Memories

We celebrated a late birthday for my dad last week and went over to his house for dinner. The dinner was wonderful. My brother Robert brought sauteed Pheasant for an appetizer plus we had some great cheese and bread. Next we moved to the main course which was the most perfectly roasted beef tenderloin I have had in quite some time with garlic-cheese-mashed potatoes and a salad with candied walnuts, fruit and amazing greens. I was responsible for dessert so, having worked all day I decided to take the easy road and went over to the Patisserie. They have wonderful dessert options and you really can never go wrong! So, did my family get my home made touch? nope...but they got a wonderful ending to a fabulous dinner.

The point of my story was not to talk about the dinner itself but some of the wine we drank with dinner. We had a 2005 Cayuse Camespelo, 1996 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1992 Dunn Vineyards Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. When I ran over to the newly opened bottle of the Dunn, I poured myself a rather large glass then proceeded to sink my nose into the glass. I was immediately overcome with this totally nostalgic feeling and I laughed to myself. Here are my crazy thoughts...most people smell something and it reminds them of an event in their past...maybe a campfire outside, or perfume or a smell that reminds them of visiting their grandparents. Some people hear a song and remember an old friend or something they were doing in an earlier part of their life. I haven't really had a nostalgic feeling in a long time, or at least that I can remember, and all of a sudden I was overtaken with a feeling of my young adulthood. O.k., more specifically my early 20's. It came with the smell of the Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet...the deep cherry, the earth and intensity that filled my nose shot me back to the late 80's when my dad would share a glass with me. I remember this being the first wine I loved. I have 10 billion great memories of the Dunn Cabernet because it is the wine my dad would take out when I would come home for special occasions. I think he did this because he knew I loved it...(I think he did too). So, dad...(and Randy Dunn) thanks for the memories!

Wine to Barrel

Our first red wine of the year has been pressed to barrel. It's Merlot from Stone Tree. Beautiful color and concentration. We filled four barrels with free run juice (no squeezy, squeezy) just pure juice that gently drains into a highly sanitized holding tank that is then gently pumped into an empty barrel. Somewhere in all the gentleness a hose must have tried to jump ship because Steffan is about 75% purple. He has wine "legs" on his legs...actually little rivers of purple stains that flowed down his leg. His sweatshirt and shorts that were once gray have a nice hue of purple on them as well. I congratulated him then said, "good job, only 98.5% more wine to barrel down until you're done!"