Protection from Covid, Cancer, and other Infections using Vitamin D, Zinc, and Magnesium

When I started practice in 1981 within a short time frame I started recommending to my patients take a daily supplement that had Calcium(Ca), Magnesium(Mg), and Zinc(Zn) along with me and my family. That combination was readily available at drug stores and I remember researching it because I found it strange that they were selling that particular combination? I wondered why? Why not take a pill with Chromium, Manganese, and Chloride for example. Who came up with the idea for that combination? What I discovered was there were hundreds of well-done research articles in the medical literature going back decades that clearly demonstrated that those 2 of those minerals boosted your immune system and for most of us that is a good thing. It was felt the Ca was needed for bone health. A few years later I discovered the benefits of Vitamin D again in regards to bone health as well as being demonstrated to cut the number of falls in a nursing home by ½. Back then there was not a lot of information or consensus as to what the correct or best dose might be as well as the concern it might be different for men and women. The Government had their recommended daily allowance(RDA) so that is what we went with for the time. I should mention that other than pregnant or menopausal women and children and adolescents I generally do not recommend Calcium supplementation as our diet provides what we need and I rarely see a low calcium level on blood work, in fact, more often than not the calcium levels are high. In addition where I live in South Georgia and Northeast Florida, we are known as the Kidney Stone capital of the world in that our water supply and groundwater is high in calcium leading to an increased incidence of kidney stones here.

Covid has focused a lot of research over the past 2 years and as they told us in medical school the exam questions never change but the answers do. We now know that we have been taking too little of those supplements and we now have a better idea as to what the correct therapeutic window is. What is a therapeutic window you ask? Each drug and/or supplement has a therapeutic window which is the minimum dose/concentration in your bloodstream where the substance actually effectively does what it is supposed to and the maximum dose/concentration in your bloodstream where the substance is toxic or poisonous to you. Good examples here are Tylenol and Aspirin. In general two(2) pills twice a day works fine and does the job. A bottle full(actually in Tylenol’s case over 6 extra-strength tablets a day) can cause organ damage and even death. This is important as in the case of zinc the therapeutic window is narrow. The articles cited, the most recent from Israel this past week, clearly document that zinc supplementation daily provides a significant boost to your immunity and can present Covid, cancer, and other infections. But the dose is 25 mg a day and no more. When you buy it at the drug store they sell it at 50 mg a pill and that is too high and can cause harm. So you must break the pill in half to take it and I don’t think they tell you that on the bottle as they obviously want you to buy more. But you can’t. Stick with the 25 mg once a day and you will do fine. Have your doctor check your serum blood level of zinc a couple times a year. You want the result to be around 1 mcg/ml. My recent level was 0.92 mcg/ml which is close enough. Labs report normal at 0.66 to 1.10 mcg/ml.

We now know Vitamin D is more critical than we previously knew to support the immune system and the highest death rates from Covid were in patients with Vitamin D levels under 25 ng/dl but labs today still report normal as 20 ng/dl to 40 ng/dl. Trust me you want your Vitamin D level above 40 ng/dl and my family is now consistently above 60 ng/dl which I believe we all should be. To get that level you need to take 4000 IU a day, not the recommended dose of 1000 to 2000 which is ½ what you should take. Another way to do it is take a 50,000 pill 3 or 4 times a month and again follow with measuring your serum levels. In general Vitamin D has a large or substantial therapeutic window so it is hard to overdose on Vitamin D and super high doses at least over short periods of time don’t hurt you. The best example here is a study done in Norway where they gave people 2 million IU of Vitamin D at one time once a year and followed them. There was no harm but it didn’t work and it didn’t boost the immune system. This means it is important to take Vitamin D on a regular basis to get the benefit. Trust me taking one pill a year is very appealing as opposed to having to take one a day. No one likes taking pills every day but if it doesn’t work it is what it is.

In the list of articles to check out we now know Magnesium is important for immune health. There are multiple formulations of Magnesium in Chloride, Citrate, Oxide, and other forms. In general, Chloride and Citrate have fewer side effects. Currently, the proper dose seems to be 400 mg a day and you want your level to be 1.7 mg/dl to 2.2 mg/dl with above 2.4 mg/dl considered too high, so again what we would consider a narrow therapeutic window. Also taking too much will cause diarrhea. That is why Milk of Magnesia treats constipation.

The bottom line is we know unequivocally that Vitamin D 4000 IU a day, Zinc 25 mg a day, and Magnesium 400 mg a day for most people significantly boosts their immunity and reduces the chance and incidence of many infections, especially Covid, and in the long run prevent many cancers. My family currently takes all three as described. If you are into the research minutia I have links below to some current articles that support the above information.

https://www.saintlukeskc.org/about/news/new-research-suggests-magnesium-and-vitamin-d-can-help-reduce-covid-19-infections

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7861592/

https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/ingredients/covid-study-finds-zinc-effective

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.756707/full

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-study-offers-strongest-proof-yet-of-vitamin-ds-power-to-fight-covid/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10477041/Does-Vitamin-D-work-Covid-Israeli-study-finds-nutrient-big-indicator-severity.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/study-identifies-link-between-vitamin-d-levels-and-covid-19-severity-2022-2

Quick Trip to Charleston and Mt Pleasant SC staying at the Post House

Regrettably, our extended trip to the St. Vincent's Festival in France was canceled due to Covid restrictions so sitting around with nothing to do we had an opportunity to go to Charleston South Carolina for the weekend for a La Chaine event in Mount Pleasant which we did and which we enjoyed very much. Charleston has been around for centuries and has been a go-to place for good food.  Having lived in Charleston, graduated from school there, and got married there, I know a fair amount about the city. I've also gone back every 5 to 10 years for some type of meeting or convention. I have found that the venues in the city are constantly changing and most of the old restaurants that I knew are now gone and there's a whole new generation of restaurants to visit. We stayed at a bed-and-breakfast called the Post House at 101 Pitt Street in Mount Pleasant. It's a 7 room Bed and Breakfast which is very nice we had the largest room at the property and we're very comfortable, it was very clean, young but helpful staff and overall a nice place to stay. It is centrally located and easy to get to restaurants in Mt. Pleasant. However, there was a serious deficiency in the facility and that it has essentially no provisions for disabled guests. Our room was on the third floor and the building is an old building built in the 1800s with narrow steep stairs restricting one's ability to get to the room. The stairs are extremely narrow and steep as they were in the old days and there is no operational elevator.  Our room had a king-size bed and you had to wonder how they got it there? I was restricted in that I went up once at night and came down once in the morning but it was just too difficult to go back and forth for anything.  You can see from their promotional pictures the front of the facility is the restaurant check-in area which is extremely small, and though everybody seemed to work around it there was a sense of claustrophobia with no where to sit while you waited, another deficiency for disabled folks. We had breakfast and brunch the next morning the food was frankly extremely outstanding it was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. I had eggs Benedict which were cooked perfectly. I would go there just for the breakfast.  The entire afternoon and evening it was standing room only at the restaurant so they obviously have outstanding dining other than breakfast.   I should also mention that when you book it they say there's plenty of on-street parking that's not really true most of the parking spaces are taken up by the restaurant patrons they are not unlimited and in the end, we had to park a block or two away from the facility again making it more difficult for disabled patrons. So it's not always as advertised. Other than that it was a wonderful place to stay and I would recommend it but I would also note that people that are elderly or have any kind of walking disability it might not be the place for you. Before we left we drove through downtown Charleston and it was crowded even in the off-season. I really wished we had stayed a few days longer as from the looks of it a lot of the new places should be outstanding. If and when we go back we plan on staying downtown Charleston within walking distance of most of the places we might want to go as parking is close to impossible traffic is no fun and you don't really want to drive back and forth over the very large bridges there if you do not have to.  We stayed in Mt. Pleasant as we were attending a function in a home there.

Wine Travel with Covid, Or Not!

So we are all bummed out right now as we felt compelled to cancel our upcoming trip to France to attend the Tastevin St. Vincents festival in Puligny Montrachet.  Despite having boosters after speaking and emailing plenty of friends and associates in France this is what we learned.  In order to enter France, you have to have some kind of negative Covid test no later than 24 hours before entry at the airport.  The problem is that gives you no wiggle room for delays or other issues that might delay your flight, not to mention dependent on your time schedule and flight schedule it might be near too impossible to meet that requirement.  After Customs and Immigration let you enter you then have to obtain a French Health Pass which requires another negative Covid test within 24 hours, your passport, and original vaccination cards.  The problem there is you can only obtain it at certain pharmacies and we were told as of today, just like the USA, it is impossible to get tests done and there are lines down the block at most pharmacies to get the tests done.  So it could be days or weeks before we could obtain the said pass.  We were told today that weeks ago museums, restaurants, etc. would accept your vaccination card but no more.  The French Government is now enforcing the law to the letter and levying heavy fines for anyone who they catch breaking the rules.  In addition, anything public including metro's, train's, supermarkets, you have to have the pass.  Murphy's law always applies to us so no question we got over there and would end up spending the next two weeks in a hotel despite being fully vaccinated and with that in mind we felt compelled to cancel.  So far everyone has refunded any advanced funds except the airlines which only offer a credit good for one year.  Bummer.  And to add insult to injury, Ireland announced today that they were lifting testing restrictions, and with only your vaccination cards you can come on over and go where you wish!  A complete 180-degree change from the Continent.  The problem with that is there are no Irish wines we want to buy right now.  So Covid continues to be a problem.  I wonder how much business France will lose because of this at the same time I understand the need to protect the public.  It is too simple and would take years to put in place but why not have a testing area on arrival at the airport that could do your test check your passport and vaccination cards and issue the health pass before you left the airport?  Too easy probably.  And if you think all of this is a problem be aware that before the end of the year the EU is instituting a new requirement to have a visa prior to entering that you will have to obtain online that from what I can tell is a security pass and similar to the USA Global Entry card that of course will require payment of a fee and good news is at least good for 3 years.  It won't change the length of time you can stay, which is 3 months, but you won't be able to enter without it.

Happy Holidays! California Dreaming, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the Final Chapter, Restaurant, Wine Shop, and Market Reviews

Alas, my work is done.  It has been a long but rewarding effort to provide you with some great information to help with your next trip to San Francisco, Napa, and Newport Beach.   All, especially Napa are magical places with some of the best the world has to offer.  After close now to 40 years of visiting still gives me goose bumps while I am there and when I leave I have a longing to return.  A place that you will never grow tired of.  As the year ends I wish my loyal readers a safe, healthy, happy, and joy-filled Holiday season and Happy New Year!

Restaurant Reviews

Newport Beach California

R+D Kitchen

Newport Beach CA in Fashion Mall

555 Newport Center Drive

949-219-0555

My wife and I have now eaten here multiple times on each trip to Southern California and it has turned into one of our favorite places, especially for lunch. They have absolutely the best French Dip sandwich I have ever had with mountains of fresh finely cut roast beef on a fresh-baked soft baguette and tasty dipping sauce. There is always a line out the door with locals cramming to get in. They also have one in Napa Valley in the Rutherford area and our friends had dinner at that one who also stated their dinner was great. The one in Napa Valley you definitely need reservations because it was close to impossible to get into that one. In general fresh well-prepared food by well-trained professional and friendly servers. I can’t wait to return in the future.

San Francisco California

Miller and Lux San Francisco

700 Terry A Francois Blvd

San Francisco, CA

415-872-6699

Miller and Lux is a steakhouse owned and operated by celebrity chef Tyler Florence whom we met briefly as we departed after dinner. The food and service are excellent and the decor is high-end and relaxing. Immediately after sitting down, you are offered a selection of sparkling wine to choose from at various price points. I was impressed with the Lobster Thermador one of my old favorite dishes you almost never see anymore. The restaurant has a wide variety of classic steak cuts and accompaniments also. They allow you to bring your own wine with a modest corkage fee. Overall it was a memorable meal but the prices were the highest we paid on our trip and the wine prices on the wine list were in La La land. Chef Tyler made many visits into the dining area to speak with regular customers and friends but otherwise, he did not visit your table, something I find a problem. To me, if the Chef comes out to speak with friends it only takes a minute or two extra I would hope to just stop by every table and say hello, how’s dinner.

Kokkari Estiatorio Greek Restaurant

200 Jackson St.

San Francisco, CA 94111

415-981-0983

This was our second favorite place in San Francisco. It is primarily a high-end Greek Restaurant with all your favorites like great lamb souvlaki. They had an extensive wine list and I had my first bottle of Kongsgaard Chardonnay during the trip. Both the sommelier and busboy went to extreme trouble to help us find suppliers of that wine in the area and their recommendations led us directly to places where we were able to buy it by the case. Very friendly and helpful staff and well prepared fresh food. I had the lamb souvlaki with a Greek salad that was sublime. It was a very nice long relaxing lunch and we will return. The only downside if any was the bill was the second-highest during our trip and it was for lunch no less but to us worth the price.

Johns Grill, San Francisco

63 Ellis St.

San Francisco CA 94102

415-986-0069

John’s Grill is one of the oldest continuous restaurants in the city. It has been there for decades. Nothing fancy but good well-prepared food with friendly service and a reasonable price. The menu is pretty basic but a good selection and something for everyone. A good selection of seafood and plenty of great steaks.

Bix

56 Gold Street

San Francisco CA 94133

415-433-6300

Another oldie but goodie that will take you back to the good old days. Bix is a supper club with a 1930’s ambiance with live jazz and serving American-French cuisine. The menu leans towards seafood and at the same time serves marrow bones as a separate item which I have never seen on a menu before. The service was excellent and the live jazz piano was definitely a plus. I really felt like I was in the Casablanca Movie. Play it again Sam!

Mathilde San Francisco

315 5th St.

San Francisco CA 94107

415-546-6128

It is no secret we like French cuisine and this place satisfied all of our French desires. Everything is a classic French presentation and all of our favorites. I eventually settled in for the basics having escargots and Coq au Vin. The escargots were identical in taste and quality to any I have ever had in Burgundy. The Coq au Vin was classic and just downright delicious. The service was professional and friendly. Coffee and dessert were again classic and we had an obscene number of Profiteroles and probably gained 10 pounds just from dessert. It’s a small and out-of-the-way place but worth the trip for classic French.

Foreign Cinema San Francisco

2534 Mission St.

San Francisco CA 94110

415-648-7600

Let me be very clear here. This is absolutely the best most fun and unique dining experience and high-top shelf experience I have had in years. You would never know it looking at the front door with a bitcoin seller next door and a payroll advance store across the street. It is in one of those urban recovery areas where the area used to be a high crime and drug den area the city is trying to rehabilitate. As we speak today it is a safe area but it still looks rough and the only way you know where the restaurant is, is for the small sign over the door. What a wonderful dinner and Clark and I are seriously thinking of a weekend trip to SFO just to return there and have dinner again. The restaurant is in an old movie theater and inside the dining room is divided into two rooms one of which shows an old movie each evening and that is the theme of the night. The night we were there the movie was “Gentleman Prefer Blonds” with Marilyn Monroe. You sit at the usual white cloth dining table with family and friends while they play the movie as you eat. I didn’t recall any sound so you just see the movie. The menu was extensive and everything is made in-house fresh. One example. They make their own sardines. I am not a sardine fan but they were recommended and wow, unbelievable. I now like sardines. Fresh, not fishy, tasty, and great. The menu both for food, wine, dessert wines, cocktails, drinks is extensive and takes some time to take in. You had to be impressed that they had 5 different renditions of “Pappy” Old Rip Van Winkle Whiskey from 12 years old to 23 years old. It is one of the rarest whiskey in the world and to find all of them on one menu is impressive. The American Whiskey choices alone were over 50 choices. Dining choices were unique. Just one example is Saffron risotto galettes with roasted honeynut squash with matsutake mushrooms, English pea puree, tapenade, and toum and zoug. They also had an extensive list of oysters and caviar as well. Service was professional and attentive and the overall ambiance was relaxed and calming. It was just a truly unique and wonderful dining experience that we will remember for a long long time.

Napa and St. Helena Area

Bistro Don Giovanni

4110 Howard Ln

Napa, CA 94558

707-224-3300

Don Giovanni's was one of the first places we had dinner close to 40 years ago and it is still going strong and expanded to 3X the size we recall.  Fresh pasta, fresh fish, and attentive friendly service, and just great Italian food.  Reservations are a must, though we had no real trouble getting in.  They were full and busy but you do learn when you go to Napa the "Napa lifestyle" and Napa cuisine seems to reign supreme here.  I had pasta with fresh in-house made basil pesto sauce and I can assure you once you have freshly made basil pesto you won't be able to go back to store-bought again.  In fact, we now make our own in-house fresh basil pesto at home.  We had a great meal at Don Giovanni's and we will return in the future.

 

Mustard's Grill

7399 St Helena Hwy

Napa CA 94558

707-944-2424

Directly across from Del Dotto's caves one of the best and oldest places in Napa.  A word of warning don't eat lunch here and then do a tour of Del Dotto after in that for us at least Del Dotto includes a pizza lunch with your tasting and we were absolutely stuffed by 4 PM.  Mustard’s has been here for now over 40 years to our knowledge and we come to every visit and in all those years it remains probably the top 3 places in the valley. Food and service are top-notch and like everyone else farm to table fresh and well prepared. Their wine list is 13x19 inches small fine print front and back and labeled “Way too Many Wines”. Think Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa on one piece of paper. They had many wines you will never ever see anywhere. One example we had was John Kongsgaard Albarino which I did not know existed. Another one you will not find often is American Expat in France is Alex Gamble Aligote. I always look forward to going to Mustards and you should also.

Goose and Gander St. Helena

1245 Spring St

St Helena CA 94574

707-967-8779 

Another very unique place to dine. A great eclectic menu with standard favorites thrown in with unique items like roasted bone marrow, garden radishes with dip, and fried olives and pistachios. One entree a bone in salmon chop I have never seen before. Like other establishments in the valley, they had an extensive wine list again close to 1000 wines. Selections were primarily red and the prices were 3x retail and sometimes over so I recommend corkage here especially if you want white wine. Service was friendly and attentive and not overblown. We enjoyed it very much

Farmstead Long Meadow Branch St. Helena

738 Main St

St Helena CA 94574

707-963-4555

The poster child for the farm-to-table movement. Great food, extensive food, and wine menu you really cannot go wrong here. For some insane reason I and another friend had the 12 hours pulled pork sandwich and coming from the South we know barbecue and would think we would have ordered something more in line with California cuisine. But I must tell you surprisingly it was a great barbecue and very tender. They also serve ribs. Overall the food was very fresh and well prepared. There are way over 500 to 600 wines to choose from and the prices are OK at 2X retail. It’s a great place to go and recommended.

Gott's Roadside

933 Main St (Highway 29)

St Helena CA 94574

This is a bucket list kind of place.  They are like the original McDonalds burger joints with outside wooden tables to sit on and the best hamburger, hot dog, and fries you will ever have as you drink your own bottle of Screaming Eagle.  In our case Scarecrow.  I have only been able to eat there once and this last trip there was a 2-hour wait just to order.  The place was jammed and parking was blocks away.  Is it that good?  Yes, it is.  They are now branching out and we saw the establishment at Oxbow Market which we also recommend you visit in downtown Napa.  You really have to go to experience it and I recommend you try and show up when they first start serving to shortcut the lines.

Wine and Market Shops worth Visiting

California offers extensive places to eat and shop providing items you simply will not find elsewhere.  The following places are ones that we go to almost every time we go as they provide us with opportunities we cannot find in Florida.  We highly recommend all of them as they provide reasonable prices and exceptional help and service during your visit.  Most all of them have mailing lists we recommend you join and all will ship directly to your home dependent on your State laws, but definitely to Florida as we have had no problems with any of them.

Newport Beach Area

Hi-Times Wine Cellars

250 Ogle St

Costa Mesa CA 92627

949-650-8463

A very large wine store with thousands of selections, great specials, and unique wines from all over the world.  Every visit just walking around and looking takes me close to 2 hours.  I purchased wine here for a large birthday party for a friend and brought in the cost at well over 20% of what he intended to pay.  Plenty of bargains.

Wine Exchange

1544 E Warner Ave

Santa Ana CA 92705

714-979-1509

Located in an industrial area it is somewhat difficult to find but worth the effort.  Again lots of unique and unknown high-quality wines.  They have a "Grand Cru" or "1st Growth" room with plenty of wine to bankrupt you but at times some of the best prices I have seen.  One example is I have purchased most of the French Richeborgs in my cellar at around $250 a bottle which is at least 1/2 anywhere else.  No guarantee you find anything but when you do it is worth the visit.  They sell on an internet mailing list which I am on and ship directly to Florida and elsewhere when permitted with no problems.

San Francisco Area

K&L Wine Merchants, San Francisco Store

855 Harrison Street

San Francisco CA 94107

415-896-1794 

Another wine merchant from who I buy a lot of wine.  Multiple stores the one on Harrison Street is their main shop and is huge with an extremely varied selection of hard-to-find wines.  I have visited the Pitray Vineyard in the Cadillac region of the Right Bank in Bordeaux and visited with the Count and his wife in their castle there twice and it is a very low production good wine that we have shipped from France.  I was blown away K&L had it at $15 a bottle.  I also spent almost the entire trip looking for Hirsch Chardonnay and never found it until the last day of our trip visiting K&L.  I am on their "advantage" list or internet mailing list and so far their prices have been some of the lowest I have seen even with door-to-door shipping.

Napa Valley Winery Exchange

Rick Jones, Owner

415 Taylor Street

San Francisco CA 94102

415-297-1074 cell

415-771-2887

A much smaller wine shop in town but well worth the trouble.  The owner and staff are extremely knowledgeable regarding all wines and attend wine tastings extensively and take extensive notes and share them with you.  They provided some of the most wine knowledge and recommendations we received on our trip.  The owner is a stand-up guy and will help you a lot.  I was a lot of fun just to stop by and talk shop.

Napa Valley Area

Gary's Napa

607 St Helena Highway

St Helena CA 94574

707-531-7660

This used to be a Dean & Deluca and was recently purchased by a private owner.  It is the same place with lots of gourmet food and wine, cheese, food, etc.  Most of the wine is very high-end.  If you want Scarecrow and such this is the place to go.  A good selection of wine and helpful knowledgeable staff.

Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant

Michael Meyers, "Chief Wine Wisdom Officer"

610 First Street

Napa CA 94559

707-819-6126

The Oxbow Market in downtown Napa is now a bucket list kind of place.  It has about 20 inside cafes and shops with lots of goodies, none better than the Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant at the back of the building managed by a wonderful wine expert Michael Meyers and a pleasure to speak with.  Tell him Ross sent you.  He provided me with my first ever significant allocation of John Kongsgaard Chardonnay in my life and has other extensive wine holdings.  He also has lots of great cheese.  He will ship direct and has a internet following I recommend you get on.

Oakville Grocery

7856 St Helena Hwy

Oakville CA 94562

707-944-8802

Just like Mustard's Oakville Grocery has been in Napa since the beginning of time.  Lots of great gourmet food and nick-nacks for home and an extensive wine cellar and more importantly an extensive Champagne and very high-end wine selections to include Scarecrow and Screaming Eagle.  On our last day, I purchased a mixed case to take home on the plane and one example purchased 3 bottles of Nature-Champagne and in the past 30 years, I have only found 2 bottles of Nature-Champagne so they have some rare stuff.  They have recently added a wine tasting room next door and they have Scarecrow for sure at something like $40 a pour and yes it is a little high but a good price so you can say you tasted Scarecrow.  I assume in the future they will feature other high-end wines like that but you cannot beat the setup they have and plan on a visit while in Napa.

 

Update on Covid-19 Immunization and Booster Protection

A picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, the number of nursing home residents out of 1000 infected and test positive with Covid based on vaccination status. Of interest, I have seen some recent data suggesting that the 2 shot immunization schedule is so good some infectious disease experts are questioning whether or not an additional booster is really needed. I believe this graph published in the paper today says it all. I assume we can all agree that nursing home residents are the older and sicker of us and living in a nursing home under close quarters would be assumed to spread infection faster than the general population. As the graph shows vaccinated residents have a significantly lower risk of active infection and residents with an additional booster shot have an almost nonexistent risk of infection. One can also assume the extensive reduction in risk of active infection will translate into lower hospitalization and death rates. The reduction is impressive. And to boot, this is over the past 2 months so the data is very recent. For myself and my family, we all have had or will get a booster.

I provide this information to my blog readers as an objective nonpartisan educational piece of the puzzle regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.  I believe the information and graph speak for themselves and answer an important question.  Of interest, I published this graph initially on our local community email group for the same reason.  Within 24 hours a nice gentleman of 84 years of age responded saying that he had had 3 Moderna shots but still tested positive for Covid.  I attempted to respond to him explaining that regrettably, he was THE 1 person out of 1000 the graph was referring to.  The problem with statistics is when there is one chance in 1000 and it happens to you it is 100% for you.  We buy lotto tickets with every expectation that the 1 chance in 14 million of winning will obviously be us and I am certain many who buy those tickets are equally outraged that 1 chance did not happen for them.  Of interest when I attempted to respond to this gentleman the site moderator had already locked any response to my post.  Of course, I cannot judge why and any judgment will be an assumption which I am loath to do anymore.  But it did get me to think in this regard.  Putting aside any discussion regarding the partisan nature of how we as a country are dealing with the pandemic in terms of masking and vaccinations one point to me becomes clearer.  I practiced medicine for over 40 years and was trained that preventative medicine was as or more important than waiting to treat after someone got sick.  For over 40 years I fought the battle advocating to my patients, the insurance companies, and the public at large that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure at a much lower cost.  For all of those decades, I fought a losing battle.  No one wanted to hear it.  No one wanted to invest or pay for the future.  Everything was here and now.  Have a sore throat?  Give me a pill now so I can get on with my life.  Stop smoking, eat a healthier diet, exercise, etc.  I don't have time.  I'm too busy with other things.  Besides later sooner or later medicine will find a better and quick cure.  In Florida, the mantra of waiting until you get sick and then going to a monoclonal antibody center provided by the Governor if you feel sick is the same attitude we have had for decades.  Why waste time and money for prevention when all you need to do is wait until you get sick, assuming you get sick at all, and then there will be a "miracle" cure awaiting you so you can get on with your life.  Believe me, I wish that was how it is.  But the statistics clearly show that is not what is going to happen.  Yes, some treatments save lives, but the data clearly show prevention saves even more lives but we just don't see it because those people never get sick, and let's face it not getting sick is not sexy and doesn't generate any sympathy or newspaper headlines.  Trust me, the above graph is not a fluke, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure but that prevention never once said it will prevent 100% of anything.  Prevention says it lowers the risk of you getting seriously ill and dying, but again not 100%.  Statins prevent and reduce heart attacks but not all of them.  Anticoagulants prevent and reduce stroke in patients with Atrial Fibrillation, but not all of them.  Seat belts save lives, but if your car flies off the Dames Point Bridge the seat belt will not save your life, in fact, it might cause you to die.  So with that in mind do you refuse to wear a seat belt or refuse to drive over any bridges?

Contact List for Napa Valley California

Contacts to use for any upcoming trip to Napa Valley California. Feel free to contact them directly for appointments and visits. All are highly recommended.

Eric Tracy

Vine View Tours & Transportation

vineviewtours.com

eric@vineviewtours.com

707-337-3056

Drew Neiman

Neiman Cellars

drew@neimancellars.com

707-322-7478

Michael Meyers

Oxbow Cheese & Wine Mechant

Oxbow Market Napa CA

610 First Street, Napa CA 94559

www.oxbowcheese.com

michael@fpwm.com

707-819-6126

866-991-9400 toll-free

Scotti Stark

Stark Advantage

scotti@starkadvantage.com

707-628-7600

Justin Vazquez

General Manager Ellman Family Wines

justin@ellmanwine.com

707-312-2684

Patrick Quigley, Assistant Winemaker

Amulet Estate

patrick@amuletestate.com

509-844-2076

Billy Dewey Cellar Master

Dakota Shy

billy@dakotashwine.com

601-278-2126

Lydia Stafford

Morlet Family Vineyards

lydia@morletwines.com

707-967-8690 ext 105

Trefethen Family Vineyards

trefethen.com

707-255-7700


Aero Packing

Great shipping agent for Napa

They will accept your wine and ship it to your home

707-554-2088


Strala Vineyards

stralavineyards.com

707-339-2244


Theorem vineyards

theoremvineyards.com

Sequoia Grove Winery

Oscar Escareno

www.sequoiagorve.com

707-944-2945

California Dreaming, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Part 6

This will be the last installment of wine reviews from my California tasting trip.  It was a long journey at the time and has been an even longer journey writing all of this down.  As I finish this the next installment will be restaurant reviews for you and trust me there are some spectacular restaurants in San Francisco you need to visit.  Think movie theaters!

Scotti Stark with Stark Advantage Brokers. scotti@starkadvantage.com 707-628-7600

Scotti is an individual broker who works marketing and conducting tastings for up-and-coming new vineyards. He also makes his own wines in a very small production. We spent an afternoon with him in a secret wine storage facility surrounded by Screaming Eagle and Scarecrow tasting the following wines.

2019 Carte Blanche Chardonnay purchased one bottle for $65

Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast has rated 96 points by Galloni. Started with a light pear nose and on the taste had a good mouthfeel. Lots of pear in the taste. There was a mildly bitter taste on the finish that would go away with food. Good acid integration and balance

2018 Harumph Cabernet Purchased one bottle for $85

Made by Scotti had a soft sweet smelling nose. Plenty of fruit on the nose and taste. Velvet mouthfeel. Lots of tannins but balanced with good fruit. Not particularly complex but a basic Cabernet to drink now. Scotti also makes a Chardonnay under this label for $35. My tasting buddies ordered some sight and taste unseen and did not care for it so I cannot recommend it.

2014 Castellucci Rutherford Cabernet $95

Light color for a Cabernet. But did have good fruit on the nose. On the taste nice smooth tannins and a chocolate taste. A fair finish

2019 Patria Allen Price Cabernet $125 favorites

The vineyard is right next to Spottswoode. It had a good deep purple color. Lots of coffee on the nose with a velvet mouthfeel along with some licorice. Lots of good fruit, an OK finish.

2017 Greer Estate Cabernet $185

Allegedly called the “Napa Mouton”. The vineyard is in the same neighborhood as Scarecrow, Insignia, and Staglin. On the nose, I detected grass and pencil shavings or graphite. Had a good fruit taste and some mild oak detected? Plenty of acids would be food-friendly. Only a fair finish

Sequoia Grove with Oscar Escareno

Oscar has worked a lot of the vineyards over the years and now is a director at Sequoia Grove. We first met him years ago when he was with Beau Vignes. He is a great guy and can open a lot of doors for you in Napa. He put us onto Eric Tracy of Vine View Tours & Transportation vineviewtours.com, eric@vineviewtours.com 707-337-3056 who got us into some spectacular properties. Oscar won’t be able to help you for the next few months in that as we speak he is undergoing pituitary surgery in his brain. He is expecting a full recovery but will need some time.

2019 Los Carneros Chardonnay $45

Lots of apple/pear on the nose and taste. Some oak on the nose so a little over-oaked which did come through on the taste. Not a favorite

2018 Napa Merlot Winemaker Series $50

A nice chocolate and licorice nose and taste. One the taste dark chocolate was more predominate. Lots of tannins and young but balanced and good balance with the alcohol and acid.

2016 Reserve Cabernet $75

From the Rutherford ranch area. Also part of their winemaker series. Again lots of chocolate and in this case alcohol on the nose and taste. It had a fairly nice taste but nothing unique

2016 Stagecoach Cabernet $110

Allegedly 95 points by someone. Has a high alcohol concentration of 14.6%. I found it totally disjointed and cannot recommend it.

2016 Rutherford Tonella Vineyard Cabernet $115 favorite purchased 3 bottles

On the other hand, this one was a smooth classic Rutherford Cabernet with classic Rutherford “dust” on the taste. A nice chocolate taste and good acid and food-friendly. I was favorably impressed with the wine enough to buy some.

2017 Morisole Vineyard Rutherford $110 not released yet favorite purchased 3 bottles

This wine is to be released in the near future but we were able to highjack a few bottles. The vineyard is adjacent to the Scarecrow vineyard at a much lower price point. Has a complex nose and taste. Opens with a grassy smell that blows off. It was loaded with chocolate, cigar, smoke all pleasantly balanced. I really like it.

Dakota Shy

A small production operation and the last vineyard visit we did. Overall good wines but fairly high priced. They have a limited but loyal mailing list of customers who love the style.

2019 Napa Cabernet $95

Their least expensive wine from a few select hillside vineyards. Had an average Cab nose and along with the taste was a little tight and young. A fair amount of smoke was present. Had a somewhat complex profile in that I tasted sweet cherry which is unusual to me in a Cab.

2019 Oakville Ranch $195

This is pure Cab Franc which many like from the Oakville Ranch vineyard in the east hills of Oakville. To me, it was very alcoholic and the nose and taste had a heavy, complex tannin concentration butt to a degree you expect that with Cab Franc. It is clearly not my style but the wine was well made and would be a hit with Cab Franc fans.

2019 Social Currency Cabernet $250

Their marquee wine. Has a nice spicy floral nose and taste and clearly a velvet mount feel. Lots of sweet tannin and chocolate. Some if not all of the grapes come off Mount Veeder at an elevation of around 1800 feet and I do love Mount Veeder grapes. So overall a very good wine but a little expensive.

Others Misc

2017 Rivers Marie Bearwallow Vineyard Chardonnay winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown

Thomas River Brown is an up-and-coming winemaker, particularly in St. Helena. We met his Aunt and had a brief conversation with her. Some of the wine shops in St. Helena were raving about him and pushing his wines. This Chardonnay from the Anderson Valley had a lot of fruit and oak on the nose as well as taste. It was not overoaked however and was fairly well balanced. It was a little bitter on the finish.

2019 Sonoma Coast Hirsch Vineyard Chardonnay favorite purchased 6 bts $70

I have always thought Konnsgaurd was hard to find. Then I heard about this wine. I spent over 3 weeks looking for it and on the very last afternoon of my trip when visiting K&L Wine Merchants on Harrison Avenue in San Francisco I found 6 hidden bottles and bought all of them. I found out later they still had some so Robert Fallis bought some and I recommend you call them and see what they can give you. Frankly one of the best wines we drank on the trip. The nose and taste start with a complex flavor profile of pear, apple, and vanilla. The wine is fruit-forward but not in excess. On the taste, there is a hint of tart apple. The wine has a nice velvet mouthfeel. Food friendly with lots of acid but well balanced. Oak is light and not predominant. The finish is a nice long fruit finish. I have now drunk the wine 3 times and it continues to delight me and my description has not changed. It is as good as Konnsgaurd, Neiman, and White Burgundy Chardonnays in our opinion but our tasting buddies bought some on my recommendation and didn’t like it as much and want to sell me what they purchased. Their opinion was that it was a little “wimpy” but sometimes wimpy is good.