Eden Vale Inn

This week Barbara and I were treated to two nights at the Eden Vale Inn just off of Lotus Road near the town of Lotus, Ca. On the way there Tuesday night we went to the Thai restaurant now known as Thai Basil and had an excellent dinner with Sierra Vista Fume Blanc. They also carry the Syrah and pair it with their fixed price dinner. Wednesday morning we were treated to a great breakfast and some great company, Mark Hamlin the owner and Chris Kinsey who is establishing a new company called Custom wine Concierge ate with us. So Wed. when we weren't talking or reading we took a drive and saw some enormous beautiful homes in the area. Wednesday night we went to the Sierra Nevada House in Lotus and had a great dinner and may have sold the owner wine for their next wine list. Autumn was instrumental in reacquainting Howard, the owner to our wines also had dinner with us.

Thursday we had another great breakfast and came home after taking a short row on their little pond. I tried to upload some photos but they were taken in high resolution tiff mode and would not upload to this blog.There is one on our Sierra Vista Facebook page and you can go to http://www.edenvaleinn.com/ for a view of the whole B&B. The beds were great and there was no noise. How restful. Just received three photos from Chris Kinsey in jpg format so have added two of them

Old Clone Zinfandel--What Is It?

Once upon a time, around the turn of the century, 1900 that is, some early pioneer farmers planted a Zinfandel vineyard down near the D'Augustini pond in El Dorado Country. No one knows the source of their plants but they produced distinctly different grapes than many other Zinfandel vineyards in the area.

Several years ago a modern day wine making pioneer discovered this vineyard and approached the heirs of the original farmers to see if he could get some cuttings of this special Zin. They said emphatically "no". Being very disappointed he told his sister. Without telling him, his sister decided to go in person to talk to the heirs. When she arrived at the farm she found that the people were not at home. She decided to look at the vineyard in question and saw that it was dying with just a few live canes left. Being a good hearted woman, she pulled out her trusty pruners (she always carries them) and did a very good job of pruning some of the vines. It helps the vines grow better you know. Then not wanting to leave the mess she gathered up the clippings and brought them back to her farm for disposal. She told the wine making pioneer what she had done. In the dark of night he went over and salvaged about 20 buds and grafted them onto some existing Zinfandel plants. Ten of the grafts took and from those 10 plants enough buds had been obtained for 15 rows of that Old Clone planted over a hundred years ago. It turns out that the heirs of the Old Zinfandel let their whole vineyard dry up and die. Good thing the wine making pioneer's sister saved the strain with her good hearted ways!

Soups on coming up Valentines and Presidents day weekend.

Sierra Vista is having a soup and wine pairing this weekend. Also a treat will be the Belgium Chocolate being served by Yours truly as a pairing with the Five Star Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Come by and try the Thai style and sausage soup au pisto prepared by Beth Sogard.

Today we are putting the 2009 Fleur de Montagne into new oak barrels for month just to give it a small amount of oak. It is delicious.

See you Sat or Sunday.

John