Winery Quest is the best winery map yet and we were getting close to releasing a few of our apps to beta testers when Apple announced that the new, much improved, and free iPhone 3.0 operating system is to be released June 17.

The software development kit for the new OS has some very nice enhancements for using Google Maps so we decided to re-write the code and make an app that has a brighter future.  Hopefully we’ll have it in testing in a couple of weeks.

The big issue is getting it approved for the App Store.  There are lots of horror stories about Apple denying good apps but approving ones like Farts.  Winery Quest should be fine but we won’t have a release date until it is in the store and ready to download – for a price.

Features in version 1.0?  Google Maps with our markers and some profile data for 20 California wine regions and about 650 wineries.  You will see your location on the map so you can navigate unfamiliar regions.

The California winery pak, all regions, will probably cost $4.95.  If this is successful we’ll offer Oregon and Washington paks next year.  We have 4 versions planned so the app will get more exciting with time.

The app market for Blackberries and other phones is too small to make the investment now.  Each has its own operating system and code specs so development requires learning yet more stuff.  We aren’t going to rush into that.  We will make a mobile version of WineQuesters.com for these phones when their app market is big enough to be worth the cost of creating apps.

- jim

We’re tasting two Amador Cellars Zins on a sailboat in San Francisco Bay, 2004 and 2006. The 04 is more complex and fruitier. 06 is wonderfully dry!

The grapes are from opposite sides of the same estate vineyard and are so different. Amador Cellars has an incredible range of Zinfandels. I wish I had a few more aboard.

Thoughts from our crew:

Lidia: Prefers 06 during the day but the 04 for the evening. 06 is much fruitier and lighter.

Gil: The 06 is smoother, less tart. Both are great!

Katya: Both are very good. 04 is complex, 06 is lighter.

Now we’re pairing the Zin with a moist chocolate cake – hedonistic!

Enough blogging! I’m going back to sailing and chatting with our beautiful women.

- jim

15 wine regions, 1,500 miles, 7 days. WOW did I see some beauty!

This shot of lupines along the Carmel Valley Road is common right now!

I started shooting spring scene photography April 11-12 in the Sierra Foothills wine regions of Calaveras, Amador, and El Dorado Counties.  I’m shooting for our Discover California Wine Regions video library.

High winds early the following week kept me off the wine trails but on Thursday April 16 I headed down Highway 101 and in two days shot spring scenes in Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, and Monterey County in both the Santa Lucia Highlands and the Carmel Valley.

The weekend of April 18-20 we stayed at the Meritage Resort and the Napa Marriott in the lower Napa Valley.  Katya and I shot the Napa, Sonoma, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valleys and the Carneros region near SF Bay.

This shot of a huge field of wildflowers is from just south of Ledson winery in the Sonoma Valley.

Since we have traveled and photographed these regions extensively it doesn’t take long for us to photograph the highlights of each region – IF we avoid tasting rooms.  So I limited my tasting room allowance to two a day.  Not easy to pass about 500 tasting rooms and only hit 10.

Most regions are drying out as I write this but Carmel Valley Road is still a good bet and Sonoma Valley may still have great fields of flowers if you are quick.  The poppies in this Dry Creek vineyard may still be waiting for you if the grower hasn’t turned them under yet.   Every other row of two vineyards along Dry Creek Road are stuffed with poppies. Poppies are available into October.

So wine tasting road trips isn’t just about wine, people, and tasting room ambiance.  Photography is a fantastic pastime in wine regions and spring is an ideal time to click your way along the wine trails.

I would really like to photograph the beautiful women of California wine regions but that project will have to wait.  That will be a more interesting blog post

- jim

While I’m primarily focused on wine tasting road trips I like to mention special wines that I pick up along the trails.  One of those is Chateau Christina Cab from the Pedregal Vineyard in San Benito County near Salinas, CA.

This vineyard sits on the famous San Andreas Fault and the soil has been churned for millions of years.  I’m finding a very dry Cab with noticeable tannins that is a bit different than the mainsteam Cabs. On day 2 of tasting it holds up great and becomes more interesting.

The Joyce Vineyards tasting room recently opened in Carmel Valley village in Monterey County.

You may want to play with this one.

- jim

Terlato Wines International occasionally sends me a few wines from one of their brands to review.  As always I’m not going to tell you about berries and such.  Your tastes are special to you and your circumstancs.

For every bottle sold today,  Arbor Day, they will sponsor the planting of a tree. This seems like a good thing so please consider it.

About the wines that Katya and I tasted:

• 05 Napa Valley Cab – Retail $22.  It is 100% Cab and aged in French oak which we prefer.  We found the oak to be light with nose and taste moderate. This is not a robust blow your socks off Cab and is targeted to the majority of wine drinkers.  If you are a Cab lover and see the bottle on a shelf then you will probably be pleased with it.

• 06 Napa Valley Merlot – Retail $15.  To us this was an average Napa Merlot.  Nothing outstanding but certainly should not be avoided.  We had a great time pairing chocolate and blackberries with it. It had the normal nose and taste of better quality Merlots and a bit more robust and interesting than many, if not most, of what is on retail shelves.

• 06 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay – Retail $15.  Katya didn’t like this Chard and that is highly unusual. She tried it the next day and didn’t either.  Rarely do we differ but I thought it tasted quite good with all the expected Chard nose and taste.  I found a gentle oak and very soft butter in the taste with slight bananas.  I frequently taste bananas in better Chards but I may be the exception.  I love bananas.  (OK, I cheated and told you what I taste.)

We tasted these wines over 2 – 3 days because we enjoy the changes.  All of them were enjoyable after the first day, other than Katya and the Chard issue for her.

Compared to tasting room prices in California I would consider these wines as nicely below the average for their quality and structure.

So buy today and claim responsibility for a tree planted in your honor

- jim

Last Friday April 2 at 6 PM Katya and I hosted a Wine Questers SF Urban Meetup at the Winery Collective in SF near Fisherman’s Wharf.  Attendance was not outstanding, only 6 of us, but the conversation and wines were excellent and we had a great time by including hapless tourists.  The engaging tasting bar staff deliver a diverse selection of wines in a variety of flights for a good taste adventure.

We bought:

1. Sol Rouge Gypsy Blanc, and interesting white blend.
2. Sol Rouge 06 Napa Valley Cab – this one we have raved about before.  The nose and taste has more than hints of Kalamata olives.  The vineyard soil does this.

We spent Friday and Saturday nights at the adjacent Argonaut Hotel. Hotel management gave us a great deal on a room looking west to Ghirardelli Square, the Hyde Street cable car turnaround (entertaining) and the Golden Gate Bridge.  This hotel is nautical themed in keeping with the maritime museum in the same building. Actually, the building is owned by the National Park Service.  Great place to stay!!!

We wanted to spend the weekend resting but that never happens.  I looked out the window on Saturday morning and the weather was warm and sunny.  There was also no line for the cable car that goes over the hills to Market Street. We grabbed the cameras and spent much of the weekend shooting video and stills for a future Discover SF Urban Wine Region video.  We had a mostly empty cable car and a cooperative driver so we got some good shots.  We also shot from the ships in the historic park.

The Winery Collective isn’t the only wine thing to do around Fisherman’s Wharf.  We wandered into Ghirardelli Square for some reason (chocolate) and happened upon a wonderful wine store and tasting bar.  Cellar 360 has a huge selection of wine, incredible view of the Bay, a well-stocked deli, friendly and informative staff, and a nice patio. We picked a few munchies from the deli, bought glasses of wine at the tasting bar after they let us taste a variety, and relaxed in the warm sun on the patio. Lazy and hedonistic, just our thing.

As we wandered toward the famous chocolate store we were in for another surprise.  Alexander Valley’s Wattle Creek has a tasting room there and not in AV. I had never heard of them and we hang out in Geyserville in that Sonoma County valley, only minutes from their winery.  I’ve been tasting in Alex Valley since the early 70’s and love the wines there.

We bought Wattle Creek’s:

1. Yorkville Highlands “The Triple Play” red blend.
2. Alex Valley 05 Cab Sauv.
3. Yorkville Highlands “Focus” red blend.

We would have bought one of everything but we have a budget and no room to store them.

On Sunday we found Wines of California wine bar on Pier 39.  Their wine list is interesting and they have a patio overlooking the marina.  It also looked like they were preparing to BBQ. We had enough wine for the weekend so a visit there is on our to do list.

We hit many restaurants in the area.  Our favs are The Blue Mermaid for nautical ambiance and chowder in the Argonaut Hotel and McCormick & Schmicks at Ghirardelli Square for interesting seafood dishes and VIEW.

Our Discover SF Urban Wine Region video is a future project.  We’re just collecting what photography we can for now.

We only ventured a few blocks in each direction from the hotel but had a busy and interesting weekend.

- jim

We intended to ride out last weekend at home working, as usual.  However, on Wednesday I noticed that the Sonoma County tourism guy posted a real bargain on Twitter.com.  Rooms at 50% off at the stunningly beautiful Victorian-era Madrona Manor in Dry Creek Valley.  Rooms there are normally $350 a night on average and not the investment we need right now.  However, for $350 for the weekend …

Katya took Friday off and we made a lazy trip north up Highway 101 from San Jose, through San Francisco, and on to Healdsburg.  We dropped by the new Winery Collective tasting room near Fisherman’s Wharf for a visit and a little tasting.  This is a winery tasting room, actually owned by wineries, but is like a tasting bar in that you can taste from dozens of wineries from all over California.  Great ambiance in an old historic building with huge timbers, a nautical theme hotel, and one of my favorite restaurants – Blue Mermaid.

Later that afternoon we arrived at the Madrona Manor and checked into our Victorian style room with a wood fireplace – which we used often.  We had a little view of the surrounding gardens which are just starting to bloom.  LOTS of oranges on the orange trees and Katya picked a few with permission.  The landscaping there is famous in the area.  Spring and summer would be better but still beautiful.

It was strange that they had rooms available as this was the Russian River Wine Road Barrel Tasting weekend #2, one of the biggest local events of the year.  We avoided the event and tasting rooms so we could relax and enjoy the room and gardens for the weekend.  For us to avoid tasting rooms is a real adjustment.

We dined at our favorites, Santi in Geyserville on Friday evening and Ralph’s on the Healdsburg Square Saturday.  While we avoided tasting rooms we did meet up with wine bloggers in Healdsburg on Saturday afternoon and helped deplete their large collection of wines.  Rowdy bunch!

On Sunday Katya wanted oysters for lunch so we we packed up and drove along the Russian River to the coast and then south on Highway 1 to Tomales Bay.  Oysters are everywhere along the bay, in cafes, restaurants, stores, and many oyster plants. While I’m not into oysters at all I love to drive through the dark redwood forest along the Russian River and the expansive views and rocky Sonoma and Marin coast.

We love to stop at the little cafes for apple pie, rock cod tacos, hearty clam chowder, and of course oysters.  We bought whole milk from a dairy store in a real glass bottle and a variety of local cheeses are available.  Munching your way down or up the coast is a great way to get to or from wine country!

- jim

We recently finished-off a bottle of Jessie’s Grove Winery Old Vine 05 Lodi Zinfandel.  We were reminded of two things:

1) Lodi Zins are often terrific and this one is no exception. We loved the strong rich flavors and nose.  All to often we drink wine that has a great nose but not much to taste.  This Zin doesn’t disappoint if you are looking for robust but still soft on the finish.

2) Jessie’s Grove Winery is a ranch with a wine tasting room.  There are a few farm animals around, a huge barn, and a desert tortoise that is sometimes lively.

Besides the wine and tortoise the real attraction here is the preserved ancient oak savanna from pre-European times.  Walk into the oaks for a little glimpse of the past at a little museum and wonderful picnic grounds.  Buy their wine and hangout for a while.

- jim

Katya and I don’t like to tell tasters what they will taste. That’s because we frequently don’t taste what others tell us we should.  However, I will mention wines that are interesting and unusual.

The Sol Rouge Winery in Santa Rosa makes one of the more interesting Cabs that I’ve ever tasted.  It tastes of green kalamata olives.  Bryan Kane, the vintner, told us that the vineyard soils create this unusual condition.

We sipped from our prized bottle for four evenings and the wine held up very well.

This wine is fun and pairs well with dark chocolate.

- jim

The first Wine Questers Live Blogup (then called Taste n Tell) was at seven SF urban wineries last January 10th.  Tiny A. P. Vin was one of those.  Andrew makes only Pinot and from various California regions.

This evening Katya and I are doing a little comparison tasting of his 2007 Alexander Valley and Santa Lucia Highlands (Salinas Valley) Pinots.

Both are soft with finely tuned Pinot nose and taste.  The differences are subtle and interesting.  We feel that the Santa Lucia is slightly more robust.  The fruit will taste a little different but you have to really pay attention.

As usual I’m not going to tell you what you will taste. Everyone’s taste varies in many ways and is affected by mood, environment, experience, and more.

I will suggest that if you are in SF you make an appointment with Andrew and try his Pinots from various regions.  This is an usual venue with a fine winemaker and an interesting selection of Pinots available for a broad comparison tasting.

- jim