Sattui Family Red 2010

This last weekend, Bear and I drove up to Mecca--I mean Napa. We tasted probably 30 wines on Saturday. My little tasters were shot by the end of the day! I felt like my tongue was swollen and frayed.

We joined several wine clubs and bought many individual bottles. I'm going to be sharing my thoughts on these wines in the coming weeks. We hit six wineries: Artesa, Delectus, David Fulton, V. Sattui, Provenance, and Napa Cellars/Folie a Deux.

This first post is about the 2010 Sattui Family Red. It was created in honor of their 125th anniversary. All the V. Sattui wines are only available from the winery, and it was one of the busiest wineries we attended. Part of the reason is that it is one of the only wineries with a food license, not only to sell an impressive (insane) variety of cheeses, but also had a restaurant. And beautiful grounds.

The red is a blend of lots of stuff, Cab, Syrah, but mostly Zin. Despite that, it is nice and smooth, with a little hint of smokiness. I really want to have this with some BBQ. I had to settle for a little pesto pasta. Luckily I have more bottles. More bottles = more opportunities for amazing.

Bottom line: You want to go to there...and drink it!

This gets a little ranty, so be forewarned.

That day many families were gathered for picnicking, and oddly, wine tasting. Bored children pulled at their parents sleeves and acted out, bored beyond belief, and not understanding what their parents were doing, and what the big deal was. I posted as such on Facebook and a friend of mine rose to the defense of parents who desire to "do things" and therefore "have" to bring their children along. Ugh. I didn't want to get into it with him.

So I'm going to bitch about it on my blog.

Parents with young children should be allowed to do things in normal society to some extent. As long as their children are *perfectly* well behaved and suitably socialized for public display. Especially at adults-only events. If I acted up in public, my mom would have kicked me in the face. In fact she threatened me as such last week. I believe children should have a healthy mixture of respect and fear when it comes to how they feel about their parents. Oh fine, I guess, love should be in there as well.

Apologies if this statement may be controversial, but I personally believe wine tasting is not a family event. Unless by winery, you mean "circus," and by wine you mean "coke." Everyone drinks or no one drinks, so unless you want to show your toddler to learn the finer points of a Merlot, get a fucking sitter. Can't afford one? Tough shit. It's not a place for kids. And if you are a winery that encourages children in the tasting rooms, fuck you.