Back in mid-March, on a dry day after a bout of Spring rains, I kidnapped my mom and drove her down into the southern part of my native Santa Clara County to a place she’d never been before. Tucked up into the eastern slopes of the southern Santa Cruz Mountain range, Uvas Canyon is a lovely yet seemingly remote 1,200-acre county park featuring well-maintained trails, picnic tables, four waterfalls and easy hiking that I knew mom could enjoy. As we wandered up the mild slopes of the Swanson Creek basin, I found myself wondering why I hadn’t brought mom here previously - she simply marveled at the lushness of the redwood and hardwood forests, not to mention the roar and tumult of the falls.

Though my little Minolta D’Image Xt is not designed for high-quality video, I find that, as a regular hiker, the camera is very easy to carry in my trouser pocket. I’d been meaning to experiment with video and video editing software, and while hiking at Uvas I felt the urge. What you’ll see in the 3-minute video below are three of the waterfalls at Uvas Canyon, namely Black Rock Falls, Upper Falls and Basin Falls. Believe it or not, it’s the first video I’ve ever published.

Would you take your mom here? I believe that if you could, you surely would.

~winehiker

I’m no country boy. But more often than not, I find myself escaping to the country - the wild country - that is Nature’s backyard. For it is true that I love my local mountains. Just seeing them ringing the valley where I live, much less walking their trails, is good for my soul.

Escaping to the city can be good, too. But if I ever visit New York again, I won’t go there as much for the attractions of New York City - gastronomic, cultural and otherwise - as I will to revel in the delights of the New York countryside. If I have the time (and I hope I will), I’ll taste the wines of the Finger Lakes region as well as walk the trails and scale the peaks of the Adirondack mountain range. Though it has no mountains, I would even visit the North Fork of Long Island. Why? Because its maritime climate, rich terroir and the steadily-improving management of its roughly 3,000 acres of grape vines is allowing the area to gain recognition as a prime wine-producing region. I think that’s reason enough to want to taste wine there.

Fortunately, when it comes to wine, the North Fork of Long Island can still come to me. And so it is that, on a warm early-May afternoon, I popped the cork from a bottle of Macari Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay, a steel-fermented chardonnay made from grapes that were grown and produced on the Macari Family Estate in Mattituck, New York, in the heart of Long Island’s North Fork wine country.

The wine pours clear and pale gold into the glass, unfurling aromas of lemon, green apples, some grass, and even tangerines. On the palate are fresh, complex citrus flavors plus pears, wet stones and peaches and a creamy mouthfeel that begs to be savored. The acidity of this wine is perfect: not too tart, not underguessed, but just right. Indeed, the balance between acid, tannin and sugars in this chard is ideal, not to mention its lingering finish which I can still taste minutes later…

…and make me want to pour another glass. Which I do.

As you can tell by the remaining volume of the bottle, I liked this wine.

Over the years, as I’ve tasted them, oak-fermented chardonnay wines have left me largely non-plussed. There have certainly been a few good ones, however - wines in which the use of oak has resulted in rich, round textures rather than sour or bitter aftertastes well after opening. But as my palate has matured, I’ve grown more fond of chardonnays fermented in stainless steel tanks - a process that allows the essence of the grape and its terroir to come through to the palate without undue tinkering by the winemaker; one that can result in an exquisite, refreshing wine.

I’m definitely fond of the exquisitely refreshing Macari 2007 Estate Chardonnay. I don’t believe I need to shout too loudly from the local mountaintop to recommend you enjoy it too.

19 Winehiker Points*
Heat: 13.2 % alcohol by volume
Closure: cork
Price: US$18-$19 per 750ml bottle; available from Macari Vineyards and at snooth.com
Disclosure: I received this bottle as a trade sample from Macari Vineyards

~winehiker

*Based on the Davis scale and scored using my 20-point Wine Scoring Sheet.

I have two spots open for a day hike up Half Dome that a friend of mine is ramrodding. The hike will be very strenuous and will include nearly a mile of elevation gain over 16 miles of hiking; we’re going to be attacking at dawn.

We have a campsite at Hodgdon Meadows Thursday night June 4th and we’re talking about dinner at the Ahwahnee; Friday night we have a yurt reserved in Groveland, where we’ll celebrate our adventure with a bottle of Dominus 2004.

Are you interested? Leave a comment.

~winehiker

FROM THE COMMITTEE FOR GREEN FOOTHILLS comes news of an event scheduled for this Saturday.

If you love wine, care about your local environment, and are looking for something fun and worthwhile to do on the peninsula tomorrow night, then Environmental Volunteers (EV) invites you to Wild Crush 2009. The annual gala honors thirty-seven years of environmental education in Silicon Valley.

The evening will include wine tasting offered by local vintners, educational demonstrations by the EV, a silent auction, dinner and a live auction. Each year, the EV reaches over 11,000 children in the San Francisco Bay Area with unique learning experiences in the classroom and at field trip sites. Your participation in this event can support the educational programs of the Environmental Volunteers. The event will be held on April 25th at the Quadrus Center in Menlo Park at 6:30 p.m.

Pouring at the event will be Burrell School Vineyards, Big Basin Vineyards, Bink Wines, Handley Cellars, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Michael Martella Wines and Wente Vineyards. The live silent auction promises to offer a number of items worth bidding for, including an aerial tour of the San Francisco Bay.

For more information, see the Environmental Volunteers’ Wild Crush 2009 website or contact Sue Trautman at 650-961-0545.

If you buy a ticket, be sure to mention that you’re a member of the Committee for Green Foothills.

~winehiker

The sweeping grassy cow-cropped ridges of Vista Grande Trail, looking southeast.

I love to return to Sunol Regional Wilderness every Spring. Sometimes my timing is right and I’ll be greeted by welcome displays of orange California poppies and purple lupines. But even when I’ve arrived a week or two early and the wildflowers haven’t yet wandered onto Nature’s stage, I still find Sunol’s vast expanse of oak-dotted, green-velvet hillsides soothing to my soul.

And to my soles! For Sunol Wilderness, a gleaming gem in the East Bay Regional Park District’s treasure trove of managed lands, is also a hiker’s paradise, offering hiking challenges large and small. From families enjoying a creekside Nature Walk to outback overnighters who wish to explore Sunol’s hilly, bucolic backcountry, and to dayhikers like us - outside and on the trail - we all come to breathe the wind-washed air, to smell the oak and the laurel, and to feel the sun and the spirited beating of our light and happy hearts.

Before all was said and done early this past March, our crew of 16 had squandered away five precious hours hiking over seven glorious miles, a time which included plenty of stopping to enjoy splendor and distance, diversion and serendipity, and the sound of each others’ laughter.

True to form, our day at Sunol Wilderness was yet another classic episode in a series of wanton, whimsical squandrage. And we were all the better for it.

Descending from the upper reaches of Vista Grande Trail.

Yes indeed, it is another High Gorgeosity Factor day in sunny California.

The view down upon High Valley from our Vista Grande Trail vantage point.

Calaveras Reservoir, looking southward from Vista Grande Trail, Sunol Regional Park.

My fellow hikers pausing at Vista Grande Overlook, with Mission Peak looming behind.

Approaching Sunol Regional Wilderness Park’s High Valley Camp.

The horse stable at High Valley Camp.

The view south toward Calaveras Reservoir from atop our destination, Flag Hill.

Me, Mr. Winehiker Guy, posing atop Flag Hill, Sunol Regional Park. Howdy!!

Looking west from the approach to Flag Hill toward Maguire Peaks.

From Flag Hill looking directly down upon the Sunol Visitors Center. Oh, the vertigo!!

A not-too-atypical juxtaposition of rock, tree, meadow and sky.

The pastoral splendor of High Valley Camp from above. I love this wide-open country.

—————-
April may soon be drawing to a close, but there’s still time to explore and enjoy Sunol Wilderness before the heat of summer turns those East Bay hills from green to gold. Meanwhile, the wildflowers are putting on quite a show as I write these words, and they’re waiting to greet you and your camera.* You need to put on your boots, go to Sunol, and squander some precious time.**

~winehiker

*For an even better visual treat, I recommend viewing this fine photoset from my friend and hiking companion Yi Ding, who was along on this adventure.

**If you’d like me to accompany you at Sunol - and if we can arrange it - you’ll find a trail that’s tailored to you as well as learn the names of a number of pretty wildflowers. Plus, I’ll show you where the wine is being poured!

Taking the daily train from jobworthy to suckworthy. Image source: dannychoo.com.

I haven’t worked in a while – at least at a regular paying job.  In fact, I haven’t worked a steady gig in almost 8 months!  That’s more than twice as long as any of my previous career gaps.

You know, I scan the job boards daily, chat with recruiters weekly, solicit my LinkedIn network accordingly, apply for every job that I fulfill requirements for (and then some), tweak my resume periodically and…nothing.

The phone just isn’t ringing.

Well, take that back.  It rang once in January and resulted in two interviews – an initial phone screen followed by a face-to-face.  But as the times appear to be dictating, the division I might have worked for was closed down last week, the victim of a massive budget cut.

> Sigh… <

I imagine many others with my skills, education and background are feeling the same way I do after untold hours of frustration and fruitless effort.  Or are they?

I’ll let you decide for yourself.  Listed below are fifteen reasons why “you know when you’ve been out of work too long when…”:

• You’ve already forgotten how to set your alarm clock since, frankly, you haven’t had a reason to use it in a while.
• You occasionally used to, but now you perpetually forget just what day of the week it is.
• You know a commute to be something a lame duck president gives his convicted cronies.
• You can go hiking any time you want to.
• You can drink wine with your breakfast.
• You have allowed yourself to acquiesce from delectable soul food to shoe-leather-tough sole food.
• You’ve seen all the free movies offered by Comcast On Demand – even the ones you swore you would never watch, like those sloven, puerile comedies featuring Larry the Cable Guy.
• The frequency of creditor calls is inversely proportional to your desire to communicate with anyone.
• You should be going stir-crazy – that is, if you could just summon up the emotional energy.
• Depression isn’t a prolonged economic meltdown - it’s the new four-letter word. Well, two words, really: “depression” used as a four-letter word - in any context - justifiably requires its own invective adjective.
• You’re sleeping a lot more than you did when you were working - but you’re still hopelessly lethargic.
• You’d love to be with your friends, but you know your own sense of generosity now gets you into trouble - and dang it, doing fun things with friends – those you still have – costs money.
• You only check the mailbox once every two weeks – for that unemployment check.  So you can still eat.  And have Internet.
• You forget whether you’re wearing pants or not, and you plain just don’t care.
• You start to identify with Larry the Cable Guy.

Larry the Cable Guy? Sheesh…  It’s clear that I’ve been out of work wa-a-a-y too long.  But I know I am a productive - possibly even influential - member of society.  (I still am, right?  Or can be again?  Pretty please??)

Clearly it’s time to git ‘er done – just as soon as I relearn how to set my alarm clock.

~winehiker

A hiker’s view of The Palisades, above the Napa Valley floor. Image source: yelp.com.

Table Rock is a flat rocky outcrop surmounting The Palisades, a craggy set of cliffs on the northeast edge of Napa Valley, prominently visible from downtown Calistoga. Walking the trail to Table Rock, high above the vineyards of the valley, you may hear the scream of a nearby raptor and, through binoculars, the sharp-eyed might just see a Peregrine Falcon perched on a rock below.

Despite what you see and hear, however, it is the Table Rock Trail itself that is among the most captivating in the California wine country. When joined with the Palisades Trail and the historic Oat Hill Mine Road, the Table Rock trail combines amazing 19th-century trail engineering with bizarre rock formations, a pygmy knobcone pine forest, and nonstop spectacular views. In the cooler months, when rain-washed skies are free of summer’s haze, one can smell the volcanic dust below one’s feet, then look up to behold a vista extending 100 miles.

If you’ve read this far - and, assuming you like to hike - I’ve got a proposition for you: how’d you like to hike to Table Rock with me? Furthermore, if you knew you had an option to, rather than a simple four-mile out-and-back walk, instead walk the complete ten-mile mildly-butt-kicking route from summit to valley floor, would you raise your hand to volunteer?

And, if you also knew you’d be hiking - above Napa Valley, mind you - with a handful of winemakers, would you shout “just lemme grab my boots”?

Then save the following date, fellow winehiker, for we shall meet to experience the glory that is The Palisades on Saturday, November 22nd, at 8:30 a.m. After the hike is over, we’ll drive a little ways down the Silverado Trail to nearby Cuvaison Winery, where we’ll bask in happy euphoria over a potluck lunch, great local wines, and - if we’re of a mind to - a round or two of bocce ball.

Thus far there are 9 people interested in joining me on this hike, including Dick and Kathy Keenan of Kick Ranch Vineyards, who originally approached me with the idea for this outing. I’m thinking of capping the group at a manageable 15 people, however, so if you’d like to sign up, don’t wait too long to do it! Merely leave a comment to this post that includes your email address, and also let me know if you’re interested in the moderately easy four-mile out-and-back option or the relatively strenuous ten-mile one-way option. I’ll get back to you with driving directions and additional details.

Thanks! I look forward to walking The Palisades with you.

~winehiker

Dick Keenan of Kick Ranch Vineyards and Carica Wines, in a follow-up from October’s Wine Bloggers Conference, sends along the following note:

[Friday, October 24th] turned out to be a perfect day for tasting some of the best Syrah, Petite Sirah, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc from Kick Ranch, including our own Carica Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah (www.caricawines.com). I was delighted that you and other bloggers were able to begin your weekend by tasting wines from the incredibly talented group of winemakers that I have the pleasure of working with at Kick Ranch.

Wine Bloggers Conference kick-off tasting at Kick Ranch.

The pleasure was mine! I certainly found it unique that Friday to taste a couple dozen wines all sourced from the same vineyard. I intend to taste more!

And I recommend you do, too. Dick graciously shared a list of those talented Kick Ranch winemakers and their respective wineries; I’m hereby sharing that list with you.

Bedrock Wine Company
Morgan Twain-Peterson, winemaker

Carica Wines
Charlie Dollbaum, winemaker

Enkidu Wines
Phillip Staehle, winemaker

Erna Schein
Les Behrens & Lisa Drinkward, winemakers

Loxton Cellars
Chris Loxton, winemaker

Lynmar Winery
Hugh Chappelle, winemaker

Pax Wine Cellars
Tyler Thomas, winemaker

Renard Wines
Bayard Fox, winemaker

Rosenblum Cellars
Kent Rosenblum, winemaker

Sanglier Cellars
Glenn Alexander & Russell Bevan, winemakers

Silent Morning Cellars
Tim Lesko, winemaker

Shane Wines
Shane Finley, winemaker

Thanks a million, Dick!

Stay tuned for an invitation to join me and Dick Keenan, Dick’s wife Kathy, and other local outdoorsy winemakers for a hike along the Table Rock trail on Napa County’s Mount St. Helena later this month; that invitation will be in an upcoming post this week.

~winehiker

The Flamingo Resort & Spa was host to 175 wine bloggers at the October 24-26 Wine Bloggers Conference.

It’s amazing what can happen after you make the decision to start blogging. I’ve been at it just shy of three years, and I couldn’t have surmised three years ago where it might someday take me. Yet I’ve now enjoyed the rare good privilege in this past year to attend both last weekend’s First Annual North American Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC) and last October’s first Outdoor Blogger Ho-Down. That Ho-Down, organized by Tom Mangan, author of the Two-Heel Drive blog, assembled a handful of hikers, mountain climbers, flyfishers and other outdoor folks from various places around the North American continent. It was a rustic and simple event, as an outdoorsy types’ convention probably ought to be; the only real organizational aspect required prior to convening bein’ the menu, bein’ as how we hikin’ types tend to be healthy eaters. Naturally, I did all the cookin’. And, quite naturally, we hikers all savored a little wine tasting (OK, truth: a lot of wine drinking and singing Eagles songs around our campfire), but we definitely made hiking the lower slopes of Mount Shasta and an enticing section of the Pacific Crest Trail a major part of that highly memorable weekend.

It’s one year later, and I have experienced the other end of the winehiking spectrum. Last Friday at noon I strode into the lobby of Santa Rosa’s Flamingo Resort & Spa and found myself surprised to immediately recognize a myriad number of faces, most of which I’d only seen previously in 75×75-pixel avatars! Even more surprising was my fellow wine bloggers’ ability to recognize me, I remember thinking - being that my avatar doesn’t prominently present my face. Some, however, did ask me why my apparently-iconic leather Aussie hat wasn’t affixed to my head. True, I suppose, that I might have met more of my kindred spirits if I’d been wearing The Hat on Friday afternooon - being that more of them might have recognized me - but, well, I guess I didn’t figure on the weekend’s sunny weather streaming its welcome rays completely inside our fully-roofed conference hall, somehow.

Still, it was almost difficult to get the conference started - at least for me. It was simply über cool to chat for the first time, face-to-face, with a dozen of my fellow wine-blogging brothers and sisters, many of whom I had only met online or in some manner become consistently enamored of their online personalities over these past three years. And yet I knew, going in, that though our individual blogs had represented initial forays into the relationships we now enjoy, it has been the powerful community-building aspects of Twitter that has firmly cemented the foundation of our wine blogging community. The conference has only solidified that notion, and its outcome has proven it. Therefore I think it’s safe to say that our particular slice of the Twitterverse has been largely responsible for creating the brotherly/sisterly aura that very palpably graced our weekend. I, for one, was high on the pure headiness of finally connecting with good friends face to face, for good friends is simply what we know we have become. Then again, the effects of tasting over two hundred different wines together over the course of the weekend might also have had something to do with it.

Walking the vineyards at Murphy Goode

Despite the prodigious quantity of wine that I spat and swallowed over the course of the weekend, I harbor many heady and lingering memories of what was, to me, a very powerful gathering of wine industry influencers. For influencers we realize we actually are, we wine bloggers. I know this because I’ve seen - and my wine-blogging colleagues tend to agree - that the steady advance of wine bloggerdom has democratized the conversations that are occurring between winemakers and wine drinkers - increasingly bypassing the major media middle ground - and it is wine blogs that have largely leveled the playing field simply by virtue of current social networking technologies that have streamlined publishing timelines, increased the abilities of wine lovers to interact, and fired the ovens of pure immediate possibility that drives us vinoscribes.

Last weekend clearly amplified the notion of what a blog can do, especially when that blog is part of a vital and growing community. It’s simple math: the power of one blogger’s network influences the power of another’s. Those network influences are, simply, growing in parabolic parallel to the number of active wine blogs. Factor in the firmly established global trend toward increased wine consumption, and you have a juggernaut in waiting.

Or at least you did until this past weekend. Now it’s out of design and in process, a full-fledged rockin’-good rocket ship, and the word is out, people: wine blogs are being perceived in the greater world community as having a dominant, credible, and seasoned citizen voice - a voice that solidly represents a new world that will democratize the acquisition and enjoyment of wine.

If that weren’t true, our legion of 175 attendees would not have been globally profiled as the Number 2 Twitter Topic during Friday afternoon’s Live Blogging Session, right behind Senator Barack Obama. Neither would we have been courted as a group so remarkably by the Sonoma County winemaking and wine marketing community (and many beyond its borders) to whom we North American wine bloggers owe many, many thanks. Those Sonoma County wine folks - they just plain get it.

You know, of seemingly small decisions - such as starting a blog to support your business - big consequences do come. As I write these words, I’m reminded of all that I have gained from authoring a blog: voice, creativity, passion, friends, memories, technological skills, an accelerated social networking climate and an improved writing desire - these are but a few. Conversely, there are the multiple inhibitions I have since lost, as if they are simply no longer required and now lie scattered, smattered, shattered and broken in my wake like so many cheap bottles of Tokay lining that not-so-easily-forgettable, greasy and weed-filled snake-infested roadside ditch that parallels the road to one’s desires.

(OK, so I haven’t lost the touch for writing blue prose. Who indeed, at 80, can claim they are finally satiated with desire? Yes, it’s true: I’m only 51. But I plan to be 80 someday. And I’m going to keep traveling that road. Plus, it’s my blog! And it is the blog that is the vehicle - precisely the point of this WBC exercise.)

Overlooking the vineyards of Rodney Strong

Indeed, there are an amazing number of worthy WBC topics that I could jump into. But, being that many great posts about the conference have already been published this past week by my fellow influencers, I’ll instead share a little Link Love here - not that this will be my final word on WBC08.

I therefore present the following links to stories and accounts of the 2008 Wine Bloggers Conference that are very much worth reading, if for no other reason than to impart a grand perspective of what many of us feel was a very historic and paradigm-shifting wine-inspired occasion. Read on! There’s great stuff below worth clicking to from good people in my life - people who, in many wonderful ways, have become affixed to my head.

In case you’re not in the mood for further reading, however, you might simply enjoy a few pics from the weekend.

Kick Ranch Kickoff
from Hardy Wallace of Dirty South Wine, Grimace Says Sleep is for the WEAK! Wine Bloggers Conference Day 1

Speed Tasting/Live Blogging
from Michelle Lentz of My Wine Education, Wine Blogger Conference: Live Blogging Event
from Phillip James of Snooth, Wine Bloggers Conference tasting insanity…
from Rémy Charest of Wine Case, Blogging Live from Santa Rosa, CA
from Lenn Thompson of LENNDEVOURS, Live Blogging @ Wine Blogging Conference 2008
from John Witherspoon of Anything Wine, Live Blogging from the Wine Bloggers Conference 2008

Blind Tasting Challenge
from Chris Butts of The Kilted Blog, Blind Tasting

100 New Zealand wines
from Amy Corron Power of Another Wine Blog, Palate Shock

Gary Vaynerchuk and Alice Feiring: Crush it, and Stir the Pot!
from Tom Wark of Fermentation, The Battle For Wine and How I Learned to Love Alice Feiring
from Amy Atwood of My Daily Wine, Fire Starter
from Becky B of Smells Like Grape, Gary V. Upstaged at WBC?

The Vineyard Walks
from Ken Payton of Reign of Terroir, Hiking Rockaway Vineyard With Doug McIlroy
from Michelle Lentz of My Wine Education, Photos: Wine Bloggers Conference and Russian River Valley Hike
from Diane Letulle of Wine Lover’s Journal, WBC — Russian River Valley Hike
from Megan of WineClubbie, An Inside Look at Michel-Schlumberger
from Becky B of Smells Like Grape, Saralee’s Vineyard & the Russian River Valley
from Gwendolyn Alley of Art Predator, Biodynamic & mostly organic: Quivira
from Tim Lemke of Cheap Wine Ratings, Rodney Strong Charlotte’s Home Sauvignon Blanc

Discussion Panels Break Out
from Michael Wangbickler of Caveman Wines, Wine Bloggers Conference Breakout Sessions

Blogging from a Bus
from Gwendolyn Alley of Art Predator, WiFi on the bus: only in America

The Luxe Tasting
from Ken Hoggins of Ken’s Wine Guide, Reviewing Wine At The Wine Bloggers Conference - Day 2

The Unconference
from Michael Wangbickler of Caveman Wines, The Wine Blogger Unconference
from Alder Yarrow of Vinography, Is There Any Point to Negative Wine Reviews?
from John Witherspoon of Anything Wine, From the Wine Bloggers Conference - My thoughts on credibility

That’s a wrap
from Lisa de Bruin of California Life: Better Than Happy Hour, Wine Industry Shift
from Jeff Lefevere of Good Grape, Postscript Thoughts on the Wine Blogging Conference
from Tom Wark of Fermentation, 13 Things I learned at the Wine Bloggers Conference
from Jo Diaz of Wine Blog, Wine Bloggers Conference: The 10 Most Important Things I Learned
from Michael Wangbickler of Caveman Wines, Final Thoughts on WBC 2008

~winehiker

“Follow me, señor.”

The voice spoke to me in a baritone, richly smooth in timbre, uniquely Castilian in tongue, yet it was coming from inside my head. Or so it seemed. Willingly, I shouldered my Camelbak and complied with the voice.

Along the gentle westward grade of Rogue Valley Trail I followed the voice, stepping upward through the deep bay forests of Wildcat Loop, ever rising above the high meadows of Rancho San Antonio. I climbed, mile after mile, all the while that voice repeating in my mind’s ear.

“Come with me, señor.”

The voice resonated from without and within, always gentle, never chiding, yet powerfully intoxicating, so much so that I could not begin to disobey its alluring imperative. I was a mound of unshaped clay under the voice’s command, ready to be molded into whatever guise I was to become. It was if I was guided by the unseen hand of Nephi.

I was just glad I had my boots on.

At five miles, at last I reached the high point of the trail, a place uncrowded, serene, and glowing with warm sunshine. Panting slightly and ready for lunch, I stepped into a semi-secret off-trail oasis that few could know, one that would afford me a commanding view. I doffed my pack and reached in to relieve it of its edibles. That’s when I discovered the Torremoron.

Strange it was that I had not felt the pack’s extra weight on that climb. Light of foot on the trail yet heavy with hunger now, I tore into my roast beef-and-grilled pepper sandwich and studied the bottle’s label.

Ribera Del Duero
Denominacion de Origen
Torremoron
Tempranillo 2006
Estate Bottled by Bodegas Torremoron S.C.
Quintanamanvirgo - Burgos - Spain
100% Tempranillo

Without thinking, I set down my sandwich only to find my Swiss Army knife suddenly appearing in my hand, corkscrew at the ready. And, as if to demonstrate to me that miracles do occur, a wine glass dramatically appeared, intact and whole, gleaming inside my pack. I smiled to myself, feeling glad I had risen out of bed this morning.

“Drink me, señor.”

And so I opened the Torremoron and, setting serenely on top of a hillside, I poured. I studied the glass, sitting silently, complaining of nothing, contemplating everything. Beyond a mere breath of wind on my cheek, there was a fine stillness. As the morning drew toward noon, juncos chattered in the thickets below and the dry grasses of Autumn whispered their secrets. I swirled the glass, catching the late-morning sunlight in the wine’s many crimson facets. I could hear my own heart pumping, as if it were the drumbeat of misión ejemplar, a call to action!

I drank. The Torremoron was at once delicious, cherry red, and meaty. Full-bodied, concentrated, and rich with aromatic earth, cinnamon spice and fruit flavor, well-balanced in palate and exquisite in finish, a wine for the season, heady with promise, underpinned by lush desire and strong passion. It was a wine divine, one only the Spanish could make. A wine both easy on the wallet and easy to call mi vino de la casa. And I didn’t even have to be en la casa!

I wanted to taste every drop of it.

I poured again, and listened for the voice. But there was no longer any voice; it had become—¡evolucionado!—something so much more profound.

For in this Tempranillo Tinto, I tasted—I had become—the very soul of Iberia.

Heat: 13% alcohol by volume
Closure: plastic
Price: US$11.99 per 750ml bottle
Where purchased: BevMo, where it is on sale now

Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve is nestled in the western foothills of the Santa Clara Valley above the town of Cupertino. Here’s how to get there:

From Interstate 280 North or South, take the Foothill Boulevard exit and proceed south on Foothill Boulevard approximately 0.2-mile to Cristo Rey Drive. Turn right on Cristo Rey Drive, continue for about 1 mile, veer right around the traffic circle/roundabout, and turn left into the County Park entrance. There are several parking lots, including a dirt lot designated for equestrian trailers. The trailhead for the preserve is located adjacent to the 85-car parking area in the northwest lot.

A virtual clink of the wineglass to all who have participated in this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, the 50th in a series originally conceived by Lenn Thompson at LENNDEVOURS.

~winehiker