BARRA of Mendocino’s Annual Winemaker’s Dinner – an essay in pictures

 

Events, Future and Past

John On Wine ­ – Events, future and past

Originally published in the Ukiah Daily Journal newspaper on Thursday, May 8, 2014
Written by John Cesano

Mother’s Day Brunch ­ I wish my mom was alive. I would love to get her a corsage and take her to a lovely Mother’s Day Brunch; my son with us and grandson and grandmother spending time together; a glass or two or three of bubbly, or bubbly mixed with orange juice. I really miss my mom.

If you have the opportunity to take your mother or grandmother – or best of all, both – out for brunch this Mother’s Day Sunday, May 11th, consider Barra of Mendocino at 7051 North State Street in Redwood Valley, just minutes north of Ukiah. Enjoy a lovely brunch from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., with a glass of wine while a three piece jazz ensemble plays, and then take pictures together in Barra’s colorful gardens bursting in bloom.

Brunch tickets are $35 each, although Barra Wine Club members get a $25 price, and children 12 and under are $12; and you can secure your tickets today, or by noon tomorrow, by calling the winery at (707) 485-0322. Tell Katrina that John sent you.

Love your mom, and enjoy your Sunday!

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The Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival is coming up quickly on Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, and tickets for several dinners are sold out; while the remaining dinners, technical conference, and the grand public tasting event are nearly sold out. If you love Pinot Noir, then go to http://www.avvwines.com for more information and to get your tickets before you can’t.

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CigarBQ 2014 ­ I attended the first CigarBQ back in 1998, which makes the 2014 edition the 17th annual event. CBQ is the premiere cigar, wine and golf fundraiser in the Sonoma County wine country and the main event ­ the mouth watering barbecue – will be held at Robert Young Estate Winery in Geyserville from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 16th. This year, 10 cigar brands will be on-site along with more than 40 of Sonoma County’s best wineries, beer, food, music, and friends.

Guests will enjoy an afternoon of cigars provided by Davidoff, Camacho, and Cusano, premium wines, Lagunitas Brewing, music, and friends; all while raising money for the Council On Aging and Meals on Wheels. A $150 ticket price includes barbecue, wine, cigars, and a limited edition wine glass. Buy your tickets at http://www.cbqwinecountry.org.

Golfers will enjoy taking part in the CBQ tournament the day before, on Friday, August 15, with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start. The cost is $79 per golfer. Contact hans@cbqwinecountry.org for more information, or to get your golf tickets.

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Hopland Passport ­ Another successful Hopland Passport is finished and in the books. This is the one event that I have to work and do not get to attend. I know that the folks who did attend, and visited us had a great time. Every now and again, I use the column to throw out a thank you or two, or 10. The rest of the column will give you a glimpse nto what goes into putting on an event like Hopland Passport as I spread thanks.

Thanks to all my Hopland winery neighbors, owners and workers alike; together, we make Hopland Passport happen, we shape what it is that our guests experience. Thanks to the folks up at the farm, from Shana and Andrea in the office, who keep track of my requests and make sure my expenses and revenue are accurately tracked; to Jose, Ernesto, Benny, and everyone else who does the hard work, the farming of all that I am able to offer in our farm stand & tasting room. With Guinness driving a huge truck and a team of workers, you move a shipping container worth of items from the farm in Potter Valley to the shop in Hopland, and then make it all disappear again. There aren’t thanks enough for me to give to adequately express my appreciation and gratitude for what you do.

In the back yard, we cook the organic grass-fed beef from our farm, and make up our wild rice and artichoke heart salad, plus toss a green salad, and our two contract chefs did a terrific job. I love knowing food is being taken care of, because I can’t leave the tasting room bar. We received a ton of compliments on perfectly cooked medium rare beef. Thanks to my son Charlie and his longtime friend Grey. We missed Mark, and look forward to his return if he is free in the future. Of course, we couldn’t cook unless someone went shopping. Thanks to Judith for picking up everything we needed for the weekend, and for having an eye for making things look better, more attractive, and making us all better.

In the tasting room, I lost my right hand gal, Ann, who attended Passport after working the last six beside me. Ann did come in early Saturday morning, before Passport to help set the tasting room, and I thank her. I looked to my staff to step up and be the team that makes losing Ann for the weekend a less than catastrophic loss. Thank you Juana for not only working your scheduled shift, but for shouldering more of the responsibility for our success, for ensuring our guests had an enjoyable time.

I also had two first time behind our bar helpers, Kellie and Tina, who poured for the many tasters and kept our ship afloat. Thank you to both of you. Thanks to Guinness for providing me the opportunity to do what I do, what we all do. Thanks for chatting with visitors, for signing their bottles, for all this and so much more. Finally, thanks to the folks who came to Hopland Passport, a week after Dry Creek Passport and while the Beerfest in Boonville was going on. Your support makes what we do possible, and I can’t thank you enough. Let’s do it all again this fall, on Saturday, October 18 and Sunday, October 19. See you then!

 

 

Thank You!

 

John Cesano of John On Wine

John On Wine ­ – Thank you

By John Cesano

Originally published in the Ukiah Daily Journal on Wednesday, November 27, 2013

I like that we kick-off the holiday season with a giving of thanks. Facebook has featured 30 days of thanks – a note about something that moves someone to thanks – posted each day in November, 30 notes of thanks with several of my friends participating.

These many notes of thanks and the other upbeat, positive, and inspirational messages have made Facebook more joyful this month. I’ve participated; it isn’t a stretch imagining me writing 30 notes in 30 days, after all. A few of my notes touched on wine, pouring it, tasting it, writing about it, drinking it. I’ll be doing a bit more of that here.

First, I want to thank Guinness McFadden for giving me a job, for hiring me to take over your tasting room in Hopland. You hired an unknown quantity, I had never worked as a tasting room employee before. I hope your risk has been rewarded. Thanks to the wines and other foodstuffs from the farm that you provide me with, our numbers have never been better and we have the highest rated tasting room in the over five year history of San Francisco Chronicle tasting room reviews. I love that you tell me what, not how, and allow me to do my job with an amazing amount of freedom. I am thankful to be able to do something I am very good at.

I also want to thank my crew: Eugene, Gary, Ann, Juanita and Catrina for giving our visitors the same care I would give them, and freeing me up for days off.

I want to thank Bob Swain and, now sainted, Raphael Brisbois for making the wines I sell. You two have made wines with tons of medals and 90-plus ratings from Guinness’ grapes, and I am extraordinarily grateful to be able to pour them. Thanks also to Bob for sitting down with me and tasting 11 wines for a piece that ran online in March of 2010. Parducci Wine Cellars and Paul Dolan Wines were the first inland Mendocino County wines to get a feature piece written by me. I’ve asked Bob to sit down with me again and when he does, I’ll be thankful and write an updated piece featuring Parducci for the newspaper.

I’m thankful for Kelly Hancock, my editor at the Ukiah Daily Journal. Your stellar work editing previous pieces made saying yes to writing this column easier.

Thanks to my predecessor, Heidi Cusick Dickerson, a better wine writer than I am, for being constantly supportive of my efforts and for sending folks my way.

Thanks to so many local folks for being so welcoming, helpful, and ­ again ­ supportive. Alan, Louis and Hairy Putter, Di Davis and the entire Davis family, Lorie Pacini and Allen Cherry; thanks to all of you.

Thanks to all of the winery tasting room folks, owners and employees, from Potter Valley to Ukiah, Redwood Valley to Talmage, and Capella to Hopland. There are so many more features yet to write. Some of you, I’ve visited but haven’t written up yet; I will, after visiting again.

Thanks especially to the folks at Barra and Girasole: Martha, Charlie, Katrina, and my tasting buddy Gracia; and to Maria Testa at Testa Vineyards, who always has a smile and a good glass of red. I do not know what they put in the drinking water up in Redwood Valley, but I appreciate your every kindness.

Thanks to Bernadette Byrne at Sip! Mendocino in Hopland for helping point a few of the folks behind the labels you pour my way. Two of the biggest treats that I am most thankful for are meeting Fred and Alberta of Albertina Vineyards, and Mario and Danelle of Rosati Family Wines; a pair of husband and wife couples, growing grapes, making wine and selling it in entirely too much anonymity. I loved your wines and enjoyed spending time with you – thank you for making me feel so welcome. For those reading this, wines from both Albertina and Rosati are available at Sip! Mendocino.

I get invited to things because I write. Thanks for all of the invitations to events, dinners, and tastings. I see some of the same folks at various events and two people I am very thankful for are Sheriff Tom Allman and District Attorney David Eyster of Mendocino County. These two do more than merely administrate, they care about and constantly engage the people in the communities they serve. I am thankful for such dedicated public servants.

I got a head start with hundreds of McFadden wine club members who already knew me, but the response to this column from the public has been surprising to me. I am thankful to each and every person who reads my column. It is still slightly unsettling to have people I’ve never met, in places other than wine shops, recognize me and compliment me on a column they read and remember. Whether I’ve been in line to get coffee, seated at a restaurant, or on the firing line at the gun club, you have come up to me to tell me you read my column and even if I am not used to being recognized, I am thankful for your readership and humbled by your feedback.

I’ll be in my tasting room today until 5 p.m. to help people with their very last minute Thanksgiving wine selections and while the room will only be closed one day for Thanksgiving, I will very thankfully take most of four days off, enjoying a family dinner on Thursday, and trying to buy some great cookware on a Friday sale. Maybe, I’ll taste some wines on the weekend for a future column, which would make my editor thankful. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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Here’s some extra “thank you”s for my online readers to wade through. Thanks to my son Charlie; you are, by and large, a good boy. Thanks to Heather from Ft. Bragg; it is nice when we find the time to walk paths together. Thanks to Millesima USA, who inexplicably named this blog one of the Top Ten Wine News Blogs being written.