The blow-by-blow of the tour from those who are in the thick of it.

blow-by-blow say ye?!? let the bloggin' begin! so...

sitting at the Admirals Club in O'Hare. waiting, waiting, waiting. i'm excited beyond description: this is not only a one-of-a-kind tour of Cali wine country, but it is also my FIRST ever visit to those hallowed grounds!

meeting up w/ pbear & Mr. White at SFO. think we're headed to the Ty Caton / Muscardini tasting room before heading to the BW Garden Inn (but it could be the other way around). might have a chance to post some notes about that experience before meeting the rest of the crew at tonight's intro gathering (but i might not). will definitely post at the end of the day.

laterz!

themostrighteous wrote:blow-by-blow say ye?!? let the bloggin' begin! so...

sitting at the Admirals Club in O'Hare. waiting, waiting, waiting. i'm excited beyond description: this is not only a one-of-a-kind tour of Cali wine country, but it is also my FIRST ever visit to those hallowed grounds!

meeting up w/ pbear & Mr. White at SFO. think we're headed to the Ty Caton / Muscardini tasting room before heading to the BW Garden Inn (but it could be the other way around). might have a chance to post some notes about that experience before meeting the rest of the crew at tonight's intro gathering (but i might not). will definitely post at the end of the day.

laterz!

Indeed! Are you in the air yet? I am at Friday's in SFO (no Admiral's Club for me), and while I see PB's flight on the Arrival's board, your posted flight number (per the RPM Tour Google sheet) does not even show up. I'm ready to get this party started.

Speaking of early "winery" visits, Cesare, any more news from Cellar360?

jwhite6114 wrote:Speaking of early "winery" visits, Cesare, any more news from Cellar360?

We just checked out of the Westin Market Street, sitting in Peet's coffee using their free wifi. Went to Ghirardelli square yesterday and I forgot that cellar360 was there. Gerard and Susan did not seem to be around. Very cool store, not so much for varied wine selection except for their major brands but just for the ambiance, layout, and selection of cool wine "stuff". They have a big long tasting bar and a nice separate room with a big table for private tastings or whatever. Might pass by there today again. Going to try and see if any wine stores are open like K&L and I want to check out this Italian wine bar called Ottimista. Weather in SF is chilly, around 60.

jwhite6114 wrote:Indeed! Are you in the air yet? I am at Friday's in SFO (no Admiral's Club for me), and while I see PB's flight on the Arrival's board, your posted flight number (per the RPM Tour Google sheet) does not even show up. I'm ready to get this party started.

Speaking of early "winery" visits, Cesare, any more news from Cellar360?

just landed. waiting for bags. spent way too much time at the Admirals Club (which, having traveled over 3.1 million miles with AA alone, i consider a necessary evil of commercial air travel these days - a consideration that was reaffirmed by today's weather-related delays).

but on to Field Notes. managed to get through approx 1/2 of the 126 page transcript of a series of interviews with rpm's grandfather Antonio Perelli-Minetti. WOW! what a raconteur! and what a tale he had to tell! once i started it, i couldn't put it down (on my laptop that is). i strongly recommend it both for its educational as well as its entertainment value.

and I now have a sense of where rpm derived his posting style!

EDIT: correction: apm was rpm's great uncle & not his grandfather.

We are on the boat back from alcatraz. I did not end up stuck on the rock! The audio tour of the cell house was very interesting. Prior to that we visited Muir woods. I loved the smell and the trees, the obnoxious tourists who have no concept of enjoying nature in silence, not so much. It did remind me of big yellow taxi (tree museum) and also inspired me to get back to hiking at home.

Last night we had dinner at this excellent little Italian place in Petaluma. Kevin found it on tripadvisor. In a strip mall but the food was great.

Heading up to Ty caton once we get off the ferry...

themostrighteous wrote:just landed. waiting for bags. spent way too much time at the Admirals Club (which, having traveled over 3.1 million miles with AA alone, i consider a necessary evil of commercial air travel these days - a consideration that was reaffirmed by today's weather-related delays).

but on to Field Notes. managed to get through approx 1/2 of the 126 page transcript of a series of interviews with rpm's grandfather Antonio Perelli-Minetti. WOW! what a raconteur! and what a tale he had to tell! once i started it, i couldn't put it down (on my laptop that is). i strongly recommend it both for its educational as well as its entertainment value.

and I now have a sense of where rpm derived his posting style!

link?

Just finished lunch at Harris Ranch with java, timbyrd, & tb+1.

Enjoyed by all. leaving, and should be at BW in 3 or 4 hours.

Loweeel wrote:link?

here is the link to the page on the tour site w/ all of the "Interviews w/ the Masters." here is the direct link to the interview w/ APM. off to Ty Caton w/ pbear, jwhite & JOAT!!!

aces219 wrote:Heading up to Ty caton once we get off the ferry...

see you there!!!

Sat. - biked across bridge into Marin Headlands and back to Crissy Field. Dinner with Brother in Oakland.
Sun. - Kayaked with Harbor Seals, Leopard sharks, Bat rays.

Writing this from BW Garden Inn. Just ran into RPM. See everyone at 6pm in the Cafe.

Whoo Hoo!!!

Lots of fun meeting everyone on the tour! As well as WineDavid and WineFarm (the Master behind the curtain!) Should be a lot of fun, although Java and TMR are planning a spanish language ambush of Mr. White!

Lots of Woot Wines we got to enjoy!! Monkey Prize, Humbug, Polyphemus, Iron Horse Cab Franc, Armida Surf Zin, Chase Zin, Corison CS 2000 & 2001, Jefferson Monticello Presidential Red, Dry Creek, Wellington .... whew!

Got to log off, Nematic is on East Coast time, and we must turn off the lights!

More tomorrow!

Dear Lord, what did I get myself into? Did I really pay money for this? How did I get stuck with such a bunch of internet psychos? Momma warned me about doing stuff like this!!!!!!

Oh who am I kidding? What a great bunch of people!!!!! It's only been a few hours and already I'm stoked beyond belief that this tour came together. Doing the "room circuit" at our pre-tour gathering has been a hoot and it's so interesting to hear how everyone has come to this little website and to the enjoyment of the juice. And that's with only talking to about half the crowd. Can't wait to talk to everyone else.

Just finished ironing my shirts so I don't look like the tour hobo...I'll leave that to TMR. Time to crash and set the alarm for day 1 of the official tour. Hope the dern bus shows up.

day 0 (or -1, take your pick):

went to Ty Caton before the BW Garden Inn get-together w/ pbear, jwhite & JOATMON. ran into, well, everybody. well, almost half of our crew, anyway. sampled vino galore (no CT links):

2005 Racchus Chard (1)
2007 Muscardini Rosato di Sangiovese (2)
2006 Ty Caton Syrah Rose
2005 Ty Caton Field Blend
2004 Ty Caton Merlot
2006 Muscardini Sangiovese
2004 Ty Caton Syrah
2005 Muscardini Syrah
2004 Ty Caton Malbec
2006 Muscardini Barbera
2003 Ty Caton Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Muscardini Tesoro
2004 Ty Caton Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (YUMM)
2006 Muscardini Syrah
2004 Ty Caton TyTanium

(1) Racchus is Ty Caton's second label
(2) Ty Caton & Muscardini share a tasting room in Kenwood

wine.wooters did WD proud: we collectively left w/ at least 2+ cases in tow! how's that for positive payback?!?

proceeded to the BW Garden Inn get-together for - what else - more wine! what follows is NOT an exhaustive list of the redunkulous variety of wines that WD, winefarm & SB supplied. it is simply a list of the stuff that i sampled & wrote down (again no CT links):

2006 Wellington Marsanne (YUMM)
NV Napa Mumm Cuvee M Red
2005 Dry Creek Musque
2007 Saxon Brown Semillon
TBD Armida Surf Zinfandel
2004 Chase Hayne Zinfandel
2001 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon (YUMM)
2005 Iron Horse Cab Franc (YUMM)

and we haven't even officially gotten started yet!

themostrighteous wrote:here is the link to the page on the tour site w/ all of the "Interviews w/ the Masters." here is the direct link to the interview w/ APM. off to Ty Caton w/ pbear, jwhite & JOAT!!!

one more comment before i hit the sack. i would STRONGLY recommend that y'all read Tasting Wine - The RPM Method. it is a very concise (6 pages) but most excellent read.

what i found most fascinating about it was the following paragraph from p. 4:

Overall Impression: This is the stage where you decide whether you like a wine or not, integrating all of the partial evaluations which concentrate on the individual senses. A wine may do well in one category and poorly in others. You may like a wine with one defect better than a wine with no defects, but nothing outstanding about it. The possibilities are endless and you have to decide what is important to you in selecting a wine. Ideally we would choose only wines which are outstanding in all aspects, but such wines are rare. Trust your own taste.

sound very familiar?!? and GV was how old in 1982?!? 4 or 5?!?

i have to admit that, on this count, i will readily cede the title of the most righteous to rpm!

word. peace. out.

Alright how many others out there are already jealous. Have a BLAST and be safe;and keep your woot wine family informed

Count me as jealous #2. Keep up the posts so that we can live vicariously through y'all!

#3 amongst the masses. Keep up the posts and have a great and safe trip!

And pictures!!! Start uploading ASAP. We want pix!

ERMD wrote:Alright how many others out there are already jealous. Have a BLAST and be safe;and keep your woot wine family informed

If it wasn't for ERMD's and there throwing people into hospitals, surgery, and IV's I am pretty sure I would have gone, of course if it wasn't for you ERMD's I would be dead... So, I want to be one of the first to ask to make this a annual event...How about it RPM, WD & the wineries? Next Year????

a jealous,
wwa

WineWootaholic wrote:If it wasn't for ERMD's and there throwing people into hospitals, surgery, and IV's I am pretty sure I would have gone, of course if it wasn't for you ERMD's I would be dead... So, I want to be one of the first to ask to make this a annual event...How about it RPM, WD & the wineries? Next Year????

a jealous,
wwa

I second this! Heartily! I'm in for next year!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Whoo Hoo!!!

Lots of fun meeting everyone on the tour! As well as WineDavid and WineFarm (the Master behind the curtain!) Should be a lot of fun, although Java and TMR are planning a spanish language ambush of Mr. White!

Hear! Hear!

We haven't even started the "formal" portion of the tour, yet, and already this has been a blast! It was great to meet Ty Caton, who threw a heck of an array of wines our way at our end-of-the-day tasting in his tasting room. Meeting everyone last night was great and bodes very well for the rest of the trip.

I am concerned about trying to make it out of here without a taking out a new mortgage in order to pay for wine ... I mean, purchasing restraint is surely not what this group is known for .

PS -- any RPM'er's up for breakfast?

themostrighteous wrote:
proceeded to the BW Garden Inn get-together for - what else - more wine! what follows is NOT an exhaustive list of the redunkulous variety of wines that WD, winefarm & SB supplied. it is simply a list of the stuff that i sampled & wrote down (again no CT links):

2006 Wellington Marsanne (YUMM)
NV Napa Mumm Cuvee M Red
2005 Dry Creek Musque
2007 Saxon Brown Semillon
TBD Armida Surf Zinfandel
2004 Chase Hayne Zinfandel
2001 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon (YUMM)
2005 Iron Horse Cab Franc (YUMM)

How could you forget Woot cellars wines!
Monkey Prize
Humbug
Polyphemus
Like many people I never had the Monkey Prize. I thought it was great and the best Woot cellars wine. The Humbug was the only one I had previously and it's pretty good right now, better than before. For some reason I didn't like the Poly. Too spicy or something.
There was also the Saxon Brown Rose, Fess Parker Viognier, PSPS, 2000 Corison and maybe a couple more. WD wanted to bring the Brian Benson Syrahs but couldn't for last night. Rumor is we might all "labrat" those tonight at dinner

Cesare wrote:WD wanted to bring the Brian Benson Syrahs but couldn't for last night. Rumor is we might all "labrat" those tonight at dinner

Can I ask a favor? If you do labrat this thing en masse, could you each post your individual thoughts in the RatPack thread (and the main thread)? That'd be a lot for me to try to cross-post between them. It's gonna be enough work just trying to link to each of yours from the header for the offering.

Thanks!!!

ERMD wrote:Alright how many others out there are already jealous. Have a BLAST and be safe;and keep your woot wine family informed

Jealous? Oh very yes.

I think my liver is thanking me profusely tho, for staying home. I don't think I have the staying power trying to keep up with that crowd.

Sounds like the trip is off to a great start !

Wish I could have joined you. The wineries on the agenda are some of my favorite Woot wineries.

Kudos to rpm and whoever played key roles in organizing this event. I'll try and make it next year if it is repeated.

Hope everyone has a great time (how could they not?).

Cesare wrote:How could you forget Woot cellars wines!
Monkey Prize
Humbug
Polyphemus
Like many people I never had the Monkey Prize. I thought it was great and the best Woot cellars wine. The Humbug was the only one I had previously and it's pretty good right now, better than before. For some reason I didn't like the Poly. Too spicy or something.
There was also the Saxon Brown Rose, Fess Parker Viognier, PSPS, 2000 Corison and maybe a couple more. WD wanted to bring the Brian Benson Syrahs but couldn't for last night. Rumor is we might all "labrat" those tonight at dinner

didn't forget. just didn't sample (as i said earlier). thanks for completing the list!

cheron98 wrote:Can I ask a favor? If you do labrat this thing en masse, could you each post your individual thoughts in the RatPack thread (and the main thread)? That'd be a lot for me to try to cross-post between them. It's gonna be enough work just trying to link to each of yours from the header for the offering.

Thanks!!!

you really thing we're going to be THAT sober?!?

smartheart wrote:Sounds like the trip is off to a great start !

Wish I could have joined you. The wineries on the agenda are some of my favorite Woot wineries.

Kudos to rpm and whoever played key roles in organizing this event. I'll try and make it next year if it is repeated.

Hope everyone has a great time (how could they not?).

other than rpm, kudos galore go to WD, winefarm & woopdedoo. no them = no tour. fur realz.

off to the bus!!!

cheron98 wrote:I second this! Heartily! I'm in for next year!

I also agree with next year. I'd be so all over that! (I think..or at least hope)
Not sure how to make it be a little different, so as to not be strickly repetitive....maybe something other than Historical? Though not sure what.

Definitely looking forward to everyone's thoughts and general commentary over the next few days. Count me in for next year if it happens!!

Will someone on the tour please tell woopdedoo that he has pm?

As he and I had previously discussed, I tried to leave him a voicemail. His system , however, told me I talk too much (as if, right?) and I don't know if it sent the too long message truncated, or simply purged all my chattering.

Thanks! Sounds like you all are having a dream trip already! So happy for you all!!

9:06A.M. -- bus is on its way ... microphone works and RPM has duly cautioned us to pace ourselves. I will be impressed if we truly pace over the whole three days.

The Magical History Tour is underway!

Pictures, dont forget pictures

themostrighteous wrote:you really thing we're going to be THAT sober?!?

I mean during your rare, few moments of sobriety

themostrighteous wrote:you really thing we're going to be THAT sober?!?

Just hand the bus driver a voice recorder/video camera. Have him record all of the jib-jab everyone says about the wines and then have him post up the notes, since none of you will be able to actually type.

Cesare, the Rose came! Thanks!!!

12:32P.M. Leaving Dry Creek Vineyard ... we received a wonderful welcome and treatment from the winery staff. Tasting of the Fume Blancs from the woot offering, three different zins, and several blends (including a barrel tasting of the 2006 Mariner blend -- not to be released until Sep. 2009). And just before we left DCVWilma came out and met everyone.

Before DCV we were at Pedroncelli (first stop of the morning). Jim Pedroncelli gave us a terrific tour of the vineyards. He showed us the zin blocks, including his Mother Clone old vine block, and the Sangiovesse block. Sharky wanted to walk over to the PS block, too, but it was on a different hill from the one we walked. In the tasting room we had a nice list of wines to taste, inclduing a 1995 Morris Fay Cab Sauv (try as he might, TMR could not get Jim to sell a bottle of this one ).

Again, fabulous welcome from both wineries and a wonderful experience so far.

Now arriving at Seghesio! Lunch!

ERMD wrote:Pictures, dont forget pictures

They'll come ... but not as mobile.

Nallie: we gave woop the msg.
Loweeel: you're very welcome.
Walking into Seghesio for lunch now. So far everything has EXCEEDED expectations. Seriously good tours tastings and great people at Pedroncelli and Dry Creek.