I spoke with our vineyard manager, Jim Barbour, this AM. It’s still too early to get an accurate crop estimate but it is currently looking “medium size.” Butterdragon is running about 1 week behind where it was last year. Veraison has not really started.

Brix Restaurant in Yountville has been around in various iterations for quite a while. Years ago, it was a good, but not great, place that we tried a few times, usually because Mustards or another better first choice was full. Consistency always seemed a challenge for them. Just when we had decided to write them off, they’d pull off a decent meal luring us back again. Then, it went through a modest name change (and an extensive staff/ownership? change) and went even further downhill. They’re trying again. To quote their website, Brix “is an entirely new incarnation of the wine country classic, with a renewed focus on farm-to-table dining.” Chef Anne Gingrass-Paik, formerly of Spago, Postrio, and Hawthorne Lane is now at the helm. Six of us headed down there on Saturday night to give it another try. The results were mixed.
The wine themed decor does a lot to mitigate the big open feeling of the dining room though I just couldn’t get out of my mind a hotel’s dining room all open and square with the ability (or curse) of looking out over every single table in the place. A nice touch are the booths fashioned out of what appear to be reproductions of old wooden wine fermentation tanks. The stemware and dishes are first rate but one wine glass on our table was not just dirty, but disgustingly dirty. We had to point it out, but it was quickly wisked away by the server.
The wine list is extensive and fairly priced on California selections including a nice variety of by-the-glass and half bottle options. Corkage, I believe, was $20.
Food:
Beausoleil oysters with classic mignonette ($2 ea) – excellent
White corn and porcini soup ($10) – excellent
Heirloom baked beans ($5.50) – I found them “unexciting,” others were even less complimentary
Farmer’s cheese polenta ($5.50) – mediocre and very bizarre consistency of warm breakfast cereal
Grilled zucchini – This side dish was so good, we ordered another one. However, the second time it was inedible, bitter and dry. What happened? The waiter removed it from our bill but unfortunately, the same bad mess was served with one of the entrees. You’d think someone in the back would have checked out a dish sent back before serving more from the same bad batch.
The entrees were all excellent:
Roasted corn & candied bacon pizza with arugula ($15)
Porcini rubbed new york steak with blue cheese and porcini mushrooms ($37)
Atlantic farmed salmon with lima bean puree and kohlrabi relish ($23)
Beef filet with green peppercorn pesto and braised italian string beans but the string beans were replaced by the nasty zuccini ($30)
So what to do about Brix? It appears that they have returned to where they were some years back: good but not great. Saturday night, it was a restaurant not firing on all cylinders and one would expect on a weekend during the high tourist season you would have the “A” team at work. The service was knowledgable and professional though not especially warm and friendly. The pace of the meal was really off. There were noticable lags between courses and in clearing our plates. I’m a forgiving sort so although I wouldn’t rush back there, eventually I guess I would give them another go. I might have to do it alone however, because my dinner partners said they would never come back. I really can’t blame them. Competition is tough and a restaurant really needs to have a better selling point than we can’t get in anywhere else. Especially at these prices.

Brix Restaurant
7377 St. Helena Hwy, Yountville CA 94558
(707) 944-2749
Brix serves Sunday Brunch which seems like a good idea so close to Yountville, the largest supply of hotel rooms up Valley. There is also a small gift shop and wine store in front with some nice, but expensive, selections.

I’m incredibly lucky that I live in an area where excellent dining and wine choices are abundant. I have regular access to food and wine that folks in many areas can only dream of seeing. So, lucky for me, bad meals and bad wines are a rare occurrence. But they do occur.
The dilemma when one blogs about food and wine — especially when in the business himself — is what to do about disappointing experiences. I hate writing negative things about restaurants and wines that I know are labors of love by their producers. Personally, such writing can cause some awkward moments with my peers. Professionally, such candor can come back and, well, honestly, bite me in the ass.
Folks should keep in mind that my experiences are just that, my own. Your mileage may vary. With just a few exceptions, we go to restaurants that have good reputations and drink wines that come recommended by folks I trust. If you try the wines that disappoint me (or the ones I like) or dine in places I pan (or those I loved) and don’t agree with my assessment, I would love to hear about it. I’m all for giving them a second chance.
With restaurants, I’ll try to write about what I experienced that was both good and bad.
With wines, I score wines very literally and strictly based on the Cellartracker.com scale. Note, 75-79 while damning in some publications, means “Average.” Although in this day and age, I believe it is not that difficult to find an above average wine at almost any price point, average does mean average. To me, it is a competent, if unremarkable wine.
Cellartracker scale:
* Extraordinary (96-100 points)
* Outstanding (90-95)
* Very Good to Excellent (85-89)
* Good (80-84)
* Average (75-79)
* Below average (70-74)
* Avoid (50-70)

This entry was originally published in June 2005 but I liked it so much, I wanted to move it forward in time so it doesn’t get lost as I relaunch the blog. I had asked, Cary Gott, our very talented winemaker, to jot down a few thoughts for the Vintner’s Journal. Here was his first post.

——————————

Walking into my work…
In an interesting lifetime of making wine from lots of vineyards at many different wineries (Inglenook in 1969 was the first) I have learned to entertain myself with a few special experiences I get to enjoy as a winemaker. Some are in the vineyard and usually relate to driving tractors in the spring. Another is the design phase of a new winery when the architect in me puts a new design on paper, a cellar where I would like to make wine. There is always the opening an old bottle from my winemaking past and enjoying again the work I did many years ago. And there is one at the conclusion of a winemaking project that occurs just a few times a year…
Last week I created the blend of the Match Vineyards 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. In the caves at Rombauer two different lots of Cabernet and one of Merlot were racked from barrel, blended and returned to barrel (my unique mix of mostly new French oak barrels). Eleven barrels of clone 15 Cabernet, nine barrels of the clone 7 Cabernet and three barrels of Merlot. All three, very, very nice wines and just eight months old. I always worry that a new blend might not be as expected after the work is done. Maybe something unexpected happened or it just doesn’t go together as planned. Usually about a week after the blend is made I make myself go taste the wine, usually with a little fright in my mind but also there is excitement to see what I have created (especially when I’m working with wines as interesting and complex as the 04 lots from Butterdragon Hill).
I waited until the end of the day when the winery was closed. It was a rather warm day, the first day of summer. Beautiful outside, cool in the winery. I found a wine thief and a glass in the lab. Next, a zig zag walk through a room packed with barrels to the shut cave door and a fumble feel along the wall to find the light switch once inside. Lights on and the winemaking fun begins. The floors are shiny wet, everything is damp, the smells are a heavy complex mix of wood, cave walls and years of winemaking. The walk between two rows of barrels seems to be a gliding-on-water experience that does not require effort, just absorbing what is around me. Two turns into other tunnels and now here are the Match barrels that were just racked. My random selection machine is turned on and a barrel is chosen to taste. Bung out. I always amaze myself (I guess it is from doing this so many times) that I am able to to get the thief to go in the bung hole without hitting the sides since I cannot see the hole as it is hidden in the shadows of the barrels stacked above.
Half a thief-full is slightly splashed into a rather large bowl glass. One big swirl. I’m not concerned about the color, just the nose and the taste. I’m by myself with a wine I just made. Talk to me. I never had a large learned vocabulary of words to describe a wine. I have few friends I use all too often, but they work so well for my purposes. Big, rich, full, elegant, deep, stylish, long-finish, complete, nice, wow!.
After a smell and a taste (with a well executed and accurate spit, a fun talent) and then one more taste, I’m thinking this wine is better than I expected. All of those words I so often use are this wine. And now I say out loud in a rather large voice, “wow, this is great wine”. I’m speaking to the cave. I’m speaking to the other barrels of the wine. I do a 360 in place and have a last taste. I am so pleased. Do I take the credit (in my mind)? No. It’s the vineyard. I just finished the vineyard’s work. Great wine. Thank you vineyard.
Then I do a quick tasting of the 03 Cabernet. Just as expected the nose is getting spicier, complex and the body is silky and elegant. A wine doing its thing correctly and beautifully. But I was really here to taste the new blend of 04 and give myself peace of mind on the work we just did. Touchdown ! I now have two great wines aging.
I don’t remember my quick exit from the cave. Later I try to remember if I turned the lights off, I can’t. What I remember is the first smell and taste of what I think will be an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. Big, rich, full, elegant, deep, stylish, long-finish, complete, nice, wow!.
2004 Match Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon from Butterdragon Hill.
Cary Gott
June 23, 2005

Think Napa Valley. Think wine. Think food. You should also think “spa.” Nothing refreshes the body after a strenuous day wine tasting and eating like a massage, mud bath, aroma therapy, or some other rejuvenating technique from the non-traditional healing arts. Between you and me, I just like it ‘cuz it feels good. It’s really nice that there are a lot of places in the Valley that one can get a massage with little notice. This story has to deal with one such visit.
But first, the stage must be set. One should not forget that the Napa Valley, with all its “landed gentry” feel and wine country lifestyle, is definitely located within Northern California. You’ve heard of Northern California? You know, where Berkeley is located. We won’t be getting in to politics here, but it is important for one to understand two things: a) my previous perception of someone working as a massage therapist is that they were probably not leaning really far to the right and b) I’m a talker during a massage and the last thing I want to be thought of while lying there in my birthday suit is that I’m uncool.
Anyway, one day I “assumed the position” on my stomach in a massage. The therapist came in and introduced herself as “Iona.” This didn’t phase me at all. If one gets enough massages, he runs in to many Crystals, Sunshines, Harmonies, Starrs, etc. Just par for the course here in Northern California where the name you were born with is actually just a suggestion on what you should use for the rest of your life.
“Nice to meet you, blah, blah, blah…” I drifted off into a peaceful state, but before long, my mind wandered back in to reality and I started wondering to myself, “hmmm… Iona. I wonder where that comes from.” Asking her the origin of her name would reveal me both as enlightened and cool. I expected some story – just a little flakey – about how it was Celtic for “Wise Searcher” or Wapoo for “Evening Dew.” You get the idea.
Iona, without skipping a beat, explained. “Well, I’m from the Midwest. And when I was born, my father didn’t know what to name me. He looked outside and there sat an old, rusted out International Harvester tractor. But most of the letters had rusted away. What was left was IONA.”

The last time I wrote about a restaurant, it was a relatively undiscovered new place. Judging by the crowd queuing all Tuesday evening, Lalime’s in North Berkeley is still on everyone’s radar. And deservedly so. The setting is a converted house in the craftsman style. We were seated in a semi-private room near the main entrance. Service for our party of 7 was friendly and speedy. Especially impressive was the waiter’s knowledge of the menu. He patiently described numerous menu items and made them all sound delicious. I bet he was right. I can at least vouch for my appetizer of Deep-Fried Maryland soft shell crab with pineapple-ginger chutney ($14) and entree of Crisped duck leg with sweet corn spoonbread and poblano chile coulis ($19). Unfortunately, I don’t remember the exact preparation of my dessert, but it was a raspberry mousse crepe with a coconut pistachio cookie. It was phenomenal. Order it even if you don’t have room!

Lalime’s
1329 Gilman Street
Berkeley, CA
(510) 527 9838
Wines

• 2007 Edmeades Winery Zinfandel – USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County (7/21/2009)
  I was a bit leery when I heard a dinner companion order this wine. I wasn’t familiar with it and some less expensive CA Zins can be too big and jammy for a typical meal. I was wrong. This wine was soft and balanced with pretty red fruit that while it doesn’t wow, it doesn’t muscle its way into the meal. >15% alcohol is fairly well hidden. Notes of new leather accompany the red plum fruit. (86 pts.)
• 2008 Quivira Sauvignon Blanc Fig Tree – USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley (7/21/2009)
  Very California style Sauv Blanc. Grassy nose but lemon taste with a touch of sweetness. Fun, but not a wine that spurs much thought. (80 pts.)
• Posted from CellarTracker

Baconbrook

Starting to get a bit of purple hue. Veraison (when the grapes turn from green to purple) is just around the corner.

There are a few purple berries…

Every year we have to replant a few vines.

Butterdragon Hill

A lot of leaf overgrowth brings mildew danger.

In order to reduce mildew threat, we go from this…

…to this. Leaves are thinned out to allow more airflow around clusters.

I really shouldn’t be telling you this since this restaurant is just a mile or two from my house, the food was awesome, and six of us were able to snag a table without a reservation on Friday night at about 8PM. I guess I know that easy access isn’t going to last whether I let the cat out of the bag or not.
Commis is a fantastic new place at 3859 Piedmont Avenue in Oakland / 510-653-3902. Chef and founder, James Syhabout, after many years with David Kinch at the famous South Bay restaurant Manresa, has opened a small, very sparsely decorated, well staffed, eatery where the food does the talking.
The format is a three course Prix Fixe for $59 and folks may choose items from any section of the short menu to serve as your appetizer, main course, and dessert. Portions are adjusted accordingly. We all chose to skip the dessert section and load up on apps and entrees. There were no complaints, only raves, for all the food served to our table that night. I may be missing a dish or two, but I do remember:
Monterey Bay Sardines, lightly cured then smoked with green tomato confit in rhubarb juice, bronze fennel and pollen
Soft Farm Egg with Potato and Allums, fermented black garlic and pork jowl
Morro Bay Cod with Brandade, mussel liquor and vermouth, pardron petter
Corn Fed Chicken, Poached then Roasted in Summer Savory, crushed english peas, crepes emulsified with foie gras
Corkage is $20 for the first bottle, $30 for the second, however one corkage is waived for each bottle purchased from their short, well-thought, fairly priced list. Our choices:
NV Fracois Pinon Chenin Blanc Brut Dose Vouvray $48
2007 Domaine du Salvard Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay Cheverny $30
2004 Match Butterdragon (brought)
2006 Match Baconbrook (brought)
All the wines were excellent — if I do say so myself — but especially surprising was the 2006 Baconbrook. This wine will not be released until this fall and typically our Baconbrook vintages are more for the cellar than immediate consumption, however, this bottle was singing that night.
So, I guess I have spoiled this “secret” for myself and the few who have stumbled upon this place that doesn’t even have an exterior sign yet. Is there any way I can discourage you from going and crowding it up? I know, and this is the honest truth: Parking is a pain in the butt and they are now reading the meters until 8PM in Oakland. Stay away from Commis!

• 2001 Novy Family Wines Syrah Napa Valley – USA, California, Napa Valley (6/5/2009)
  I pulled this wine from the cellar with hope that it hold its own with the spicy food at Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana (Oakland – awesome restaurant). With the exception of the grilled habaneros, anaheim chiles, and jalapenos, the wine did serve the meal fairly well. Fortunately, the very hot (EtOH) nose of this wine doesn’t overwhelm once you take a drink. Grilled teriyaki steak, dark berries, anise, a bit of a medicinal note, smooth and mouth coating. Drinking at its peak. Interesting, I’m going to give this wine a score not too different from previous tasters on CT but I liked it and their TN seem to indicate otherwise. Excellent wine. 88+. The “plus” is because I’d bet the wine would be even better with a rack of lamb. (88 pts.)
• 2005 Bodegas Sierra Cantabria Rioja – Spain, La Rioja, Rioja (6/2/2009)
  I’m not that experienced with Rioja, but this one seemed quite pleasant a great addition to the Spanish tasting meal at Mezze Restaurant in Oakland. Cherries, wood smoke, fresh turned earth, some crushed sage leaf… not a big wine or especially complex but certainly worth the $30 off a restaurant wine list. (84 pts.)
• 2001 Neal Family Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Estate – USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain (5/27/2009)
  Tight with cedar and sour blackberries. A bit austere and angular right now but should improve with 2-3 more years in the cellar. By about hour 4 in the decanter, it edges had softened a bit and the wine displayed a smokier character. (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Tell your wine life story in pictures. I’ve started with the mosaic to the left. You can create one and upload it directly to our Facebook Page.

Instructions:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).

b. From the pages of search results, pick an image. You may choose to be literal or rather esoteric.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images (the thumbnail image location) into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php).

d. Save the image to your hard drive and upload it directly to our Facebook Page.

Note: if you upload the photo to Facebook yourself, it will not be anonymous. If I do it, I will leave out all names.

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite red wine pairing?

3. What is the vintage year of the oldest bottle of wine you own?

4. Where were you when you first experienced your wine drinking epiphany? The place or situation where you realized wine was more than just a liquid to quench your thirst?

5. What is the first and/or last name of the person living or dead with whom you’d like to share a special bottle?

6. What is your favorite wine growing region?

7. What is your favorite pairing with white wine?

8. Where were you born (city, state, country, anyplace)?

9. What is your favorite wine varietal?