"i'm not drinking any fucking merlot!"

[rone]

Mom and Aunt Martha flew in last week to visit, and Kim and i brought them along on our 10th anniversary trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, which we've been wanting to visit ever since we saw Sideways.  It's absolutely beautiful down here, and so is Santa Barbara, which we visited today.  Today we also had tasty æbleskiver for breakfast (i also had medisterpølse and eggs).

Yesterday in Los Olivos, we went to taste at this one room that collects wine from vineyards that don't have their own tasting room.  It was run by a man whom i dubbed the Pinot Noir Nazi, perhaps like Sideways's Miles but gruffer and without the somehow charming dysfunction.  He declared that cabernet franc was a blending grape and was wasted when vinified on its own, and the same went for merlot, dolcetto, and tempranillo.  I just nodded and said, "I see."  He did pour us an absolutely fabulous pinot noir from Fiddlehead Cellars, and i passed his snob test by correctly pronouncing Meritage and Lompoc.

Comments

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

Hey, I didn't know you were down here. Give a brother some warning next time.

I had a decent tempranillo some years ago in NY that was all stainless steel, no oak at all. It was good.

But I did not have any good pinot noir in all of Santa Ynez. The amount of bad pinot in that area is just. fucking. staggering.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Maybe we could meet for coffee tomorrow morning as we drive back?

As for the pinot noir, i'm not surprised at all; make a lot of a particular type of wine in an area and Sturgeon's Law will come to the fore.