The Jusselys Go West: June 2008

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Big 2-7

I had an awesome birthday weekend. Saturday, I had a great birthday breakfast at Tower Cafe in Sacramento. Then, Jonathan and I went to the 75Th anniversary of Gallo. They had everything for kids and adults, including a tour of the underground wine cellar. It was very well done. See the picture to the right of Jonathan with some celebrities.
The highlight of the weekend, besides the cards,gifts, and birthday wishes from many of you, was the surprise party Saturday night. Jonathan was very sneaky in his planning. We had a low country boil with our best Cali friends. Thanks to Steve and Jen for hosting it at their beautiful house. It was such a great time. The picture above is me with my Sactown girlfriends - Amy, Jen, and Mandy!

Love y'all,

Kim & Jonathan

Monday, June 16, 2008

We had a great weekend with Jonathan's parents. We visited San Francisco on the 8th. Then we went to Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur Coast, and Paso Robles this past weekend. This is a picture of us in front of the Lone Cypress on the 17 mile drive. This goes down Highway 1 past such famous golf courses as Pebble Beach.
We enjoyed celebrating Father's Day with David but missed having my dad and mom there with us.

I am of course looking forward to the big 2-7 this weekend!!

Miss y'all,

Kim & Jonathan

Monday, June 2, 2008

I can't believe it, but we've celebrated our second
anniversary

. We visited Paso Robles & Santa Barbara
Memorial Day weekend. They were both beautiful.
There are a lot of smaller wineries in Paso Robles that we visited, including Dark Star where this picture was taken by the owner's wife. They make great reds. The wife & mother works this tasting room and their boxer roams around or sleeps while people come in and out. Behind this room is another tasting room for their son's winery. Their daughter, his sister, works in that room. They are very nice people, and this is the only picture of the two of us from the entire trip. There is a very nice picture of Paso wine country at the bottom of the page, so scroll all the way down.

Happy Birthday to my dad by the way. He turned the big 6-0 on 5/27!!

We love and miss y'all,

Kim & Jonathan

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.