So, I periodically like to return to my roots in the Bay Area and hang with my friends Quinn and Mary. Quinn is one of the creators of Old Press, which I've written about before. He's also something of a macher in the restaurant world. Mary does interesting things in technology, like me. I've known them both since we were all about 19 (Mary's a couple years younger, so she's going to claim she was 17 when we met, or maybe even 14 or 15. Don't believe her.). So, Q&M usher me into their home with their typical Southern-bred hospitality. You know, the kind where food is immediately proffered and drinks are immediately poured, even if you had dinner just five minutes before you arrived. "What are you having?" Q. asks. By "having," he means wine, of course, and rumbles around in the hundred bottles stashed in the garage. "Just ONE glass," I reply. "I've had too much wine this week." "Too much" means a lovely bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, my standby Luna Pinot Grigio, and attendance at one long, intimate dinner that included a kick-ass bottle of Biale Zinfandel.
"Okay," he says, "One glass. This is it." He pours a large coupe of rosy pink. "Do you recognize it? Do you recognize it?" "No," I reply. Turns out it's Gary Pisoni's Lucia Vineyards 2007 "Lucy" Pinot Rose. Gary Pisoni is renowned for his pinot-centric activities in Monterey County's Santa Lucia Highlands. "Lucy" is named for his mom, and bears a pink breast cancer ribbon -- a portion of the sale proceeds go to fund breast cancer research. However, even without the tug on your heartstrings, it's a wine worth buying -- light, fruity, well-structured, and delicious, it's a perfect summertime standby.
I took my one glass over to the table, dived into the Dirt DVD marathon (this is what you do with old friends), and pretty soon that aforementioned glass was empty. Courteney Cox and her raunchy crew sure can make you thirsty.
"Want to try some other wine?" asks Quinn, looking longingly towards the garage. "I had my one glass," I replied. "You don't have to swallow," he replies, "You can just spit it out." Mary looks at him cross-eyed. "She's not going to want to spit it out," she says, "Because you're going to pick out one of the wines with a dot on the bottle." "Dot" apparently means "fancy wine."
Mary is absolutely right: I'm a swallowing kind of girl. And when Quinn emerges from the garage with Lucy's big sister, 2005 Lucia "Gary's Vineyard" Pinot Noir, I swallow every bit of the wine in the glass. Big, plummy, intense with tobacco and coffee notes, it knocks my socks off. I have to go hide the stemware to keep from asking for more.
I call the Lucia "big sister" because it's the genesis for the Lucy: It's made with a French technique called saignée, where the winemaker bleeds off a portion of the wine (actually, called the "must" at that point) after it has had only a short bit of contact with the skins of the grapes. The result is actually two wines: a richer, more intense and aromatic red -- Lucia -- and a light, crisp rosé: Lucy. Very clever and thrifty. And after all the hard work Mr. Pisoni put into making me happy with two excellent wines, how could I possibly spit? Wine swallowed is happiness gained. Yeah, I know that's not really a proverb, but it should be.
As always, use the Snooth Search toolbar to find Gary Pisoni's creations in your area. And no, I haven't forgotten about the Wine Crawl. Sometimes it takes a while to get to Spain from France, so be patient with the trip, will you?
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