Warning: Very Little Fiber Content...

...except the food variety.

We spent yesterday at a winery event at a new-to-us vineyard in a new-to-us wine region: Lodi, California, in the Central Valley.

For decades, Central Valley wines have been considered plonk. As we've recently discovered, that's because for decades, the Central Valley vineyards have been selling their best quality grapes to the big, famous wineries in Napa and elsewhere. Since what was left was the lesser quality fruit, the resulting wine was, of necessity, lesser quality. (Just like the silk purse and the sow's ear, you can't make great wine from less-than-great grapes.) Luckily for us all, Central Valley vineyards have begun keeping some of the good stuff for themselves and using it to craft high-quality wines.

The event was at Bokisch Vineyards & Winery, of which Markus and Kim Bokisch are proprietors. Markus is of Spanish and German ancestry, and his wines are all Spanish varietals. The event was a winemaker dinner - when we arrived, the chefs were preparing paella in gigantic paella pans - one of the chefs, quite wisely, had a well-supplied wine glass in hand:



They're cooking on Santa Maria-style oak pit grills (which are probably derived from a Spanish original). Here, Markus the winemaker adds the finishing touch - sliced sweet peppers.



This version of paella contains chicken, sausage, prawns, and calamari. Mmmmmmmm.



It tasted exactly as good as it looks! And if you like Albarino, Garnacha (both red and white), Tempranillo, Graciano, and Monastrell, check this winery out!

By the time that we got home on Monday afternoon, there was just time to lash the warp onto the apron rod before supper. This is another of those pictures that only a weaver can appreciate:



Tomorrow will be the Big Test of the latest round of hardware improvements. Stay tuned.