Twins with Completely Different Personalities, Part 1

This morning the sun is rising over two sisters ... twins with different personalities.  Very different personalities.

The sun rising of San Jose Del Cabo is a
breathtaking sight this morning.

For those of you who are my close friends and family, you know that I'm a twin. Not an identical twin but a twin nonetheless. I have twin aunts (identical I think) and I'm seeing a woman with identical twin sons.  And last summer I had the pleasure of meeting Nicole and Katey Bacigalupi at their family's winery in Sonoma, John Tyler Wines by Bacigalupi Vineyards. Twins working side by side.  Frankly, that's hard for me to imagine.

I often refer to twin brother as my womb mate. We spent the first 16 years of our lives either sharing a womb or a room. And, in spite of my best efforts, we ended up at the same college, too. (Although for the first year I lived in denial and answered people who seemed to notice someone similar to me on campus with an "Oh, really?"

There are some twins who love being twins. I didn't.  I always wanted to be my own person and it was hard always being referred to as "the boys" or "the Loux boys" knowing that only referred to my twin and I and not my younger brother. I took care of that on my 50th birthday making my younger brother officially one of the "Loux Boys." 

Roxanne amid the cactus and the sea breeze.

I think it's the same way with communities.  This week I'm visiting the twin towns of Los Cabos: San Jose Del Cabo and her younger, more adventurous sister, Cabo San Lucas. These two communities couldn't have different personalities.  Much like many of the other twins I've met. 

Cabo San Lucas is the party town. There are tons of restaurants, bars and resorts.  The cruise ships that come to Los Cabos camp in their port.  About thirty miles up the road is San Juan Del Cabo, the older more traditional community. 

Since I've only had one full day in these cities to begin to explore their differences, I'm looking forward to spending more time checking out the two scenes.  Although it's going to be hard to leave the all inclusive resort on the Sea of Cortez just feet from the room. 

The only downside is there's just a single bottle of house red wine and a single bottle of house white wine from which to choose. It's a good thing that it's a decent Malbec from Argentina. 

Perhaps a stop today at a wine shop and I'll bring back a bottle or two of some different wines.  After watching Rick Bayless's Mexico One Plate at a Time, I understand the Mexican wine industry is growing and producing some really fine wines.

In the meantime, I'll have to content myself with the selections available at the resort. Nothing like eating breakfast with a cool sea breeze blowing, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, delicious food and fresh squeezed juice.

Who would have thought that celery makes for a refreshing juice? I certainly didn't.  I'll have to try some new things with my juicer back in Chicago.

Now I'll content myself with learning more about these twins.  Today will be a visit to Cabo San Lucas.  I think we'll even try the local transportation there!

Nothing Says Valentine's Day Like Stinky Cheese

Is there anything more traditional for Valentine's Day than roses and chocolates? That's what I've always thought when it comes to this special day. But what do you do when that special person in your life isn't a big fan of sweets.

The Valentine's Day Romantic Cheese selection!

"What?" you say? I know. But chocolate brings nothing but a big yawn from my special friend.

I needed to come up with something special real quick. Life at work has been out of control and with Valentine's Day on Thursday it wasn't conducive for heading out to dinner. So what did I decide to do? I decided I would make dinner.

But what would be a special treat for Valentine's Day?

Sometimes it's important to mix things up a bit.  That's why I thought of my friends at the Artisanal Cheese Company. This year they had a special they called the "Valentine's Day Romance Collection." This fine collection included an award winning Hudson Valley Camembert (in a heart shape!), Brillat Savarin (a triple cream brie style cheese from France), and Affidelice.

Now you're saying to yourself that neither the Brillat Savarin nor the Camembert is a stinky cheese.  Ah . . . but the Affidelice, that's an Epoisses-like cheese when at room temperature is a soft, pungent, spoonable paste.

A view from the Morrito. You can see the
 Morros in the distance.

While I wish I could say that I made the little toasts for the cheese, I had a bag from Costco that was still delicious.  Sometimes the genius is in a simple solution.

I plated the cheese and toasts and opened a bottle of one of my favorite wines.  For Valentine's Day I selected a bottle of Morrito Pinot Noir from my friends at Chamisal Vineyards. It was a delicious choice. Even though these cheeses suggested that they be paired with a white wine, I thought the Pinot Noir might be a good choice, too.

This delicious wine gets its name from a particular spot on the Estate where the grapes are grown. When I made my visit to the winery in October last year I learned a little about the Nine Sisters of San Luis Obispo county. The Nine Sisters are a chain of volcanic mounds that begin in Morro Bay and head inland.

You can see the volcanic soils of the Morrito.

If you were to extend that chain you would end up in the Chamisal Vineyard on a little hill that is made up of similar soils and is believed to be a little Morro (hence the name Morrito). My choice was the 2010 vintage. I know that this is a little early for the vintage but it's a delicious wine and it paired well not only with the selected cheeses but also my dinner for the evening.

I thought I would try to be a little bit ambitious. It began with a trip to Whole Foods to pick up some veal cutlets. Unfortunately they only had veal chops.  That required me to trim the meat and then to do a little more pounding of the meat to get it into the proper thickness for veal scallopini. I used a recipe from Emeril that I found on the Food Network website.

All in all it wasn't as ambitious as I thought it would be. A pretty simple recipe but I did follow fairly closely and I have to say that I nailed the sauce. Just the right tartness from the lemon to go with the salty of the capers and some asparagus with mushrooms, shallots and garlic.

Sometimes all it takes to make for a special occasion is to step away from the tried and true . . . the expected and try something a little extra ordinary. From now on, I think that stinky cheese will be a tradition for Valentine's Day. You might just want to give it a try.

Taking a New Journey through Wine

Over the last several years I've met some really great people in the wine business but none are any better than Pete and Cathy Seghesio. As some of you may know, after more than 100 years the Seghesio family sold their company to the Crimson Wine Group.

I wrote about that in one of my other blog posts called Musings on Engagement from 35,000 Feet.  Since that time the Seghesio family continues to be involved in the business. And for Pete and Cathy, they've added a few other ventures (adventures) to their lives.

Just this month, they've launched a new wine company:  Journeyman Wine.  A journeyman is someone who is learning a craft and is between apprentice and master.  In fact, you could say that many of the people for whom the Hands of Time wine I posted earlier this week were journeymen, too.

But this adventure began as a way for Pete to pass along the family business to his sons, Joe and Will.  Last summer during my visit for the 9th Annual BBQ and Zin event hosted by Seghesio I was blown away by an invitation to join Pete and Cathy at their home for a pre-event party.  It was during that visit that I had a tour of the new winery by one of the journeymen in this project, Joe.

He did a great job of explaining the process that they went through in creating their first wine, a chardonnay. But more than just a tour, we had an opportunity to taste the wine. It was delicious. It was an incredible evening with the family. Now the winery is no more than a stairway from the living areas. With some encouragement from Rachel Anne's, Pete and Cathy built the winery in their basement.  

Now if you don't know Seghesio Family Vineyards, you may not know that they don't make a chardonnay. What's even more interesting is that Pete's cousin, Ted, is the winemaker not Pete.  He's a winegrower. 

One of the things I've noticed in my trips out to wine country is how well the various vineyards work to not just increase their business but the business of all of the wineries in the area. They may be competitors but they're friends, too. And over the years, Pete has developed great relationships with winegrowers all over the region.

I love what Pete and Cathy put on their website regarding why they started this project.

Our Journeyman Project was envisioned with the belief that two of the best gifts we can offer our children are family traditions and the opportunity to learn from wise mentors. We are so grateful to our amazing friends and colleagues who didn't hesitate to become involved. They shared their skills, their vineyards, their wealth of experience and even a few treasured secrets. Without even realizing it, they taught us lessons of generosity and character that will last a lifetime.

 What a powerful experience. I'd really encourage you to go visit the Journeyman Wine website and work your way through it. There are lots of great photos and information all the way through it. And you'll have an opportunity to sign up for information on ordering the wine.

Personally, I can't wait to not only try this wine but to watch as Pete, Cathy, Joe and Will deliver new experiences and new wines year after year.

Succumbing to the Hands of Time

Every once in a while I stumble across an interesting wine when I'm out to dinner. The other night was no exception.  I was hosting a dinner for a client at Eddie & Merlot's around the corner from my office.

It was a Wednesday night and I anticipated that the restaurant would be more crowded than it was. We had a number of folks drop out from dinner so it was a smaller, more intimate gathering.  I had only been there once and chose the restaurant mostly because of its close proximity to the office and to the client's hotel.

I guess I hadn't realized that it is primarily a steak house but it does have some other items on the menu.  Since we were primarily eating steaks, I took the opportunity to select a new red wine that I hadn't heard of before.

Now when selecting a new wine, I often look for a label that I have had in the past or that I know something about.  This time the wine I selected had come from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.  Knowing a little about the region but not a lot about the winery, I was anticipating something special from this red blend.

I was not disappointed.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find this wine at my local Binny's Superstore. Reasonably priced for a restaurant bottle, this blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah was the perfect solution for the various steaks and accouterments that went with dinner.

And then, again, I was intrigued by the story behind the wine as well.  The Hands of Time wine is reflection of an event that took place a decade ago.  One day in February 2003 thirty five prominent vintners gathered together for a celebration.  They had many things in common but one thing brought them together on this day -- they had all served time and learned their craft while working at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. This event was called: Hands of Time: Winemaker's Reunion.

Here's how the winery describes the event:

A day of celebration and reflection, the event honored winemakers and viticulturists who at one time or another had worked at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and "lent a hand" in the winery's success. The event started with each vintner placing his or her hand into a plaque of French limestone putty. These cast handprints are what now comprise the "Hands of Time" exhibit, permantly installed at the Napa Valley winery.

The celebration inspired a string of memories, toasts and tribute, and emotional outpourings of gratitude.  All gave credit to Stag's Leap Wine Cellars for imbuing in them a passion for learning, a respect for the land, and an abiding love of winemaking and viticulture.

Somewhere along the way, they created a wine to match this event. And it was a wine to match the event we were celebrating. I guess celebration isn't exactly the right term but it was an evening to connect outside the day's business.

The wine steward came by and offered to give us a tour of the wine room.  I was able to pick out some of my favorite wines in the room.  They had a couple of bottles of Seghesio's Sonoma Zinfandel.

I took a few moments to recommend that they consider adding some of Seghesio's other varietals as well as some of the delicious Pinot Noir's from Chamisal Vineyards. It's hard not to recommend some of the wines from my friends in Sonoma.

Coming later this week a post about what Pete and Cathy Seghesio are up to in their next adventure.

Defiant as Always

After a long day at work, I came home wanting a good wine and a simple meal.  I guess nothing says simple like a grilled cheese sandwich. Most recently I have been drinking some really good pinot noirs and chardonnays and other lighter red blends.

But today I felt a little Defiant.

Defiant, as in in Seghesio's Defiant blend. This isn't a light red blend. With Aglianico, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, you can be assured that this is a full, bold blend.  And it lives up to its name.

I discovered this little gem a couple of years. Frankly it caused me to change my membership in Seghesio's wine club.  Let me explain.

What first attracted me to this wine first by its name.  For those of you who know me well, you can say that there's a little defiant streak running through me. This delicious and bold wine got its name from the description that wine icon Mario Pinelli-Minetti during Seghesio's centennial in 1995.  He toasted Seghesio Matriarch Angela for the defiant way she faced the industry's challenges.

I imagine that she faced a number of significant issues from Prohibition to the Great Depression. Two world wars and a police action. A lot to steer a company and family through.

A few years ago, I received this wine as part of my club shipment. I called to order more and was told: "we don't have any more. It all went in the initial club shipment." Now I was disappointed.  I changed my membership from two bottles of each club wine to six.

This wine reflects that defiance. This is a bold wine. I had the 2008 vintage. I'm thinking that this wine could use a few more years. It's still young. This wine will stand up to the boldest of foods.

Frankly, it was a real treat. I loved the nose of this wine to begin.You could also pick up the oak from the barrel. The tannins are particularly strong. I think with a couple more years, this wine will mellow and turn into a devilishly delicious wine.

For those of you looking for this wine, you'll have to be a member of the Seghesio wine club since it's only available to members.