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Good Ride, Good Wine: The Debut of “Four Letter Words”

jbat — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:05:09 +0000

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Many of you have asked me to not mix business with the rest of my life, and thanks to my pals at Blend Interactive, it's finally happened. I have a new section of my site, which I'm calling "Four Letter Words" - mostly photo posts about life, wine, and bike(s). Consider this the first post, in which I'll catch you up on some good drinks and rides over the past few weeks. Searchblog RSS subscribers who take the main feed will NOT see these posts, but you can sign up to get them either as a separate stream, or with all other posts, on my feeds page. First up, let's get a bit of wine entered into my personal Database of Intentions (and I'll pin these to my board as well). We had this nifty Chappellet 2002 Cab last month, and I'd encourage anyone within reach of a bottle to open it, immediately. Another great Napa bottle, a blend, is this Collina Dalla Valle, 2009. Bad picture, epic wine. Moving over to France, my pal Jordan surprised me in the band room with a magnum of this fine Bordeaux. I am utterly a newbie when it comes to this region, but I can tell you, this was a very special bottle of juice. Joseph Drouhin, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru. I did not catch the vintage. Now to some serious bourbon news. Last week I ventured into my favorite restaurant here in Marin, Picco, and found they had a complete allocation of my favorite whiskey - Pappy Van Winkle. This stuff will set you back, but man, is it worth it. Here's the murderer's row: That's the Van Winkle 12, which ain't really a "Pappy" per say, and then the 15, the 20, and the 23, all in a row, and all unopened. I fixed that: Finished the evening with a fine new Kosta Browne Pinot. An elite Sonoma vintner, and very tasty. I also got a chance to go on a few really wonderful rides these past few weeks. Here's one of my favorite places, on the west side of Lake Lagunitas in Marin, looking up at Pilot Knob: And on Father's Day, my son and I rode from our house over Mt. Tam down to Stinson Beach to meet my wife and daughters. What a treat. Here's the view from the top of the ridge, before descending to the beach: And here's the Willow Camp trail, mostly a single track, that descends 2000 feet in about two miles right to the beach: And yes, you purist riders out there, I have bar ends on my bike. I need the extensions for my back, which doesn't like being all hunched over much. And yeah, they help on the uphills, I'll admit it. Well, that's the update. I love living in Marin.

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The Week in Wine, 5.26 Edition

jbat — Sun, 27 May 2012 01:16:29 +0000

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Dinner with friends and a night in the band room proved bountiful when it came to trying new wines this week. I tasted this Blackbird Vineyards Arriviste - a Rose that the gals had. They sure liked it. Proved a great start to the dinner for them. We moved on to the Peay Sea Scallop, which I've already posted (it's on my Wines Pinboard), then this swell finish, the Pahlmeyer 2009 Jayson (a blend), which held up to the steak we shared. It's quite obvious the winemaker (Jason Pahlmeyer) spent a lot of time in Spain. In the band room last night, we got lucky - our guitarist, a wine lover, brought out a rare beast: a 2006 Patricia Eason Pinot. This wine comes from a four acre plot in Willemette, Oregon. It's very rich for a Pinot and just wonderful to relish. We drank it out of plastic cups and played music, which somehow worked. Tonight is going to be a Pinot fest as we welcome a bigger group to the house, we had to find great drinking wines that weren't going to break the bank, since there'll be a lot of glasses flowing. Among others, we picked the Belle Gloss Clark & Telephone from Santa Barbara: ...the Hitching Post Cork Dancer, always reliable and also from SB (sorry for the image):

And the Etude from Carneros. Hard to do wrong with those. Remember, Searchbloggers, I’ve got a new RSS feed that you can consume so as to miss these non-work related posts.

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From Today’s Ride: 20 Miles O’ Smiles

jbat — Sat, 26 May 2012 21:29:05 +0000

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A good push on a demo'd 29er Marin this morning. A few highlights: Mt. Tam, where I was headed, from Blithedale Ridge. Tons of folks at West Point Inn today, which is about 2/3rds up Tam. It was the 100th anniversary of the Marin Municipal Water District and there was a band playing. But this shot looks South, away from the Inn, toward Tam. Lastly, the view from near the top, on the way down Eldridge, toward Bon Tempe Lake and the open spaces of Fairfax and beyond. I do not recommend bombing down Eldridge on a hardtail 29er. Ouch. Remember, Searchbloggers, I’ve got a new RSS feed that you can consume so as to miss these non-work related posts.

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And Now, Your Moment of Zen

jbat — Sat, 26 May 2012 19:56:23 +0000

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TamWFall Courtesy Mt Tam this morning. Sorry if it takes a bit to load, this is my first video post. If anyone knows how to make it just play natively, I'd love the tip. I tried it from mobile posting on my phone and it posted sideways....

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Epic Sunday Ride

jbat — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:57:45 +0000

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Remember, Searchbloggers, I’ve got a new RSS feed that you can consume so as to miss these non-work related posts. A few pics from a 25-mile mountain bike ride I just completed with my son... On way up, White Hill Trail as it goes under Sir Francis Drake Blvd. And up on Pine Mtn. Trail, after a good climb...Ian's the blue dot way down the trail...and that's Mt. Tamalpais in the distance.

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Wines From Last Week, 5.20 Edition

jbat — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:02:09 +0000

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Remember, Searchbloggers, I've got a new RSS feed that you can consume so as to miss these non-work related posts. Meanwhile, it was a busy week, with the CM Summit in New York. Here are a few of the wines I enjoyed: The closing dinner for the CM Summit speakers was great, I didn't pick the wine, but I sure liked drinking it. It included: ...the I Perazzi La Mozza 09. I don't know anything about Italian wine, except how to drink them. Next up was the Dolcetto d'Alba Brandini. I recall this being rather so so. The Bastianich Adriatico, which I could not seem to get a good shot of. By this time, not sure my palate was quite wine-worthy. When I finally got home, after five days on the road, I opened this 2007 Macauley Cab from good old Napa. Wow. It really delivered. And then on Saturday, my pal Mark at our local family pizzeria turned me onto this nicely priced and very deep Benovia 2010 Sonoma pinot. He had three extra bottles, I bought them all.

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Sea Smoke yum

jbat — Sat, 19 May 2012 02:35:15 +0000

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Penner Ash Willamette Pinot 2009

jbat — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:42:46 +0000

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="459" caption="Penner-Ash Willamette Valley 2009 Pinot drank VERY well last week."][/caption]

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Oh, MacROSTIE!

jbat — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:48:37 +0000

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A very happy Friday night with my wife, mother in law, and kids (and tomatoes, kale, wild rice, et al), made round by this MacRostie Pinot, 2007. Yippee, it's the weekend!

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Two More Wines of the Week

jbat — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:14 +0000

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From our pals at Belle Gloss. This is reasonably priced and rarely disappoints. And I broke into my stash of Radio Coteau last night and tried the 2010 La Neblina Pinot. One word: Yep. My RSS feed that will exclude these photos will be ready by Monday, I am told...if you want to see them in all their Pinboard glory, here's a link to my Wine page on Pinterest.

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