We kept very busy with graduations, and this one could have been with the two boys out in Vegas, but her family moved back to the old stomping grounds.  It was kind of hit or miss, with school transcripts, but everything worked out, and we got to see her graduate in the sweltering heat, and thank God, a school organization was selling ice-cold water for one dollar. So, it was wonderful for us to see her in cap and gown with all the pomp and circumstance (but they don’t play that march anymore). Only one grandchild was deprived his senior year and all of the glory, and that was when our governor wanted people if they had to go swimming, that they must wear a cloth mask.

With the big move from Vegas back to here, everything was rather impromptu, and that is totally understandable.  We offered to take everyone out for dinner to celebrate, but our son wanted to have a gathering at their new house.  He went one way to get some carry-out dishes, so we went to get some wine to celebrate, and we also picked up some shrimp and some other munchies.  There was a limited selection, and I couldn’t resist getting a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola “Sofia” Rosé Monterey County 2024; since that is our granddaughter’s name.  The same Francis Ford Coppola, whose middle name is Ford, for Henry Ford, when his father was a musician in the Detroit Symphany Orchestra and is known for some spectacular films, and somewhere I am have even been photographed next to a famous desk that was in the introduction of, I think his greatest film.  While he still has the Inglenook Estate, this part of his wine making venture was sold to Delicato Family Wines in 2021. Delicato Family Wines has been family owned and operated since 1924 and last year they celebrated their hundredth anniversary.  It began with Gaspare Indelicato, an emigrant from Sicily, who planted the first vines for his estate, and now the fourth generation is still part of his dream. The fruit for this wine was grown in Monterey County and is a blend of Pinot Noir, Grenache and Syrah.  To achieve the signature salmon-pink hue, the grapes are held in the press for one day, until the juice has its own unique color to add to the total blend.  The wine undergoes fermentation in cool temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tanks and then is aged for one month in oak barrels.  The salmon-pink colored wine offered notes of strawberries, blood oranges, roses and spices.  On the palate this light-bodied wine displayed tones of cherries, strawberries and tangerines with good acidity and a short -count finish of fruit, tea and traces of flint.

While we were shopping, I also grabbed a bottle of Sieur d’Arques Saint-Hilaire Blanquette de Limoux Methode Traditionelle 2021.  Limoux is in the Languedoc wine region and wine was introduced to the area by the Greeks in the 5^th Century BC, but it was in 1531 when the Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Saint Hilaire, a town near Limoux allegedly produced the first sparkling wine.  The claim of the sparkling wine discovery has proponents in Champagne that argue who was first and that is not for me to decide (thank God).  The Lord of the region at the time, the Sieur d’Arques was a huge fan of this wine and the local wine growers decided to rename their winery after him.  The AOC Blanquette de Limoux is the first AOC in the Languedoc and one of the first appellations in France.  The association of wine growers created the Société des Producteurs de Blanquette de Limoux in 1946 and in the 1990’s changed the name to Sieur d’Arques.  The Traditional Method, which has a second fermentation in the bottle is used for the Blanquette de Limoux wines.  Blanquette is a local name for the Mauzac grape variety, and to confuse matters three other local varieties are also known as Blanquette and they have nothing to do with this famed wine.  Originally by regulation this wine was totally Mauzac, but lately the regulation has been softened to appeal to new generations of wine drinkers, and the wine must be ninety percent Mauzac and the balance can be Chardonnay and/or Chenin Blanc.  The grape is known for its high acidity and low alcohol and delivers flavors of honey and green apples.  We left before this bottle was opened, as there were more people coming to celebrate.