Anomaly Vineyards

The other day we taste-tested our 2003 which will be released in the Spring, but on Monday we will do our "quality control" tasting, better known as dinner with a lot of wine. Once a month, Mark pulls 6 bottles of wine from the cellar, wine stores, and other sources (i.e., his winemaking friends' cellars perhaps?!), puts them in brown paper bags so we don't know what they are, except we know they are cabernets, and either does or doesn't slip in a bottle of Anomaly. It's all very formal (as you can guess!), we sit down, taste, spit, drink, taste, talk about each bottle, unveil them, and then eat and drink and eat and drink. It's tough, a very tough job indeed, but we feel it is necessary to keep abreast of how other wines are doing - actually, it's very educational. But more importantly, it's a lot of fun. Last month, Mark and Jen (Mark's girlfriend and rising Spottswoode Assistant Winemaker, Vineyard Manager, and all around great person) made incredible meatballs with pasta and one of the best Caesar salads I think I have ever eaten. Gerich (our assistant winemaker) was responsible for the garlic smashing, and since he was on crutches and couldn't get up and around, he mashed and mashed until the garlic was pureed and perfect.

This month, Katie Benham, our new marketer-ess extraordinaire, will be cooking for us. How did she gain such a prestigious title? Well, she went to UC Davis with our son, helped us with harvests, and we just like her a whole lot - plus, can she sell wine or what?! I'll report after the official tasting on the results, and the menu of course! Chantico.