Verde Valley Wine Tasting - April 2014

Yes Virginia, they make wine in Arizona. Pretty good wine. I have watched the industry grow over the years from a novelty to a fun fact, but now they are actually kicking butt and starting something pretty cool. The city of Cottonwood, AZ has set up several wine tasting rooms in their old downtown and are inviting us city folk to partake. It is very similar to Murphys, CA for those reading my blog.

The first stop on the Verde Valley Wine Trail was Page Springs Cellars. Yes, they have a spring. They even bottle it and serve it in the tasting room! Delicious wine grown mostly in Southern Arizona. Most of the best regions for growing wine are in Southern Arizona, but those regions are very far from most tourist destinations. These wineries are close to Sedona in Northern Arizona with more visitors. I also stopped at Javelina Leap Winery across the street which was also pretty nice, although the lack of leaping javelina was a minus.

Downtown Cottonwood is where to find the action, so to speak. Before my sickness started rearing its ugly head, I had time to drive through and taste some wine. Several wineries are downtown including Arizona Stronghold and Pillsbury. The tasting rooms are very approachable and friendly. The downtown is also very nice with cool boutiques and little cafes all along the street. It is a perfect day trip from Phoenix or a worthy stop along a Northern Arizona vacation. The drive through the Verde Valley is especially nice anytime of the year.

Wine in the desert? Not really the "desert" but yes, it is Arizona wine. The soil conditions are similar to other famous regions and the hot days and cold nights really stresses the grape to make for high quality wine. Plus, it is always a good idea to help support local businesses, especially those making tasty adult beverages! Please enjoy the rest of my pictures below.

Phoenix - April 2014

I grew up in Phoenix and consider it my hometown. Technically, I lived in Tempe, AZ, but most people don't know the specific cities even though it is the home of Arizona State University. March is an excellent time to visit the desert for baseball Spring Training, but this year my Giants decided to open the regular season against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was also an excellent opportunity to see some friends and their newest babies!

OK, so I like the food too. Literally, my first stop after a 12 hour drive to Phoenix was the Fry Bread House. This is one of the very few places that nails a true Native American fry bread. Warm, light, chewy, and stuffed with red chile beef. The thing was making my eyes water, but loving every minute. Most people enjoy their fry bread sweet - which is an equally excellent experience! - but I do love a good savory fry bread stuffed with southwestern goodness.

My apartment for the week was near North Mountain in Phoenix. I grew up near South Mountain. Those city founders were pretty clever. It should be noted that Phoenix has many mountains and is not nearly as flat as most people imagine. A hike up the mountain was a perfect way to start the week, even if the sun was still hiding out of sight. Nevertheless, the sights were impressive as the desert spring was in full bloom.

These ribs are from Bobby Q in Phoenix. This is a legit BBQ joint with some seriously smoky meat. They serve brisket egg rolls, fall apart cornbread, and super cheesy mac and cheese. The baby back ribs were just amazing. Sweet, smoky goodness falling apart with all the fight long cooked away. I recommend this to all my Arizona followers and anyone who makes the journey. Very respectable and comparable to some of my other famous joints. After lunch was the Phoenix Art Museum which had a Hollywood Costume exhibit which was impressive, but no photos.

After a day with friends and some wine tasting, it was finally time for some real hockey. Yes, I am one of the rare San Francisco Giants / Phoenix Coyotes fans. All 6 of us have regular support group meetings and are doing OK. It was fun, but I got sick. Really sick. Norovirus sick.

It is not fun to get sick during your vacation.

After nearly two days of attempted rest and no desire for any food, I did will myself to the Giants game. I am glad I got to spend some time with a good friend and see my Giants play in stellar form. They even brought in Buster Posey from the bench just for me! And hit some home runs just to make me feel better! Anyway, not bad for $40 tickets though; those seats would have run at least $120 in SF. Plus $12 for valet parking at the side entrance! Who needs an 18 inch $25 mega corn dog anyway?

Please enjoy the limited number of additional pictures, and also make sure to wash your hands!

Napa Valley - March 2014

California is home to many spectacular wine growing regions. It is also home to one of the most famous regions - Napa Valley. The region gained worldwide recognition when one of its wines was judged higher than the traditional French regions and shocked the industry. These days, many of the world's best wines come from this region, and I happen to live only about an hour away. This time, I was joined by a good friend and his girlfriend on my journey.

We began at Domaine Chandon in Yountville. I should note that most of the wineries are not in the City of Napa; the rural parts of Napa County house most of the famous houses. Chandon is one of my personal favorites, not only for the excellent sparkling wines, but for their selection of Carneros varietals - Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Their tasting room was uncharacteristically empty early in the day, but the usual tour groups started quickly and packed the room. One nice feature with Chandon is a wide range of winery only offerings. Always a treat.

Turnbull Wine Cellars was a surprise. As a warning, most of the wineries in Napa require advanced reservations for tastings and tours, so it is somewhat rare to just walk into a winery and taste wines. I highly recommend making advanced reservations to ensure you can visit the more popular places. Turnbull is a small boutique winery right in the middle of Oakville with typical examples of Cabernet Sauvignon. Tasting fees for most wineries are now $20-40 per person, with few refunds with purchase. Most of the best wines are over $100 a bottle, and the fees are a result of many tourists coming to the valley just to get drunk instead of actually buying wine.

Cakebread Cellars was a pleasant surprise. We arrived without any reservations, but they still managed to give us a little private tasting. This was impressive wine with an impressive price tag. Their staff was really nice and accommodating. If we had more time, it would be nice to do a tour of the winery. Needless to say, we did take a few bottles off their hands.

After a quick lunch stop at a local taqueria, we headed north to St Helena and Duckhorn Vineyards. Duckhorn is a very attractive winery nestled at the top of the valley with a beautiful building and surrounding gardens. They now have tables and chairs for a restaurant-style tasting that is now spreading throughout Napa - probably to sell more food and snacks with the tastings. This is another reason why reservations are important to avoid long waits for openings. Their wines were OK; nothing really stood out as being better than the rest. We did enjoy mixing the leftover wines to create our unique blends which were much better than what they were pouring!

The last stop was Silver Oak Cellars back in Oakville. This place is both famous and infamous for their wines. They focus only on Cabernet Sauvignon, but they do an excellent job. I can see why they have their reputation. As expected, the grounds are gorgeous with lots of stone and wood. The staff gave us heavy pours late in the day and seemed to enjoy their wine too. It was a little strange to hear classic hip-hop on the speakers. If you enjoy big Napa-style Cabs, this is heaven.

That said, I am not a big fan of Napa wines. They tend to be high in alcohol, heavy on tannins and oak, very pretentious, and way too overpriced. There are many other regions in California that produce great wine - Amador County, Lodi, Monterey - and even other parts of the world are producing much better wine. Plus, Napa is very expensive. Charging $30 just to taste wine and spending hundreds of dollars for a few bottles is a luxury few can afford. There are just too many cheaper options. Visiting Napa has also become much more exhausting dealing with the Silicon Valley types who really are not into wine but just want to impress their girlfriends.

But, if you are really looking for the best of the best, this is the place to go. I do think Napa still puts a little extra effort into their wine just to maintain their high reputation. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the price. Enjoy the rest of my photos below.

River Cats Preseason Party - March 2014

The Sacramento River Cats are the AAA Minor League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics and play across the river in West Sacramento, CA. Even though I'm a little biased, most people agree that the River Cats is the best minor league team in the United States, and their home stadium - Raley Field - is the best stadium in the minors and is better than even the Oakland Coliseum! This is the second year the River Cats have opened up the ballpark for fans before the season starts, and most people had a great time - except for some tired kids and even more tired parents.

Of course Dinger was there! No, not the Colorado Rockies' Dinger, but our very own local mascot. Nobody really knows what a "river cat" is. Maybe it's one of the many feral cats by the river? Maybe it's a very lost and very wet mountain lion? I think most people hope it's a lovable, tall kitty who loves little kids and jelly beans!

Not quite as impressive as the outfield at PNC Park or AT&T, but our Raley Field still has a pretty cool background with Tower Bridge and the Sacramento skyline. West Sacramento is across the Sacramento River from downtown Sacramento - west of course - so you can see the city even though you are not in the official City of Sacramento. They were selling tickets for charity to try and hit a ball on field and had a game to get stamps around the park for a free ticket to the Stockton Ports exhibition game.

Like other stadium tours, they opened up the home locker room, luxury suites, and other areas not usually open to the public. The baseball theme is prevalent with lights and fixtures looking like baseballs and even wallpaper in the bathrooms showing the various pitches by grip! Many major league players like Yoenis Cespedes, Barry Zito, and the Giants' new pitcher Tim Hudson have all played for the River Cats. I saw Brandon Belt and Hector Sanchez play at Raley Field just before being called up to the majors. Who knows who you will see next?

Like most trips to a ballgame, there was food - although this was FREE FOOD! Everyone got two free hot dogs and a soda, plus samples of Merlino's Freeze and other samples from Raley's. For real garlic fries and 1/2 lb Dinger Dogs, you have to wait until opening day. Sadly, beer was not free.

Yes, a rubber game against the Dodgers in San Francisco is much better than a River Cats game, but it's very hard to not have a good time here in Sacramento. Both Giants and A's fans come together to root for the home team and take on the Dinger Dog challenge. Delta breezes and low humidities make for perfect baseball weather most of the season. Plus it's baseball! Enjoy the rest of the pictures below.