My OperaMore Pinot Noir, Less Smoked Meat
Friday, June 30, 2006 4:23:10 AM
In and Around the Russian River Valley
Miles: 173
MPG: 52.4
After sleeping in – a rare treat on this trip – we headed back north towards wine country. Not really knowing where to go, we struck out for the Russian River Valley. Again, not knowing too much about that area other than the fact that we had had some good wines from somewhere around there before, we picked one at random to start at. Jon chose the Hop Kiln Winery, not because it was well known, had a good recommendation, or even because it was scenic. Rather, he chose it because there was an M3 halftrack, complete with quad mounted .30 cal AA guns, parked in front of the winery.
Lesson learned: Military hardware and machine guns are not a good indicator of quality wine. We have also learned that the amount of food available in the tasting room has an inverse relationship to the “quaffability” of the wine; the large selection of smoked meats should have been a dead give away.
Jessica chose next – Rabbit Ridge, which she was sure had been recommended by a close family friend with superb taste in wine (Susie Heyman, of course). After one tasting, it was pretty clear that Susie would never have sampled, let alone recommended, their wine. Think turpentine with just a hint of formaldehyde. It was on special for $3 a bottle. The next cheapest wine we saw all day was $23. Yuck.
Moving on, Jon got to choose again: Perry Mason has a winery! The staff at the Raymond Burr winery were quite nice, even when Jon asked the arguably stupid question “So, does ol’ Raymond do much with the winery or just put his name on the label?” “Not too much,” was the reply, “especially since he died in 1993.”
After that, Jon decided to cross-examine some of the other patrons and get a few good recommendations. The wine went improved dramatically from there.
After another tasting or two, we headed back to San Rafael to have dinner with Corey and Carol and take their aging dog, Annie, for “a walk.”
At 19 years old, Annie is not the spriest of creatures.
The highlight of the walk/carry around the block was the neighbor’s house, which seems to prove that there are no zoning laws in town. Jon wanted to take some flamingo photos of the house, but Corey asked him not to, since they have already been sued twice by the fine gentleman. The surreptitiously taken pictures don’t quite due it justice, but think contemporary Tijuana tin impressionism meets dilapidated post-modern sprawl-ism, wrapped in construction site chic. Wow.
Miles: 173
MPG: 52.4
After sleeping in – a rare treat on this trip – we headed back north towards wine country. Not really knowing where to go, we struck out for the Russian River Valley. Again, not knowing too much about that area other than the fact that we had had some good wines from somewhere around there before, we picked one at random to start at. Jon chose the Hop Kiln Winery, not because it was well known, had a good recommendation, or even because it was scenic. Rather, he chose it because there was an M3 halftrack, complete with quad mounted .30 cal AA guns, parked in front of the winery.
Lesson learned: Military hardware and machine guns are not a good indicator of quality wine. We have also learned that the amount of food available in the tasting room has an inverse relationship to the “quaffability” of the wine; the large selection of smoked meats should have been a dead give away.
Jessica chose next – Rabbit Ridge, which she was sure had been recommended by a close family friend with superb taste in wine (Susie Heyman, of course). After one tasting, it was pretty clear that Susie would never have sampled, let alone recommended, their wine. Think turpentine with just a hint of formaldehyde. It was on special for $3 a bottle. The next cheapest wine we saw all day was $23. Yuck.
Moving on, Jon got to choose again: Perry Mason has a winery! The staff at the Raymond Burr winery were quite nice, even when Jon asked the arguably stupid question “So, does ol’ Raymond do much with the winery or just put his name on the label?” “Not too much,” was the reply, “especially since he died in 1993.”
After that, Jon decided to cross-examine some of the other patrons and get a few good recommendations. The wine went improved dramatically from there.
After another tasting or two, we headed back to San Rafael to have dinner with Corey and Carol and take their aging dog, Annie, for “a walk.”
At 19 years old, Annie is not the spriest of creatures.
The highlight of the walk/carry around the block was the neighbor’s house, which seems to prove that there are no zoning laws in town. Jon wanted to take some flamingo photos of the house, but Corey asked him not to, since they have already been sued twice by the fine gentleman. The surreptitiously taken pictures don’t quite due it justice, but think contemporary Tijuana tin impressionism meets dilapidated post-modern sprawl-ism, wrapped in construction site chic. Wow.
