Vineyard Tour #1: Bucklin Old Hill vineyard

I thought I'd get back to writing about my interesting classes. It always helps the ol' memory to write out these field trips as they happen. I'm enrolled in a Viticulture class at Santa Rosa Jr. College in which we visit high level vineyards in Sonoma and Napa counties and learn from the vineyard manager about the methods they utilize to grow premium quality fruit.














Bucklin Vineyards















California Buckeye Tree
On Jan. 23rd, our Viticulture class traveled to Bucklin Vineyards in Glenn Ellen. The Old Hill vineyard is the second oldest vineyard in Sonoma County, the oldest being one planted by General Vallejo himself. we learned that, in the 1800's the grape grown in California was the Mission grape, brought over by Spanish priests. the grape made terrible wine though, ans as one high ranking ambassador said about Gen. Vallejo's estate wine, "It was due only to politeness that I swallowed it."














Zinfandel, or Black St. Peters, as it was called, was grown in hothouses on the East coast as a table grape. One Mr. William McPherson Hill, after making a fortune in the Gold Rush, bought up land in Glenn Ellen and first planted table grapes. Later he planted zinfandel and made his first wine in 1862 to rave reviews (especially when compared to what was commonly available at the time!).














Besides Zin, Mr. Hill also planted at least 12 other varietals in the same block. Grenache, Morverdre, Syrah, Petite Syrah, Carignon, Alicante Bouchet and the other varietals are interspersed, as you can see on this map, and when the grapes are harvested at the same time and fermented (co-ferment) all together, it results in a wine that is called "field blend."
Field blends are interesting in taste and have a certain mystique, especially in this heyday of single varietal wines.



















Will Bucklin
The current winegrower, Will Bucklin inherited the vineyard from his stepfather who adamantly cared for and protected these old vines, even when advised by the county ag commissioner to rip the whole block out and replant. Will has taken the personal mission to identify all the varietals in the block he is able to map their location using GPS.



















120 year old Grenache

These old vines are so interesting to look at. Sporting moss and lichen in their craggy twists and turns, it's amazing to examine the intricacies of the plant. When an old vine begins to fail, Bucklin will dose it with fertilizer to renew the rootstock until it bursts a bud, then graft on to one year old wood. He feels that it is so important to preserve the rootstock because those roots go down 15 to 25 feet and allow the vineyard to be dry-farmed.















Vineyard Kitty perfectly at home in the vines.

Bucklin Vineyards have been farmed organically since 1982 and was certified in 2002. About half of his grapes are sold to Ravenswood and are made into their Old Hill Zinfandel ($60). He makes his own wine too. His label is Bucklin and he produces a Syrah, Zinfandels, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Gewurztraminer that he will discontinue next year.

Bucklin follows what he calls "long pruning" for his head trained vines. He leaves 8 buds on a cane, then gradually prunes back to two. He feels that this lengthens harvest time and adds frost protection. With all these different varietals ripening in the same field, he picks twice each year at 25-28 Brix, since it's difficult to test each different varietal.
















A perfect example of a head trimmed vine.

Acreage				About 14 acres
Year planted				Around 1880, oldest vineyard in Ravenswood portfolio
Soil type				Clay loam
Climate				"Banana Belt of Sonoma Valley"
Elevation				Sea level
Exposure				Slightly eastern
Spacing				6'X10'
Yield				Less than 1.5 tons per acre
Varietals				Old mixed vineyard, has Zinfandel, Mataro, Carignane, Grenache, Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah and various others
Rootstock				Mixed/St. George

Previous vineyard posts:
vine budding and grafting
trimming vines

Previous wine posts:
now to the wines
month of mornings

What is the color?

What is the color, when black is burned?

Anti Mass by Cornelia Parker










It's a line from Neil Young's "I am a child" and it's been haunting me for days. "I am a child" is clearly about his father, and then this line, dark and sad, is stuck in the middle.

What is the color when black is burned? It speaks to me that when black is burned it's no longer a color, it's beyond that. It's a feeling, a trigger, something that is registered in the gut, not abstractly like color but somatically like pain.

When black is burned it's something that was there that is no longer. Whatever burned it, burned it away. When Neil was young, his mom left his father- she packed their bags and took off with Neil. So what is the color of black when burned?

When black is burned it's not a color it is loss.

I remember my parents at this time of year. They died 5 years ago. They were always there, and now they are gone. That is the color when black is burned.

"I Am A Child"

I am a child, I'll last a while.
You can't conceive
of the pleasure in my smile.
You hold my hand,
rough up my hair,
It's lots of fun
to have you there.

God gave to you,
now, you give to me,
I'd like to know
what you learned.
The sky is blue
and so is the sea.
What is the color,
when black is burned?
What is the color?

You are a man, you understand.
You pick me up
and you lay me down again.
You make the rules,
you say what's fair,
It's lots of fun
to have you there.

God gave to you,
now, you give to me,
I'd like to know
what you learned.
The sky is blue
and so is the sea.
What is the color,
when black is burned?
What is the color?

I am a child, I'll last a while.
You can't conceive
of the pleasure in my smile.

Led Zeppelin Dreams

Yesterday Led Zeppelin performed in London. *sigh*

See what happens?

Wow, a lot has happened since I started Googling my way down memory lane yesterday.
After ordering the Perfect Jewish Couple CD, I might be getting together with Shari the next time she's out here on biz. I hope to reconnect with Kelly too!
From the PJC website I found out that another friend from that time, Marc Chenault, passed away this year with cancer. How very, very sad. He was an amazing guy and a truly gifted musician.

So I started looking other random names: a lot of folks are still making great music, which is wonderful to find out. I typed in Paul B. and found out that he is a sought-after toy sculptor. Paul also did this 50 x 20 foot bas relief scupture at the entrance of Cincinnati's new ballpark. Congrats to Paul!



Wow! This is fun...

Birthday ponderings

So here I am, sitting and thinking, which are both unavoidable owing to the broken ankle and all.
It's my birthday. I'm 48, which comes a big surprise to me, since, for some weird reason, I had somehow convinced myself for the last year that I was turning 49, and only one year away from 50. When I went in for my ankle surgery, I saw on the admitting form that I was 48. Wow, I thought, how did I do that? I guess I was so concerned with being one year away from 50... well now it seems very cool that I am actually TWO years away! (heh heh) Oh-- it's just funny now!
I looked up birthdays for today... my birthday is the same as Peter Buck's! Nice... because I have a good and dear friend who also knows Peter. So now I'm going down memory lane, thinking about all my good and dear friends over the years and how I used to be a complete music junkie, local band supporter and sometimes band groupie.
First I thought of Tinsley Ellis, the mind blowing blues guitarist, and googled him to find he has a new album out... and yes I still say "album"...















I've known Tinsley since 1989 when I was "dating" his keyboard player. That "relationship" didn't last long, of course, but because of it Tinsley and I became a good friends. We don't stay in touch often these days, but he's a great guy and I'm proud to call him friend. I ordered the CD today and can't wait to hear it!

I started thinking about the Cincinnati music scene that I was a supporter of in the 80's. I say "supporter", because I was only in the background as I actually had a "real" job, but that meant that I could supply crucial fundage at times. Believe it or not, we had quite a progressive and creative little bubble in the midst of all that conservative Cincinnati bull shit. Maybe that made us closer... and very protective of one another. (The good citizens of that city are famous for, among other things, banning Robert Maplethorpe's photographs, banning Larry's Flint's Penthouse mag, burning a KKK cross in the center square of town and infamously brutalizing it's AfricanAmerican residents) The police would wait for our bar to close and then follow us home, stopping us at every intersection, trying to intimidate us punk-ass freaks I guess. In fact, repeated police harassment and beatings were a major reason why many of us fled to San Francisco and New York City in the last years of that decade.

But for a short while all us freaks banded together and built an amazing art/music scene around a couple of bars, The Metro being the center in Cincy, with the Jockey Club across the bridge in Kentucky. I was thrilled this morning to find Shari and Kelly's band Perfect Jewish Couple has recently released a remastered CD... If you go to their Myspace page, you can listen to some of their tracks... click here



















I ordered it and can't wait to share it with my friends. What a blast from my new wave/alternative/punk roots! Of course the band RedMath was next on the list.


















Long ago I lost my RedMath album during one of my many moves, but today I was able to find a used one on sale thru Ebay, so that's on the way too. No websites for RedMath, but it was a very influential band at the time. Three of the band members moved out here to SF, and we keep in touch. I don't know where the others are. Paul moved back to Dayton, Geno is owns a successful hair salon and still records music, Mike is a world renown tattoo artist (he did all of mine) and still makes art and music in his rare spare time. A LOT of 0ther folks from that Metro scene all moved here too- Kenny is a bike mechanic in Northern Ca., Nelson is here in SF, and every once in a while I run into someone who looks very familiar and we find out we were both back there at the Metro.
Another guy from our little Cincy scene , Ital Shur (Sleep Theater was his band at the time) moved to NYC, eventually wrote "Smooth", sent it to Santana and won a Grammy. I'm sure he wouldn't remember me at all, but it was very exciting to see him up on stage accepting that award!

Those were fun years I will never forget. But the future is now, and there is lot's to be done, so let's get hoppin'! Happy Birthdays to everyone! ;)

Things I learn while on crutches...

1. Cable sucks
2. Direct TV does not suck.
3. XM radio channel "Deep Tracks" is completely amazing!
4. Grocery stores are overwhelming and frightening places.
5. Museums have wheelchairs you can borrow.
6. IKEA has wheelchairs too!
7. Thank god for friends.
8. When you can't carry anything, you can't do much.
9. Kneepads are essential.
10. My boyfriend rocks!!!

Happy Un-Turkey Day

I just returned from a wonderful visit to my boyfriend's mother's home in the Central Coast area where we celebrated Thanksgiving. If your are thinking, "where's that?" then I'll tell you... it's the until-recently quiet agricultural area near Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. Since the movie "Sideways" the place has become one of the major wine tasting destinations in California. It's funny, but the first time we went wine tasting down there, we kept saying "This place looks familiar" until we realized that we were going to the exact wineries that were in the movie. Remember the place where Paul Giamotti loses it and pours the spit bucket on his head? Been there! Oh yeah!
So being vegetarians, I'm always trying to come up with a great homey, umami-rich Thanksgiving dinner that omits turkey without missing it. This year our menu was:
Cannelloni filled with Dandelion Greens and Mushrooms
Potatoes Dauphinoise
Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts and White Wine
Dressing with Chestnuts, Mushrooms and Cranberries
Port-Cranberry Relish
Louis-Roederer Brut Champagne
Whitehouse Sauvignon Blanc 2007
Ovene Puzzle Pinot Noir 2005


On Saturday our wine tasting took us to the Lompoc area. We visited Palmina, Fiddlhead, La Vie, Melville and Babcock. Terry will supply reviews in a bit, but suffice it to say, that in this primarily Pinot producing region, we found them to be overwhelmingly flabby and over-pressed.
Palmina produces many Italian varietals such as Barbera, Dolcetto and Sangiovese, which are less common grapes that I absolutely love trying. They have a white varietal, Arneis, which is crisp and creamy, and I decided I like it very much. The Undici Sangiovese was also a hit.
La Vie is a small winery started up by some young folks, very friendly and unassuming. Their wine were harsh and tart though. I thought the Pinot would have made a great Rose. They are very young, and have a lifetime ahead of them to grow as winemakers.
Fiddlehead was a welcome relief. The wines were well structured and full. They produce very nice Sauvignon Blancs. The Estate Pinot was also wonderful. The winemaker is a woman, and she's making a huge splash in a man's world. We left with a bottle of the 728 Pinot and one of the SB's.
Babcock is perhaps the biggest name in the area and sorry but their wines are blah.
Mellville was a nice surprise. One of the Pinots was pretty good and the Syrah was nice. But their winery was really beautiful, and we had a nice time there.

All in all, the Lompoc wineries were low-key, friendly and fun to visit. The wines were overall not impressive, and a bit of a disappointment. Especially for the price, which tended to be in the $30-$50 range.

Recipe:
I highly recommend the Cannelloni for any occasion, it's delicious! It came from the "The Vegetarian Table: France" cookbook. I guarantee you and your guests will love it! It's really fattening, so if that's a concern, you can replace the high fat ingredients with a low-fat version. I made it with Parmesan cheese instead of Gruyere. I have also made it with low-fat cottage cheese in place of the bechamel sauce. It was still deeeeelish!

11 TB butter
1 t salt
1/3 t ground pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 1/2 c minced green onions
1 lb fresh mushrooms, any kind, chopped
2 big bunches dandelion greens, chard, chicory or spinach, or a mix, chopped (2 cups)
1/4 c dried bread crumbs
1 c grated gruyere chese
16-24 cannelloni shells, fresh flat pasta, mannicotti shells or large shell pasta (depending on what you can find) cooked according to directions on package

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make a bechamel:
In a heavy bottomed saucepan,over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons butter. when it begins to foam remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the flour, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper, cayenne paper. Return to medium heat and gradually whisk in milk. Reduce heat to low and stir until there are no lumps. Simmer,stirring occasionally, until the sauce becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn. Remove from heat and drizzle the surface of the sauce with 1 tablespoon of milk to make a protective film. Set aside.

Make the filling:
In a skillet over medium heat, melt 5 tablespoons of butter. When it begins to foam, add the green onions and saute until translucent, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until the color changes slightly, 2-3- minutes. stir in the dandelion or other greens and cook until just limp. stir in remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and remove from heat. Stir in 1/2 cup of the sauce and the brad crumbs to make a paste.

Assemble:
Grease a large baking dish with butter. Using a knife or spoon, fill each of the cannelloni shells with some of the filling. Arrange the filled shells in the prepared dish snugly. Reheat the sauce over medium-low heat briefly, whisking. Add 3/4 of the gruyere cheese, whisking until it melts. Do not overcook. Pour the sauce over the filled shells, blanketing the dish from edge to edge.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.

Bake until slightly golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, 10-15 minutes.
Serve immediately. Yum!!!!







'

Cleaning up our Green Waste- pass it on!

Original article in the Chronicle

Americans have a separation problem, and nobody knows that better than municipal composters.

When ordinary trash is thrown into green curbside collection carts, companies spend time and money to remove it and cart it to the landfill.

"I had the accounting department look at the average over the last nine months, and we pulled (from incoming green waste) 68 tons per month of contamination, primarily plastic," said Greg Pryor, general manager of Vacaville's Jepson Prairie Organics, which composts San Francisco's green waste.

Municipal green waste is the name given to plant material collected from yards, city parks and commercial landscaping. In a few cities, including Oakland and San Francisco, it includes food scraps from produce handlers and residential, restaurant and hotel kitchens. Composting green waste reduces the amount of garbage entering landfills and cycles nutrients back to gardens, parks and farms.

Compost can include animal manures, sawdust and sewage sludge, none of it likely trash-free. But municipal green waste is probably the trashiest material to enter the compost stream.

Balls, batteries, electrical wire, irrigation tubing, watering cans and garden tools find their way in; even a bicycle has been found with the green waste at Jepson Prairie. "It's broken, it's in my yard, must be yard waste," seems sometimes to be the attitude. Then there is the full lineup of plastic bags: grocery bags, trash bags, fertilizer bags and, coming full circle, compost bags.

What happens to all that stuff...

Kids don't try this at home

On a beautiful sunny October Sunday, I met my friends at the annual Illegal Soapbox Derby races in Bernal Heights. It's a long standing San Francisco tradition, and one I have always wanted to attend. It was a great gathering of true San Franciscans, the kinky, quirky crowds that make our dear city so special. You can see the video here.

Paperboy brought his kite buggy, outfitted with a new braking mechanism, and he and other friends had many successful trips down the hill.


I, however unwisely, decided to take a spin. The trip down was thrilling! As I glanced the end of the course, I began to brake. Then to my horror, I saw that 2 motorcycles, used to tow folks back up the hill, were parked dead in the middle of the road! I quickly looked to the right and my brain said " I just have to drive up on the grassy area to stop. Then I made a mistake... as they say in the bicycle culture, "look where you want to go, not where you don't." I saw a wooden post in the way, and I panicked. I suppose my foot slid off the steering post and I lost control. I don't' really know. It all happened so fast. But the next thing I remember is that I was turned around 180 degrees, 2 guys were running towards me, yelling at each other that they should not have parked in the middle of the road, and I could not stand up. Someone towed me back up the hill, my friend took me home and another friend drove my car home for me. The next day I went to the doctor and sure enough, my ankle is broken. "You broke the wrong side of your ankle" he said. I guess these fractures have a high incidence of non-union, so on Wednesday I got a screw put in. Now it just hurts like hell and I'm off my foot for 6 weeks.