Ahhh, Friday – how we love thee.  Trust us when we say that we both love our jobs and truly enjoy what we do . . . however, like most people – we don’t sit on the fence when it comes to enjoying our weekend time.  Because of the nature of our employment, there are evening and sometimes even weekend commitments that we don’t mind – but readily admit we do enjoy those “free to do whatever we want” segments of time.  Daughter #1 is out-of-town with the granddog and Daughter #2 is settling back in Boston – – – which means . . . we are “free” this weekend (well – – – as free as we can be with the “other” three girls of the four-legged variety still very much at home) – regardless the smell of mischief is in the air . . .

But, we digress – here we are wrapping a bow around another productive week.  As noted in several blogs – regardless of the date on the calendar, Summer is here with a vengeance.  In fact, no fence-sitting on this one either – it’s just plan hot in the afternoon and no doubt higher temps on the horizon.  Since it was another “warm one”, we opted to open something on the lighter side of the scale.

Tonight’s wine is a 2011 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley called Picket Fence.  We’ve actually had this one laying in the blog rack for quite some time but never seemed inclined to open it until tonight.  Couldn’t find too much information about this wine other than its making reunited two old friends in the wine business – vineyard manager Pete Opatz and winemaker Don Van Staaveren who are apparently legends in the Sonoma Region.  Don is best known for his famed Cinq Cepages wines for Chateau St. Jean, for which his 1996 vintage was named by Wine Spectator as the “No. 1 Wine in the World” in 1999. More recently, Wine Spectator rated his 2006 Chardonnay for Three Sticks as a 95 and his 2007, 2008 and 2009 vintages as a 93 – pretty impressive in our book.

The wine was made in small lots and runs around $13 a bottle.  Truth be told, we are trying to remember where we bought this bottle (hazard of this blog) – but are 99.9% sure it was at World Market.  We were very impressed with this bottle – on the nose it wasn’t overpowering, but very inviting – the color was ample enough for a Pinot, but not the deep ruby-red of a Zin or Cab – the palate was very user-friendly for us, we really enjoyed the bing cherry and spice combination . . . you know what we mean – a nice balance of tart fruit with a dash of spice to even things out.  The finish was perfect – nice and smooth, lingering just long enough to encourage you to take another sip.  We paired it up with some grilled sausage from our like all time favorite place to buy sausage – Krolchyck Meat Market in Hempstead (you must check this place out!! It’s tucked inside the Exxon Station at 47506 Highway 290 Business).  Don’t let the fact that they sell gas and bait deter you from stopping . . . . it IS the best and well worth the trouble to go a wee bit out of your way !

We digress, again – bottom line is that we would definitely purchase this one again – could make the Top Ten Bondy Deck Wine list.  It was light, fruity and smooth – everything you want a Pinot to be.

As we turn the corner and head into Saturday ready for whatever comes our way – enjoy your Friday night and remember to enjoy responsibly and recycle whenever possible.