Sauvignon Blanc 2007

Hillcrest Terrace Winery is one of the newest tasting rooms to open up in the Surf City Vintners complex on Ingalls Street, and is now part of a group of 12 wineries and tasting rooms forming the collective.

Hillcrest’s Sauvignon Blanc, Cedar Lane Vineyard in Arroyo Seco, is a bargain at $15–with a clean citrus aroma and crisp flavors of pears and melon. The grapes for the Sauvignon Blanc were picked at three levels of ripeness–the final picking at a high sugar level to add lots of fruit in the wine.

Joe Miller, a former professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, is the owner and winemaker at Hillcrest Terrace. He has been in the wine business for almost 40 years, and taught courses in wine appreciation at UC Santa Cruz for more than 30 years. He has a great deal of experience in winemaking, and over the years has regularly made small batches of wine for grape growers so they could see the results.

Malbec 2008

I first met Denis Hoey, winemaker and owner of Odonata, several years ago when he was just starting out with his own label. At that time it was called Dragonfly, but, due to a trademark issue, the named had to be changed. Continuing with the dragonfly theme, Hoey decided to call his wines Odonata–after an order of insects encompassing the dragonfly and the damselfly. And, it almost goes without saying, the very attractive labels on bottles of Odonata wines have a beautiful dragonfly image.

When I bought a bottle of Malbec, Alta Mesa Vineyard, ($28) from Hoey last month at the tasting room he shares with Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Winery–both wineries are part of the Surf City Vintners collective–he was knee-deep in harvest, and all the hard work that it involves. Working as production manager for Emery’s winery as well as making his own wines keeps very Hoey busy, but this garnered experience over the years really shows in his wines, which only get better and better.

Chardonnay 2008

A friend was treating me to dinner at Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine, so the least I could do was buy the wine. I plumped for a Bargetto Chardonnay 2008 Central Coast ($19:50 a bottle/$6 by the glass). I knew this very drinkable wine would go with Zameen’s delicious food—with its strong Persian and Mediterranean influences.

We picked a cozy table in a corner and Zameen’s owner, Ed Watson, rushed over with the nicely chilled wine and opened it up. Although this place is casual dining—food is ordered over-the-counter–the service doesn’t reflect that. Food is always delivered to the table and service is prompt and courteous. Zameen knows how to pack a flavor punch into its offerings—and prices are very reasonable, and portions plentiful.

2005 Red Wine
I could not resist buying this wine in time for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. The label depicts a skeleton wearing a sombrero and holding a bunch of red grapes. He even has a flower tucked behind his ear.