"Driving Miss Moblee," Act IV, Scene I (15/18).
[Interior shot of Stockwell Cellars' high-ceilinged Fair Avenue winery and tasting room. It is just after 1pm. E. and B. are seated in the back right corner on a solidly built wooden bench mounted onto steel support beams constructed by the winemaker himself, who is also a welder. They are sipping Santa Cruz Mountains wines from two open bottles: a 2017 Regan Vineyard Pinot Grigio Ramato and a 2014 Regan Vineyard Merlot. "Still the Good Old Days" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqFD2ja-9Fs) plays in the background as E. and B. sip their wines with bowls of saffron sesame popcorn, shelled habanero pistachios, and Marcona almonds with fresh rosemary and Maldon sea salt flakes].
E: Dude, this Ramato totally rocks, Salinity balanced by yellow stone fruit and just a hint of earthiness at the end. Makes me rethink the whole Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, to be honest with you. And this Merlot! It's frickin' delicious, but in a boysenberry, brambly kinda way that is herbal and leafy rather than overly oaky or sweet ripe fruity. Who needs to order Pinot when you can drink a Merlot this frickin' good instead? F-word you, Miles & Maya! F-word you, you OK Boomer 2004 Hollywood movie losers!
B: I know, right? Good thing the dude here stopped just forging metal and started crafting wine as well. Still, that 1909 anvil of his dad's does look pretty frickin' awesome up there behind the tasting bar, doesn't it? Napa Valley has got nothing on the Westside, baby.
E: Totally! I mean, I asked Bryce W. to review this place in The Press and all, but now I realize that his tag line, "The Central Perk of Wine," was pretty frickin' stupid. Or, if not stupid, then just really, really corny and way too Gen X for our intended demographic iGen web site users. Come on, Bryce! Can't you do better than that? Stockwell so rocks! And the music is great, too! This new Sheryl Crow album is really, really good, isn't it?
B: Sure is. Sheryl, she never gets old. Like Kris Kristofferson, Keith Richards, Neil Young, James Taylor, and Willie Nelson - all of whom sing with Sheryl on the album, by the way - she'll just one day fade away, slowly, like a bottle of Santa Lucia Highlands Tondré Grapefield Pinot that has passed its prime after 25 or 30 years in bottle, I guess.
[E. looks at B. with a tiny glint of awe in her beautiful brown eyes].
E: Wow, B. You sure know your wines! Not bad, for a Williams dude.
[E. winks].
B: Yes, well I definitely didn't know about such things back then, in the 90s. I do recall seeing a case of Ravenswood old vine Sonoma County Zinfandel arriving once at the Foreign Language Center, where I worked as a student, that the chair ordered for some big faculty party at the end of the academic schoolyear. Dude got his Ph.D. in comp lit from Berkeley, which explains the ordering a case of Ravenswood Zin, I guess.
E: Sucks that Gallo has closed the Ravenswood tasting room and shut down the brand, doesn't it? Nothing but jealousy and venal corporate greed, if you ask me. That's why I left the Spectator and jumped like Jack n' Jill on the Chronicle gig when Jon up and left for England.
B: Yeah, I figured you were stoked to hang out here in Northern California with the cool kids. Since you arrived, you've been picking some great Winemakers of the Year, and your Renaissance Winery article last year was pretty frickin' awesome, even if I did review it on Yelp about a day or so prior to when it was first published.
E: Seriously? You posted a review on Yelp even before my award-winning story on Renaissance appeared online and in print?
B: Well, you obviously had done, like, a ton of research on it and also interviewed the Frenchtown Farms folks and Clos Saron and all, but technically ... my Yelp FTR was first. I was kinda shocked when I logged into the Chronicle web site from the B&B in Nevada City where we were staying and saw your feature length article in the Food and Drink section. Great stuff, E. Really great writing, for a Smith graduate, at any rate.
[B. smiles].
E: I would throw this glass of Ramato in your face, but I think I like it too much to waste it on someone as undeserving as you!
[E. finishes off her glass of wine, then wrestles B.'s glass of Merlot away from him and does the same].
E: Time to hit up a few more of the Surf City Vintners, I'm thinkin. I don't get down here much, so I gotta stock up. Got anything else in mind, Mister Santa Cruz Mountains AVA resident wine expert?
B: E., I've got a couple more places in mind that will ... blow ... your ... Smith girl slutty mind!
E: F-word you, you incestuous hillbilly jerk. But take it slow, dude. I need some time to recover.
[E. and B. both get up from the couch, wave their goodbyes, and wander outside to "Love and Happiness" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn9nTvjbTDE) as they meander lazily onto Ingalls Street, arm in arm, for another tasting].
[End of scene]. read more