 considered among the top producers in Marin County.
NV Blanc de Noir, Marin County. The only sparkling wine of the tasting, made from 100% Pinot Noir. Very light pink-salmon color, showing somewhat yeasty cherry and strawberry aromas, lighter-bodied with a clean finish.
2007 Pinot Noir, Estate, Marin County. Medium-light color, with high-toned black cherry and very spicy oak aromas (American oak?). On the palate, the acidity seemed harsh and the finish was rather short.
2006 Pinot Noir, Chileno Valley Vineyard. About 30% whole-cluster fermentation, all native yeast, no sulfur until before bottling. Medium-light color, ripe cherry with notes of spice and earthy funk. Good acidity and a moderately tannic finish.
Comments: Precedent is made by Thomas Fogarty associate winemaker Nathan Kandler.
2007 “Andromeda” Pinot Noir, Devil’s Gulch Ranch. A bit darker color than the ’06, with a more tangy cherry character and distinct clove notes. Bigger-bodied than the ’06, with more tannin on the finish.
Comments: These wines were both quite distinctive – at this point, I preferred the ’06 but the ’07 should develop nicely with more bottle age.
2006 Pinot Noir, Estate Grown, Marin County. Medium-light reddish-purple, some floral notes along with bright cherry, earth, and a touch of leather. Medium-bodied with very good acidity, there was some tartness and tannin on the finish.
2007 Pinot Noir, Estate Grown, Marin County. Medium-light purple color, the aromatics were more closed than on the ’06 wine, but displayed a bit riper fruit and some spice. Slightly more weight on the palate, and a rounder and smoother finish than the ’06.
Comments: Mary Stubbs told us that the 11-acre Stubbs Vineyard, planted in 1996, is the only certified organic vineyard in Marin County. The wine is made by Dan Goldfield.
2008 Pinot Noir, Skywalker Ranch. From 115, 828, 667, 777, and 23 clones, 40% new oak, about 14 months in barrel. Medium color, very pretty black cherry/raspberry and spice on nose, mouthfilling texture and very good balance, with a notably long finish.
Comments: The richest Pinot of the tasting, this had several people talking about it afterwards. The ’08 was from the first commercial crop from the vineyard, and it will be released this fall.
2006 Pinot Noir, Marin County. Medium-light color, slightly tart and spicy black cherry, medium-bodied with lively acidity, and a more tannic finish than most wines at the tasting.
Comments: I was impressed once again by David Vergari’s Pinots.
2007 Pinot Noir, Chileno Valley Vineyard. Medium-light color, bright cherry / raspberry with some earthy overtones. Fairly light-bodied, with a lively mouthfeel and medium finish.
Comments: I liked the ’07 better this year than I did last year – perhaps it just needed some bottle age. The ’98 was a great treat to taste.
2007 Pinot Noir, Marin County. A little Sonoma Mountain fruit blended in. Medium color, bright cherry / raspberry with a touch of vanilla/oak, lighter-bodied with lively acidity, the finish was a bit tart and short.
2008 Pinot Noir, Chileno Valley Vineyard. About 70% new oak, with around half of that being Polish oak. A little lighter in color, this had brighter fruit aromas of cranberry and strawberry, along with a pretty floral component and spicy oak undertones. A bit more weight in the mouth than the Marin County bottling, plus some tongue-tingling acidity and a little tannic bite on the finish.Eureka City Council discusses local drive-thru…
The Eureka City Council discussed drive-thrus in the city at this week’s regular meeting. (Eureka City Council meeting screenshot)
With 31 drive-thru operations within Eureka’s city limits, and four more fast food establishments with windows for car service in the works, the local city council discussed its options regarding businesses offering drive-thru service during Tuesday night’s regular meeting.
The discussion came after a report item from Eureka planner Kristen Goetz defining what constitutes a drive-thru and the options available for council consideration to regulate these.
“The first question is how do we define a drive-thru. Both the inland and the coastal portion of the city to find a drive-thru facility as you might expect, where customers obtain services without leaving their car. Although in the coastal zone we use the definition of ‘drive-in,’ ” Goetz said. “I have one more definition for you to help with tonight’s discussion, a ‘formula business’ (provides) a service such as an ATM or coffee or fast food where there’s a contract or other arrangement that requires the business to maintain maybe standardized services or menus, uniforms, the exterior facade of the structure and it causes the business to be substantially identical to some number of other businesses in a geographical area or even the entire United States.”
Fifteen of the existing 31 drive-thru businesses in Eureka are fast food establishments, with 11 of these 15 falling under the formula business definition. The city planner went on to explain that aside from fast food and coffee services, there are banks, car washes, and pharmacies with car-window service that can fall under one or both of the drive-thru and formula business models.
There are four drive-thru restaurants slated to be built in the city, one at the current site of Annie’s Cambodian restaurant, another at the Target parking lot that is waiting for a development permit from the California Coastal Commission, and two Starbucks locations along the U.S. Highway 101 corridor.
Options brought before the council include leaving regulations as they are, implementing a prohibition on drive-thrus or food drive-thrus, implementing restrictions on drive-thrus or granting permissions for drive-thrus.
Goetz pointed to what other cities have done to limit formula businesses and drive-thrus, referring to Arcata’s 2002 ordinance barring the quantity of formula restaurants and limiting drive-thrus to Valley West.
“At the time of its adoption, one of our Arcata’s planners endorsed the ordinance, saying it fulfilled several goals of the city’s comprehensive plan, which included reducing auto-dependent activity, protecting the community’s character, encouraging sustainable development, and fostering local investment in food establishments that meet local needs,” Goetz elaborated.
Looking at other examples from San Diego, Long Beach and Sebastopol, Goetz said reasons cited for pushing for a ban on drive-thrus include reducing emissions from idling vehicles, litter, noise pollution and improving walkability in commercial areas.
Points in favor of drive-thrus include providing service to folks with limited mobility, no-contact service during health emergencies such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The convenience, availability and familiarity with these businesses also helps attract travelers driving through the area. Seven establishments with drive-thrus were among Eureka’s top 100 sales tax producers in 2020.
“These establishments generated over $263,000 in revenue for the general fund,” Goetz pointed out.
During the discussion period, councilmember Kati Moulton expressed interest in restricting drive-thrus in Old Town and Henderson Center, though not along the Highway 101 corridor.
“I would not be in favor of restricting drive-thrus on the corridor. Eureka straddles a river of money and anything we can do to snag sales tax out of all the cars that go through every day, I’m generally in favor of that,” she said.
Councilmember Leslie Castellano said she is in favor of capping or disallowing new drive-thrus, especially food service ones. She also held off on accepting the argument that more drive-thrus would mean more sales tax revenue for the city.
“I honestly don’t think we have enough information to adequately assess whether we would make more tax revenue by allowing more restaurants. I really think that the statistics of the recent additions to the drive-thru environment have been made prior to the pandemic when things changed all over. I don’t think we have an adequate understanding of how that affects other businesses,” she said. “Making this decision saying that we’re going to bring more tax revenue into the city of Eureka based on this little bit of information is a bad idea.”
Councilmember Kim Bergel also spoke against allowing drive-thrus to go up in the Old Town and Henderson Center areas, but possibly allowing these to only go up in the north and south ends of the city’s stretch of Highway 101.
Following the council’s comments, staff said the council can hold a workshop and review information to provide further direction in the discussion.
“This is a really big and complicated topic and based on what we’ve heard here today, (Goetz) and I will bring back additional information so that we can further this conversation at a future time,” said city attorney Autumn Luna.
As the item was a report, no action was taken by the council.As promised in the last episode, we will start with Amazon Web Services security today. As this is large topic, I’ve decided to split