Back to normal . . . sort of

Back from vacation from the blog.

We've been back from London about a week and things are starting to feel normal again. We returned just in time to leave for our annual visit to Ashland. We went down on Wednesday and returned Sunday. We saw three plays -- Comedy of Errors, Royal Family and Humble Boy. We enjoyed them all, but Humble Boy stood out above the rest. Comedy has received some great reviews and has a very interesting setting in 1960s Las Vegas. The set for Royal Family was fabulous though the play went a little too long.

We did some wine exploring as well and stocked up more than we planned for the new wine room. Our top find of the trip was Woolridge Creek Vineyard. It's way out in the boonies past Jacksonville. They are doing a bunch of reds -- all of them very worthwhile to tastey. The Pinot Noir Rose is the most interesting with its creamy/vanilla finish that tastes like strawberries and cream. Yummy as a summer refresher. We thought the cab and the merlot were exceptional as well and especially for the price. The winery has new, young, aggressive winemakers from Fresno State who did some amazing tricks with a big batch of late harvest chardonnay that was well on it's way to oxidizing. Greg led us through an intimate discussion of each of his wines and his plans for the future. The vineyards, whose fruit is also sold to other wineries, range in elevation from 1,400 feet to 2,000 feet. If these guys stay around -- and they are building a while new winery now -- this could become a real diamond on the rough.

All in all, the Rogue wine culture is growing up. A lot of people are working very hard to turn some awesome fruit into great wines. On the way home, we stopped off at Abacella -- still our favorite -- and bought some Grenache because it reminded us of Chateau Neuf du Pape. Then, we did some more exploring and hunted down Hillcrest Vineyards. It's the oldest winery in the state and is under new ownership. The new owners have roots in Napa and tutored at Pine Ridge and Mondavi. Some credentials. Right now, they selling off some very old salvadged wines (they dumped tons). They have big plans and a big job. They already had to rip up old vines and begun to replant. This should be a place to watch. We bought some 1990 Reisling.

When we got home, we got the wine room put back together. The racking worked out well. I found some furniture at Pier 1 and we moved the rug from the living room in. The fish tank is now in the living room, but we'd love to get rid of it altogether.