Dark and Delicious - an Evening of Indulgence

I've been a fan of Petite Sirah for some time. I live 5 miles from Concannon Vineyards, the historic family-owned winery that in 1961 was the first to release Petite Sirah as a single varietal, after using it as a minor blend for years. I'd heard of the Dark and Delicious Fest but last year I didn't manage to get there. I like to take BART going out of Pleasanton and the logistics were difficult. When my friend Tom Merle emailed that he had tickets all I needed was a ride and I was going. Fortunately my friend Carol offered to drive when I told her I had a ticket for her, so finally I was going to enjoy an evening of Petite Sirah and food pairing indulgence. It's good to have friends who share your interests.

We cruised out of Pleasanton and encountered only light traffic. I was thrilled about that as 880 can be the worst in the evenings. Before long we reached our exit and after negotiating the streets of Oakland we emerged from the Webster Tube and made our way through the Alameda Naval Station, past sorry looking empty base housing, to the Rock Wall Wine Company. While Carol drove I played navigator, which as easy as I had watched an in car video on Youtube provided by the organizers and Carols car had a GPS. The venue is an airplane hanger. A really large airplane hanger. It was quite a sight, like from a Scifi movie about aliens at Area 51, as it loomed up in the darkness, abandoned runways, behind and people filing in. The view of San Francisco skyline glimmering across the bay made it even more surreal.