A safe gathering of 4 on the rooftop with appetizers, 12` Delamotte, 17` Morey-Coffinet Houilleres and 08` Hourglass Cab

It’s been quite the shutdown of doing things we`re passionate about in order to be safe, clean and distanced during this crazy time. One of my big misses is the weekly, bi-monthly and monthly wine groups that I’m a part of. After about 3 months, it seemed reasonable to invite another couple over for wine and appetizers on our rooftop where we can create a safe, fresh air, adequately distanced environment for 4 and we did just that.

We were blessed with a sunny, clear sky during the early evening hours with temperatures in the mid 70s. No good COVID-19 would want to show up and ruin these stellar moments.

Roelanda took care of the food choosing a Dutch theme that included cheeses, crackers, nuts and dried fruit, most of which came from the Netherlands.

I selected the wines based upon our guests preferences, prepared them properly and used appropriate stemware for serving. Our wines:

2012 DELAMOTTE BLANC de BLANC MILLESIME BRUT- served in Sophienwald Grand Cru champagne glasses; 60% of the fruit sources for this comes from les Mesnil-sur-Oger, Ovize and Oger with 20% equal parts from each and the remainder of the fruit comes from Cramant, Chouilly and Oiry; it had such an inviting nose of fresh yellow roses and stone fruit which on the palate included peach, apricot, pear, Golden Delicious apple and lemon; it had a wondrous creamy mouthfeel which served to enhanced the long, satisfying finish; this is marvelous bubbly now and has all of the structure to be great in the years to come. No 2012 Salon is to be made so I’m assuming most if not all of the fruit went into the BdB that was not held back in reserve.

2017 DOMAINE MOREY-COFFINET LES HOUILLERES CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET- I`ve been a fan of this producer especially over the last few years and enjoyed every bottle immensely; the domaine is comprised of Michael Morey, who was the son of the late Marc Morey, and his wife, Fabienne, who comes from the Pillot family; they started the domaine in the 1970s sourcing fruit from the esteemed vineyards owned by the 2 families; this bottle was superb having beautiful balance and giving up its treasures of mineral snd mild hints of flint infused honeyed lemon, orange peel, apple and pear; it had a medium to full body and weight and lovely texture; it just held its own and stayed the course for the duration of the 2 hours we sipped it using the same stem.

2008 HOURGLASS CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA- this comes from a 4 acre hillside vineyard where the Mayacamas Mountain range meets the valley floor as represented by the pinch in the hourglass, thus its name; decanted 2 hours ahead and served in Riedel Vinum Bordeaux stems; lovely wine here with youthful exuberance and vitality at this pubescence stage; it wants to give and it gives generously with huge aromas of dark spicy fruit which on the palate translates into black berry, blackberry, black currant and plum along with mild accents of oak spice, leather and cedar; it has super soft tannins which allows for a nice feel; as smooth and easy as it is at the outset, it is equally so at the back end; as stated, lovely wine.

And such a lovely evening. We agreed, this was doable while maintaining safe, healthy parameters. In my mind, enjoying life and sharing it with others is a health enhancing choice and we will be better as a result. Next couple up.

Cheers,
Blake

Well done Blake! We have been doing the same thing with family and friends, outside
and separated.

Thanks Mike. We need some happy time to boost our immune system and most all of the fun things to do in life have been shut down or restricted. My philosophy is that more fun leads to more fun and we are going to continue to do this on a weekly basis until there’s better options.

Honest question Blake & Mike, really.
We’re wanting to do the same with my in-laws which really miss us & especially their grandkids, but how do you handle…(impossible to be delicate here) your guests needs to enter your home and use your washroom?

Blake, thanks for your post and note on the 2012 Delamotte, especially as I own a few bottles.

I had the 2012 Delamotte at the Paulee grand tasting in March and also was very impressed. As I don’t drink that much Champagne young that is meant to be aged, I am very glad to have confirmation from your more experienced view.

So far, we have only done happy hour with neighbors where this is not an issue (in fact, each couple brings their own chairs, alcohol, etc). We are thinking about doing an outside event with our daughter and her husband and are thinking about handling the bathroom issue by having them use the one in our basement guest room - using a different door, etc. we would not go into the basement for a couple of days prior to this to protect them or a couple of days afterwards to protect us. Anxious to hear any other thoughts.

This has been my concern about reconvening our blind tasting group.
Maybe masks required (gloves too?) for those who need to potty?
Our zip code has 68 confirmed cases with a population of about 46 thousand.
I am still hesitant.

We have a small bathroom and utility sink accessible from the backyard that guests use, no masks or gloves or shareable food.For now nobody but my wife and I in the
Main house.

I think this is the way to go. We’ve also been considering a small get together on the deck. For those who need the bathroom, wear a mask/try not to touch anything while traversing the house, then use the downstairs powder room. We can easily avoid it ourselves before and after, and we’ll then wipe down fixtures that might have been touched.

Chris and all, we have an ideal set up in that our rooftop, which covers the entire expanse of our penthouse below, has an enclosed bathroom as well as an outside sink and counter top from which I scald and clean stemware, etc. We have our guests use that bathroom which has been previously cleaned and wiped down and then repeated after use, if any. On this night, it was not used, but available. We also have wiped down all deck furniture before and after and situated the chairs around a fireplace table for proper distancing. The food was prepared and presented in such a way that one only took portions separated out beforehand. I poured all wine. We could have had our guests bring their own stemware, but I chose to provide them. Also, the guests enter the mixed use building through the front door and walk up to the 4th floor, the rooftop, directly without entering our living area.

Blake, that’s an awesome rooftop! I bet it’s beautiful in SB now.

We visit Santa Barbara for the first time at the beginning of March. What a delightful city!

Marshall, it’s pretty nice year round here; in fact, we really only have 2 season, early summer and late summer. I’m on the rooftop almost daily. The pics do not do it justice as there is way more than what is shown in the ones I’ve posted. As an example, there is an area that is entirely covered, shaped in the form of a bell tower and we have done dinners there in past years with as many as 12. I need to take more photos and share them.

It’s very special Jeff. I used to live on Kauai and the only concession for me to return to the mainland was to find someplace that could emulate that island. Santa Barbara does not do that nor does any other place in the US, but it comes closest IMHO.

Last time we were there was August/Sept of 2017. It was hotter than usual…I think it was a record 108 in Los Olivos the day we went up there, and it was in the 90s in SB. A bit hotter than I prefer at my age. We were thinking about coming down again in September for our anniversary, but obviously that depends on how the current situation works out. SB is the one area of Southern California that I love.