Bottle Shock

And so it ends. I post this from Philly, more than 24 hours after returning home and already having spent Monday recovering from an all-night flight and Tuesday putting in a day of work (and am I still high from too much wine, or did I just discuss Aqua Teen Hunger Force with Patti Smith?).

Anyway, Sunday began with a visit to church. No, we weren't in a rush to be forgiven. It's just that San Francisco is home to the Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church, a small storefront church in a fairly new home in the Fillmore Jazz District (after I snapped this, they asked that we not take photos, so this is all you get). The church has been going since 1971, founded by a couple who underwent a spiritual conversion after seeing Trane perform in 1965. Every Sunday they hold services through music, the liturgy set to "A Love Supreme" (among others - they were just launching into "Impressions" as we were leaving). It's wall-to-wall music with an open invitation to bring your own. We stayed for about 90 minutes of the promised 3-hour service, and at any moment there were up to six saxophonists up there (including the archbishop and co-founder, Franzo King, along with his son and grandson), plus the rhythm section, five singers, and a pair of old-hippie tap dancers. Plus there were tambourines readily available for anyone to pick up and play along. It was quite an experience, the music being overwhelming - a holy blower church. You could see how someone could be spiritually moved. The playing rarely moved beyond amateur Coltrane imitations, but it was heartfelt and powerful. This makes the second vacation involving church services for us (the first being Al Green's church in Memphis, though the Rev was regrettably absent that day). I'm still a determined atheist, but I've enjoyed listening in.

At this point we had something like ten hours before our flight and thanks to a confluence of circumstances - a check that hadn't arrived when expected, another cashed before we'd hoped - we were, effectively, broke. San Fran isn't the best place to be without money, so we just wandered a bit, first checking out the Castro District, the pioneering gay neighborhood, and Haight-Ashbury, the pioneering get-high-and-ask-for-change neighborhood. Here's Jenn standing at that famed corner:

We then headed up to Russian Hill, where we'd found a good, cheap meal a few days earlier at Polker's Gourmet Burgers, and grabbed a quick Indian buffet before calling it a trip and heading for the airport. Probably a good thing we were broke, as the airport's wine store (yeah, they have 'em everywhere) stocked some good names and we may have wound up carrying home a few extra.

Then an overnight flight, with me sleeping for most and Jenn taking in Blades of Glory (with sound this time) on the first leg and finally passing out after a McDonald's breakfast at O'Hare on the Chicago-Philly flight. We touched ground at 10am local time, tired and poor but carting three cases of wine (with one more on the way).

All in all, a fantastic trip. We had fun, tasted some phenomenal wine, and enjoyed fantastic weather (though apparently there was an earthquake in San Fran during that time, but very small and we were up in Napa then anyway). As for that weather: when we woke up on Thursday, it was slightly grey and overcast and was very lightly raining - barely a mist. By noon it was sunny and 80 again, with no evident there had ever been any adverse conditions. But all anyone at the wineries could talk about for the next two days was the rain - "Were you here for the rain?" they all asked. That's how consistently beautiful it is out there.

Thanks for following along on the blog. Not sure what will become of this page now, though it will certainly be reactivated the next time we journey for vino. It may become an occasional personal blog for Jenn and I, may not - we'll see. In the meantime, check it out in a few days and I'll post a link to a Flickr account with even more pics from the trip.

Cheers.

Hitch Hike

Here we are doing our best Tippi Hedren impressions at the former Potter Schoolhouse in Bodega, CA. Bodega Bay is a tiny but picturesque little area (seems to be the Down The Shore for Napa-ites) where Alfred Hitchcock set The Birds. In the film it's made to look like this school is just up the hill from the bay, but in fact it's about eight miles inland in the actual town of Bodega. It closed as a school the year before the film was shot, and now is a private residence but they've opened a gift shop with all manner of Birds (and birds)-related ephemera in a part of the schoolroom featured in the film.

For our first day not begun by drinking in quite a while, we headed straight west to see the schoolhouse and resume our Hitchcock-related sightseeing. The Birds has special relevance; my mom saw it when she was 12 years old and has retained a mortal fear of our avian friends ever since. This one's for you, mom.

We then headed down to Bodega Bay itself and visited the Tides Wharf. The Tides restaurant is the hub of BB, but the original burned down in 1968 - in fact, the schoolhouse is the only remaining location from the film.

Turning out of the Tides parking lot you pick up Route 1, which is the scenic and nerve-wracking Pacific Coast Highway. We (well, Jenn, let's give credit where credit is due) drove the PCH down to SF. It's full of the types of views for which people dust off the word "majestic", and is an endless, winding mountainside drive down narrow roads with a huge, sheer drop off the side. But just check out this scenery:

We had originally planned a stop at Muir Woods National Monument, a midsized redwood forest just north of SF - Jenn wanted to see some redwoods, and coincidentally, to stick with today's theme, it's the setting (though not the actual location) for the redwood park scene in Vertigo. A word of advice: don't plan a trip to Muir Woods National Monument on a July weekend. The place was thronged, with two parking lots full and cars lining the approach road for miles on either side. We gave up and decided to just head for the city - the PCH had Jenn stressed enough without cruising for parking for who knows how long.

But with our entry into SF, we finally got what we'd been hoping for last week: a fog-free view of the Golden Gate Bridge:


There are, of course, about a hundred other pictures of the bridge, but I won't bore you with them here. (I'll stick 'em all in a Flickr file when we get back.) That large stone building under the bridge is Fort Point, and that is of course the site where Kim Novak jumped into the bay in Vertigo. Thus concludes the Hitchcock tour.

But, having just learned that George Lucas had opened a new digital arts complex in the nearby Presidio (and having neglected to bring back that Skywalker Ranch Merlot for Shawn and Jen), we stopped by and got a shot of the Lucasfilm/ILM headquarters. Here ya go, A-3ers:
We have a few other pics of the Yoda fountain and the Boba Fett and Darth Vader costumes/statues (not sure which) in the lobby that we'll get to you when we get back.

After checking back into the El Rancho and grabbing a quick bite at the local diner, we headed back into the city to Slim's, where we had tix for the second of two sold-out Melvins shows. Last night they were performing ther albums Lysol and Eggnog in their entirety with Trevor Dunn on bass. Incredible show, though way too heavy and loud and heavy for Jenn, who had this expression on her face like a wounded animal throughout. It was intense. So here's a shoddy phone-shot pick of King Buzzo and his unnatural fern-fro:

A Farewell to Grapes

Feeling renewed after yesterday's lighter tasting day and early turn-in after a phenomenal meal, we headed out for our final full day in wine country. We kicked it off with a long drive up to the northwest corner of Sonoma, the Dry Creek Valley, where Francis Coppola has opened his new winery dedicated to his standard line of more widely-distributed wines. It's also supposed to be (note the frustrated tone there) where his movie memorabilia now resides. Technically, it does reside there, but crated away until they can create a permanent home for it. For now, it's in transition, which just means we have bad timing and don't get to see the goodies. Coppola's Godfather Oscars were on display though, and a giant martini glass from (or replicated from) One From the Heart stood in a corner with a cardboard cutout of Nastassja Kinski sitting inside.

Since we were being denied memorabilia I figured I'd try their Reserve tasting, which was the bland experience I'd expected at Rubicon. They gave three complimentary pours - 2006 Bianco Pinot Grigio, 2005 Rosso Classic, a basic table wine for spaghetti and pizza, and 2005 Rosso Shiraz; their Reserve flight featured the 2005 FC Reserve Chardonnay, 2005 FC Reserve Pinot Noir, 2005 FC Reserve Syrah, and 2004 Skywalker Ranch Merlot, made from grapes grown on George Lucas' Marin County estate. (Shawn and Jen, we thought about bringing you home a bottle, but it's a tad overpriced for a tangential Star Wars souvenir. Especially at this stage in our vacation budget.)

With about two hours left before our appointment at a nearby winery we decided to squeeze in a couple of extra tastings (naturally). Basically at random we stopped into Passalacqua, a small family-owned winery in a new facility but with a long history. Their Reserve flight (2005 Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 Russian River Valle Zin, 2005 Dry Creek Valley Estate Zin, 2005 Dry Creek Valley Maple Vineyard Zin, and 2003 Dry Creek Valley Cab Sauv) was pleasant but too light for our tastes; I finished the Cab expecting the next wine to take a turn for the heavier before realizing we were already done.

Next we hit Armida, which had been recommended by the server at Porter Creek a couple of days ago, but we had to nix those plans after his first tip, De La Montanya, got me stinking drunk. Armida's flagship is Poizin, a Zinfandel (naturally, though I was slow to catch on) with a skull and crossbones on the label and which comes in a coffin-shaped box. But we didn't go for that one (although they don't taste their Reserve version) so much as their Pinot Noir, which has a surprising smoky finish. We don't usually go for Pinot, but we grabbed a bottle of this. They also had an enormous Sauv Blanc, which hits the tongue very sweet but takes an immediate left turn for citrus which balances the sweetness out.

Which brings us to our sole photo for the day (sorry, blogreaders - we failed you this time), which was meant to capture the last bottle bought on our trip:


As you may have guessed, it wasn't, and we neglected to photograph the ones that were. And we had to ship them out, since we're a half-dozen bottles over our three case capacity.

We next stopped at Lambert Bridge Winery, where Jenn managed to make the server very, very worried that her son lives near Camden. Again, we did the Reserve flight, which included their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 Chard, 2006 Viognier, 2004 Merlot, 2005 Winery Ranch Zin, 2005 Maple Vineyards Zin, 2004 Petite Sirah (the best of the batch) and 2003 Crane Creek Cuvee. Still thinking we'd bought our last bottle and not being absolutely blown away by any of these, we left empty-handed.

Our final stop, where our 2:30 appointment awaited, was at Unti Vineyards, which Sam Adams had highly recommended (thanks Sam), a family-run operation which grows Italian-style varietals. They offered tastes of their 2005 Segromigno, a blend of mostly Sangiovese with Syrah and Barbera, 2005 Zinfandel, 2005 Grenache, and 2004 Syrah. All were quite good, though the Grenache was the stand-out, and we bought two bottles.

Which brings us to the end of our buying spree with a grand total of 48 bottles - four cases. All absolutely great stuff, from 28 vineyards and wineries visited. An unforgettable trip, but with so much left out - we didn't get to the Schramsberg caves or to more than one sparkling wine tasting or to... well, there's plenty to do on the next visit.

We did do one more tasting, though of olive oil, not wine, at the St. Helena Olive Oil Company. But that's a pursuit for another day, and we skipped out before long for an early dinner at Pizzeria Tra Vigne, more in our price range at this late date than their sister restaurant next door. We made it a very early night to get some rest for what promises to be a long day, returning to San Fran with a few stops along the way, in time to see The Melvins at 9pm.

Views and Booze

If Wednesday's experience taught us nothing else, it showed that no matter how repetitive they may get after a while, winery tours take up time that might otherwise be spent drinking, and therefore pace you. So on day four, we set out with a slightly less packed schedule in mind.

We had made an 11am appointment to taste at Reverie, a small family-run operation way out on Diamond Mountain past Calistoga on the northern end of the Valley. We had picked up a bottle of their 2005 Daydream Chardonnay at Total Wines & More in Delaware several months back and been knocked out, so we decided to see what else they had.

But, arriving a bit early, we stopped in first at Clos Pegase, an impressive-looking building owned by a former art book-publisher who has filled the grounds and rooms with his art collection. Standing at the tasting room bar, there's a Francis Bacon on the wall directly behind you.

We tried five wines there, most of which were good; a 2006 Vin Gris of Merlot, which was white like a Rose but not cloyingly sweet; one of their Chardonnays, though I failed to take note of which (I believe it was the 2005 Mitsuko's Vineyard Chard, named for Shrem's wife and partner); the 2005 Mitsuko's Vineyard Pinot Noir; 2005 Pegase Circle Reserve Cabernet Franc; and the 2003 Hommage Artist Series Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which was astounding and complex; even as I had handed the glass to Jenn and was watching her taste, the finish was still evolving and revealing new layers. The server mentioned that the 2002 was even more complex, though not as food-friendly, so we bought a bottle of each.

Then up the mountain to Reverie, which does its tastings on a tour of the grounds; bottles are scattered around the area, one bottle in a fermenting tank, another in the caves, another in the midst of a ring of redwoods. The server/guide was an amiable young guy, and this was as much about atmosphere as about tasting. We started with their 2005 Daydream Sauv Blanc, which was crisp and pleasant but forgettable; then that Chard which we'd liked so much and which, to our surprise, completely failed to make an impression this time. Don't know if it was a bottle that had been open too long, or that our first taste had been with some food that paired exceptionally well, but the change was drastic, apparent to both of us, and a bit disappointing considering how excited we'd been about it before.

We then tried the 2004 AS Kiken (pronounced Ass Kickin' but named after the owner's son), a Bordeaux-style blend that would be fine as a table wine; the 2005 Daydream Cabernet, tailored for the east coast and the first red in the Daydream line, again acceptable but bland; and then on to their signature Cabs. We had a 2005 Cab Franc, a 2005 Cab Sauv which had just been bottled, and a 2004 Special Reserve Cab Sauv. All three were good, in ascending order, and we took home one of the Reserves.

Next we went to Sterling Vineyards, a big-name winery on a mountainside with stunning views and horrendous wine. They have a large, monastery-looking building that is reached by an aerial tram, which offers a nice view of the valley floor dropping away below. Once in the building, there's a deck which offers a lofty panorama of mountains and vineyards.


They offered their 2006 Cellar Club Pinot Gris, 2005 Cellar Club Oak Knoll Chardonnay, 2003 Cellar Club Syrah, 2004 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2006 Cellar Club Malvasia Bianca. All are dreadful. And the Cellar Club is their Reserve line. Hate to see what kind of aftertaste the standard stuff leaves.

At this point, with four days of tasting behind us, already one bottle over capacity for bringing home, and dwindling finances, the idea of much more tasting started to become less and less appealing. We started down the Silverado Trail, which has several wineries I'm interested in visiting, but only stopped at Joseph Phelps, whose 2002 Insignia blend was once voted the best wine in the world. We tasted their 2005 Sauvignon Blanc, two from their sister winery, Freestone, which doesn't yet have a tasting room: 2005 Fogdod Chard and Pinot Noir, 2004 Syrah, 2004 Cab Sauv, and the 2003 Insignia. All but the Insignia were so-so; the latter was quite good, but at $165 a bottle didn't show nearly the depth or promise of the similarly-priced Opus One, and wasn't even close in quality to the Cab we'd just picked up at Clos Pegase. Maybe if I could get my hands on that '02...

After Phelps I was seriously drained and the thought of tasting anything else right away was downright stomach-churning (I blame the Sterling wines), so we decided to head up to Langtry Estate, which is a lengthy scenic drive over Mt. St. Helena to Guenoc Lake. The estate once belonged to the actress Lily Langtry, and Jenn had once really liked a Guenoc Cab that we drank at a friend's house. We'd had some other Guenocs (that line is fairly widely distributed) that weren't so impressive, but we figured the drive would at least spread the tasting out a bit. There was a Yellow Pages ad salesman there tasting at the same time, whose main concern was quantity, not quality; Langtry had some $2 and $4 bottle specials which he was raving about, taking home a couple of cases for less cash than we'd spent on single bottles. (He also raved about Trader Joes' Two Buck Chuck Cabernet.) Point is, the tasting got very social and informal, and I don't have a good record of everything we tried; didn't exactly stick to a tasting menu. But we did like the 2005 Guenoc Lake County Marsanne, which was very different than anything else we tried, with tropical fruit and citrus; and the 2005 Guenoc Lake County Petite Sirah, which had a rotund vanilla finish.

After all that we declared ourselves done for the day and headed back down the mountain and onto Hwy 29 to grab some dinner. We eyeballed Tra Vigne, a renowned spot in St. Helena which has a great reputation and which for some reason I had in my mind as an ultra-expensive, formal place. Turns out it's not that at all. It's certainly not cheap - you easily drop $100+ for dinner - but it's also not like, say, the French Laundry, Napa's most famous restaurant and reputedly one of the best in the world, where you have to make reservations two months to the day in advance and will drop $500 for dinner for two. It's also not formal at all. But it does live up to its reputation for taste.

We started with an appetizer of prosciutto, peach and arugula which was fantastic but which led to the appetizer worry: so often a mind-blowing appetizer will make an entree pale in comparison. But we needn't have worried. Jenn had the tagliatelle nero con tonno e bottarga (black squid ink pasta with olive oil poached tuna, tuna tartare, tuna roe and fennel pollen), and I had the maiale con salsa di fichi (roasted pork t-bone with celery root and potato gratin and fresh black fig and mint chutney). Jenn's was very good; mine was one of the best meals I've ever had.

Happy Birthday Mom

No pun in today's title; it's my mother's birthday. [Actually, since I'm late finishing and posting this, it was yesterday.]


Ok, so obviously a saner haul today... although, truth be told, this is only half of it. We had another half-dozen shipped from Cline Cellars to Jenn's office in Jersey. That makes 12 bottles for Wednesday, 40 for the trip so far.

Yesterday we headed to Sonoma, which is like Napa's kid sister - smaller, more relaxed, less crowded. Napa is DisneyWorld for wine, but Sonoma's what you actually picture when you think of wine country: brown and green mountains on the horizon, grapevines stretching out as far as you can see, roads winding through the hills. We started in Carneros, a region where many of the area wineries grow their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes in the rocky soil. We hit Viansa, a winery and market which had been recommended by the server at a Lehigh Valley winery [shudder] we stopped into a few months back. The wines weren't spectacular (we tried their 2005 Reserve Chard, 2005 'Cento per Cento' Chard, 2004 'Athena' Dolcetto, 2003 Piccolo Sangiovese, 2004 'Lorenzo' Merlot, 2004 Prindelo, 2003 Reserve Cabernet, and 2003 Samuele Cab Franc), but their views were.


So, well worth the trip.

After that we hit Cline Cellars, a 100% solar-powered winery built on the site of an historic hot spring (complete with graffiti from 1877) known for their Zinfandels. I already mentioned having six bottles shipped, so obviously we liked their stuff. We tasted their 2006 Ancient Vines Carignane (and bought 1 bottle), 2005 Ancient Vines Mourvedre, 2005 Cool Climate Syrah (2 bottles), 2005 Zin, 2006 Ancient Vines Zin, 2004 Bridgehead Zin, 2005 Big Break Zin, 2005 Live Oak Zin (2 bottles), 2005 Small Berry Mourvedre (1 bottle) and 2004 Los Carneros Syrah. Our server then slipped us a little 2004 Late Harvest Mourvedre, a dessert wine that actually wasn't cloyingly sweet.

After Cline, we headed up into the lower Russian River Valley, making several stops along the way. First was DeLoach Vineyards, a fairly common label with some even more common-tasting wines. We had their 2005 Van Der Kamp Pinot Noir, 2005 Maboroshi Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2005 Green Valley Pinot Noir, 2005 Forgotten Vines Zin, and 2003 Gambogi Ranch Zin. The less said about those, the better.

We then stopped next door at Sunce, a tiny tasting room where we tried a 2005 Pinot Noir, 2005 Sangiovese, 2005 Zinfandel (1 bottle), 2005 Syrah, 2005 Cab Franc, and 2004 Meritage Reserve.

Next was Martinelli, whose tasting room was in a barn and was half full of Cracker Barrel-type goodies. They offered their 2005 Russian River Valley Chard, 2005 Bella Vigna Chard, 2005 Bella Vigna Pinot Noir, and 2005 Giuseppe and Luisa Zin, which was quite good but didn't quite compare with some of the other Zins we'd tried.

And then (you can just crank through these places in the Russian River - which isn't necessarily a good thing [foreshadowing]) we hit Porter Creek, a very friendly winery with a great dog named Sky. He'd been saved from the pound only a week before, but already met visitors at their car, escorted them to the tasting room, and then escorted them back to their cars at the end. They had some nice wines too - they tasted a Chard, a Pinot Noir, a Syrah, a Carignane, and a Zin - we bought the nutty, almost crunchy Chard which I liked a lot, and the velvety Zin.

Next up, Rochioli, a small vineyard with a big reputation who offered only two wines, a 2006 Estate Sauvignon Blanc and a 2005 Pinot Noir Special Cuvee. Both were subtle, maybe too much so.

The server at Porter Creek had recommended De La Montanya, so we stopped there next. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Rochioli, DLM offered ten tastes. At our eighth winery. You can kinda see where that might end up.

A quick note: the owner of De La Montanya has managed to carve out quite the Bacchanalian life for himself. His wine labels have a pin-up theme, with one series featuring replica paintings of '40s-style pin-up girls; put another series features wine club members posing pin-up style. So the guy not only lives in a gorgeous valley, making good wine, but he cherry-picks his customers to pose in various states of undress for him. Live the dream, buddy.

Anyway, take a deep breath and here's the roster at DLM: 2005 Fume Blanc, 2005 Summer White (a breezy blend of Vignier, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurtztraminer that has surprising depth of flavor; we bought a bottle), 2005 Chardonnay, 2005 PinUp Rose, 2005 DLM Pinot Noir, 2004 Flying Rooster Red (a blend of Pinot Noir, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, and Pinot Meunier), 2004 DLM Syrah, 2005 Felta Creek Zin, 2005 DLM Primitivo (we bought a bottle of this one, too, though I'm not quite sure how I could even taste it at this point), and the 2004 PinUp Cabaret (a blend of Cab Sauv, Zin & Syrah). She then poured a little taste of their chocolaty dessert wine. As I may have mentioned before, I'm not much for dessert wines.

So I'm not quite sure how I got out of there on my own volition by that point. But we'd been drinking from 10-3:30 without much food (we got sick of big, diner-style breakfasts and have resorted to the continental at the hotel for the last couple days), so we went driving through the valley looking for a deli. After a few wrong turns and stops we found one, and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and non-alcoholic beverages.

That served to reorient my system pretty well, so we got back on the road and headed into the town of Healdsburg, where we wandered and sobered and eventually got a dinner at a brewery (for the burgers, not the brews - I stuck with soda). Then we just struck out for home and an early night of TV and nothing.

Apocalypse Vino

Holy crap. We may have overdone it yesterday.


Don't bother to count. That's 27 bottles. In one day. Only the second of five days in Napa. Hell.

With our lonely bottle of Opus One from Monday, that puts us 8 away from capacity, checking three cases onto the plane. We may have to leave our clothes behind.

Actually, budget will cut off long before that, so we definitely have to cut back on how much we purchase for the next few days. But damn, we have some good wine to look forward to.

We started our day at the Canyon Cafe, a diner-style joint across the street from the hotel that doesn't hold a candle to our beloved Millbrae Pancake House. Then on up Hwy 29 into Oakville, where Francis Ford Coppola's Rubicon Estate is located.


Rubicon was the last of our planned big-guy tours, and had a few surprises in store. See, my main reason for going was Coppola's film career. Anyone who's tried the widely available Coppola wine knows it's not worth going out of your way to taste. But I knew that Rubicon had a small museum of Coppola movie memorabilia on site, so off we went.

I also knew that Coppola had recently changed the name of this winery from Niebaum-Coppola (splitting the title with founder Gustave Niebaum) to Rubicon, but didn't know this was one way of thinning the crowds that flocked to the place for reasons other than the wine. That also meant removing the movie memorabilia. There's still a few displays on the Coppolas, family history and awards and such, plus a big exhibit of magic lanterns and zoetropes, the precursors to motion pictures, but most of the stuff is gone (except for this Tucker, the car whose maker Coppola bio-picced.

The other, more pleasant surprise was that the famous, readily-available Coppola wines have nothing to do with this winery. They're made at a second winery in Geyserville, about an hour away, which also now houses the memorabilia (so a visit is planned for Saturday before heading back to SF - happy endings all around). Rubicon makes higher-end Reserves and the less higher-end Sofia sparkling wines. The tasting flight consisted of their citrusy 2005 Captain's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, redolent of grapefruit (we picked up 2 bottles); a lightly flavored but pleasant 2005 Captain's Reserve Pinot Noir; a tasty 2004 Captain's Reserve Syrah (2 bottles); a big, bold 2004 CASK Cab Sauv (2 bottles); and their flagship, the 2003 Rubicon, a more subtle but not quite impressive enough (maybe with age) Bordeaux blend.

Next up was the much smaller Cakebread Cellars, which I'd heard good things about, though we weren't quite so impressed with the flight they offered. The tasting started with their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, after which we moved into a barrel room to complete the roster: a 2005 Napa Valley Chardonnay, a 2004 Carneros Pinot Noir, a 2004 Napa Valley Merlot, the 2005 Rubaiyat, and a 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The only thing we walked away with was the Rubaiyat - albeit 4 bottles. It's a red mutt blended from several varietals and vineyards but which has a meaty, smoky flavor that I can't wait to pair with some BBQ. It's a flat-out drinking wine that won't age at all, but it's gonna be delicious the next time we get to the Rib Crib.

Oh, a brief word on pictures: there won't be many here. After Rubicon we got down to some serious tasting and neglected the camera. We'll try to do better on our trip to the Russian River Valley today.

After Cakebread there's a whole line of wineries right next to one another up the road, so we just worked our way along. We next stopped at Sequoia Grove, a nice room in a wood barn surrounded by a small copse of redwoods and currently undergoing renovations. They had two flights, a Current Release and a Premium Release - we did both (sharing, of course). I forgot to take a copy of the flights, but I know what we came home with: 2 bottles of their 2005 Carneros Napa Valley Chardonnay (their only white, and delicious) and 3 each of their 2002 and 2o03 Rutherford Reserve Cabernets.

After that came St. Supery, which we'd heard decent things about, and they have a self-guided tour which includes a sniffing station, which we thought might help develop our feel for aromas, but good goddamn we weren't prepared for the wines we got. Their Limited Edition flight lists 9 wines, from which you get to taste 4 of your choice for 20 bucks. We started with their 2005 Virtu, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon which the server referred to as "white wine for red wine drinkers." It was toasty and crisp, with a loooong, creamy finish. We bought two bottles. Then the 2003 Elu, a blend of 75% Cab Sauv with smaller quantities of Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cab Franc and Malbec, which was good though not as mind-blowing as some of the others. After that came the 2004 Rutherford Cab Sauv, an amazing chocolaty concoction - we bought two bottles. We ended with the fantastic 2002 Dollarhide Ranch Cabernet, which we were ecstatic about - until the server slipped us a taste of the 2000 vintage. I thought Jenn was going to pass out from giddiness. We bought two bottles, with the promise of another to come - we joined St. Supery's wine club, which is rare in that they'll deliver to New Jersey, so Jenn will get a bottle of their wine once every other month at work. I just hope they make it home to me.

After that we stopped in at Beaulieu Vineyards, the well-known BV which is available pretty much anywhere, and did their Reserve flight. The five we tasted were the 2004 Carneros Reserve Pinot Noir, 2003 Dulcet Reserve, 2003 Tapestry Reserve, and 2002 and 2003 Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernets. Not bad - the Dulcet and two Cabernets were all quite nice - but the bar had just been set impossibly high.

We next wound up at Franciscan, a small place with nice grounds and a high-ceilinged tasting room full of stained glass. We did their Napa Valley Limited Edition flight - a 2006 Rose (I have a hard time believing I'd ever get excited over a Rose), their 2005 Cuvee Sauvage, a soft, lemony 100% Chardonnay (we bought two bottles), a 2004 Syrah and their signature 2003 Magnificat, a Meritage blend that didn't particularly excite. I did ask for an extra tasting, of their 2003 Mt. Veeder Reserve red blend, which was quite good - and we picked up a bottle.

After that I was feeling pretty loaded. Jenn had gone a bit goofy after St. Supery, from the booze and the sheer wine pleasure, so had been cooling it after sobering up a bit on the leisurely self-guided tour. So I'd been doing the bulk of the tasting since, so was getting along quite nicely by this point, especially since we hadn't stopped for lunch. So we hit V. Sattui, a winery and deli thronged with people (they were the only place open past five after all), where we picked up a bit of food and sat for a bit at their picnic tables. I ventured back in afterwards to delve in for one last tasting, but their five-page menu and densely-packed tasting bar were a bit overwhelming to me in my addled state, so I turned right back around and we went back to the room to prep for dinner (the best we've had this trip, btw - a casually elegant place called Hurley's in the New Hope-ish - but with more wine - town of Yountville).

Magnum Opus

Ah yes... the name of this blog said something about wine, didn't it? Well, after a last (until we get back to SF next weekend, anyway) breakfast at the Millbrae, we headed over the Bay Bridge and on up towards Napa.

Our first stop was the Big Daddy of Napa wines, Robert Mondavi. We decided to do a couple of tours at the bigger, more "important" places today, getting that out of the way to hit the smaller rooms over the rest of the week, with more focus on tasting. We arrived at Mondavi a few minutes after they opened at 10am and took the first tour, an amiable, informative 90 minute stroll that ended in a brief tasting.

Their flight consisted of a 2004 Carneros Chardonnay, a 2003 Stags Leap Sauvignon Blanc, a 2004 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Muscato d'Oro dessert wine. The three regular varietals (I'm not one for dessert wines) were all pleasant if unremarkable; Mondavi also offers a flight of their Reserve wines (aka the good stuff) in another room, but we opted to move on. The winery's right up the road on the main drag, so we can always stop back if need be.

Next we stopped into the Napa Wine Co., a custom crush facility where 25 different smaller growers use the facilities to produce their wine. We did a flight of four big reds -a 2004 Showket "Asante Sana" Super Tuscan Blend, a 2004 madrigal Sonnet #63 Bordeaux Style Blend, a 2004 Pahlmeyer Jayson Red, and a 2003 Temescal Cab Sauv - none of which particularly sparked our interest (though I kinda liked the Madrigal).


Next we stopped in at Opus One, purely as a lark, you understand. See, Opus One is a little highbrow for our amateur (well, semi-educated amateur) tastes. A joint venture of Robert Mondavi and France's Baron Philippe Rothschild, their winery (see the pic above) is a beautifully landscaped, modern affair built into a hillside more or less directly across Hwy 29 from Mondavi. They make one wine - a Cab Sauv, in somewhat limited quantities. It's $25 to taste - for comparison, in the Santa Barbara area, you spend from $8-$12 for a flight, tasting 7 or 8 wines; out here, depending on the size of the winery, you can spend anywhere from $10-$25 for 3 to 5. This is $25 for one (albeit large) pour. The wine itself costs $165 a bottle. But we figured, hey, we're here, one glass won't hurt. We'll give it a whirl.

Right. So here's me with our first purchase of the trip, a $165 bottle of 2003 Opus One. It's simply delicious, with a finish that lasts... well, I think I can still taste it a bit. And it's not even at full power yet. This is a bottle we'll have to sit on for a few years until it reaches maturity, pulling it out at some very special occasion. in 2010 or so. If Jenn and I ever break up, the custody battle will be over this bottle.

["Oh no. I am not giving it up that easily. We'll have to just celebrate that break up with a nice bottle of 03 Opus." -jenn c.]

We grabbed lunch next door at the Oakville Grocery, one of the tiny but jam-packed little general stores that dot the area and sell gourmet sandwiches, picnic items, and, of course, plenty of wine. We then headed over to Domaine Chandon for another tour and tasting. We wanted to do this tour because they're one of the bigger producers of sparkling wine (that's champagne not made in France for the uninitiated) in Napa. Sparkling wines are rather virgin territory for Jenn and I, but we tasted some very nice ones here. The tour didn't deviate much from Mondavi's, but the guide was a garrulous type, a big, ruddy-faced, loud-talking guy that obviously loves his job.

Domaine Chandon's grounds are gorgeous (thanks to Greg Drusdow for recommending this tour); their buildings are designed to evoke a series of barrels and their tasting room (which doubles as a lounge at night) is comfortable and offers a lovely view. We tried their Reserve flight: a Chardonnay Brut, a Pinot Noir Brut, and a Vintage Brut (aged over 5 years), all of which were very good, improving in ascending order, the Vintage Brut being especially dense and rich. We then continued on, trying their higher-end offerings, which they call Etoile, a Brut and a Rose. Perhaps our palates aren't quite developed enough in the sparkling direction to appreciate the subtleties, but we preferred the bolder Reserves. Then we gave their still wines - a Chard, a Pinot Noir, and a Pinot Meunier, the same grapes they use for the sparklers - a try. Nothing too exciting here; the Meunier and Chard were both pleasant, while the Pinot Noir was far too shallow.

We then stopped next door to the Napa Valley Museum, a small two-story building with a changing art exhibit above and displays on Napa's history and the winemaking process below. That brought us to 5pm, when most of the tasting rooms closed, so we left to check in at our hotel, the new Gaia Hotel & Spa, about 30 minutes south of Napa. It's a green hotel, built and run with environmentally sound practices, each room named for some animal or plant (we're in the Geese room, not alas, the more appropriate Loon room, which is a few doors down). In fact, besides the Bible each room comes equipped with the Teachings of Buddha and a copy of the companion volume to An Inconvenient Truth. That's not a joke. It's sitting right here next to my laptop.

Today, a visit to Rubicon Estates - aka Francis Coppola's place, more for the memorabilia than the wine. And, hopefully, more time for tasting than yesterday.