Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Ladieth Weekend Day Two

When one thinks about wine tasting in Northern California, this is probably what comes to mind.


Not this ...

One guess which route we chose ...

Digs' sister Bree Mastaa works at a wine magazine in San Francisco.  We met up with two of her coworkers (and friends!) and a BOY who braved the six of us ladies for the ENTIRE DAY!  Special shout out to BW, The Shoe and D Mac!

SSG knew she was in for a good time when BW showed up wearing a shirt that said I Heart Boxed Wine.

We kicked it old school and went Urban Wine Tasting in Oakland of all places, yo.

It was SUPER high class.

It was a gorgeous, warm morning and apart from a minor hot flash that SSG went through due to temps being higher than 40 degrees (and maybe wine at 11 a.m. after a lot of wine at 11 p.m. the night before) we were rolling right along.

My favorite stop was at JC Cellars.  The owner and winemaker, Jeff Cohn, joined us for our tasting and was as lively as his wine.  The guy's passion is tangible and you get swept up in his energy.  It was the only stop where we all purchased wine.

I'd say we got the star treatment since we were with some of the magazine peeps, but I honestly think JC Cellars is that welcoming with everyone.  

We were taken on a spin around the place.  Check that monster egg.  It's the latest thang--they're keeping some wine in cement since it's porous and can BREATHE.  Because wine needs AIR.  Since it's LIVING.  Or something ... 

Hiccup.

Jeff could explain it better than SSG.

Hi Jeff!  Jeff's on the left who ... wait a second ... he gets to be at work all day drinking wine.  Can SSG have that job?  He is supervising BW as she checks the place out.  Earlier I took a picture of them pretending to be handcuffed to each other, to which everyone shouted "June 2009 cover!"  SSG is waiting for the call because she's SURE with photography like this it will get picked up in a heartbeat.

We started to wind down and went to one other winery.  Which SSG won't mention.  Because after the first sip she and BW looked at each other.

BW:  Does this taste like 1980's perm solution to you?
SSG:  I was thinking more along the lines of manure.
BW:  Ah yes, in the industry they call that "barnyard."
SSG:  Seriously?  Maybe I'll just go ahead and rinse out my glass.

We wrapped up shortly thereafter as earlier in the day pizza had been mentioned.  The debate of which pizza place we should go to had quickly snowballed into a vigorous debate.  The results of which, frankly, are going to blow your mind.


Coming up Tomorrow on SSG:  The 2009 San Francisco Pizza Smackdown

7 comments:

T said...

From the looks and sounds of it, you had a wonderful weekend!

I Am Woody said...

Hooray for wine before noon!!

I'm all about some pizza - looking forward to the smackdown!

Unknown said...

I love field trips! I so wish I could have been there with you all!!

Bella Della said...

What fun! I wish I could have tagged along. I can't wait to see the pizza.

ab said...

I had no idea that Oak-Town had so much wine to offer!

Molly said...

if i had read this during the day i've had i would have hurled the monitor out the window.

come to think of it, i DID hurl the monitor out the window.

they're making me come back tomorrow anyway.

Lys said...

Man - I wish I knew this. I could have had you do a blog for CinS! Next time you go wine tastin', let a gal know :)