Agamemnon,
I wish I had gone to Burbank's historic gardens while I lived in California from 1988 to 2004. Perhaps I will some day.
I think you will have time to seed tomatoes if you find something of mine appealing. Funny you mention a 'wine friendly tomato' to accompany the wine.
When Green Zebra hit the trendy restaurants in California about 25 years ago, one of the things the chefs noticed was that Green Zebra's tangy zest would refresh the palate and make food and wine more immediately flavorful.
Something about the acidity would leave a clean tongue and palate whereas other varieties failed to do that. Green Zebra was a hit in leafy salads as a bite of Green Zebra and then a bite of the salad with the special vinaigrette would wow the customers at the famed
Chez Panisse Restaurant.
Alice Waters of the renowned
Chez Panisse restaurant chose '
Green Zebra' as one of her favorite varieties.
Therefore a Green Zebra derived large black plum may be in order...I have many combinations for this....allow me to look and peruse my writings.
Not a plum, but my Chadds Ford would be a nice black tomato to try that has a bit of Green Zebra in it but a whole lot of two strains of Black Brandywine in it.
But if I find a really good candidate that is stable enough for a large black plum tomato...I would like to call it
Santa Rosa Black Plum.
Coming up next month will be the 162th birthday of Luther
Burbank,
... The '
Santa Rosa'
plum was one of the best-known of his creations and it is still grown today.
I may just offer Agamemnon the only seed of this new variety besides myself and if he can get his girlfriend to grow just one plant of it near the Burbank Garden....how
ser
en·dip
i·tous·ly apropo!
Tom Wagner