PlatKat.com: So I'm a Bit of Wine-r...

Monday, July 11, 2005

So I'm a Bit of Wine-r...

After hastily making some plans on Friday, I headed to Los Gatos with some work-friends to sample some wine at the David Bruce and Byingtons Wineries. I was expecting to join four people in one car instead of five people in two cars, which appeared at my place mini-caravan-style a little before noon. The latter wouldn't have been a problem, except car number two broke down before we arrived at the David Bruce Winery. Besides trying a blush wine there that was surprisingly good (never could get into blushes; they almost taste like a wine that can't make up its mind), I also got to take in a healthy dose of the mountainous surroundings while Kevin was hosing down his car.

After our host, Craig (his buddies call him "Smith"), saw us off, we traveled a hundred yards down the road to the Byingtons Winery. The sprawling mansion had picnic tables and a bocce ball court in front. I enjoyed the wine for its high alcoholic content, but was only moderately impressed with the flavor. Our hostess was a funny, outgoing young woman who encouraged us to play bocce ball out front when we were finished. Just when I thought I'd run out of sports to play poorly.

When we were through, we ate at Scopazzi's, an Italian restaurant in teeny downtown Felton. I ordered the special, a tasty concoction of chicken and pesto, but some of the other folks in my party weren't so lucky, so I guess I'd say the place was hit-or-miss. But we all enjoyed the quiet, shady patio seating and attentive service. I also tried the Staiger Chardonnay from Boulder Creek there, which was pretty dry on its own, but complemented my meal nicely.

We had planned on sampling at one more winery in Felton, but instead, Mike wanted to drive to Santa Cruz to check out a disc golf course. I didn't know this meant we were actually going to play a few holes, but it turns out Mike has two dozen discs in his trunk for occassions such as this. Being a good sport, I threw my frisbee in the vicinity of the hole, pretending to have the slightest clue how to aim for such things.

I was happy to have a pre-existing reason to leave (poker game at 7), so we headed back to Mountain View, I with my legs crunched under me in the back of Mike's Nissan Sentra. I have nothing against Sentras, but I do have something against sitting in the back of one behind a driver who is 6'2" tall. I wish I had known we were taking two cars so I could have taken one or two other people in mine. For obvious reasons, I prefer that other people drive to events involving alcohol, but this was a pretty tame afternoon wine-tasting activity, so I would have been okay. Never had I been so excited about the chance to drive my own car to Redwood City in my life. Leg room and a friendly poker game—it's really the little things in life that you have to appreciate!

posted by platkat @ 7:33 AM