A Soothing Wine to Tame Your Inner Beast

I'm in the middle of nearly three weeks on the road.  As I write this post I'm 30,000 feet in the air somewhere over Nebraska (probably). After nearly two solid weeks on the road, I returned home last Thursday in need of something.

Not just anything but something really special. 

Since the dreaded fiscal cliff we just went over, our friends at the Transportation and Safety Administration decided to make life a little more difficult. Lines are longer. People are just a tad bit less friendly. Ok. Maybe not "people" but I know I certainly was!

By the time I got to the house on Thursday I was looking forward to that special treat.  Just before all the travels began, I received my shipment of Chardonnay from Pete and Cathy Seghesio's new venture -- Journeyman Wines.

I wrote about their new venture a few posts back in "Taking a New Journey through Wine" but I hadn't yet tasted their wine.

It arrived just as I was leaving town for California for a week and so the wine sat in the trunk of the car for a little over a week.  I was trusting that the trunk -- even if it was around 35 degrees outside would be warmer in the garage at the airport rather than in my 75 to 80 degree office.

While I normally prefer red wines, I was anxious to try this one.  After our visit to the Central Coast region, I also received a little more wine than I should have ordered. Now I have to get to drinking the wine. Actually, I've now had to take six shelves out of the wine cabinet to get all my wine appropriately stored.  Like I said, time to have a party and drink up.

 Back to some Chardonnay. I came home to a great meal of chicken breast, veggies and a baked potato. Some good home cooking that I longed for after nearly two weeks of being on the road.  I called ahead and asked Roxanne to open up a bottle of the Journeyman Chardonnay.

Over the last couple of months I've had some really delicious Chardonnays -- especially the Bacigalupi Vineyard Chardonnay made with grapes from the same vines that produced some of the grapes that made the historic Paris Tasting. (Read about it in my post "Experiencing my Own Bottle Shock".)

I had already tasted some of the Journeyman Chardonnay from the big green egg as it was in the middle of the malolactic fermentation so I had high hopes for the wine.

And I was not disappointed.

This is a delicious wine.  They say that music can soothe the savage beast but I'll tell you this wine soothed my inner beast.  After a week on the road dealing with grumpy travelers, losing my way through Philadelphia, narrowly missing a barricade trying to pick up a phone call on my blue tooth, this wine was just what I needed.

I'm hosting the next Mondays @ Mark's on Tax Day.  I think that I'll be doing a blind tasting between three of my favorite Chardonnays: one from Bacigalupi Vineyards, one from Chamisal (the Califa blend) and this wine.  I'll report back in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, I'd sure recommend giving the Journeyman Chardonnay a taste.

In the meantime, if there's a wine you think I should try, please let me know.  I'd love to try something new.

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!