The Jusselys Go West: September 2007

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Yosemite National Park

This past weekend my parents came to visit. Friday, we went to Yosemite National Park. It was incredible. We saw Half Dome, El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls, and the giant Redwood trees. The picture above shows Half Dome and us next to some of the fallen trees in the forest. If you click on it, you can get a better idea of how big the trees are. Saturday, we went to Lake Tahoe and Renwood Winery, where we are members of the wine club. Today, we drove around and saw other parts of Sacramento. We are really enjoying all the stuff we are close to out here. We look forward to Jonathan's parents visit next month on Jonathan's birthday. Love, Kim

Gallo Fine Wine Pick

Wine Pick - 4/30

Since the weather was in the 90's this past weekend, I'm continuing with the white wine suggestions this week. My Gallo pick is Polka Dot Medium Dry Riesling. You may have seen Polka Dot at your grocery store or at World Market. It is a blue bottle with a white screw cap and a pink polka dot on it. That one is a more typical Riesling. The Medium Dry Riesling is the same package but a green dot. It's not as sweet and goes great with spicy meals like Thai food. Yes, this is the second week for a screw cap wine, but it's great! I think it retails for $10-12.
My non-Gallo pick is Bantam Cellars Vermentino. It's a small winery in Amador County, about 45 miles east of Sacramento on the way to Lake Tahoe. Vermentino is an Italian varietal that is really nice. I'm not sure where you can find it, but you can order the wine directly from Bantam, depending on which state you live in. Amador County is another wine region of California that has great zinfandel and barbera. I will have recommendations for those later on.

Did anyone try the ones from last week? If you haven't, here they are again.
Gallo: Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand
Non-Gallo: St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc - Napa, California

Wine Pick of the Week

I thought I would add a new section to our blog. As most of you know, I work for a Gallo-owned company, as in Ernest & Julio Gallo. Before I came out here, I didn't know which brands belonged to Gallo. So I'm going to try and recommend one Gallo and one non-Gallo wine each week.
My first Gallo pick is Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc. It's a screw cap, so no corkscrew needed. It's different because it's not fruity. When you smell or drink it, see if you smell something like grass or green bell pepper. I know it sounds weird, but try it and see if you do. $18-20.
My non-Gallo pick is St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc. It's awesome, and, if you like grapefruits, you'll love it. I think it's $18-20 too.
I picked 2 S. Blancs because it's almost summertime when whites are more popular. I'll try to put pictures of the bottles next time.