Random Stuff

I was supposed to take Yannis to dinner tonight for his birthday, but he just stopped by to tell me he's leaving for Albania tonight because a 13 year old cousin was killed in a car accident. He thinks he'll be back in a week.

I'm beginning to think that my most recent skin condition may have been a staph infection. My aunt who used to be a nurse, and whose pre-teen daughter just spent a hellish time in the hospital due to a skin infection that got into her joints, pointed out this possibility to me. Looking back on it now, the whole rash on my back and legs was preceded by a nasty open sore on the back of my calf that I assumed was an infected bug bite. The rash and accompanying nastiness followed just a few days after. I had begun to treat the area on my calf with anti-biotic cream, and it was pretty much healed by the time the rash occured, but there have been several other similar spots on my legs since then so I think I need to keep a close eye on things.

I had dinner with Mike at Don Rosario's last night, a very nice little Italian restaurant on the bay's eastern peninsula. It was refreshing to be able to order something that isn't typical Greek taverna food. They even had a bottle of one of my favorite wines, Masciarelli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Mike thinks he is coming down with the flu. I've been sneezing a bit more than usual over the last several days, so if I come down with it too I won't blame him for giving it to me.

Pip has worms. I got a pill from the vet in Kastelli and chopped it up to put in some wet food, figuring she'd be too difficult to "pill" by shoving it down her throat. Unfortunately she only ate a little bit, and I think she could probably taste the bitterness of the pill. I'll try to give her the rest of it tomorrow morning when she's really hungry, and if she doesn't eat it then I guess I'll get another pill and try force-feeding it to her. The vet said that there's no danger of "overdose".

I'm just feeling rather "blah" right now. Sad for Yannis, dissapointed that I won't see him for a while, and uncharacteristically paranoid about my own health situation. I don't usually over-react to minor illnesses, but reading up on unexpected death from staph infections has me feeling slightly "off". I guess the fact that I'm kind of "all by myself" here is contributing to it. Not that I don't have people that I know I could call...Mike is proving to be a very generous and attentive friend and I feel confident I could ring him up in the middle of the night if I felt I was in serious trouble...but still.

Oh well, enough self-pity. I suppose I should figure out what I'm going to do with my evening now that my dinner plans have been cancelled. I'm thinking one of the DVD's that Mike loaned me and the other bag of popcorn that he brought to me:-)

Hot Topic

I recently got into a little "debate" on Facebook regarding global warming. Someone posted an article about an Australian geologist named Ian Pilmer, who is one of the few dissenting voices regarding whether or not the current warming trend has been caused by humans, and whether the widely proposed actions to mitigate it are warranted.

Someone else responded that they figured this guy was "full of shit" and went on to find and post a paper refuting Mr. Pilmers arguments. The paper was extremely long, detailed and used scientific terms and references with which I am completely unfamiliar.

I responded that I thought it was important for the public to be aware of counter-views, especially whenever the "majority" decides to take drastic measures to make the world a better place. The Bandwagon is not my favorite mode of transportation.

Response to my response: A bit like the dissenting voices of the Flat Earth Society, huh?

I replied that no...I had actually been thinking along the lines of the widely held agreement that there were WMD in Iraq, and I then went on to argue that environmental science is still in its infancy, and that while we have scientifically proven beyond doubt that the earth is not flat, as far as I know the evidence regarding man-made global warming is strictly correlationary. And while I don't know much about science, I do know that correlation does not equal causation.

So...is there anyone out there with any authority on the subject who would like to comment in layman's terms as to whether I'm correct about the correlationary bit, and to what degree? I don't like to make statements that are false, so I would really welcome any unemotional, unbaised input on the evidence. I'm not looking for a paper...just some bullet points that will enlighten me as to whether the overwhelming evidence that is driving the current mass-movement is based mainly on correlation or not.

The Supermarket

Mike was kind enough to spend some of his afternoon break walking through my local Μαρινόπουλος supermarket with me. He picked me up at my place on his scooter (first scooter ride since I've been here!) and we drove to Kastelli. We're still experiencing some really nice weather so it was a nice mode of transportation, and it meant that I didn't have to navigate the heavy traffic in town in my car, which I've already done once today, on my way back from my Greek lesson.

I've had some difficulty translating the labels on certain items, and often have no idea what the hell I'm buying. The olive oil aisle has been particularly enigmatic for me, as I assumed that somewhere on the label there was an indication of whether it was virgin, extra virgin, whatever. Turns out that isn't so, that the labels indicate nothing of the kind, and Mike said you just use the same olive oil for everything (cooking, salad dressing, etc.). He did show me which kind NOT to buy, which is the stuff made from the pits of the olives versus the flesh. Check. He also helped me understand the laundry aisle, which is filled with row upon row of liquid stuff. I assumed that some of it was detergent and some of it fabric softener, but it turns out that the one whole wall is softener. I've been buying correctly, but just by luck. I also took note of the beer section today, which I usually bypass on my way to the wine section. They've got a relatively decent selection of Belgian and German beers, so I picked up two Erdinger Weibbier, a Bavarian wheat beer, which I've never tried and which I'm hoping will be a nice change from the Mythos that has become my standard.

Just Some Pictures from Last Night

After spending two days pretty much indoors because of a really bad skin reaction to something, Yannis was able to get me out of the house for a bit yesterday evening to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having. His friend works at a taverna over on the east side of the bay, and we had a couple of beers while watching the sun set. The breeze has cooled things off so much that I actually felt like I could have used a light jacket once the sun went down. So different from just a few days ago when I could barely summon the strength to yawn, it was so hot.

The road approaching the taverna.








The view








Taverna "Porto Alegre" (not sure of the spelling). One of those places you see from time to time with a full lawn of green grass. Nice garden setting, we sat at one of the tables on the lawn.















The taverna's dog, Anglea. She was really sweet, and I wasn't the least bit frightened of her (I've noted in earlier posts that I have a small fear of strange dogs).






I don't know the kitten's name, I'll call him Stumpy because he only had 1/2 a tail, but it was fun to watch him and Angela roll around on the grass together.

Oh The Joy of Frozen Food

I was in no mood to cook tonight, and had to go to the supermarket to get some hair conditioner anyway, so I delved into the frozen food section for the first time since arriving here. Definitely not the most palatable meal ever... spanakopita slightly well-done and dried out, because there's no temperature gauge on my gas oven...but fast and easy and washed down with a glass of Agiortikio. Good enough for now.

While typing this I just heard a loud knock at my door, and there was a woman who looked a bit like the Roma gypsies I've seen in other European nations, standing there. She was trying to sell me a lighter set because her child had a head injury. At least that's what I gleaned from the little Greek I can understand. I told her "no, sorry" in Greek, and she went away looking really pissed off. Hopefully she didn't put a hex on me, nor has plans to send her kid with the head injury back after dark to vandalize my house. My neighbor Helene had her bicycle stolen from in front of her house a few weeks ago. She mentioned that there had been an increase in "immigrants" lately, indicating that it was most likely not one of the local Cretan population who had done it. Everything I've heard and read would make me tend to agree. However, I'm reticent to cast aspersions on people just because they "don't come from here", and the whole subject makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I will say that I'm somewhat dismayed by the automatic "guilty" feeling that I experienced at not buying stuff from her that I don't need at triple the going price. Gotta work on that, because having read Altas Shrugged has given me a whole new outlook on charity.

This is just an aside. Yesterday evening when Yannis and I were returning from dinner we ran into this street gathering, which centered around a church on the roadside. They have this sort of thing all the time here, and it makes for some interesting traffic patterns. It took us about 10 minutes to go about 25 meters, and I'm proud to say that I didn't take out any pedestrians, shop stalls or side-view mirrors.

Η Κυριακή (Sunday)

I am pretty sure I've got Yannis' permission to post these pictures of him here. It's difficult to know for sure with the language barrier, but I asked him three different ways and he said, "Yeah, yeah, no problem I don't mind" so I'm taking that as a green light.

It was so freaking hot today...supposedly reached 43c, which is 109f. We hit Taverna Babis around 2pm for a beer, then went for a swim there at the beach. The water was dead flat, so different from last week when the waves were knocking the snot out of me (literally) and filling my swimsuit drawers with sand. Afterward we drove around the bend in the peninsula to swim in a less populated area, where the water was cooler and cleaner and reaaaallly nice. There were some slippery rocks to maneuver, but fortunately no sea urchins.

No pictures of me here, because a) I was operating the camera and b) I think Yannis probably makes a better photography subject than I do and c) the three pictures that DO have me in them absolutely sucked so I'm not going to show them:-P

The beach opposite Taverna Babis.








A rocky cove just a bit beyond Nopigia.









Yannis testing the rocks first so that I don't slip and dunk my camera.








Man and rock:-)











Ohhhh, looks so nice and cool.







I'm not far behind!

Random Stuff

• I think I have an infected bug bite on the back of my calf (it's either that or leprosy). Thank god for Neosporin and the salt levels in the sea, they seem to be taking care of the worst of it.
• It's really hot here this weekend. Showing about 1ooF in Rethymnon right now, according to the little Google gadget on my laptop. Registering a cool 83 here in the house on the alarm clock/temperature gauge that Debbie got me as a gift several years ago.
• Mike: My English speaking friend brought me over several DVD's the other night after work. Mostly comedy and light entertainment. I watched "Dude, Where's My Car" when he left and although it was mindless it managed to keep me awake through to the end, despite the fact that it was WAY past my bedtime (2:30am!). I also learned that sometimes the farmers here water their crops in the middle of the day because there's not enough water for everyone to do it at once, so they have to stage it (I had asked him about this because it seemed counter-productive to water in the middle of the day when evaporation rates are highest). He also told me that they have water "skirmishes"...one will decide that he wants to water now, so he'll go and shut his neighbor's water supply without letting him know. Then later, when the neighbor discovers that while he thought he was watering his crops he really wasn't, he'll turn around and do the same to the next neighbor, etc. This makes me think of a conversatin that Joanne and I had regarding a special police contingent that comes here from Athens specifically to handle certain types of altercations between families, as the local police are reticent to get involved in what can be rather deep, complicated and violent family feuds. Whether this is still true or not, I don't know (I've read about it in several places) and I'll depend upon Mike to correct me where I'm wrong.
• Yannis: My not-so-much English speaking friend can speak enough to translate parts of my neighbor's conversation, which basically amounts to a domestic squabble. I've often heard them raise their voices, but didn't want to assume that they were always fighting -some people just speak passionately, right? Anyway, he knows something about them and says that she is a bitch. I don't know, having never met either of them. Yannis actually knows about a fair number of people here in Drapanias, having been coming here from Albania each year for about 15 years now. He works here March-November doing stone work, then goes back to Albania where his family is for the winter. He and I are going for dinner to what is supposed to be a really good Italian restaurant on the peninsula just to the east of us. Looking forward to not cooking tonight (it's just too hot!).
• My other neighbor's boyfriend has been parking in my "space" lately, and it's irritating me. I guess it's not technically "my" space, but she has a short driveway that he could pull into and use. She just came over to borrow the vacuum cleaner and I mentioned it to her, but she says the space is too narrow. I think she was a little offended that I brought it up, she said he doesn't stay for long, but it doesn't really matter how long he stays for if he's there when I get home, does it?
• Yesterday at the supermarket, a German woman came up to me and asked me if the product she had in hand could be used for washing clothes by hand. I had absolutely no idea (I've had a very difficult time figuring out which cleaning products are used for what, since all the writing on them is in Greek) but I was somehow flattered that I must at least LOOK like I know what's going on.
  

Mystery Text

I received an SMS the other day while I was at the lake, inquiring as to how I was doing, telling me to hang in there with the Greek lessons, and to tell Rikki "hello". The number it came from was UK based, so I assumed it was from Betti and responded in kind. However, she just informed me in an email that she had not been the one to send the text, and now I'm at a loss for who it might have been, since I can't think of anyone else who would be texting me from a UK based number.

Soooo, if whoever sent me the text happens to read this...now you know why I responded "Hi Bet!".

Lake Kournas, Georgioupolis, and Vrysses

Wednesday morning I set out for a brief overnight excursion a little to the east, to visit the places mentioned in the title. My intent was to hit the lake first, then find accommodation in Georgioupolis in the early evening, but it turns out the two are so close to each other so I just found a room first, dumped my stuff, and headed for the lake. It was a really nice change of scenery for me; I love the beach and have become addicted to visiting it each afternoon, but the salt and wind have been wreaking havoc on my skin again, so the more placid climate at the lake was welcome. I set my towel down on some vegetation that looked reasonably soft, and soon realized that it was wild thyme on which I was laying; the scent was strong and quite nice. I ate a little picnic lunch I had brought with me, and then spent a few hours reading, sunbathing and swimming in the clear, cool water of the lake. It was fun to watch the dragonflies zip along the surface of the water. I definitely prefer them to bees, which were thankfully not too prolific here, and those that were were very calm and well-behaved.

After I'd had enough sun, I stopped for a Mythos at "Mark's Place" on my way out, a little taverna that sits at the top of one of the footpaths to the lake.

Then the two minute drive back to Georgioupolis for a nap and a shower before setting out to explore the town. I figured I'd give myself two hours to wander around and take pictures before finding some place to eat dinner. Except that the whole town is about the size of a strip mall, and my explorations were complete in about half an hour. I thought that maybe I could do some shopping, try to find some unique gift or article of clothing, but soon realized the shops all sold the same tourist crap so I decided just to have an early dinner, before the mosquitos got too bad. I had a pretty average meal of roasted red peppers, lamb in wine sauce, and red barrel wine at a place called Sirtaki. Although the meal wasn't memorable, the setting was very nice, with a view of the river letting out to the open sea. Not quite in the mood to return to my apartment yet, I stopped at a cafe and had a big fat ice cream sundae and a double Greek coffee. Now I was full and sleepy and went back to the room to flip through the TV channels. This was the first place I've stayed with a TV since I've been here, and I quickly found that I haven't been missing much.

The next morning I hit the same cafe around the corner as I had the previous evening, for a shot of caffeine before heading to Vrysses to meet up with Joanne, one of the expats I had met at the vet's office, who lives in Kefalas, a village not far from there. The bus that Betti and I took back from our Samaria Gorge hike had driven through Vrysses, and I recall thinking that it looked like quite a pleasant, shady village. I arrived about 45 mintues early for our meeting, so I had breakfast at one of the many tables in the shade overlooking the "river". In the spring this channel is flowing with rushing water, but by now there's just a few pools here and there with some ducks hanging out. At one point a wasp made herself at home in the honey that sat atop my yogurt, and I just let her have her fill. She eventually flew off, albeit clumsily due to being all sticky with honey. Joanne showed up shortly thereafter, and we had frappe (which is the primary coffee drink in Crete, it seems) and chatted for several hours about all sorts of stuff. She talked about India, where she's been several times, and stoked a bit of interest in me to maybe visit there some day. It's never been high on my list for some reason, maybe because I just don't know anything about it and it seems so huge to me, but she broke it down and suggested some possible itineraries. We had a really cute waiter named Manoli, and I would have liked to have got a picture of him for Merit (totally her "type") but discretion got the better of me.

Of the three places visited, I'd have to say the lake was the highlight for me as far as sheer aesthetics go. Vrysses seems like a great place to have a meal at any time of day, and I would definitely bring a visitor here with me. Georgioupolis, while pleasant enough, really left me a little underwhelmed, and I doubt I'd make this a stop on another itinerary. It does have a very large expanse of resort-like beach, and more than adequate accommodation and dining options, and I can see where it would make a good base for exploring other attractions in the area. I guess it just felt a little too "resort-y" for me. Note: Since originally publishing this post, I've been told by someone that you can rent paddle boats in which you can follow the river inland 3-4 kilometers. I've also read that there's a good deal of wildlife around the area, so perhaps I shortchanged Georgioupolis without having all the "facts".


Lake Kournas, Crete's only fresh-water lake according to the guidebook.







I don't know what this preoccupation with taking photos of my feet is all about...
















Tried to zoom in a bit more on this fellow, but no luck. I really wanted to get a picture of one skimming across the water, but unfortunately neither my camera nor it's operator are quite that advanced.







My view from "Mark's Place." Kind of hard to tell from the picture, but you can see a bit of the lake from here.







My balcony at Mouragio Apartments in Georgiopoulis. I had a really nice, big, spacious room with bathtub, a/c, TV, and mini-kitchen. It sleeps three, is very centrally located with views of the sea, and normally goes for 70 euros per night but the proprietor let me have it for 50 since I was by myself.




A chapel out on the jetty...why not?








View of the beach from the jetty








Taken from the bridge that leads into the town, this is the river as it comes into the sea (if you turn around you have a view of the river letting out into the sea).






Plenty of chairs and umbrellas. Too many. I restrained myself from taking pictures of several tourists along the way who were passed out, sunburned and snoring away with their mouths wide open.





Me trying to kill time before going to dinner.








My dinner companion. She was pregant and already had two really cute kittens from a recent litter bouncing about, chasing flies and attacking each other and the feet of the diners at the restaurant. Everyone else was ooohing and ahhing over the kittens, but I ignored them and threw this one a few pieces of my lamb.




Dried up "river-bed" in Vrysses.








One of the many cafes set around the river. Nice, cool shady spot for breakfast. Seems like it would be charming in the evening, too.

Mass Murder Averted

I was about to "Raid" this column of ants climbing up the side of my house, until I realized that they were working ever so hard and efficiently to carry their quarry to their nest, wherever that might be (it's somewhere "up", possibly in one of the cracks in the outer walls of my house). The ants here really can be a nuisance...they have made a highway out of one of my clothes lines, and if left unchecked I end up having to shake ants out of my dried clothing before I can fold it. I'm also concerned that at some point they'll make their way inside - in my old apartment in DC they did and would swarm the cat's food dishes.

But anyway, my respect for their hard work and skill bought them a temporary stay of execution. I hope their queen enjoys her feast.

Still Thinking in "American"

There are two areas in which I'm finding difficulty switching over to the Greek/European mindset.





The Alphabet

There are several Greek letters that remind me of English/Latin letters, and it's causing a little difficulty for me in my language classes and in reading signs, etc.

Β β - βήτα: English pronunciation "vita". Makes the "V" sound in English, but I keep thinking of the letter "B".

Η η - ἦτα: English pronunciation "eeta". Makes the "EE" sound. I'm pretty OK with the upper case, which looks like an "H", but the lower case still makes me think of the English lower case "N". Doubly confusing because this particular sound is made by three different letters, and it all depends on the gender, type of word, or placement in the word as to which letter to use.

Ν ν - νῦ: English pronunciation "nee". Makes the "N" sound in English, and the upper case is obvious but the lower case still makes me think "V".

Υ υ - ύψιλον: English pronunciation "ipsilon". Makes the "EE" sound also. Except when it makes the "F" sound. Once again, I'm cool with the upper case, especially since it never falls in a word where it would make the "F" sound as far as I know, but that lower case just F's me up:-)

And this is just the alphabet. Don't get me started on the various cases and gender crap.

The Euro

Every time I go to an ATM and hit the "300" button for amount of withdrawal, I'm still thinking in terms of dollars. I have very carefully budgeted this trip to include an Excel spreadsheet that recalculates when I enter my new bank balances, etc. But I have a feeling I'm spending a lot more than I think I am. The other day at the grocery store I thought to myself after checking out, "Hey, THAT'S not bad for all that I got!" Then I realized that I had to add about 30% to the figure, and I wasn't quite as pleased.

The picture has nothing to do with the post...just thought I'd share the awesome waves we had today. The wind, on the other hand, was not quite as "awesome". Gave up after about an hour of being pelted by flying sand. Although a freakin' bumble bee managed to fight the headwind and come directly at my face after I brushed him off of my chair. But I ran, and he didn't catch me :-p

A Taste of Home

Well, sort of. I visited the "ethnic" section of the supermarket today, and picked up red curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, ginger, basil, green beans, carrots and jasmine rice to go with the pork I had thawing in the fridge at home.

Thai is probably my all around favorite cuisine in the world, and it's the one taste I've been missing most since I've been here.

The final product was not fantastic (I didn't follow any package directions; the ginger and basil were in a jar, and I don't think that carrots typically accompany most Thai dishes) but it was still good, and it took the edge off of my craving. I've got a huge container of it left over, and hope it will re-heat OK.

The meal followed on the heels of a lovely afternoon at the beach, and a beer with my friend at the taverna there on the beach, so all in all a good day.

Looks like I'm actually going to be in bed before midnight tonight, let's see if that means I get out of bed tomorrow any earlier than the 9am that has become habit of late.

I Finally Did Something on a Saturday Night

Watched the sun set at Falarsana from atop a small bluff, followed by a drive to Chania where we visited the Venizelos Graves and then had coffee at Koukouvagia (The Owl), a nice cafe with amazing views of the city below.

Got home around 2am. It is nice to have finally met someone with whom I can carry on fluent conversations about a broad range of topics.

Just being lazy today, might go into Kastelli with another friend tonight. This one speaks very little English, however, so I get to try to be creative with my extremely limited Greek vocabulary. LOTS of "sign language" with this one.

My New Favorite Quote

"I swear - by my life and my love of it - that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine".

John Galt, Atlas Shrugged

Temporary Residency Permit for Greece

Upon the advice of a friend, I contacted the American Citizens Services branch of the American Embassy in Athens to double check on what my options are for legitimately extending my stay here in Greece beyond the 90 days allowed. I had been told by the Greek consulate in D.C. that I would need to contact the appropriate local authorities once here and request the extension. I had also read somewhere and been told by my landlord that all I needed to do was take a trip abroad to someplace like Italy and make sure my passport is stamped by the country I visit, ensuring that my 90 day period would "reset" at that point. I'm glad I asked, because here is the response I received from the embassy:

The first option you were given is not correct since the law says that you can only remain in any Schengen country for three months in a six month period. If you leave the country, you won’t be allowed entry for another three months.

Extensions on tourist status can only be given by the Aliens Police (Bureau) in the area where you temporarily reside. For your convenience, we’re attaching the relevant handout on residence permits.

Please note that the stamp you were given in Munich is your entry into the Schengen zone and movement within it is free. We suggest that keep your ticket and boarding pass, showing your trip to Greece, until your return to the US.

The attachment goes on to explain that illegal extensions beyond 90 days will result in fines ranging from 600 to 1200 euros, depending upon the length of time over-stayed.

It also states that the fee for extending for over 90 days and up to 6 months is 464 euros.

Sooooo....I guess I need to either delve into what I assume will be a very frustrating and costly process of trying to get "legit", or decide to stay well under the radar until my six months is up and then just resign myself to the possibility of a fine upon exit. The latter option would also negate the possibility of any trips abroad to any of the other Schengen countries.

A third option that I think should be adequate would be to take a trip home to the US before my first 90 days is up, thereby getting removing me from the Schengen zone and starting my 90 days over upon return.

Something to ponder while at the beach today...

What I've Been Drinking

I have been terribly lackadaisical about taking notes on the wines I've been drinking here so far, but fortunately my laziness also extended to not even bothering to put the bottles in the garbage can, so I built up a decent library of empties and summoned the wherewithal to take photos of the labels and post them.

There are two varieties that I've found that I like very much, and which have remained pretty consistent in quality across the range of producers I've tried.

Moscofilero is an aromatic white that is grown primarily on the mainland, and I've noticed varied characteristics dependent upon producer and location that include citrus, apple, floral and tropical fruits, with an emphasis on the first two. Decent acidity, I've found that it accompanies a broad range of lighter foods, white meats and fish.

Agiortiko is a red produced primarily in the Nemea region. The reading I've done on wine from this grape describes it as soft, plummy and low in acidity with occasional rich, spicy fruit. I concur with the soft, rich, spicy fruit, but I don't necessarily find it to be lacking in acidity, although it's certainly not bracing. It reminds me of another grape, and I want to say Tempranillo but it's been so long since I've had any Tempranillo that I don't trust my memory.

The prices on these run from 5 to 13 euros, with 10 being the most common price point.

Also, I just noticed that there's no picture of anything produced by Hatzimichalis, which I've purchased on several occasions and found to be quite good.

As for restaurant wines, since I'm typically eating alone I just get the house wine by the glass, and the quality of these has ranged from perfectly adequate to heinous. Nothing particularly noteworthy, although one taverna I visit for their rabbit stifado has a nice house red that reminds me of a Dolcetto.

So anyway, here are the labels...if anything has stood out for me in my memory I've made a note of it:

This is one of the nicest expressions of Agiortiko I've experienced, nicely balanced and with some complexity. It's produced and bottled by a cooperative, and I've picked up a 2004 from the same cooperative from the VQPRD Diktaios, which I'm anxious to try to see how it compares.
































This was obtained directly at the vineyard, given to me as one of the two bottles I took home from the tasting with their eonologist, Kostis.

A beautiful expression of Syrah from a warmer climate - black fruit balanced with earth, leather and spice. I liked it best of all the wines tasted that day, which included several red blends, a single varietal Roussanne, and their rosé which they call Pink and which is made from Grenache.