Posts Tagged With: wine

untitled afternoon

6:26am.  Still very much feeling yesterday’s run with Carmen.  May do that again, on my own, to see how I do.  Loved the vineyards on all sides, to keep me pushed.  Was surprised, and I noticed this while running, how little I thought about writing.  Was pretty much with complete focus on the run.

Tired this morning.  Blaming the couple glasses I had last night, after nights of no wine at all.  Not sure I’m set on doing quite the extensive tasting I had planned for Self on Saturday night.  Maybe just open 1 bottle, sip slow, enjoy my scribbles, and/or types.

Back to sleep for about an hour, or so.  Then coffee.  Tonight, semester’s end.  Finally

8:37am.  Mood, venomous.  And not unexpectedly.  Has nothing to do with Jack, just to note.  Taking Life in the direction I want it to go.  No more settlement.  All desires, ambitions, visions, today annexed, captured.  Seizing control, with these pages, as if they’re my unusually aggressive militia.

First target:  the clock.  Time, ignored, attacked, concurrently.

Second:  Anything taking time from writing– social media, media, technology, useless social engagements; alcohol [beer, wine, for me], TV; even this laptop.  Right now, I should be penning my words, not bloody typing them.  Want to be more like my friend, who habitually vents, or “rants” as she says, in a journal.  Actual WRITING.

image: me, quiet room, sipping sparkling lime water, musically scribing in the Comp Book’s pages, filling many of them.  Only sound other than that point carving my thoughts onto lines? light Thievery Corporation

I’ll add other targets as I think of them.  Yes, this isn’t entirely, or at all really, “planned.” The whole point of this campaign is to acquire enveloping amaranthine, sweeping, freedom.  From everything.  Isn’t that what an Artist’s idealization is, or should be?  The unbridled, not far away.

“Logging off.” Hate that slimy, lazy phrase.

And I hate this laptop, even more.

Disposition repaired.  Morning mocha.  Only 2 shots, after all that coffee I had.  And, the writer sips slow.  Can’t wait to close semester tonight, start planning Fall, the semester to end all predictability.

1:01pm.  Back from bookstore run.  Debating which Poe text to use for Fall.  Not sure how to approach.  And if I should tackle him in 5, where he’d be 1 of 2 Authors of focus.  OR 1A, where he’d be 1 of 3.  Another target, just thought of, while driving back home: caffeine.  Going to attack my dependency.  There won’t be an utter eradication of my energy source, but definite temperament.

A little pain in right knee, on right side.  Good that I’m taking this day off, from running.  Thought about trying to fit a brief one in, before going to pickup papers tonight, but forcing Self to resist that urge.  Tired, wish I could nap.  Going to be odd, not having classes in eve, this summer.  But this is a positive.  More time to write, more time with little Kerouac.  Just remembered, need to upload some footage to winery’s site.. one minute–

Done.  Still haven’t taken Self from this cursed laptop.  Only letting Self have four lines in this paragraph.  No wine tonight, even though I have plenty reason to celebrate, with this term’s much-awaited death.  Hate how my body feels, now with this newly low tolerance, the next morning, even after having only a couple, 2 (!!!), glasses.  Devilish chemicals.  Would kill 4 a nap–

= magazine idea back again.. do i act on it?  wine, wine country, art, writing…

(5/23/13)

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Interval, OenoSprint

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Picture from Vault–

6.7 miles.  That’s what we did, my co-worker, I.  No notes taken in TR, today.  But, I did go in early, topping both wines with their respective selections.. Grenache for NDC, PV for the Merlot.  More than ever, I see mySelf as a legitimate winemaker.  Celebrating, tonight, with the ’10 vineyard designate, 100% Cabernet the winery releases.  Very young, but the letter this wine’s writing, its promissory note.. provocative.  This wine makes me want to go back to the winery, right now, put on one of those flashlight headbands, taste my wines again.  That’s it– I’m leaving to do just that.  Kidding…

Won’t be writing any new material for book, tonight.  But I will rack a couple–2–standalones into the book’s boundary, later.  Right now, I just want to enjoy a freewrite.  And later, to my second glass, verse.  My friend, after our run, over a beer, surprised to hear I’m not the subscriber to social media that everyone estimates.  I understand her confusion, but I need again make clear: I USE social media for purposes of deluging my pages.  And that’s it.  I don’t care about how many “friends” I have on facecrook, or how many follow my “tweets,” if it doesn’t contribute to readership.  And I will NEVER spend time with “social” media when I could be writing.  And anymore, I write pen2paper before I push these keys.  Or at least I try.

The wine, starting to open.  But even still, it’s young, timid, frightened of palate contact.  The further into winemaking I fall, I’m noticing that the Artistic impulse, perceptual perceptivity, follows me; It’s a universal application.  Of course, some winemakers will disagree, with all their obscure chemistry/bio acuity, but I don’t care.  I’m an Artist, and I love wine, making it.  2013, my last trial vintage.  But, I need this writing to pay, first.  SO, another timeline set.

Can’t appreciate the color of this Cab.  I’ve seen it before, so I guess I could say it “doesn’t matter,” but I love wine tint, contrast, hue depth.  Transparent glasses, all, in dishwasher.  SO I’m forced to use one of the translucent, but deeply red, pieces from our shelves.  And on color’s lecture, oenological conjecture, I today learned that lees pose potential threat to color, if they’re aflight, they could bind to floating beings, then detract from visible form.  Texted my sister, and she said, after asking her for more specifics, when I shared concern about oxygen tussling with lees: “No, there aren’t much lees in red barrels. Color loss mainly due to the diff types of color compounds. Some are ‘bound’ which keep color longer, but some are unstable & easily broken by O2, resulting in color loss.” Makes me think of the other issue I want to look into, “bottle shock.”

2013.. what will you be giving me, as my last trial vintage?  Merlot from the Estate, then maybe a Cab with Katie?  Don’t know.  But I need to work on that budget Katie urged.  Not sure how intricate I can make it, as $1500’s about all I can spare, with this scene in Life.  Distracted again by tech, that frothy full-gorged flap-dragon social media.  Need to just write, enjoy my pours.  Should probably stop, but my friend [the estate’s winemaker] provided an absorbing vintage, varietal, representation, translation.

Should probably check my campus email, see if any students need some last-minute steering with their final submissions.  [...]  Nothing.  Not a note.  Thinking again about today’s run with my co-worker.  That bloody hill.  Can’t remember the street’s name.. blame this wine.  OH, Lawndale, I think it’s called.  Yes, just checked.  That’s what humbled me, having to stop for a couple minutes.  The next run about which we embark, I’ll be of only unwavering spark.  Still can’t believe I did what I did, today.  My friend, showing much more a conditioned submission than the writer.  But I think I rolled rather relentlessly.  [...]  Night’s cap, poured.  More illustrative in its presentation, but still a bit withheld.  And as a profuse winemaker, I understand this bottle’s state.  IT’s not “shocked,” as I’m sure some Davis professors would lecture.  IT just needs time, rest.  This winemaking bug.. having done more than “bite” me.  I’m of another lean.  And others, the non-artists, wouldn’t understand.  Nose, now, more performing.  Singing…

(5/22/13)

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Breezes Covered

Back from walk/jog in BV heights with Alice & Kerouac. Still set on no wine tonight. Forgot I have to be at the Estate at 8am, for topping, tasting, possible racking. Thinking that sulfuring 1 more time might be a more reasonable remedy to the slight off-odor yesterday, on the cuvée.

On Saturday, the latest Gatsby night planned, I’ll order in from one of my preferred places. Maybe something to-go from Oliver’s– and now I’m just uselessly rambling. Feel like I always need to be writing.. I should be, with my voice, urges of hitting the NYT Best Sellers List. The old entries, again revisited tonight. In the first blog, that countdown I wrote till 1/1/12.. think there’s something there, in those decreasing numbers.

At loss in this writing. So, when doubted by Self.. the wine. The wineMAKING. My truest of subjects. What else can I research tonight? Well, for one.. barrels. The chemistry, I’ll never fully grasp, as I never studied that in school. I’m making wine from instinct and basic oenological knowledge. This Saturday, looking to open one SB, one CAB. And maybe one Merlot. Going to take extensively detailed notes on each. And not some ridiculous descriptor list. I’m going to address everything from aromatics to texture [levels in/of texture], finish characteristics to finish’s length and texture.

Oak integration. Wondering how to optimally integrate oak into a wine so that you, I mean I, don’t compromise varietal character, expression. Thoughts interrupted from noticing I only have 7% battery left in this devilish machine. What if something failed while making wine? Something electrical, mechanical, and I didn’t have some fixer whiz on site? What did they do in the 1800s, France, Italy, Spain, or here?

Sharp wind darts at sliding glass behind me. As if to push me, quicker towards finished pages. So glad tonight’s a no-wine night. Whatever I do tonight WILL be significant in getting me to the road.

Back to the oak issue: for my wines, either neutral French, or newer French. I have no aims in producing any Italian varietals, Zinfandel, or anything that would best benefit from American Oak, certainly not Hungarian. But still, I want to know what those oak types do. Intimately. Want to be a well-rounded winemaker, specializing in certain varietals but folly able to produce others if I wanted.

Forcing Self to stop typing, after this entry. Need to simplify, as I’ve always said. Still no wine. Diet Coke with dinner, now back to sparkling lime. Tomorrow morning, I’m thinking, no stop at coffee house, like I today refrained. Won’t have time, and I want to be on the crush pad early, if anything. I’m at their mercy, the winemakers’, so I can’t be choosey, only thankful for whatever juice I get for topping. And I will be. But for ’13, I will assume more control, putting down dollars to ensure my ownership, sovereignty. I’m training, right now, with ’12, is how I look at it.

Looking deeper into the American vs. French Oak decision, I’m still siding with French.. for the subtlety, richness, massaging nature [of flavor arrangement]. American Oak seems to be too unpredictable, at least for the style of wines I envision mySelf producing. This Saturday’s tasting, here at home, furthering what I see4Self.

(5/21/13)

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Journal — 5/21/13

1,000 more new words into book.  Jack, more full of energy this morning than I’ve ever seen him.  But, he’s been quite independent, respectful of my work.  Posted a couple pictures and videos, to varying locations.  My office, for bottledaux, closer than I thought.  I mean, now I’m at the point where I can SEE the office, how it’ll be laid out, with all this material.

Going through old pictures, my journey, JOURNAL, through wine’s world, and yes “industry.” Already had a couple cups of coffee (maybe more??).  Put on another pot, this one smaller, probably only– well, won’t say how many more cups.  So glad I don’t have class tonight.  Found some old video footage, me walking the vineyard in harshly early hours during last year’s adventurous harvest.  I’ve already gathered pieces to my Written/Wine Autonomy.  Just need to put them together.

Jackie, now reading a book, the one I bought him for xmas.  How does something that small, only 15 months old, have such drive, energy?  He’s amazing, especially at this stage, with his exploration.  He’s encouraging me to get closer to the bottledaux office, go through this old material, both photograph, written.. and video.  Thank you, young sir.  Going to sip this new coffee batch incredibly slow.  Already feeling fire, a bit jittery.

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Music playing, encouraging only more dreams.  Need to look at houses, as I’d planned, online, well as move some money around.  And no wine tonight, as tomorrow’s the run with that formidable co-worker.  Plan on going for a little walk/jog with Alice & Kerouac later, possibly.  And with wine’s dominant theme: found quite a few forgotten treasures in the upstairs collection.  Should probably go through the bottles over there, in the little fridge.  Jack’s curiosity’ll more than likely be aggravated if I do.  But, maybe he’ll help some more.  He’s been a wonderful aide so far this morning.

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Day Noted.. 5/20/13

925am. Already hot. Not warm.. Hot.

4shot, no scone. Victory. Small, but still a small forward.

Hope I’m not trapped in tr all day.

Cave still from yesterday..

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Sneaking away to write in bathroom.. Can’t wait for my office.. Glad I brought printed pages to edit.

What will be the Petit Verdot verdict?? Just want to use it once.

Already ready for day to be over, for my run.

Opening caves.. I volunteered –

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Cave tour.

Nice couple of ladies from So Cal.

Biz concept written in napkin… Story told by guest.

Woman from Ohio, smitten by everything. Everything. Thinking everything was “cool.” It was adorable, her enamored state.

So nice out. Should be tasting, writing, shooting..

Got some pictures on lunch, and permission to use a little pv on Merlot.

In VIP room, covering for coworker leaving early.

Home, looking through pictures. (7:36pm)

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Vineyard Vivacity

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Addition pulp

8:15a.  Giving Self till 8:45 to post, then print some possible pages to rack into chap.  Glad I only had those two Racers, followed by sparkling lime, last night.  Feel energetic this A.M., ready for whatever material towards me flies.  Running again after work.  The bigger run I do, 5-6 miles.  Tomorrow off, then running with a more-than-able running co-worker Wednesday, launching from work.  My first important run, as I see it.

No blueberry scone with mocha, this morning.  Two pounds over targeted running weight.  Want to re-acquire that number, and be in maintenance habit, so when 7/4/13 comes [Kenwood Foot Race], I’ll be completely ready.

Printing standalones.  Sounds like my printer’s saying, with each inching of paper over ribbon, “right here, right here, right here…” It has to be, I’m thinking.  Everything I’ve written, entries old, older, then notably older, are all I need for books, for the Road.. my office, everything I want.  Ink cartridge low, AGAIN.  Two more poems to print, on one page, in ‘rack 1 document’, where I’m sending all the material in first movement.

Need coffee.  Not that I’m tiring or anything, just a writer needing his morning blend.  Stuck my head outside, as Alice and Kerouac left.  Should be nice.  The news said something about being “significantly warmer” today than yesterday.  We’ll see.

Kelly, on days this nice, probably goes to the beach to work, or in Annadel to clear her thought stream, walk those paths with her sketchbook.  No devices, just her and her moments.

Saw another segment on news last night about devices getting “hacked.” Feeling these pages, on this buttoned monster are no longer safe, with tech advancements, all this immediacy, people with their ever perverse curiosity.  Keeping this entry short, then “logging off.” Not safe anymore.  Need a typewriter.

(5/20/13)

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Saint Some, Sent

5/18.  Indicative of my writing obsession– I’m still writing.  Can’t just throw and resign eyes to TV.  Need another glass of SB, obviously.  Hot down here, condo’s first floor.  Attempt to implore more, but I move slow.  Why am I not just writing verse, for the first chapbook?  Don’t know.  BUT, of what I am sure: I don’t want to be seen as one of those ordinary bloggers, just posting whenever suits, whenever’s most marketable.  I’m extremely Artist.  Know that, devil.

Night’s final capping, a generous pour of ’12 SB.  Then I’m done.  Can’t even write descriptively how tired the writer is.  Want more music in my day..  So, muting TV, again.    Re-reading poem I wrote in vineyard’s center.  See what I saw, again.  But that’s me, the unique audience.. the poem’s creator.  What would the reader see?  Can’t tell, definitively.

Said this before:  Love where my mind goes, how I always want2WRITE.  No interest in doing anything else.  Even when I do out with “friends,” I entertain how I could spin it into sentences, like with my recent Gatsby night, nearly a month ago.  The 25th, in 7 days, possible sequel.  Just turned on Pandora, set on buying more music than I should, for turns of turning more musical writing.  Another sip…  Just heard Jackie, now he’s quiet.  Bad dream?  Who knows what in his little swing stream.  Just look at one of my photo banks, holding 350 stills.  What if I had same amount in standalones?  Why can’t I?  What am I saying, I already do.  Need to follow thought with my vision.  Trust heart, know what I’m doing is what I SHOULD B doing.

And sometimes a writer just needs to resign, fall to dreamt rhymes.  Waiting for my first Road trip.  I don’t care to where I’m sent, long as it’s from pages.  Sipping the SB slowly.  Finally relaxed.  And with all wholeness, I deserve this.  Relaxing with a glass of nice wine, writing.  Many males my age would love to be out with their mirrorings, doing what be.  But not me.  I need silence, Artistry.

Ready to watch SNL, one of my pleasures altogether guilty.  Now, having trouble writing, truly.. having to retype most of me.  Will reconvene with coffee, in morrow.  If this were a play, I’d reconsider all efforts.  Where am I going with these pages?

5/19.  Brought my newest issue of WineMaker Magazine to work, but left in car.  Wouldn’t have had time to read through its content, anyway.  Had a VIP Mountaintop gig at 12:30p.  Just two people, from Iowa.  They joined the club yesterday, decided to return today to experience the views up there, for their 25th wedding anniversary.  The two: the kind of guests I like.  Unassuming, kind, genuinely interested.

Planned on tasting my wines at lunch, seeing how badly they needed a rack.  BUT, decided on two tacos from Nellie’s Oysters stand [having a day or two pretty much every weekend at the estate].  Wound up tasting them right after I clocked out, with Sam.  MUCH to my surprise.. the Merlot tasted better than NDC [my blend, “New Dad Cuvée].  Couldn’t believe it, especially as the Merlot was causing me such frustration only weeks ago.  At this point, I just want to top them, push back racking as far as I can.  Hoping to go in early tomorrow, if I can, to taste through some tanks, or barrels, for topping purposes.  Blair had me taste some PV a couple weeks ago.  Hopefully I can get my hands on some of that.

No wine for the writer, tonight.  Just a couple beers.  Then, switching to sparkling lime.  Pushing some standalones into book.  This Saturday night, the due date.  The newest one.. let’s see if I keep it.  Wait, why do I type that with the sarcastic slant?  What if I do?  What if I surprise mySelf?  On my humble run today, only thought of my book, the books following.. my realization that my style is the momentary, the instantaneous, whimsical.  I can’t afford to spend 3 years writing a bloody book.  Writing as a poet, songwriter, even if you’re reading paragraphs.  Aimed at doing 3 laps around the rather sizable block down the street, towards the end of run.  Ran two, decided to walk final, to think– just enjoy surroundings, observe all the characters in those nice townhouses.  Writing my way, our way, out of this small condo.  And when I don’t feel like writing, as I did just as I started typing a couple minutes ago– just type.  Or WRITE.  Anything.  And that’s just it.  I need to write.  More.  ACTUALLY write.  Proud of myself from racking the poem I wrote in the little pages, yesterday, into book.  Short poem, yes, but it surely conveys what I was feeling at the time, standing in the middle of that vineyard block, only minutes before I had to punch back in, killing my lunch hour.. or half-hour.

Thinking more about wines from ’12, the one or two I do for ’13.  Think I’ll do 1 with Katie, and maybe 1 at estate.  Katie and I should do another Cab, I’m thinking.  She says there may be guidelines to whatever we do.  I don’t want an excess of restrictions when it comes to my Art, whatever outlet.  With all due respect to my sister.  Maybe I’ll do 1 wine, all by mySelf.  But what?  Still to early to measure.

Did a little writing in caves today, as I was closing.  Love that stage, under the hill.  Could write at that table, at the end of the left channel [where we do tours] for hours.  Would love to just spend a day walking the estate, with only a Comp Book, couple pens, record everything I see.  Like this morning, when I had to have a guy from an event equipment company follow me out to the ruins.  I drove, utterly relaxed, with my 4shot mocha, blueberry scone, window down, just admiring where I was, what I could be writing if I were in more a position to scribble.  Speaking of, just looked at Comp Book.. it’s almost full.  Should pull from there, tonight, for book.  Give those verses a final home.

Time for sparkling lemon.  Do have some of last night’s SB in fridge.. I’m just not in the mood.  At all.  Want to wake with more energy than I did this A.M.  Just turned on Midnight in Paris, for perhaps the something-thousandth occasion, in the last few months.  What am I looking for in this film?  AM I looking for anything in particular?

Should have bought some coffee at store.  I believe Alice’s going for a walk at 8 tomorrow morning, with one of the other young mothers.  Should give me a good 30-40 mins to write, if I correctly budget.  Was just looking through first draft of book.  Wondering if I should rack at all, or blend down to the 57 pages I was entertaining–  See?  This is the type of vacillating that KILLS my efforts in bringing book ideas to fruition.  And what I do like about the blog: write, post, done.  Self-published.

Lied.  I’m actually sipping some chocolate milk I bought on store run.  For some reason, it sounded good, a chilled glass of chocolate, on night warm like 2nite.  TV, off, thankfully.  Was getting sick, watching the advertisements, the evil “reality” shows on BRAVO.  Think I’m closer to sleep than previously measured.

Need to be back in my city [Paris], soon.

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Kerfuffle

8:37am.  Giving Self till :41 to type.  Want to leave a bit early, do some roadside writing in Comp Book, then later rack into chapbook.  This racking approach with my writing, the formation of projects, seems like it may work.  And it has to.  I’m SO tired of restarting with book projects.  The one thing this blog has made me appreciate: the standalone piece.  Then collecting those.. the collection of writings from an Author.

Instincts, telling me to leave now.  Go to coffee house, don’t put yourSelf in a position to feel rushed be there a long line.  Just what I’m going to do.  Good day, reader.  We’ll connect at day’s close.  Maybe over a bottle of…

9:10pm.  Home.  A day so trying, I barely have push to further push.  And the bottle I’m set to open, a ’12 SB from the winery.  Not going to inject–I mean rack–3 pieces into book tonight.  Set on 1, just one.  The one I wrote today, on my lunch break, walking the Merlot block, left side of driveway.

Had another reminder tonight that I need finish my projects, get to Road.  Not walking you to specifics, reader, and I’ll probably forget eventually what I’m passively referencing, however just know I was motivated to faster move with these pages.. even with this infernal “blog.” Warm today, the few times I was able to get outside.

In the mood to relax, not work, write.  Just want to scroll through channels, watch anything.  Truly know what it’s like to be a potato.  Almost spelled it with an “e,” like that mindless noodle Quayle, only as I’m tired.  Wish I had another writer movie down here with me.. tired of the one I still have in this laptop, distracting me.  Need to be like Crystal, only write pen2paper at night, so I can’t be distracted by tech, anything it provides, or CAN provide.  That new writing movie I recently screen, with the main character keeping a journal throughout the film, actually taking a class on how to keep a journal– what a personal expository log’s supposed to do.  Think she, my new blogging/writing friend, has more discipline than me in certain arches.

No characters really stand out from today, unfortunately.  Trying to toggle through memory, but can’t find a thing, a single figure to record.  And because of.. my mood falls.  Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  NO, I understand, pulled from lull.  I was busy, almost more than I could handle, at one time handling a group of 4, 4, and 8 concertedly.  Can’t write between such pours.

Even more inspired, after tonight, to get to my office.. my Creative Think tank.  Has to be at least a half-hour from home, so to mentally be advantageously removed, for prose.. poem, song, CREATivitY.

Thinking of my character.. but she deserves more than my current state.  I’m the invalid writer, writing while listening to the news.  How serious does that make me?  Ridiculous, humorous, really.  Time for book.  “Logging off…” Sipping ’12 SB, finally.

(5/18/13)

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Vineyard Walk, Lunch Break ~5/18/13

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