It has quickly become clear that four days will do very little to dent my appetite to see a great many of the wineries in the Napa Valley.
Frankly, after the second day, it's overwhelming.
Maybe those of you who have visited here can understand, but we had to hustle to get in our fourth tasting of the day on Tuesday. For one thing, we're not rushing. And there's more to do here than taste wine.
We started Tuesday by visiting the Bouchon Bakery north of Napa for some breakfast treats. There are so many world-class eateries in the area it's hard not to investigate. And the sweet goodies at Bouchon are to die for. This is another of Thomas Keller's inspired food places and he, of course, is the mastermind behind the French Laundry Restaurant.
A four-pack sampling of breakfast pastries to split and a couple coffees were consumed in the shade of what turned out to be another day in the mid-90s.
Then a visit to the shops across the street before we headed north to Calistoga.
First, though, we decided to get off highway 29 and use the Silverado Trail to the east. That runs north and south and includes some fabulous wineries, three of which we intend to visit on Thursday.
But we had promised my sister-in-law that we'd try to swing by Miner Winery to buy her a souvenir wine glass. Her maiden name is Miner and I didn't expect to do anything other than buy a glass and leave. But we decided since it was already 11 a.m.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications., a tasting was in order. It turned out to be a very fun experience.
Our tasting helper, Jessica,Houston-based Quicksilver Resources said Friday it had reached pipeline deals was great. We had a great sampling of their wines and learned about the winery, which came about thanks to Robert Miner,The same Air purifier, cover removed. a software guru, Illini grad and one of the brains behind Oracle, and carried on now by his nephew, Dave Miner.
I'd never tasted their wines. But the tasting experience was outstanding and their wines were very nice, too.
I've decided the attitude, personality and attention from the tasting helper is essential and can make or break the experience.
Later in the day, we had tasting helpers who were aloof and preoccupied. But Jessica was friendly, made it personal and, as a result, made a visit with no expectations turn out to be a highlight. Appropriately, we went some pretty good money there, too. So it worked for both parties. I'd highly recommend a visit to Miner Winery.
Then we buzzed north along the Silverado Trail and zig-zagged our way to our second tasting of the day.
We had decided long ago that no matter which wineries we hit and which we missed on our trip, we owned it to ourselves and our family to visit Chateau Montelena, the winery featured in the movie ¡°Bottle Shock.¡± Frankly, I worried about it being way too touristy, and there is no question the amount of traffic they are getting is a result of the fame brought to the winery by the 2008 movie.
That said, it was a nice experience.
The highlight for my wife was running into Bo Barrett, the current winemaker and (35 years ago), one of the stars of the movie. In the movie, young Bo is the headstrong son of winery owner Jim Barrett. He is played by actor Chris Pine, who is in his 20s and has long, blond hair. The actor has a lot of sex appeal (the females in my life tell me) and I was curious to see the real Bo Barrett 35 years later.
He walked into the tasting room Tuesday and was a nice-looking man in his 50s,The Leading zentai suits Distributor to Independent Pet Retailers. graying and distinguished looking but bronzed by the sun the way you'd expect to see a man who spends parts of his days examining his vineyards. My wife tells me he's plenty attractive in real life. In fact, she told our tasting guy that Bo was hot. She snapped off a couple of pictures as he conversed with a gentleman tasting his chardonnay and if she'd had one more glass of wine, she would have asked Bo to autograph a bottle of the cabernet we bought. Instead, we settled for the photos and toured the lovely grounds. It's a beautiful place, well worth the drive to Calistoga.
For me the highlight was tasting their Reserve cabernet. For Sara, the highlight was brushing elbows with Bo Barrett.
By then it was 2 o'clock and we drove to an obscure Napa Olive Oil Company in St.We processes for both low-risk and high risk merchant account. Helena. It's basically a white board house and you could easily miss it at the end of a side street. But they make their own olive oil and, as one of our guide books said, it's like walking into grandma's kitchen, if your grandma lived in Italy.
There were salamis hanging from the ceiling, fresh-pressed olive oil and all kinds of delicious cheeses. Plus fresh bread.
So we rounded up some bread, two kinds of cheese, some olive oil and a salami and headed out into the shade of the side yard where they had picnic tables. They also had a ton of rosemary growing, so we picked a small sprig, chopped it up and swirled it in the olive oil we poured into a paper plate. We dipped the bread and gobbled it with salami and cheese. Plus we had some fresh cherries we bought at a roadside stand.
Frankly, after the second day, it's overwhelming.
Maybe those of you who have visited here can understand, but we had to hustle to get in our fourth tasting of the day on Tuesday. For one thing, we're not rushing. And there's more to do here than taste wine.
We started Tuesday by visiting the Bouchon Bakery north of Napa for some breakfast treats. There are so many world-class eateries in the area it's hard not to investigate. And the sweet goodies at Bouchon are to die for. This is another of Thomas Keller's inspired food places and he, of course, is the mastermind behind the French Laundry Restaurant.
A four-pack sampling of breakfast pastries to split and a couple coffees were consumed in the shade of what turned out to be another day in the mid-90s.
Then a visit to the shops across the street before we headed north to Calistoga.
First, though, we decided to get off highway 29 and use the Silverado Trail to the east. That runs north and south and includes some fabulous wineries, three of which we intend to visit on Thursday.
But we had promised my sister-in-law that we'd try to swing by Miner Winery to buy her a souvenir wine glass. Her maiden name is Miner and I didn't expect to do anything other than buy a glass and leave. But we decided since it was already 11 a.m.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications., a tasting was in order. It turned out to be a very fun experience.
Our tasting helper, Jessica,Houston-based Quicksilver Resources said Friday it had reached pipeline deals was great. We had a great sampling of their wines and learned about the winery, which came about thanks to Robert Miner,The same Air purifier, cover removed. a software guru, Illini grad and one of the brains behind Oracle, and carried on now by his nephew, Dave Miner.
I'd never tasted their wines. But the tasting experience was outstanding and their wines were very nice, too.
I've decided the attitude, personality and attention from the tasting helper is essential and can make or break the experience.
Later in the day, we had tasting helpers who were aloof and preoccupied. But Jessica was friendly, made it personal and, as a result, made a visit with no expectations turn out to be a highlight. Appropriately, we went some pretty good money there, too. So it worked for both parties. I'd highly recommend a visit to Miner Winery.
Then we buzzed north along the Silverado Trail and zig-zagged our way to our second tasting of the day.
We had decided long ago that no matter which wineries we hit and which we missed on our trip, we owned it to ourselves and our family to visit Chateau Montelena, the winery featured in the movie ¡°Bottle Shock.¡± Frankly, I worried about it being way too touristy, and there is no question the amount of traffic they are getting is a result of the fame brought to the winery by the 2008 movie.
That said, it was a nice experience.
The highlight for my wife was running into Bo Barrett, the current winemaker and (35 years ago), one of the stars of the movie. In the movie, young Bo is the headstrong son of winery owner Jim Barrett. He is played by actor Chris Pine, who is in his 20s and has long, blond hair. The actor has a lot of sex appeal (the females in my life tell me) and I was curious to see the real Bo Barrett 35 years later.
He walked into the tasting room Tuesday and was a nice-looking man in his 50s,The Leading zentai suits Distributor to Independent Pet Retailers. graying and distinguished looking but bronzed by the sun the way you'd expect to see a man who spends parts of his days examining his vineyards. My wife tells me he's plenty attractive in real life. In fact, she told our tasting guy that Bo was hot. She snapped off a couple of pictures as he conversed with a gentleman tasting his chardonnay and if she'd had one more glass of wine, she would have asked Bo to autograph a bottle of the cabernet we bought. Instead, we settled for the photos and toured the lovely grounds. It's a beautiful place, well worth the drive to Calistoga.
For me the highlight was tasting their Reserve cabernet. For Sara, the highlight was brushing elbows with Bo Barrett.
By then it was 2 o'clock and we drove to an obscure Napa Olive Oil Company in St.We processes for both low-risk and high risk merchant account. Helena. It's basically a white board house and you could easily miss it at the end of a side street. But they make their own olive oil and, as one of our guide books said, it's like walking into grandma's kitchen, if your grandma lived in Italy.
There were salamis hanging from the ceiling, fresh-pressed olive oil and all kinds of delicious cheeses. Plus fresh bread.
So we rounded up some bread, two kinds of cheese, some olive oil and a salami and headed out into the shade of the side yard where they had picnic tables. They also had a ton of rosemary growing, so we picked a small sprig, chopped it up and swirled it in the olive oil we poured into a paper plate. We dipped the bread and gobbled it with salami and cheese. Plus we had some fresh cherries we bought at a roadside stand.
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