Hey Corkheads. I’m back from vacation.  Sigh. We headed east, starting in the Boston area and ending up in the tri-state glory of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Where else can you eat mouth-watering, Zagat-rated Peruvian chicken in one state and hop to another for a frozen salted caramel in a hip chocolate lounge?

Yes, we ate our way through these states, relishing in the restaurants of Boston’s Newbury Street and up-and-coming South End not to mention Washington, D.C.’s revitalized downtown. But we didn’t necessarily drink our way through these towns. Granted, we couldn’t hit every restaurant, and wine bars were scarce.

Nonetheless, two restaurants’ wine lists impressed me, and I wanted to pass them on to you. The Elephant Walk in the Brookline neighborhood of Boston showcased wines made for this restaurant’s aromatic and hypnotic French-Cambodian cuisine. For whites, the wine director went as far as to separate Rieslings into “crisp with minerals” and “fruit-driven and off-dry.” They separated Old World Sauvignon Blanc from its New World counterpart, and offered plenty of Alsatian and Austrian options. Red-wise, my favorite part of the list was that they separated Pinot Noir into Burgundy, California and cool climate Oregon and New Zealand. Comes in very handy if you want to experiment with a red wine and all those exotic, lemongrass-based  soups.

Alas, we were seduced by two 2006 whites imported exclusively for the Elephant Walk by J.L. Wolf in Pfalz Germany: the Riesling and Pinot Gris. Both showed beautiful stone fruit flavors with a silky texture and a long mineral finish.

In Washington, D.C., I really enjoyed perusing the progressive list at Clyde’s, a chain restaurant that caters to the government crowd and had a keen knowledge of California Pinot Noir. The location in the heart of Chinatown won me over with its reasonable mark ups. Some great Carneros buys.

One observation: I was asked to select the wine for a table of eight and after much deliberation (this always brings out the geek in me but also stresses me out a bit)  I went with a 2006 Saintsbury Pinot Noir, figuring its ample fruit and light to medium body will be a good accompaniment to my clam bake and my neighbor’s barbecued chicken sandwich. Anyway, when the wine arrived and I went through the usual drill of swirling it in the light, under my nose and in my mouth, I garnered a few giggles!

It reminded me that wine is so much a part of life here in northern California — the observation of it, the discussion of it and the enjoyment of it are weaved into our lives here. When we go away it’s a swift reminder of how it’s not the same elsewhere, and even how silly all those things can seem.