Just gotta package dropped off from UPS containing two bottles of wine. Did I order them? Well, in a manner of speaking, yes.

But I didn’t pay for them – at least not in a U.S. Legal Tender kind of way.

I’d tell you a little bit more – especially about the rubber chicken – but frankly, I’m having my first gin martini in weeks, and it’s tasting too good right now (not quite like chicken, perhaps) to dilute its effects (to put it mildly) with a follow-on wine scoring of two wines I surely can’t wait (on any other day) to rate.

Not that I’m chicken, mind you.

OK, that’s a lot of noncommital parenthetical crap. But yep, you’re on the cusp of the winehiker’s inaugural foray into expert (if not paid professional) wine-reviewing gloryoskyness.

And yep, you saw it here first. Stay tuned, ladies and genitals.

~winehiker

Good morning, class!  I have an easy assignment for you today. Just follow the simple directions below.

Ready?  Begin!

1. Click this link.
2. In the new web page that you see, under Review/Rate, add your first name in the Author field.
3. Write any comments you’d like people to read in the Comments field.
4. Select 10 for a numerical rating.  (OK, OK: select any number that you feel is appropriate as it regards my blog’s value to you.)
5. Enter the 6-character Security code that you see in the box.
6. Click Rate This Blog!

Wasn’t that easy, class?  Yes?  Good!

And now, it’s time for recess!

~winehiker

Hiking, mountaineering, fishing, camping, food, wine, and blogspeak. Not to mention miles and miles of driving and flying – for all of us except Tom C., who lives (no, exults!) upon the proud flanks of Northern California’s premier volcano, Mt. Shasta. That’s what’s in store for us outdoor scribes one juicy weekend next month.

Wait a minute – blogspeak?

Well sure! After all, we outdoor bloggers have got to have something in common to talk about.

We’ve been lurking on each other’s blog sites. Heaven knows why. But now we’re enjoying a rather spirited excitement about our pending rendezvous.

Why are we planning a rendezvous? We don’t really know that, either. But I’m sure we’ll figure it out, and have a lot of good outdoorsy fun doing it.

What follows is a boiled-down slumgullion from our recent correspondence. Call it “collected threads from us bloggerheads.”

Tom M. of Two-Heeled Drive: Hey Tom, we need some advice on the environs around Shasta. What can you tell us about fishing/hiking/camping locales around the mountain, and are any of these close enough to nearby trailheads that the mountaineers in our midst could still get in some time on the slopes? For now Horse Camp is OK, but we’re not averse to car camping.

Tom C. of Trout Underground: Horse Camp isn’t a wholly bad choice; no fishing up that way, but the hike in from the Bunny Flats trailhead is relatively easy, so people can come and go. And obviously, access to the mountain is pretty good. Downside is that leaving and going does require a hike in/out and a 20 minute drive to town.

There are many other choices. One good choice is Gumboot Lake, which offers campsites (car camping), good hiking opportunities, and (not surprisingly) a lake. Very pretty setting. I wouldn’t suggest this during the summer due to crowding, but think it might be vacant in October. It’s at the far end of a pretty little river canyon and is a bit farther from town than the 20-minute drive to the Horse Camp trailhead. Surrounded by ridges with nice views, lots of trees.

Hiking-type activities could include a hike up Castle Crags and even some climbing (5.6 or so) at the top. Obviously, there are a few bazillion other hikes available, but I lack the finger power to list them all here.

A couple other thoughts…

First, my house is on the road headed up Mt. Shasta, and – provided that eBomb guy stays away from the cats – bloggers are welcome to stop by and access the wi-fi broadband that permeates the place. (Naturally, all outgoing posts will be edited for [Tom] Chandler-friendly content.)

Second, I’m willing to host a barbecue here at home if it works out. Have Weber, will eat.

Third, I’m not sure if I’ll be camping with the group or out doing other things, but it sure would be nice to have a chance to talk blogging. You know, an opportunity for me to steal everyone else’s blogging secrets.

Finally, Chris Carr (co-owner of Mount Shasta Guides and monster telemark skier, mountaineer, etc.) will just be returning from a conference in Boulder, and has offered to help out or even meet up and answer questions about the mountain, and what to do in the area. That’s gold, baby.

Russ B. of Winehiker Witiculture: I’m with you, Tom Chandler. Winehiker does BBQ and talks blogging! “Gumboot Lake” sounds more quintessentially attractive to me, too, than “Horse Camp” which, to my mind’s eye, smacks of equine ploppage…

…well, I probably wouldn’t mind either place, just as long as there’s no turds in the middle of my Sa-turd-ay….

I’m also hoping to get an early start on the road Friday myself, since I prefer to have camp set up and dinner inside me before dark. I have room for one passenger plus gear; I have most camping equipment, including a 3-person tent, a brand new 1-gallon propane tank/2-burner stove combo. John [Fedak of fedak.net], since it would appear Tom Mangan is driving his own car, perhaps you and I can pal up together.

Tom M.: I like the idea of Gumboot lake, too. Any dissenters?

Tom C.: Are the mountaineering types on board with this? As much as I’m into comfort, I’d hate to unnecessarily deprive anyone of their chance to get mangled by falling rock while freezing to death.

Panther Meadows (campground high on Mt. Shasta) also offers the potential for car camping while still preserving the chance to freeze to death. (I’d have to check with the Forest Service to make sure it’s open.) Not quite the all-around site that Gumboot is, but better if you harbor a desire for hardship.

Finally, I understand someone offered to cook for us on Saturday night. Do we want to do that at Casa Chandler?

Adam M. of GoBlog: I take it you mean us [mountaineer types]. No problem. If we end up going, it will be a quick run up and down. Gumdrop sounds fine. Especially if I bring my boy.

Tom C.: OK. Gumboot it is. To create a little drama for your blogs, we can always photoshop a bear attack picture or something.

Russ: Tom C., how many driving miles is it from Casa Chandler to Gumboot Lake? I propose that it may be better, logistically, to assemble for BBQ at your place on Friday night and enjoy dinner in camp on Saturday.

For Saturday dinner (and after I get a hike in), I’m tentatively thinking of a Thai-style menu, complete with Dutch oven and garden-grown produce:

• Baked Chili Fish with Fiery Thai Salsa (hint: this dish may contain freshly-caught trout)
• Carrot Soup
• Cucumber Salad
• Ginger-Pineapple Noodles
• Vino rosso (definitely NOT Thai-style)

Gosh, I hope that’ll do y’all. Comments? Questions? Aversions to food that isn’t brown or white?

Tom C.: Probably 20-25 minute drive. The Friday at Casa Chandler schedule works for me, though let’s see if there’s even support for the Friday barbecue. Could be the majority won’t make it.

The menu is OK, though you’ve made no mention of the pine needle garnish, dirt sauce, or mosquito sprinkles that accompany every outdoor meal.

I plan on liberating several float tubes (those inflatable armchairs used by fly fishers to nap in on warm days when they’re supposed to be fishing a lake). A hike on Saturday sounds like the group choice, but that doesn’t mean we can’t sneak in a little fishing around the edges.

Still, keep in mind you’ll need a California fishing license if you want to fish, and they’re definitely NOT available up at Gumboot Lake.

Rick C. of Best Hikes: Where do I sign up to become a “wine hiker”? (I was thinking bland dehydrated mashed potatoes.)

Just in case you one day want to take the meetup to Canada, certainly I would first suggest Mt. Assiniboine. You must hike or helicopter in to one of the finest vistas in the world. No road access. Accommodation is a choice of inexpensive rustic cabins, a lovely campground or expensive mountain lodge. Fine dining is available at the restaurant there. You would fly in and out of Calgary. Logistics are a breeze as this is such a popular tourist area.

Something to chat about over the Baked Chili Fish.

[Editor's conclusion: apparently we'll all find it convenient to forsake the hiking boots in favor of debauched and reprehensible float-tube stupefaction. Some may not agree with me, but it sounds better than Vegas.]

~winehiker

…if not a thousand words.

I discovered a resource for photographers in which they can each submit and journalize their own photography, critique others’ work, discuss photography issues in a forum, and organize it all in themes and categories.  It’s called trekearth.com, and its database of photographs is often exquisitely beautiful and captivating, as you can see by the fine capture of this wine-country dragonfly.

Created by Alan Silverman in October 2002, TrekEarth’s scope is to:

Learn more about the world through photography. TrekEarth fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment. Since TrekEarth is globally oriented, it is completely multilingual-capable, allowing for the widest audience possible. Ultimately, TrekEarth depends on the civility, honesty and participation of its members.

I like the easy photo-browsing capability and the resolution of the many shots submitted from numerous far-flung locales around the world. If you enjoy photography, here’s a place where you can learn more about composition, light, contrast, lenses, and all of the other essentials that a photographer’s forum should offer. Enjoy!

~winehiker

I regularly read an ezine from Larry Chase, who operates a site called Web Digest For Marketers. In his current issue, Mr. Chase lists a number of Search Engine Optimization tools, one of which is a web page analysis tool from seomoz.org.

According to Larry, this tool:

“…was designed to give marketers a quick, one-stop, bird’s eye view of just how “strong” a given page on your website really is. The analysis is based upon a number of interesting factors, including the number of human-created mentions your website has (del.icio.us tags, Alexa Rank, mentions at Wikipedia, etc.), how old your website is, the quality of your site’s inbound links and a variety of search engine-based results (the number of pages indexed, internal link percent, PageRank, etc.).”

I thought I’d punch up http://www.californiawinehikes.com/ and see the results of the tool’s analysis of my website’s home page.

In effect, the result was:

The seomoz.org’s results page goes on to state:

“Although not a considerable presence, your site/page is making inroads online. Visitor traffic and search engine visibility is within your grasp.”

I think that’s pretty good, considering my site is only 8 months old. But I’m going to keep working it. As I continue to gain more subscribers to this blog and links from other related sites, I’ll revisit this analysis and report the findings.

If you have a website, you might also want to check out how much pull you’ve got out there on the Great Bucksaw that is the Internet.

~winehiker

So you want to ramble the ridges, shred the bowls and bag the peaks? And you want your body to deliver peak performance under more extreme environmental conditions than you’re used to at sea level? And you want to impress your friends, too?

Ever hear of “hypoxia?” Some call it mountain sickness. Call it what you will, it’s the effect of reduced atmospheric pressure at altitude coupled with an insufficient supply of oxygen to the body. Every person can have different symptoms when suffering from hypoxia; some of the common symptoms are lightheadedness, dizziness, and reduced vision. When your purpose is to enjoy some backcountry beauty on foot, ski, or bike, you don’t want your body to fail. So how do you compensate for reduced oxygen and air pressure levels? You make sure you give your body what it needs before you go to the high country.

It’s been documented that beef liver is chock-full of iron, but it also contains Vitamin B12, a vitamin that has been proven to combat anemia. These are just the very building blocks your bone marrow needs to create more red blood cells. And extra red blood cells are precisely what you’re going to need (not just want) as you work your body up there under the clouds.

Wait a minute – you don’t like beef liver, all smothered in sauteed onions, mushrooms, and gravy with garlic Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, a little fresh chopped >BAM!< Italian parsley?

What, did you think a plate of steamed broccoli was going to get you up that high rocky windswept slope?

The answer is: eat all of the above the night before you venture to the high country. Don’t refuse it because you think you won’t like it – eat it because you’ll immediately enjoy the beneficial effects the very next day at altitude.

(Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do in order to do what ya wanna do. It’s kinda like crawling that 500-foot sewer pipe in the Shawshank Redemption: freedom awaits when you emerge from the other side.)

OK, so you’ve never had a good plate of liver before. There’s a right way to prepare a liver dish and a wrong way. If you grew up in an English/German-influenced family like I did (boil it some more – there’s still some flavor in it!), then you’ve probably experienced the wrong way: high heat, done in 90 seconds, tougher than a biker’s beard after riding in a mudstorm. If you want a good recipe for beef liver, ostensibly because you want to beat all of your friends to the top of the mountain, then contact me, and I’ll be sure to post it online here for all to raid their supermarkets for.

See you at the top!

~winehiker

18½ winehiker points*

From the district of Langhe in Italy’s Piemonte region comes the Barbera grape, characterized by intense, robust fruit flavor. From the same region comes the Nebbiolo grape, Nature’s herald of “the wine of kings, the king of wines;” this is the grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco wines, and it earns its marks.

The 2001 vintage of Jula, a 1-to-1 blend of these two grapes from Cascina Adelaide, is plainly astonishing, at once offering a glimpse into its deep, sensuous character. I let it breathe off its dusky vapors over the course of 30 minutes as I tend to my garden. I return to a round fullness that speaks the wine’s readiness to be sampled.

Myriad colors splash into the glass – deep ink, chocolate, and garnet, with golden-hued edges. Imagine rich, smoky leather and deep complexity in your first whiff of the glass’ contents – this wine is laced with oporto overtones. It’s a wine that, at five years of aging, could be labeled “Riserva” with all due recognition. And that’s apparent just on observing appearance and aroma.

Oh my, but I can vouch for my visual and olfactory senses with the Jula. Everything my eyes and nose tell me are confirmed. A near-perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness is present; heat in this wine, at 14%, is virtually undetectable. The high-tannin Nebbiolo has been exquisitely matched to the low-tannin Barbera to form an ever-so-slight tartness that begs for another sip.

I willingly oblige.

The velvety chewiness and multilayered fruit textures of this rosso blend are scrumptious and extravagant, showing a fine maturity at five years’ aging. It lasts on my palate well, the fruity smokiness lingering for many pleasant moments.

$32.00 at bottlenotes.com.
Disclosure: I am a member of bottlenotes.com’s “Limited Addictions” club; this wine arrived in their summer shipment and was purchased by me.

*Rated on the 20-point Davis scale.

~winehiker

Four people attended last Thursday night’s Sémillon tasting, where we enjoyed three pure Sémillon varietals and one botrytized Sauterne-style blend that blew our collective socks off. The interesting news, upon revealing the wines, was that none of them were produced in France.

Why is that interesting?

It’s interesting because this varietal originates from France. Known as one of the three classic White Bordeaux grapes – the other two being Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle – Sémillon is often, however, produced as a blended wine rather than a pure varietal. In retrospect, I feel I could have announced this particular wine tasting to highlight the Bordeaux region rather than to highlight the varietal itself, in which case the objective would have been to shop for, then taste, wines blended from the three grapes above.

Well, that’s how you learn, right? And learning is why we get together to explore these wines in the first place.

So, if we couldn’t find pure Sémillon varietals from Bordeaux (and believe me, all four of us found shopping for Sémillon quite a learning experience), where did they come from?

They came from California’s Napa Valley and Australia’s Clare and Hunter valleys.

Though all four wine bottles were well-covered, there were clues to suggest the wines inside. All present could see the size of the bottles, as well as the tops of the bottles’ necks. These clues suggested that one of the wines was a dessert wine – one clue being the small size of the bottle itself, being a 375ml bottle rather than the standard 750ml size. The clear color of the bottle glass, as opposed to a shade of green, was also a clue. Pouring, however, showed the color of this wine to be quite deeply golden, and contrasting sharply with the very light straw coloring of the other three.

It was apparent to the group that pure Sémillon wines are less desirable than other pure white varietals we might have tried previously. Whether it was the citric acid, the aromas of brie, or the lack of sweetness when compared to the sauterne-style wine, we didn’t favor the pure Sémillons. Perhaps the French felt the same way about Sémillon, having long ago decided to blend it with other grapes!

Paired with our Sémillon were a sweet baguette, soft brie, and a sweet chévre topped with brandied apricots. The chévre, said the group, was perfect with the Sauterne.

About the wines
The wines listed below are ranked top-down, most favorite to least favorite; each is followed by the wine’s heat, or alcohol content. In the left column is the actual group score for each wine using my handy-dandy Wine Scoring Sheet, which is based on the 20-point Davis scale. I’ve now added bottle prices to the rankings.

Group ranking
+4 2002 Beringer “Nightingale” Private Reserve, Napa Valley, California   $23/375ml
+0 2003 Lengs & Cooter, Clare Valley, South Australia   13.5%   $22
+0 2003 Ruston, Juliana Vineyard, Napa Valley, California   13.9%   $15
–4 1999 Tyrrell’s Wines Vat 1, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia   10.5%   $35

Winehiker’s ranking
20pts. 2002 Beringer “Nightingale” Private Reserve, Napa Valley, California
12.5pts. 2003 Lengs & Cooter, Clare Valley, South Australia
11.5pts. 2003 Ruston, Juliana Vineyard, Napa Valley, California
7.5pts. 1999 Tyrrell’s Wines Vat 1, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia

For the three pure Sémillon wines, my scores matched the group’s. The sensational stand-out for everyone was Beringer’s Nightingale, a lab-botrytized blend of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. (For details about Beringer’s botrytis, or “noble rot” process, see “Beringer” in this story from Carolyn Tillie.) I’m not much of a sweet wine drinker, and white dessert wines tend not to disappear very quickly when I have them around, but I managed to top myself over our previous Pinot tasting by giving this wine a perfect score. Simply put, it fired on all “seven” cylinders for me: appearance, aroma, balance, body, taste, finish, and overall quality. It was truly exceptional, and therefore I recommend you treat yourself – or your sweetheart – to the Beringer “Nightingale” Private Reserve from Napa Valley.

Next week, I’ll report the results of our small-group Merlot tasting.

~winehiker

Windows on the World occupied the entire 106th and 107th floors of One World Trade Center in New York City. From 1976 to 1993 it ranked number one in dollar volume in the United States, generated more wine sales than any other restaurant in the world, and was, according to its wine director, Kevin Zraly, the most famous dining establishment on Earth.

But that wasn’t good enough for Zraly, who also founded the Windows on the World Wine School, which graduated more than 16,000 students. What’s more, he is a vice president of the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, plus he’s a recipient of the European Wine Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the James Beard Award for Wine & Spirits Professional of the Year, and the Food and Beverage Association’s Man of the Year Award. He’s a member of the Board of Trustees of the Culinary Institute of America, and he’s been featured in The New York Times, People magazine, The Wall Street Journal, GQ magazine, Newsweek, and USA Today.

Pretty impressive stats.

And yet Mr. Zraly has also, since 1985, been the author of the Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, a book he’s updated every year.

Yes, all that, in addition to the sobering fact that he lost 72 friends and coworkers on September 11, 2001.

I just tonight received the 20th anniversary edition of Zraly’s coursebook. Judging by the table of contents and by the syllabi of wine courses taught elsewhere, the book appears to parallel most Level One Sommelier Courses (the first of three certification courses), so I’m eager to devour it.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

~winehiker

If you love wine but are not sure why you prefer one wine over another, you can learn to identify what your palate is telling you. The best part about learning to separate wine into its aroma, flavor, body, and other components is that it is very fun to do! Plus, when practiced in the intimate atmosphere of a small group, all participants can interact with each other in a manner that promotes discovery, friendship, learning, and above all, joy!

At a typical tasting event, a host may choose to announce one grape varietal, such as Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, or Chardonnay; he or she may also decide to choose a geographic region, such as Australia’s Hunter Valley or France’s Bordeaux region. A simple objective would be to pour and taste six wines of this varietal or from that region. As you taste your wines, follow a “blind comparison” format to prevent label bias, and use a wine scoring sheet that includes space for notes; be sure to keep it for reviewing later when you plan to purchase wine.

Though there are a number of ways to approach a blind comparison tasting, I believe the best way is to involve each participant in the purchase of the wine they bring to the tasting. As such, shopping for wine can comprise online research, prior tasting knowledge, consulting with a wine merchant, or just plain old eeny-meeny-miney-moe.

The main thing is: a blind (comparision) wine tasting is for everybody who wants to learn about wine. You don’t have to know anything about wine other than the notion that you want to learn more. Before long, you’ll come to understand that the world of wine is not nearly so intimidating as it is fun!

~winehiker