Bad Trannies and Great Pinot

we drove 200+ miles to paso robles yesterday to buy a 300-liter steel tank from gary of shadow canyon vineyards. it was a hot one in paso but we were ready (or so we thought). after a nice lunch on the city's town square park we attempted to hit the road. my car wouldn't go into drive. oh shit! after a visit to 2 useless transmission shops we decided that come hell or highwater we'd get the tank and drive bank, even if we had to drive the entire way in 2nd gear at 45 mph.

we made it to shadow canyon, a great spot in the templeton gap. gary grows syrah and grenache that is used in lots of high scoring wines. and he's a great guy. 4 C notes later we had the tank in the bank to the escape and we were ready to see how lucky we are.


we made it! not sure how, but we did.

we drank a bottle of linne calodo rose like it was a big gulp. it was hot is SF and we were happy to be home and not stuck in paso, king city, salinas, gilroy or san jose. we also drank a nice loire white to cool off. then we decided to see how the pinot was doing. both of us were floored by how much it had change in the last 3-4 weeks. the fruit is dropping back nicely and the acids are mellowing too. we drank a bottle of aaron's 07 wahluke syrah. aaron filed through the festivities in the castro (pride weekend) to get home.

what a day! all worth it.

here is a quick video of the tasting, i figured you didn't want to watch me work on the tranny.

*Note: the transmission repair cost = one tone of pinot noir...