Chardonnay 2009
I had this empty bottle of Ghostwriter Chardonnay sitting on my desk for some time—intending to write about it. I had chosen this particular bottle at Soif when some friends and I headed there after a concert at The Civic—and we all enjoyed this interesting wine along with a couple of plates of hors d’oeuvres. I carried the bottle home so that I could take in the label—a study in pale minimalism—featuring an old manual typewriter. And there’s not much else, really, except this strange verse (copied from the label verbatim):
small black keys depress under long fingers. thoughts turned to words turned to sentences turned to a story of. where these things that we cherish, covet, hold close come from. a jog of memory, of time, of friends and loved ones. hurried typebars tapping noisily against a taut ribbon and everything becomes more real. sheets of paper piling up. collecting dust like bottles in a dark cellar. the carriage returns to begin again as do we.
The Ghostwriter is a most excellent Chardonnay ($30) with grapes harvested from the Santa Cruz Mountains—although the wine itself is vinted and bottled in Healdsburg. It has all the characteristics of a good Chardonnay—and then some—with crisp and clean apple-y nuances, a good texture and not over-oaked. Head to Soif and try some of this haunting Ghostwriter wine for yourselves—where even the cork has a typewriter imprinted on it.
Soif Wine Bar, 105 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, 423-2020. soifwine.com.
WINE EVENTS
Second Harvest Food Bank Dinner
(Holy Cross Annex, Santa Cruz, Sept. 15)
Not only are some of the area’s best restaurants and chefs participating in the annual fundraiser dinner for Second Harvest Food Bank, but some of the Santa Cruz Mountains best wineries also. We can thank the following wineries for providing wine for the evening’s sumptuous dinner: Bonny Doon Winery, Cinnabar Winery, Equinox Wines, Hunter Hill Vineyard & Winery, Soquel Vineyard and Storrs Winery. Info on the dinner: thefoodbank.org.
Rolls-Royce CEO at Paradise Beach Grille
The chief executive officer of Rolls-Royce from Goodwood, England, chose Paradise Beach Grille—voted best local restaurant by Good Times readers for five consecutive years—to have lunch recently. Driving from San Francisco to the Concours d’Elegance in Pebble Beach, the CEO and his entourage of around a dozen people parked five brand new Rolls-Royce cars outside the restaurant as they all headed inside for lunch. Restaurant owners Leslie and Gary Wetsel were thrilled to host the Rolls-Royce people—and I was equally thrilled to sit in the stunningly handsome convertible.
