Yesterday, we had blustery weather arrive and by nightfall heaters were cranked on. When the weather dips to 32 at night I'm not going to miss my chance to get firewood. Christmas trees can wait but I was in need of logs, pronto!
Visiting wine country in California has spoiled me. There are 130 wineries with 30 grape varieties in Russian River Valley. Just below Healdsburg, the river flows down to the Pacific and the cool area along the coast allows the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes to thrive.
Let me ask you this? How natural is the wine you drink? Most processing is not very good for the environment. Well, the natural wines are on the rise. While visiting wine country up in California I had the chance to meet Hardy Wallace at the NPA in Santa Rosa. Around these parts there is a huge food movement but this was a nice surprise with the wine. The project he works on is a collaboration with the wine maker Kevin from Salinia. On my visit, Hardy offered a taste of the most natural wines I have ever seen. The color is very different and the taste surprised me with freshness and clean flavor. The sauvignon blanc has set the bar for which I will measure all others now.
