The Chocolate Block

What do Berkeley and New Orleans have in common? In my demented mind there is a thin thread that runs through the two. I bought a bottle of The Chocolate Block at Solano Cellars a couple of weeks ago - I was interested in the melange of Syrah and Cab and Grenache Noir and the fact that the wine is from the Franschhoek region of South Africa.
With Jazz, Blues, and R and B on the outdoor speakers, my husband and I enjoyed the brambly, chocolatey, tarry wine while we discussed the fact that our best friends in NOLA wanted us to visit for Jazz Fest and it was unlikely it would happen. We discuss New Orleans these days like an unrequited love - the one that got away. She calls to us with a promise of what could have been and will never be. Jeff Koinange "coined" what is our favorite phrase from the time, about the CBD and the neutral ground "chockoblock" with cars. He used the phrase chockoblock many times in his reports on our city where our home sat empty. We waited. We drank wine.