Special Linden Tasting

For the month of December, until they closed for their annual holiday break, Jim, Shari, and the crew at Linden were doing a special tasting, rather than their usual cellar and counter tastings. I believe that Jim guinea-pigged this tasting on us when we were in a few weeks ago. I had thought that perhaps we were going to have a short hike in the morning before going to the winery in the afternoon, but in retrospect, it seems that was never in Ann's playbook. Good thing it was pouring all morning making the whole idea moot.

Each weekend in December would see a different tasting. You can see ours in the photo below.

Tasting Menu at Linden

The star of the whites was the Avenius Chardonnay 2008 which is displaying some gorgeous oxidized notes. I could drink a lot of this wine and it certainly shows why you should lay down your Chardonnay for a few years. The Viognier, I can report, is not terrible! I just really don't care much at all for Viognier and I have had hundreds of them including Condrieu and Château-Grillet. Winemaker Jonathan Weber poured our whites for us. I remember when he was just an intern and would schlepp wines to us up at the restaurant. Now he's all grown up and is the winemaker. It's good to see.

Avenius Chardonnay 2008

The Avenius Red 2008 in half bottle was a revelation. I've had a lot of this wine over the years, but in half bottle, it was really advanced showing great mint, cedar, and eucalyptus notes. Spectacular.

Avenius Red 2008

After the tasting, I asked Jim what we should be drinking. Pondering it for a second, he said, "I have just the thing" and went off to the back to fetch us a delicious bottle of Avenius Red 2013. He knows my predilection for high acid reds and my fondness for the wines from Shari's vineyard with their mineral core. He came and sat with us and we shot the breeze for a half an hour or so. This is why we visit in the off-season. It's my off-season too and we can all relax a bit, the pressures of work being so much less than in the fall.

Avenius Red 2013

I Love This Woman!

What was I supposed to do? Put a "no cell phones" sign on the wall and I'm going to whip out my cell phone and take a picture of it. The point is moot anyway: there's no signal at Linden.

I Couldn't Resist

Back home, Annie got to baking another couple batches of Christmas cookies and we brought home a bottle of the Hardscrabble Red 2013 to drink with dinner. At this point, the Avenius Red 2013 is drinking better.

Cookie Monster

Finishing Out the Night