Wine Country and the City

We started yet another trip with a 6am flight to the napa valley. We had a brief layover in Denver before meeting our good friends Ryan and Becca McBroom in San Francisco. Now in our third trip to Napa we sailed through the rental car process and went straight to our waiting chariot, the Jeep Patriot.

We got on the road quickly but were all starving so we had to make a pit stop at the In and Out Burger on our way up the 101. It was the first time I’d had one of these famous burgers and it didn’t disappoint.

Chasing a bit of rain we headed north on 80 till we reached our hotel. Being a bit of a last minute trip this year, we didn’t have much time to plan lodging, so we stayed at a Best Western, “but its nice!”. As a wise old man once said “save your money for the wine”.

Our first stop on day one was to Silverado which we found was owned by the Walt Disney company. Their wines were fantastic and the tasting room was perched on top of a hillside, offering great views of the valley. Though the bottles were a bit pricy the tasting was on the house as we were “Lexus-type people”.

Frogs Leap was next on our list. We stopped in to revisit the battle ground that once claimed many lives - the dreaded Barrel Room a’ Doom and the legendary Stairs of Thermopylae. Surprisingly, no disasters occurred during this trip to Frog’s Leap. We took a few photos in the barrel room and enjoyed a brief barrel tasting of some blended Zin - and we went on our way!

We did take advantage of the local Wine Country mailers, which include several ads for wineries, many offering 2 comped tastings. This process brought us to Hagafen next. Like Elizabeth Spencer, Hagafen is a smaller tasting room with room for 20-30 at maximum. The wine was great and here we enjoyed first of many lighter Chardonnays - less power, clean, light, less oak - a bit more drinkable on a hot day - sort of Chardonnay. Had we been in the buying mood that morning I would likely have Hagafen in the collection today.

Elizabeth Spencer was next in line for a visit from the Raitheo-McBroom party. We had visited ES last year and enjoyed the wines. We have a 2007 Grenache that I wanted to ask about so we stopped in for a taste. Marshall the host was accommodating and shared the explanation for the Grenache being sold off site - a practice that they usually don’t endorse. 5-7 years ago the owner’s received a free load of Grenache from a neighboring grower, with the condition that they would offer the grapes for free, but ask for a share of the bottle profits. ES agreed, made the wine and sold it - but since it wasn’t a typical ES varietal, they did sell them off site - which is why we could find one at the Schnucks in Des Peres, Mo.

Ceja [SAY-ha] was next on the list. Ceja is located in downtown Napa and while their tasting room is tucked away and unassuming, the wines were amazing. Everything on their list was wonderful, but the Chardonnay had to come home with us. This was the second winery that was poring a softer lighter oaked Chard. Of course, the story of how this emerging winery got its start set the stage and made for the best pairing to the wine. They were the second to pour Roussanne - which if you have ever had Gewurztraminer - you will come to find Roussanne is nothing like it, or so they say.

Dinner the first night was a little interesting. We had never been in Napa in the busy October Harvest season, so we have never had much trouble catching reservations for dinner. This trip required a bit more strategy to catch a table. After calling Ad Hoc and a few others, we decided to split up and reserve at several places at once. Ryan was sent to Redd and I stopped in to Bouchon. Surprisingly, both had openings right at that moment. Bouchon won out, and we dined on Gigot d’Agneau [Lamb]  , Truite au Chou-Fleur [Trout],  & Steak au Poivre [Rib-eye].

Not bad for the first day.

We started the next day in the valley with a quick breakfast and a stop into Caymus Vineyards. I’ve heard so many good things about Caymus that I was really looking forward to the stop. We happened to be the first 4 into the tasting room that morning and got a good start with some great Cabernet. However, the room quickly became packed as a bus load dropped just as we were getting our second pour. At this point we could have easily walked and been forgotten forever, but we stayed, paid and took our tasting on the road.

We had a while until our next scheduled tasting so we thought we would consult the napa guide for our next stop. Turnbull was offering tasting for 4, so we obliged and headed that way. Turnbull has great grounds and their wines were just fine, but nothing stood out to us, so we bought a few glasses to commemorate the event and moved on. Having just gotten $80 in tastings for free, I felt compelled to at least pick up a few stems for the road.

Our next stop was a bit complex. Oakville Ranch was offering tasting for 4 to “Lexus Type People” and we were looking forward to it -but we had no idea where it was. We went to the wrong place before calling to confirm - and were basically directed to “the massive house at the top of the hill” - “sounds good” we said. After 10-15 minutes of switchbacks up the hill we arrived at the Oakville Estate - no tasting room, no tourists… this was the owners home. We were met and taken to the back porch which had amazing views overlooking Napa - and of course we were poured some Chardonnay - full glasses of course. Salute.  We were so impressed with their hospitality that we all left with new bottles for our collections.

We’ve had a few bottles of Honig Sauv Blanc in restaurants and they’ve always been fair so I wanted to get some from the source. And, since they love “Lexus-Type People”, we made it our next stop. We tasted out on the back patio and enjoyed a few great whites and some fair reds before signing up to adopt a bottle of Sauv Blanc. The Georgia Peach that poured the wines wasn’t bad either. Go Bulldogs.

Last on the schedule for Friday was a tasting at Ma(i)sonry. This tasting room / art gallery was a wonderful last stop as the tasting was slow, relaxed and there was plenty to look at in between rounds. We did love the wines and took home a Syrah when all was said and done. Our host, Blake, was an interesting fella, and made a fine recommendation to eat at Cuvee after the tasting.

After squaring up at  Ma(i)sonry we headed to Cuvee so we could unwind and catch the Cardinals sneak by the Phillies 1 - 0. Dinner was amazing with dishes of scallops, chicken and hanging tenders hitting the table. After dinner we were able to declare day 2 a complete success and headed back to the hotel for a soak in the hot tub and a good nights rest.

We awoke on the third day excited about our line up for the day. First up was a visit to St. Supery, which we’d planned on visiting since our very first trip. We arrived and were happy to see our names on the reservation list - they were happy to have “Ray” McBroom and his guests, I’m sure.  Our first tasting, which was for “Lexus-Type People” (and also where that phrase come from) was a fun one. The host was a big of a showman as he slid our pours across the table like a 22 year old barkeep from long island. After a few tricks and a few great whites we collected a Dollarhide (their newest territory and higher-tier vineyards) Sauv Blanc and scuttled off to Peju.

Peju has a great tasting room and grounds - and some nice wines as well! What overshadowed both, shockingly, was the host who was easily 60+ and rapped about each wine pour… seriously, rapped like a young angst ridden marshal mathers … peep this homie [not our video, by the way]. Bottom line, however, was that the tasting was free for LTP’s and we put the $40 saved into a bottle of Merlot [with a Petite Verdot kicker] Great bottle.

Lunch time! We’d been recommended to Gott’s Roadside diner and since we loved Gott’s wines we were sure to love Gott’s food. Sure enough it was amazing. Even now, I would consider it the best lunch stop we’ve had in the valley - I recommend the Wisconsin Burger.

Our next stop was to our personal favorite - Grgich Hills. We joined Grgich on our first trip and have enjoyed visits and shipments ever since. Here we tasted current releases, but also some of their Yountville Cab, Caneros Chardonnay, and some of the Violetta late harvest. That was just the start - after the tasting, we were taken into the library where we were shown bottles of the 73s that beat the french in the famous Judgement of Paris, as well as a few other special bottles hidden away. Our host, John was incredibly accommodating and took us on a tour of the vineyards and even arranged a stomp for us the following day. We purchased a 2005 Yountville Cabernet to complete our ‘03-’06 vertical and were on our way!

Our next stop was a bit of an O.One - we thought we might try to crash in on Far Niente, but they would have nothing of it. They were happy to share with us that they were booked through November and even for the LTP’s that we were, we were shooed away as though Hans himself had been working that day. So…

We decided to make a stop at Beringer. Despite their reputation for being a wine factory, Beringer has some amazing wines. Their Special Reserve 2004 Cab is still among my favorites of all time, so I was excited to hear their 2007 was several points higher in the rankings. We walked the expansive grounds for quite some time before reaching their reserve tasting room where we samples Chardonnay, and several impressive Cabs. While I can’t say that the ‘07 beat the 2004, it was a great bottle and had I not done some damage at Grgich Hills a few hours prior, I may have taken a bottle home.

Our dinner spot for the night, Oenotri, came very highly recommended, but really fell short of expectations. While my Ravioli dish was fine, they didn’t handle Gluten Free very well, the Squab dish was lukewarm, the monkfish was so-so.. and generally things just didn’t impress. Ultimately, it wasn’t great, but it was nothing a good Chardonnay doesn’t fix. After dinner we headed back to the hotel “downtown” and were off to bed. Great third day.

Our fourth and final day in the valley was kicked off with a trip back to Grgich to stomp grapes. We were pretty excited to stomp and were even more so when we got to try the  2008 Essence Sauvignon Blanc during the stomp. the morning was pretty cold, and those grapes weren’t any warmer so we came to find that this stomp of ours was no picnic. We did get to smash around and got some great photos - and even some shirts as well. We’re now proud to say we’ve all stomped at Grgich Hills.

We decided to head back to Frog’s Leap to have a full tasting. The wedding from the day before had gone, and the place was back to the quiet vista that we’ve come to expect. Though tastings were a bit pricier, we enjoyed the Zin that we’ve come to associate with Frog’s Leap. we took a few great pictures and decided to head out to lunch and sadly, back to SFO to return the loyal Patriot.

We ate lunch at Mustard’s Grill which was really impressive. Plates of Chicken, Lamb and Fish hit the table and were quickly consumed. After lunch we decided to pack in one last taste at Domain Chandon. We got in a quick member’s tasting of some of their more recent Cuvees. While Chandon was as busy as they usually are, we enjoyed one last shot of life before heading back.

After Chandon, we packed into the Patriot one last time to make the drive back to SFO. We weren’t aware it was Fleet Week in San Francisco, so the drive back took about 2 hours. Even with Ryan “Giving it the Beans!” the poor Patriot doesn’t have what it takes to compete against 200 cars packed in 8 lanes wide. Upon arriving at SFO, we dropped the Patriot and got to our flight in plenty of time. We had a connection in Vegas where we grabbed a brief dinner before piling on to the flight home. Most things arrived home safely. One Turnbull glass bit it on the way back…and one Chandon Glass busted in my suitcase.

So there were a few scrapes traveling home, but once again, nothing a little Chardonnay won’t fix.

Our second venture to the Napa Valley began at 4AM on Friday March 20. We hurried to Lambert Airport to catch our 6:15 Southwest Airlines flight that would take us to our connecting flight in Phoenix. Like last year, we would be traveling with friends Ryan and Becca McBroom. After a brief layover in Phoenix we were off to San Francisco. Renting a car took a little longer than usually despite our Gold Member privileges because the agent wouldn’t stop trying to push the Altima on everyone.

Our drive into Napa was a much better drive this year as we went up the 101, it was sunny and the scenery was a much better backdrop than we saw when driving into Santa Rosa in ‘07. We stopped at a quick lunch along the way- excited and eager to get into Napa. We can also attribute the pleasantness of the drive to the excellent soundtrack prepared by Ryan or perhaps that we were driving in the Edge …. The Edge which never dulls….

Arriving at our hotel, we were very impressed with the accommodations and the grounds were more than we expected. Our rooms were more than enough -with two LCD TV’s, a wet bar, fridge, and extra vanity. As a bonus, this hotel was only a short drive from Napa making the morning and evening commute very easy.

After getting our rooms settled we started off for the wineries. The sun was shining and the temperature was just over 60 degrees making this a great first day in the valley. Little did we know the tragedies that would befall us this day. We decided to start at Gigich Hills as this was one of our favorites from 2007. Jennie and I are members there so we were able to taste a few great wines in the Club Salon. Most notable was the 2004 Yountville Cabernet, a wine that Jennie and I have an ’03.

The next winery we went to was Frog’s Leap, a beautiful winery with a very eco friendly demeanor and style. It is here that first blood was drawn. We sampled some great wines before walking around the grounds – and at one point we were invited into the barrel room. “Have Fun!” they told us… “look around” … “enjoy yourself” … these were their suggestions. Jennie, however – heard “please try to climb a few stairs and see how far you can fall”. Glasses broke. Arms were cut. Not since the mighty Lionidous defended the gap at Thermopylae has so much blood been shed. But we got it cleaned up and patched and after an hour Jennie was feeling just like new.      

Next on our visit was a tasting at Domaine Chandon which produces sparkling wines. We had a great time there and were treated very generously by our hostess Mary. We decided to join the club and will now be the proud recipients of 2-3 bottles of sparkling wine every other month. She even invited us to the Red Hen Cantina – a local dive Mexican joint – which we passed on…that night.

We tried to visit a few other wineries that afternoon but many were closed [Groth, Plumpjack]. So we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.For Dinner we ate at a restaurant called Uva Trattoria. This was a nice little Italian Restaurant located in Napa and was a great 1st night location for dinner. There was a decent band playing and we were able to get great dishes of ravioli, duck and risotto.

After dinner and a few bottles - we left for the hotel and a good nights rest. There would be much to do tomorrow…

We started Saturday with breakfast at the Embassy Suites. This was a great way to start as there was plenty of “Eggs. Potatoes? Bacon? Sausage?” We planned the day and decided that we would start with a tour of the Casetllo di Amorosa.

We got to the castle and were greeted by our tour guide Joshua. Joshua seemed a little too defensive of a few of the groups questions – but other than that he ran us though the tour and took us through a decent tasting of quite a few wines. The better part of the tour was when Joshua passed us off to Lance – another guide – to take us for our requested barrel tasting. Lance took us into the great room of the castle and we each sampled some wine straight from the barrel. It wasn’t any good as it was still very early in the aging process, but it was still a fun experience. Adding another perk to the tour, Lance took us up to a private apartment on the grounds and even up to a lookout tower high above the grounds. This was a really interesting to see special “behind the scenes” parts of the castle and a beautiful view from the tower.

The next winery on our stop was Chateau Montelena which was a producer of one of the winning wines from the Judgment of Paris back in 1976. While the wines were pretty good – and Ryan found a magnum of petite syrah for the right price – the overall atmosphere of the place was a little more… calculated… than Jennie and I have come to enjoy. So we headed over to Charles Krug – a winery that was much more our speed. We even tasted some Pinot Noir [masquerading as a Zin] along-side the mom from Little People Big World. But before we were offered that pleasure we had to ensure the hard sell from a squab farmer from Puerto Rico. This particular gentleman considered it his mission in life to ensure that I knew all there is to know about the preparation of squab.

After Krug we made a trip to V. Sattui Winery where we sampled a few wines but most notably the Madeira. This Madeira drinks like a port. Ryan and Becca brought home 2 of these, and a third went home with us. This was just what we needed to get prepped for our dinner at the Culinary Institute of America.

Dinner at the CIA was truly fantastic and we were treated to oysters, salad, lamb chops, mussels, ice cream, chocolate desserts and more. We had an amazing time and once the few bottles of Sauv Blanc and Syrah popped that we were soon telling stories of Focker the pot head. Taking things to the next level we added a soundtrack on the drive home – one hand selected by Mr. McBroom himself “a selection of symphonic melodies so rare that they be reserved for good times only … oh no … great times.”

We laughed all the way home - and at one point we even shared some of the audio samplings with Jack the Jean Shorts Cyclist – may he never ever forget the words to “Alone” by Heart again.

We started Sunday with another breakfast at the Embassy and then got a quick start off to Plumpjack. There weren’t a whole lot of people up and out at the wineries that early in the morning so we received exclusive treatment at Plumpjack. This winery came very highly recommended by several friends and the tastings made good on that recommendation.

Next on our list was a visit to Robert Mondavi which I considered a pleasant surprise. Our past experiences with large volume wineries have always been that of a tourist attraction and less of a winery. Mondavi was beautiful, accommodating and even took us to their private tasting room to try some of their reserve selections. Of course some skillful release of our affiliations with the trade went a long way.

After Mondavi, we went to Stag’s Leap Winery which was the other half of the winning team of wines versus the French in ’76. Stag’s Leap served some really amazing cabernet and their staff was warm to us since we were able to order some of their wines through Southwest Wine and Spirits. Elizabeth Spencer was another nice winery that we visited – but they did not care for folks in the trade at all. Here is where we met up with a friend of ours who lives in San Francisco.

Our next stop was at Grgich Hills for a private tasting in their Reserve Tasting Room. This was a lot of fun and though we were only tasting the current release wines – it was made a bit better because we were served by none other than Hank “I like my cabs to kick me in the face” from our first trip in 2007. Just like before, Hank was as excited to drink the wines as we were. After some talking Ryan decided to buy 1 of 2 remaining ’99 Yountville Cabs – much to Hanks surprise. I came only for the Violetta, and after a few more tastings, we scurried outta Grgich before they got any other ‘car payments’ out of us.

We shot over to Frank Family Vineyards and had a decent time tasting there, although it wasn’t the highest on our list. We then decided to head back to Domaine Chandon – members after all – and sample some of the other flights that missed our lists the day before. At that point we decided it was time to make our way to the Red Hen Cantina and brave the local Mexican scene. It was a nice change of pace and though it wasn’t outstanding - it was enough to wind down form a very busy day.

Tomorrow would be a long day in Sonoma…

We had another great breakfast at the Embassy before starting out for the Sonoma area. We’d not had the chance to get into this area during our last trip so we were pretty eager to get going this morning.

We started our Sonoma trip with Chateau St. Jean. This winery was built on a beautiful hillside and included very expansive grounds that made for great photos. The wines were very good and though we did get carded here -

The staff was friendly and Sonya was well versed in the expectations of those in the trade. We went to Kunde next which was also very nice – and recommended the next winery we visited – Imagery.

Imagery was a great place to visit because they had a custom art gallery of all their labels; and that they were offering a barrel tasting. We toured the gallery and saw many wonderful art pieces, but we were most excited to taste some “good” wine from the barrel.

Our next visits were to Cline and Arrowood which were both very laid back and excited to share their wines with us. Arrowood actually served a very good Pinot Blanc which Becca and Ryan took home. We next headed to Ravenswood which was almost ready to close. We snuck in just before the doors shut and sampled THE Sonoma Zinfandel. It didn’t let us down and we were able to take some glasses with us as mementos. Ravenswood is defiantly a must-stop shop if you are in the Sonoma area.

For dinner we went to a recommended French restaurant in Yountville called Bistro Jeanty. Their menu was full of interesting choices and though I didn’t try it, Ryan was able to procure some bone marrow. The rest of the dinner was very nice and was the right punctuation to the end of the evening.   

Tuesday morning finally came and we prepared to head out to the airport. After one last round on the breakfast potatoes we packed the rooms and got into the Edge one last time. We made the trip to San Francisco and had lunch at a very good sushi restaurant called Ozumo. Also an interesting menu – Ryan was finally able to try some uni [sea urchin].

We then drove to the airport where some last minute scrambles began. As we were shipping some wine back with us, we tried to take the necessary precautions in packing the bottles properly – but were brutally rebuffed when the bagging clerk denied Jennies packing weight and McBrooms’ bottle packing. The packages had to be reopened, repacked, cash changed hands; stress levels were on the rise as the lines behind us lengthened. After this last minutes scare, we were off to the security checkpoint where it was time to part ways. I was staying behind to attend a conference in San Francisco. Ultimately, all travelers and wines arrived back in St. Louis safely. We are now looking forward to our next trip to valley and the good time that it will bring… oh no…great times.

Today we flew into the San Francisco airport, arriving at 12:30. We were traveling with our friends Ryan and Rebecca McBroom. We picked up the Explorer from Enterprise and headed out to Napa [while keeping the knob on Bob]. We checked into our Hotel – the Hilton Sonoma. We got into our room and got ready for dinner.

We set out on our trek to find a highly recommended restaurant named Auberge du Soleil. Unfortunately, the directions given were not exactly clear; and the claims from friends that “Santa Rosa is close to Wine Country” were not exactly accurate. So, after a 90 minute drive and many, many, u-turns we found the restaurant. There was a fantastic view, and the dinner was amazing. Five course meals were offered starting with a small welcome from the chef: a strawberry fig mix with melon soup. We happily accepted the fig n’ soup, since the meals topped out at $90.00 per plate. We ordered a modest Syrah. Broiled lobster followed, mine came out a little hairy. Next was the risotto for Jennie and the Halibut for me. Jennie and Ryan claim it was the most delicious risotto they have ever had. The next course to arrive was the braised lamb. I thought it was some of the best lamb I have ever had. Following the main course, dessert arrived. Jennie and Ryan ordered a chocolate piece, Becca and I opted for the peaches…once again, the best I have ever had. By this point we had ordered another bottle of wine and were having a great time on our first night in the valley.