figs and wines

It seems that you either love or hate fresh figs. I think it's more of a texture thing than a taste preference, I mean who didn't eat Fig Newtons growing up? The tree in the garden is laden with them now and I waiver between letting them get one day riper and plumper or risk letting the birds get to them. So, I've been picking them when they are dark purple, heavy and still firm to the touch. So what to do wtih them and what wine to drink with them - which is always the question when dealing with any food I am presented with. The choice of wine will, of course, be determined by the way in which the particular food is prepared. In this case we fired up the grill, split the figs in half through the stem, slathered the cut halves with a meyer-lemon olive oil and grilled them, cut side down until hot and then plated them with a heavy drizzle of a balsamic glaze. This was one of those 'lick your plate' dishes - the next time I would crumble a fresh goat's cheese over it as well just for a bit more of an acid balance. We were drinking bubbles when we started (which, in my opinion, goes with everything) but switched to our red table wine, The 3rd Bottle, to finish up the figs. The 3rd Bottle is a blend of merlot, cabernet and zinfandel and that melding of flavors really complimented the variety of flavors on the plate. If you have a fig tree or know someone who does try the combination above and let me know your thoughts.

it's always something!

well, here goes...........Gustavo wanted the winery to have a blogspot which, of course, meant that I was going to be the one doing it. Having not done this before I will attack it with the same approach that I used to learn to drive the forklift at the winery, just get on and do it!

As the grapes turn color and become sweeter I am excited for harvest and all of the excitement that brings but it also means that the birds are attacking the grapes on my arbor at home and dropping purple bombs all over the place. I have vines at home just so I can watch the progress of the season on a daily basis, progressively tasting as they become sweeter, a race to get into the bottle that they don't even know they have entered.