Christina Waters

That would be the Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay 2008 from Monterey County decorating the bargain rack at Shoppers Corner.

I can’t believe this wine doesn’t cost twice the price!
We liked this smartly-constructed, lightly-oaked wine for its balanced 13.5% alcohol and its lovely blend of peaches, melons and hazelnuts. Rounded with a crisp, if brief, finish, it is a wonderful wine. But more than that, it is a very, very inexpensive, well-made California chardonnay for under $10.

It will run you a mere $9.99.

Especially nice with steelhead and braised bitter greens.

Nothing compares with being in the midst of a live performance.

The UCSC Concert Choir, conducted by Nathaniel Berman, will perform two musical masterworks by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Friday and Saturday March 12 & 13, @ 8pm.

Friday, March 12, the choir performs Dona Nobis Pacem and Five Mystical Songs at the First Congregational Church, 900 High Street, in Santa Cruz, and again the following evening at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in San Mateo.

British modernist composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (shown here in his composing prime) and American poet Walt Whitman shared a sensitivity to the dark allure of warfare. Both saw the full range of battlefield suffering. Neither forgot what they saw.

Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece Dona Nobis Pacem sets Whitman’s More…

May Day: Joseph Schultz is set on opening his new India Joze on May 1. Stay tuned….

Oyster bar Mondays coming any minute now to Soif.  Stay tuned closely.

No more Black China retail/cafe - instead there’s now Caffe Tazzina, with an all-new, not entirely vegetarian menu. Continue to stay tuned. …

Is Tacos Morenos under new management? Get back to me on that one. Thanks.

(”New” is definitely the word du jour, no?)

We all knew that mountain climbers were a different breed. We just didn’t know how different. Now we do, thanks to North Face, which opens next week at The Nick.

Never before have adventure junkies gotten so close to the testosterone-drenched thrills of alpine climbing. And the Eiger, so beautiful, breathtaking. The film is a jaw-dropping recreation of a tragic assault on the Eiger’s north face. So help me I can’t understand how they got this footage. Even if most of it was somehow staged for the camera, it is still rife with the sorts of punishing handholds, rappels and traverses that jumpstart the adrenaline of extreme climbers and masochists.

At this point I have to stop. One of the most startling things about this scenery-driven film was my physical response to it. More…

Wine. Grüner Veltliner. Dry aromatic white wine that is almost unbearably easy to drink. Furthermore, this one — from Biohof Pratsch — is available in a super-size, liter bottle for only $12.99 @ New Leaf.

The most widely-planted grape of Austria, GV famously goes with everything, including Brussels sprouts. We climbed down into the glass full of salted nectarines, straw and jasmine - at first sip. Then this creation of organic grapes morphed into pink grapefruit and a bouquet of quartrz. Ultra clean finish.
What’s not to like?

You can also sample this wine by the glass at Oswald, corner of Soquel and Front streets in downtown Santa Cruz.

The UCSC Concert Choir, conducted by Nathaniel Berman, will perform two eloquent masterworks by Vaughan Williams, Friday and Saturday March 12 & 13, @ 8pm.

British modernist composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and American poet Walt Whitman (shown here as a young man) shared a sensitivity to the dark allure of warfare. Whitman helped tend the wounded from the Civil War of the mid 19th century, and Williams was a field medic 60 years later during World War I.

Both saw the full range of battlefield suffering. Neither forgot what they saw. Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece Dona Nobis Pacem sets Whitman’s words to music for full chorus, punctuated by haunting solo work for soprano and baritone.
Full of tears and thunder — often breaking into shimmering eight-part chords — the music is ravishing.

Friday, March 12, the choir performs Dona Nobis Pacem and Five Mystical Songs at the First Congregational Church, 900 High Street, in Santa Cruz, and again the following evening at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in San Mateo.

Tickets available at the door, or at 831/459-2159 & at santacruztickets.com — $10 general/$8/senior/$6 students & UCSC staff.

Surrender to sounds that YouTube couldn’t possibly duplicate.

Chase the last gloomy nights of winter with a Sacred Hearth.

1 part Cynar

1 part Campari

2 parts gin

a squeeze of lemon

no ice

If you haven’t tried Cynar — a high-octane distillation of artichoke — you haven’t lived.

From the small Glen Haven estate of Hunter Hill comes this new pinot noir release by winemaker Vann Slatter. And it’s a big bold creation powered by dry-farmed grapes grown high above Soquel.

Hence the intensity of this 13.5 % alcohol wine.

The 2007 Estate Pinot Noir can do anything a syrah can do — it loves lamb. But it also shows its complexity alongside salmon and pasta.

This spicy pinot starts out cleanly with plenty of black cherry and finishes with a long, slow meditation on licorice and sassafras. Along the way we noticed a rhythmic unveiling of fruit and tannins (yes, just like the dance of the seven veils). Two hours after opening, the unmistakable earth flavors of rootbeer chimed in with the licorice.

Wine worth thinking about as you taste. We found it for $24.95 at Shoppers.

The croissant bread pudding with bourbon glaze at Hollins House.

Double OMG.

On the First Friday artcrawl next week, don’t miss the large show of original oil paintings by contemporary realist Burt Levitsky.

On display at this show will be 16 paintings representing Levitsky’s substantial body of work from the past eight years.

(Genevieve Walking, 2009, at left)
The show runs March 5 - 28, with an opening reception on

Friday, March 5 6-8:30pm.

MichaelAngelo Gallery is located at 1111 River Street, Santa Cruz (831)426-5500.