Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: White Japanese Flowering Plum (2011)

Two or three blooms opened today on the white Japanese flowering plum behind the house. This is Prunus mume, a wonderfully fragrant plant when in bloom. It's usually among the first plants to flower in the new year, but this is earlier than usual. The plant first bloomed on January 21 in 2009. In 2010, the plum first bloomed on January 19, for a year of 363 days. A year according to Prunus mume was was considerably shorter this time around, at 350 days.

[Update: The pink-flowered version of this plum bloomed January 19, 2011. I don't have a record for the first blossoms of the tree in earlier years.]

Miscellaneous: First Rain of the New Year

Belatedly I report the rain we had on December 31 and on the first Day of the New Year. Rain on those days added 0.65 inches to our total for the 2010-2011 rainy season, which now stands at 17.5 inches. Some areas of Santa Rosa have had a couple of more inches than we have. The historical average for January 4 is 13.26 inches in Santa Rosa, so we remain well ahead of normal.

Found Art: Frost Patterns (January 4, 2011)

Fascinating patterns today on the tops of cars. Early morning found art. Found art of a few hours' duration.

Found Art: Street Arrows, Berkeley (January 2, 2011)

More found art from Berkeley at the end of last year. This arrow painted over another arrow on a black asphalt street caught my eye.

Birds I'm Watching: Sonoma Valley Christmas Bird Count (2010)

I participated in the 2010 Sonoma Valley Christmas Bird Count today. This was the 111th year of Christmas bird counts in the United States. I helped count in seven different locales in the Sonoma Valley, most in the hills above Hwy. 12 in the Glen Ellen area, many of them ordinarily closed to the public (private preserves and ranches) but including three places open to the public--Quarryhill Botanical Garden, the grounds of Imagery Estate winery, and Cavedale Rd. In total, we saw over a thousand birds of 55 species: Canada goose, Bufflehead, Hooded merganser, Common merganser, Pied-billed grebe, Double-crested cormorant, Great blue heron, Great egret, Turkey vulture, White-tailed kite, Cooper's hawk, Red-shouldered hawk, Red-tailed hawk, Kestrel, Merlin, Killdeer (pictured), Wilson's snipe, Mourning dove, Anna's hummingbird, Belted kingfisher, Acorn woodpecker, Red-breasted sapsucker, Hairy woodpecker, Northern flicker, Black phoebe, Steller's jay, Scrub jay, Crow, Raven, Chestnut-backed chickadee, Oak titmouse, Bushtit, White-breasted nuthatch, Bewick's wren, Ruby-crowned kinglet, Western bluebird, Hermit thrush, Robin, Wrentit, Mockingbird, Starling, Cedar waxwing, Yellow-rumped warbler, Townsend's warbler, Spotted towhee, California towhee, Song sparrow, White-crowned sparrow, Golden-crowned sparrow, Dark-eyed junco, Red-winged blackbird, Purple finch, House finch, Lesser goldfinch, and American goldfinch. A very cold but entertaining day.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Birding Spots

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Wellington Vineyards Sonoma Valley Petit Verdot

I opened a bottle of the 2007 Wellington Vineyards Petit Verdot a few nights ago, not expecting too much from it. That is not intended as a reflection on the producer. On the contrary, Wellington is one of my favorite Sonoma County wineries. I say it simply because Petit Verdot  has always seemed to me a grape best used in blends. Most single-variety bottlings I've tasted have been fairly uninteresting. The grape was traditionally planted in Bordeaux for qualities similar to Cabernet Sauvignon, but it appears to have fallen out of favor there because it tends to ripen very late--even later than Cabernet. According to Jancis Robinson, Petit Verdot is at its best only when it's able to fully ripen, and that frequently doesn't happen in Bordeaux. It would seem then to have greater promise in California, and it has increasingly been planted here in the past 20 years or so. If this wine from Wellington is any indication, it deserves more attention than I've been willing to give it in the past.

The wine was an inky, deep, purple-red. Besides red fruit, it had interesting hints of citrus and cinnamon on the nose and even something a little suggestive of curry, along with floral undertones. The nose was complex and it continued to evolve as my evening with the wine progressed. Later, the wine suggested gingerbread. There was something spicy about the flavors as well. The wine was nicely balanced between a solid core of subtle fruit; bright, fine-grained tannins; and good acidity. The tannins suggest this wine will benefit from another two or three years in bottle--although it's certainly drinking well now. With a little air and time in the glass, the wine softened to reveal some chocolatey flavors and it developed a silky, almost creamy mouthfeel. Delicious wine. Highly recommended. Purchased directly from the winery.

I tasted an excellent 2006 Merlot from Wellington Vineyards as well not long ago. Otherwise, I recommend this winery for its white wines made from Rhône grapes such as Rousanne and Marsanne, for its single-vineyard Cabernet wines, and for its Victory bottling--a Bordeaux-style blend made only in superior years. Wellington has also made some truly excellent Grenache. The tasting room is one of the friendliest in the Sonoma Valley, and the wines are very reasonably priced--which is a welcome change from the usual pattern in California--expensive wines that don't deliver. I also like the fact that Wellington Vineyards is a completely solar-powered winery.

[Update: I was in the winery today (April 20, 2010). Jannis behind the counter reminded me that this was a very small single-variety bottling of extra grapes leftover from a batch that went into the Victory--which is to say, there is no more of this wine....]

Wines I'm Drinking: 2009 Girard Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc

I recently tasted the 2009 Girard Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.  The wine was an attractive pale gold. The nose was fairly closed, but offered hints of toasted grain, and limes. There was little of the typical Sauvignon Blanc gooseberry scent at first, although, with a little time in the glass, the wine began to suggest its origins a little more distinctly. Crisp but with a rush of fruity sweetness on the mid-palate. Good length. Decent acid. The wine seemed fresh and clean, but I wouldn't have objected to a bit more raciness. Not exciting, but decent everyday wine. Not too outrageously priced at $11.89 at Costco.

Found Art: Berkeley Sidewalk (December 29, 2010)

More found art found in Berkeley on a recent visit. Look down. There is art under your feet almost everywhere you go--but especially on city streets.

Found Art: Mannequins, Berkeley (December 28, 2010)

On a recent trip to Berkeley, I snapped a few photos of interesting things I saw. I liked these mannequins in a shop window. I liked the light on them. They seemed like sculptures, or like figures painted by De Chirico.

A few minutes after photographing them and moving on, I walked back down the street, passing the window again. The figures had been dressed and the lights had been moved. Found art of a few minutes' duration.

Miscellaneous: Rain (Christmas Week, 2010)

It's rained off and on the entire past week or so. Today we got something of a respite, but more rain is predicted for tomorrow. We've had another 1.45 inches since last reporting (on the 21st). That brings our total for the 2010-2011 rainy season to 16.85 inches. The historical average accumulated rainfall for this date in Santa Rosa is 11.52 inches, so we remain well ahead of normal.

Found Art: Drying Peppers (December 27, 2010)

Drying bell peppers in the sun for a while seems to intensify their flavors. They're also very pretty to look at when cut up and arrayed in the sun--even if it's feeble late-afternoon sun, in the winter, between showers.... Found art. Beautiful.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Sangiovee Rosé bottled

On the morning of Christmas Eve, I bottled the 2010 Sangiovese rosé, a simpler process than it often is because I had already racked the wine a couple of weeks earlier and there was no sediment to deal with. We got thirty bottles of rather pale wine--disappointing compared with the lovely 2009 I made. The weather in the past year was some of the worst in memory. A very wet spring, a cold summer, and late rains were all a problem. Some vineyards made no wine at all. We survived the sudden hot spell in late August (I think it was) that ruined many vines (growers pulled leaves earlier in the year to try to prevent mold and encourage ripening, but that left the grapes exposed to the blistering heat and sun, causing many to shrivel). In the end, our Sangiovese grapes never really ripened, and the wine is an expression of the year we had. Quite drinkable, but thin and not very satisfying. One can only hope for better weather next year....

Miscellaneous: Lemons and Christmas

I spent the morning bottling wine again (more on that subject soon). Working out in the driveway, I was admiring the bumper crop of lemons and other citrus fruit we have on the trees this year.

It reminded me of Christmas holidays I've spent in Europe (this being Christmas Eve, it seemed natural to think of such things)--specifically Christmas in Italy. In Italy (at least in Tuscany) it's the custom to decorate with branches of lemons and oranges, which is very pretty (although to someone living in Tokyo at the time--the land of the $3 lemon--it seemed terribly extravagant). Italy is a nice place to spend Christmas, although Paris isn't bad either. I spent most of the summer in France this past year (2010). Wish I were there now--although I hear the weather is wretched at the moment....

Wines I'm drinking: 2005 Bodegas Gran Ducay "Monte Ducay" Cariñena Reserva

I recently tasted the 2005 Bodegas Gran Ducay "Monte Ducay" Cariñena Reserva from Trader Joe's. Although not indicated on the label, I suspect this is made mostly from Tempranillo, probably with some Grenache thrown in. It comes from Cariñena, one of the four Denominación de Origen wine growing regions in Aragon, in northeast Spain. Cariñena was originally known for its native grape of the same name, although we more commonly see the French spelling, Carignan (or Carignane in the US; confusingly, the locals often call it Mazuelo), but today Tempranillo, Grenache, and other grapes appear to be grown more widely here. Traditionally Cariñena made rough, highly alcoholic red wines mostly for blending, but a switch to better grape varieties, lower alcohol levels, and modern equipment has resulted in lighter, fruitier wines more suited to modern palates. This wine is a good example of the modern style. It comes unusually packaged, the entire bottle wrapped in paper. Tasting notes follow.

The wine was a medium blackish-red color, not really showing much age but without any of the purple hues of a young wine either. Bright, cassis-scented nose with hints of vanilla suggestive of aging in American oak. Generally, a fresh, attractive nose, if not highly distinctive in any way. Later there was a hint of cloves. Light but balanced on the palate. Good acidity with a rush of fruity sweetness on the mid-palate, balanced by fine-grained tannins. Overall the impression the wine gave was a trifle rough, but appealing. Light, fruity, tasty, and with a buttery quality on a moderately long finish. Good everyday wine and an excellent value at $5.99 at Trader Joe's.

Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: Cyclamen Coum (2011)

Although it's still 2010, I count this as the first blossom of 2011 in the yard because this plant usually blooms in the first week of January, and little else will be coming into bloom any time soon, except for candytuft. This tiny little cyclamen has done wonderfully. I planted two or three a few years ago and there is now a thick mat of leaves about two feet square. The plant appears to spread both by underground roots and by seed.

This flower opened on December 21, 2010. Cyclamen coum started to bloom on January 3, 2010 last winter and on January 8 in 2009. Thus, a year according to this plant was 352 days this season, 360 days in the preceding season.

Food I'm Eating: Crab Cakes

I recently got the recipe friends use to make what have consistently been the best crab cakes I've ever tasted--better than any restaurant crab cakes I've had. I have the directions scribbled on the back of a post card. They're certain to get lost. Rather than annoy friends by asking for the recipe again, I record it here. This strategy has the added benefit of passing it on to the rest of the world--not that this recipe is unique; it may be a fairly standard one. All I know is that it works. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• One pound of crab meat
• A couple of slices of bread with the crust removed (or, use panko-style bread crumbs)
• Milk to soak the bread in
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• One teaspoon Old Bay Spice (I found it in the seafood section at Safeway)
• One tablespoon baking powder
• One tablespoon mayonnaise
• One tablespoon chopped parsley
• One tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• One shallot diced small
• One beaten egg

Directions: You can soak the bread in the milk to make it soft and then mix this in with the main ingredients as a binder, but I prefer to forget the bread, form the cakes, and then dip these in panko bread crumbs, in which case you get a slightly crunchy outside coating. The drawback is that the cakes don't hold together as well and need to be turned with care. In any case, first, sauté the shallots until just golden, reserve, and allow to cool while following the next steps. Put the crab meat into an appropriately sized bowl, add all the ingredients (including the shallots now and the bread if you've decided to use it) and mix well. Form the mixture into cakes. Dip in the bread crumbs until coated (if you didn't use the bread as a binder). Fry the cakes in a little olive oil and butter until golden brown. Garnish with lemon wedges and sprigs of parsley. Serve immediately. A well-chilled dry white wine is an excellent accompaniment. Champagne is ideal. Otherwise, Chablis (real Chablis), a crisp Marsanne or Rousanne from Wellington Vineyards, or wines like Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, St. Veran, or Pouilly Fuissé would be my choice.

Found Art: Weathered Table (December 20, 2010)

On a recent trip to Berkeley, I found much serendipitous art. This scratched and weathered table top on Fourth St., with its interestingly placed hardware, caught my eye. It reminded me of something by Barcelona-born artist Antoni Tapies. I'll be posting more from Berkeley in the coming days.

Books I'm Reading: Champagne

I've just finished reading Champagne, by Don and Petie Kladstrup (Harper Perennial, 2006). The book is subtitled How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed over War and Hard Times. The book, as the subtitle suggests, is a brief look at the vicissitudes the Champagne region has suffered over the years--from repeated military invasions to the invasion of phylloxera (the deadly root louse that nearly wiped out all of France's wine production in the late-1800s). This breezy history of the region, the wine, and the people who have made Champagne (especially figures that have had an important influence on its history--including Attila the Hun, Veuve Clicquot, Dom Pérignon, Louis IV, and Napoleon) is an easy page-turner, but entertaining and informative nevertheless. Good light reading for a rainy afternoon. By the same authors as Wine and War.

Rain: Nearly Steady Rain (December 17-21, 2010)

In the past few days, it's rained off and on, and we've had pretty much steady rain since last night (the night of the 20th). So far, we've accumulated another 2.75 inches since last reporting, it continues to rain, and more rain is expected--through Christmas at least. That brings our total to 15.15 inches as of around noon on the 21st, but that will probably rise in the next few days. The historical average for December 20 in Santa Rosa is 9.31 inches, so we remain well ahead of normal rainfall levels.

[Update: On the evening of the 21st, we got another 0.25 inches, bringing the total to 15.4 inches.]

Birds I'm Watching: Spring Lake (December 15, 2010)

I joined a Madrone Audubon Society bird walk around Spring Lake in Santa Rosa today. I saw 45 species, the group about 50. The highlight was a Pacific loon on the water--a very unusual bird for this location. Otherwise, mostly the usual suspects, although Eared grebe is also fairly unusual here and the Goldeneyes were females, making it hard (for me anyway) to tell if any of them was a Barrow's goldeneye (a much less common bird, but one of these has been reported in the past couple of days). Birds sighted were: Canada goose, Mallard, Bufflehead, Common goldeneye, Ruddy duck, Pacific loon, Pied-billed grebe, Horned grebe, Eared grebe, Double-crested cormorant, Great blue heron, Great egret (pictured), Snowy egret, Black-crowned night heron, Green heron, Turkey vulture, Red-shouldered hawk, Sharp-shinned hawk (probable), Virginia rail (heard), Common moorhen, American coot, Ring-billed gull, Anna's hummingbird, Belted kingfisher, Acorn woodpecker, Black phoebe, Steller's jay, Scrub jay, Crow, Raven, Bushtits, Bewick's wren, Ruby-crowned kinglet, Western bluebird, Yellow-rumped warbler, Spotted towhee, California towhee, Song sparrow, White-crowned sparrow, Golden-crowned sparrow, Dark-eyed junco, Slate-colored junco (single bird, probable), House finch, Lesser goldfinch, and American goldfinch.

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

Miscellaneous: Rain (December 14-16)

Drizzle over the past few days and real rain last night added another 0.50 inches to our 2010-2011 precipitation total. We have now had 12.45 inches of rain this season. The historical average for this date (December 16) is about 8.3 inches in Santa Rosa, so we remain solidly ahead of schedule. Average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa has historically been 31.01 inches.

Wines I'm Making: Bottling 2010 Sangiovese Rosé, 2009 Zinfandel

Yesterday I racked this year's Sangiovese rosé off its lees and a deposit of tartaric acid crystals (shown in the photo). This wine always forms a crust of crystals over the lees, making it very easy to siphon clear. I also did a final racking and sulfiting of the rest of the 2009 Zinfandel we made from the neighbor's grapes. For reasons that aren't clear to me, the wine from this second (five-gallon) container seems to have better flavor and more body than the 2009 Zin I've already bottled (from a three-gallon container).

Today I'll bottle the Zinfandel. I'll let the rosé sit another week or so and then bottle it before Christmas. Tasting the wine yesterday, it seems pleasant, but it's much less flavorful than the excellent rosé we made last year. I expected that. The weather was so cool for so long in the summer of 2010 that the Sangiovese just didn't ripen fully.

Music I'm Listening to: Gil Shaham, The San Francisco Symphony

Heard a moderately disappointing concert in San Francisco last night, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. On the program were Henry Cowell's Synchrony, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 (Gil Shaham soloist), and Harmonielehre, by John Adams--choices that seemed a rather odd juxtaposition of the modern and the classical. I didn't particularly care for the Cowell, although I'm not sure it got the most sympathetic of readings from MTT. I'm afraid I would have to say the same about the Mozart. Shaham played well, but MTT's direction seemed flat and lifeless, particularly in the middle movement, which had a rather droning effect. The dramatic swelling effects of the third movement seemed stifled, the dynamics all wrong. Was it just me? Also, the sound seemed distant and muffled. I've had that sensation once before at Davies Symphony Hall, when hearing Itzhak Perlman in October 2009. Last night I was in seat Y107. At the Perlman concert I was in AA107--same seat two rows back. I wonder if there's a dead spot there? Still, that doesn't explain MTT's apparent apathy during the Mozart.

The night was saved by hearing what I thought was an excellent performance of Harmonielehre, by modern composer John Adams. To my surprise, Adams (pictured) appeared onstage afterward. He seemed very pleased with the performance, and the audience was very appreciative as well. Harmonielehre, nominally a minimalist composition, doesn't suffer from the monotony the word "minimalist" often conjures up. I felt like I was riding a scintillating wave throughout, but particularly in the rousing first and third movements of this long (40-minute), three-movement composition from 1985. It was almost hypnotizing in places, but never boring. I'm sure it is a taxing piece for the musicians to play (the cellos, for example, have to bow identical patterns over and over again, and the percussion has to maintain the same difficult rhythms for long stretches, although I noticed that the cello section had been divided where possible, so that one group would take over while others rested briefly). The San Francisco Symphony rose to the challenge, and the conductor seemed engaged in this case. Very enjoyable.

Photo of John Adams by Deborah O'Grady, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony

Books I'm Reading: The Story of Sushi

I've just finished reading Trevor Corson's The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice (Harper Perennial, 2008--originally published 2007 in hardcover as The Zen of Fish).

I was a bit disappointed when I first opened the book. It starts with details of the day of a student at an American sushi school. I had not been expecting a narrative about Americans learning to make sushi in the United States--but that turned out to be only a small part of the book, a core around which author Trevor Corson has wrapped a rich roll of facts about everything from the origins of sushi as a way of preserving fish that developed in parts of southern China, Laos, and Northern Thailand to the extravagances of inside-out sushi roll innovations that developed in Los Angeles. Along the way, there's a great deal about the biology of the fish we eat (and their parasites), about how we perceive flavors, about how this fermented fish dish turned into a cheap snack food in Edo (today Tokyo) in the 19th century, and how Japanese-style sushi was transformed into the trendy international food it is today, mostly by chefs in the US. The stories of students struggling (and ultimately triumphing) at the California Sushi Academy has its own interest. It's not only a vehicle for conveying the wealth of information about sushi this book contains. It helps to give us a look at the future of sushi, and it adds a poignant note. I was left wondering how these young chefs will fare in a world of rapidly growing demand for fresh fish from sources that are already alarmingly overfished in many cases.

Having lived in Japan for nearly 20 years, I know that my experience reading this book will have been somewhat unusual. I suspect people less familiar with Japan and sushi will struggle to fully grasp some of the ideas. How many will be able to immediately visualize a gunkan--the little seaweed-skirted "battleships" that are used to serve soft, loose toppings such as ikura (salmon roe), kaibashira (adductor muscles of various shellfish), and uni (sea urchin), or see in their mind's eye a sushi chef doing katsura-muki? To their credit, the author and publishers have included a useful glossary, a good index, and an impressive bibliography--not that the latter would be immediately helpful. Perhaps it doesn't matter, though: most people today will simply turn to the Internet if they want more on a gunkan (try a Google search on "sushi gunkan").

The author wants the reader to understand what a traditional sushi bar is like in Japan, and what the experience of eating sushi is like with a trusted chef. Much of what passes for sushi in America seems slapdash and overblown to a traditionalist. At the same time the author is not judgmental. He doesn't criticize what sushi has become in the United States. He merely reports on it, in one or two places letting his characters convey their sense of loss stemming from the way sushi has changed (but note that the "characters" are all real people with their real names given; this is not fiction. Their conversations were recorded on the spot or taken down in interviews, sources and dates meticulously noted). The author seems to accept that there is evolution in all things and that there will always be those that celebrate the new and those that treasure the traditional. He seems to say there is room enough for both approaches.

Having said that, Corson's longing to help non-Japanese understand the true ethos of the sushi bar is palpable. The author points out that there are three ways to order sushi in Japan--you can order a set course at a fixed price; you can order favorites by the piece (okonomi); or you can allow the chef to prepare a course of what he (and in Japan it's invariably a he) believes to be the day's best selections and in the order that shows them--and the chef's skills--off best (omakase). Corson suggests that it's only through this last approach that the most sublime of sushi experiences is possible. He is probably right, but there are caveats that I think need to be emphasized.

Because sushi bars in Japan generally don't have menus (beyond indications of daily specials on chalkboards or on handwritten pieces of paper tacked up on the wall), ordering okonomi or omakase is often a gamble--particularly when you're a first-time customer. Not knowing what your meal will cost ahead of time is not entirely unknown in the West (you've probably ordered a "special" before without asking your server its price), but it's a fundamentally alien concept, especially in the US. Trying a new sushi bar can be surprisingly expensive (emphasis on "surprise"). There are unscrupulous chefs that overcharge, charge according to their mood, or charge more or less because they like or dislike the customer. That's unfair and it feels like being taken for an unnecessarily long ride in a taxi in an unfamiliar city. In my view, Corson underplays the potential for abuse in the system, but he is right in saying that by establishing a relationship with an honest and talented sushi chef (becoming a regular customer and being open to new things), there can be a great deal more to the sushi experience than plates of excessively sauced-up rolls full of the fattiest fishes on top of piles of overdressed greens--which is what sushi in America often is. An excellent read. Highly recommended.

Birds I'm Watching: Pine Siskins (December 10, 2010)

Another rainy day today. Sitting idly by the window, watching the bird feeder, I noticed a bird that looked unfamiliar. From a distance I think I would have dismissed it as a female House Finch, but the streaking was too strong, the bird was too small for a House Finch (about the size of a Lesser Goldfinch), and I noticed a hint of yellow in the folded wings--all of which said Pine Siskin to me. Eventually five showed up, quite aggressively shooing away other birds that tried to use the feeder.

I suppose Pine Siskins have been in the yard before. I probably simply never bothered to look closely enough to tell. A new feeder closer to the window probably helped. This, however, is the first time I've had a good look at one and known what I was looking at. That brings my Sonoma County total to 200 species, my life total to 325, and makes a 54th yardbird. I got a good photo of one of them, despite shooting through a window. Got a nice shot of an Oak Titmouse as well (below).

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Birding Spots

Rain: Clear Now After Three Days of Drizzle (December 6-9, 2010)

It's finally cleared this afternoon after nearly three days of rain and drizzle. At this location we got another 0.85 inches of rain, bringing our 2010-2011 precipitation total to 11.95 inches. The historical average for this time of the season is about 7.5 inches, so we remain well ahead of normal for the moment.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2006 Bodegas Eguren "Mercedes Eguren" Shiraz/Tempranillo

I picked up the 2006 Bodegas Eguren "Mercedes Eguren" Shiraz/Tempranillo--a wine made in Spain's Castilla region--at Oliver's Market in Santa Rosa a few days ago, not really knowing anything about the wine. I was interested in large part because I have enjoyed a few good Shiraz wines made in this part of Spain recently and thought this one might be worth a try, although it's 50% Tempranillo. I'm glad I decided to try it. I enjoyed this and thought it reasonably priced, at $8.99 a bottle. Tasting notes follow.

The wine had a rather interesting color. It was a fairly pale medium red--not at all the inky purple-black that Shiraz wines often are. Although this is only 50% Shiraz, I still expected the wine to be darker in color. The wine didn't look especially young or old either. The nose was initially suggestive of caramel and cranberries, although rather closed at first. Later there was something of the white pepper scent Shiraz wines often have. On the palate the wine came across as fairly simple but refined and immediately appealing, with a soft, sweet fruitiness. The tannins were restrained, but the wine had enough grip to make it seem at least somewhat substantial. The tannins were delicate and integrated with a woody sweetness, mostly on the mid-palate. Good length. Sweetish, woody, delicately tannic finish. Overall, not a profound wine, but clean, well made, easy to drink, and of sufficient character to keep it interesting for more than just the first glass. Recommended for everyday drinking. 

Found Art: Frosted Leaf (December 7, 2010)

Although it was comparatively warm overnight and in the morning today, last week saw some of the coldest nights we've had so far this season. It's always interesting in the morning afterward to see what temporary paintings and sculptures the frost has made. I particularly liked this frosted gum tree leaf in someone's lawn, looking rather like a starfish, I thought. Found art. Beautiful.

Birds I'm Watching: Evening Grosbeaks

I drove over to Apollo Way, in southwestern Santa Rosa, this morning pursuing reports that there were migrating Evening grosbeaks to be seen. After a little searching, I found a tree full of them. There were about 30. These are fairly unusual birds in Sonoma County--and very pretty. They look rather like giant goldfinches with oversized beaks.

The birds were eating the red berries of the Chinese pistachio tree (or Chinese pistache), which mostly attracts bluebirds in my neighborhood. This is Pistacia chinensis, not Pistacia vera, the tree that produces the familiar pistachio nut. The upper photo here is a male grosbeak, the lower photo shows a female. This sighting brings my Sonoma County species total to 199, my life total to 324.

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

Miscellaneous: Rain (December 4-6 2010)

Today was the first clear day in several days. It rained throughout the weekend, adding another 1.2 inches of precipitation here. That brings our 2010-2011 total to 11.1 inches. Average historical rainfall in Santa Rosa is about 7.49 inches for December 6, so we are well ahead of normal so far this rainy season.