Friday, June 19th: Travel from Arizona to San Jose. Stayed with my friend Mike, and his girlfriend Donna, at their place in Los Gatos. Donna's a wonderful cook - homemade cake, lasagne, cupcakes for dinner. Delicious. Mike introduced me to Charlie the Unicorn. He has a series of Charlie the Unicorn shirts. Too funny.
Saturday, June 20th: Breakfast at the Los Gatos cafe. Everything was quick and delicious - especially loved the herbed potatoes. Hiked the Summit Rock Loop. Visited the Thomas Fogarty Winery. Stunning views. Enjoyed the wines, especially the Pinots, but the prices were a little high, and the wines we liked definitely required aging from the point at which we tasted them. After that, stopped at the Cinnabar Winery tasting room. Fantastic wines, comfortable atmosphere. I had the thought to send them a little bit of Cinnabar quartz from Arizona for the tasting room...
My honey and I especially enjoyed the Mercury Rising.
Had dinner at Dio Deka, which was divine. Top marks for their Spanakotiropita "... Oven-baked, crispy phyllo pastries, filled with baby spinach, scallions, leeks, Greek sheep and goat milk cheeses" Little towers of crispy, spinachy, cheesy goodness. The Haloumi cheese, grilled, served atop an heirloom tomato slice was also excellent - salty, oily cheese atop a fresh, tart tomato slice, with just the right amount of olive oil and balsamic.
Sunday, June 21st: Awoke and went to Great Bear Coffee. Stopped back home, then left for the second leg of our trip, but not without a final stop at a winery - Testarossa. Especially loved the Syrah made here, and the pinot we tried was also excellent. I had the humbling moment of trying to swirl the glass of wine hard enough for it to "open" that I spilled red wine all over my shirt. Oh, yeah, there it is - the flush of total embarassment!!! Luckily, I had a change of shirt available. The folks at this winery were very nice and accomodating, and I would visit them for the friendly, authentic atmosphere as well as the quality wines. The history of the winery is also interesting - check it out on the link. I asked the winemaker for advice he had for an aspiring winemaker. He said, "The most important thing to have is patience. Work hard in the field, and go easy in the winery. Let the wine make itself. That, and don't quit your day job." ;)
More on Big Sur and the tasting notes on Mercury Rising soon.
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