorrow morning, after about 18 hours on the skins, which has seemed about right in the past. I will then inoculate the pressed juice with yeast and set it aside in a chilly place (either in the garage or outside) for a cool, slow fermentation. The Cabernet will get a soak for a day or two or three before inoculation. And so our 2011 wines start their journey.

Found Art: Battered Trash Can, Sebastopol, October 23, 2011

2011-10-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Even a battered trash can be beautiful. I saw this black plastic trash can at Analy High School, in Sebastopol. Painted white, an interesting pattern has been etched away through use. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Miscellaneous: Colonel Gaddafi Never Gave Himself a Promotion

2011-10-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Gaddafi is dead. His 42-year rule of Libya has come to a definitive close. Following his death, we've heard a great deal about his quirky personality and his flamboyant sense of style (his clothing choices were nothing if not original) in addition to much about the atrocities of his dictatorship, but one thing has always struck me as most peculiar about the man: He never thought to promote himself, despite his megalomaniacal tendencies. He started his rule as Colonel Gadaffi, he ended it, dead, as Colonel Gadaffi. He may have thought about giving himself higher rank, but he never chose to. Napolean made himself Emperor. Gadaffi could have declared himself King after deposing King Idris of Libya in a coup, in 1969. He may have had a distaste for royalty, but he never even gave himself a higher military rank. He could have been General Gaddafi. He could have been 4-star general Gadaffi. He could have had as many stars on his epaulets as he saw fit to put there. His decision to remain Colonel Gadaffi seems an odd bit of restraint from a man that had little to restrain him.

Photo of Colonel Gadaffi by Jesse B. Awalt, from the Wikipedia page on Gaddafi, is in the public domain

Wines I'm Drinking: 2000 Caparone Winery Paso Robles Nebbiolo

2011-10-16T19:59:00.001-07:00

Tonight I opened my last bottle of the 2000 Caparone Winery Paso Robles Nebbiolo, a wine I used to buy regularly for $9.99, at Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's stopped carrying the Caparone wines about four years ago and I haven't purchased any since, but I see that you can order them directly from the winery.

The wine looks like a fine Darjeeling in my glass beside me as I write--pale, pretty, and deeply tinged with brandy-like hues. The wine, in short, is showing its age, but it remains vibrant on the palate. It still has everything I always liked it for--although it has softened and taken on a tasty liquorous quality, it remains nicely balanced with a core of fruity sweetness, delicate acidity, and fine tannins also reminiscent of a very good tea. This wine was always a remarkable bargain at $9.99. I see that all the Caparone wines are now $14 at the winery. That's more expensive than they used to be, but still extremely reasonable for wines this solid. I liked the Caparone Nebbiolo enough to visit the winery once, years ago. It was a simple metal shed-like building surrounded by gravel and a driveway. Nothing pretentious. The emphasis was on the wine, not on a needlessly fancy tasting room. I like wineries that don't ask me to pay for their excesses. I liked Caparone the moment I saw the place.

Recommended. If you buy any of the Caparone Nebbiolo from more recent vintages, don't be afraid to let it age.

Wines I'm Making: Waiting to Harvest 2011 Grapes

2011-10-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

I did a proper test of a representative sample of grapes in our small backyard vineyard today. It seems we still need to wait. I'm nervous only because I'm afraid whatever has been stealing grapes will steal too many before I get a chance to pick. Yesterday I checked the nets carefully again and closed a few small holes. I don't know if they were new holes or holes I'd missed before.

The Cabernet grapes tested at 22 brix and a pH of 3.13. The Sangiovese, from which we will make a rosé, as usual, tested at 20 brix and a pH of 3.10. One school of thought says grapes for red wine should be picked when the square of the pH times the brix reading is around 260 and that whites grapes (or red grapes for rosé) are optimally ready when that formula yields 200. Using this method, the Cabernet grapes are at 215.5, the Sangiovese at 192. If the grapes were at the targets I usually use (the Cabernet at 24.5 brix, the Sangiovese at 22 brix), the Cabernet would be about right if by that time the pH had risen a little--say, to around 3.3. The Sangiovese grapes are closer. In any case, I think waiting is the right decision for both. So far, there is no sign of mold or other damage to the grapes, although I did notice a yellow jacket in a grape with a broken skin. Vigilance is in order. What we really need is a few days of temperatures in the upper 80s (which may be wishful thinking--the 10-day outlook is for cloudy skies and temperatures mostly in the mid-70s). The past four days of dry warmth have done little to raise sugar levels. The waiting game continues.

Places I'm Visiting: Napa and Sonoma Winery Visits (October 2011)

2011-10-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I accompanied a visitor from Japan on visits to a number of wineries in Napa County (on Saturday) and in Sonoma County (on Sunday). I rarely visit the Napa wineries on my own because the tasting rooms are generally expensive tourist traps, but it's interesting to see what's going on from time to time (the Sonoma-side tasting rooms tend to be smaller, more personal, and friendlier--not to mention much cheaper, often free). In Napa, we visited Rubicon Estate in the morning (the historical Inglenook winery, until recently the Niebaum-Coppola winery; not long ago the high-end Rubicon Estate wines were brought together at the Inglenook property, while the mass-produced Coppola wines were transferred to a new location in Geyserville). We moved on to Opus One (pictured above), where we tasted the 2006 and 2008 wines before an excellent lunch at Domaine Chandon, in Yountville, that began with raw oysters with a yuzu, cucumber, and fennel garnish. I generally like raw oysters with nothing more than freshly-squeezed lemon, but yuzu, cucumber, and fennel was tasty and subtle enough that it didn't detract from the delicate flavors of the oysters. I had a duck confit main dish with a fig-based sauce that was delicious, washed down with a glass of the Étoile Brut. After lunch we stopped at Étude, in the Carneros region, which is one of my favorite Carneros producers of Pinot Noir. We tasted Pinot Noir but also a delicious Pinot Blanc in the very friendly tasting room.

On Sunday, we began the day at Wellington, where we tasted the entire range of available wines, which included some interesting port-style dessert wines. A newly released 2009 Chardonnay was a standout along with the current vintage of the Morhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon. I like this winery for its high-quality wines, reasonable prices, and unpretentious tasting room staffed by genuinely friendly people. The 1920s Carignane vines in front of the tasting room were heavy with fruit and beginning to show autumn color in the leaves. We tasted next at Enkidu before having lunch at Café Citti. After lunch we tasted at Chateau St. Jean. On the way back to the airport, we detoured to do some quick shopping at Dean and Deluca (a small part of the cheese selection is shown below) and then stopped briefly at Gloria Ferrer just to take in the view (bottom photo). The deck was packed with visitors taking in the same view along with some sparkling wine. It's always a pleasure to show visitors our beautiful wine country.

Wines I'm Making: Still Waiting to Harvest 2011 Grapes

2011-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

It's sunny and warm today. It was sunny yesterday. If this weather holds, we may make some decent wine after all. In 2010, we harvested grapes on the 12th (Cabernet) and the 16th (Sangiovese) of October at rather low sugar levels (only 17 brix in the case of the Sangiovese, at a better 23.5 brix in the case of the Cabernet; ideally, I like to pick the former at about 22, the latter at about 24.5). The rosé in 2010 was light and without the rich flavors that made the 2009 so good. Happily, sugar levels are already higher than they were last year (the Sangiovese is at about 20 brix, the ripest Cabernet berries today tested as high as 24 brix). Now that I seem to have foiled the critters for the time being, I'm content to wait and let the grapes fully ripen. If it rains and turns cold again this weekend, I may have to think again, but early next week may be the right time to harvest anyway.

Birds I'm Watching: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Shollenberger Park, Petaluma, (October 12, 2011)

2011-10-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

A Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has been out at Shollenberger Park for the last few days--a rare bird for Sonoma County. I finally got out there when the tides were right to find it. I not only saw the bird today but also got some good photographs of it. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) is an Old-World species closely related to our Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanatos). It breeds in the Russian Far East and winters in Australasia. It's considered a fairly common fall migrant in Western Alaska and a rare fall migrant all along the Pacific Coast. It's only once in a long while that one shows up in northern California. These coastal strays are almost always juvenile birds, like the one pictured above. This bird was first reported on October 4. It's stayed more than a week now. Another new bird for my life list, and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper brings my Sonoma County list to 210 species.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Found Art: Smeared Paint (October 11, 2011)

2011-10-11T09:27:00.001-07:00

I photograph all kinds of things that interest me visually. Occasionally, I forget where. I'm not sure where I saw this paint-smeared surface, but I was attracted to its unintended rhythms and its subtle colors. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Rain: Unexpected Rain Adds 0.6 inches to Our Total

2011-10-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

I hadn't been expecting rain again today, but it was raining when I got up and it's been drizzling on and off all day. Not good for the grapes, but it's supposed to be warm and sunny for the rest of the week. We'll see. An additional 0.6 inches fell, bringing our 2011-2102 rainy season total now to 2.3 inches, which is well ahead of the historical average for October 10 in Santa Rosa, which is 0.69 inches. So, we're off to a wet start.

Music I'm Listening to: Joshua Bell with Vasily Petrenko Conducting the San Francisco Symphony (October 6, 2011)

2011-10-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended a concert featuring Joshua Bell with Vasily Petrenko conducting the San Francisco Symphony. The concert opened with Shostakovich's Festival Overture. According to the program, that was to be followed by Tchaikovsky's Méditation from Souvenir d'un lieu cher, and then Glazunov's Violin Concerto in A minor, both featuring Joshua Bell on violin, but the order of these two pieces was reversed--which was a good thing given that the short, romantic Méditation probably would have sounded anti-climactic following the Glazunov. After intermission, the Symphony performed Elgar's Symphony No. 1.

Vasily Petrenko was new to me, but I very much enjoyed his readings of the Shostakovich and the Glazunov pieces. Tall, thin, and with very long, expressive arms and hands, Petrenko looked sometimes like a large ocean-going bird gesturing with wings. At other times, during slow or delicate passages, his indications became something quite the opposite--minimalist (a slight nod of the head, a subtle gesture with one finger, or simply a look), but the performers seemed highly engaged and in top form throughout the concert. Petrenko--young, confident (almost cocky) was a pleasure to watch. According to the program notes, Petrenko has studied with Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanoff, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, among others. He will become the Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra starting in the 2013-2014 season, but is currently Principal Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orcehstra.

Shostakovich's Festival Overture is not one of my favorite pieces by that composer, but it's familiar and fun and rousing. It's not a bad way to open a concert, as it gets both the audience and the performers warmed up. Actually, it was a lot of fun to hear, even if it's not very challenging music to listen to (I'm not sure how the orchestra feels about playing it). The Tchaikovsky piece was not exactly my style either, but it was a lovely selection to show off the sound of Joshua Bell's violin, which is the 1713 Stradivarius known as "The Gibson."* This is the second time I've heard Bell play in person. It's almost enough just to listen to the tone of his instrument.... Also in the Glazunov, much of the pleasure was hearing the violin with the clarity of a live performance. I'm used to this concerto in the form of two rather old LPs in my collection, a Nathan Milstein record on Capitol, with William Steinberg conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Captiol SP8382) and an RCA Gold Seal Heifetz recording (RCA Gold Seal AGL1-4929). The latter is rather worn and fuzzy. Petrenko seemed particularly good at accentuating the various accents in the orchestral part, especially toward the end of the final movement. His reading gave the whole thing a very attractive sparkle. I recently happened to hear what seemed to me a rather idiosyncratic but highly persuasive performance of this concerto on the radio, with Gil Shaham playing the violin (it appears to be a Deutsche Grammophon recording with Mikhail Pletnev conducting the Russian National Orchestra). I suppose it's time to acquire this concerto on CD. The Gil Shaham interpretation may be a good choice. Bell was given a warm standing ovation for both of his performances, but he wasn't sufficiently moved to play an encore.

After intermission, the Sympony played the Elgar piece, which I can't say I enjoyed a great deal. Petrenko succeeded in eliciting a crisp, energetic performance, but the music itself is rather repetitive and much longer than I'd say it needs to be to explore the ideas it presents. Simply put, it was dull and taxing. This is not Elgar at his best. I can't understand why the piece was chosen for a program of music that was otherwise Russian. Something Russian (and shorter) would have been more appropriate. Several people near me fell asleep. The audience was palpably restless by the end of the performance. That said, I very much enjoyed the evening just to hear Joshua Bell play the Glazunov concerto.

*For more about the violin, see my thoughts on one of Joshua Bell's 2010 performances with the San Francisco Symphony here.

[Update: I happened upon an online review of this concert today (November 26, 2011) by Jeff Dunn in "San Francisco Classical Voice." Dunn suggests the Elgar sounded so ponderous because of Petrenko's too-rigid tempos. While the work is undoubtedly rather long, it may have been unsuccessful in this case more because of the conducting than because of any fault in the music itself. I'll have to listen to this piece again....]

Photo of Vasily Petrenko by Mark McNulty, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony.

Tidbits: RIP--Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was surprised and saddened to hear this afternoon that Steve Jobs has died. We all knew he wasn't well, but I hadn't believed him so close to death. I still vividly remember the first time I saw a Macintosh in action. My best friend at the time worked for a company that used Apple computers in its publications department. In my own work, I had been stuck using computers running DOS (this would have been around 1987). I remember the thrill of watching my friend select a group of icons on the screen with a flourish of his mouse. No text commands with meaningless abstract elements like " *.*" were required. That was all I needed to see. Although it was another three years before I bought my own Apple computer, I was hooked. Since then I have purchased 12 Apple computers, including gifts--not to mention my iPhone. Thank you, Mr. Jobs, for all you did. You will be missed. RIP

Rain: 0.65 Inches (October 3, 2011)

2011-10-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Real rain today. We got 0.65 inches, which is good for the garden but bad for people growing grapes, like me. It's supposed to be cool and dry tomorrow but another storm is forecast for Wednesday the 5th and that's to be followed by cool temperatures. The grapes will not ripen much in such cool weather. Raccoons have been stealing grapes again--having made a big new hole in the nets. If any grapes survive, they'll need another week or two to ripen..... Very frustrating.

[Update: Overnight, another 0.25 inches fell and we had about that much a couple of weeks back, so I'd say the total for the current season so far is about 0.70 inches.]

[Update: On the night of the 4th, we got another 0.85 inches of rain, bringing the total so far for the 2011-2012 rainy season to 1.55 inches. Average annual rainfall for Santa Rosa, California is 31.91 inches. On the 5th we got an additional 0.15 inches, bringing the total to 1.70 inches so far this season.]

Places I'm Visiting: Chico, California--National Yo-Yo Championships

2011-10-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

I spent the day yesterday in Chico, California, which is the home of the National Yo-Yo Museum (a modest affair in the back of a toy store, but interesting nonetheless) and since 1993 has been the site of the National Yo-Yo Championships. My son, an avid yo-yo fan, wanted to go. All the sport's celebrities were there. He collected many autographs, learned new tricks, and got to hang out with about 200 kids that spoke the language. He was in yo-yo heaven. I hadn't been looking forward to the long (about three hours) drive to Chico and back. I brought a book with me and even my camera and binoculars, thinking I might slip away and do some bird watching if things got tedious, but I ended up watching all the qualifying rounds and the finals.

The yo-yo has come a long way since I was fooling with them in the mid-1970s--about the time when plastic Duncan butterfly-style yo-yos were something new (butterfly designs have the traditional rounded halves mounted backwards to create a large, flared opening for the string rather than a thin slot). Today, that butterfly shape is the norm, yo-yos are mostly made of metal rather than wood or plastic (sometimes very fancy metals, but usually aluminum), and they have sophisticated bearings around the axle; they are mostly designed not to return to the hand, but rather to spin free as long as possible, allowing a variety of tricks--sometimes quite spectacular tricks.

About 50 contestants, winners and strong placers at regional championships, competed in five classes. The most popular 1A class is also called "freestyle," where anything goes (this is what most of us think of when fancy yo-yo work comes to mind). The 2A class involves looping tricks with two yo-yos. The 3A class uses two yo-yos at the same time to do freestyle tricks. The 4A class is called "off-string," because the yo-yo is free to leave the string. The 5A class uses yo-yos with a counterweight on the end of the string that's usually tied to the players finger. The counterweight allows a unique range of tricks and effects.

I'm no expert, but it's easy to appreciate the skill of the best performers, to see their individual quirks on the one hand, and stylistic trends on the other that suggest schools within the official classes. Some performers seemed to excel at speed and daring, willing to risk misses in the hope of landing something spectacular, like getting the yo-yo to land back on its string after shooting it up into the air and doing a backwards somersault on the ground. Others focused on precision--doing rapid series of string tricks mostly standing in one spot. The off-string yo-yoers give the impression of jugglers. The work of the counterweight yo-yoers is slower and more liquid and sometimes seemingly animated; as momentum is transferred back and forth between the yo-yo and the counterweight, the string can appear to be moving on its own. The performers using two yo-yos simultaneously, one in each hand, put me in mind of wild west gunslingers twirling their guns. All in all, there was a lot to watch. Pictured here is a proud Harold Owens III, of Indiana, the 2011 1A Champion. In the first shot above, Tyler Goldenburg, of Phoenix, Arizona competes in the finals. The yo-yos are some of the historical examples preserved at The Yo-Yo Museum.

Found Art: Sidewalk Animals (September 29, 2011)

2011-09-29T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of more chalk sidewalk animals from an early morning walk to school. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Birds I'm Watching: Shollenberger Park, Petaluma, (September 26, 2011)

2011-09-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

I went out to Shollenberger Park this morning to look for a rare sparrow that had been spotted there--a Clay-colored Sparrow--and found it fairly quickly, with the help of another bird watcher who had come for the same reason. Clay-colored Sparrow is a rare bird around here. It usually spends its summers well north of us in the middle of the North American continent, migrating to Mexico for the winter, passing through the mid-section of the country. Occasionally migrating birds get lost....

In addition to the sparrow, there were many Northern Shovelers, Black-necked Stilts (below), White Pelicans, Dowitchers, and other water-loving birds. There was a particularly pretty Lesser Scaup and four Wilson's Phalaropes--another fairly uncommon bird around here. The Clay-colored Sparrow was life bird number 339 for me and Sonoma County bird number 206.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Rain: First Rain of the 2011-2012 Season Today

2011-09-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Rain was predicted overnight and for this morning. I was skeptical (although the first day of rain last year was about a week earlier), but it did rain last night and it's raining now. This is the first rain of the 2011-2102 rainy season, which officially began on July 1. Last year we had around 41 inches--10 inches more than in an average year. I wonder how much we'll get this year?

Wines I'm Drinking: Sicilian Wine Tasting at Traverso's in Santa Rosa (September 24, 2011)

2011-09-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

Traverso's in Santa Rosa--one of the North Bay's best places to shop for Italian and other wines--hosts wine tastings in the store on most Saturdays. Today the tasting featured two white wines and three reds (one of which was a dessert wine) from Sicily. I especially enjoyed the 2010 Donnafugato "Anthilia" Sicilia Bianco, a blend of 51% Catarratto with other indigenous grapes, mostly Grillo. It smelled of hazelnuts and tasted of citrus fruits. It had a remarkably fresh balance of crisp acidity and fruity sweetness. Something on the rather long finish reminded me of intensely ripe white nectarines--sour and sweet at the same time. I liked this wine enough to take home a bottle and to go by three grocery stores on the way home to pick up foods that I thought would complement it--raw oysters, prosciutto and pears, mushrooms, truffle-stuffed brie....

I also tasted the 2009 Tasca D'Almerita "Leone" Sicilia Bianco, a white again made mostly of Catarratto, but with 20% Chardonnay--another tasty wine, but without the zip and zing of the Donnafugato wine. The dry reds, also from Donnafugato, were a mainly Nero d'Avola wine with some Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, and other grapes (the 2009 "Sedara" bottling), a fairly tannic, somewhat rustic offering with an interesting hint of bitterness on the finish, and the "Tancredi" bottling, 70% Nero d'Avola, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, a very nicely balanced, much more sophisticated wine that I enjoyed very much. The tasting finished with the 2007 Donnafugato "Ben Rye" Passito di Pantelleria, a passito wine (wine with raisined grapes added to the fermentation to boost the sugar and alcohol content of the finished wine) from the little island of Pantelleria, off the southwest coast of Sicily, a wine that tasted like bottled apricots. The "Anthilia" wine was excellent with raw oysters, and with the cheeses I bought. These Saturday tastings at Traverso's are well worth attending.

Wines I'm Making: Grapes Coming Along Nicely (2011)

2011-09-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Having recently added nets and raised the level of the electric fence around our grape vines, it's now been about a week without any further damage or losses to the raccoons or possums or whatever it is that eats them at night.

It's the time of year that grape growers sit back and wait, periodically checking sugar and acid levels, looking also at the visible signs of ripeness in their grapes. This morning and yesterday I tested a couple of berries for ripeness. I was a little surprised to find the Sangiovese at 19 brix, the Cabernet Sauvignon already at 20.5 brix. The berries are deeply colored. The Cabernet seeds are uniformly brown and they are crunchy. In other words, the Cabernet fruit is looking rather more ripe than I was expecting. I think it will still be two to three weeks to harvest (I try to pick at about 24.5 brix), but the grapes appear to be coming along nicely, aided by uniformly warm weather in the past week or so. The forecast is for temperatures into the low 90s for the coming week, which should keep sugar levels rising.

Books I'm Reading: The Art Instinct

2011-09-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

I just finished Denis Dutton's The Art Instinct (Bloomsbury Press, 2009), a book I picked up remaindered somewhere just because it looked interesting--and it was.

Dutton looks at art, beauty, and pleasure from an evolutionary perspective. That simple sentence would be enough to set off alarms in some quarters--notably among feminists, always wary (and probably rightly so) of anything that might suggest cultural (often male-dominated) norms are somehow determined by evolution (and therefore unassailable) or that mainstream pop-culture ideas about beauty are innate and therefore inevitable. However, Dutton is not a polemicist and he's mostly not making claims about what specifically is and is not beautiful. He is talking more about broad tendencies that go across cultural boundaries. He is less concerned with particular instances of preferences in beauty and art than in arguing that we do, in fact, have preferences, that they appear to be nearly universal, and that the existence of preferences has been adaptive in an evolutionary sense. I think feminists would have relatively little to take offense at here, although I'm willing to admit that, being a man, I may be insufficiently sensitive.

Acknowledging that evolutionary psychology can be rather too easily used to justify existing cultural constructs, I think Dutton has much useful and interesting to say about both people and art. He starts by asking one of many interesting questions: Why should discussions of art be excluded from examination from a Darwinian perspective when so many other fields have advanced through just such a view? As Dutton puts it, "The evolution of Homo sapiens in the last million years is not just a history of how we came to have acute color vision, a taste for sweets, and an upright gait. It is also a story of how we became a species obsessed with creating artistic experiences with which to amuse, shock, titillate, and enrapture ourselves, from children's games to the quartets of Beethoven, from firelit caves to the continuous worldwide glow of television screens." In fact, he argues against the view that feminists seem to fear. Defining art quite broadly to include a wide array of images and creative endeavors (for example, calendar photos), not only what we call "fine arts," he suggests, for example, that tastes in landscapes "are not just products of social conditioning, stemming from manipulative choices made by calendar manufacturers (or by landscape artists); rather people who make and sell calendars are catering to prehistoric tastes shared by their customers across the globe." As the title of the book suggests, the main point Dutton makes is that the need to create art is potent and universal--we instinctively create art--and, to understand that, we must assume that the presence of an art instinct has been an adaptive advantage.

There isn't room in a short review to cover all the arguments in the book, but I applaud the author for attempting to define art--a daunting task--even if I don't agree entirely with the criteria he chooses (for example, his list of traits common to what we call art would seem to slight abstract art and to exclude art created by atheists). The chapter on fiction--storytelling--was especially thought-provoking, and I enjoyed the sections that dealt with artistic intention (does the artist's intent have a legitimate bearing on how we evaluate a work of art?), with notions of originality in art (why do we treat forgeries and originals differently?), with the difference between an art and a craft, and with kitsch. For Dutton, these questions are important because they shed light on aspects of the adaptive advantages of an art instinct. This is the sort of book that's hard to digest on first reading. I suspect I'll read it again. Recommended.

Music I'm Listening To: Yo-Yo Ma with MTT Conducting the San Francisco Symphony (September 15, 2011)

2011-09-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday night [September 15] I attended a performance of the San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. Yo-Yo Ma was guest soloist in Hindemith's Cello Concerto of 1940. The concert opened with Beethoven's Lenore Overture No. 3 and closed, after intermission, with a performance of the Symphony No. 1, by Brahms.

The last time I heard Yo-Yo Ma was in Tokyo, about 15 years ago, at a sold-out concert for which I was unable to get good tickets. Many of the seats had been bought up by corporations and given away to clients--people that didn't really have much interest in being there except to see a musical celebrity (that's my theory anyway). Whatever the reason, the concert was marred by a very noisy, inattentive audience and by my distance from the stage. Thursday was a rather different experience: I got the impression the crowd was there for the music and not the star status of the soloist (although a few people left at intermission). Perhaps it helped that the concert was being taped--before the performance began a man came out on stage and asked everyone to be as quiet as possible so as not to mar the recording. Also, last night I was sitting close to the performers.

I'm used to sitting at the back of the first floor at Davies Symphony Hall, but having noticed a dead spot just under the overhang of the balcony, I had the seats changed this season to the fourth row. I like being able to see the instruments at close range--stringed instruments come in a fascinating variety of colors, ranging from deep chestnut brown through various reddish tones and into almost blonde shades. I like being able to watch fingers flying up and down the fingerboards of the cellos and I like feeling the low-frequency vibrations of the string basses. Close seats allow a good view of the soloist (although on Thursday night the conductor blocked my view as often as not). On the down side, the sound can lack integration. Sitting at the right side of the hall (facing the stage), I got rather too much of the basses and the cellos while the violins and other sections of the orchestra seemed slightly distant. As the closer seats are also lower seats, you don't get a full view of the players when sitting close; I missed being able to see all of the orchestra in action, and it was difficult to see which musicians the conductor was acknowledging after each piece. So, the up-front location has both advantages and disadvantages.

Watching Mr. Ma play reminded me of seeing Rostropovich play in Tokyo in the late 1990s and, for what are probably less obvious reasons, of watching violinist Hilary Hahn in San Francisco a couple of years ago. Rostropovich was well into his seventies when I saw him, but he had a focus, intensity, and sheer energy that would have been remarkable in a man half his age. Mr. Ma has the same sort of presence, the same sort of focus and intensity while playing.Both men (and Hahn) simultaneously exude a relaxed self-assuredness and an inner joyfulness that seems perpetually in danger of brimming over. After the Hindemith Mr. Ma spent as much time applauding for the orchestra with a grin of pleasure as he did acknowledging the applause meant for him. He assumes a rather more slouched posture than many cellists when playing, which adds to his general air of easy-going confidence. During passages in the Hindemith concerto when the cello rests, Mr. Ma frequently turned half around to look at the orchestra with a broad smile on his face. Ms. Hahn did something similar during the performance of the Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto I attended. In both cases, you could almost hear an inner voice saying "What fun this is--how lucky I am to be here!" The best performers at their best always seem to be having a great deal of fun, no matter how serious the music. I've seen it in performances by the New Century Chamber Orchestra, by Kyung-Wha Chung, by Elly Ameling, by conductors such as James Gaffigan and Gustavo Dudamel. It's infectious.

The performance of the Beethoven overture seemed correct but lacking in sparkle. I enjoyed hearing the Brahms Symphony No. 1 live for the first time--in places, the unison of the string sections was thrilling, concertmaster Alexander Barantschik played the solo violin sections near the end of the piece especially sweetly--but MTTs reading seemed uneven in the final movement, where the tempo was allowed to wander in a way that broke the tension written into the music--or so it seemed to me. I wonder why such familiar standards as the Beethoven and Brahms pieces were chosen to bracket the very mid-20th century Hindemith concerto (which turned out to be the highlight of the evening)? Despite a little confusion when Mr. Ma's music misbehaved (at one point MTT was crouched down, conducting with one hand, while reaching back with his other hand, trying to hold the pages open for the soloist), the orchestra was tight, focused, and electrifyingly precise. It's unusual to be able to single out a tympanist, but the man behind the copper pots was amazing on Thursday night--shooting out bullets of sound that punctuated some of the more exuberant passages with a superb combination of power and precision. The woodwinds were in top form as well (especially the oboe and flute), but that's normal in San Francisco. I'm familiar with some of the less well known modern cello concertos--those by Dutilleux and Lutoslawski, in particular--but the Hindemith was unfamiliar to me. I enjoyed it enough to think I'd like to hear it again. I wonder who has recorded it?

Photo of Yo-Yo Ma by Michael O'Neill, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony

Found Art: Shadows and Light (September 15, 2011)

2011-09-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

At a gallery not long ago, I saw this pattern of shadows and light on the floor. It was more interesting than the work hanging on the walls--but, art is where you find it.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Wines I'm Making: Racked 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon (September 11, 2011)

2011-09-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today I racked 11 gallons of wine--mostly the eight gallons of our 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. Everything went smoothly. I sulfited the wine lightly, using six Campden tablets in the eight gallons, which should mean a sulfur level of about 49ppm. I also racked three gallons of "second-run" Cabernet--wine made from the lees of the real wine. I got a chance to taste both wines for the first time in about six months. I'm very pleased. Everything looks, smells, and tastes good. Even the faux wine is acceptable (this method of re-fermenting the lees seems to work better with red wine than it does with rosé).

I'll be bottling this wine in the next few weeks, ahead of harvesting the 2011 grapes. I tested a random Cabernet grape today and was surprised to find it at 18 brix already. I'm aiming for 24.5. If the weather remains good, that means we should be harvesting in about the third week of October. With the electric fence on and the nets secured, I'm hoping we'll get there with no further losses to animals.

Wines I'm Drinking: Three Inexpensive Pinot Noirs

2011-09-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

They say you get what you pay for. While that's certainly not always true in the case of wine, it seems to be most nearly true when it comes to Pinot Noir. It really is hard to find good, inexpensive Pinot Noir, but that doesn't keep me from trying. Yesterday I sampled three inexpensive Pinots from my local Grocery Outlet, two from New Zealand and one from Germany. I was especially interested in the German wine as Pinot Noir is not much grown there.

I tasted the 2008 New Harbor Vineyards Marlborough Pinot Noir, the 2008 Sacred Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir, and the F. W. Langguth "Black Slate" Pinot Noir. I couldn't find a vintage on the German wine, which may mean that it involves a blend of grapes from different years or simply that it's poorly labeled. The wine is from the Rheinhessen and only 90% Pinot Noir (something I failed to notice when I bought the wine). It is 10% Regent--a grape variety I had never heard of, and one that goes without mention in Jancis Robinson's Vines, Grapes and Wines (Mitchell Beazley, 1986)--the first time I've not been able to find grape information in that book--but Regent appears to be a newcomer. According to the Wikipedia article on the variety, Regent is a hybrid created in the late 1960s at the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding. According to the Institute's website, Regent is a cross between Diana (itself Silvaner x Müller-Thurgau) and Chambourcin). Appreciated in large part for its resistance to fungal diseases, it appears to have entered general cultivation in the mid-1990s. Regent is planted mostly in Germany and the UK. It seems to make decent single-variety wine in some parts of Germany, but I don't understand exactly what it was intended to add to this blend--perhaps color, as several German web pages I looked at emphasize the good color Regent achieves, and many winemakers seem to think their Pinot Noir won't sell if it's too pale in color. In California, a little Syrah is often added to Pinot Noir to boost the color--and often to the detriment of the distinctive Pinot Noir flavor. Brief tasting notes follow.

2008 New Harbor Vineyards Marlborough Pinot Noir
A fairly typical, pale, Pinot Noir sort of color. Closed nose, but hints of leather, orange water, and red raspberries. There was a suggestion of cloves as well. Moderate acid on the palate. Light tannins. Not badly balanced, but rather simple. Moderate to good length. Doesn't really evolve in any way on the palate. Perfectly acceptable everyday wine--I've had much, much worse cheap Pinot Noir--but this offers no special attraction either. Reasonably priced at $4.99, but I won't be going back for more. That said, this was the best of the three wines I tasted.

2008 Sacred Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir
Pale, slightly garnet-tinged, typical Pinot Noir color. Slightly deeper in color than the above wine. Citrus and leather on the nose. Initially appealing on the palate but quickly begins to seem too sweet. Smooth--rather too smooth. There is little acid to balance the sweetness and very little tannin either. Very long finish, but a finish without nuance--just a lingering nondescript fruity sweetness. Flavors tend toward cherries. Not unpleasant. Essentially, just boring. Priced at $5.99 a bottle.

F. W. Langguth "Black Slate" Rheinhessen Pinot Noir
A pale tea color--red tending toward brown. Some floral notes on the nose. Marmalade. Bubble gum. On the palate gives an initial impression of sweetness with fairly low acid. Shortish on the finish but with some lingering sweetness with vaguely port-like flavors. Not really recognizable as Pinot Noir. Has some odd flavors that suggest plastic--although the wine is not as bad as that may make it sound. Drinkable, but not very attractive or interesting--beyond the interest provided by an opportunity to experience Regent (see above). That said, I'd prefer to try a 100% Regent wine for that purpose. Priced at $3.99 a bottle.

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.

For more wine reviews, use the Wines I'm Drinking label.

Books I'm Reading: The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker

2011-09-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've wanted The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2004) since it appeared, but never got over the hurdle of the $60.00 price tag (although the book is doubtless worth that much). With the collapse of Borders, I was able to pick up a copy cheaply at that company's going-out-of-business-sale. I read the book in virtually one sitting--all 655 pages of it (although there isn't a lot of text). Like so many other people, I love the wry, somewhat surreal feel of so many of the cartoons that appear in The New Yorker, even if I get to see them only occasionally. Now I own them all.

The cartoons are presented by decade, from the magazine's start in 1925, each section preceded by an essay about the cartoons of the era. In addition to introductory information about the magazine and the cartoons, there are short essays about individual cartoonists important in the magazine's history--Arno, Thurber, Addams, Stein, Steinberg, Booth, Ziegler, Chast--and essays about some of the themes recurring in the cartoons over the years, such as drinking, nudity, television, the space program, business culture, slipper dogs, politics, and the Internet.

I say smugly that I finished the book in short order, but I initially misunderstood the meaning of the note on the cover saying the book "includes two CDs with all 68,647 cartoons ever published in the magazine." I thought that meant the cartoons were also on the disks, as a convenience. I failed to think about the sheer volume of work here. As one of the introductory pieces in the book points out, printing all 68,647 cartoons on paper would require an impossibly fat book (or multiple volumes)--nearly 23,000 pages--even putting three cartoons on a page. The printed portion of The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker presents only about 3,000 selected cartoons. The bulk of the material is on the two CDs, and I haven't even freed the disks from their packaging yet. While my mouth waters at the thought of the hours of entertainment latent there, I'm afraid to start looking at the disks, knowing it will be hard to stop. I'll want to read and enjoy every one of the remaining 65,000-odd cartoons without a break. I'll miss meals, neglect family, work will suffer....

Recommended at just about any price.

Wines I'm Making: The Critters Are at it again (September 8, 2011)

2011-09-08T12:11:00.001-07:00

I had hoped this year to completely foil the critters (probably raccoons--although I've never been able to catch anyone in the act), but I looked at the grapes this morning and found about 25 clusters of Sangiovese mostly stripped of grapes and the Cabernet disturbed in a few places as well. It's so discouraging.....

That said, it's my own fault. While I netted the grapes a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't finished completely securing all the possible entry points, particularly at the top of the vines, and I hadn't yet turned on the electric fence. Needless to say, I'll be doing both today, securing things (I hope) before nightfall.

I checked some of the fallen grapes with my refractometer. They tested between 15.5 and 17 brix. I aim to harvest at about 24.5 brix, so we still have about a month to go, I'm guessing, but the grapes are (obviously) already ripe enough to attract animals. Past experience has taught me that about 14 brix is sweet enough for a raccoon to find a grape attractive.

Looking back at old posts about the ongoing fight with the various animals that want my grapes as much as I do, I see that I've put the nets on as early as August 12th in the past. I think I need a new rule--ALWAYS get the electric fence on and the nets secure (including the top nets that cover the seam in the nets that run lengthwise along the rows) by August 1. That way (one hopes) all access is denied long before the animals have any reason to pay attention to the fruit. I'll try it next year. The problem with winemaking is that you do it all only once a year. It's easy to forget from year to year what works and what doesn't.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Wellington Vineyards Sonoma Valley Grenache

2011-09-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful wine from Wellington. Today I opened my last bottle of the 2007 Wellington Vineyards Sonoma Valley Grenache. It was tasty when new but it's even more delicious now, having gained a certain gravitas it lacked when younger. Brief tasting notes follow.

The wine is a deep purple-red, but beginning to show a little age. It doesn't look like an old wine, but it no longer has the inky, bright purple hue of youth either. Redolent of licorice and roasted meat on the nose (somehow pork spareribs came to mind) with hints of black cherries and other dark fruits. Nicely poised on the palate. The wine is silky and soft, but remains vibrant, with good tannins and a lively acidity followed by a core of sweet, black cherry fruit interlaced with licorice and meaty flavors. The long, delicate finish is characterized mostly by the slightly bitter licorice flavors, but these are embraced in the arms of the sweet black cherry in an extended, balanced dance. Delicious. Forgive me for repeating myself, but Wellington is one of my favorite wine producers in Sonoma County. I love this winery for its dedication to quality and its ongoing willingness to price its wines reasonably--for the sort of people (like me) that drink wine everyday. Affordable bliss.

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.

For more wine reviews, use the Wines I'm Drinking label.

Found Art: Water Access Cover and Paint Mark (September 2, 2011)

2011-09-02T17:08:00.001-07:00

A water access cover with a stray paint mark nearby that somehow creates a tension transforming this little scene into art. The colored paint on the metal lid is part of its charm--not to mention the cracks and seams in the cement.... Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Birds I'm Watching: Hermit Warbler at Bodega Bay

2011-08-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

I drove out to Bodega Bay today on the spur of the moment, having heard that a couple of Hermit Warblers were present at Owl Canyon. I arrived in time to see one briefly before it flitted off (a first-fall female, I believe, because of the lack of black at the throat). This was my first sighting of this species. I got one decent shot before the bird left (above). A pair of American Redstarts was also reported at the same location, but I failed to see them--which is too bad, as that would have been two life birds in one day. I may run out there again tomorrow to try again. Other birds of note were a Peregrine Falcon flying by, a group of Wild Turkeys on the hill behind the canyon, and a Willow Flycatcher (I'm pretty sure).

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Art I'm Looking At: Seiko Tachibana at The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay

2011-08-28T00:43:00.000-07:00

A new show featuring printmaker Seiko Tachibana opened yesterday at The Ren Brown Collection, 1781 Highway 1, in Bodega Bay (Wednesday through Sunday 10-5). The Ren Brown Collection, established in 1989, is one of the North Bay's best galleries. It features contemporary Japanese as well as local printmakers and offers work by well known local potters such as John Chambers. The gallery sells Japanese antiques, modern sculpture, and fine jewelry as well. Sophisticated stuff. As Mr. Brown puts it "Just because we're in Bodega Bay doesn't mean we have to sell seagulls on driftwood." The Seiko Tachibana show continues through October 9, 2011, allowing plenty of time to plan a trip.

Tachibana was born in Japan but has long worked in the Bay Area, having completed a Master of Art Education degree at Kobe University and subsequently earned an MFA at San Francisco Art Institute. Her work is in the Los Angeles County Museum, the Legion of Honor, the Portland Art Museum, and other institutions, as well as in private collections throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. The show that opened yesterday features a recent series of etchings with aquatint called Blue Consonant, but includes paintings and prints from other series, and a small installation made specifically for the gallery space.

What unites these disparate works is a fascination with the circle or sphere. It appears in some form in almost every piece on display--in some work evoking the microscopic world of cells or molecules, in others the opposite extreme, suggesting planetary spheres or an eclipsed Sun. Not surprisingly, Tachibana explains that she is fascinated by all the creative forces of the universe, from the multiplication of single-celled organisms to the process of planet formation. Her work reminds us that the physics of a spherical boundary at the microscopic level is identical to the physics that operates in far-off galaxies as planets coalesce into spheres from dust and gas.

On a technical note, Tachibana is remarkably good at aquatint, a process that uses rosin dust during the etching process to create finely pitted areas of varying density in the printing plate, allowing tonal gradations in a process (etching) that lends itself more naturally to linear expression. Aquatint is difficult to control. Tachibana uses it masterfully and combines it with great skill in manipulating ink on the plate to create effects that mimic watercolor and other wet techniques.

Although Bodega Bay is a bit out of the way for San Francisco art lovers, there's much in the area to justify a journey. Try some of the Bay Area's best clam chowder at Spud Point Crab Co. (1860 Westshore Rd., Bodega Bay; 9-5, closed Wednesdays), have dinner at Terrapin Creek Café (1580 Eastshore Dr., lunch and dinner, Thursday through Sunday), or enjoy a glass of wine at Gourmet Au Bay (913 Coastal Hwy. 1; open every day during the summer 11-7), sitting on the deck overlooking the Bay--an excellent place to taste wine but also a good spot to watch shorebirds on the mud flats--and to watch people. Heading north on Hwy 101, take the Railroad Ave. exit, turn left onto Railroad Ave. and take the 2nd right, onto Stony Point Rd., until Roblar Rd. Go left on Roblar Rd. until you can take a right onto Valley Ford Rd., which is Hwy. 1. Hwy 1 winds west from here to the coast through pretty countryside--or you can do the Google Maps thing. The Ren Brown Collection is on the northern outskirts of the town of Bodega Bay in an attractive house with its own Japanese gardens and teahouse. Don't miss the topiary snail.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2009 "La Piazza" Sicily Catarratto/Chardonnay

2011-08-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Another inexpensive white from my local Grocery Outlet. This is a blend of Catarratto (75%) and Chardonnay, from Sicily. The label claims the Catarratto element gives the wine a greenish-gold color, but it looked a fairly typical, pale straw color to me. The nose was distantly suggestive of cantaloupe at first, but fairly closed on the whole. On the palate the wine was a bit unusual in having a rather long finish but without having much impact initially or on the mid-palate. My first impression was of a fairly thin, generic white. In other words, it really didn't taste like much until well after I'd swallowed it, when I got a slight buttery taste and hints of citrus. Suspecting I may have started out with the wine too cold to show it at its best, I lingered over a glass (several, actually).

While lingering, I got out my copy of Jancis Robinson's Vines, Grapes, and Wines (Mitchell Beazley, 1986), my favorite book about grape varieties. I always turn here when encountering a grape new to me. The La Piazza label calls Catarratto "an indigenous Sicilian grape," which seems true enough, but Robinson in her section on such grapes mentions two distinct varieties with similar names--Catarratto Bianco Comune and Catarratto Bianco Lucido. That left me wondering which is involved here. Robinson notes only that the first of the two is widely used in making Marsala.

The Oxford Companion to Wine, however, refers to these as forms of the same grape, saying that the latter--Catarratto Bianco Lucido--is the superior form for winemaking, while dismissing the grape in general as mostly producing "excess" wine that is distilled or made into grape concentrate. After these disparaging remarks, the book says (in something of a contradiction) that some "characterful white table wines" are made from Catarratto and points the reader to the entry for "Sicily"--which I turned to. That entry mostly suggests modern winemaking techniques (refrigeration, in particular) have begun to reveal possibilities that may have been dormant in the grape. A good, modern Catarratto is described as having "fruity and floral qualities not unlike the wines of Friuli and Alto Adige" (both in northeastern Italy).

Going back to the wine after it had warmed a little, it had gained considerable body and the citrus element on the finish was more pronounced. There was also a little spiciness on the finish that I hadn't noticed at first and there were hints of nuts as well. While this is not exciting wine, it's not at all bad either. Crisp, light, and easy to drink. It is probably excellent with seafood. I suspect it would be a good oyster wine. At $2.99 a bottle ($2.49 a bottle if you buy by the case), it's hard to complain. I will probably go back and buy a case of this one for use at home. At $32.42 a case (including tax), it's a steal.

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.

For more wine reviews, use the Wines I'm Drinking label.

Art I'm Making: New Nudes (Summer 2011)

2011-08-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

Over the middle part of the summer I had the opportunity to work with a new model for the first time in a long time. I made hundreds of photographs of this unusually beautiful young woman using a traditional camera with black and white film, using a digital SLR, and also using the camera in my original iPhone. I love the way the iPhone camera "fails" in low-light situations, creating pictures with a lot of noise and often with ghost-like duplications where there has been movement. The iPhone photos have a dreamy quality that I like very much--as in the photo above.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2006 Beni di Batasiolo "Granée" Gavi di Gavi

2011-08-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

I reviewed two wines from producer Beni di Batasiolo not long ago, the 2005 "Serbato" Langhe Chardonnay and the 2003 "Vigneto Morino" Langhe Chardonnay. Both wines were from my local (Santa Rosa) Grocery Outlet. I visited Grocery Outlet today for the first time in a couple of months and found a Gavi di Gavi from the same producer that I thought worth a try, because I liked the other Beni di Batasiolo wines and because the Gavi was priced at only $3.99 a bottle. It's from the 2006 vintage, and older whites at Grocery Outlet are always a gamble; I didn't have high expectations, but this was delicious. Gavi di Gavi is made from Cortese grapes in the eastern part of Italy's Piemonte region, famous for Barolo and Barbaresco among reds, Roero Arneis, Langhe Arneis, and others among whites, including modern (light, crisp) white wines made from such international grapes as Chardonnay (the two wines mentioned above being good examples). Gavi di Gavi was a darling of the wine media in the 1980s and much of it was over-hyped and mediocre, but at its best Gavi can be very tasty indeed. Brief tasting notes follow.

A pretty, pale gold in the glass with limes, honey, and floral scents--the latter something like a restrained gardenia. A hint of hazelnuts perhaps, too. Very attractive and appetizing on the nose. I was reminded of some of the white wines of France's Costieres de Nîmes district (near the town of Nîmes, just west of the mouth of the Rhône)--wines that always smell of honey and have a certain waxy texture on the palate. This wine had those qualities and more--a subtly fruity mid-palate, a nuanced finish, and a crisp, balancing tartness throughout. Although low in alcohol by California standards (at 12%) this is the sort of wine that's very easy to drink too much of: Each sip leaves you wanting to go back again to try to pin down the tantalizingly elusive flavors. The current vintage (2009) sells locally for $15.99. Recommended.

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.
For more wine reviews, use the Wines I'm Drinking label.

Wines I'm Making: Grapes Netted (August 24, 2011)

2011-08-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

I got the nets on the grapes today. The berries started to take color about a week or so ago (both the Sangiovese and the Cabernet Sauvignon)--maybe a trifle earlier. As the grapes take on color and begin to gain a little sweetness, they become attractive to raccoons and other animals. I've noticed that a sugar level of around 14 brix is enough to please a raccoon, although to make wine that will please a human, the sugar needs to be at around 24 brix. I think this is the first year I've succeeded in getting up a physical barrier before losing any grapes. The sulfur I used this year seemed to mix better in the sprayer and create a heavier layer on the grapes, so they are virtually mildew-free as well. I'm very much hoping to lose almost none of the grapes on the vines at the moment, but harvest is still about six weeks away.

Birds I’m Watching: Bodega Bay (August 23, 2011)

2011-08-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

I went out to Bodega Bay this morning for a quick look around, but got going later in the day than I had intended, and there wasn't a lot of bird activity. I did spy the small group of Brants that has been hanging around all summer. It's not clear why they didn't leave with the rest of the Brants in the spring. I got some good photographs of a Whimbrel (upper photo) and some shots of Least Sandpipers (lower photo), but there was nothing out of the ordinary, and so much fog at Bodega Head that almost nothing was visible besides a lone Oystercatcher. Still, it was nice to get out after a busy week of work.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Places I'm Visiting: Santa Rosa Air Show (August 20, 2011)

2011-08-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

I spent the day today at the Santa Rosa "Wings Over Wine Country"Air Show out at the Santa Rosa Airport. I had never been before. I've lived in Santa Rosa for 10 years now. Every year at this time (usually the third weekend in August) I hear about the show and consider going. On the Sunday at the end of the show it's common to hear the sound of vintage aircraft overhead, which usually sends me out with my binoculars to look at the old WWII fighter or odd transport plane flying over as it leaves Santa Rosa after the end of the show. My house seems to be on the flight path out of town. That always makes me wish I had been at the show to see what I missed. This year I determined to go. Parking cost $3 and the $20 entry fee ($5 for kids 12 and under) seemed steep, but it was worth going at least once. There were many, many aircraft parked on the runways for viewing, including military, commercial, and private aircraft, and there was a stream of displays in the air, including workhorses like the DC-3 and planes as exotic as a U-2, which made a brief appearance before disappearing into the clouds at an alarming angle.

I most enjoyed seeing the aerobatics--particularly the stunt flying of Vicky Benzing and five-time world champion stunt flyer Kirby Chambliss (first photo)--and the WWII vintage aircraft. Chambliss flew sideways, backwards, upside down, and just about every other way airplanes don't normally fly. Among the vintage aircraft, seeing (and hearing) a flight of five P-51s, a P-47, and a Yak fighter evoked an era long past (pictured here on the runway), but I especially enjoyed seeing a Hawker Sea Fury fitted out with smoke generators that did some excellent flying (bottom photo) in Royal Air Force livery. Watching the streams of smoke and vortices created was almost as much fun as watching the airplane, which is a handsome design reminiscent of the Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane--planes I built as a child from model airplane kits more than once. Note the tailhook on the Sea Fury for aircraft carrier landings--something I didn't see until I looked at my photographs.

There was a lot of standing around waiting for things to happen. I got some sunburn despite a hat and sunglasses, but it was still fun. The show continues tomorrow, Sunday, August 21, 2011.

Music I'm Listening To: Neil Buckley Octet at Plaza Bistro (August 19, 2011)

2011-08-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the hear the Neil Buckley Octet at Plaza Bistro, in Sonoma--right on the Plaza, as you might expect. The restaurant has a large back room where jazz bands of consistently high caliber play on Friday and Saturday nights, often booked by the Sonoma Jazz Society. The restaurant serves full meals in the back room but there is a second bar there as well (the restaurant's main bar is out front). The Octet plays 1950s cool jazz using arrangements by the late Neil Buckley, a well-known West Coast performer. This band is always good but they were in especially good form last night. Each of the eight performers (drums, guitar, bass, trombone, trumpet/flugelhorn, and three sax players) is top-notch, but we heard really tight ensemble playing as well. There was some particularly powerful but controlled trumpet work and a lot of sexy solos on the saxes. Thoroughly enjoyable. The restaurant has solid if not stellar food and an interesting wine list. My son drew his own crowd out on the patio with his yo-yo tricks. (Note that the photo above is from a different gig. Uncharacteristically, I didn't have a camera with me....).

Wines I'm Drinking: 2009 La Ronescina Collio Pinot Grigio

2011-08-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Having not long ago tasted all the Pinot Grigio wines on offer at my local Trader Joe's, I felt it my duty to try this wine, which has appeared since then. This comes from Collio (which means hills) in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the northeast corner of Italy (the area includes Venice). Most Italian Pinot Grigio comes from this general area, but often the best are from Collio. I liked none of the Pinot Grigio wines from Trader Joe's I tasted before--they were uniformly bland. I had higher hopes for this one. Tasting notes follow.

A typical, very pale straw color, pretty in a well-chilled glass. Melon and sappy scents on the nose. A hint of lime. A suggestion of toasted grain. A little honey perhaps. Overall, fairly fresh and attractive. Quite tart on the palate with some fruity sweetness on the mid-palate followed again by a rush of tartness and then a delicate lingering finish with hints of nuts and an attractive slight bitterness at the very end. A trifle too tart perhaps, but at least this has some flavor and it's clean and refreshing with a little nuance. Likely to be good with foods that need to be offset by something with an acidic bite. Probably excellent as an aperitif on a hot summer night. Not complex or profound, but quite acceptable light summer wine. A cut above nearly all the wines I tasted in the first bunch from Trader Joe's, where this costs $6.99 a bottle.

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.

For more wine reviews, use the Wines I'm Drinking label.

Found Art: Tree Bark, Shevlin Park, Bend, Oregon (August 16, 2011)

2011-08-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

On my recent trip through central Oregon and north to Vancouver Island I stopped to do some walking at Shevlin Park, in Bend, Oregon. I enjoyed the miles of trails, the river that runs through the park, and the many birds I saw there. There were some huge evergreen trees with beautiful bark. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Epilobium Canum

2011-08-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

First blooms of 2011 today on the Epilobium canum plants at the front of the garden, along the driveway. This is my favorite of the Epilobiums. There are about four varieties in the garden, but this one has especially pretty grey-green foliage and long, slender, deep red blossoms that are a favorite of both hummingbirds and bees and bumblebees. It is more upright than most of the other Epilobiums (until recently these were called Zauschneria, the common name is California fuchsia) and is very drought-tolerant once established. It's a perennial and will multiply if you let it go to seed. I can recommend this one highly.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2005 VJB "V" Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-08-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight I opened a bottle of the 2005 "V" Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon bottling from VJB, the winery that is building that large new tasting room next door to Café Citti on Highway 12, near Kenwood. This was one of the first wineries I encountered when I moved to Sonoma County, in 2000. I very much liked VJB's "Dante," a blend of Cabernet and Sangiovese, which sold at that time for a very reasonable $18 at Whole Foods. In fact, I planted Sangiovese and Cabernet in my own backyard because I liked the "Dante" so much. The "V" wines have never seemed as interesting to me; they have tended to be overripe, too alcoholic, and too much lacking in tannin and acidity for my taste, but I went into this with an open mind. Tasting notes follow.

The wine is a deep pruney purple-black, showing a little age in the garnet tinge to the edge of the wine tilted in the glass. Ripe fruit and brandy-like scents on the nose. Something suggestive of Vermouth as well--roots, or herbs, perhaps. Campari almost. Black cherries. Substantial on the palate. A trifle "hot." Again with something suggestive of roots or bitters. Black cherries and chocolate. Very soft, with light tannins. Overall, a ripe, velvety smoothness, but with a slightly bitter "medicinal" note on a moderately long finish offset by lingering fruity sweetness. Has an almost port-like quality. Rich, full, attractive, but not as complex as I'd expect from a wine at this price point (probably around $40 or so). The wine has improved compared with examples I've tasted when much younger, but I still prefer a Cabernet Sauvignon with more tannin, more of that Cabernet grassiness, a little more acidity, less overtly ripe fruit, and more complexity--in other words, Cabernet Sauvignon with better balance and a more European flavor profile--a matter of taste, naturally.

[Update: Shortly after this, I opened a bottle of the 2001 "V" Cabernet Sauvignon, and it had many of those characteristics--better balance, primarily. I enjoyed the 2001 wine very much. Worth seeking out, if it's still available anywhere. It appears to be drinking beautifully right now.]

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.

For more wine reviews, use the Wines I'm Drinking label.

Places I'm Visiting: Santa Rosa Farmers' Market (August 2011)

2011-08-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

I went to the Santa Rosa Farmer's Market again this past weekend, hoping to find good tomatoes--but still nothing. I continue to rely on the heirloom tomatoes at Whole Foods, which are finally down to a more reasonable $3.99 a pound, but haven't had a truly great tomato yet this year. At the Farmer's Market, I did, however, come across some rather photogenic fruits and vegetables.

Books I'm Reading: The Age of Wonder

2011-08-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

I've just finished The Age of Wonder (originally published in England, by Harper Press, 2008, although I read the 2010 paperback edition from Vintage Press), by Richard Holmes, a writer with a long list of publications preceding this, mostly works on Shelley, Coleridge, and the English Romantic Poets. Covering the romantic period of scientific investigation in Europe (roughly from 1770 to 1820), The Age of Wonder is a portrait of the birth of modern science and the period during which many still-current views were formed about the meaning of the pursuit of science.

Holmes paints his portrait of the age through biographies of some of the most influential men and women of the day. The story is told mostly through the lives of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and his sister Caroline Herschel (and, later, William's son John), and Humphrey Davy--although the text is delightfully wide-ranging, with sections on balloonists and Frankenstein, and much about the response of poets and writers to advances in the science of the day. Other major themes include faith--and it was during this period, it seems, that many European thinkers really embraced the notion of a godless world, even if few of them (Shelley being an outstanding exception) were willing to openly profess atheism--and the debate on vitalism (the question of whether there is something that can be called a life force). Sections on Banks in Tahiti, on Caroline Herschel (an unjustly neglected figure), on Davy nearly killing himself during experiments on laughing gas and other gases, and on the context of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein were particularly vivid. I needn't add much more, I suppose, as this was a bestseller and has been widely reviewed, but I'd call it a top-notch piece of intellectual history. I very much enjoyed it. Recommended.

Wines I'm Drinking: Sonoma Wine Tasting

2011-08-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

I hadn't intended to go wine tasting yesterday, but I did, and it's something I should do more often, given the proximity of the Sonoma wineries. I had planned only to drive over to Rochioli, one of our best producers of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, to pick up some wine waiting for me there, but I got to talking with the man behind the tasting room bar and the conversation turned to rosé. Regrettably, Rochioli has run out of the most recent batch of their Pinot Noir rosé, but the man recommended Lynmar Estate for another good rosé of Pinot Noir, so I decided to make a stop there on the way home. I got sidetracked by Moshin Vineyards, which was between the two. So, I visited three wineries in all.

Moshin is a name I've heard a lot, but I'd never tried their wines, so I decided to stop when I saw the sign. I tasted a range of wines ($5 for five wines, the $5 refunded if you make a purchase) that included an usually crisp, citrus-scented Sauvignon Blanc. Usually I prefer the grassy, catty style of Sauvignon Blanc, but I thought this one successful despite its lack of the hallmark Sauvignon Blanc scent. A refreshing summer wine. I tasted two good Pinot Noirs, one a rather barnyardy Burgundy-like wine, the other a much cleaner, plummy wine. I liked both well enough to think they'd be worth sitting down with and taking some time over. Friendly staff and atmosphere.

Lynmar Estate is simply stunning. I think this is probably the most attractive winery I've ever visited in California. How have I missed this one? The garden at the entry (photo above) is overflowing with sneezeweed and bee balm pushing up in clumps through ornamental grasses, reminiscent of America's prairie lands when the wildflowers are in bloom. The building is new (2006) and of some interest architecturally, with much use of exposed wooden beams--the kind of building that likes to show you how it's engineered--and attractive sitting spaces around the tasting bar. Most striking, however, is the view from the interior spaces over the gardens and the vineyards; the rows of vines rise up like theater seats in rows on gentle slopes behind the plantings closer to the building.

These are full of colorful flowers like sunflowers, cock's comb, and salvias, but there is a heavy emphasis on edible plants as well, notably several varieties of kale, one with striking frilly black leaves. The scent of herbs was in the air (which was very pleasant, although it interfered a bit with tasting the wines; all the wines seemed to smell of herbs, mostly something like dill). An outdoor dining space appears to be used for occasional events, but it begs to be put to use as the setting for a permanent restaurant. The place has an inviting European look that suggests good food, good wine, and good conversation outdoors on summer nights--late into the evening. But, alas, this is Sonoma County, where life shuts down at 8:30. A shame the space is wasted in this way, but Lynmar Estate is a beautiful property worth visiting even if you don't care much about wine or food--which is not to put down the wine. However, there is a downside to the extravagance (see below).

The Pinot Noir rosé I went to try is delicious--dry, crisp and with some delicacy, but with stuffing as well. Aside from the rosé, the tasting room offers two tasting options, an estate tasting of four wines for $10 or a reserve tasting of four for $20--which, frankly, seems a trifle steep to me, especially as the tasting fee is not refunded in either case unless you make a purchase of $100 or more (or over $150 in the case of the reserve tasting). I have to say the wines here seem overpriced--like most California wines. As is too often the case, the consumer is being asked to pay for the unnecessarily expensive facilities, and that is the downside of the meticulously cared-for setting; it's costly. The facilities are beautiful, but when it comes right down to it, entirely unnecessary for the production of fine wine.

Having said that, I enjoyed a crisp 2009 Chardonnay and a 2007 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir (cherries, almonds, something creamy, and with a suggestion of pencil shavings on the nose). The 2008 Quail Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir (big, alcoholic, concentrated and with a hint of oranges) seemed somewhat out of balance to me, but it's young. A 2007 Sonoma Coast Syrah seemed less successful (candy, blueberries, closed tannins), although still in need of time to open up. It could still evolve nicely but it's not very approachable at the moment. Peter, behind the tasting bar, was delightful. Turns out he's an active opera singer who lived for years singing in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The conversation, the Pinot Noir rosé, and the gardens were the highlights of the visit.

Places I'm Visiting: Farmers' Market, Santa Rosa

2011-08-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

I went to the Santa Rosa Farmers' Market this weekend in search of good tomatoes, but I was mostly disappointed. There weren't a lot, and it was mostly hothouse tomatoes on offer. It's still a little too early in the season, I guess. There was much else to see. I picked up some fresh garlic from a stand that was offering five or six different kinds. I chatted with the beekeepers. I nodded hello to the man that sells oysters, although I didn't order any today--not sure exactly why. I listened to the traditional jazz band that was playing. I admired a woman's lilies and noticed that the older woman who sells jams and jellies from Southern recipes was looking a little frail. I hope she is well. I love her pepper jelly and her tomato jelly--although they last me so long that I don't buy either as often as I wish I could. I hadn't been to the market in a long time, but it was a pleasant way to start the day. As tomato season approaches, I'll be going more often in the coming weeks.

Miscellaneous: Fun and Useful Website

2011-07-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

A Website dedicated to promoting a resurgence of rare and little-used words. A friend sent me a link to this interesting Website and it seemed worth passing on to others. The site allows you to "adopt" rare words. By adopting a word you pledge to use it--to help it survive in the English language. As you pass your cursor over the many words on screen, they plead to be chosen, in needy little voices (yes, the words talk). One of my favorite rare words: "bloviate"--something politicians tend to do. Go to Save the Words to check it out.

Found Art: Manhole Cover and Asphalt, Victoria, B.C. (July 27, 2011)

2011-07-27T21:09:00.001-07:00

Walking along a street in Victoria, BC, on my recent trip north to Canada, I saw this radially incised manhole cover surrounded by asphalt patching. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

On the Road: (Pacific Northwest, 2011) Home Again

2011-07-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

I'm home again today, having stayed last night in Reno--at the same hotel I used on the way out, again for $27 a night. I stayed the previous night in Eugene, Oregon. Most of the past two days was spent driving through pretty countryside--lush in southern Oregon, gradually drier and more rocky as I moved into California and Nevada. Along the way I stopped at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, where I took the driving tour of the wetlands there. I got a new life bird, the Redhead, a duck that's not that uncommon, but one I'd never managed to see before. There were hundreds of Eared Grebes (photo), in the breeding plumage we rarely see at home in Sonoma County. Otherwise, it was mostly Coots, Scaup, and White Pelicans--and blue dragonflies, whole clouds of them clinging to the vegetation by the water. Along the way, stopped at a stoplight, I found myself behind a pair of bikers. Check out their license plates (hers says BW8N4ME, his says IBW8N4U).

On the Road: (Pacific Northwest, 2011) Vancouver, WA

2011-07-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Starting out this morning I had intended to head south from Portland, having arrived back there late at night from Victoria, BC, but I got on the highway going north instead of south and found myself in Vancouver--Vancouver, Washington, that is, not back in Canada--in other words, just north of Portland. In finding my way back to the highway I kept seeing signs pointing to Fort Vancouver and references to the Hudson's Bay Company. Intrigued, I decided to follow them. Last time I posted here I remarked that the downside to a largely unplanned road trip like this is that you sometimes miss interesting opportunities because of timing. The flip side is that you sometimes stumble upon things worth seeing.

Fort Vancouver was established by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1825 and eventually grew to a community of about 800 inhabitants at its peak in the mid-1840s. This was the Bay Company's administrative headquarters for all of the northwest, from the Pacific Ocean to the Rockies in the east and San Francisco to the south. It was the center of profitable trapping, trading, and agricultural operations. It appears to have been largely self-sufficient, with its own carpenters, gunsmiths, smithy, and trading post, as well as housing and extensive gardens and orchards, some of which have been recreated. An interesting way to start a day that was otherwise spent heading south as far as Eugene. I took Highway 99, through wine country and farmland, rather than I-5, as the scenery is so much better along the smaller road. Tired from yesterday's long drive, I plan to stay in Eugene tonight and make one more stop before arriving home, probably in Reno because of the cheap casino-town hotels. There's also a good wine bar there I discovered on the way north.