THE DAYS OF WINE & SOAPS - Standing Sun Wines

THE DAYS OF WINE & SOAPS

Standing Sun Wines

OK, I admit it, I love soaps (the television serial kind) and I love wine… and did I find the perfect place to mix them both – from soapland’s Port Charles, NY to real life’s Santa Ynez Valley.

The soap part:

My addiction to ‘love in the afternoon’ dramas started in college with the character-driven, New York produced “Another World.”  This was a jewel of a show and when it was canceled, my heart was broken.

I needed a replacement.  A soap ‘fix! (Well, I did say I was an addict, right?) I soon found one when I was mentored by Doris Silverton (who also became my surrogate mom when Richard and I moved to LA).  Doris wrote for “General Hospital” (GH as it’s affectionately referred to) and soon I was involved (even writing a bit) in the lives and loves of the citizens of Port Charles.

It was in Port Charles that I met Carly (Benson, Spencer, Quartermaine, Corinthos, Jax), a complex “bad” girl created by the wonderful Sarah Brown and who is now played by the sublime Laura Wright, both Emmy winners for the role.  So, what has that got to do with wine?  Well, when you spend so much time with soap characters (5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, year in and year out), they become family.  So, like a lot of family members I follow on Twitter, I follow a few favorites and Laura/Carly is one of them.

Now the wine part:

While reading Laura’s tweets, I discovered that she and her husband, John, own and operate a winery in the “Sideways” Santa Ynez region.  I began following the winery and learned that John grows the grapes, blends...

 

...bottles and sells the wine.  Since I write about wine it was a match made in heaven.  So, when I knew Richard and I were going to be in the neighborhood, I tweeted John to see if we could visit Standing Sun’s new winery and tasting room even though it was still under construction. 

  

Graciously, he said yes.

When we arrived mid-afternoon, John was knee-deep in hammering and sawing, but stopped and warmly welcomed us into a small room with a plywood bar set up for wandering tasters.   

 

As he uncorked the wines, he told us how the winery’s name and label came into being.  The label is a photograph of his and his son’s shadows as they stood side-by-side in the setting sun.  John, who’s also an architect, designer, artist and cook (a true renaissance man), used that photograph to design the wine’s label.  A sun was born.

We tasted five of Standing Sun’s wine and all five were truly scrumptious.

The first was the 2010 Blanc ($24) – I’m not usually a ‘blanc’ lover in the sharp sauvignon blanc sense (I’m more of a buttery chardonnay girl), but this wine was an interesting complex blend of 34% Grenache blanc, 33% Rousanne and 33% Viognier that I’d never had before. I fell in love in the afternoon.

Next was the 2010 Pinot Noir Rose ($20).  It was Richard’s turn to fall in love at first blush (I know, I know – I couldn’t help myself), and I joined him (I’m just a fickle wine lover).  Delightful, slightly fruity (but not sweet), we loved this rose so much, Richard paired it w/ an entree of sea scallops in an orange-mustard-basil sauce served w/ a citrus couscous that he made last night.  A perfect marriage of delicious food and wine.

The 2010 Pinot Noir ($20) is a marvel for the price - filled w/ tastes of berries and spices and aromas that brought back childhood memories of the rich tobacco blend that my father tamped into his pipe. 

Time for the 2009 Grenache ($28) – I had been reading the Twitter love letters to this wine and have joined them in their love affair.  I told you, I’m fickle.

Last – and my very favorite Standing Sun wine (well, at that moment anyway), was the 2009 GSM which is 30% Grenache, 40% syrah and 30% Mourvedre.  100% delicious!

Laura tasting the 2010 GSM blends - I'm jealous

John then took us inside and shared his plans and his vision for the soon to be finished winery and tasting room he’s designed as a mix of cozy comfort and industrial chic.   

He projects that it will all be completed mid-September and Richard and I hope to be standing at the bar for another tasting in Standing Sun’s new winery as the sun is setting.  Or rising.  Or at high noon.  I'm easy!

So, if you find yourself on the 101 approaching the town of Buellton and looking for a little liquid love in the afternoon, take the next exit and head to Standing Sun.

Standing Sun Wines
(Rhone Variety wines)

P.O. Box 1944

Santa Ynez, Calif.  93460

805-904-8072

866-851-2927

www.standingsunwines.com

john@standingsunwines.com

Discounts for Wine Club member

  

ZUCCHINI & MY FRIEND, PHOEBE KAYLOR

ZUCCHINI

&

MY FRIEND, PHOEBE

You know how the smell or taste of food can trigger a memory?  The aroma of a grilling burger can bring back that summer barbeque where you fell in love for the first time w/ the boy/girl next door, or a bite of a tuna fish sandwich can flood you w/ thoughts of your elementary school cafeteria and your 4th grade BFF.

Well, for the zillionth time, I steamed some zucchini last night for dinner. Obviously not a media moment… but for some reason, this time when I took my zucchini –

sliced it –

put it into the steamer –

then served it to Richard w/ butter and some freshly squeezed lemon juice –

I remembered the first time I’d ever had zucchini.

I was spending the weekend w/ my girlfriend Phoebe at her rented beach house in the Hamptons (yup – “the” Hamptons). I always loved being in the Hamptons – swimming in the Atlantic, playing tennis at one of the tennis/country clubs, partying… so when she invited me, I hopped the train w/ my bikini in tow, but I digress…

I first met Phoebe, a single mom w/ two gorgeous tween/teen girls

when we worked together at Talent Associates, David Susskind’s movie/TV production company.

Phoebe and I became friends… We lunched together, went to the movies & theater together, had each other over for dinner – you know - friends. She taught me the visual joy of all things whitewashed. Walls, baskets, furniture, fireplaces… She had a charming, cozy “impossible-to-find-now” rent-controlled apartment in the West Village w/ a fireplace and Juliet balcony in the living room and two tiny bedrooms she drenched in white w/ simple New England accents – woods of pine, dried flowers, white ironstone, white linens and white netting… I know, I know – digressing again.

Talent Associates became Time-Life Films and the company moved from Third Avenue to “network row” on Sixth. We got raises and promotions and Phoebe decided to treat herself and her girls to a month in the Hamptons.

I don’t remember much about my weekend there… I can see her girls running on their long, graceful, gazelle-like legs down the beach while Phoebe and I bathed in the sun… I remember driving around in her borrowed car (no one I knew back then had a car in Manhattan) hopping from one antique store to another and marketing for dinner… but what popped up in my memory last night were the zucchini. When she pulled them out of the grocery bag, I thought they were cucumbers. What did I know?  My mom made a lot of fresh veggies when I was growing up, even summer squash – but I’d never had zucchini.

So that night in the Hamptons I had steamed zucchini for dinner, and the next morning, I had leftover zucchini in scrambled eggs. I fell in love w/ zucchini – steamed, stuffed, baked, grilled or deep fried, I’m a zucchini groupie.

But Phoebe was more than zucchini to me. Raised and educated in Manhattan, she was the quintessential New Yorker. We shared shopping trips to Saks Fifth Avenue – tho I was the Saks & Fifth Avenue girl – she was ever the Village bohemian. We played roof-top tennis after work on a court next to Walter Cronkite (she was terrible, but we had fun). We had fabulous ‘bitch’ sessions about men and our careers (she was also a writer and had produced documentaries). We shared hopes and dreams.  And I was thrilled that she finally saw "Carny" come alive on the screen, a movie starring Jodie Foster that she co-wrote and co-produced w/ her ex-husband.

It was Phoebe who first told me that I was in love w/ Richard as we were jaywalking across Fifth Avenue one day. I stopped short and almost got hit by a bus, literally - as I was getting "hit by a bus" figuratively.  She knew before I did.

Not long after that brush w/ bus-death, Richard and I moved in together.

And, it was coming home from Phoebe’s that we experienced one of our most magical Manhattan nights… It had started to snow when we arrived at her apartment in the Village from ours on 55th & lst. During dinner, the snowfall turned into a blizzard and by the time we left there were no cars on the street. No cabs. No buses. We had to take the subway, something I hated to do after midnight. But coming out of the station onto Lex & 53rd was like walking into a Disney winter wonderland. Everything was whitewashed w/ snow. Lots and lots and lots of snow. Not a human in sight. Nothing was moving. You could hear the snow fall… Our gleeful laughter echoed off the building canyons. We made angels in the snow and threw snowballs as we walked the rest of the way home. It was 2:00 in the morning and the city that never sleeps was ours alone… But, I digress yet again…

It was Phoebe who helped plan our wedding.  It was Phoebe who stayed in our New York apartment when we first moved to Los Angeles. And, it was Phoebe who introduced me to Doris Silverton, a writer on “General Hospital” who became my surrogate mother and writing mentor in Los Angeles…

But being 3,000 miles away, we drifted apart over the years. Her girls are adults now w/ children of their own and I’d learn about them in our yearly exchange of Christmas cards. She fell in love w/ a man I never met. She became sick and he took care of her. Then she was better or, at least, that’s what she told me. And then, in 2007, she was gone.

Thanks for the zucchini, Phoebe. Thanks for the dinners and talks and all the memories… And for being such a fan of me and my writing.  RIP, dear friend.


To read more about Phoebe go to:
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_230/phoebe.html