My eldest brother quoted passages from this poem by Robert Frost. Now that he’s gone, I’d like to share it in its entirety.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

The Ateneo de Manila University celebrates the 150th anniversary of its foundation this year. I am proud to be an Ateneo alumnus, one of those who graduated from the Grade School, High School and College on the Loyola campus. Some of the boys I met as classmates then are even better friends now that we are men. We have not forgotten where we came from nor the friends that we made there. This is the homily at the Mass for the Sesquicentennial of Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Schools.

Homily for the Sesquicentennial of ADMU, Loyola Schools

by José CJ Magadia SJ, 10 December 2009, Church of the Gesù

This has been quite a year. From the launching of the celebration last June in the old Ateneo in the walled city, to the conferences and concerts, the blessing of the new Rizal Library, yesterday’s book launching of the Agenda for Hope, the ads, the hype, the countdown, the tarps and the themes, the blessings that came with the athletic victories, especially the UAAP championship of senior and junior basketball teams, the top university ranking, the academic competitions where our excellence has been displayed. Wow, what a year! T.S. Eliot says that the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper; we end our three-year build up to this sesquicentennial not with a whimper, but a bang.

Today, however, as we come together around the table of the Eucharist, I suggest that we step out of the hustle and bustle of the “sesqui,” and for these short span of an hour, be more recollecting and quiet. Today, December 10, 2009, we are gathered in this Church of the Gesù to do two things.

First, we come together to remember.

Jose Fernandez Cuevas SJ, Rector 1859-64

We remember that on this very day, 150 years ago, in 1859, the first class of twenty-three grade school students came to the doors of the Escuela Municipal in Intramuros, to become the first wards of the Jesuit priests who had just returned to Manila some months earlier after almost a century of absence from the archipelago. Twenty-three students came, out of thirty-three enrolled. So at least we know that cutting classes has somehow always been part of our school tradition!

Juan Bautista Vidal SJ, Rector 1864-68

We remember that just a few years after, in 1865, secondary education began and the school was renamed the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. We remember that in 1901, state funding ended and the school came to be called simply Ateneo de Manila. We remember that from the very beginning, it was an institution on the go, moving and expanding, from Intramuros to Padre Faura to Loyola, and from Loyola radiating to Salcedo and Rockwell and Ortigas, and beyond, through its satellite campuses, its on-site course offerings, its on-line programs.

From its beginnings in forming young men in the basics of reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, and religion, it has gone on to brave many more academic and professional fronts, from Philosophy and History and Literature, to Chemistry and Management and Sociology, from law and business, to governance and medicine and entrepreneurship. From the small staff of four Jesuit missionaries, the university has grown into faculty and staff and administration of hundreds of dedicated men and women.

Today, we also remember the many mentors, Jesuits and lay, who have walked the Ateneo’s corridors, whose voices have rung loud through its halls, whose ideas have pushed the boundaries of the possible, whose idiosyncrasies have sometimes charmed and sometimes annoyed and sometimes even turned off, whose exams have challenged many to set aside computer games and facebook updates, if only for a while.

With the mentors, we also recall the learning experiences – the lectures and the oral exams, the required field trips, the group projects, the class presentations. We remember that we enjoy this great luxury of learning, of enjoying space and seclusion, while at the same time entering new experiences, through exposure and exploration and experimentation.

Most of all, we cherish the memories with our fellow Ateneans who have become parts of our lives – the barkadas that were formed, the classmates we discussed and debated with, the student leaders we have admired and followed, the great athletes who have displayed both discipline and humility, the men and women who have taught us to live, not just for ourselves, but also for those around us, especially those who are poor.

We remember all this, and we realize that the Ateneo is not just a place. The Ateneo is a community of men and women who work together to seek the truth, to accept it wholeheartedly, and to speak it clearly and fearlessly, through word and deed. We remember and we know that this is a great school – not so much because of its resources and its wealth, but because of the people who have made it what it is.

As we remember, the second thing that we do today is give thanks. We acknowledge the gifts we have received, like Mary in the Gospel, who saw the infant in the manger and the shepherds who came to adore, and she cherished all these things in her heart. So too, as we remember, we hold these memories close to our hearts and we proclaim our gratitude.

Gratitude for what? Yes, gratitude for people and places, for events and experiences, for relationships and community. But most especially, we give thanks for three great gifts from the Ateneo –

The gift of mind, of straight thinking, which comes with logic and rhetoric, which comes with the ability to organize information and ideas and distinguish qualities;

The gift of spirit that teaches us to live with failure and learn to pick up the pieces of a broken world and rise again, and build on its ruins – win or lose, it’s the school we choose;

And the gift of heart, of feeling with and feeling for, of being there for and accompanying the people we are given to care for, of consoling and encouraging them, of giving them hope.

But we also realize that as we give thanks, we also become aware of this deep desire to give back to a country so immersed in violence – the violence not only of arms and coercion, but also of impunity and injustice, poverty and inequality, of Filipinos lacking in decent food and education, health and housing, whether in Maguindanao or Payatas. And now, more than ever, we feel called to heal the victims of the violence of an earth that has been hurt and abandoned by human carelessness – manifested through global warming and climate change, resulting in flooding and disaster. The gratitude impels us to give back, and to give generously, and to lose ourselves, as Christ did on the cross.

As we remember and give thanks, we ask God to bless the Ateneo, using the words of the first reading. May the Lord bless the Ateneo and keep us. May the Lord let his face shine upon us and be gracious to us. May the Lord look upon us kindly and give us peace.

Photos courtesy of the Ateneo de Manila University web sites (http://ateneo.edu and http://150.ateneo.edu)

The autumn décor is packed away, the dishwasher has run its fifth and final load, and the turkey carcasses are sitting in the freezer waiting to be used for stock and soup. This year’s Thanksgiving dinner saw 17 of us on two tables and another four added on for dessert.

The preparations for Thanksgiving dinner started in early November, with an initial plan to feed eight people. Over the next three weeks the list would grow and we would adjust the menu. Our family and friends would bring appetizers and desserts, and we would take care of the main meal.

If we could buy the ingredient early, we did – French-fried onion strings, nuts, seasoned bread stuffing, orange marmalade, dates, butter, seasonings. We made a list of the remaining ingredients and items that we would need – croissants, carrots, haricots verts, apples, oranges, celery, onions, fresh sage. We ordered for two free-range birds weighing at least 12 pounds each at my local Lucky store (Custom turkey orders at Lucky: Who knew?).

Three days before Thanksgiving, we hedged our chances that we had enough food by asking my wife’s best friend to pick up a crisp roasted duck at 99 Ranch, one of the local Chinese grocery stores.

Main Table

"Children's" Table

The day before Thanksgiving I stopped by the Lucky store to pick up the birds and came home with a 12- and a 14-pounder. I also picked up the rest of the perishable ingredients. I brined the turkeys overnight and my wife and I made the cranberry compote, dressing and sweet-and-sour sauce for the Shanghai-style lumpias. We defrosted and baked a no-sugar-added apple pie from our favorite farm store in Placerville’s Apple Hill. We set the tables and cleared the hall closet for our guests’ coats.

Lemon-basted Rotisserie Turkey

On Thanksgiving morning the turkeys came out of the brine. The smaller bird got bouquets garni with celery, onion, orange, lemon, rosemary, and thyme, and was placed on a rotisserie on the kitchen counter. We would baste it with an emulsified mixture of lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper. The larger bird got bouquets garni with celery, onion, apple, orange, sage, and thyme. I separated the skin from its breast and rubbed it with sage butter, then placed it in the over breast-down for the first two-and-a-half hours. I would turn it over to finish roasting it on its back. We began prepping the side dishes.

By mid-afternoon, our friend walked in with the duck and other family and guests began to arrive with their share: cheeses, spinach quiche squares, tossed green salad, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, lemon-scented meringues, and fresh fruit pizza. Our friend also helped fry the lumpias. We started opening wine bottles.

Haricots Verts

Crispy Roasted Duck

Carrots with Garlic and Orange Marmalade

The turkeys came out of the oven and off the rotisserie at 4:00 p.m. and rested while we laid out the side dishes. The birds were carved and dinner was served.

Fresh Fruit Pizza

When everyone had eaten, the dishes went into the dishwasher and we sat around, drank wine and talked for about an hour before we brought out the desserts and after-dinner wines.

My niece and I took a break to bring her parents to SFO for their flight to Manila. When we returned, most of the guests were still there and they called it a night at about midnight. My niece and one of our friends spent the night and departed after dinner on Friday.

Lots of work? Probably more than there should be, and we tend to over-produce events we host. Lots of food? Probably more than we needed, since we sent friends and family home with leftovers. Lots of people? Probably more than the capacity of our dining room, but these were the people we were thankful to have as friends and family. We’re already looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving next year.

(The recipes for some of the dishes on this year’s Thanksgiving table are on my food blog: Fed n Watered.)

When I was growing up in the Philippines, my parents insisted that we speak English as a first language at home. They then sent me to schools that supported that orientation. I learned Tagalog as a second language at school and a smattering of Spanish at home as a third. My parents believed that when I grew older I would travel, and that proper English would be the key to professional and personal fulfillment.

My parents were right. I make my living as a writer in America.

It’s too bad that America is the land of Ain’t.

I don’t know how the word ain’t evolved. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s take a few samples of current idioms from advertising and media:

“…me and my Outback are ready for anything…” (Subaru Outback radio commercial)

“Verizon Wireless has five times more 3G coverage than AT&T.” (Verizon Wireless print ad & TV commercial)

“Brought to you directly from local ‘Fresidents’” (Fresno Scene magazine web site)

My grammar and spelling are by no means perfect. I often have to run to the AP Stylebook, Webster’s Dictionary, or MS Word’s spelling and grammar check utility to resolve some of my issues. Resolution usually only takes seconds.

But I do know when a sentence is wrong.

My English and Communications teachers would have given me an F if these examples of current patois ever appeared in my term papers, articles or scripts.

Poetic license. It’s the excuse most frequently invoked by marketing-type people when participles dangle, subjects and verbs disagree, headlines have too many characters. It’s unfortunate the resulting composition falls far short of any definition of poetry. (I do concede: “I can’t get no satisfaction” works. I’m a Rolling Stones fan.)

“…my Outback and I are ready…”

“Verizon Wireless 3G covers five times as much ground as AT&T.”

“Brought to you directly by local ‘Fresidents’”

It’s not difficult to express a thought in proper English. As a communications professional, I believe I have a responsibility to protect and respect the language that provides my livelihood.

I am compelled to set a good example for my audience to follow. While I can’t impose that sentiment on everyone, I, for one, will continue to write in English.

Debbie and I celebrated her birthday this year with dinner at Restaurant James Randall in Los Gatos. I’d been wanting to try this restaurant for at least a couple of years, and in that time their menu approach had changed from full dinners (only two seatings per night) to small plates. So unfortunately I cannot compare the restaurant’s vibe, food and service then and now. What is fortunate is that diners now will find it easier to reserve a table at this 52-seat establishment.

(Photo courtesy of the restaurant's web site.)

The dining room is small but not crowded, upbeat but not noisy. We were greeted promptly at the door and escorted to our table. (In the photo, it’s the table on the right under the turquoise canvas.)

Since we were newbies, the waitress walked us through the menu, then left us to discuss our selections. We decided to start with and share a Cheese Plate, the Soup of the Day and a Baby Spinach Salad. Our “entrees” would be Fried Chicken & Waffle and Grilled New York Steak.

The butternut squash soup was presented with a dollop of crème fraiche and chopped chive. The soup was creamy but not heavy. It was smooth and must have been strained after it was blended. Its flavor indicated that the squash may have been roasted, maybe with pine nuts. Whatever its combination of ingredients and processes, this soup made me want to sample more of the restaurant’s menu.

The salad was light and fresh, garnished with Point Reyes blue cheese and dressed with a Dijon vinaigrette. The judicious use of the dressing ensured that we could also taste the flavors of the greens, bacon and eggs.

The cheese plate had a Point Reyes blue, a truffle blue, and a gruyere presented with dried cranberries, dried apricots and glazed walnuts, along with a few slices of crusty sweet French baguette. The three cheeses were delicious individually. However, we would have preferred a collection that better combined aged, mild and creamy selections.

Debbie said that the New York steak was tender, flavorful and done just as she had asked: medium rare. The sautéed spinach was lightly spiced and neither raw nor mushy. The small plate portion was just the right size.

I’m a sucker for fried chicken, so when I saw it on the menu and our waitress highly recommended it I had to have it. I got a piece of tender, moist, mildly-seasoned boneless breast, with a crisp, light batter. It was served with a small Belgian waffle, bacon-braised chard, chive butter, and a sprinkle of maple syrup. The mix of savory and sweet was such a pleasant surprise I may try to recreate the experience at home.

Dessert was a slice of dark chocolate torte, with a dollop of white chocolate ganache blended with bourbon. What a decadent finish to our meal! It was so rich we couldn’t finish it all, and we had to bring it home for our son to taste.

The common thread through this entire meal was a bottle of Melipal malbec from Argentina. A rich, versatile wine, this malbec revealed different parts of its character as it breathed and combined with the different stages of our meal.

It’s a pity Restaurant James Randall is open only for dinner. Their small plates would be perfect for a light lunch. The menu changes frequently, so we hope we can taste the Housemade Fries, Bubba Sliders, Pan Roasted Pork Chop, Ground Lamb Empanada, and Seared Foie Gras the next time we dine there.

In the July 2009 issue of Motor Trend, Frank Markus in his “technologue” column writes about the future of communication: 3D fax. He talked about our progression from audio to video, and now to pario.

Pario is the ability to electronically send a three-dimensional facsimile of an object in real time. Several steps ahead of 3D holography or virtual reality projection, pario would generate a synthetic reality that allows recipients to touch and manipulate the solid object they receive. Unlike holograms and virtual reality images, there would be no need for special goggles, gloves or projectors.

“‘Yellow’ has emerged as the iconic sculpture in my nationwide art tour. I really see this piece as someone pulling themselves apart,” said artist Nathan Sawaya

Carnegie Mellon University calls the technology claytronics and Intel calls it dynamic physical rendering. Millions of microdevices – claytronic atoms or catoms, for short – will assemble themselves into macroscale objects. The catoms could have LCD or LED surfaces, emitting light and color to make the model more lifelike.

Claytronics research – led by Seth Goldstein and Todd Mowry at Carnegie Mellon – combines the work on microscale computing devices and the work on telepresence. According to worldchanging.com, the technology could be a means of holding “virtual meetings with apparent physical presence.” New Scientist says it’s not teleportation, but it’s the next best thing.

The application possibilities are mind-blowing: product design, telemedicine, forensics, online sales. Claytronics could break down the barrier of the customer’s need to touch a product before buying it. How many of us stop just short of buying that one item because we don’t know how it feels in our hand or if the color is just right?

Pario is still an infant technology. The first proof-of-concept catoms are the size of marbles, and their mass and the magnets used to connect them restrict them to two-dimensional forms. The next generation will be the size of BB pellets and will likely weigh less than a gram, producing low-resolution 3D pario. And it will be one step closer to making Captain Kirk’s order – “Energize!” – a reality.

(I wrote this in June 2009 for a different blog. I thought everyone would enjoy it so I’ve moved it here.)

Debbie and I joined this year’s Light the Night Walk in Palo Alto, CA. Sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, this annual event raises funds for research to battle blood cancers.

 

Start/Finish Line

Along the Walk Route

Turning a Corner

Fin!

Friday afternoons are great. The work week is over, it might be possible to sleep in tomorrow, it’s payday. Every other Friday, our household anticipates something extra: our box of fruits and vegetables from Farm Fresh to You (http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/index.php).

We’re a small household and we don’t usually consume copious quantities of produce. So the farm’s Small Box suits us well.

What did we get this week?

• Gala apples – 2 lbs.
• Red grapes – 1.5 lbs.
• Sweet peppers (red and yellow) – 0.5 lb.
• Broccoli – 1 crown
• Green beans – 1 lb.
• Butter lettuce – 2 small heads
• Heirloom tomatoes – 1.5 lbs.

It’s Saturday afternoon, and at this point in time we’ve sampled the apples and grapes. The gala apples are sweet, crisp and crunchy. The red grapes are a delight. The skins are just taut and tough enough to pop when you bite through them to the sweet, juicy flesh inside. And the grapes are seedless! I’m restraining myself from eating them all in a single sitting.

I guess I expected organic fruit to be less pretty than commercial fruit, but the only differences I’ve noticed are in size and sheen. Organic fruit are slightly smaller and don’t have the wax polish of commercially-farmed and handled fruit.

Our son mentioned that this box actually contained produce that he would eat. He may enjoy the broccoli or the string beans with a juicy grilled steak or poached salmon fillet.

As a diabetic, I eat lots of greens. I am partial to butter lettuce – I like its flavor and texture, and the fulfilling “chew” it produces in my mouth. I’m likely to consume one each of the small heads that arrived yesterday with a couple of lunches at the office this coming week. I’ve taken the heads out of the plastic bag they arrive in, and placed them in the vegetable Ziplock bags I’m testing in our kitchen.

I’m the only person in our household who eats raw tomatoes. I’m looking forward to slicing the heirloom tomatoes, drizzling them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and sprinkling them with dried oregano or fresh basil.

I’ve found that not all organic produce is as fragile as I thought. Two days ago, my wife sautéed the remaining sweet peppers that arrived with our last box so I could enjoy them with the rib steaks I grilled that evening. I still have a leek in the refrigerator from our previous shipment. Tomorrow I’ll buy a couple more and make potato and leek soup to go with dinner.

Our box from Farm Fresh to You always comes with a newsletter. This week, we received news of a Halloween Farm Tour on October 24, complete with live bluegrass music. We noted a recipe for Apple Upside-down Biscuit Cake that we might try.

We also read about the efforts of the farm’s owners to create a two-acre, 100-tree oak preserve next to the tree the family calls “Mother Oak.”

“By the creek there is a huge oak tree that was named the Mother Oak by my older brother Noah. Standing under the tree yields the most impressive view of the massive branches that stem from the tree trunk that is six feet in diameter. The huge branches follow the trajectory a fire work would, staring straight up and arching away from the trunk where they eventually point back down to the ground. Haning from the branches are many small limbs that fork into twigs and hanging from all of those are the uniquely-shaped oak leaves.” (Farm Fresh to You newsletter, September 28-October 2, 2009)

We signed up for regular deliveries from Farm Fresh to You for several reasons: We needed to enrich our diets with more fresh produce, essential to my battle to conquer diabetes and high cholesterol. I had gotten bored with the unchanging list of fruits and vegetables that we purchased at the grocery store. We needed a reliable source of produce that would sustain us when we were unable to go to our weekly neighborhood farmer’s market. We were attracted to the farm’s ability to deliver to our doorstep and de-select the produce we would rather not receive. We were impressed that we could manage our account and deliveries online.

Our foray into Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has so far been a positive, enjoyable and financially-sound experience. I’ve always been an advocate for the local merchant and this opportunity to support a local farm excites me. That the produce is organic is a bonus. I’m simply happy that it’s fresh and affordable.

This year the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association implemented a few changes in the logistics of its annual Harvest Festival: The shuttle buses operated only on Sunday and 21 winemakers set up tasting tents at Robertson Park.  Here are my observations and reactions to this year’s festival.

(Disclosure: For several years, my wife and I have been part of the volunteer corps at Retzlaff Vineyards. We have been Retzlaff futures club members on-and-off since the late 1990s. Gloria Retzlaff Taylor conceived the Harvest Festival, several years before we started volunteering our time at her family’s winery.)

The Buses: NO COMMENT

We didn’t ride the buses this year, so I cannot comment on the routes or how well they were serviced. We did see a significant rise in ticket prices this year despite the recession. I’m sure part of the cost delta went to the increased cost of renting the buses.

My suggestion: Instead of paying the bus company, perhaps the Winegrowers Association should consider being paid for the privilege of shuttling the hordes. The bus company could charge every passenger by the ride of offer a prepaid day and/or weekend pass. Tipping the driver would be allowed.

Robertson Park: MISS

We visited the park in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday.

The ticket tents at the park were the central point for attendees to purchase and pickup prepaid wristbands. Many attendees complained bitterly that they had to stand in line for over an hour to receive their wristbands. For a festival that is open for only five hours on opening day, that is a significant issue.

The 21 vintners at the park were located in 12’x12’ tents placed on the perimeter of large tents that covered tables and chairs for festival attendees. Interspersed between the vintners were crafts vendors of different types and even a bathroom renovation contractor. Around the two large tents on the green, the vintners were placed approximately 20 feet away. One hard-covered structure was ringed by vintner tents that came right up to the edge of the covered, paved area. Food vendors were clustered in one area on the green, away from the wine and guest tents.

Robertson Park felt like an art and wine festival. Not a bad idea, but would you pay $50 to attend it? Probably not. To make up the cost of a day ticket you would have to visit every one of the wineries present and taste all their offerings to make up the equivalent of seven six-ounce glasses of wine. That’s nearly two bottles divided into 42 one-ounce tastings; after the second or third winery your palate won’t know the difference between good wine and grape juice with rubbing alcohol. You would have spent an extra $10 or so on food. And you would be in no condition to visit the wineries not represented in the park.

My other observation was that none of the attendees had any chance of starting a relationship with any of the wineries. The intimacy and personality of a tasting room could not be replicated and the vintners (or their volunteers) were too busy pouring to talk about their wines or wineries. I wonder if the Winemakers Association will do a survey of attendees to find out how many winery names and labels they recall.

Around the Valley

We visited three wineries on Monday, in addition to a final stop back at Retzlaff.

Eckert: MISS

We visited Eckert at the winery rather than at Robertson Park. We hadn’t been here for at least two years and were actually more interested in their olive oils than the wines. They were pouring their viognier and cuvee blend at a tent by the driveway, reserving the tasting room for the revenue samples: $3 for three wines, which we declined. The viognier was crisp and drier than expected; the cuvee was interesting but did not appeal to us. I vaguely remembered reading that the winery offered several different olive oils, so I was disappointed when we were offered only one. And although it tasted fresh and clean, it had a bitter note that we didn’t enjoy.

Charles R: HIT

Our visit to Charles R was almost a yawner. The chardonnay was crisp and dry, and the syrah was smooth and balanced. But the zinfandels and port were part of the revenue tasting and we opted to pass. We browsed the art and crafts. What made the stop memorable was the conversation we had with the Charles R, Dick Bartlett. He talked about Randy (“He’s the winemaker; I’m just the bankroll.”) and the ruckus the night before at their neighbors, White Crain Winery. He had convinced Randy to stay out of Robertson Park and had no reason to regret his opinion. He shared some of his wine-buying adventures and his stories about working with some of the other winemakers in the Livermore valley. He left us with fresh insights into how the winemaking community relates with each other.

BoaVentura de Caires: HIT

BoaVentura is not a member of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association, and so Brett did not require a festival wristband to allow guests to taste his wines. This weekend he had the table white, syrah, and green, black, and maroon cabernets in stock. To complement the wines Monique had laid out a Danish fontina, a brie, an Irish cheddar, kalamata olives, and home-grown table grapes. There was an olive oil to taste, but we found it too bitter. The crowd started to arrive just as we were finishing our tastings. We unpacked the meats, cheese, fruit, and croissants and picnicked at one of the umbrella tables on the lawn.

Retzlaff: HIT

We ended the weekend where we started. We tasted the red futures in the barrel room, and joined Noah’s audience as he explained how wine is made. We touched base with Bob and called it a day.

Will we be back next year? Count on it!

Labor Day weekend is here and it’s time for the Livermore Harvest Festival, two days of tasting wines from more than 40 wineries.

This year, six of us will be part of the volunteer crew at Retzlaff – taking tickets, checking wristbands, pouring wine, and educating visitors about the sugar level in grapes and the smells that comprise a wine’s nose. My brother introduced us to the owners and winemakers, the Taylor family, over a decade ago. Bob Taylor and his son Noah make great wines. Gloria Retzlaff Taylor, Bob’s wife, passed away earlier this year; she was a confident, kind woman who was unafraid of the future and the unfamiliar.

Here’s my short list of favorite wineries that I would recommend to anyone visiting Livermore this weekend:

Retzlaff Vineyards

The winery’s cabernet sauvignon-merlot blend is its signature offering: deep purple fruit, a touch of spice, a rich finish. Just introduced is Isabelle’s Blush, a rose made from merlot grapes: delicate color, dry finish, softened by the oak. Retzlaff is the only Livermore vintner that grows certified organic grapes.

Rodrigue Molyneaux

Garry and Nancy Rodrigue own five acres with grapes and olives. I enjoy their Italian-style wines, particularly the Barbera, Cabernet-Barbera blend, and Primavera Rosa. The estate olive oil, though not always available, is delicious. Their property has picnic tables under the trees and a soothing, relaxed vibe.

BoaVentura de Caires

Brett Caires specializes in fine cabernet sauvignons. He and his wife Monique have a small tasting room on their five-acre property, and you can always taste the difference between the wines produced from the vines in the front and the back of the house. Brett’s cabs are labeled by color – Maroon, Platinum, Black, and Green – and made from estate grapes. He makes an exciting White Table Wine that is fruity, refreshing, and ever-so-slightly effervescent. (Note: BoaVentura is not a member of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers. The winery is usually open on the first weekend of the month, which coincides with the Harvest Festival.)

Les Chenes

Candace and Richard Dixon are a great couple, and they make tasting their wines fun. Candace is a fabulous cook and from time to time pairs a delectable delight from her kitchen with one of their varietals or blends. I have a soft spot for their signature Doux Rouge and Doux Blanc blends.

Wood Family

This vineyard’s trademark is the woody station wagon, and I remember counting three well-restored specimens during a recent event at their property. It’s unfortunate good news that my personal favorites – their 2007 Grenache, 2007 Zinfandel, and 2006 Zinfandel – are sold out. The 2006 won a gold at this year’s Alameda County Fair Zin Challenge. Winemaker Rhonda Wood is a commercial airline pilot, and so much fun to speak with about her wines.

I have a bias for family-owned wineries. The big houses don’t need a share of my limited wine budget to stay in business, and their winemakers are usually not accessible to a low-volume consumer like me.  I like talking and building relationships with winemakers, because that’s how I learn more about the complex, changing, exciting products of the vine.