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

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!

“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; also available on snooth.com.

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

In the mercurial materiality that is my life, I sometimes find that I’ve got the gumption to read all I can about a particular wine. Often, I’ll have designs on pairing the wine with a meal I’ll be sharing with friends; sometimes I merely want to experiment in the kitchen, then reap the rewards of my culinary frivolities with the right wine. So I’ll study winemakers’ notes, click through a handful of Google results or, as is frequently the case, become interested in a wine based on a fellow blogger’s recommendation.

Often there is only one write-up about a wine that I can glean online; sometimes I feel lucky to be able to read comparisons across multiple blogs. I consider it a special bonus when I can track how one wine from a particular vintage is tasting over a period of months, if not years. That can be the exception to the rule, however; the price tends to go up and the availability tends to go down when a wine is tasting well over time. More’s the case that I’ll want a wine which is affordable and easily obtainable. As one who occasionally reviews wine, I know my readers will find more value in reading about a wine they, too, can obtain and enjoy without resorting to HELOC havoc.

It’s certainly an influence on me when blogs come to consensus about the same wine; indeed I was intrigued about a recent exercise in which a number of wine bloggers were asked to review a premium-priced Sonoma County Cabernet during the same week. While that particular exercise devolved into a silly, almost hateful debacle about blogger’s ethics—a notion that seemed, to me, to be obtusely irrelevant to the task—I was interested in the exercise simply because, as someone who might want to share that wine over a nice meal, I felt I would benefit by a real-time comparison study, one that was not compromised by time’s effect on a wine’s aging.

Then again, sometimes I don’t feel the proclivity to read read read read read. Sometimes I would just rather lace up my boots and go admire a beautiful sunset from a rocky perch. (Yes, you’re right: I do this more than just sometimes.)

O wine! O sunset! I’ll gladly go wherever you glow.

Sometimes I’ll take a flyer and, before I hit that sunset trail, actually place trust in a paid expert’s opinion* and (gasp of horror!) grab a 92-point bottle at BevMo. (Come on, I know you do it too.)

Well that’s precisely what I did as I looked toward tomorrow’s Wine Blogging Wednesday selection. Should you dare to read that forthcoming post, please don’t hate me because the wine was beautiful.

~winehiker

*Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Robert Parker, blah blah, yadda yadda.

If you were to take a vacation for a week, would you consider your body’s health to be one of your vacation priorities?

Sadly, many of us who lead stressful lives tend to deal with our stresses on vacation by doing more of the things that have caused us to want a vacation in the first place: overeating, drinking too much, sleeping too little or too much, unhealthful habits, not getting enough exercise. Many Americans, however, are beginning to recognize their need for balance in their busy lives, and realizing that their health also comes first when they’re on vacation. There’s actually a term for this kind of person, and that’s active traveler. The demographics of active travel are indeed staggering.

At California Wine Hikes, we feel that the vacation you really deserve is the vacation that your body and mind both need. We also believe that a California wine country experience shouldn’t just include wineries but the wine country itself. Indeed, much of the California wine country is readily adjacent to great explorations of Nature. That’s why on our tours, we choose to add healthful outdoor exercise followed by good, healthy food plus wine tastings, to result in an active wine country vacation.

Learning about wine is part of the California Wine Hikes experience, and so is learning about the world that surrounds us outdoors. All of our five-day/four-night tours are designed with a quality California experience in mind, and are therefore limited to a small group size. At California Wine Hikes, we’ve learned that there is a trade-off between quality and quantity, and that the small size of our group tours, at only 11 guests, offers every guest a greater number of enriching discoveries and memorable moments, from the trail to the tasting room.

As you look ahead to your next wine country escape, we hope that in addition to your love of wine and great dining, you’ll consider the health of your mind and your body. Make it a priority to allow yourself a relaxing, uplifting, and educational tour with California Wine Hikes.

We’re looking forward to hosting our 2008 wine and hiking tours at a variety of top California destinations for hikers and wine lovers of all knowledge and skill levels. Here’s our new lineup of multi-day tours scheduled for the 2008 season:

• Paso Robles & The Santa Lucia Range
  February 17-21, 2008
  Take delight in tasting fine Central Coast Syrahs and Zinfandels and enjoy moderate-level invigorating hikes offering incredible views of the surrounding Pacific Ocean and the Central Coast wine country.
• York Mountain & Edna Valley: Hiker’s Paradise
  June 4-8, 2008
  Veteran hikers will find ecstatic pleasure in this budget-oriented Central Coast tour, which offers tough hilly hikes and incredible views of the San Luis Obispo wine country and the deep blue Pacific Ocean.
• Jack London & The Valley of the Moon
  June 15-19, 2008
  On this deluxe adventure, hikers and hedonists alike will get a thrill from all that Sonoma County has to offer in the variety of hiking terrain and fine wine, as well as the region’s historical richness and laid-back character.
• Chiles, Pope & Napa Valleys
  June 22-26, 2008
  On this premium hiking and wine-tasting adventure, you’ll enjoy some of the best exercise and best wines possible in a region known the world over. Wine lovers and outdoor enthusiasts will benefit immensely from all that Napa County has to offer in its rich variety of fine wines, dining, and hiking trails.
• Calaveras Big Trees & Gold Rush Country
  July 27-31, 2008
  This budget-oriented tour will have you wishing you lived in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, for it is here that you can soak up some Gold Rush Americana and also visit renowned wineries, discover giant sequoia groves, and hike High Sierra peaks, all within a day’s drive.
• Santa Maria Valley & The Foxen Canyon Wine Trail
  September 7-11, 2008
  Easy hiking, an affordable tour, beautiful scenery, bird watching, and some of the world’s finest Pinot Noir await you along the famed Foxen Canyon Wine Trail.
• Santa Barbara & The Santa Ynez Valley
  September 14-18, 2008
  Flanked by the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north, this well-established wine region maintains a pleasant, temperate climate. Moderate hiking, exquisite luxury, and some of the world’s finest Syrahs are in store for you on this deluxe California wine country adventure.

More 2008 tours will be added in the coming weeks, including day tours, overnight tours, midweek wine dinners, and more. To learn about these upcoming events before the public does, be sure to subscribe to this blog today. Subscribing is easy, takes only moments and, best of all, it’s absolutely free.

~winehiker