Author: Paul

Paul was off from the day job December 23rd to January 2nd so we declared that Stefania Wine was closed for business that week too.  Even though Jaye put in a couple of days baiting gophers and running a couple of errands, we were shut down.

We stayed in the Bay Area, visited with friends and family and even drove over to Half Moon Bay and Pillar Point to fetch crabs off the dock.

The key challenge for us both was to sit still and vow to ignore the numerous tasks that have accumulated during the year.  Sure the outside of the house needs a fresh coat of paint, and the citrus need pruning as do the roses, but none of those are critical have-to’s that we can’t insert into the calendar for this year.

Instead of chores, we spent a lot of time on the deck reading back issues of National Geographic that stacked up during the last quarter and bird watching.  Each afternoon the robins would invade a neighboring tree, and the cedar waxwings made an appearance along with red headed finch.  Our annual visitor “Frederick” is a yellow warbler and the past few years he’s been back with a mate.  Then later, just as the sun was close to setting, Phoebe came by to bug hunt.

Once the sun went down, the back got pretty chilly so we grabbed a couple of throw blankets and fired up the propane heater.  It was mild enough that we stayed out there pretty late one night, Paul grilled a steak and we ate by candle light. By the time we headed back indoors, it was well past 10 o’clock.

I had one chore that was necessary, putting the Christmas tree away.  After that, it was off to Ranch99 to fetch groceries and pick up Dim Sum for a late breakfast.

The reason I’ve been able to post up several blogs in the past few days with so many photos is that over the course of several days and evenings spent watching football, I finally organized the digital pics from 2011.  I had to buy a new desktop computer last Spring and that’s when my files went out of control.  Some were still on my phone, some on a travel camera, the rest on the laptop, etc.  I corralled them all onto the portable back up drive and organized them.

Paul played chess on his computer, I started two knitting projects, we read books and magazines, bbq’d and opened some great wine, entertained friends and family, drove to the coast for lunch, did a little bit of shopping, did a lot of unwinding.  It was the best vacation in a long time.

As we reflected on 2011, we both realized it was nice to stay home for a change and do nothing.

I’ve done a poor job keeping track of wine competition awards and other accolades.  Everyone loves to see their name in print, right?  Well, most everyone that is.

Paul and I spend a lot of time focusing on producing quality wine that we enjoy so having someone else validate its merits is nice, but we don’t go to great lengths for trophies.

That said, while we were in Colorado and in the midst of a major family crisis, I received an email from Lucinda Gilbert asking if I would please review my bio. for her website on women winemakers.  I still owe her a proper reply and to make any edits to the entries, but after a quick glance through, I’m satisfied with the information she pulled off our website.

(http://www.womenwinemakers.com/)

Then, later in the year, Paul sent me an email he received from Vineyard & Winery Management asking if we would like to participate in their International Women’s Wine Competition.  Well, heck, if I’m going to promote myself on Lucinda’s website, I may as well submit a few and see how we do.

I submitted:  ’09 Chardonnay, ’07 EPR Syrah, ’07 Uvas Cab, ’07 SCM Cab, ’08 SCM Cab, and ’08 Crimson Clover Cab.

And then I forgot about the competition. We were busy with harvest and winemaking and then Thanksgiving with friends and family coming around.  When I finally checked the website to see how we did, I was pleasantly surprised.  Everything but the Chardonnay placed.

1 Silver medal and 4 Bronze

http://www.vwm-online.com/wine_competitions/international_womens/results.asp#472

 

 

The blog image I selected is of the samples of ceviche you can order at Jaguar in Coconut Grove Florida.  It’s a funny little story, but our friend Jorge picked us up from the airport.  He drove us into Coconut Grove, but before dropping us at our hotel, he toured us through the neighborhood real quick and pointed out all of the dining and shopping options.  There’s the usual franchise chain eateries and coffee shops, but he made sure to point us to a handful of independent restaurants and what they feature.  Well, Jaguar was one such location and at one point when Jorge called to check in with us, Paul said “at this point it would be less embarrassing to tell you we’re at Cheesecake Factory than Jaguar”.  The ceviches were fantastic and so were the margaritas.  One thing they do there that I keep forgetting to do at home, is to use clear glass wine bottles to serve water in table-side.  Anyway, that’s the story of the ceviche spoons…part of the Miami trip.

In July we drove to Colorado to meet up with my family.  My brother Mike and his daughter Makana went on a hike up Missouri Mountain, to check off another Fourteener, and didn’t make it back down.  Search and rescue found them after several days and we gathered at his home in Boulder to take care of the necessary arrangements.  In the photo above, I have my arm around Ila, that’s Millies sister that lives in a town nearby to where we stayed.  In all the years I’ve known her I consider her family and was glad for the friendly face during such a shitty time in my life.

A photo of my niece Makana and my brother Mike from a photo they took together in Telluride in 2010.  Each year in June for Fathers Day and Summer Solstice, the would spend the week together and usually hike a 14er, that’s what they call the peaks in the Rockies that are over 14,000 feet.

In October, while we were in New Orleans, Paul said he would like to rent a car and drive up into Mobile, Alabama for lunch and to see what was there.  So we did.  From the French Quarter, we headed to Lake Pontchartrain, drove across it and headed East from there and followed minor roads through less developed areas.  Bay Saint Louis was still in major disrepair since Katrina (2005) and Gulfport Mississippi was clearly struggling to recover still.  The center median along the coastal highway has become a sculpture garden.  Someone carved animals into the tree stumps of trees that were blasted by the hurricane, it was pretty amazing.  The last time I drove to Biloxi was ten years or so ago and to see so much devastation and ruin was heart breaking and even worse was knowing the damage was six years old.

Mobile was smaller than we thought it would be, but we enjoyed oysters and gumbo at Wintzells before heading back.

I keep forgetting about the event in Las Vegas.  Sorry for the blurry pic, it was the best one of the group…this was the annual Wine Amplified event at Mandalay Bay.  The band in 2011 was Train and the event was a huge success.  We got our usual cabana just to the right of the stage and had a great time pouring.  Millie joined us on our “company retreat” and spent the day with us lounging pool side at the cabana at The Green Valley Ranch.

Pretty sure I mentioned these guys earlier in the year, but here they are again. Our new roommates, Fat Cat (far side), and Little Bubby.  I adopted them years ago for a friend and in a bizarre tale of lesbian divorce and custody battle, I ended up with them.  We love having them around and I can’t imagine my life without them ever again.

And with that, I’m wrapping up the highlights and low lights of 2011.  Next up…winemaking related blogs as we kick off pruning on January 7th.

As I started writing all this down I realized we were fairly busy traveling last year.  That would explain the high volume of travel photos and the lack of vineyard & winery pics.  We didn’t get to work with Gerardo as much last year, he found a day job working for an electrician which meant Paul, Millie, and I did a lot more of the work.

 

We started off the year in Seattle in a condo we rented and shared with six friends.  We watched the New Years Eve fireworks from the balcony and watched the sun rise on the Olympic mountains every morning.  Paul drove us to Woodinville for wine tasting, and each afternoon it seemed we were in Pikes Market picking up groceries for that evenings meal.  On my birthday, we caught the Seahawks/Rams game.  The Seattle trip was a great start to the year and definitely a highlight for me.  I took the opportunity of a cheap flight on Southwest and flew back to Seattle in May to see my friend and her baby boy for lunch.

View from our seats at the Seahawks game.

In February the courtyard at Pat O’Briens was perfectly quiet and welcoming with the outdoor heaters on full blast.  On our trip back in October, this courtyard was a zoo as the Quarter filled up with Auburn fans that came in for the LSU/Auburn game in Baton Rogue.  It was actually good to see so many people in town even if it meant waiting for seats in bars and needing reservations for dinner.  One thing we’ve learned in New Orleans is that you don’t need to wait in line for anything, just walk a couple of blocks and you’ll find comparable food and drink nearby.

In July, I accompanied Paul to Minnesota for his day job.  While he was in meetings, I was walking thru the labyrinths of the skywalk and outdoors on possibly the hottest day of summer there.  We popped into Fogo de Chao after work to escape the heat of the day and had a fair amount of caipirinhas before feasting on the endless arrays of meat that come to your table.  The photo above is from one of the indoor shopping areas, part of an indoor fountain that I spotted on my walk.