Barrel-tasting at Crew Wines

 

Gropius and I were really disappointed with RH Philips moved their tasting room and wine-making operations from the Dunnigan Hills area of Yolo County down to Lodi because we loved taking visitors to their tasting room.

So, we were really happy to read all about Matchbook Wines's Tempranillo from the Dunnigan Hills in last month's issue of Sunset Magazine talking about great wine.  And even happier to look at their website and recognize a friendly face--the older sister of a friend of ours!  (We met Darcey in our prenatal ed/childbirth class and have stayed in touch the past five years)

So in anticipation of Gropius's parents' upcoming visit, I asked Darcey if she knew if her sister's wine company had a tasting room.  Unfortunately not yet, but Lacey kindly offered to take us on a barrel-tasting instead!

So, we drove up to the northwest corner of Yolo County and got to see a real, working winery without any of the special sheen of Napa/Sonoma.  And it was heavenly!  As soon as we stepped out of the car, you could smell the yeasty smell of fermenting wine....

And that was before she started showing us what wines at various stages of development tasted like!  Did you know that those big storage containers have little spigots near the bottom that you can use to fill an individual wine glass?  Me neither!

We had a great time, as you can see from the photos and Lacey even gave us a parting gift of some of their (finished) wines to sample at home, now that we've tried them along the way.... 

Oktoberfest

Family Photo

We got all gussied up and went to the Sacramento Turnverein's annual Oktoberfest again this fall.  Lots of fun!  We went when the doors opened on Saturday afternoon at 3pm and met up with several friends of ours who also have children Lulu's age (and younger).  The STV also had a children's arts/crafts area set up upstairs, so we were able to have a LOT of fun before leaving at a decent hour to get Lulu into bed (and leaving before the crazy college kids came out of the woodwork to get their drink on).

Our friend's Paul and Sarah brought a store-bought cake with them to celebrate their younger son, Tommy's, birthday.  So, we have some random birthday cake photos in here as well.

Lulu going crafts upstairs
(the poor girl in the dirndl is from Hamberg!)

A little daddy-daughter time was had....

 

I tried out the holding a beer stein in one hand contest (but without actually being in the contest--I just held it off to the side).  I compared later and the weight of the half-full glass I was holding was pretty comparable to the empty ones they were holding with a weight in the bottom.  I think, if I practiced, I could take 'em next year!  

me and Paul (whose glass I was holding)

The band sang Happy Birthday and we cut into the cake...which had blue icing.

Tommy, the birthday boy