Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz

Empire Grade Road,
on the Boony Doon Road ride 

A couple days in Santa Cruz saw us visit Healdsburg (very much worth it), drive the scenic Westside road past the wineries to our hotel, stop in at Flying Goat Coffee and Bottle Barn, stop by Enkidu’s tasting room (their wines are fantastic and very well priced), and spend some time at Howarth Park with lunch at Superburgers (insert from Sue: BEST burger and strawberry milkshake I ever had!) . Not bad!

We left Howarth park with a screaming three-year-old who insisted he needed to ride the “digger” but his evil parents declined shelling out $2 for the ride. Quick lesson in “life’s not fair” and “you can’t have it all kiddo.”

So p*ssed was he that at sleep time that night, when Sue asked him what his “best thing” of the day was, he blurted out “No, I’ll tell you what the baddest thing of my day was, and that was not going on da digger.”

Stu and Kristi will be happy to know that we stopped by ChezShea in Half Moon Bay on the drive down to Santa Cruz. It’s a funky eatery with world cuisine – Brazilian, Thai, South African etc.  The restaurant and Half Moon Bay is a recommended stop along the coast.

We have been staying in a family neighborhood in Santa Cruz, two blocks from the ocean. At night you can hear the waves crash against the cliffs. Here, we have discovered the neighborhood library and park, local beach and organic grocery store. And Tau has had a lot of fun playing with the kids of our hosts.

Trying out a two-wheeler

I took a ride along the cliffs yesterday afternoon and witnessed a pod of dolphins steal a set of waves from the local surfers in one of the nearby bays. Two to three dolphins a wave, they jumped and spun through the waves into the shore break, where they then turned around and swam back out to sea, right under the surfers. Pretty darn cool.

Today I headed out to climb Donny Boon Road which was part of the 2009 Tour of California route into Santa Cruz. Leaving Santa Cruz, you ride 10 miles north along the coast before turning onto Bonny Doon Road and then head directly inland. After about half a mile the climbing starts with an 11% grade. The climbing continues for another 2-3 miles of varying steepness before “leveling out” on Pine Flat road (nothing flat about this road) then finally turning onto Empire Grade Road and heading back into Santa Cruz. The descent was incredible as the redwood forest finally gave way to open grasslands and ocean vistas. Certainly worth dragging some other cyclists here to do this ride with me again sometime.

Nothing in Particular

Sue’s Anderson Valley (Boonville) post pretty much summed up our time in the valley — it was a pastoral break from the coast. Rolling hills, sheep farms, vineyards and orchards on either side of the valley, set up against the mountains that separate the valley from the coast on the west and from the Ukiah/Willits valley that carries the North/South I-101 highway in the east. The weather was also wonderful – cool and overcast until late morning and then clearing with a strong breeze for the afternoons.

Apart from the drive into Ukiah so that Tau could run wild and climb in a neighborhood park, and his parents could check email, we did a whole lot of nothing in particular. I did get out for a road ride to Breggo Cellars for some wine tasting - extremely well-structured wines, particularly their Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Other wineries worth visiting are Navarro Vineyards (for the whites) and Toulouse Vineyards (for the Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, winery dogs and friendly winemaker Vern).

Crazy thing about the Anderson Valley is the temperature swing from east to west. The east (inland) side of the valley is hot and dry, and can easily reach temperatures of 105 °F (40 °C) in the summer and grow more Cabernet Sauvignon type grapes. The west side of the valley reaches the Pacific ocean where morning fog rolls into the valley, lingering until late morning and sometimes rolling back in the late afternoon. Temperatures are significantly cooler to the west and favor the cool climate grapes of Gewürztraminer and Riesling. So across this 25 mile stretch, summer temperatures can easily swing 40 – 50 degrees making for some extremely diverse grape growing and wine making.

Just So Rough

Today we drove back slowly down from Booneville to Santa Rosa after four of the most relaxing days I think we’ve ever spent.

RELAXING is an understatement.  The most strenuous task we undertook was all that arduous lifting of the wine glasses to our lips at the vineyards.

Oh, and the even more strenuous hoisting and lobbing of rocks — for hours, I tell you — into what Tau dubbed “The Cool Creek,” a tiny stream that ran just next to our private little cottage, one of just a handful on 400 acres.

The rest of the time, we slept in late and read, we baked brownies, we made a swinging fort in the hammock (add one blanket, and presto!). And yes, we watched Iron Chef reruns, Sue’s brain-candy thing to do when we stay somewhere with TV.

Et cetera, et cetera, you get the picture.

A small set of pictures of the rock throwing and the vegging is here – just so rough to have to lift your arm constantly to take all those photos.

Santa Rosa Wine and Wheels – Part 2

Mark and I were up early Tuesday to start a road ride that we had been researching and talking about for months — King’s Ridge in Cazadero. This is a 37 mile loop with 3500 feet of climbing that starts and finishes in Cazadero near Santa Rosa. Add more mileage by starting and finishing in nearby Monte Rio. For San Diegans, 3500 feet climbing is about equivalent to 7 Torrey Pine repeats!

I will spare you the details as our pictures on Flickr speak more clearly than I can and this website along with Dan Goldfield’s description do the ride better justice, but the ride reminded me why I love cycling so much. This was definately one of the most beautifully challenging rides I have ever done. Climbing over 1000 ft through wooded mountains for the first 8 miles to the ridgeline, holding onto that altitute for several miles before dropping the same altitute in a couple miles and having to climb it over again.

This happened a couple more times before the final downhill on Fort Ross Road into Cazadero. The scenery, weather, challenge, lack of traffic (~15 cars in 3 hours of riding), sense of freedom and riding partner made this one very memorable morning.

Later, after some serious food intake and vegging out in front of afternoon television, I met Mark and his family for a drive down to the Sonoma Farmers’ Market. On the way, Tonya eyed the Enkidu tasting room on Highway 12. Having enjoyed her glass of 2007 Diener Ranch Zinfandel at Zin on the Sunday night, she was keen to stop. The wines are elegant, well structured and not over-the-top high-alcohol fruit bombs. Reasonably priced as well. I left with a bottle of the 2007 Humbaba Rhone Blend (70% Syrah and 30% Petite Sirah) and 2007 Diener Ranch Zinfandel knowing that Sue would enjoy both.

Santa Rosa Wine and Wheels – Part 1

Arriving at Santa Rosa after nine hours of driving, I hit Flying Goat Coffee (for an Americano) and Bottle Barn (beer) before meeting up with Tonya and Mark in Healdsburg for some wine tasting and dinner at Zin (southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes, biscuits and collard greens).

The next morning, Mark and I were up early to ride the Westside Road from Santa Rosa up to the Alexander Valley, with a stop in Healdsburg for breakfast. The weather was perfect for cycling, cool and slightly overcast. Not too many cars either as most of the wineries were not yet open for tastings. We crossed the famous Russian River, before turning onto Westside Road proper and ended the ride at Geyser Peak Winery with a two-hour personalized tour and tasting in the Members Lounge (Thanks Tonya and Mark).

Despite Geyser Peak’s large production scale, their wines are very well made, and at the 25% members discount (again thanks Tonya and Mark), I felt compelled not to leave empty handed. We tasted over 11 wines and I could easily have left with over a case but narrowed the purchases down to the 2004 Meritage, 2006 Zinfandel (made from 50 year old vines) and a 2008 Late Harvest Riesling.

Next stop, Gary Farrell. Having sold his winery a couple years back, Gary’s legacy of producing fine Pinot lives on at the winery that still bears his name. Another tour and tasting. We all agreed that their Pinots are still very well made, especially the 2006 Ramal Vineyard Pinot and the 2006 Starr Vineyard Pinot. By late afternoon, the cycling miles and wine tastings were doing me in, so I retired to my motel for an early evening before Tuesday’s ride.

Sabbatical Start

On Friday I started my month sabbatical – a paid month off for 8 years of service to my company. Tomorrow I start the road trip to Sonoma for some cycling and wine tasting, Sue and Tau will join me later in the week. From Sonoma, we travel up to Mendocino and then loop back home on the coastal highway through Santa Cruz, Big Sur and Solvang/Santa Barbara. Please check the blog for updates of our travels.

Ha! Better Late Than Never!

We were slack about getting Christmas cards out this year — and so we didn’t. Didn’t even write our usual blah-di-blah-blah holiday letter.

Instead we were crazy busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas and then spent yesterday leisurely opening gifts, cooking and eating way too much food. Dave and I did a delicious Moroccan Lamb Tagine with couscous and two North-African veggie dishes. All with a lovely bottle of British Columbia Blackhills Nota Bene 2005 (thanks Stu-ee), finished off with a apple, pear and berry crumble for dessert.

Our Christmas photo set is here.

We plan to take the rest of the holiday period easy, and do some clearing out of cupboards before the new year starts.

We hope your Christmas was warm, cosy and full of love, and that the coming year brings many happy surprises your way!

Love,
Sue, Dave and Tau

Start ‘em Young

“Tau, what are we going to leave for Santa when he comes?”
“We leave carrots for the reindeers.”
“And for Santa?”
“Wine … and some cookies …”
In that order.

Pictures from Tau’s Third Birthday Party

See more on our Flickr stream. We had a grand time!

Thank You, Captain Obvious!

Don’t you love it when the media states the obvious as though it’s leading-edge news?

Some U.S. Cereals More than Half Sugar

“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some breakfast cereals marketed to U.S. children are more than half sugar by weight and many get only fair scores on nutritional value, Consumer Reports said on Wednesday.

A serving of 11 popular cereals, including Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, carries as much sugar as a glazed doughnut, the consumer group found.

And some brands have more sugar and sodium when formulated for the U.S. market than the same brands have when sold in other countries.”

Reuters Newsfeed

While I admit that my mental acuity is not quite what it was before parenthood, even I know giving small children breakfast cereal laced with high-fructose corn syrup is not a good idea.

Go Puffins, no-sugar Raisin Bran and multigrain Cheerios!

Mendo-Frisco Photos Up on Flickr

We’re back and photos of our trip up to Mendocino, down through Sonoma and a few days in San Francisco are on Flickr.

There are some good ones … enjoy!

42 and a Few Weeks

Dave turned forty-two recently. Over a month ago in fact. And I meant to post this picture, taken after the Solana Beach Triathlon but the month kind of got away with us.

Tau and I made him a birthday cake and we had a nice dinner and our last bottle of Blackenbrook Sauv Blanc, bought at the small winery next to the cottage we stayed at near Nelson, NZ, last December.

At one point during the birthday festivities, Dave muttered under his breath about how freaking old 42 was. And I smiled, because getting older is the last thing I think of when it comes to my husband.

Consider that he and his triathlon mates came third in their category (Mens Relay), even though yes, he was the oldest member of his team and he doesn’t get out on his bike to train as often as he’d like.

Consider, though, that he does makes it a priority to cycle to work twice a week and get out on a Sunday morning to ride 25 to 40 miles along the coast.

And consider — not that I’m biased, noooooo! — that he still has the body (if not the energy … thanks Tau!) that he had in his twenties.

Dave also recently took a wine appreciation course and got excited all over again about the grape. He’s now a fundi on the subtleties of wines from countries we’d never tried and varietals we’d avoided — gasp! — even Chardonnays! Every night or two now it’s a new wine and we go through the paces — holding the glass up against a white background to appreciate the color, the paler meniscus, swirling it to observe the legs and guess at the alcohol content. And then sniffing the bouquet, lightly sipping and letting it roll in our mouths. Yes, we’re learning wine all over again.

If this is forty-two, it ain’t so bad!

Also wanted to post this one
of Dave in the early 70s.
Cute, huh?

The faded original is here … enhanced using Picnik.

Easter at Home

We spent Easter Sunday yesterday with Dave’s sister Trish, her husband Bruce and family. Tau loves haves having his teenage cousins Greg and Jess around to play soccer with him and do Thomas the Tank puzzles (thrilling for them, I’m sure!).

It was so hot here that the Easter Bunny had to drop his eggs off very quickly after brunch and we ran out and find them before they melted into globby, gooey little messes.

Pics are over at Flickr. Enjoy!

Oh The Bean!

Sticking with the “quality is more the norm than the exception” theme from my Savvie posting, Sue asked me to blog about the coffee in New Zealand.

Shortly after arriving in Auckland, I let AJ and our newly introduced sister-in-law Jules know that I was partial to good coffee. Turns out they are too. This gave AJ and Jules every opportunity to show off their local stomping grounds, starting with the coffee shop in their local Warehouse outlet.

AJ cringed with embarrassment. His sister and brother-in-law arrive from the US — home of Starbucks, Peets and Seattle’s Best — and the first coffee shop we frequent in Auckland is at the Warehouse! Later that afternoon AJ demonstrated his own perfected latte-making skills. Their coffee of choice is Gravity because, as the ad goes …

 
Tiny Mairangi Bay Village, where AJ and Jules live, has about 30 shops ranging from a FoodTown to a yoga studio to upscale dress shops and everything in between. Coffee can be ordered in at least six restaurants and cafes in the village, such is the love affair locals have with their Joe. Much as in the US/Canada Pacific Northwest, coffee is intricately woven into the Kiwi lifestyle. Coffee shops are filled with folks reading the paper or magazines, working on laptops, coffee-moms meeting girlfriends for a morning latte after walking the kids to school, toddler and dog in tow, business folks brokering deals in suits and the occasional tourist contentedly taking it all, trying desperately to learn the local coffee lingo:

• Skinny latte = Latte made with skim milk
• Long black = What we call an Americano, served without milk or cream
• Long black with milk on the side = Americano with milk on the side (the closest to what we drink here in the US)
• Short black = Espresso

Some shops we visited, like The Red Beret in Motueka and Zest in Nelson, are so busy that customers find themselves cleaning their own tables in order to be seated. Once seated, the patron can then sit back with their long-black-with-milk-on-the-side and pastry, only to politely have to stand a few seconds later to let a new mom pass with her pram. An aside: the prams in NZ are generally larger than most Kiwi cars, which makes for a tight squeeze in coffee shops.

We found the Kiwi roast of choice to be medium-dark and espresso shots were always extremely flavourful. None of the “this espresso’s so weak I can see my mother-in-law through it” shots that our friends at Starbucks have become really famous for. The kind where the espresso shots are no longer “pulled” by hand but triggered into action by the cash register/computer and then shot off by an automated espresso machine.

Sign at Mariposa Palms Nursery and Cafe

Two really unique coffee destinations that AJ and Jules took us to were Morris and James Pottery & Tileworks & Mariposa Palms — both in Matakana, an hour north of Auckland. The Morris and James cafe sits in the courtyard outside the sales center for their very unique and beautiful pottery. And Mariposa Palms cafe is nestled under the palms sold at their plant nursery. In addition to pairing a serene setting with superb coffee, Mariposa also offers free puppies and espresso to unruly children.

Even though we were fortunate enough to frequent some very memorable coffee shops throughout our time in NZ, it is this story that I like to tell to highlight just how good Kiwi coffee is. When we were staying up in Paihia, Sue, Tau and I drove out to Matauri Bay for a morning on the beach. After leaving the main road, the rural drive passes more livestock than homes and finally makes it way up and past the Matauri General Store before the steep road down into the bay.

Being low on supplies, we decided to stop and pick up something for lunch. We then realized that while one half of the very humble looking general store was exactly that, the other half was the local bar. On the counter of the bar sat a very high-end espresso maker. I was floored. Beer, wine and coffee – the Kiwis know a thing or two. After ordering lunch at the bar, we sat out back in the sunshine and drank our long-black-with-milk-on-the-side and ate our meat pies (Kiwi meat pies really ought to be the subject of an entirely separate post). Here in the middle of very rural New Zealand, miles from the nearest town, the owner knocked out a couple coffees so smooth and rich that they rivalled any other cup we tasted in urban NZ or the US for that matter.

Aerial View of Matauri Bay

Savvie

Those of you that know me, know that I’m partial to white wine. Those of you that know me particularly well, know that I am extremely partial to Riesling and Gewürztraminer. Hi. Dave here.

Living in California, a state that swirls and swallows vast quantities of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, I’m seen as somewhat of a wino odd-ball. In San Diego, the Riesling and Gewürztraminer sections are usually banished to the far corners of most wine stores. It’s almost as if you have to ask for them in a soft muted voice.

And then there are those (mostly men) who would accuse me of being as fruity as the wines I like, not realizing that when the occasions calls for it, I’m as appreciative of a smooth Pinot Noir or an earthy Syrah or — heaven forbid — a wheat beer or a lager.

We arrived in New Zealand on a Thursday morning after the overnight flight. By the afternoon I’d located and ventured into the local wine shop, Mairangi Bay Wines. By Friday evening, Sue and I left Tau with his cousins and aunt and ventured back down to MB Wines for some wine tasting.

My initial impression remained constant throughout our time in New Zealand. In the words of one great wine critic and educator: New Zealand makes the best New Zealand wines. They are not Californian or German or Australian or Italian. Kiwis have come to understand the potential of their land in producing truly excellent wines.

Jules Taylor

That Friday night, we discovered Jules Taylor Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2007, which received an Air New Zealand Elite Gold medal. Two bottles made it back to California and one has already been consumed. Sue Courtney, the wine blogger describes this wine as: Juicy, vibrant and punchy with musk, sweat pea and sweet citrus aromas and a grassy, herbaceous undercurrent to the tropical fruit, lime and grapefruit flavours. Intense and zesty with a powerfully long finish and fabulous length. I don’t get all these nuances of flavors. I just really like it a lot.

Not a bad start to enjoying Sauvignon Blancs, seeing as I’d always associated them with a strange, harsh, grassy aftertaste, therefore avoiding them completely. The following evenings and sometimes early afternoons, we delved into sampling a number of excellent savvies (as New Zealanders affectionately call them). Kiwis are fiercely proud of their country, their culture and their produce and wines. They have every right to be.

Early the next week, we flew from Auckland to Nelson on the northern tip of the South Island and rented a cottage in Tasman. Neudorf Riesling and two websites (Nelson Tourism and Nelson Wine Art) had convinced me that a trip to the area would be rewarding. You gotta love the power of the Internet.

I was also very much interested in exploring a smaller, more boutiquey wine region that is well know for crafting some of New Zealand’s finest aromatics. The Neudorf Rieslings I’d purchased in San Diego bore witness to this. Accommodation at the Tasman Village Cottage was also booked based on the advertised “… just relax with a bottle of wine from the adjoining Blackenbrook vineyard and make the most of having a private and spacious place to stay.”

This didn’t take much convincing as the evening we arrived, we discovered another savvie gem: Blackenbrook Vineyard Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2007. Sue Courtney describes this as: Light golden coloured with powerful aromas and flavours of citrus, apple and nectarine with underlying gooseberry and tropical fruit. Juicy and flavoursome with an amazingly long finish where hints of tobacco, tomato stalk and capsicum emerge. A wine of richness and power with a wonderful texture, bright acidity and balance all the way through. A truly remarkable Nelson Sauvignon Blanc.

Again, I don’t get the hints of tobacco, tomato stalk and capsicum references because it’s been a long time since I experimented with any tobacco products. I also believe that the tomato plant itself is poisonous and for those of you that don’t know a capsicum is a bell pepper! Again, I would just say, I liked it a lot.

Note that this wine was good enough to get my red-wine-loving-wife to go, “Mmmmm.” And I should note that this wine was awarded Gold and Trophy for Best Sauvignon Blanc at the 2007 New Zealand International Wine Show. Not bad for a Savvie produced in Tasman’s clay soils!

Blackenbrook was a wonderful jumping off point for our time in Tasman. It was close enough to walk Tau up to see the tractors at work, past the fields of grazing sheep. We also managed quick trips to Kahurangi Estate and Neudorf with our two-year-old who saw very little purpose in the activities, regardless of the number of nearby sheep or horses.

If Blackenbrook was the jumping off point, it also signaled the end to our stay. Our hosts, Cameron and Maria, had arranged for me to meet with the Blackenbrook wine maker Daniel Schwarzenbach for 30 or so minutes. I was eager to meet the man behind the wine we’d been consuming all week long, and valued the opportunity to meet Daniel one-on-one. Our 30 minute chat spilled over 2 hours as he walked me around his gravity-fed winery, answering tens of probably naive or stupid questions and giving me insights into the wine industry that I otherwise would probably never have gained.

Back in Auckland, I ventured into the local grocery store to see shelves filled with Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris alongside the Pinot Noir and Savignon Blanc. Clearly in NZ a few other folks have as much an appreciation of these varietals as myself. My lasting impressions of New Zealand can also be said about the wine – quality is more the norm than the exception.