Tag Archives: Marris

J Vineyards Makes it Right

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A few weeks ago I wrote about a negative experience my friends and I had at  J Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg. The short story is that we were part of a Wine Club special event tasting where employees were uneducated about the wines and food pairings, they lacked attention to detail and their guests and the “sparkling only” wine shipment was overpriced and handed to me not with pride but apologetically.

A few days after sharing that experience I was contacted over Twitter and the phone by Carolyne, a representative of the winery. We talked at length about what happened, what should have happened and what will happen in the future. Carolyne was kind to listen, apologize and provide me with the confidence that myself and others will not be dealt the same poor service ever again at their tasting room. Continue reading →

J Vineyards and Winery, a Bitter Taste

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J Vineyards and WineryI tweeted earlier in the week that Kayla, Marris and I had a dreadful wine tasting at J Vineyards in Healdsburg. J Vineyards responded on Twitter requesting I direct message them my story so they could make it right. I told them I’d put it together here and so I have. A direct message, while definitely tidier for J, would never allow me to fully explain my disappointment. Here goes:

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you probably know about the never-ending renovation I’ve been doing on my house in wine country. I find myself going up north to meet with a contractor or furniture delivery person at least once a month. While this might be annoying to some, and it is to me, the best part of these trips is getting to see Kayla.

It’s a rare event that Kayla and I are in the same zip code and don’t do some sort of wine tasting. So on this trip to Sonoma County, she and I decided to hit up J Vineyards for a quick tasting and pick up my wine club shipment. Marris was in town and joined in on the adventure. But before we go there, let’s learn a bit about the winery and my history visiting them. Continue reading →

Night Light

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What an awesome night tonight turned out to be. Twitter buddies @Airrun, @JHolman23, @jasetrevino and @Marris_Returns came over for wine, bread, cheese, and fun.

It was my first pseudo tweetup since moving back to San Francisco, the first time I had seen Jimmy since he moved here from Missouri and the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Jason or Aaron. We listened to music, watched some hilarious YouTube videos, talked about everything and nothing at the same time.

It was a pretty awesome night. Even Ryan got to join in on the fun which was such a pleasant surprise. Seems any other time we do something like this, his hectic work schedule gets in the way. Now I just can’t wait for the next time I have friends over for wine and a great time.

The photo of the day, way up there, is yet another one from the roof of our apartment shooting into the neighboring backyard. There is something about this particular apartment and their 6000 watt light that shines light pollution across the common grassy space between the buildings that is so romantic to me. It’s what I imagine a Gregory Crewdson photo would look like if he had a crew of one and a budget of none.

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Impromptu Visit to the Wine Valley

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A jaunt over to Ikea to buy a dresser becomes a trip to Sonoma Valley for @Marris_Returns and I. We met up at Ikea where said dresser was purchased. Meanwhile Marris gets a phone call about a cousin about a trip to Napa.

One thing lead to another and the trip to Napa was cancelled almost as soon as it started. But, instead of getting all down about the whole deal, we decide to surprise @KaylaGettys with a trip to her winery in Healdsburg, Seghesio Family Vineyards.

Well, that trip to Seghesio became a trip to Seghesio, Mauritson Vineyards, Amista Vineyards and finally Sbragia Family Vineyards where we met the owner’s daughter, Gina. We hoped to squeeze in one more winery, Preston Vineyards, but we were a bit too chatty with each of these great, small production wineries.

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Wine, Sushi and the Photo of the Day

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Today was another busy day here in the city. Editing video, working on a few press releases, searching for an open seat at a coffee shop… Such is the life I live now in San Francisco. Not too shabby really.

Tonight I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend Marris, aka @Marris_Returns. We shared some wine at my place before heading out for sushi at Warakubune. I realized tonight that I haven’t hung out with anyone else since arriving to San Francisco besides Ryan. I guess several months apart and all you really want to do is be together.

All that changes tomorrow, I drive up to Santa Rosa, deal with some legal issues I can’t really write about just yet, and then get to hang out with my bestie, Kayla. Crossing my fingers there will be some wine involved, which is a pretty safe bet!

The photo today was taken from the roof of my apartment building looking out towards one of the smaller buildings next door. I loved how the light from a few bedrooms lit up the entire scene highlighting a tree still in its autumnal transition.

The follow photo I’ll go ahead and include. Both of these photos were taken handheld for as long as 30 seconds. So, apologies that they aren’t as sharp as you normally see from me. Apparently I’ve hidden the shoe for my tripod in one of the remaining moving boxes. So, there’s that and there’s also lots of perfectly straight, vertical strips of light. We’ll pretend that was done on purpose, ‘aight?