The Graduate

I started my wine education with a single wine tasting class through the UCLA extension—and from then I was hooked! My love for winemaking snowballed, and from there I devoured every course I could take, spanning every aspect of the winemaking field. What's a girl to do when there's dozens of wine classes available and it all sounds so interesting? 

Well, it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears—but I'm happy to say, that after 5 long years, I've just graduated from UCLA with a degree in Wine Education and Management! I can hardly believe it! While it was a lot of work, juggling school with work and kids, I regret nothing! I ended up having a total blast and I'm so glad I finally made it! I've got this glowing feeling now—this tremendous gift of knowledge that solidifies my future success as a winemaker. I did it!

Hard work aside, one of the biggest benefits of taking wine classes is getting to sample lots of wine! In each class, we'd taste 8-12 different wines from around the world. Much of what we learned was not just how to taste wine and describe its nuances, but also how to understand the influences that shape a wine's character.

The word, "terroir," describes the unique blend of a region's climate, soil content and terrain—influences that you can taste in the finished product. Knowing a wine's terroir, along with its method of production, can be very useful in helping to determine which wines you like (and which you should avoid.)

When sampling a wine, here are three main things to keep in mind: fruit, earth, and winemaking. The first is the most obvious—what are the fruit flavors can you taste? It's a little harder to single out a wine's earthy nuances, but try to notice what mineral flavors or leaf aromas you can detect. Finally, consider what winemaking steps were involved in its production. A classic buttery Chardonnay is a good example—the use of French oak barrels can impart a smooth, buttery flavor with aromas of baking spices. If your Chardonnay isn't buttery and smooth, there's a good chance it wasn't oaked, or that it went through another process to achieve its particular flavor profile. Understanding the winemaker's craft is really important, as it can greatly influence and enhance a wine's natural color, flavor, and texture.

Once you've got these basics down, you can learn about any wine with just a quick whiff and a sip. So fun—right? 

Even with a degree, the world of winemaking is so vast that there's still much to learn. There are always new classes that I can take—but for now, I'm mostly focused on those relating to getting our winery off the ground. Luckily, I'm not that far from UC Davis, so I'm happy to have such a great resource for wine making and agriculture in my back pocket. In the meantime, I'll keep pushing forward, tasting all the wines I can get my hands on—it is, after all, part of my education!

My Korean family—minus Pat, behind the camera. My graduation day at UCLA!

My Favorite Summer Wine

This is one of my summertime favorites! Samsara Rosé of Pinot Noir.

 This wine is a mineral driven rosé made from 2014 Pinot Noir grapes! It's got a lovely orangey-pink hue, with a bright nose of strawberries, red currants, rose petals and herbs—it's all there! This is a super yummy wine—so grab yourself a bottle and kick off your summer right! This wine goes great with or without food. The grapes are grown in the Sta. Rita Hills without the use of pesticides or herbicides. 

If you can't find it locally, you can find it on their website.

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

The summer weather has really started to heat up in Northern California. When it's this warm, we have a great time enjoying a cool dip in the American River. The river is freezing cold coming down from the Sierras but it feels great on days like this, when the temperature climbs over 100 degrees. The dogs always enjoy a refreshing swim with us too!

Fair Time!

Checking out the livestock at the Eldorado County Fair. We met this really cool local 4-H girl with the cutest baby goats (6 weeks old!) We didn't want to give them back!

Magic In The Vineyard

Dinner is served.

Wine of the evening...

We just had some friends from San Francisco come up for a visit. When I ran into them in SF last month, they mentioned their interest in working in the vineyard for a day or two. I tried to play it cool, but the thought of having a few extra sets of hands in the vineyard was thrilling!

So, Scott and David made it up on Memorial Day weekend. They put on some sunblock and overalls (not joking) and we headed out to play in the vineyard. We mostly cleaned up some suckers from the vines and shifted some mulch around, but David was stoked to take a turn on the tractor. It was a blast chatting and laughing the day away. I gave them lots of rosé breaks and enough water to balance it all out. 

The day was really great, but the MAGIC happened that evening! My parents had a few friends in town and my brother and and sister came with their families. We set up some tables amongst the rows of grapes and we enjoyed some oven roasted pork with a beautiful tossed salad. I'd been dreaming of this back in LA—good friends and family, enjoying hard day's work over a delicious dinner in the vineyard. It's the best. 

We ate a simple meal of pork loin, salad, rice and of course, kim chee. For desert we had a stone fruit berry crisp with coconut whipped cream. The wine was flowing and the night was perfect! Aside from my Dad's wine we had a few other yummy selections—here's the list:

Patrick Javillier Meursault 2010 — Creamy and subtle, well balanced Chardonnay from Burgundy.

Domaine de Beaurenard Chaneuneuf du Pape 2014 — Fresh and bright white with flowers and zesty fruit. Beautiful.

Premices Chateuneuf du Pape 2012 — This wine was perfect with the pork. Juicy fruit, plums and cherries with some earthy undertones to keep it grounded. A real crowd pleaser. 

St. Amant Old Vine Zinfandel 2012 — This wine from Lodi is exactly what you would expect from an old vine—lots of peppery, jammy goodness. 

Wind Walker Midnight old vine Zinfandel 2012 — This is like velvet in your mouth. Perfect after dinner—it's rich and has a bit of residual sugar, making it a good pairing with dessert.

I'm just going to throw this out there—if anybody wants to come do some hard work in the vineyard, come hang out and we'll reward you with a fun and yummy evening too! Just say the word!

Best Beach Hair

I'm all about simple pleasures for the summer—cool wine, summer breezes, longer days and great new hair products. These are some of my favorite new products that will make styling your hair simple—giving you more time to live your life and enjoy the sun. Here we go:

Bumble and Bumble Surf Foam Wash Shampoo — Start off with the wash as a base to easy summer hair. Clean rinsing, everyday shampoo that will make way for texture.

Bumble and Bumble Surf Creme Rinse Conditioner — Super light rinse good for frequent washing great after the beach.

Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray — The one and only original salty spray for summer wave goodness. Other companies are just trying to achieve all that this product has. Apply to wet or dry hair and let your hair do the rest. It adds plenty of texture for any beach bar-b-que or that perfect "I just woke up super sexy" without trying too hard look.

Bumble and Bumble Surf Infusion — This is where the fun, foxy hair begins. This is a blend of tropical oils and salt that leaves shiny, sexy, beach hair without any crunchy ends. Apply to wet hair and let dry naturally, OR, apply to second day hair to break it up and add a sexy, slept in look.

Bumble and Bumble Surf Foam Spray Blow Dry — Part salty and part mouse! What more can I say—this mousse/spray hybrid is perfect for getting a massive blow-out with some seriously foxy Bardot texture. OR, just leave the B&B Surf Foam Spray in your wet hair for days you want to let it naturally dry. The sea salt gives your hair matte texture and manageable control that won't leave you hanging.

I'm super stoked on these products and I'm happy to have Bumble and Bumble back in my life!

Sowing The Seeds Of Love

Hours and hours go by in the vineyard while we're thinning and gossiping. This north facing part of the vineyard is Cabernet Sauvignon, planted in the 1980's. These tasty giants make the yummiest, juicy, bright purple-red wine.

Inspiration For Our New House

Typical moving dilemma—we've got tons of books and fun things to display, but our new house has no place to store them. We recently visited a house in LA that we really loved, and it's got an awesome bookshelf that became our inspiration! We really like how the bookshelves play off the clean, minimal architecture and take up very little space compared to typical floor standing shelves.

There are so many cool ways this has been done, but check out some of our other favorite options on my Pinterest page!

Robber Barrons

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Last week I hosted a French white wine tasting at robberbarron wine bar in San Francisco. I gave a quick class on how to do a structured wine tasting. That's where we describe what the aromas and flavors are and what they mean. As a starter, we began with the classic white wines from France. These are the wines that we tasted that night:

1. Sauvignon Blanc, Domain Reuilly 2014
   Crisp acidity, green apple, citrus, grass, mild minerality. A classic from the Loire Valley.
2. Chenin Blanc, Vouvray Champalou 2014
   Honey, apple, a tiny hint of oak (vanilla on the nose). Also from the Loire Valley. *This wine was the favorite of the evening.
3. Aligotè Domaine de Villiane 2014
   Floral, citrus with the peel, nice acid and a good amount of minerality. This wine is from Burgundy
4. Riesling, Meyer-Fonne 2014
   Tart green apples, lemony goodness with a touch of sweetness. This wine is from the Alsace region. 
5. Chablis, Oliver Savary 2014
   Grapefruit, pear, medium acid touch of oak. round and pleasant. This wine is from Burgundy.

All of these wonderful wines can be purchased at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. 

Vineyard in the Spring

Springtime means tons of new growth on the vines—so it’s time for us to reel it in! Thinning and suckering are important steps to controlling the growth of the vines. 

After what we hope is the last frost, we start the thinning process. It's our first of many passes through the vineyard during the season. Thinning removes all of the extra shoots from the spurs, which grow up from the arms. We trim down to two shoots per spur, which helps the grapes ripen more fully, as they have more of the plant's attention.

Suckering is a part of the thinning process. When we sucker the plants, we remove all of the growth from the trunk and the undersides of the plant's arms. This pruning helps the plants send their nutrients and energy directly to the fruit instead of being wasted on excess leaves. More nutrients for the grapes means tastier fruit!

It’s really hard to thin beautiful little grapes off the vines—it’s heart breaking. But if we don’t do it while they're young, the plants will waste precious energy on extra fruit they don't need. Left alone, the plants wouldn't be able to ripen all of the fruit on the vine, so we help them along by choosing the best grapes to mature and clipping the rest.

This is a very laborious job, but it's fun too. You spend the entire day on the ground hanging out with the grapes, listening to music and cracking jokes—it feels like the grapes enjoy the extra attention. Next month we hope to finish our first pass and then we'll begin the next round of suckering and mowing. 

Freelancing in Paradise

Finally! I feel like my life is balanced again. I get to work in San Francisco and New York every month, and still manage to pick up other jobs wherever they pop up. Cutting and styling hair is my favorite thing on the planet. But when I’m home, I also get to be out in the vineyard working with my family, making the grapes happy. I get the best of both worlds.

Last week I was hired for a Silver Jeans shoot in Laguna Beach. There were 4 ladies and 2 guys, so I set up a Pinterest board to find some inspiration for the shoot. They wanted the men to have a James Dean feel and the women needed some fun texture, but nothing too Coachella.

All of the models had beautiful hair and it was a really fun couple of days. I prepped everyone with Bumble & Bumble Thickening Hairspray. For the Ladies, I used R+Co Death Valley at their roots, because we were going to shoot all day and I didn’t want anyone to get greasy. I went on to add a bit of texture by scrunching in some Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray for the perfect look. On the guys, I used R+Co Badlands and I mixed in a bit of R+Co Motorcycle give them some extra hold.

My lovely assistant was on set with me to touch up the models and to be my extra hands when I couldn’t be in two places at once. We shot in a few different neighborhoods and in a cool local bar called the “Dirty Bird”. It was a super fun time and we had an awesome crew. The days were perfect and it was a little taste of paradise.

Thanks so much to Silver Jeans for having me! I'm super excited with the hair we did—I'll be able to post pics of the models once it's out.

Time to Taste

I had a great time last weekend working with my friends at Bumgarner Winery for the El Dorado Passport weekend! It's an annual wine event here in the Sierra Foothills. Ticket or “Passport” holders for the event were issued a 25th anniversary commemorative glass and were able to roam about 20 wineries in the El Dorado area. Every winery adds their own special flair to the festivities. Some had music or other attractions, but all of them had delicious food, country flavor, and samples of their best new wines!

I was in charge of the dessert wine tasting and we had a pairing of blue cheese from Dedricks Main Street Cheese shop in Placerville. Each wine had a different blue cheese that it paired with. Yum! The owner of the cheese shop, Mary, and Brian Bumgarner, the owner of the winery, tasted 50 different blue cheeses to find just the right pairings! The fruit of their labor was truly divine.

The first match was a late harvest Viognier paired with a beautiful sheep’s milk blue cheese from the French Pyrenees. This was a real crowd pleaser. I really enjoyed watching peoples' faces light up as they took a bite of the cheese and then a sip of the Viognier. Heavenly.

For the second pairing, they had the Bumgarner Ruby Port made with 6 different Portuguese grapes—all grown and sourced locally. It's made in the traditional Ruby Port style—bright and fruity. The pairing was with a water buffalo and sheep’s milk blue cheese from Tomales Bay. So Delish! I heard several people comment that this was their favorite!

The last pairing was the Bumgarner Tawny Port and a buttermilk blue cheese from Wisconsin. The port is made with the same grapes as the Ruby Port, but it's aged for 15 years. A lot goes on in the wine over its 15 year aging process in the barrel. With time the port turns rich with dried fruit and stewed fruit flavors, and it has an aroma and flavor similar to brandy. This type of wine making is a labor of love. It starts its life in three barrels but over time is condensed down to one. It evaporates 2/3 of its volume during its 15 year aging process. It takes up a lot of cellar space and a great deal of patience to make it. 

I had a blast at the event and met a ton of great people! I can’t wait to do it again next year! 

Whenever you're in the area, be sure to check out our friends, Brian and Jenn at Bumgarner Winery. They're open 7 days a week, from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm and they're well worth the drive to see them.

Bumgarner Winery
3550 Carson Rd Building B
Camino, Ca 95709
www.BumgarnerWinery.com

Moving into our new home

After months looking, we finally found a house we love in our new town of Placerville!

In Los Angeles, we lived in a tiny Craftsman style house in Highland Park. We loved that little house, even though we'd long outgrown it. We have way too many collections between us—guitars, records, music equipment, cookbooks, dishes, furniture—you get the point. Then we had kids. At that point, the housing bubble burst and were stuck in our little house for many years, until our luck finally changed last year.

When we moved up to Northern California, we tossed around some ideas about putting up a prefab house on some property we own, or just living on my parents land and building something there. After being at my parents house for a few months, I realized my husband might not be happy living in a rural environment. A few examples:

1. At night, he thought a machete yielding psycho would come out of the trees to get us. (I'm not kidding.)
2. He mentioned several times that this is the sort of place where zombie apocalypses happen. (Still makes me chuckle.)
3. He constantly mentions how “dark” it is at night. (OK, you got me there dude. It is dark out here.)
4. If nobody was here when he would come home, he would turn around and leave.

Clearly, he watches too many horror movies and tv shows.

I brought a city boy to the country and I had to come to grips with it. So I started looking for homes closer to town.

It took several months, but we eventually found our perfect fit. I was looking for an older home that was built with real materials—wood floors, wood siding, real bricks, stone, etc. I didn’t want any new weird laminate anything. We needed a bigger house with real materials, a smaller yard and good vibes.

Our new house is a nice size—we can easily accommodate all our collections, two kids and possibly my mother-in-law if she decides to join us here. We actually don’t have to share one bathroom between us all anymore—this is a big upgrade! 

The yard is a nice size with a fence for our animals. I didn’t want any more acreage to take care of because I’m already working on the vineyard at my parents' property most of the time. Our new kitchen is huge and now there's room for everyone to hang out in it, which always ends up happening. 

I feel a huge relief to have found a place that we have room to grow into and a place to grow old in. Placerville is our home now. Truly. Now I have to go unpack some more. 

Michele’s Razor Cutting Class— Layers are coming Back!

I had the opportunity to watch my friend Michelle Snyder—owner of Barrow Salon, teach a razor cutting class at Space 07 Salon in Sacramento. 

The cut Michelle demoed for us was a sexy modern shag. I’m so happy that layers are back! Michelle's model had lovely long layerless hair, so it was fun to watch the changes happen.

Michelle uses a razor without a guard—a tool that takes some serious skill to use. I've been trained to cut with it, but I still choose to use a guarded razor until I get more practice. After the class, it was clear that I need to bring mine out more often to achieve this kind of beauty. 

First, Michelle cut the layers, leaving the perimeter alone. She then went back to refine the layers, removing their weight. Then came Michelle’s famous fringe, which she's mastered and sported by Zooey Deschanel!

Mermaid Sea Salt Spray, R & Co Badlands and Aircraft, as well as Bumble & Bumble Surf Infusion Spray

For the final touch, Michelle used Mermaid Sea Salt Spray, R & Co Badlands and Aircraft, as well as Bumble & Bumble Surf Infusion Spray to style her model. All of these products shape and define your hair, helping you achieve great texture. 

After the demo, everyone brought a model to do their own razor cut. Michelle worked the room and everyone walked away with priceless razor knowledge.

I had a great time watching and learning and can't wait to put my razor to use!

Blind Tasting #2

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We had the second blind tasting last night—this time of Cabernet Franc! All the wines we chose were from California and they were all rockin'! More tasting notes on the way!

Miner's Cabin

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Lunch is Swerved

Moving to the country has changed so much about our lives—but I'm happy for all the cool stuff that's stayed the same. My husband Pat is an exceptional artist and a huge music fan—I mean HUGE. One of the best things for us now is having more time to hang out with our girls—and more time to work on creative projects, big and small. 

Anthrax—Among The Living

Lately, Pat's been drawing custom lunch bags for our girls. He mostly draws stuff from his favorite bands and it's so cute! The girls go off to school each morning with logos and album covers of hardcore and metal bands on their lunch bags! Ha! I totally love it! Every morning, Pat pulls out a sharpie and lays out some music history for the girls—here are a few of his recent creations.

Gorilla Biscuits

Wu-Tang Clan

Black Flag

Rocket From The Crypt

Bottling time

My dad's been making wine for as long as I can remember—it's always been a part of my life. When I was little, Dad made his batches of home brew in the bathtub. We'd all have to take showers for a few weeks while our wonderfully smelly guest bubbled away in peace. That seemed pretty normal to me, so I guess you could say winemaking is pretty steeped in my blood.

We've been sampling our current batches of wine and my dad and I have been deciding which barrels to bottle and which need more time. I'm also trying to organize our stock of wines—attempting to clear out some storage space to make room for new bottles we'll eventually sell. Our dream of a fully functioning vineyard is still a few years off, but I'm happy we're taking steps in the right direction!

Corks soaking before bottling.

Today we bottled 60 gallons of a 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. We grow it here on the property, where it's nurtured and hand-picked with love. We used all recycled bottles and it took the help of 7 family and friends to sanitize and fill everything. Bottling is a lot of work—so having more hands helping makes a big difference. We started the day at 10am and by 1pm we had everything bottled, corked, labeled and stored in the cave! Yay for good friends!

We got to wrap things up with some of our new wine over lunch—a lovely homemade bean soup with garlic bread. What a fantastic way to spend the day! Great Company, Delicious Wine and Tasty Food = Happiness! 

I like to Ramble

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Little Edith posing by our Ramblers.

I returned home to find spring!

While I was away in Boulder, apparently spring had returned to our little Northern California town. We're now surrounded by lovely yellow and white daffodils and narcissus poking up around the property. 

We've been working all winter to change our vineyard's conventional farming practices to a biodynamic workflow. It's a process that will take several years, but it's a worthwhile venture that will result in healthier grapes in the long run. The vines will be nourished by naturally enriched soil, and they'll be protected using insects to manage pests and disease without chemicals.

So far this year, we've turned the soil with horse manure, which will slowly compost throughout the season and release its nutrients. We've also planted lots of herbs and berry bushes around the vineyard, to attract a number of good bugs that we need. Later this spring, an apiarist will be bringing his bees to pollinate the flowers around the vineyard, which will help the herbs flourish. Whew! It's been a TON of work! 

With five acres of vines planted, we're not even close to where we want to be with the transformation yet—but we had to start somewhere. This is our life now, so like everything else, we're doing it right and not in a hurry.

The picture above shows our mulch piles—local horse manure mixed with wood chips that are brought to us by local tree trimming companies. It's a win-win for both of us—they need a place to dump their chips and we get to use the chips for mulch. These large mounds will sit and decompose for a year before we can use them in the vineyard. 

Cab Franc with fresh mulch

This is some of our Cabernet Franc which we've mulched to keep out the weeds. We can mow between the rows, but not between the grapes, so this is an easy treatment that lets us avoid using herbicide! 

Lots more to do but we're off to an early start.