I left my heart in San Francisco! - day 3

Day 3
So here we are heading to the beautiful Dry Creek Valley, armed with the following
Map of the Dry Creek Valley that has bee downloaded from http://www.wdcv.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=3
Our excitement and enthusiasm for wine tasting
Wisdom of all of the Chowhounds who have been to the region and provided the scoop on what’s good and where.
What we did not realize was the following
All of the wines were ridiculously over priced. I want to clarify something here: I am not a cheap skate. I will gladly pay if I believe that the product is worth it. Drinking and appreciating wine is an important part of my life. It is perhaps one of the last shreds of easy lifestyle I enjoyed for so long. Now it’s gone, but I am desperately holding on to my wine drinking habit (the other remnant of the day is my expensive Wall Street Journal subscription which I won’t give up even if I have to pick up my turkey from the local food pantry).
I sniff, examine the color and enjoy various imaginary fruits and notes. I say “blackberries on the nose”. I even buy wine by the case sometimes. However, paying $40 a bottle for a Zin that is barely passable is beyond me. The way I see the breakdown of this price: $5.00- wine, $35- setting and ambiance that ultimately suckers wine- lovers into buying whatever is put in front of them.
We stopped at the following:
Hawley- actually we did not taste the wine there because we didn’t even have a chance to get to the tasting room. As we were driving up the road, we saw the sign that clearly pointed to the small side street winding up the hill. We almost made that right turn, but something told us that perhaps it’s better to ask 1st. I saw a “native” who stopped to pick up her mail from the mailbox at the cross-roads and hurried to her to ask about the tasting room. She practically attacked me with a long and irritated speech about how sick everyone who lives along this road is of this vineyard. In fact, there is not even a tasting room there and the sign we saw was misleading. Apparently, “many people got hurt on this road” and native occupants don’t want to “be liable for that”. I promised not to drive up that road and hastily retreated. One thing for sure: it is indeed very strange that this woman who lives in such gorgeous surroundings can be so bitter. If I lived there, I would be running through the fields singing the opening song from the “Sounds of Music” all day long.
Our next stop was Quivira vineyard. The wines produced there are agriculturally sustainable and biodynamic. They’re also very pricey and fairly good. I personally am interested only in reds, and don’t like when the person who pours tries to force me into drinking some sort of Chard they happen to push today, which is what happened at Quivira. Most of all, I was sour about the fact that with our new financial situation I can’t buy anything here. Or anywhere, as it turned out. Vineyard after vineyard we went, feeling increasingly sorry for ourselves and for our empty wallets. Rita was also upset that she didn’t get to try any wines and kept pouting in the corner.
Lambert Bridge: did not taste anything because there were too many people waiting their turn and the flight of 5 wines was over $10.
Passalaqua: did not like anything
Dry Creek Vineyard: we tasted several Cabs and Zins. The best one was 2003 Meritage (award-winning Bordeaux blend) Excellent wines, but again, very overpriced. I found the same wines at around $20 at my local Binny’s Beverage Depot.
Needless to say, we left Dry Creek Valley rather earlier than expected. On the way back to SF we stopped at Muir Woods- it was truly the highlight of our trip. Majestic redwood forests made me temporarily forget about our worries and for the 1st time since the beginning of this trip I was able to breathe deeply and enjoy the forest. Awesome!
We also stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts (just 7 minutes away from Muir Woods) and took some great pictures.
For dinner we went to Pakistani-Indian place, called Shalimar on Polk street (between Post and California). The food here is truly one of the best I’ve tried either in India or outside. Check out reviews here http://sfsurvey.com/rd.asp?r=970 They’re BYOB and won’t open the bottle but will gladly provide the cups or glasses, depending on what’s available. I highly recommend everything on the menu, but if you have to choose, try Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Chops, or Palak Paneer. I did not try a lot of vegetarian dishes there, since I know that Pakistani cuisine is really big on meat, so that’s what I usually get in these places. The prices there are amazing (cheap!) and service is great. It is also Zagat rated. My kind of place, overall. We also picked up a bottle of Zin from Mazzocco Vineyard. We visited it earlier that day and were told that their Zins (2005) is only sold through their tasting room and is a steal at $38. The price we paid at Whole Foods was…. $10.99. This just shows the importance of ambiance. The wine was very good, though.