Monday, May 24, 2010

Wine Allotments

Funny how getting notified that one of my annual wine allocations from either Napa or Sonoma always brings a smile to my lips. Living here now allows me moments of decadent culinary pleasures and such rarified liquid pleasures that I truly feel blessed.

I can say that so honestly now. Here I am in New York City today; downtown even, and running around my old neighborhood eating and drinking like a king.  Yet here I am writing about all of those pleasures that I enjoy so very much when I am back in St. Helena.  

I took a ride with my kids and their friend Jason last week up to Dry Creek to pick up my 2008 Zinfandel from A. Rafanelli. Getting those kids to jump in the car and cruise through Napa, Knights, Alexander Valley and then into Geyserville and Dry Creek Sonoma wasn't as easy as it looks. A bribe was offered. Stopping at the Candy Store on the square in Healdsburg for a sugar fix and the promise of real good Mexican food was accepted faster than I expected.

The ride over on a Saturday morning brought less traffic than imagined. The roads were clear, the music and scenery perfect. Leaving the kids outside I went inside to get my wine and naturally a few tastes of all the new releases. The Zins were of course just the way I like them. Full bodied, balanced dark fruit and the proper acidity that promised me it would behave in a few years and deliver back to me the most authentic Dry Creek Zinfandel imaginable.

I love these wines and 2008 looks like a very special, dark concentrated wine with a special night of barbeque in its future. 

No comments:

Post a Comment