July 3, 2009

Murphy-Goode – but not perfect – and the US National Pokemon Championships with Charlie

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A winery, Murphy-Goode, came up with a brilliant public relations coup, offering a six month job as a “lifestyle correspondent” with a grossly inflated salary and luxury home to stay in during the job’s tenure.

Job applicants were to create and submit a 60 second video application. 1,993 video applications were submitted. Applicants could receive “most popular” video votes. The voting undoubtedly artificially boosted the contest website traffic.

Murphy-Goode generated over 300,000,000 hits online and from the media, and the contest is not finished.

I submitted a video, and my friends voted it “most popular” about 1,100 times, making it the 8th most popular video out of the 1,993 videos that were submitted.

I would have been very good for the job. I have a degree in marketing, marketed Sonoma County wines, was born and raised in Sonoma County, have worked in Sonoma County vineyards and Sonoma County wineries, am a really good cook, and enjoy pairing wines with food and friends, know the history of Murphy-Goode, sold wine made from Murphy ranch grapes, have blogged from before the opportunity was announced, am active on all the usual social networking sites and a few online forums. I thought the job was created for me.

With 1,993 candidates, I did not make the first cut to the Top 50. Neither did the person with the most votes.

I am not bitter. Many of my supporters were angry, which I found touching but is unnecessary. My skills are clearly not what the human resource team helping Murphy-Goode valued when the made their cut. My strengths are old school. The people who made it through to the Top 50 had superior video skills. Depth is not as eye catching as flash, and I am not flashy.

I took my shot; I am grateful for the opportunity and more touched by the support I received than I can ever express.

Toward the end of my vote begging, I managed to have my plea included in a blast email from our 30th high school class reunion administrator to hundreds of my fellow classmates. The Piner high school, in Sonoma County, class of 1979 will be holding our reunion early in October, but are engaging in ever larger monthly meet-ups in advance. Thanks to facebook and the blast email, I got to tell the Murphy-Goode job story 20 times at last month’s meet-up.

Even sweeter, a classmate who I have not seen in 30 years, upon reading the blast email, decided to help me get a job. Unaware that I have a job, and not fully appreciating the contest nature of the job I had applied for; my former classmate, who I first met 38 years ago, sent introductory letters on my behalf to a winery owner recommending me for a job in marketing. I am humbled by the kindness that moved my old friend to try to help me achieve what he thought I wanted to achieve.

__________

I flew with my son Charlie to St. Louis, MO last Wednesday for the Pokemon U.S. National Championship. My son competed in the Senior Division and ended up with an equal number of wins and losses. He would not have minded doing better, but was busy playing almost constantly, and had a great time.

I was also pretty busy, but didn’t manage to play a single game all week. I worked as a judge.

The Pokemon Company, International (TPCI) offered me a paid staff invite for the event; flying me in, paying for my room, picking up most of my food needs, and giving me a small stipend to offset some of my incidental costs. I gratefully accepted, and I was brought out to help judge the Junior division players.

We arrived Wednesday to find we had flown into a heat wave, temperatures near 100 degrees and humidity adding 10 more degrees to the heat index. Instead of spending $40 to travel by cab from the airport to the hotel, we took the Metrolink, a train. My ticket was just $3.75 and Charlie’s ticket as a 12 year old was just $1.85. We both worried that Charlie’s child rate ticket might draw a challenge as Charlie is already high school student sized, but our concerns were unnecessary. The train was a great way to ride into the city.

We rolled our luggage 4 blocks from the downtown train stop, past the America Center where the Pokemon National tournament would be contested to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Select.

Each of the 4 floors with rooms had 8 extra large rooms near the corners. We got one of these larger rooms and were able to host other northern California players on Wednesday night for playtesting as our players made decisions about which decks to play and which card tech changes they wanted in their final 60 card decks for the tournament. I played the only game I played all weekend, not Pokemon, with Susan, the person most responsible for Charlie and me playing Pokemon competitively. I won the game, it involved bug tiles. I don’t remember the game’s name but I am pleased with my undefeated game play record for the weekend.

Thursday was given over to meetings, held at the hotel instead of the convention center because of the heat wave. I had only one meeting from 5:00-6:30 PM for judges to receive our judge’s shirts and all access passes on lanyards. Charlie and the other players took over the lobby, restaurant tables, hallway floors, and every other flat area for Pokemon game play. Everywhere you looked on the first 2 floors you saw game play.

Charlie was playing a new deck, the list was provided by one of the best Master division players in our region (thank you Chris!). Through game play that continued until midnight, Charlie came to know his deck inside and out, played it with confidence, and developed a better knowledge of the other decks he would see over the weekend.

On Friday, we were up early and shared breakfast in a nearby deli we found. We used a computer and printer in the deli to create and print Charlie’s final deck list for pre-registration later that evening.

I went into the hall and Charlie lined up outside in the hallway. Friday was being given over to the Professor’s cup, a fun tournament for people like myself who give back to the game more than they play. To play, you needed to earn 75 points judging in tournaments or running league play. I live a couple of hours from league, and only accumulated 50 points judging tournaments, sometimes traveling 6 hours round trip to judge; so I had volunteered to work side events on Friday for all of the non professors who were in town the day before the actual National championship.

On Friday, I head judged the largest tournament I have ever worked. Our Master division alone had 140 players. Junior and Senior division boosted the tourney to well over 200 players. I had a staff of judges and runners to work with who were great. All my calls were easy, and my judging was much more lenient than it would be the next day. I used the tourney as an opportunity to educate players on some new procedures, and a good time was had by all.

We did have to take a break during Friday’s side event modified tourney to allow players to take part in the pre-registration efforts.

In order to make things run more smoothly on Saturday morning, it was decided to pre-register players on Friday from 4-8 PM. I joined the rest of the staff and worked for about 90 minutes before resuming the modified tournament play. We finished the tournament and pre-registration at about the same time. The hall erupted into huge cheers as the announcement that this year’s U.S. National championship would be the biggest Pokemon tournament anywhere ever.

On Saturday, I was back in the hall at 6:15 AM to help with finishing touches before the doors opened at 8 AM to the sea of players.

The tournament had 1,200 people compete in three age divisions for fun, prizes, scholarships, and invites to the World championship.

We ran 7 forty minute rounds of swiss pairing in the Junior division, made a top 64 cut and played one best 2 out of 3 forty five match to find our top 32 players who would move on to Sunday’s play.

The Junior division is my favorite age division, the younger players are often playing for fun and their joy is infectious. The downside of working with the Juniors is that they are prone to tears when a mistake they make requires a penalty be assessed or when they lose a game. Over half of the players in the Top 64 who did not continue on to Sunday’s Top 32 left the floor in tears.

The Junior division judges checked all 32 top cut decks after Saturday’s play, then moved on to help do deck checks on the Senior player’s decks, then started moving tables and chairs for Sunday’s play.

I left the America Center past midnight after over 18 hours worked.

On Sunday, I was back before 8 AM to finish preparations for the Junior Top 32. Our Head Judge told me that he was going to have to send some judges to side events after the Top 32 round. I am a big volunteer-er; I told him that I came from side events on Friday, I know people would want to stay in the “premier” tourney, and told him to feel free to send me over to sides.

Juniors are the best division and were set up and ready for play before either of the other two age divisions. The two matches I watched were both well played. One match was decided in large part by the two decks played, one was “weak” to the other and the disadvantage was insurmountable. The other match was determined more by fortune; which card was at the top of the deck to be drawn, a roll of heads vs. tails, two more evenly matched decks led to a very even round.

Pokemon, even with the biggest tournament ever, can always grow larger, and a professional photographer was present to capture images that may be used in future marketing efforts. The biggest “oops” for me over the weekend is that the photographer was rudely intrusive and put himself into one of my Top 32 matches moving one player, breaking concentration, interrupting flow, putting a game’s fairness in jeopardy. I sent a note to the Gods of Pokemon asking that they train up their photographers not to be quite so pushy in a match.

I was asked to go back to side events, where I was again tapped to head judge a $25 sealed event tournament for over 50 players. Everyone ended up with $32 in swag for their entry fee, while winners ending up with $104 in swag. All Juniors got between $50-$110 for playing. I had another great staff of judges and runners, Pokemon was incredibly generous with their prize support. Everyone had a great time.

Shortly after my side tourney ended, everything ended. The staff cleared the hall, and broke down all of the tables and chairs, the carpet was rolled up and the hall was cavernous and sad in its’ emptiness.

The Pokemon Gods had arranged our names in a lottery picked order, and staff was allowed in order to choose banners and signs used in past promotional efforts (I got a pretty cool Torterra banner, no idea what to do with it), then we were marched through the product room to get a generous swag bag and extra Staff shirt.

On Sunday night, Charlie went to dinner with the other northern California players, and I went to a staff dinner hosted by the Pokemon Gods.

While not falling down drunk, I did consume 7 drinks in 5 hours, and smoked my first cigarettes of the year. I smoked three.

I got back to my room shortly after midnight, my son was asleep and nothing was packed. I packed everything for both of us, leaving out one comfortable flight worthy set of clothes for each, and laid down to sleep at 1 AM.

My clock alarms went off simultaneously at 3:45 AM, Charlie and I both showered, dressed, and left our room to catch our 4:30 AM cab to the airport. We found Chris in the lobby, he was kicked out of his room before 3 AM for the noise 30 players in his room made. Chris rode with us to the airport and we paid his part of the ride as some small measure of thanks for all the help he had given Charlie and me over the years.

Charlie complained that his sleep had been interrupted by my snoring (a cause and effect result of me getting drunk) and my alcohol fume breath expulsions. My moderate hangover, and feeling of unease on the first flight as our altitude increased the remaining alcohol in my bloodstream’s effects, were punishment enough.

Overall, we had a great vacation together. We didn’t spend as much time together as I would like; but Charlie reveled in his freedom to play with his friends, old and new, in an environment where it was safe to do so. Charlie was a good boy who earned the trust he was shown.

I had a great time. I loved working during the tournament. I am not part of the invited staff for the World championship in August; but Charlie and I will both be going, and I have already let the Pokemon Gods know that they can ask me for any help anytime, I don’t need a shirt or lab coat, a title or compensation. I am always happy to give back a little to the game that has given so much enjoyment to Charlie and me.

 

June 23, 2009

I’m leaving on a jet plane

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Charlie, my son and I are flying out of San Francisco, CA (SFO) tomorrow at 7:18 AM an arriving in St. Louis, MO (STL) at 3:13 PM.

Charlie will be competing in the Pokemon U.S. National Championship. This is the single largest tournament for the card came of Pokemon each year. Last year saw roughly 1,000 players compete in Columbus, OH. There are three age divisions, Juniors for the little guys roughly 11 and under, Seniors (where Charlie will compete) for the kids roughly 12 to 15 years old, and Masters which sees 16 year olds compete with grey hairs like me.

Each of the contestants is playing for fun. The contestants also wouldn’t mind winning. There are some great prizes including up to $5,000 in scholarship money, a paid invitation to compete in the World Championship, a special Pokemon branded Nintendo DSi, and a gorgeous trophy – there’s more, but you aren’t playing so why bore you, suffice it to say, Pokemon players would not mind finishing well.

I will be one of 7 judges in the Junior Division, ensuring the players follow the rules and ensuring fair play. I am thrilled to be able to work a Nationals as part of the invited staff. My flight and room are being picked up by Pokemon and they are giving me a little stipend to help with food and incidentals. I used frequent flyer miles to get Charlie to St. Louis, so this trip is costing us very little.

I will miss Friday’s announcement by Murphy-Goode Winery of their Top 50 candidates from the 1993 applicants for A Really Goode Job, I will be working events in St. Louis. I hope to see my video application picked as one of the top 50. Mathematically, I have about a 2.5% chance of making the cut. I know my knowledge of the area, Sonoma County, that Murphy-Goode wants described is superior to virtually everyone who has entered, as is my wine knowledge. I am uniquely positioned as someone who was paid to market Sonoma County and it’s wines, and have been awarded three consecutive years by Exhibitor Magazine for that marketing. I figure that raises my chances a bit; but I recognize that I have many great competitors, and a goodly number have a greater web presence than I do. I’ll just have to see on Friday. The good news is that my work for Pokemon will keep me from hitting the refresh button every 5 seconds at the Murphy-Goode website.

Charlie and I fly home next Monday. I’ll probably write something about Pokemon on Tuesday. I’ll post word about the Top 50 candidates for Murphy-Goode, and whether I made that first cut, on Tuesday as well.

__________

Last night while packing, we grabbed a piece of luggage out of the closet to throw Charlie’s clothes into. It seemed a bit musty and we opened all the zippered compartments to let it air out.

Thank God we opened all the pockets. Buried deep, nearly hidden, in a side pocket, I found a leather bandolier filled with 30.06 rifle shells and a Buck hunting knife.

I am fairly certain that our trip through airport security would have been more interesting if we hadn’t discovered the contents of what turned out to be my late Father’s weekend hunting bag.

 

June 21, 2009

June meet-up of Piner ’79 grads, and Robert Young

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I graduated 30 years ago from Piner High School in Santa Rosa. Piner was the “agricultural” school in Sonoma County’s largest city.

Our 30 year reunion is planned for October this year. There have been meet-ups once each month in advance, the latest was yesterday at Riverfront Regional Park on Eastside Road west of Windsor, CA.

The meet-ups leading up to the reunion are getting bigger and better, and the reunion itself will be amazing largely because of Kim and Bill. Kim Finitz runs our reunion/alumni site piner79.com and has tracked down 234 of our classmates. Bill Towner runs our facebook alumni site and 65 classmates have joined the group.

At our 5 year reunion, people hadn’t changed much and hadn’t done much yet. At our 20 year reunion, some people had changed too much and we had all done too much…I could remember too few of my classmates but everybody seemed to remember me.

I was active in high school. I was in student government, theater and sports. I was an athletic geek, a rah rah who visited the smoking grounds. I was comfortable everywhere, and knew everyone. 20 years after graduation, I had forgotten the connections I had with some of my classmates from so long before, and I could not tap into memories that, at least that night, seemed lost permanently.

The internet and social networking sites, most specifically facebook, have been such a great aid to me and other alumni. We now have connections reestablished before the big reunion, putting our new more experienced faces to our names, rekindling memories of shared experiences, and creating new experiences will make this the best reunion yet.

Yeserday I saw Derek Clark, Jeff Dahlquist, Doug Duffield, Kim Finitz (Clark), Linda Forthuber (Kynoch), Todd Grames, Susan Greening, Robert Haney, Keith Lewis, Marie Lovell, Deena McConnell, Karen Mishler (Togrimson),  Keith Robinson, Jack Sather, Bill Towner, Tim Vigil, and Kary Witt. There were spouses, significant others, children and even grandchildren too.

I also got to see four additional classmates, Cynthia Johnson (Wise), Felecia McGill (Cordova), Shannon Smyth (Loranger) and David Yokoyama, the night before thanks to Derek and Kim.

I loved seeing everyone, but had the most fun talking about lacrosse with some of my old team mates. In the 9th grade, our cross country coach encouraged us to play lacrosse as a form of cross training, running for an hour without thinking of it as running. We, a group of tiny freshmen, were put in the men’s division of the Northern California Lacrosse Association. We didn’t yet have decent stick skills, and we were pummeled. We lost our first game 33-0, and the only person on the team with any skill left the game early with a broken arm. We played against adult teams for two years, getting better, and finally were able to play even games, managing to win one or two. When we were juniors in high school, our team was put in a high school team division. For the next two years, we were amazingly good. Our competition had gotten smaller, less skilled, and less experienced while we had become larger, more skilled and more experienced. We also had an enormous chip on our collective shoulders about having suffered through two years in the wrong age division. We played with a ferocity that the other teams didn’t expect. We surprised ourselves with lop sided wins. We liked being dominant and practiced more. We developed a bit of a swagger. We started keeping records of spectacularly brutal hits. Collectively, we remember our grandest act of arrogance when we set up a one on one shot on goal by our goalie; this led to a hockey type brawl and an early end to the game. Our other shared memory was our worst physical beating at the hands of a team that decided to play against us in our own style, but with even more extreme violence. We had people leave the field that day with a ruptured spleen, while others were forced to carry on with concussion, or a 100 mph goal shot to the balls.

I wondered to myself how many of us could still handle a stick. It would be fun to pass the ball around, if less fun to run after a missed ball.

I had to answer questions about Murphy-Goode’s Really Goode Job for each classmate I saw this weekend. I had sent notes to every Piner ’79 alumni that is on facebook. Kim did me one better and passed on my plea to all 234 classmates that have been tracked down on our alumni website. You reap what you sew, and so I explained 20 times what the job was about, explained that votes don’t determine who gets the job but can’t hurt making the winery more aware of me, and thanked everyone for the Piner push. I received a ton of votes from Piner 79 grads, their family and friends; many people voting from more than 1 email address. I continue to marvel and the kindness, and complete willingness so many people are showing me in the support and help I am getting in my effort.

Another classmate, John Coons, who I knew probably back to the 4th grade 38 years ago, took notice of my attempt to land what I have referred to as my “dream job” with Murphy-Goode, made note of my qualifications in my video application, and contacted a Calistoga winery owner that he knows on my behalf attempting to help me get a job in wine marketing. I don’t think other wineries are looking to give someone the same position that Murphy-Goode is, but I am incredibly touched by John’s kindness.

I asked for help, for votes. John saw the plea for help and went farther. I have written many times that we are not alone. Ask and people will help.

I continue to be humbled to be the recipient of so much help, kindness, sweetness.

I had a great time this weekend visiting with my high school classmates, I look forward to seeing as many as possible at the July meet-up. I need to go check my work calendar and request a day that I am in town.

__________

Yesterday, on the way home from Windsor with my wonderful son Charlie, we drove out far into the Alexander Valley and parked at the winery of Robert Young. Robert Young passed away Friday. Young was the patriarch of the Alexander Valley wine growers, replacing his orchards with vineyards long before vineyards were fashionable. Sonoma County’s Chateau St. Jean vineyard designated one of their chardonnays as Robert Young Vineyard before anyone else identified single vineyard wines in that way.

If not for Chateau St. Jean and Robert Young, I would have been selling Alexander Valley Chardonnay at Windsor Vineyards instead of the Murphy Ranch Chardonnay I did sell.

I passed my respects yesterday to Robert Young in his vineyards.

 

June 12, 2009

A visit to Murphy-Goode, past and present

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Today, I had to drive from my home in Ukiah to Santa Rosa to pack up and be ready for my 3:45 AM wake up and trip to San Francisco to set up and work the North Beach Festival (of really cool handcrafted art topped Corkers for wine bottles and other not as cool things).

As I have applied for my dream job, and the dream job is being offered by Murphy-Goode Winery, I thought I would pop into the tasting room in downtown Healdsburg for a taste of what was being poured today.

Rather than drive directly to the tasting room, getting off the freeway, US 101, at the last possible moment; I chose to leave the freeway in Geyserville, and drive out Hwy 128 through the Alexander Valley of Sonoma County, taking the long way to Healdsburg.

As I left the little town of Geyserville behind me, along with the freeway, I quickly found myself driving through vineyards. The lushly green canopy of leaves on the trellised vines spreading out on both sides of the turning country road, orange California poppies growing wild on the sides of the road, the earth brown, and the grass on the hillsides dried to nearly the same tan brown color of the earthy dirt roads around and through the vineyards themselves, the green vineyards on the hillsides contrasting green against brown, oak trees brown and full leafy green, white feathery bands of clouds against a sky of baby blue; the beauty of the Alexander Valley so powerful, I am happy that I can take the time to drive a slower road.

The road becomes emptier of cars as I reach the turn off to the Indian casino, River Rock, where all cars but mine turn up the hillside drive to give their money away.

I see vineyard workers in cowboy hats and boots. I worked one summer in the vineyards of Healdsburg. I like my view of the vineyard now much better than my view of countless individual vines then.

I pull over and park across from the Murphy Ranch vineyard at the Sonoma Wine Company Alexander Valley Facility. Once upon a time Murphy-Goode used this facility to make wine and pour them for visitors to their co-located tasting room. No more, a large “CLOSED” sign seems perpetually in place to dissuade visits. While I walked about, remembering past visits to the Murphy-Goode tasting room, remembering the friends I visited here with, and the wines we tasted, lost in fond memories, a truck with two men pulled up beside me near the front door and asked me if they were at Murphy-Goode.

I told them that their memory was either very good, or their information very old. I told the two ballooners (their vanity license plate: BALLOON) that the tasting room was gone from here, but directed them to 20 Matheson in downtown Healdsburg. I felt good. Get my dream job or not, 99% of the applicants could not have been able to help these men, fewer than 1 in 100 would have known that this was the former location of Murphy-Goode so would not have stopped to gather memories. I felt more qualified that ever, there is something very special about local knowledge.

Eventually, I got back in my van and continued generally south toward Healdsburg. At the corner of West Sausal Lane and Alexander Valley Road is the closed and dusty Alexander Valley store. I pray the store reopens after remodeling and site improvements, it is both iconic and a perfect landmark, “turn right at the Alexander Valley store.”

I did make my right turn at the Alexander Valley store, saw two women selling cherries by the side of the road, looked down and saw canoes and sunbathers as I crossed the Russian River, and made my way to Healdsburg Avenue.

At the corner was someone selling cherries, strawberries, and oranges; and a taco truck. In northern California taco trucks are ubiquitous, and many a meal is produced at restaurant quality yet at a low price. I smiled at the sign painted boldly on the side of the truck, “Taqueria Guanajuato,” as I made my turn onto Healdsburg Avenue to drive the final leg of my trip to the Murphy-Goode tasting room.

I am pleased to be able to write about more than the tasting room and the wine. The wines I tasted were more delicious for being in the mood my drive through Murphy-Goode’s past, and mine, put me in.

Upon entering the tasting room, I saw a lap top opened to allow people to view video applications for my dream job, so I cued my application (#1015) for the next lap top fiddler to encounter. I noted the upcoming summer jazz performances that Murphy-Goode was sponsoring. I looked at the Murphy-Goode logo clothing that I will want to wear when I am chosen for “A Really Goode Job.”

I bellied up to the tasting bar and asked to taste the first wine being poured, Murphy-Goode’s 2008 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc, “The Fume.” The wine was crisply delicious, showing an abundance of fruit, tropical, citus, and a hint of pear, with a touch of Sauvignon blanc’s straw and cat pee nose. The fruit was so forward, and the straw and especially the cat pee notes so well hidden that I guessed incorrectly that the wine had some Semillon blended in to help boost the fruit. 1 wine tasted, 1 wine loved, 1 bottle purchased.

Next, I tasted a 2007 Chardonnay made with oak barrels sourced in Minnesota. Huh? Okay, The wine maker David Ready is from Minnesota, and likes to link the winery in ways surprising to Minnesota when possible (Viking horns are part of the company uniform). I was told that the Minnesota oak was smaller grain than typical American oak barrel grain. I remember that there was a time when a trained taster could identify American oak held wines by a dill note imparted, a note absent in French oak held wines. I asked about this note, and whether it occurred in these Minnesota oak held wines. The tasting room gal I asked suggested I taste for myself. I would love to tell you about this wine, but I can’t. Served almost ice cold, I couldn’t break much nose or mouth free from the icy clutches of the cold. I liked what I tasted, but I couldn’t taste enough to write more about this wine. Sad, I was really intrigued by the uniqueness of Minnesota oak, I love different, I love unusual, I love quirky.

The other tasting room pourer, I think his name was Will, and I talked of Murphy-Goode past and present. We both had been around wines and wineries for quite a long time and knew many of the same people. It made our conversation easy. We talked about Jess Jackson buying Murphy-Goode; Tim Murphy passed away in 2001, Dale Goode wanted to transition into retirement, and Jess Jackson believes in keeping everything the same in a hands off “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” way, welcoming David Ready Jr. as the winemaker following in his father Dave’s footsteps.

I noted other wineries Jackson had picked up and allowed to continue unchanged, doing what they do best. If you buy a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir artisan winery, you don’t force them to make Sangiovese, or blend Cab into their Pinot, or any other crazy change.

Not sucking up, but Jess Jackson is an icon to me for wine business prowess; up there with Mondavi and the Gallos.

Anyway, next up to tast were a trio of reds.

I started with the 2005 Alexander Valley Snake Eyes (think Reserve) Zinfandel. Oh my God, I think I fell in love with this wine at first nose. I want to marry it, at least get a room and spend the night together. Big, bold, rambly raspberry and black pepper spice for days. Everything promised in the nose, delivered in the mouth. A big mouth feel wine, lots of finish. lots of wine flavor in just a 750 ml bottle. The grapes come from vines of the Ellis ranch which are about 70 years old and you can taste the maturity. This is not your friend’s mom’s white zin; this monster of a Zin, all red, all the time, comes in at a whopping 15.8% alcohol, which is huge; especially as it doesn’t taste hot and thin like some other high alcohol Zinfandels.

Next I tasted the 2004 All In Claret, a Bordeaux style blend, some would call it a Meritage. This wine had a little Petite Verdot, more Merlot, and was mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. Absent in this Claret were Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Supple, delicious, far tamer than the Zinfandel; big, but not scary big. This was a red my friends would love. Filled with Blackberry and currant, with leathery fat cherry. This would be a phenomenal food wine. I would love to drink it with grilled steak. Simple and perfect. Feeling a tiny bit adventurous? Melt a little gorgonzola onto the steak while grilling. The party will be in your mouth.

Finally, I tasted a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon because of a promised eucalyptus note. it seems the vineyard is planted next to a roadside wind block stand of eucalyptus trees, and the flavors sort of leech their way into the first rows of nearby grape vines. I have tasted a wine that had the same notes for the same reason before, and liked it very much. I liked this wine, a little rough around the edges, but chockablock filled with blackberry and eucalyptus notes. The tasting room pourer, Will (?), poured me a second tasting glass through a Vinturi, a wine aeration device. the 2004 Cabernet was instantly improved. The rough edges I had noted before were smoothed out. I liked the wine more, but loved the Vinturi.

I wanted to buy a bottle of red to go with my Fume purchase. The choice came down to the Zinfandel that I would love the most, or the Claret that my friends would love the most.

My friends are going to have to love giant Zinfandels, or they can drink some really perfect Sauvignon Blanc instead; these are the two wines I chose to buy today.

 

June 11, 2009

Thank you and please continue your support

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http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-view.aspx?vid=A1m7ZIwYMbw

Yesterday, I submitted a video application for my dream job, and readers on myspace, facebook, twitter and several forums began voting for me and my video application.

The dream job is to tell the story of Murphy-Goode, a Sonoma County winery using web 2.0 tools; facebook, twitter, myspace, blog, video blog. The job lasts 6 months, but if I can reach the interview phase, I will ask for an additional, unpaid, 6 months so the job can be done right. Allow me continued access to the internet communication tools of a laptop and camera, and I can be covering bud break in April.

Much of the world communicates visually, even in speech, “look here,” and “see what I mean,” are examples of how important the visual is. The 6 months covered in the job description, August through February, miss out on the greenest and most beautiful time of Sonoma County’s year, April.

In April, when the hills are lushly green, the ground filled with the rains of winter, the sun waking the vineyard from sleepy dormancy, is when the buds erupt on the grape vines. Green grasses on the hills, green leaves on the trees, buds that will become grapes later in the year bursting to flower from the vines, yellow mustard in between the rows of vines, pink cherry blossoms on the lanes in the vineyards, blue skies, white puffy clouds. How can the job not include, require, this be shared with the world by the winner of the dream job. If hired, I would work for a full year. Unpaid for the last 6 months, I would still show up for work each day.

I want to do this job right. I know my home. I need your continued help, your votes, to get this job, and do it better than anyone else can or would.

Thanks to you, 131 votes were cast for my video application in the first 24 hours that my video was up for voting, which is a better pace than 9 of the top 10 most popular videos. Currently, I am the 99th most popular video. On day 1 (for me) I am thrilled to break into the top 100 on my way (hopefully) to top 10 most popular.

Mind you, mine is the 9th most recent application video posted. Some videos have been up for over a month.

The most important thing you have done to help me is voting. I don’t think this job is going to be awarded based on votes, but I do think your votes allow Murphy-Goode Winery to see that some people do have internet savvy and reach, and others do not. I think your votes will help influence the decision to allow me to continue on in this competition to the interview phase.

You, my readers, have humbled me with your support, help, and incredibly kind words and deeds. I would be embarrassed if I didn’t want the job so much, and I honestly believe that I am both the best qualified applicant for the job and the smartest and hardest worker that Murphy-Goode could hire. Unembarrassed, but humbled.

After I blogged and bulletined on myspace, sent notes to everyone on facebook, twittered, posted links on a couple of forums, and emailed yesterday; you took over.

You have taken the link to my application video
http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-view.aspx?vid=A1m7ZIwYMbw
 and posted it in your blogs, posted it in myspace bulletins, posted it on your facebook wall, twittered it to your followers, emailed it to your contact directories, asking other people to vote for me. Wow, just wow.

Look, I know my little video isn’t going viral; but I am grateful for all of the support and help that I have received from each of you. From voting at home, then getting other family members to vote too and voting at work, then getting other co-workers to vote too; to the internet linking you are doing on my behalf on your social network sites, your blogs, your forums, and in your email correspondence to friends and family.

Please, if you are able, click on the link above and vote my video job application your favorite. The video is 60 seconds, the vote just needs an email address to be entered then click to cast your vote. You will be sent an email to the address you provided, and you will need to confirm your vote was real; so please vote from a real email address. If you don’t find your email confirmation request, look in your spam inbox.

Again, thanks for everything you have done, and please continue to help me get more votes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Okay, I am going outside to experience the beauty of Northern California directly.

 

June 8, 2009

Food, Wine and Friends

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On Friday, I drove an hour south to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, picked up my friend Shannon, and together we drove the half hour or so west to the coast.

I love the ocean, and living so close to the Pacific, it is odd that I spend more time on Atlantic ocean beaches each year for work than I do on our own coast for enjoyment.

Note to self: get to the beach more often.

The salty smell of the air, and something more deep yet subtle, the powerful smell of the ocean itself with the water, fish and plant life mixed into a living and dying smell, it always gets to me. I connect with the unseen, but very felt, energy of the ocean…and I get hungry.

Both Shannon and I were hungry, and we turned north at the coast and shortly pulled into Lucas Wharf. Lucas Wharf features a restaurant, an island themed deli, and fresh fish cut up and sold right off boats.

I wanted a crab sandwich, and the restaurant’s menu didn’t offer one so we went to the island deli where years before I bought delicious dungeness crab sandwiches, sliced sourdough bread brimming barely containing a thousand island dressing like cocktail sauced bounty of sweetly delicious fresh dungeness (the best) crab.

The island deli was new to me, replacing the deli that had made the delicious crab sandwich previously, but it too offered a crab sandwich, so I was in.

Shannon ordered shrimp and chips, I ordered the crab sandwich, and we picked up two bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale to wash it all down with.

While waiting for our food, I stepped outside out of habit. Although I haven’t had a cigarette this year, I still have the habit of going outside while waiting for something. Instead of smoking, I breathed in the rich moist air. The smell of fresh fish for sale made me take a small walk to look at the fish. I thought about how nice it would be to cook some of the great looking fish being offered.

Back inside, our food came. The fare was rather pedestrian. The food tasted good, but wasn’t anything remarkably special; Shannon’s shrimp and chips was just that, shrimp and chips. My crab sandwich was nothing like I had in mind when I ordered it, instead of delicious sweet fresh crab between slices of tasty bread, I got what looked like a “crabby patty” cooked by Spongebob Squarepants, a fried crab cake served on a bun, burger like. Honestly, it was disappointing.

Our deli server brought a sauce that was made in house, and recommended that I try it on my burger. A passion-fruit and chili blend, sweet and hot, textured and layered, it was okay on the crab burger, but brought to mind many possible better pairings.

Shannon had recently said that she would like me to cook a meal for her. Earlier in the week, another friend, Bill, had taken Shannon, Linda and me to dinner in Windsor. I asked Shannon if she would like me to cook dinner at Linda’s house, where Shannon is staying, and if she thought Bill and Linda could join us. With a couple of phone calls, Shannon had everything set up.

After lunch, Shannon and I went outside to look at the fish. I was torn between some beautiful Copper River salmon from Alaska  (I last tasted Copper River Salmon at the Original Fish Market when working the Three River Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, and it was flavorfully delicious) and some ling cod fresh off local boats.

I really wanted the salmon, it was what I had in mind, but local and fresh off the boat won out, and we picked up some beautiful ling cod fillets.

Before leaving Lucas Wharf, I also left with the most important purchase of the day, an 8 ounce jar of the passion-fruit chili sauce.

Shannon and I went up the road, found an uncrowded beach, and took a nice walk. The walk might have been longer, but I was anxious to pick up some groceries and get back to Santa Rosa to start prepping dinner.

We stopped at the Fir Crest market in Sebastopol for additional provisions. In short order, we had assembled carrots, two Mexican papayas, green onions, purple cabbage, grape tomatoes, a bottle of quality Teriyaki, and a bottle of 2007 Rick Sayre Rodney Strong Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.

Not much later, I was in Linda’s kitchen and the prep began. I intended to make a Thai style Som Tom shredded green papaya salad. The inspiration was the sauce of passion-fruit and chili from the island deli on the coast. I wanted to plate the salad and rest a piece of Teriyaki marinated salmon on top. Lots of flavors on one plate, all playing beautifully with the dusty rose petal and warm cherry notes of the Pinot.

That was the meal I put together in my head at Lucas Wharf tasting the sauce and smelling the fish. I made some changes, but here’s what I did – so you can do it too.

First, pour one bottle of quality Teriyaki over 4 fresh ling cod fillets as a marinade, put in fridge.

Open the Pinot, pour a glass to swirl and smell, noticing changes as it opens up. Pouring a glass also increases the surface area for the wine to touch air, allowing breathing to hasten. Bring on the nose and mouth treats.

I peeled the papaya, scooped the seeds out, and grated the papaya into a large bowl. The Mexican papayas were not green, were very ripe, and did not grate so much as smoosh wetly through the grater. After smoosh grating the papaya into the bowl, I pressed the moisture out of the papaya by hand and poured the liquid out. To the drier papaya, I added two grated carrots, 3 thinly sliced green onions, and 1/2 of a cored and super thin sliced purple cabbage. I added about 3 ounces of the magic passion-fruit chili sauce, some salt and pepper, and tossed it all to mix and dress the slaw type salad. I moistened a towel, covered the salad, and put it into the fridge to sit and allow the flavors to marry.

Prep done, Linda arrived home and quickly the Pinot I intended for dinner was in three glasses. Bill arrived and the Pinot was in four glasses. The Frasier in me regretted that the wine was going to be gone before dinner, the regular guy in me was thrilled that I was with 3 friends and that the wine was being enjoyed. Some say red with meat, white with fish; I say any wine goes best with friends. Let go, and things work out fine. Letting go means that the Rodney Strong Chardonnay Bill brought was going to be served with dinner and was going to be great.

Linda and Bill were hungry after working all day, so we fired up the oven, and put aluminum foil over a broiling pan (to make clean up easier). With the oven at 350 degrees, we placed the fish skin side down on the foil and baked it for 25 minutes.

Just before the fish was finished, I gave the salad a final toss, then plated the salad evenly on four dishes. I sliced some grape tomatoes in half and used them as edible decoration around the outside of the salad. Then I rested the baked Teriyaki ling cod atop the bed of thai style salad.

Dinner was great. Great food, great wine, great friends. We decided to head over to John Barleycorn’s for dessert, and to see another high school friend who was working as a bartender. We saw our friend John, but there was no chocolate mousse at Barleycorn’s.

Note to self: The Villa will make chocolate mousse even if out. Never ending chocolate mousse.

__________

Saturday morning, I awoke at 3:00 AM to head out and set up my booth so I could sell my handcrafted art topped wine bottle stoppers at the Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival.

I worked all day without a break and was quite hungry when I was allowed to close up at 6:00 PM.

I had an invitation to a graduation party for the daughter of another friend Rachelle. I had known Rachelle since the 4th grade when we attended Mark West Elementary school in northern Santa Rosa. In addition to Rachelle, I was going to get to see another High School friend, Nancy. Nancy is now the tasting room manager for Schmidt Family Vineyards in Oregon.

Before going to the party and seeing my friends, I needed to get some food, check into my surprisingly wonderful hotel, get a shower and change into a suit. Food was the biggest priority.

Near the Domain hotel, I found a Korean restaurant, pulled in and ordered pork bulgogi to-go. I spent a year in Korea, love Korean food, and knew that my hunger would be sated. I would check in to my room and eat dinner.

Jang Tu restaurant, un-fancy on the outside, tucked into a strip mall, has food was beyond adequate. The pork bulgogi, marinated in soy and sesame, and barbecued with garlic, onions and green peppers, was the best I’ve ever had, the absolutely most delicious. The rice that came with it tasted good. I’ve not smoked in over 5 months, but I was surprised to find the rice delicious. I also enjoyed the accompanying kim chi greatly. Chop-sticking a bit of pork, and rice, and cabbage into my mouth, the flavors all delicious, somehow the sum greater than it’s parts, I achieved a near nirvana experience.

The food was so absolutely delicious that i almost went back and ordered another meal, but I wanted to see my fiends more. Barely. That was some fine Korean grub.

The graduation party was an amazing event. My friends both look beautiful, as did their daughters. Rachelle’s daughter Courtney, the graduate, was lovely, amazingly possed, yet unspoiled. Nancy’s daughter will not graduate from high school for about 15 years, Lia is just 3 years old. Lia is amazingly cute. I am envious of Nancy having a child small enough to hold; my own 12 year old son Charlie is taller than I am, we don’t cuddle much anymore.

I have a 2007 Applegate Valley Merlot from Nancy’s Vineyard that I look forward to sharing with some of Nancy’s other friends. I’ll have to build a dinner around it.

__________

On Sunday, back working the Art and wine Festival on Murphy Street in Sunnyvale, I was visited by Chris Cesano and Jim Cesano. Chris is roughly my age, Jim is roughly the age my father would be. We must be related somewhere generations back, we must have common ancestors from Italy; although we don’t know how we are related, it is comforting to meet others with my last name. I am the oldest Cesano in my branch of our family. To keep this entry rolling along food-wise, Chris has promised me his grandmother’s recipes foe gnocchi and ravioli.

__________

It is Monday, I am finally back at home and looking forward to seeing my son when he gets home from school.

All is right in my world.

Plans for my week:

Create an application video for my dream job,

Attend my son’s promotion from elementary to middle school on Wednesday,

Go to the island deli at Lucas Wharf on Friday.

That sauce has haunted me all weekend. I want to make another Som Tom salad. I want to toss chicken wings in it (it would be similar but superior to Buffalo Wild Wing’s Asian Zing sauce). I want it on eggs. I must buy more and reverse engineer the recipe.

 

May 27, 2009

A week in L.A.

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I am finally back at home sitting in front of my computer, fingers stabbing away at the keys that will result in an overdue new blog entry. A week away from my computer, from writing, I missed it. I missed home, as I was away, down south, for work and pleasure.

I worked the three days of the Memorial Day weekend at Fiesta Hermosa in Hermosa Beach, California, about 20 minutes south of LAX. I spiel my product endlessly at shows with good attendance, and the resultant sales is how I make a living. During one of my spiels this weekend, I recognized the person I was talking to from either film or television but couldn’t place him. The person I brought with me to work the show with also recognized him, but couldn’t place him. Finally, my business associate whispered “big brother”.

I am a reality TV junkie. I have watched seasons of Survivor, Big Brother, Idol, Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, Project Runway, Charm School…you name it, I’ve watched it. If I could only choose one, it would have to be Big Brother; the fish bowl purity of the show appeals to me. The tall, smiling, man in front of our booth was Zach Swerdzewski from Big Brother season 8. Zach came in third, losing only to the father/daughter pair of Evil Dick and Danielle.

Season 8 of Big Brother was one of the better casts, starring the broken down old rocker, Evil Dick, who used profanity laced invective, tearing apart fellow houseguests, insulting others for their sexuality, religion, and any other button he could expose. Other houseguests included Jameka, a pious black woman; Amber, a meth using drink slinging single mom from Vegas; Eric, America’s player; Jessica, Eric’s showmance; Dustin and Joe, the hilariously bitter gay ex-couple; Danielle, Evil Dick’s emaciated daughter; and Zach, a guy too nice by far to play in the same game as Evil Dick.

When we were able to place the person from our Fiesta Hermosa booth inside the Big Brother house, he let us know that yes, we remembered correctly, his name was Zach and he was from season 8. I was surprised that other reality TV addicts in the crowd didn’t recognize him, but Zach seemed to operate in a cloak of anonymity; we were the only people who seemed to recognize him. Zach was gracious in spite of our fantarding, posed for pictures with us and even gave us hats from his clothing line, Dolphin Crash. Oh, and Zach now has one of our Corkers. It was really nice to meet someone so genuinely nice.

We also saw Jason “Wee-Man” Acuña of Jackass fame. We did not fantard over Wee-Man, although my 12 year old son was excited that we had seen him.

With the show done, I stayed an extra day in Southern California and visited Metropolis Books at 440 Main in the core of downtown Los Angeles. A high school friend, Julie Swayze, owns the store and we got to spend an hour in conversation. The store is a jewel, an independent book store, and you should visit the store if in Los Angeles. Eat at the Nickel Diner when in the area, the entire area is on the verge of a revitalization, and both the book store and the diner are the future of downtown Los Angeles.

Through Julie, I picked up two more books by Anthony Bourdain, and a book that a friend, Marie Poirer Martinsson, recommended to me, “No One Sees God” by Michael Novak. The last book inspired conversation between Julie and me about spirituality, religion, and the non preachiest preacher man I know, Dean Anderson, another class mate of ours.

Finally, I drove through the Alexander Valley of Sonoma County on the way home today, stopping to get out of my car and walk in some vineyards. I am Frasier like, I know most people are Daphne like; I want to share what I know and love about wine in a way that makes it understandable, maybe even inspiring someone to try a wine instead of a beer with a meal or when out with friends. I know my wine writings will never be #1 on any most read list, but I will continue to write about wine on a regular basis. Perhaps I’ll get better at writing about it, or perhaps more people will find it a palatable topic as my readership grows.

 

May 5, 2009

Winery Confidential; Adventures in the Enological Underbelly

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I love Anthony Bourdain. I am envious of him. Bourdain earned his privileges, he was the executive chef at Les Halles in New York for ten years, he wrote Kitchen Confidential (which I will be rereading today), and a number of other books, he writes shorter pieces for magazines and his own blog, and he is now best known as the host of the Travel Channel’s show No Reservations.

You will never hear Bourdain describe food as “Yum-O”, scream “Bam!”, try to “Kick It Up A Notch” with some “Eee-Vee-Oh-Oh”. He’s not a fan of the concept of celebrity chef, and isn’t ironic about having become one. He loves cooking, cooks, and chefs, be they unknown or celebrity; he mocks and derides celebrities who play chef.

Bourdain is too easily hurt, he has a million self defense mechanisms in place, cynicism most chiefly evident. What makes his No Reservations show appointment television in my house is being able to see the cynicism slip, then fall away, as beauty, pure and powerful, undoes Bourdain and transforms him before our eyes.

I have worked restaurants, mostly front of house, waiting tables from Dennys to tuxedo service, and managing a restaurant/nightclub where I made sure I knew how to do everyone’s job in case I needed to in an emergency. I can tend bar, I can wash dishes, I can make soups and salads and prep food, and I can cook. I loved cooking.

In my personal life, I still love to cook. I would like a little more room to do it in, and my 12 year old son wishes that our dishwasher was automatic and not named Charlie, but I love to cook. I have the ability to see a recipe, imagine it, re-imagine it better with mental adjustments of ingredients and cooking techniques, mentally select a perfect pairing wine, then go shopping and come home to execute a wonderful meal…or not. A few of my best dishes took 3 or 4 improvements before they taste as good or better than I originally imagined.

I have been hurt in my past, who hasn’t? Like Bourdain, I spent many years being cynical. Cynicism protects the cynic from hurt, but it also drives away the people you don’t need to protect yourself from. Self inflicted unnecessary and tiring armor.

I have dropped the armor. Well, I may still have a shield handy, but I’m not wearing a full suit anymore. I can get hurt, but I can also join with happier, sweeter, better, and more interesting people. My life is much improved, and continues to improve. Perfect? No, but I think the process of striving for the rarely and transitorily attainable is worth the effort.

Anyway, I am going to be applying for a new job. A winery is looking for someone to get the message of what they do out in a non-traditional way, using social network sites and blog/vblog entries.

I am a native of the area they want described. I worked for a winery for eight years. I know wine, and food, and share what I know with anyone who will listen out of love now. I love Sonoma County, my home, where I grew up. I sold, drank and cooked with wine made from grapes grown by this winery in their own vineyard ranch. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. Exhibitor Magazine awarded me the Expert Exhibitor Award three consecutive years for tradeshow marketing of Sonoma County wine. As you are reading this, you know I blog, and am on myspace. I also have facebook and twitter accounts. I post on a number of forums.

I may actually be as qualified, as perfect for the job I will be seeking, as Bourdain is for his. I really can’t imagine anyone else being as good at what I am uniquely able to do, and get the job or not, this is exciting.

 

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