Snow brings changes to weather, wine

The calendar says it’s still fall but the 2 inches of snow covering my lettuce, basil and cilantro thumbs its collective nose at the calendar. I’ll have to salvage something from the garden tonight before it really freezes. The cold snap in late September that sent temperatures down to 28 degrees didn’t take everything, although the basil certainly looks the worse for wear. But tonight, if the clouds leave and the skies clear, my gardening might be finished for the year. This column has something to do with wine, honest. I’m making the same transition to winter as the rest of the world around me, and it like most everything else it takes me a while to adapt to changing temperatures, shorter days and more-substantial meals. I start slowly, not always out of necessity but of choice, because there are some wonderful wines that go well with the slide into winter’s dark hours. Leaving behind the sauvignon blancs of summer, I turn to something with more body and heft, such as the lightly oaked 2007 chardonnay from the Frank Family Vineyards. I visited the Frank Family cellars a few years ago with friends from the Katherine Jarvis Communications firm in Los Angeles and recently Sarah Warner of Jarvis sent me a sampling of the Frank Family’s latest offerings, some of which aren’t yet available here. The chardonnay was yummy, with flavors of lime, pears and white peaches along with a hint of minerality. The oak is present but pleasant, not obnoxious, indicative of California's much-awaited move away from the over-oaked bombs of a few years ago. *Rich Frank, former Disney executive and now a successful Napa Valley winemaker, during a visit in in 2007* The wine's a bit pricey for this recession-minded writer ($32.50 on the Frank Family Web site and $28 elsewhere online) but if you want to splurge for a holiday white wine, this might be the one. You can read an interesting take on the Frank Family Vineyards here and here. More on transition wines next time.