We’ve got some pretty good growth despite the cool, rainy spring.  Flower clusters are out but seem to be fewer than normal. Rain is forecast for much of this week which is not good for these delicate flower clusters and ultimately, crop size. Cross your fingers and hope for sun.

Here’s a video of our sister-in-law, the beekeeper, providing the secret ingredient for great pizza crust.  If I had her job, I would only be slightly less scared than if I were a rattlesnake herder.

Now this is a great idea!  I just heard about Napa Valley Designated Drivers.  They will provide you with a designated driver for your own or rental car so that your entire group can do a few hours of wine tasting safely.  It looks like they charge about $50 an hour which is less expensive than hiring a car and driver, taxi, and much less expensive than a DUI.

I’ve never used this service nor do I know anyone who has, but they have good feedback on Facebook and Yelp.

On Wednesday, Sasha and I headed up Spring Mountain for their second annual Spring Fling, a chance to taste some great wines from the Spring Mountain District as well as try some yummy nibbles from Napa Valley restaurants and caterers.

The wines were great.  As is my habit at this type of event, I didn’t do complete tasting notes, but I did jot down the names of wines that I feel are worth remembering — wines that are worth balancing a wine glass and an appetizer, and then trying to pull out a pen and scratch paper in order to remember the highlights.  While all the wines I list are recommended, the number of asterisks indicate the relative strength of my recommendation.

• 2008 Fantesca Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ** – Sonoma Coast??  Not Spring Mountain, but a nicely done Chardonnay, exhibiting little oak and malo and a refreshing steely character.
• 2007 Sherwin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – big, bold, and layers of fruit.  It’s rich but perhaps a little too rich?
• 2008 Paloma Merlot ** – I liked the restraint on this wine. While still offering enjoyment now, this is a Merlot that will age nicely
• 2008 Pride Cabernet Franc * – Pride still does wine that is proud of its ripeness, but they kept their foot off the throttle enough on this one to bring out the charms of Cab Franc.  I tried a couple of other Cab Francs at this tasting and they were overdone.  Not so with Pride.
• 2007 Andesite Mervignon **** – Holy Cow!  Where did this wine come from?  I’d never heard of this extremely small production blend of Merlot and Cab Sauv with a bit of Cab Franc thrown in but this was the wine of the tasting.  So subtle, so light on its feet, and yet so interesting.  The next day I ordered six bottles of this $48 wine.

Match Vineyards is not yet a member of Spring Mountain District association but I’m thinking we should join.  Baconbrook should fit right in.

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Not wine related, but it’s cool to watch live video of this hawk nest.

Starting to see the first development of flowers…

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Today only… Enter the coupon code 1300902170 when checking out of our online store for an additional 30% off all of our 2004 and 2005 vintage wines in stock. Do you remember your login and password?

This offer is only good for orders placed before midnight pacific on Friday 5/6/11.  Sorry, no extensions.

in his own non-traditional way.

Match Vineyards will be there too!  We’ll be sampling and auctioning off 10 cases of 2009 Butterdragon Hill at the Auction Napa Valley Barrel Auction on June 3rd.

Well in 2011, and when the “kid” is 18, they show you the darndest things.  Here’s a head scratcher video from Japan…