Posted via web from winehiker’s posterous

Posted via web from winehiker’s posterous

via flickr.com

Happy winehikers, cavorting along a woodsy path on a late-September morning. These folks joined me last year; would you like to join me this year? If so, you’ll find all the details on my Romp through the Redwoods page.

~winehiker

Posted via web from winehiker’s posterous

Posted via web from winehiker’s posterous

via flickr.com

Winemaker Bradley Cooper of Penticton, British Columbia, produces exquisite wines from the south Okanagan Valley, including this delicious handcrafted small-lot Cabernet, of which he made 752 cases.

I simply adore this wine’s cherry, coffee and cola overtones, especially when enriched by a broad silkiness on the palate and an enduring finish that will cause you to delay brushing your teeth too soon. Lovely with red meats or on its own, here’s a special, affordable Township 7 Cabernet that you should be drinking.

Price: $25.99 per bottle / $311.88 for a case of 12
Heat: 13.9% ABV
Where to purchase: from snooth.com or contact the winery.

Disclaimer: this bottle was a sample, stolen fair and square from the winemaker when he wasn’t looking.

Posted via web from winehiker’s posterous

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!

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

“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