A step apart from some of the activities I often blog about are the activities of a very active woman from the Yellowstone area. Skye profiles herself as being into competitive shooting, fly fishing, cooking, and running, and she maintains that her goals are a 22-inch trout, a 20-lb. steelhead, and professional competence. Add to that her obvious love of the outdoors, wine, and good food, and she’s surely welcome in my part of the blogosphere.

I suspect Skye found me via Tom Chandler’s prolific and entertaining Trout Underground blog. She’s been linking to my blog, so I’ll close the karmic loop and give her blog, A Step Apart, an honest plug. Take a moment to give her a look-see.

~winehiker

 

From all points to a high point: “A pride of bloggers.” Photo courtesy of L&T Nancy.

After three glorious Indian Summer days up in the vicinity of Mt. Shasta, in upper California, I’m hard-pressed to catch up on things here at work this morning. Frankly, I don’t think I can capture the spirit of our weekend “convention” any better than fellow hiker, outdoor blogger, and compatriot Tom Mangan, so I’ll let him tell the story in his can’t-miss photo essay.

If this past weekend was any indication, the Internet is proving that hiking (and yes, flyfishing) in these United States is alive and well. It sure is a passion with each of us.

~winehiker

• Winter is coming to the Sierra Nevada’s enchanting Mokelumne Wilderness
  The nights around Caples Lake near Carson Pass have dropped below freezing, and the quaking aspen have turned to gold and orange and red.
  (tags: slideshow quaking aspen high sierra mountains carson pass autumn caples lake mokelumne wilderness hiking blog outdoors camping winehiker winehiking californiawinehikes.com)

I mentioned the other day that I’d be posting a story about the autumn-blazed aspens I had looked forward to experiencing. The weather had made a distinctive turn during the week, and Summer had suddenly and finally become Fall.

At 7800 feet, the nights around Caples Lake in the Sierra Nevada’s Mokelumne Wilderness, near Carson Pass, had begun to drop below freezing. The quaking aspen responded by metamorphosing to gold and orange and red, especially in the groves near the Lake, where the air temperatures remained cooler.

We just missed the wet weather in camp, having spent three days in progressively cooler sunshine. On the drive home down Highway 88, however, right about the time we hit Waterloo, the water hit us.

Meanwhile, we had enjoyed two good hikes. I always enjoy taking people up to Emigrant Lake from the trailhead at Caples Lake Dam, where fisherpeople abound. With four uphill miles to Emigrant Lake, however, you don’t see any fishin’ folk at all. It’s not that they’re soft, I’m sure. They probably don’t undertake this hike because their fish will spoil on the hike out.

We discovered a new trail, too, to Margaret Lake – one I’d been meaning to explore for years. The trailhead is just west of Kirkwood Inn, and the hike is a 5-mile out-and-back — just perfect distance on a drive-home day.

It’s currently pouring cats, dogs, and cows here in the Bay Area this early afternoon. In retrospect, I’m sure glad I’d scheduled last week’s camp-out when I did. Putting it off one more week would have changed everything.

Snow is falling intermittently in the high passes of the Sierra today, and Winter waits with mild impatience.

~winehiker

• 2004 Twisted Oak Tempranillo
  A review of the 2004 Tempranillo from Twisted Oak Winery in Vallecito, California
  (tags: twisted oak winery pimp daddy jeff 2004 tempranillo wine blog winehiker winehiking californiawinehikes.com California tasting notes review)

• dan’s outside : dan’s outside
  Dan Mitchell’s been admiring the aspens, too.
  (tags: aspen trees sierra nevada mountain range autumn 2006 hiking blogger California outdoors)
• Cellar Door Launches Red Guitar: The Spanish Brand Strikes the Perfect Note | Reuters.com
  Just tried this great Tempranillo/Garnacha blend over the weekend. You can get it for $8.99 a bottle.
  (tags: Tempranillo Garnacha blend wine blog spanish vino red guitar 2005 old vine navarra)

16½ winehiker points*

Here’s that post I promised y’all way back on September 20th. After the novelty of the rubber chicken came the novelty of opening the wine and instantly smelling the herbal muskiness of cat pee.

Cat pee is good, mind you, as long as you’re smelling it in something you’re about to drink and not hosing it off your patio. Fortunately, this aromatic aspect of the 2004 Tempranillo from Twisted Oak Winery of Calaveras County, California, is fleeting, and the wine that follows is worthy of tasting.

Upon my first swirl, sniff and resultantly halting sip, I chose to decant the entire bottle into my glass duck, the most pungent fragrance of this wine plus the tannic notes characteristic of the Tempranillo grape dictating my decision. I returned in a little over an hour to a fruity sweetness on the nose and a balanced acidity on the palate.

The tannins are not low in this wine, but are not so high as to be a turn-off; astringency is lower than I expected. With a moderate mouthfeel (medium body), moderately powerful cherry flavors and a medium-long finish — about a minute — I feel this wine is a well-balanced accompaniment to food.

In fact, after my initial sips, I savored this wine with a hot plate of liver and onions with potatoes and gravy, and found the combination fabulous. But even without food, quite possibly this wine is light enough on body and heat (13.9%) for warm-weather slurping.

“OK fine,” you lament, “but what about the rubber chicken?”

Oh yes — the rubber chicken. Suffice to say that a rubber chicken actually did arrive inside my shipment of wine from the twisted folks at Twisted Oaks. I won’t tell you what I’m doing with mine, but you can read about what Pimp Daddy is doing with his up in Vallecito.

But even if you consider yourself to be twisted, too, don’t order this wine for the rubber chicken — order it for what’s waiting for you inside the bottle.

$24.00 at Twisted Oak Winery.
Disclosure: This wine was sent to me for review courtesy of Twisted Oak Winery.

*Rated on the 20-point Davis scale.

~winehiker

Just returned from 3 days in the California Alps, where the nightly temperatures are dropping to the freezing point and causing the quaking aspens in the area to display leaves of vivid gold, orange, and red. Stay tuned: photos are forthcoming, including some photos of dead trees that I’m sure a certain Mr. Mangan will enjoy.

~winehiker