8/29/96 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 700 words

Alexander joyride

We went wine tasting. Yes, the Wests went, too. We wanted to find some good bottles for the holidays, like Labor Day and Halloween. We also wanted to find a fine bottle of red for our good friend, Steve Cabrol.

You see, our daughter, Kristi, who graduated in May, finally found an engineering position. She was hired by Montgomery Watson, one of the largest engineering firms in the country, and Steve Cabrol helped her land the interview. Steve Cabrol is a vice president with MW and has known Kristi for years. Steve's son, Jason, was a long-time student of mine and president supremo of the Backpacking Club.

Kristi starts this week, and she and her fiancé, Chad, and their diskette-chewing, cat-hating dog have moved to Sacramento. Our son will be moving to Santa Cruz in September. We will have an EMPTY NEST. That's why we went wine tasting.

We avoided the big guys in Napa Valley because they now charge $3 for the souvenir wine-tasting glasses. That would cost us 12 bucks a stop. Instead we drove onward over Route 128 to the Alexander Valley where the tasting is free and the wineries are close together. Our plan was to buy a bottle at every stop we liked.

At Field Stone Winery, our first stop, a great, friendly fellow set us up for a perfect day. He gave us a map, and we asked him to circle his favorite wineries. He picked a good half-dozen and told us their best wines. The route took us north several miles, under Highway 101 over to Dry Creek Valley, and south again ending in Forestville for dinner. We bought good wine in each place he recommended. We also stopped at two he didn't mention, and we didn't like the wine, but clerks at both advised us on the same best place to eat: Jimtown General Store just before Healdsburg on Rt. 128.

It was behind us, but on the second recommendation, we doubled-back for lunch. The Jimtown General Store was the Big Find of the trip. It's owned by a couple from New York who said they wanted to create a place that they would like to discover. The shop is chock full of odd trinkets and exotic condiments, and their full-range deli sandwiches are to die for. I ate the best hot pastrami sandwich of my life, and half of my wife's fried provolone.

Jimtown is now on our return lists.

We had a lot of laughs at de Lorimier winery. The clerk, Kim, is hyper-enthusiastic about describing wine, and she would get on a roll about her enchanting chardonnay and how it hypnotized the palette into bringing life to chicken or fish. Soon, her arms would be flailing and she'd be talking to the rafters (stopping only once to say, "Whoops, I'm not supposed to get more than ten feet from the cash register."). Ron and I were cracking up. We couldn't mention a wine that Kim couldn't bury in adjectives and food supplements with the dramatic gestures of a Shakespearean actor. The fellow at Field Stone warned us about her. Of course, the best part is that she has great wine. We'll be back.

Sausal is another fine winery, one I've been to before. Susan and I tasted their wine five years ago at the old Vintage restaurant at the El Dorado in Reno, and we remembered it. Years later when I found Sausal's address, I drove up on my motorcycle.

We ended our day at Topolos in Forestville, an elegant Greek winery/restaurant. The tasting room is downstairs, so you can sample the wine you want with dinner. Every wine they make is available for tasting, and restaurant customers get a 20-percent discount on purchases. We sat outside eating cold soups and curry chicken until the hot sun went down, then we bought a couple of reds and drove home.

Many wineries now offer wine clubs. You give them your credit card, and they mail you wine every month or so. Not a bad idea if a favorite label isn't sold in stores.

The wine we chose for Steve Cabrol was a pinot noir from Alexander Valley Wineries. It tasted like he'd like it.