My 2010 Vintage Wine

For those people that don’t know my story, I completed my wine making education at U.C. Davis in 2008 and began making wine in 2009.  My second vintage arrived last week after much drama.  Like many small wineries, I have used a custom crush facility; it doesn’t make sense to own all of the processing equipment for small scale boutique wines.  My first wine is outstanding.  My grapes for both 2009 & 2010 are from Beckstoffer Georges III vineyard and I have compared my wine to the 2009 Schrader Cellars "GIII - Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford.  You can find tasting notes on Schrader at the major wine rating publications.  My 2010 isn’t as good, though it is still a nice wine.  But the wine does have a more interesting story.

Shortly before the wine was planned to be bottled, I was informed that the custom crush facility had major financial problems and the future of everyone’s wine stored there was in doubt.  Despite that the wine had been 100% paid for in advance, California will not give the wineries title unless they have a license to bottle.  Over the course of the next several weeks, through limited communications and ominous news articles printed in Northern California publications, we learned that the custom crush company housed at Sebastiani, was assigned by the Board of Directors to a third party. The secured lender and assignee arranged for a rush auction, where a prearranged company created by a small private equity firm, was the only bidder for the assets.  This is a legal practice in California and allows companies to avoid lengthy and expensive bankruptcy procedures.  However, small businesses like all of the affected wineries get hurt.  It was rumored that some Mondovi family and others were interested in buying the business, but were shut out of the process.  We were told our wine could be sold in bulk to other wineries.  Some of the employees of the illiquid company became management of the new venture.  They told us how irresponsible the old company was, but that we should trust them.  My winery, and many others, became unsecured creditors attempting to get our wine back.

When the new venture proposed a solution, they set-up conference calls for small groups of wineries to participate.  The new venture owner told us that if we pay a fee of 20-50% of what was previously paid, and pay in advance, they will bottle our wine and let us have it.  Some of the winery owners thanked this guy for “saving” the wine.  They called him a hero and the owner acted like he believed the praise.  I fully understood the process was simply an opportunistic collaboration that followed a financial meltdown, in a state with poor protection for creditors.  No hard feelings from me, but I won’t call these guys heroes.

Now I have my wine, and I paid a premium-monetary and emotional.  The wine has a story that I can tell as I share and distribute it.

 

 

 

 

The USPS is Irrelevant and Important

Yes, the United States Postal Service is both irrelevant and important. How can they be both? Please read on. My Wife and I have an unusual life. I live in a suburb of Milwaukee, but work several hours away, so we have a home and an apartment used during the week for work. My Wife lives in Taipei, but works 100 km south of the city, so we have a home and an apartment there. I lived in Taipei for 7 months, before returning to the U.S to work.

When I moved to Taipei, the USPS didn’t have a good solution to forward my mail, so I changed my address to my Son’s house in West Allis. Actually I did that because I thought it would be cool to have Stallis as an address. Actually that is not true. My Son then sent the relevant mail to my Taipei home. There is almost no important mail sent to me by USPS. For many years, I had all bills, bank and investment statements sent via e-mail or I retrieve them on-line. When I returned to the U.S., I set-up a post office box, because I didn’t want mail to sit in my home mailbox for long periods while I was away at work, and I didn’t want my Son bothered with my mail any longer. When I return home on weekends, I try to pick up my mail during the only window of time my schedule coincides with the USPS hours of convenience-before noon on Saturdays. It is not uncommon if I am traveling, that several weeks go by without the opportunity to get my mail, which is almost exclusively junk.

My Wife has also utilized our U.S. home address for her mail. She has lived in the U.S. several times and has bank and investment accounts, credit card bills and other mail that the USPS won’t forward to Taipei. When I changed my address to my Son’s house, I changed her address too. When I set-up the post office box, I couldn’t change her address, because the USPS requires that she be there in person to make that change. So my mail went to the p.o. box and her mail to my Son’s house.

When the election neared, both of us needed to vote by absentee ballot. I mailed the request form to the local town clerk via USPS asking she send both ballots to my p.o. box. I received my ballot at the p.o. box, but my Wife’s didn’t arrive. The clerk called and said she could not send them to a p.o. box and mailed them both to our physical address in the town. My ballot was clearly sent to the p.o. box, so I wasn’t following her logic. My Wife’s form was returned to the clerk because her mailing address had forwarding to West Allis. The clerk said the USPS was not allowed to forward ballots. I then changed my Wife’s address back to our home and had the clerk remail the ballot. Now my Wife’s mail goes to our home and my mail goes to the p.o. box.

The property tax bill is in my name and cannot have a p.o. box as an address. The automatic forwarding period has ended, so the tax bill will not be sent to either the home address or p.o. box. Fortunately I can get it on-line and don’t need the physical bill.

I arrived at the post office yesterday after missing several of my short little Saturday pick-up times, due to travel, and opened up my p.o. box. A note inside said I should pick-up my mail at the front window. When I presented the note to the post office clerk, she gave me a tub of unsolicited catalogs and junk mail. I knew there was nothing in the large pile of mail that I would leave with-all of it would be left in the recycling container at the post office. The clerk gave me the tub and said “you should think about getting a larger post office box”. I thought about why I needed the p.o. box, and why I need the USPS, and responded “no actually my life is too complex for the United State Post Office and a larger post office box won’t help”. She looked perplexed as I walked away with my tub of junk mail.

 The USPS is important because some governmental agencies require a mailing address. Otherwise, why do I need one? When my post office box subscription expires in June, I may not renew it and therefore have no mailing address; sort of go off the mailing grid and be totally virtual. 12 years ago I eliminated my home phone land line, and the reactions I received when people asked for my my home phone number and I responded with none, was interesting. Yes, I am going to have no mailing address in the near future.

The Trinity in Taipei

I am not using the Christian definition of Trinity, but rather three closely related people or things.  I took my Father and Son with me to visit our home in Taipei.  My Wife did a great job in showing my family a little of the flavor of this city, despite a rainy forecast.  Our days centered on food, which is not at all surprising given the Chinese culture and my wife’s love of food.  We ate the entire food consumption and digestion system of various animals; include duck and cow tongues, pig stomach and intestines, and quite possibly the end of some animal’s track.  The favorite Chinese foods of chicken feet, jellyfish, tripe and stinky tofu were also consumed.

The first day we ate hot pot, a social eating event of winter time, where various raw meat, vegetables and tofu are added to hot boiling broths tableside by the customers.  On the second day we had lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant ranked as one of the top 100 restaurants in the world.  Later in the week we ate at a Michelin rated restaurant serving Xiao Long Bao (small blanket dumpling), where the dumplings are made by men dedicated to their craft, carefully creating 17 folds in the dumpling, as did generations before them.  Throughout the week we had wonderful breakfasts prepared by my Wife and night market foods.

Some of the sightseeing events included a visit to the Ju Ming museum.  Ju Ming is the best known sculptor of Taiwan.  His work is displayed around the world and he was featured in Time magazine.  We took in the observation deck at Taipei 101, which for several years was the tallest building in the world.  Taipei sprawls through the valleys of three rivers, framed by the mountains and you cannot truly appreciate the city size until seeing it from the 89^th floor of a tall building.  The National Palace Museum is the largest collection of Chinese antiquities in the world, created by Chiang Kai Shek when he fled China for Taiwan.  The mainland Chinese visit Taiwan in huge tour groups to see the art from their country.  Ironically, had CKS not taken these artworks, they would have likely been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

We took in a prayer service at a local temple.  Temples are places where you can pray and ask for special consideration from various gods.  Most people pray for wealth or success in their career or education.  People seeking a spouse, or a better spouse, or happiness with their spouse often pray at the temple.  I have a happy marriage, enough wealth to meet our needs and ample education and career success for my happiness.  When I go to any temple I pray for the avoidance of paralysis.  I am not making fun; I just think that paralysis would suck.

I worried my Father would find the travel difficult; however he handled the 20+ hour trip just fine.  The trip was important to me for several reasons.  I obviously know my Father well having grown up in his house, and my Son can say the same of me.  My Son and Father are very close to each other.   My Wife is relatively new to our family and she wants to know everyone better.  There is nothing like spending a week together to learn more about each other and reaffirm why these are the people I love the most.  In addition, my family now better understands why I love my second home in Taipei.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hayride at the Elegant Farmer

Last month I spent time at the Elegant Farmer with my Son, Daughter-in-law and Grandson.  The Elegant Farmer is an exaggerated traditional farmer’s market located near our home.  It is actually a local treasure; the food they sell is very good.  Their most famous offering is the apple pie baked in a paper bag.  This unique pie has been written about in the national media and I saw an episode of Chef Bobby Flay’s “throw down” series where he challenged the Elegant Farmer to an apple pie baking contest.  Bobby lost.

The morning we went, was unseasonably cold.  We drank hot cider which helped, but none of us were dressed appropriately.  We took a hayride to an apple orchard, where you can pick apples to take home.  Due to an early season warm spell, followed by a frost after the trees flowered, and then months of drought, the apple crop was small.  Elegant Farmer brought apples in from other locations to sell. 

My Grandson found the pumpkins for sale to be intriguing and climbed over them, looking for the perfect squash.  Eventually the cold caused us to end the autumn adventure early.  Next year my Grandson will have a new Brother, so maybe we can try again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish Ham

While on a recent trip to Spain with my wife, we learned about the famous hams of Spain and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Jamón (in Spanish) is typically served thinly sliced, similar to prosciutto in Italy. I always thought of prosciutto as the benchmark standard for ham, but I now know better. Hams in Spain are dry cured and not smoked like so many hams in the U.S. The drying process often takes up to 48 months and everyone believes their process is the best. At the restaurants specializing in ham, there can be 30 or more different types and preparation choices. Typically Jamón Serrano and Jamón Iberico are the favored choices. Serrano means hill and is made from the Landrace white pig in the mountains, while Iberico is made from the Black Iberian pig found in southwest Spain and Portugal. Iberico is more expensive.

The public markets and specialty stores found on the narrow streets have beautiful hams on display. The merchants carve their ham per order, carefully weighing it as if it were gold or saffron. The stores feature small take away orders, including cones full of diced meat or beautiful baguettes filled with ham. At the restaurants, a charcuterie is the best way to sample age dried ham, sausages and cured meats. Drink a nice glass of Cava with your meat. My wife and I were walking towards a specific seafood restaurant that was recommended, when we stopped in front of a restaurant with many hams hanging in the window. The restaurant was packed with people and we were pleased to find out they could seat us at a small table in their cellar. We had immediately lost all thoughts about the seafood restaurant.

I grew up eating sweet Honey Baked hams or smoked hams covered in brown sugar. They taste good on a nice hard roll with mustard and Swiss cheese. However they cannot be judged in the same room as the hams of Spain. I need to go back soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mallorca

We visited Mallorca for several days while recently in Spain.  Mallorca is a small island (name means large island) in the Mediterranean Sea.  It was originally a Roman encampment 2100 years ago, where olives, almonds and wine grapes were cultivated.  The island is home to the rich and famous of Europe, including Rafael Nadal, Catherine Zeta Jones and her famous husband, and many others.   Many of the famous Spanish artists spent time on the island gaining inspiration.  Musicians also sought inspiration; Chopin’s greatest work was created while living there.

We stayed in Palma, which is a typical old Roman city and is beautiful.  Ancient walls and old churches are everywhere, as are the narrow streets common to old European cities.  The yacht harbor is one of the best on the Mediterranean-Monaco’s port is better, but not by much.  We hiked to the top of a mountain on our last day to see a round castle.  The castle was visible from our hotel window and once we were on top of the mountain, the views of the port and city below were wonderful.

The island has been occupied by many cultures over time, including Romans, African Moors, Byzantines, the crown of Aragon, Catalans and more.  The food reflects the cultural diversity. An ancient olive tree in the city center symbolizes the importance of olives to local cuisine and trade.

While walking through the old city one day, we came across a group of roaming musicians parading down the streets and squares.  We followed them for a while, and watched as they entered stores to entertain the tourist.  Mallorca is a popular spot for Germans, and many of the locals speak the language.  Germany jokingly calls Mallorca their 17^th state.

The food and wine were fantastic and I’m glad we took the time to visit for several days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barcelona

I recently met my wife in Barcelona for a weeklong vacation.  I had never been to this wonderful city before, though my wife had been there twice before.  We stayed at a somewhat basic hotel in the old city center, which was located within the original Roman walls almost 2000 years ago.  The location could not have been any better.

There is a great deal of things to do in Barcelona, but our focus was food, and the art and architecture of the local artisans.   Barcelona features great ham and paella.  The hams of this region of Spain are famous, and it is common to have a selection of 20 different types to choose from.  More on ham in the future.  Paella is also famous and varied, with numerous types available at many restaurants.  I had a dark brown dish made with the ink of the local cuttlefish (similar to squid).  On another occasion, we ate the best seafood Paella possible.  I suppose everything could be improved, but at that moment, I would not be able to be convinced of that.

Though tapas are not from Barcelona, the city has embraced them, with many tapas bars throughout the city.  My wife was proud that she found a favorite tapas place of hers, featuring good Serrano ham, bombas and seafood specialties.  The restaurant sign was located down a small street, though very unique.

Barcelona was home to many famous artists and architects.  Most grew up in the area, while others moved to the region from other parts of Spain.  The names in include Picasso, Dali, Miro, Velázquez and Gaudi.  We went to several art museums, including a great one dedicated to Picasso.  Picasso hung out in the early 20^th century at a bar called Quatres Gats in Catalan or Cuatro Gatos in Spanish.  We had to go see what it was about, and drank expensive beer with other tourists.

The city is built on the Mediterranean and at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains, providing great scenery.  I have always thought the combination of water and mountains make the best views.  The hilly terrain of the outskirts of Barcelona caused us to climb significant stairways, and we also discovered a number of outdoor escalators.  I wonder why this isn’t more common.

Our hotel offered us a glass of Cava every day.  Cava is a sparkling wine crafted in this region of Spain.  Cava means cave in Catalan, where the wine is stored for aging.  Restaurants would also offer Cava as a welcome drink.  Interestingly, I have a Christmas tradition at my house where everyone is offered a glass of Cava when they arrive for dinner.  Now the Cava tradition seems more special.

This was not the city of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, where Vicky was trying to find her Catalan identity.  But the Barcelona of artists and wine drinking is real.  The Barceloneta area of the city seems like where the movie may have been filmed, though I need to go back and watch it again.

We had a great time and I was highly impressed with the city.  It is clean, the people are possibly the friendliest in Europe, and the food and wine were fantastic.  In addition to art, the city has the requisite old churches and Roman ruins, which is always a draw for me.  I hope to return some day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Party

I attended a Halloween party at a friend’s house Saturday night.  I worked with this friend for many years.  She became reconnected with a college era boyfriend more than a year ago.  Shortly afterwards, he was diagnosed with cancer, had surgery and began treatments.  Everything went well for both the cancer treatment and their relationship.  I moved to Taiwan and was unable to meet this guy until this past weekend.  He is a nice man and my friend seems to be doing well too.  She also invited some other friends, including old friends of mine from my previous work life.

I ordered a mask online that didn’t arrive in time.  So I did the next best thing and bought a Mitt Romney mask; both masks have the same meaning.  Everyone at the party put more effort into their costume than I did.  Below are several pictures.  I also included a picture of a friend’s son and daughter-in-law’s costumes.  They are expecting a child and I thought the skeleton fetus was clever.  I took their picture off of Facebook; I hope they don’t mind.

The party had various drinking games including beer pong and Jell-O shot relay races.  My teams won every time and I felt like a successful, competitive frat guy.  Good food and interesting cream pumpkin liquor was served.  I had my first moonshine, which wasn’t bad.  Actually it was good.

It has been a few years since I wore a costume to a Halloween party, but I’m glad I did.  I enjoyed myself and got home at 1:30 a.m.