Billionaire Wine
I ran into Stark Wine at the Vinter's Festival before I became friends with the Rhone Rangers. That was before I knew about best tasting practices or taking notes but I liked them enough to buy two bottles. That year my birthday fell on the release date of Iron Man 3 and I knew exactly which wine I was going to pair with the film. Months later when I got to know Christian and Jen Stark, I joked with them that I associate their wine with Iron Man. They told me they're also trying to grab the Game of Thrones crowd. I knew we'd get along just fine.Christian and Jen though are great - they have always been so kind of welcoming to me and my friends. As a wine club member, they've always been accommodating to my requests to swap out wines and change my orders. They've been great in so many ways and on top of that they have great wine.
The wine I picked to have last week was the Stark Trimble Vineyard Carignane. Cariganane is one of many grapes that I hadn't heard of before I delved deeper into the wine world but I have since fallen in love with it. This carignane has a beautiful dark cherry flavor. The wine paired beautifully with my wine (a different wine..) braised pork chops, quinoa, and Waldorf-esque salad. The wine is still a little young and I can tell it's one that will get better as the years go on. Jen told me, however, that they are quickly running out of this beautiful wine - news that is surely going to be very bad for my wallet.The Wine Shepherd
Let me tell you about my afternoon last Wednesday. I had to get to my work in Mountain View, to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco by 6pm to pick up my Outside Lands tickets. Clearly I had to drive (usually I take the train and get to read/nap, it's pretty nice) and even though I left work just after 4pm, I got to the park at 5:40pm. I was hoping to be able to squeeze in a few laps at Kezar Stadium so after another 20 minutes of driving through crazy SF streets, I was finally there... and two hours in a car meant I really had to use the bathroom. This is SF though so all of the bathrooms were locked and I just had to hop back in my car and go home. My drive home was wretched. Not only did I really have to go, but starting from no one letting me out of my parking spot, every turn was filled with jerk drivers being inconsiderate. I was hoping to still get a run in and was going to map out how long a block loop was in my neighborhood so I could use that as a measure instead of laps (the goal was a speed run where you run shorter distances at a faster pace to improve time). Of course, my computer was having serious issues and I couldn't get any site to load, much less my mapping site. By that point I was just frustrated. It seemed like the universe didn't want me to run and neither did I. I just wanted some yummy fried food... but I didn't earn it with a run so I had to think of what would work with the confines of my very paleo kitchen.
As much as I liked my pork chops from the night before, I just wasn't feeling them. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a package of grass fed sliders. I threw some bacon in a pan, seasoned and grilled my sliders, and added all the fixins to make some pretty awesome little sliders. That wasn't enough though - I was so frustrated and I knew I needed a good bottle of wine so there was only one thing to do - open up the 2012 Two Shepherds Grenache, one of my all time favorite wines. It only took a few sips of this awesome juice to relax me a little bit.
This Grenache is truly a special thing. To start, it's a beautiful clear garnet color, uncharacteristically light for the grape. Everything about it is light and delicate including having a very low 13.3% alcohol level. It's definitely a wine you can enjoy anytime and it stands so well on its own (but also did great with my little sliders). It has high acid and beautiful light cranberry notes.
Sometimes I pour Two Shepherds wine at events and it's great gig. Pouring a wine you love is the chance to tell tons of people about something really awesome. His wine is so uniquely crafted that there's always a huge line at his table and people are always shocked at how different his wine tastes. That difference is the love and care he puts into making wine that he would want to drink. It's something I've seen in a lot of the Rhone Rangers but never so clearly as with Two Shepherds. As frustrating as my afternoon last week was, I know William Allen has had a worse one recently so I toast to him for all he's done for me and I can't imagine what it's like to say goodbye to a furry friend. Flash was an amazing dog and I'm sure he's running with new youth up in heaven.
Field of Life
I bought several bottles of wine that weekend and joined the wine club shortly after. Even though Dan isn't the biggest wine fan he loves Campovida as well and comes with me to all of the member pick up parties. When I was deciding what wine to round out my Rhone Rangers post, it didn't take me long to decide on Campovida. I'd had a long weekend of Outside Lands plus an intense Spartan Race and then woke up early Monday to run a training 5k so curling up with a movie and a great bottle of wine was a no brainer. I can't seem to stay stocked in the memory-making Syrah so I went for the next closest Rhone wine - the Grenache. The Campovida Grenache, while not as light as Two Shepherds, stands tall in it's own right. It has a beautiful red berry flavor and lovely spiciness. It was definitely the perfect way to relax and end my Rhone week.
That was also the evening that we all learned about Robin Williams' passing. It seemed like the best way to remember an actor that contributed so much to all of us, was to enjoy one of his films. I had also just finished Peter and the Starcatchers so my pick was Hook of course. RIP Robin - you brought smiles to so many faces and you'll live on in your films and comedy for many more lifetimes.
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