On Saturday we went to the open house of Windy Oaks, where they were pouring their two award-winning pinots and serving up artisanal cheeses, sausage, and other hors d'ouevres. It was a looong trek to that place!
On the way to Windy Oaks, Bill decided that we would stop at Clos La Chance Winery, in the southern Bay Area town of San Martin. As luck would have it, they were having a free wine tasting day. Visitors got to pick and taste 5 out of 9 wines they were pouring that day. We tasted their Napa Valley cabernet, a pinot noir, a syrah (shiraz for all of you down under), a viognier, and a rosé made of a blend of grenache and syrah.
It was my first time tasting a rosé other than that vile swill known as white zinfandel. Much to my surprise, I really liked it. It had a fruity yet dry and acidic quality to it. Perfect for drinking chilled on a sunny summer's day. I really loved the pinot noir. It had a very, very smooth and soft texture on the tongue, almost like satin. We bought quite a few different bottles of wine at Clos La Chance. Between the two of us, we spent about $200 there. Good day. Except now I have so much wine that there's no space in my wine racks. I don't know what to do now. Ugh. I wish my apartment were bigger.
Moving on to Windy Oaks, we passed two-lane highways lined with apple orchards, winding roads lined with vineyards, and a very narrow, one-way mountain road flanked by redwoods and eucalyptus trees. The Windy Oaks Estate itself was a bit disappointing, but the pinot noir was very good. We even went to their tiny barrel aging room, where the winemaker was explaining his philosophy about pinot noir and how he has indigenous yeasts, blah, blah, blah. We didn't understand half of what he was saying. The guy was offering barrel tastings of his next release (to be bottled about six months from now). It tasted good, if a bit tannic. Age will round it out, I think. We bought three bottles, I'm going to give one to my friend Nora the next time I see her.
On the way back home we went in search of the sausage factory where the wine folks bought what they were serving that day. The Corralitos Market & Sausage Factory is a cute little mom-and-pop shop out in the middle of nowhere. I'd post a link to it but they don't have a website. Anyway, we got some jerky (teriyaki and barbecue) and some sausages (cheesy bavarian, linguica, and kielbasa) and some sarsaparilla. Yum!!!