Occupy IKEA. And, Oh, Yeah, Alameda

Another Black Friday and another jaunt to IKEA in Alameda County, followed by a trip to Rosenblum with their parent’s umbrella current commitment to vineyard designated varietal juice from our ‘hood, St. George Spirits and their neighbor Rock Wall.

OK, a little bit disturbed to find IKEA culpable of using East German prisoner labor back in the day, maybe putting the “No” in “Nortorp.” I vass only following hors d’oevres (meatballs and lingonberry excluded).

So we get a couple of groovy pillows, then hit the trail for Rosenblum Cellars, where we know we can get juice made from Stan and Gertie Planchon’s fruit, as well as same from the late Rich Pato’s estate directly across Empire Avenue here in Oakley.

As noted in an earlier post, Rosenblum’s corporate parent, Diageo, maintains a commitment to Plato and Planchon fruit. It’s all we can do to keep our fingers crossed for this exquisite varietal Zinfandel, Mourvedre and Petite Sirah.

Believe me, there is no need to plough these ancient vines under in order to house the likes of me. Just saying.

On to St. George and the dragon net (Look up Stan Freberg, y’all).  Had a great distillery tour, hitting all the food groups from pear to potatoes; juniper to generics. As usual, the St. George tasting bar let their universe unfold as it should: concentrated flavors where appropriate; subtle notes otherwise. Sweet. And don’t let a chained link fence dissuade you: They finish painting the Golden Gate Bridge and they have to start all over again; across the Bay, we can just be cheerleaders.

Rockwall is a mixed bag, man. Staff at the tasting room is OK, and the view out the oversized windows toward San Francisco is outrageous. The wine is good, too. So I can’t put my name on what’s just a little off, but for Kathy to go for something completely out of the ordinary won big points from yours truly.

Yeah, she could have gone the Zin or Rhone route; Baby girls gots it goin’ on and and on with the funky varietal Tannat, from Solano and Yolo Counties.

Sight unseen, mouthfeel untasted, untested.

Yet.