Wine Blogging Wednesday #57 - A story of Hope & Grace

When BrixChicks was just a twinkle in our eyes, Xandria and I stumbled upon a wine that was so stunning in its flavors, aromas

and air of mystery, when we tried it, we wanted to tell everyone we knew. In our normal haphazard adventures, we wandered into a restaurant in SF called Coi and though it represents the best in fine dining in San Francisco, it is a surprisingly down to earth place to while away some time. The lounge area is done in soft textures and warm earth tones and sommeliers roam like the buffaloes of old. They suggested this lovely Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir which they were pouring by the glass. One glass had me hooked. I needed to learn more about it and once having done this, wanted to tell the world, so the inspiration both to learn more about wine and also to tell people about it were sparked. Xandria had the bug too, researching it for a trip to Napa and she sleuthed out the tasting room tucked into mini-mall in Yountville which was half tasting room, half office, half decorator's showroom---magical proportions for a magical place. The staff was amazing and poured for us and went back to fish out vertical bottles for us, we ended up selling the random strangers on the Pinot before we realized that would cut down on the availability of the lovely '03 we were buying. We're givers! We didn't care. The tasting room figures prominently in several harum scarum adventures we have had since together and apart.

If you have the opportunity to try this wine, go for it. Hailing from Monterey county in the Santa Lucia Highlands in a special place called Sleepy Hollow vineyard, Charles Hendricks has been sourcing grapes since 2001 and producing an amazing Pinot. Dark and lovely, with classic Santa Lucia Highlands pinot perfume that emanates from your first dislodging of the cork, the flavors will not disappoint. Plums, pastrami, raspberries. cherry, mocha, vanilla.... It has a gorgeous acidity to make it pair deliciously with many offerings and is lovely by itself.

Charles names the wines after his daughters, Hope and Grace, and the label is a mesmerizing painting that hangs in the tasting room in Yountville, which ties back to his personal touch with fine dining since he acquired it from Modesto Lanzone (I still miss Enoteca Lanzone!), who figures prominently in both the modern art and culinary history of San Francisco.

Delicious and inspirational! I hope to see them to get more "inspiration" ---preferably in a glass! at Pinot Days in SF