Littorai Pinot Noir

 Littorai The Pivot Vineyard 2015

Littorai is a family owned winery with the focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

After studying winemaking and doing apprenticeship in France, Ted Lemon became the first American winemaker / vineyard manager in Burgundy, at Domaine Roulot.

He searched places, after came back to US, where he could make Pinot Noir which would reflect its terroir, and founded Littorai in Sonoma with his wife Heidi in 1993.

The Pivot vineyard is on the rolling hills in Sonoma Coast.

The wine had decent aromas of rose, cherry blossom, herb, medicinal, cranberry, liquorice candy, incense.
Acid is high and tannin is silky.
Smooth, delicate texture.

There is a tiny sign of the lemon and crown on the label.

This is said to be given to Ted Lemon as "prince of Pinot Noir" by fellow producers from France.

St. George Spirits Tour

We went for the distillery tour and tasting of St. George Spirits which is a distillery in Alameda.
Alameda is the island across from San Francisco, and the view of San Francisco can be enjoyed from the parking lot.

The range of products of St. George includes vodka, gin, whiskey, absinthe, liqueur and even shochu!
They are also known for once accidentally creating mustard gas during the production of Wasabi Vodka!

St. George Spirits was established in 1982.
This is their first still.

I love the look of the copper still.
Copper is the preferred material for stills since it reacts with sulfurs and removes them.

They do experimental ageing with different barrels such as maturing whiskey in umeshu (Japanese plum liqueur) barrels.

After the tour, we had a tasting.

Flavored vodkas and gins were fun to try.
All purpose vodka is our staple for cocktail making.

This is the shochu. The label says ramen shop shochu because this is inspired by Ramen Shop in Oakland.
Made with California rice.
I love the label design with the bear saying "roars of bear". It's somehow very funny.

Baller Single Malt Whiskey.
Made with 100% American barley. Aged in casks, charcoal filtered, then matured in barrels which held umeshu prior to this process.
There was a touch of sweetness. Probably from umashu?

Informative tour, delicious drinks and gorgeous view. The guide was friendly and professional.
If you are interested, parking is easy and the distillery can be reached by the ferry from San Francisco.

Delas Freres Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage

I had an opportunity to have vertical tasting of Delas Freres Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage.

Delas Freres is the producer from Rhone Valley, France. They make wines from Northern Rhone, and especially ones from Hermitage and Cote Rotie are well-regarded.

Delas Freres Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage is made with Syrah grown in Hermitage. Grapes are destemmed and new French oak barrels are partially used for ageing.
Wines from Hermitage are usually dense and full-bodied.

Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage 2011
Rich, ripe fruit. Soft tannin and velvety texture.

Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage 2012
Floral characters are balanced with tannin.

Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage 2013
Spice and fruit. Firm structure.
JC says this would be good with lamb.

Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage 2014
Approachable wine which is similar to 2011 with shorter length.

All of them are big yet approachable. Great wines in different ways.

I also got to try Les Bessards 2015
Les Bessards is 14 acres vineyard in Hermitage.
This wine showed even more concentration.
Great wine.

Chablis Wine Tasting with Christian Moreau

I had a great opportunity to attend an event to taste wines of Chablis with Christian Moreau from Domaine Christian Moreau pere et Fils.

The fun event started with a game to find a hidden message in a wine bottle, then we tasted wine with Mr. Moreau.

La Chablisienne Pas si Petit, Petit Chablis 2015
La Chablisienne is a Cooperative winery.
Refreshing, good wine with nice aromas of flowers and fruits.

Maison Simonnet-Febvre Chablis 2015
Maison Simonnet-Febvre makes white wine from Chablis as well as Cremant de Bourgogne.
Fresh and clean.
Green apple, lime, orange. A little bit of bitterness of grapefruit in after taste.

William Fevre Champs Royaux 2016
This wine is very approachable and has more body.
Orange, pear, tropical fruit with minerality.

Domaine Pinson Forets Chablis Premier Cru 2015
Sweetness of candied citrus and honey golden apple.
Crisp acid gives refreshing feel.

Samuel Billaud Les Fourneaux Chablis Premier Cru 2015
Samuel Billaud was founded in 2010. Young brand.
Orange, ripe pear, peach and soft acid.

Domaine Barat Mont de Milieu Chablis Premier Cru 2014
Domaine Barat is a family-owned winery for six generations.
Decent aromas of citrus and savoriness.
Refreshing acid like biting lemon.

Domaine Christian Moreau Pere et Fils Les Clos Chablis Grand Cru 2015
Moreau et Fils was founded in 1814 in Chablis. After the firm's ownership changed hands a couple of times Moreau family regained its control in 2002.
Pure and concentrated aroma. High, soft acid.
Fresh apple, citrus, grapefruit zest and earthiness.

The harvesting date in Chablis is becoming earlier year by year due to the global warming.
I wonder if the style of Chablis wine will change in future.

Mr. Moreau said that he appreciated white wine more as he got older.
I understood that it meant the depth of white wine would be found only after exploring many different kinds of wine.
I hope I can reach that state one day. 

Porto S. Leonardo 10 Anos

Port wine comes with many styles which are determined by maturation process.

Aged Tawny port is matured in casks in a cool coastal town of Vila Nova de Gaia for 6 years or more.
During the maturation, ruby color fades into tawny and soft, silky characters develop as phenolics are polymerized.
Unlike Vintage Port, aged Tawny is filtered before bottling and wouldn't benefit from bottle age.

Porto S. Leonardo 10 Anos

The wine has medium tawny colour.

The aromas and flavors are of cherry, raisin, almond, honey, mocha, coffee and chocolate.

It is sweet and smooth.

Sweetness of chocolate, tartness of fruit and bitterness of coffee are well balanced.
Very good wine.

This port wine is Tawny with indication of age 10 years.
10 years is not necessarily an average or youngest wine in the blend. It indicates the style which is typical in wine of that age.
Aged Tawny can be 10, 20, 30 or 40 years.
When wine has age indication on the label, I tend to appreciate wine with older age more, but when it comes to Tawny port, I prefer 10 or 20 years, which still keep more fruit than tertiary characters.

Leftover yarn blanket

All knitters in this world share a common problem: leftover yarn.

These yarns are usually too short to make something and too long to just discard.
One solution is to make multiple crochet motifs and join them together to make a blanket. Unfortunately, I somehow don't like the process of joining motifs.
In that case, I of course weave to make a blanket. 

Simple twill, double weave.
Different yarns with different shrinkage made the surface wavy...
There is no color scheme. I just threw any yarn on my hand, but I kind of like the colorway.

50 years old

JC's friend opened special wines for a special occasion.
She kindly shared them with us.

Chateau Leoville-Las Cases Grand Vin de Leoville Saint-Julien 1971
Delicate aromas of cherry, flower, mint, tobacco and pencil shaving.
Powdery tannin.
We happened to be having oyster with Muscadet, and tried this wine with oyster for fun, and actually they paired good.

Muga Prado Enea Rioja Reserva 1973
Stewed and candied fruit, herb, dark chocolate, coffee.
Very smooth texture and fresh on palate.

Faustino Rioja Grand Reserva 1970
Cooked fruit, raisin, sugar coated violet, coffee beans and spice.
Tannin is high but soft. There is still some freshness.

All of them are almost 50 years of age.
Leoville was great but better be drunk soon after opening the bottle, but the two bottles of Rioja were surprisingly fresh! and still good even a couple of days after opening.

It was great experience and rare opportunity to try wines of this age.
I really thank this generous offer from JC's friend.
It seems to be wine industry tradition that veteran wine people let less experienced people try rare wines.
Hope we can become these ones who help younger generation some day and keep this tradition.