California Dreaming, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Part 1

We have now returned from an epic almost 3 week trip to both southern and northern California with visits to Newport Beach, San Francisco, and Napa Valley. So many miles and so little time. After dozens of restaurants, over 14 wineries and retail outlets, and tasting over 90 wines we are exhausted. But somebody has to do it. My report will be in multiple parts and extensive. Part one is here discussing the bad and ugly parts of the trip. Part 2 will include wine, vineyard, retail outlet, and restaurant reviews. Please enjoy.

California Covid Restrictions The bad

Covid restrictions in California for most of us would be considered draconian. There is a person at every restaurant door checking immunization records and you basically are required to wear a mask everywhere unless you are outdoors away from everyone. Anywhere else there would be an uproar over these restrictions. But in California, everyone seems to peacefully go along with them. But the bottom line do these restrictions actually do any good? I hear all the controversy but I really have not heard much about how well they work if at all.  The information is out there, you just have to look for it. Worldmeter to me has the best nonpartisan data and here it is. California has had the highest number of Covid cases but they also have the largest population. In order to compare apples to apples you need to compare similar numbers and most statisticians look at total numbers per 1 million of the population. California has had 12.34% of its population infected with Covid. 26.98% of the total population has received at least one Covid test and 1.8% of the population/per million have died from Covid. Texas has had more cases 14.77% of the population, 15.97% tested, and 2.5% died. Florida has had 17.30% of the population infected, 19.87% tested, and 2.8% died. My conclusion can only be California’s restrictions are helping. Florida, despite a few more tests as compared to Texas still has the highest number of cases and deaths. Yes, it is only a 1% larger number which is 10,000 people per million population. If you are one of those 10,000 out of one million it is 100% for you. There is the cost/benefit calculation of course and many would argue you have to take the 10,000 deaths to prevent the collapse of the economy and to many, that is a valid argument. Airlines make that argument daily. The fact is airplanes could be built so that a large majority of passengers would survive almost any airplane crash. But the cost of that would make ticket prices so high no one could afford to fly. So the airlines accept they cannot save everyone. I don’t like wearing a mask all the time. But the reality is that it doesn’t harm me as a physician I have worn one for a large part of my career and it’s something simple that in California at least has saved approximately 10,000 lives per 1 million citizens.

Covid or no Covid everywhere we went was very crowded. In fact, in Napa, it was the most crowded I have ever seen in over 30 years. Everywhere we went there was significant waiting and if you did not have very advanced reservations you simply did not get in. This applied to hotels, restaurants, and winery tastings. Along with crowds was traffic. At the restaurants due to covid, there were additional restrictions and limitations. Yank Sing is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the world primarily because of their Dim Sum that features Peking Duck. Not anymore. You sat at a table ordered off a severely limited menu that only provided about a dozen choices and no more Peking Duck. It was very disappointing. We used Uber/Lyft a lot and in San Francisco had little to no trouble. But the prices were close to double what we are used to paying. But it is still a bargain as it is no fun to fight traffic, especially in San Francisco, and then park somewhere where the cost can be something like $10 for every 20 minutes. You can find cheaper parking but many times it was blocks away from where you were going. Uber/Lyft was available in Napa but much less. At least one evening to go to dinner there were no drivers anywhere. Thankfully we had an SUV so we were OK so my recommendation is to rent a vehicle to get to the airport and back but use Uber/Lyft in town. We also used, and highly recommend a guide/driver/vineyard consultant to drive you around Napa and introduce you to the vineyards. You will obtain access to vineyards no one else can get into and have a much better tasting-experience. We used Eric Tracy of "Vine View"(707-337-3056, eric@vineviewtours.com, and vineviewtours.com), and were very happy with his services. He took us everywhere, introduced us to great people, and provided invaluable insight into the area. One of our group even used him for airport transfer at 5 AM to SFO. In France, guides/agents are mandatory in my experience. The usual cost is approximately $1000 a day but that includes a car, driver, and 6 people who split the cost and make it much more affordable(does not include tasting fees). For the most part in Napa, there is no more driving up and tasting some wine and leaving. Every vineyard we looked into even the old established ones required appointments and a tasting fee to taste wine. Dependent on the vineyard the tasting fee ranges from $25 per person to $120. In our case, the average was $100 per person. Some, but not all, refund the tasting fee if you buy wine with anywhere from 3 bottles to one case purchased per person to waive the tasting fee. Be sure and inquire in advance. We ended up purchasing around 20 cases so, in the end, it was not an issue for us. Of interest, one winemaker told us they had looked into what “free” tastings were costing them, and in the year prior to Covid they had used over 2400 cases in their tastings which was lost revenue, and with Covid and the money they lost through lost sales at the vineyard they could no longer afford to give away 2400 cases of wine each year.

California Homelessness the ugly

The entire 2 weeks we were in California we saw almost no homeless people on the street. But we were in the better parts of town until the last day. On the last day, we ventured out and yes we saw a fair number of “tent cities” lined up along the sidewalks in parts of the city. It was concentrated in certain areas. I witnessed one lady relieving herself on the street. My first thought was how she had lost all sense of dignity and wondered how that could happen. I do not know her whole entire life story so I have no way to judge how she got there. What I do know is that a good proportion of the homeless is veterans many of which have severe PTSD. From some work with the American Legion, I know that veteran organizations can help these people and find placement for them, but they do need their cooperation. Too many times homeless people reject help as they don’t want to be told when to go to sleep or when or where they can smoke cigarettes and they argue it is their right to do what they want in the name of freedom. Something in there needs to be compromised. I do believe we need to understand that it is as much a factor of California’s high population, mild weather year-round, and lack of affordable housing that helps perpetuate homelessness as opposed to Government oversight or programs that most would agree might make the situation worse instead of better.  

2018 California Cabernets Quality Price Ratio

Wine Spectator has just published their November 15th issue and the lead article is “Blockbuster Cabernets From Napa”. For one thing, it is an exciting article in that I leave for a wine tasting trip to Napa in 4 days so it could not be more timely. To be sure it is an extensive article and covers the 2018 vintage, one of the best in the past 10 years. On page 50 and 51 of the magazine you will find listings for the Top-scoring 2018s, Top-Scoring Late Releases, and Smart Buys. If you have been reading my blog you will find previous articles discussing wine pricing in general as well as prices for what many consider “marquee” or top shelf cult wines as compared to ordinary everyday wines. On those two pages mentioned you could not find a more starker comparison. After years of tasting thousands of wines including the top-shelf ones I have said that yes there is a difference and for those who can taste that difference and have the money by all means enjoy those wines. 

But to me and others that difference is marginal and for me I have trouble justifying buying a bottle of Harlan Estate for $1,620 that is listed on the same page with Kirkland Signature Cabernet. The difference in rating is 97 to 90. For you math nerds out-there that is $230 difference per point. Another way to look at it is you can own 108 bottles for what you pay for the Harlan. I have had more than one glass of Harlan. I have met John Harlan. He is a visionary and has made spectacular wines, but at some point you just cannot justify what I would consider price gouging despite the winemaker being a great guy. Number 2 on the list are wines from Colgin. Again, I have visited the vineyard, I have tasted the wines, in fact the IX Estate is one of the greatest Cabernets I have ever tasted. When I visited the vineyard the wines had been offered under $500 a bottle. After my visit Colgin was sold and the new owner now sells the wine on release at $675. My question to myself is the greatest Cabernet I have ever tasted worth $675? I have had and purchased Bryant and have met the family but at $600 is it that good? Also listed are Hall and Spottswoode both of which I have had and visited. For the most part their wines are more reasonable around $200 a bottle and are presented along with the other higher priced wines. 

Now look at the Smart Buys. Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet is the pick of the litter at $44 and 93 points. I can unequivocally state that this wine totally deserves the top pick here and I have tasted it multiple times and it is a spectacular wine. I know more than one restaurant who feature it as their house Cabernet. I had a CEO ask me once what Cabernet he should stock to serve at corporate events and with friends that would not embarrass him and bankrupt the company and I recommended Mount Veeder Cabernet. I say again if you want the best Cabernet available at the best rating and the best price I recommend Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet. You can buy 37 bottles of it compared to the same price as the Harlan. 

And don’t be too quick to be embarrassed by Costco’s Kirkland brand. Two of their Cabernets made the list at 90 points and cost $15 and $20. For a nice everyday wine for dinner you cannot beat those wines and I have had many and they live up to the ratings. They are good wines. Years ago an individual published a quarterly magazine called QPR, quality, price, ratio, where he collated and listed in order all wines by their price and professional rating. At the top at number 1 was always the highest quality score with the lowest price compared against similar wines, for example all California Cabernets, or all California Chardonnays. Regrettably he stopped doing it most likely due to insufficient return on investment and excessive time and effort to publish the information. But with Wine Spectators list you can view what is there and sort of do it yourself as I have demonstrated above. 

There are a ton of great wines out there and only you can decide what your price points are. They are different for all of us. But my main point here is don’t feel you have cheated yourself by paying $15 for a bottle of Kirkland Cabernet, and I am not saying just buy the Kirkland either. But you can feel good knowing the Kirkland made the same list as $1,620 Harlan.  And finally, Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet 2018 is the best wine at the best price available.

Don't Cry for Me Nashville Tennessee

I fully admit I am biased. I don’t like Nashville. I recently went to attend a convention and it was my 3rd trip there having been decades ago twice. I have really good friends who on the other hand love Nashville so I also went because I wanted to see them and also find out what I have been missing. As much as I tried I still don’t like Nashville. My primary issue was it was difficult to get around and to me, there was a feeling of inadequate service and help and sadly an attitude of everyone working there that they just did not care one way or the other. Today as I speak Nashville appears to have the highest amount of construction I have seen in years. A 360 degree view will show high rise construction cranes and buildings in every direction. Because of this and construction equipment the roads are jammed and it is difficult to even walk around. Add to that the party buses going up and down the street and it is a traffic nightmare. When I was 20 it was great! Party, Party all night long. Someone told us Nashville was now the Bachelorette capital of the world and I have to agree so if you are a bride by all means go and have fun in the streets. For the rest of us there are better options. We only got to go to two local restaurants both of which were good but going to other places would have been difficult and we at least did not find any places unique that you would not find in say NYC or Chicago. For us there is more to do and more places to try in the bigger cities with better transportation.

In a similar vein, I have been a member of Hyatt Gold Passport for decades and Hyatt is my first choice of any hotel. Over at least a 30 year period the Grand Hyatt Nashville is absolutely the WORST Hyatt I have ever stayed at. The physical plant itself is great and we had a comfortable clean room. But without service and people to help you, we might have well stayed in a tent. We actually were warned that service would be an issue. And I note 23 other reviewers or more on TripAdvisor and Yelp say the place is terrible so I am not alone. #1 no one answered the phone anywhere. To get to even speak to someone you had to go to the front desk or concierge who when they tried to call someone could not get through either. And even then we were told sorry, can't help you, you will have to take care of it on your own(actually told that at the front desk and concierge) #2 To me, the staff's attitude was too bad we cannot help you you are on your own. #3 Trust me there is no room service. I tried to get some canapes to my room and was told point-blank we don't do that unless you are a convention and it is a $1000 minimum. #4 No one outside the front desk seems to speak English. We tried to speak with housekeeping staff for a request and were it not for Google translate would not have been able to speak to anyone in person. I should say Google translate works well and saved us. The main problem overall was staff presented an attitude of we just don't care. To me, that is a non-negotiable aspect of staying somewhere. My wife and I will never return to this property for that one reason alone and we recommend you stay somewhere else also.

On a higher note if you do find yourself having to go to Nashville I can highly recommend The Continental within the Grand Hyatt Nashville at 1000 Broadway.  Interestingly they are not part of the hotel and operate separately which, trust me, in this case, is a good thing.  The Chef is Sean Brock and he is preparing innovative new dishes you need to try.  One example he served us fresh Maine Bluefin Tuna to die for.  On the menu they have a wide variety and have Burgundy Truffles I will always recommend, Foie Gras, meats from Joyce Farms, and fresh venison.  I have a saying any place that offers wild game has to be good.  

A Legal Basis for Corkage Fees

Having recently negotiated a formal dinner event with a local hotel I recognized a legal reason as to why an establishment would charge a corkage fee. Corkage fees have pros and cons and some of my wine drinking friends object to corkage fees and will not make reservations with restaurants that do not provide a corkage fee. Electing to bring your own wine and paying a corkage fee does carry with it certain standards of etiquette, though unwritten, that go along with the practice. For example, it is polite to bring a bottle not on the establishment's wine list, a wine that is a rare wine or something like a first-growth Bordeaux, and if the wine is expensive and rare it is polite to offer a taste to the sommelier to further help them develop their tasting palate. But truthfully there is an underlining legal principle here. The owner of an establishment has certain legal obligations and moral obligations in the conduct of his business. In the case of any owner in every state in the Nation, the owner must have a license from the State to serve any alcohol and that license extensively lists dos and don't s regarding serving wine chief of which is not serving minors or individuals who appear intoxicated. If an intoxicated patron leaves and drives a car and has an accident resulting in death the owner bears a certain level of legal liability. I am fairly certain most of us would agree that we want restaurant owners to carefully monitor how alcohol is consumed so that their patrons don’t leave intoxicated and kill someone, including us. There are many common law concepts that would apply here, one I can think of is the “Captain of the Ship” doctrine that basically says the Captain is responsible for what happens on his ship that harms people that he either should or could have controlled. So when I signed a contract for a formal dinner where I will provide the wine the contract clearly stated that the restaurant employees would serve the wine and would be prohibited from serving to minors or intoxicated people. The bottom line is that restaurants have a cost involved in order to serve you your own wine and so I can fully understand where the corkage fee would cover those additional costs the owner has(license fees, insurance, etc.)that allow him/her to serve you your wine.

Orlando Caterer Recommended

Because of Covid, there is an increasing trend to use private chefs for a variety of reasons. I have had the opportunity to use a few in the past year and have been generally pleased with what a private chef can offer. It is basically a one-stop shopping experience where you establish the menu with the chef and on the day of the event they show up with everything they need and prepare for you and your family a wonderful meal. In my experience at least the cost is not that much more than what you would pay at an upscale restaurant. But the main reason I have done it more over the years is to free up family and friends so that they can socialize and be together as opposed to being in the kitchen working. I get it in the old days' Mama or Grandmama cooked all day a great home-cooked meal but you never got to see them as they were busy in the kitchen if not preparing the food they were spending hours cleaning the kitchen. To me, the greatest gift I have been able to provide my family is a great meal with all present and no one having to worry about cleaning up. Once you do it and at the end, everything is put up and the kitchen is sparkling clean the price is well worth it. On a recent week trip to Orlando and Disney World, we had a multi-course family dinner catered by Wine and Dine US of Orlando Florida. I spent about a month reviewing private chefs and caterers in the Orlando area comparing prices and menus and selected Wine and Dine US and was extremely pleased that I did. They offered a great menu and communicated and coordinated well and the night of the dinner showed up with everything they needed and they provided a chef as well as a server who waited on us all evening. The food preparation was outstanding and very tasty and plenty of food for all. We had 3 small children under 6 and they worked with them very well serving them first with a separate kiddie menu and entertaining them as best they could. The adults were able to sit and enjoy adult conversation and enjoy an exceptional meal. The Chef-owner Julian Anthony is a graduate of UCF and is self-trained over many years of experience and has held a variety of positions in the hospitality world. As a bonus, she came by a couple of days after just to check on how the dinner went and if there was anything more they could have done or do in the future. Again overall the dinner went off without a hitch and I highly recommend Wine and Dine US in Orlando. I should mention they did prepare the meal on-site fresh so make sure you have an adequate kitchen for food preparation. If not I suggest discussing with the owner alternatives such as food preparation off-site and delivery and set up where you are staying.

Web page https://wineanddineus.com/

Phone: 407-547-3550

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WineandDineUS

Disney World Orlando Florida and Disney Transportation

This year marks Disney World’s 50th anniversary and my family has been going during that entire time. In the first few years, it was an exciting new experience and showcased technology and foreign travel ahead of its time. For many of us, it is now a little outdated, and even Disney recognizes that as there is a major construction redo especially at Epcot. We have taken our children, nieces, nephews, and now grandchildren multiple times, and today as we speak it has become an obligatory chore to do so. Don’t get me wrong we love our grandchildren and love to see the sparkle in their eye when they are there. But as we age we simply have trouble coping with the heat, the crowds, the distances involved, and the increasing costs. Our last trip was the first one we rented scooters as it is now difficult for us to get around. My first recommendation is not to rent the scooters onsite as they are not maintained and have speed governors that render the units unable to go up hills. My son-in-law had to push mine up every hill. I understand there are private companies that will meet you at the front gate and rent you one so I recommend you research that option and carefully question those companies on what you get, how fast it goes, how far it can go etc. To me a major problem with Disney World is the Disney Transportation System. Since opening Disney tells you an advantage of staying on property is you can go anywhere using the bus and monorail system. What they don’t tell you is outside the Contemporary Resort, the Polynesian Resort, and the Grand Floridian, which are on the monorail when it works,  is you have to walk a very long distance to catch the bus and in some cases, you have to transfer to another bus to get to where you want to go. For the most part, to get to a bus you have to walk a lot and once you arrive you have to walk a long way to your final point. We have found Uber/Lyft to be wonderful in Orlando and at Disney as well. Other than the Magic Kingdom you can get door-to-door service with Uber/Lyft. We never waited longer than 5 minutes for a driver and never paid more than $15 for a trip. For us, it was well worth it. During our trip, the monorail was suddenly discontinued and staff had no answers or explanations. After waiting close to 30 minutes with no answers we eventually had to walk, again a long distance, to the bus stop and catch a bus to go to our destination. When it was all said and done we spent over an hour just trying to get to where we were going and in my experience that is common at Disney World even when everything is working fine. While waiting I looked up problems with the monorail and found multiple articles outlining many issues. The monorail is also 50 years old and originally it was ahead of its time it is now old and outdated technology that needs fixing or repairing daily. So I highly recommend using rideshares as much as you can in order to save hours of time and aggravation. Another problem with Disney World since it has opened is heat. I do not recommend going in the summer when temperatures and humidity can go over 100. For years Disney has sold water bottle sprayers with cheap low-speed fans to spray your face and blow air but trust me they don’t work well. Today you can go online and purchase portable high-speed fans that can be recharged nightly and they will work much better than what Disney will sell you. The food at Disney World has always been pretty good, the problem is getting in. You always had to make reservations but as a rule, you could do it the same day on arrival with minimal issues. Partly because of Covid and staffing that is not really true today. We had problems making reservations the entire time we were there so I strongly recommend you review in detail Disney’s policies on reservations and make them as soon as you can. On one of our days we just got the fast foods available as it was much easier. Not great healthy food but minimal waiting at least. If you visited in the past be aware many of your favorite rides and experiences have either been changed or eliminated. We used to love the movie in France, today it is a Beauty and the Beast sing-along which did not appeal to us. At Epcot, there is a lot of construction that has closed many venues. In summary for us, Disney World is hot, humid, tiring, long exhausting walks, and expensive entertainment. But with grandchildren sooner or later you will want to go. Research all options and be up to date with what is going on so you can plan the best trip.

Cypress Point Resort Orlando and Timeshares in General

There are hundreds of pros and cons to owning a timeshare, mostly con. They are expensive, they have high annual maintenance fee’s, and if you trade them there are trading fee’s and you are locked into a specific date, time, and place every year if you don’t trade. So you have to ask yourself are they really worth the costs. 30 years ago we had friends who owned a couple and loved them. For them the cost was much less than renting an equivalent sized unit elsewhere and with trading they felt the flexibility was great. So we initially bought one at Vistana in Orlando right outside Disney on the busiest week of the year July 4th. But we followed what I would call the first rule of timeshares only buy one in the after market, not new, as the price differential is huge. Basically you can buy one from an original owner for around 10% or less of the original cost. We bought our first one from a widow’s estate at a fraction of the original cost. Over the years we have felt we have gotten our money’s worth out of it. Our original unit sleeps 10 people so we have been able to trade for larger units every year and this month we stayed at a 3 BR 3Bath unit at Cypress Point Resort in Orlando and liked it better than our unit at Vistana. The unit was large, comfortable, well equipped, and quiet. We were able to host a family dinner for 12 with a private chef who was able to cook in our large full kitchen which was a big plus. One of our family members had a 1BR 2Bath suite at a Disney property that was quite small and paid 10X for the week what we eventually paid for our unit(annual maintenance fee, trading fee, local resort fee) and our experience elsewhere has been similar. You basically get a much larger unit that can accommodate comfortably 2 or 3 couples at a much lower cost and with a full kitchen you save money on meals. In another case we were on a ski trip having traded our unit for a condo in ski country and while there were told by staff that there were a few units available for sale as the owners had either died or were too old to come and in the end we were given one for free only paying the transfer of the title and assuming the annual maintenance fee again. I cannot guarantee you can get one for free but I do recommend you contact the local management team of any unit you are interested in and see what they know is available. In addition many of the timeshare resorts have websites that have lists of units for sale or rent. In some cases you can rent the week you need from that owner and occasionally the rental fee is quite low. Some owners will rent to you to cover the cost of the annual maintenance fee. When you start looking you will notice thousands of units available. The industry overbuilt to a fault and the main con to owning one is you get stuck with it and cannot sell it. At some point due to age or illness a timeshare outlives it’s usefulness and there are thousands of units to every potential buyer. In many cases you may end up abandoning the unit and having it foreclosed on you. In our case our two have met our needs and provided large comfortable units that have allowed us to take family and friends with us on trips at no additional costs. We currently recommend Cypress Point Resort in Orlando directly across from the Disney Lake Beaune Vista area as an outstanding place to stay.