“The richness of life…the textural thread that weaves through every heart, past present and future, fine and illusive, but when the light and my inner calm is just so, I can see and taste droplets of love travelling along the tapestry of human spirit. Imagine drinking from the cup of life!” – Greg Brown, Winemaker, Dreamer, Grape Guardian, Yoga Dude. So says the back of the bottle of the 2007 T-Vine Zinfandel that we shared recently. The T-Vine wines are excellent, but the story is extraordinary. It is a story of a life well lived, of deep and profound love, and of aching sadness.
Some of the beautiful vineyards at St. Francis winery.
Sonoma County, the “Valley of the Moon”, truly is a bounty of riches: the long valley just 90 minutes north of San Francisco boasts spectacular scenery, a relaxed and laid back vibe, terrific restaurants and is producing top-rated wines from a diversity of micro-climates and grape varieties.
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2012 Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit Blanc de Tablas
Made up of 75% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc & 5% Picpoul Blanc, this wine is the quintessential example of balance. Rich, smooth, and creamy yet not overdone in any way. Butter, cream, and honey notes in perfect harmony with stone fruit and mineral. Drinking beautifully now, it demonstrates an enormous amount of complexity so it will definitely age well.
Excellent+
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Bryan Babcock
We first met Bryan Babcock, proprietor and winemaker at Babcock Winery a year ago when we visited Santa Barbara hosted by their tourist bureau, Visit Santa Barbara. They sent us to the Santa Barbara Wine Collective, a very hip bar that pours a lot of very good local wine by the glass. We tasted 5 or 6 different Pinot Noirs from Santa Barbara County. Our favourite of the tasting was the 2012 Babcock Pinot Noir Radical. We told that to the bartender who then informed us that Bryan Babcock was actually sitting just a few tables away and would we like to meet him? Of course! We were introduced, had a brief conversation and he invited us to come up to Lompoc and meet him at his winery the next time we were in the area. That Radical was so darn good we knew we had to get back and learn how he made such good wine and to taste the rest of his line up.
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2003 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
A powerful but not overpowering wine, it delivered superb complexity with notes of blackberry, blueberry, spice cake and vanilla. Bold and intense yet so well balanced as to still come across as elegant. Drinking beautifully now but still has lots of time if you were to lose it in the back of your cellar for another decade. Extraordinary
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