Sonoma Creek Pinot Noir 2000

Okay, this wine from Sonoma Creek Winery (California) is both quite good and quite awful. For some reason the winery chose to cellar the stuff for six years, perhaps hoping to increase the complexity and/or roundness, which they seem to have done more or less in spite of the varietal lack of structure. The wine has a nice nose of the usual suspects--cherries, cranberries. In the mouth I tasted jammy cherries, vanilla, leather and dirt, just barely overripe, with nice acidity and medium sweetness. Not too much oak or alcohol. A basically nice wine. However, since the wine has been cellared so long you’ll need to drink it immediately upon opening. Any further storage and the wine quickly collapses, taking on plenty of raisins and rot in the process, making it undrinkable. An unpredictable wine that I’ll pass on in the future.

Costs about $12 retail.

Taft Street Pinot Noir 2004

This medium-bodied Pinot Noir from Taft Street Winery (Sabastopol, California) is one of my favorite casual Pinots. While uncomplicated and relatively short in the mouth, the wine provides a pleasant burst of cherries and grape jelly accompanied by leather and earth. Tannins are very soft and the alcohol is modest. Not much oak, but enough to impart a little vanilla. The wine needs about twenty minutes to open up, so give it time to come around and I think you’ll be satisfied. A good example of affordable Pinot from the upper coastal region of California, and at around $12 it’s a good buy.

Mark West Pinot Noir 2004

The 2004 Pinot Noir from Mark West (Corsica!) is a drinkable wine that, if not for a noticeable undercurrent of horse dooky, would be on my list of occasional purchases. The nose has a nice cranberry and violet bouquet that I haven’t smelled anywhere else in a Pinot Noir. Stranger still, in the mouth the wine comes across tasting a bit like a Petite Sirah, with cherry and warm spice notes accompanied by milk chocolate and earth and a bit of mocha in the not-very-long finish. All of these flavors are woven around a subtle core of road apples, an unsettling discovery to say the least. Some people might not be distracted by a little poop in their wine but it ruins the experience for me. Otherwise the wine seems balanced with mild tannin and not too much oak or alcohol.

I don’t think I’ll buy this one again, and at $11 I can do better. Incidentally, you can find this wine on sale for even less at Trader Joe’s. That is, if you really like the taste of pony poo.

Fluoxetine

To quote a very old friend of mine, “It’s the doctors who have all the really good drugs.” Well, that remains to be seen. Tonight I took my first generic Prozac, aka Fluoxetine, a complex molecular substance that will undoubtedly have some marked effect on my mental disposition. My dosage is fairly small, only twenty milligrams, but this is %@cking PROZAC we're talking about here, the original postmodern solution to all our $*^damn problems! The stuff smacks of pharmaceutical largesse and bilious litigation. Time will tell whether red wine and black coffee would have been better alternatives. Ironically, because of medical insurance, my new drug is very cheap. Getting your hands on it is the hard part. You have to really #uck things up, or be a very good malingerer, in order to convince the person in the white smock to give it to you, and when she does, she does so with sanctimonious discretion.

I’m going to talk about my Fluoxetine experiences in this blog. I am not ashamed of being on Prozac, only curious, concerned, and also a little hopeful. I am, after all, taking this for reasons other than recreation.

Speaking of recreation, since I can’t drink wine while taking Prozac, it may be a long time before the next wine review. Because of this I’ve decided to post a three part Pinot review as sort of a final sendoff.

Enjoy!

Done.

For those of you who have been paying attention, my life has been a pretty big mess for quite a while, culminating in a serious midlife crisis which saw its ultimate depressive breakdown a couple days ago. Thanks to the help of a variety of people, professional and otherwise, I’ve made it through without killing myself or killing anyone else. What it comes down to is this: I’ve been struggling for some time to find my true calling in life. It started with a failed attempt to become an art therapist, which was ultimately a disaster that doesn’t really bear repeating. It ended with a desire to become a professional fine artist, an attempt that was met with some limited success, which complicated matters tremendously. I have also entertained a career as a writer of literary fiction as a possible close second, perhaps rolled into the art career as sort of a dual creative tour-de-force. Well, I have finally come through the fire, and have seen the truth, as it is, of my life.

I am going to take the nine-to-five job working with the developmentally challenged. I am going to give Prozac a try, and see what happens. I am going to be with my family, and I am not going to be a professional artist, or a professional writer, or anything other than a loving father, because ultimately that is what I am here for. There may be paintings or stories left to paint or write, but that is not who I am. I have come through the fire. I have seen the ultimate darkness, and begged for my own death, and I know the truth, and will seek no further in this lifetime.

Oh, and I can’t really drink much wine while I’m on the meds, but that’s okay. Wine just gets better over time, and I have all the time in the world.

Namaste.

Zaca Mesa Roussanne 2004

It’s not often I drink white wine, and when I do I usually don’t bother to spring for an expensive bottle since so many of them are overdone, especially Chardonnays. Then along came this delightful Roussanne by Zaca Mesa and I must say I’ve finally been converted to a pricier ($20) white wine. Roussanne is a Rhone grape varietal with characteristics similar to Pinot Grigio, although less sweet than Grigio and certainly less sweet than Viogner or Chardonnay. I found this particular Roussanne, by Zaca Mesa Vineyards, to be medium bodied with a bracing acidity that interacted nicely with the sugary elements of the wine. In the nose the wine smelled almost exactly like whole wheat toast with apricot jam and honey. I tasted grapefruit, honeydew melon, clover honey, vanilla (from the modest oak) and some spiciness, and the finish was medium long and enjoyable. Alcohol was moderate and tannin was non-existent. One of the nicest whites I’ve tried, and another excellent offering from Zaca Mesa.

Unless you live in Solvang, I’m afraid you’ll have to order this wine from a reputable dealer like 58 Degrees and Holding, or visit the tasting room at Zaca Mesa like my mother-in-law did on her last trip to the Santa Ynez Valley.

Now if she had only brought back more...

Yellow Tail Shiraz 2005

I usually don't write about wines that I wouldn't recommend. The 2005 Shiraz by Yellow Tail Vineyards is one of the rare exceptions. I decided to try a bottle since I've been told that it's a step up from Two Buck Chuck and a good buy. Well, I can honestly say that it's not any better than Two Buck Chuck, but here's the full review, in case you're interested.

Yellow Tail Shiraz is a medium transparent ruby-purple in the glass and shows modest glycerine extraction. The nose gives off a whiff of cherry jelly and spice. The mouth is chalky but not too tannic, and consists of overripe, cherry-plum notes with some spicey dirt and not too much oak. The wine is definately flabby with sugars overwhelming the acidity, kind of like strong Kool Aid with just a touch of cooking sherry and wine vinegar. All these tastes disappear quickly to be replaced by oak and a hint of cocoa on the unadorned finish. Varietal distinction is minimal. This Shiraz could be a Merlot or an overripe Cabernet. A good Red for someone who has recently upgraded from cheap White Zin. Drinkable, but barely so, and no better than the other cheap blended wines found in its company.

There was a time when I might have liked this wine, but quite frankly I'd go for the Cabernet version of Two Buck if I were broke and needed a fix.

Moonset

Full moon. Pink clouds. Tucson.

Balance

Sold $400 worth of watercolors yesterday. Bought two cases of wine worth $400. Balance has been achieved.

Fishing Trip

Guess who caught the biggest fish. Here's a hint: he's not a white guy.

Golden Lentil Soup

This is the soup that I first made at the Blue Willow Restaurant and which has attained a certain mythic status among our various friends and family. It is totally vegan and better than anything non-vegan I have ever tried. The addition of a little sour cream at the end wouldn't hurt, though, if you're into it.

Golden Lentil Soup

1 pound red lentils (these are hulled lentils; avoid using brown or green)
1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
2c chopped carrots
1/2c chopped fresh cilantro
1c olive oil (don't skimp--this is the secret!)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1t ground cumin
2t salt (adjust upward to taste)
1t white sugar (not brown, not splenda)
1t black pepper
1/2t turmeric
2t chili powder (Spice Hunter is the best)

t = teaspoon
T = tablespoon
c = cup

Place lentils in large pot and cover with about 3x water. You may rinse the lentils beforehand if desired. Boil the lentils carefully, stirring so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Don't let the pot boil over! skim off any foam that appears on the surface. Once most of the foam is gone, add the onions, oil and dry spices all at once. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for one or two hours or until lentils completely dissolve. Keep stirring to prevent scorching. If soup is too watery, add about 1/2 cup of white rice and simmer until rice softens and soup thickens. Add carrots and cook for an additional 20 minutes until carrots are softened but not mushy. Remove from heat and add fresh cilantro. Add salt to taste, if needed. Add sour cream or yogurt for the ultimate in hedony.

Super awesome!