It's all good so far

Well I am not supposed to relish my first breakfast date back, I need to get the Napa travelogue finished. No blogging about inlaw tech support or insurance battles, this one has to be about grapes.

On the third day there was wine. It started with a solid breakfast. Most of the restaurants that we looked at served breakfast or brunch. Something fortifying or restorative before the tasting tours started. You could tell those who had gone before us and had valiantly consumed each pour rather than sample and spit/spill. These bleary eyed veterans spent much mores time studying tyre menu and discussing what would have staying (down) power.

If you weren’t watching the tour veterans, you were overhearing conversations about various business deals by the non-native residents. The stories were GE same whether it was at ABC (wed am), Napa Biscuits (thurs am), or Grace’s Table (Fri am).

Wednesday was the tour bus. Platypus Tours with Karl. Excellent idea. You get a knowledgeable guide, who has working relationships with many different vineyards. He is the designated driver since a number of the folks don’t understand/remember sample/spit/spill. Tasting fees are reduced or waived. An excellent lunch is provided. You learn that there are 400 plus vineyards in Napa County which has some of the most expensive dirt in the world. Land around the smallest , best known appellations goes between $300-$400 k per acre.

We got meet owner/operators and sample not only what they made for general consumption but some of their own favorites. One local rep at Hopper Creek, gave an excellent lesson on various techniques to sample wine. We visited:

Jeff Hill – Black Dog & Jeff Hill labels. Left with a couple of pinot rose’, and his off tour cab.
Hopper Creek – left with a merlot
Turnbull – left w a rose’ and a cab.
Hagafen- last stop, and left with a couple of their dry reisling.

A good time was had by all.

Wednesday dinner was simple at a tavern across from hotel.

Thursday am- recharged by a hearty breakfast at Napa Biscuits, we braved the wine country on our own. We wanted to see the Russian River area for the pinot noirs. Our first California wines that we started drinking were from Toad Hollow vineyards of Healdsburg. They have a tasting room on the square and we were already fans of their: rose’, red, Pinot, and sparkling wine. So they were a must see.

We wanted to see what we would find on the trip out there. So trusting in the mapping apps, we set off. We stopped briefly in Yountville to pick up some snacks at the Bouchon bakery and get some exterior pictures of the restaurant since we had our anniversary dinner there the previous evening.

There were some back roads that allowed us to cross out the mountains out of the Napa Valley and into Sonoma County. There were a lot of back roads. We were in canyons and hills on a two lane road without any cellular service, flying blind. We finally broke through to a major road and rejoiced when cellular reception returned.

Our first stop was Korbel. Very interesting to see such a large scale operation that moves 1.5 mm cases of champagne a year from this one location. The tour is well worth the time, they have a nice deli and dining area, and none of their products is over $25. Loaded with a could of bottles of their sparkling wine and one of their brandy we drove on.

We detoured to see the redwoods then pressed on another back road towards Healdsburg. Grapes to the right of us, grapes to the left of us, onward into the Russian River valley we road.
Finally into Healdsburg.

Small wine town America. Parked on the square and had a late lunch at a French bakery. Then it was into Toad Hollow Tasting room. We celebrated the Toad, bought several things toad. Pintos for me, toad related art for the wife. We stowed our purchases in the trunk and walked around the town some more, deciding that there would be more Pinot chasing in our future.

Friday was the last hurrah. We had to complete our tours and get anything we wanted to ship home back to our growing collection in the hotel. Breakfast at grace’s table then onto the big name vineyards in the Stags Leap appellation. Knowing that we are out of their top tier league but wanting to sample the best of the best in our price range and their second tier. And we wanted to see where America beat the French at the wine game. Stag’s Leap Cellars.

Our tasting host did not mind that we were second tier samplers. We discussed water projects, oil development in the Dakotas, etc. it was an enjoyable visit. What was even more surprising was that my wife liked the cabernets we sampled. This is the one that was a white zin drinker, one who knows she liked red blends. I now have a big red monster on my hands. We left with two bottles of their best non-estate cab and their book that was the basis for the movie bottle shock.

Lunch at Addition, which was a shack behind the Ad Hoc restaurant in their rear parking lot. A lot of yelp hype and not much flavor. We then stopped at Yountville main square to meander around. We saw more grape stuff, photos, memorabilia, souvenirs, and sorted other stuff. Left to get one more winery before we would have to leave.

Our finale was Frog’s Leap. We got in during the last round of tasting. You had two choices of tasting – same wines but one inside at the table and the less expensive one outside. We chose to sit by the lily pond. The wife declared she was not moving from the lily pond. I had to fetch each sample and get her verdict. We moved fast through the samples unlike the group of young ladies that were treating the tasting as a really good happy hour. I did get to overhear a conversation between a soils consultant and the agriculture director for the vineyard. They were drinking the petite syrah as their insider quaff of choice. They must have like the current pour but were looking forward to the current harvest. Took their recommendation to heart and ended up with two bottles of same.

We managed the rush hour drive back down the Silverado road through the very expensive vines and back to the hotel. We managed to get everything listed on the shipping labels and the wines down to the concierge for shipping. We used our new found knowledge to order wine at dinner, picking one that could work well with calamari and pizza.

Saturday was packing and making the drive back into San Francisco. Note there is no fuel near the airport. Returned the rental then spent all day in the airport waiting on the plane to be serviced. Burned our United Club passes to make the wait tolerable.

We were home for the week waiting on the wine to arrive. We have found that a little knowledge or experience is a dangerous thing for now we are more informed and more expensive choices for our weekday wines. We are also talking about our return to California and what we will visit the next time.

Breakfast fortification before we start the wine tour. The Alexis Baking Company is just a few short blocks from the hotel.

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary. We shopped the Oxbow Market. Lunched quickly at a tavern across from the hotel so we could make our next appointment, a hot stone couples massage. My masseuse had quite a workout to move and remove knots and lactic acid. Perhaps we can cut back on the Child’s college funding to put this into our monthly routine.

Dressed and ready for dinner. We enjoyed a glass of sparkling wine waiting for the driver. Choosing a driver over playing taxi roulette or driving the DWI gauntlet was an easy decision.

Our driver was also a tour guide able to discuss history, geology, and the development of the valley and the industry. It was a short trip up to Yountville, the center of the Napa foodie universe. Three Michelin starred restaurants, one per thousand residents of the town.

We saw the French Laundry, and its acres of organic garden as we did a very quick drive through town. Maybe on our 30th ….

Bouchon is not as large as I thought it would be. A couple of outdoor seating areas. One right on the street and one that shares space with the bakery.

One large room with a bar taking up at least a quarter of it. The host greeted us and we where shown our table. It must be a requirement in bistro design to have common bench seating around the walls. We were seated right between two other parties with just enough space between the tables for the waiter to enter sideways.

More complementary sparkling wine then time to study the menu and listen to the specials. Hors-d’oeuvres ordered. A pâté, crostini, etc. then deciding on the entrees and the wine.

A Paul Hobb Pinot recommended by the waiter

Then the food.

While the entrees were very good, the hit of the dinner was the truffle risotto. Wow.

It was a valiant effort, we finished what we could leaving just enough room for dessert. Their special, brownie with cherries, and Chantilly ice cream.

Finally we called it quits and settled up. That is the meal of the year.

One thing that we have noticed on this trip is the high level of customer service we are encountering regardless of who we are dealing with.

The young man at the olive oil shop at Ghiradelli Square, who kept his sense of humor inspire of having to take three tries to seal a very small bottle of white truffle olive oil.

The desk clerk at the small hotel in San Francisco working with us to hold luggage and extend the valet parking so we could do our tour of the wharf and then offered a much needed chance to recover after the climb up Mount Powell to the hotel.

The random bakery hostess at Boudin on the wharf encouraging us to pick up one of the sourdough teddy bears, just because they needed to be held, since do many depart the bakery to be eaten.

The concierge at the Andaz in Napa, who arranged to get some really nice flowers for me to surprise Sandra with.

The waitress at ZuZu’s the Tapas Restaurant in Napa who worked with the tapas rookies and made some excellent and tasty recommendations.

The folks at the coffee shop that made recommendations for a more substantial breakfast for my protein junkie wife who woke up this morning with a serious scrambled egg jones.

The folks at the Oxbow Market for restoring my wife with a scrambled egg crepe fix.

These folks have kept the caring in their work. Maybe I am just not looking hard enough back in the world, and anticipate apathy. Perhaps we need to all take a little time to reflect on whether or not we are working at a job or in our vocation.

Perhaps we also need to realize that we might be dealing with someone new to a position and work with them to see that things work out rather than taking an issue as a personal affront.

Taking away another reminder that those I have met in the Golden State are living by the Golden Rule. Maybe I should try harder too.

In the terminal after a second semi-sleepless night. Friday night can be blamed on the sleep study, while we are blaming last night on the Christmas like anticipation of this trip.

It has been some journey getting to this point. With the downturn in the oil business hitting hard right after our wedding, Sandra and I have never had more than a weekend vacation by ourselves. Most of our trips to the lake house have involved multiple sibling families or scouts.

We don’t begrudge the scouting trips. But now it is time for us. And we are going to do it right. A week of wining and dining in Napa awaits.