Forty Bottles of Ringboree

20 bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree, but many of them for sentimental reasons. I think it was a 2001, but I actually didn't pay much attention. Sharing a bottle of wine with friends necessarily makes it better. Heck, Lambrusco with friends is better than a cab alone. Ok, maybe not really, but almost.

The Foppiano always reminds me of the Fortino Petite, which, of course, I'll probably never get a chance to try again. Fortino is a teensy family-owned winery in Gilroy, California, which I always make a point to visit when I'm in Santa Clara. But, alas, Santa Clara got so expensive that all of the conferences moved north and south of there, and I don't know when, or if, I'll ever get to Santa Clara again.

Gilroy is a delightful town to visit - not sure if I'd want to live there or not. As you go down the 101 south of Santa Clara, you smell it 3 miles out. No, I'm not exaggerating. Gilroy grows most of the garlic consumed in the USA. The next time you buy garlic down at the Piggly Wiggly, look at the label, and 10 to 1, it says "Gilroy, CA" on it.

Anyways, back to the Foppiano. Classic Petite, although it was rather too young. Raspberry and smoke and delightful tobacco aromas. Mmm. Good stuff.

I have long had a dream of taking a wine vacation in northern California, biking through Sonoma, and perhaps through Gilroy. I don't know if I'll ever actually get to do that, but it's still a dream of mine.