WTN: Tuscan white, Umbrian red in CA

After a stressful night (big deluge, a bit of water in basement), got up and headed to JFK for a 6 AM flight. Betsy picked me up in SF (she had been in Marin a few days), and we headed to Half Moon Bay. A nice day of beach walks, and then we met friends for dinner at It’s Italia. Others had cocktails, so I got a BTG while Betsy and I split an arugula and fennel salad
2023 Guado al Tasso Vermentino
Exceeded my expectations, lemon, green apple and herbs, fruit forward but good acidic balance, B+

For my main I got shortrib paccheri with mushrooms and marsala, others had carbonara and a calamari “steak”. We shared a bottle of the 2019 Scacciadiavoli Montefalco Rosso. Cherry and red plum, leather, dried cherry, good acids, lighter tannin than I expect from Montefalco (I know mostly Sangiovese, but usually the Sagrantino makes it a bit puckery young). B.


Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

[David M. Bueker]

That’s a nice BTG option!

After a stressful night (big deluge, a bit of water in basement), got up and headed to JFK for a 6 AM flight.

My goodness! With that early flight time, you must have left home while it was still (a stressful) night... And leaving behind damage in the basement must not have been ideal for mental calm..

But, it sounds like CA treating you well thus far.

Hope all is well at the homestead, Dale. The photos I saw of the flooding in the NYC subway didn't look good at all. Very nice BTG option, and please say hi to Marin County for me

The heavy rain started about 4:45, with a microburst about 5:30 for maybe 10-15 minutes, At that point the French drain was overwhelmed on one side for a bit, ended up with in inch of water in lower spots. Heavy rain till 9:30 or so, but other than microburst French drains and sump pumps handled well. So I spend several hours getting floor dry, went to bed at 11 , got up at 2:30 for drive to JFK. Luckily parkway flooding had subsided by then. I heard Central Park got 2 inches in an hour, a LOT of NY.
No Marin for me Mark, Betsy was visiting friends but we're in El Grenada (by Half Moon Bay). Went to SF for great meal at State Bird last night, meager wine notes later today