Wine for Sunday Driving

I apologize, let me just say that right off the bat. I was supposed to write a new post yesterday, but we had a bit of an internet issue and I couldn't get online. The issue was this: we went to Sonoma overnight, and stayed at a hotel that was going to charge us $14 for internet access. I felt that was excessive so...no internet. No internet, no blog.

We went to Sonoma yesterday because ages ago I bought Steve a gift certificate to the Jim Russell Driving School at Infineon Raceway, and finally he was able to use it. How was he able to go to Sonoma on a Thursday, you may ask. Tune in Monday and I will tell you.

Steve was like a kid in a candy store at this class. He got to practice spins, slalom, and driving on the racetrack, all in a Mitsubishi Evo. It's been a long time since I saw him looking so happy.

Watching him driving around this track reminded me of when I went Go-Karting about 15 years ago with my wonderful friend Heather, and her then-boyfriend Wade. We all went at different times so that we could take pictures of each other. I don't remember what Wade's run was like, but Heather was like a bat out of hell. She drove super-fast around the track, and side-swiped all the other carts on the track to get them out of her way.

Then it was my turn. and when the starting whistle blew, I was off. I had a little issue with acceleration, if I remember right, and for some reason I swerved from side to side from one end of the track to the other. I drove, um, shall we say, slowly. Really slowly. I let people pass me, I hummed to myself, I waved to the admiring crowd. I did one lap to every other driver's two. I got lapped by the 15-year-olds, and the 90-year-old blind couple.

Heather took a picture of me that day: there I am, driving along, no other carts in sight, waving as if I am at a Ticker Tape parade, smiling delightedly, just out for another Sunday drive.

My wine for Sunday Driving is a Baldassari 2006 Bennett Valley Syrah. I tried this wine at a tasting room at the Sonoma Wine Shop, and it is yummy. It has the nose and taste of lush, deep red and black berries, black and red cherry, currant, raspberry, and a little bit of pepper. It is smooth and mellow, it won't knock you out the way some Syrahs can. It cost me $30 at the wine shop, but I'm guessing you could find it for less online.