From the heart - our blogs

Our “Love Page” is back….

 

Our Love Page, is an ever-evolving, seasonally focused list of the wines that we feel a craving for. The theme of this edition of “Love” revolves around California winemakers that we view as “game changers”. This list is not only a compilation of wines but also represents a handful of dedicated, hardworking folks. The wines they work tirelessly to produce will make you think twice because of the statement they make in the glass. By sourcing nearly forgotten grapes to playing around with more familiar ones, these winemakers have created intriguing wines in miniscule quantities, shining a new light on what California and its range of grape varieties is capable of. 

The game of refusal

 

Definition: Refuse
Noun—Matter thrown away or rejected as worthless; trash.
Verb—Indicate or show that one is not willing to do something.

40 days closer to zero

 

The mind of a restaurant professional is a curious thing. Those who thrive in this profession are, first and foremost, manic about multitasking. You also must possess the ability to trust your co-workers, and in turn, read their minds like you would your spouse’s. You have a way of being available when a co-worker needs your help, and you be able to help with out speaking more than a sentence. You must trust that someone can do the same for you in return. You brain must work like a sponge to absorb massive amounts of information and retain it- menu retention, stories about wine, and at Passionfish this also includes a self-taught, mini degree in all things sustainable and ocean-related. Perhaps the most important quality a truly successful server or manager must have is not only the ability to thrive under moderate to high levels of stress but to actually must crave it.

Vineyards, horses and wines, oh my...

You might be wondering why horses are in my title here.  In the last few weeks I have visited several wineries and they have been anything but usual.  My normal business routine has been replaced with petting various animals (sheep, goats, chickens, roosters), talking about solar panels, and one especially big “draft horse,” named Tucker.  I’ve come away from these experiences with a new hope for where the wine business is headed, which in fact is essentially where it all began, the land.

The Story in Your Glass

 

A few weeks ago my husband and I took a leisurely afternoon drive in the Hollister hills up to the Calera winery, the purpose of our visit was to pick up 12 bottles of ‘library selection’ wines. I was elated to make the drive in order to offer 6 bottles of 1999 Mills Vineyard and 6 half bottles of 2002 Reed Vineyard Pinot Noir a home on my wine list. One of the downsides to pricing the wines on our list close to retail is that we sell through our wine so quickly. It’s a constant struggle to maintain any sort of vintage depth on the list and I was honored to have Calera offer me a handful of beautifully aged wines! As I patiently waited for my treasures to be gently tucked into a box I spied the 2011 Aligote available for sale in their tasting room. My excitement instantly shifted to the Aligote which threw off my husband and the woman invoicing the Pinot Noir I had so intensely coveted minutes ago. 

New Wines on Exhibit

The latest additions to our wine list have left me feeling more like a gallery curator than a wine buyer. Just as you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, you most certainly shouldn’t buy wine based solely on a label. Still, I have been fortunate to taste and purchase a group of wines that are just as amazing as their label art! Here’s a peek at the latest bottles of ‘art work’ we’ve added to our wine installation...

 

Crossing wines off my ‘Bucket List’

Every time I’ve read a wine blog or chapter in a book about Spanish natural wine maker Laureano Serres I’ve been left wanting to know more. Pieces of writing about Laureano have always been more about the experience of his personality and hospitality, than the typical factual, cookie cutter winery reviews that I normally come across. Tales of late nights, 20-30 bottle tastings-styled visits, with a man who is described as an “ADD- riddled genius”, “unique” and “without artifice”, have left me feeling exhausted, hung over and elated, even though I wasn’t physically present!

I know you’re a Sagittarius, but I’d really like you to act like a Scorpio at dinner

After leading the staff through a triumphant journey of 40 Days of Writing about wine and a few very busy back to back weekends of major events happening on the peninsula, I felt it was time for some creative, free-style form of wine study. I took my inspiration from Wine Folly’s Wine Personality Blog which was based on the Myers-Briggs personality tests and applied different personality types to various grape varieties. As fun as phycological testing may be (ahem), we needed a little mysticism to lighten the mood, so I added a twist, why not apply grape varieties to...

A Year of Bees

Today our third bee hive arrived after almost 15 months of caring for two hives that came to live with us last year.  My mentor Patrick Adams of Blue Moon Bee's has been an incredible teacher and although I have learned a lot the last year, I still feel stupid in his presence!  My two original hives of Italian bee's struggled through a dry and cold winter and 'bee mom' me struggled right along with them.  The two hives were named Cersei and Khaleesi when they came to live with