A wino-ing we go, a wino-ing we go, hi-ho the Cali-O, a wino-ing we go!
I apologize now because this got long before I'd even realized. Apparently we do a lot on vacations?
Ever since Mexico, my itch to travel had not been scratched. I thought, surely this is the year to save some money and forego excessive travelling like we did in the previous year...surely...
But my mind said NOPE! Let's GO! So we did. I can't recall what prompted this trip but with one mention to Tanner, I was off to book our flight. Our affair with United, né Continental, was over due to a really terrible flight attendant on our return trip home from Ireland a year before but I still had an abundance of miles to use. I had been steadily collecting them since the tender age of 11 when I went on my first ever flight with my band/orchestra pals to Chicago. Ironically, I had injured my back just prior...apparently my back issues started earlier than I remembered!
Back to the miles...what if I had enough to pay for our flight to SFO? I was beyond thrilled to quickly calculate the needs and realize that I had JUST ENOUGH! Fate? Yes, thank you very much!
My next adult move was to rent a car for the first time in my life. Yeah, boy! Only took 15 years after learning to drive and about a hundred trips around and about before renting one for my travelling needs! Side note: oh MY, renting cars is expensive. Sheesh! I'll stick to major metro cities from here on out, thank you very much!
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| Arrivé! |
Our arrival in San Francisco we were greeted with warm sunshine and a cool breeze. Talk about a nice summertime atmosphere compared to back home! We picked up our sweet ride (Chevy Cobalt, what what!) and hit the highway. I will not lie to you and say that I was pumped for this driving expedition through the city. I grew up in the marshlands of Texas, the armpit of the state where humidity and mosquitoes reign King...and there is nothing but flat land. The highest peak I meet is the top of the flyover from I-10 to Grand Parkway.
I was nervous. I remembered Lombard St. And Noe St. Cue white knuckled, rapid fire breath driving. No amount of relaxed focus and meditative calming thoughts could help me!
Spoiler alert: Made it through just fine with only one moment of panic as I'll mention later.
We arrived on my cousins' doorstep and enjoyed catching up with them for the evening, a bonus for our trip to Napa and Sonoma! Did I not mention this was our intended destination before? Hopefully the reference to wine and California gave it away!
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| The view from their "back porch". I love visiting them for the bonus that is THIS VIEW! |
With a delicious meal under our belt, we sneaked out nice and early the next morning for our grand adventure through the grapes. And here's where my moment of panic driving around the city went down...
I insisted on going to get Philz coffee before leaving the city because pour-over coffee is the best thing ever invented. Plus when they add the cream and other good-bad stuff I am quite happy. The nearest Philz I located was in Noe valley. Awesome, I know that place! Let's jump over there and then hit the road for our few hour drive up North. I was pretty happy with myself up to this point with navigating the twists, turns, rises and falls the city had thrown at me and had settled in to a little less white knuckled driving. (Sidebar: my cousin lives here and when he first arrived he drove a STANDARD VEHICLE. He crazy.)
I tooled along, approaching my stop and realized that I needed to turn on the next street beyond it to find some parking. No big deal, right?
Wrong. Noe St. Curse you.
I made that right turn and stared directly at pavement in front of me. Directly in front of me because the road went STRAIGHT UP. Totally true. I needed an elevator, not my little Chevy. Cue scared noises, nervous babbling and Tanner saying it's fine, just hit the gas. Little by little with many gasps, yelps and squeals I made it up the mountain and turned onto a side street that was nice and flat. My pulse returned to normal, my tone of voice came down from "Dogs only" level and I got my delicious coffee.
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| Much better now. |
I was quite happy to forget that what goes up must come down as I began to sip my coffee walking back to the car. Spoiler alert again: made it somehow, by the skin of my teeth, but success none the less! Highway north, ho!
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| Stop #1 in the valley...and nuts galore, so we packed up and kept moving. No food consumption here! |
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| Stop #2 because you can't go wrong with All American Food. |
With full bellies, we continued up the highway to our first winery, Beringer, picked because it is touted as "the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley". I was immediately captivated by the main house where the original Beringer family lived when they first began running the winery.
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| Bam, what a beauty. |
It is absolutely rich in history, confirmed. They practice biodynamics, which are strange and associated with upside down buried cow skulls or something, I didn't really delve.
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| Fruity, tart and sweet. We also got to try cabernet sauvignon grapes straight off the vine which were actually really good! |
Tasty but not mind blowing. Tanner just said, Wine is wine. Only sometimes, I swear!!! This trip surely could prove that not all wine was just wine and tasted the same as all other wines...surely. We left Beringer and hit the highway to head back in to downtown Napa to check in to our apartment for the next four days. Along the way though, I just had to do something...
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| A family tradition to scratch out a T at the parties and wine that's not terrible, we had to do a quick tasting! |
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| All gone! |
We found our way to our little apartment which was the converted second story of a suburban home. It was exactly right with a small kitchen, living area, bathroom and bedroom. We had enough space to cook and play Pandemic, all we needed! The main downtown area wasn't far so we went for an evening walk in the balmy, "this feels like home" air before retiring for the evening to watch
Bottleshock. Seen it? No? Well, you should! A fun little dramatization of the competition drawn up to see how good California wines could actually be. France thought they had the predominant knowledge, experience and grapes....but you'll just have to watch the movie to see how it goes!
Breakfast in the house and we were on our way to our morning drink sesh at what I hoped would be a great little winery. Instead of taking the main highway, we veered off and took a back, slightly curvy route and it proved the far more beautiful and less traveled. If you go, ask and I will provide more details!
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| It's 5 o'clock somewhere. |
We arrived at Honig, bushy tailed and bright eyed, having chosen this place because 1) it had a bee as its logo and 2) had a really cool background describing its ecosystem and how they maintain the vines without using harsh chemicals or processes.
Our flight guide, Helen, was awesome. She had fantastic cat-eye glasses and a quirky sense of humor. She was even kind enough to try and get us a tour but to no avail. Much appreciated none the less! Beyond having a great wino walking us through we were both astounded when we tried the dessert wine. We both sipped and then looked at one another in awe. Watch out for another spoiler alert because this ended up being the ONLY wine that made us think that not all wine was just wine. It was also the ONLY wine that he and I both loved and gushed over. So we ordered a bottle as our big treat and they shipped it home to us in a nicely cooled box. YUM! Love you, Honig! A must see for everyone. They are very ecological and utilize birds and animals as part of their process. Just...too cool. And fun! Go to Honig!
On the road again....to Sonoma! Our only cross-valley day but just on the border of the two; I chose Buena Vista Vineyard for a tour because it is the oldest commercial winery in the state!
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| Speed flight at Beaulieu because that was a spot my cousin recommended. The guide wasn't a fan of my haste. I pay, you serve, no comment cards allowed! |
Buena Vista was down a road, and another smaller one, and then another one and then a long tree-covered and shaded dirt path that led directly into the parking area. But that's not all folks! Let's walk another half mile before stumbling onto the paved courtyard next to the stone buildings and shrouded on all sides by more forest. If this trip were not for the wine, it would be for the scenery.
The folks that work here wear traditional late 1800's western wear, a fun little bonus to this stop. We met with our guide and began our short, but nice, tour. Our first stop was the "White Room".
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| Floor was white, couches were white, decor was white...etc, etc, etc |
Apparently it was famous, who knew? Standard tourist shot and moving on. We walked through the caves that had been dug into the hillside and learned about the grapes that are grown there and then had little tastings all the way. I could not even begin to describe in detail what it takes to grow a grape, firstly, then to cultivate it timely, second, and then to process it into wine, lastly. It's intense. It's unique to each facility based on the soil and the amount of sunlight and water and air and chemicals. Half the fun of this trip was hearing the science behind it all. And just like with high school, I've forgotten all of it. Fancy that.
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| Taken at the top of the valley, we also were privy to see the sign at the bottom too. |
We wrapped up and hit the road back to Napa Valley to go up, up, UP the highway all the way to north of the mountains to visit a castle. Yes, a real castle. Castello di Amorosa was only chosen because it is a castle. A functioning winery within a castle built by the millionaire's millionaire, Dario Sattui. You know, Sattui...Sattui of V. Sattui wines? The vineyard that is the highest grossing in the Napa region? A pet project of his...to build a $40+ million dollar castle to call his own.
Guys, it has a torture chamber with an actual iron maiden in it. It has an interior courtyard and a coffered ceiling'd Great Hall. It was stunning. Absolutely worth the drive, absolutely worth the time and home of the only other wine that made Tanner and I go WOW this is good.
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| Legit gargoyle action. |
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| Tanner: "Check out my castle, bruh! Attack this!" |
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| Game of Thrones moment. Tanner didn't get the angry, haunted face memo. George doesn't write smiling. |
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| Too legit to quit, this is true armor. |
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| Caves built underground and into the hillside. |
We had an incredible tour guide who regaled us with details and facts about the castle under construction and about the dream of Dario's to create this place. We toured with a family of 5 and the boys were just too funny. They got to enjoy sparkling grape juice to which the 16 year old felt a little let down by. However, their consumption of an entire chocolate bar (made locally of course) more than made up for it. Surprisingly, the wine Tanner and I both enjoyed was a Rosé. I neeeeever like Rosé's. Proven wrong, my friends!
Is that enough for today's adventures? Our second day in the valley(s)? Yes, I think that's plenty. Let's go play Pandemic and go to bed early! No wine with dinner, thank you.
The next morning we had to hit the road early because we were spending the day in Sonoma. More specifically, our first stop of the morning was at the northern most area of Sonoma and we were staying the southern most of Napa. So, twenty minutes across and then quite a ways UP. Because UP is North always, right? We were on our way to the winery I was second most excited about, after the castle of course.
Known for its lavendar fields as much as its wine, Matanzas Creek Winery was located beyond this hill, up that two lane road, hugging that...well, don't look down...past the cow fields and pens and then down into a valley and up onto a road. These wineries locations are absurdly spaced, located in odd places (foreshadowing) and not always a short ride to get to. As we drove further and further north and west, getting just slightly closer to the coast, the weather changed dramatically. What had been hot and slightly humid down in dusty Napa had turned into leaves dripping with rain and a grey sky, surrounded by lush greenery and mature trees. Sonoma wins in terms of beauty by a landslide.
We arrived at what is affectionately known as the tree house tasting room area and waited for our tour to start. With a good sized group, we began.
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| What a view! |
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| Check out our sweet ride. Oh, and that really cool valley just beyond. |
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| The lavender fields! One of them any way. They are all cropped down for the winter and currently being harvested. |
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| What are those things called? Something that has el-uh-vay-shun? |
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| When the tour guide asked who had come for the lavender, we nearly all of us raised our hands. She wasn't too happy about that. I'll just mention to you now that your business is perpetuated by people choosing to come for lavender and staying for wine. You're welcome for helping you have a job. |
I nearly cleared out the inventory in their lavender shop but stopped myself before I went too far. I did still need to travel home with all these goodies! I was also saddened to learn that they did not make lavender wine! Come now! But away we went, off to Benziger winery!
I chose Benziger because it was one of the only wineries in Sonoma that I immediately recognized the logo from: the California black bear, just like on the flag. No longer family owned, but it lasted quite awhile. It touted itself as Biodynamic, a phrase I had only learned the previous day did NOT mean I would be singing Safety Dance while drinking wine, and had a sprawling campus in the heart of Glen Ellen, Sonoma Valley.
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| While Biodynamics mean something other than they would seem, they did have a nice ecosystem in place which this lake was a big part of. Circle of life, y'all! |
Due to my exuberance with timing everything out just right I assumed we needed to eat quickly and then jet over for our tour. Wrong. That's what I get for rushing around a place that exudes relaxation and peace. Fail! But, we were prepared with books and games and spent the next hour enjoying the fresh outside air and people watching. This place was fascinating. It felt luxe, it looked rich, people definitely acted rich. Whereas Sonoma wins on beauty, it fails miserably at an inclusive and friendly nature.
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| And I have yet to finish Drums of Autumn and it's the end of December. Soon though... |
We finally got picked up for our tour and it happened to be with a couple with ties to Dallas! They were in town for the NASCAR event, which they do annually, and had decided to do a tour to kill some time. They ended up being a great couple to chat with and our tour was really nice. We kept lucking out with our compatriots!
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| This guy was a Benziger! He was just wandering around and stopped to give us a quick tour of the big vats. Which were outside...and uncovered. Wine making doesn't seem all that clean! |
A solid finish over all to a great trip. The weather felt like home most of the time, except in SF, but the experience was worth it! This trip certainly solidified the fact that most wine is still just wine though there are a few that stand out on the palette. Everyone also has a very different palette, just so you know. Getting whiffs of this, or hints of that aren't really possible for someone who says "I don't know" when you ask whether he likes things one way or another. Food is food, wine is wine, coffee is coffee and sometimes I wish I could live in a world that simple.
Napa and Sonoma are worth a visit and if you want some recommendations let me know!
