36 Hours in Napa

We've always been winos, in the good sense of the term. So its kind of surprising that we've never been to Napa Valley to go wine tasting. After we dropped Jo off at the airport, we set out to remedy that gap in our travel resume.

We set out in our rented car (a Prius, naturally) across the Bay Bridge and up to Napa. It's actually a remarkably short trip -- maybe 80 minutes with no traffic. But Napa is really a LOT farther away from San Francisco than that, in its atmosphere and culture.

Our first stop was the Napa Valley Lodge -- our hotel for the night. NVL is actually in Yountville, which is a small town about 1/2 way up the valley between Napa in the south and Calistoga in the north. NVL is pleasant enough and has some nice rooms, but its location is a bit challenging since it is literally the first building off the main highway (Rt 29) and through the night we often heard farm trucks shifting the gears as they drove by. On the whole a nice place, but if we go back to Yountville, we'll try somewhere else.

After checking in, it was off for an afternoon of wine tasting. We started at Goosecross Cellars, a small family winery just outside of Yountville. The tasting room is in a small cottage that you get to by driving down a lane through the vineyard. Very cozy place. The day we were there we were alone in the tasting room and had a leisurely time of it. We were blown away by a couple of wines, particularly their Howell Cabernet and so we joined the wine club here. [As a sign of remarkable coincidence, roughly 3 hours after I drafted this sentence, a gift arrived from Goosecross -- one of their Howell's! Now we really are in love]

Then it was on to Casa Nuestra, an even smaller winery just up the road that seems like it is stuck in the 1960s -- all funky and stuff. For example, they had a great Tinto wine that is "field blend" meritage. In other words, the proportion of different grapes reflects what is grown, not some calculated mix. This year's Tinto had a great deep taste. We also liked their dry Riesling. But what really knocked our socks of was the Zinfandel. We went back into the barrel rooms and got a barrel tasting -- they've never done a Zin before, but this one sure had power. We bought the next to last case and .. .yes, joined their wine club too!

Third and last stop was the Peju Winery -- far and away the most elegant winery we went to, but also the most commercial. They had 8 tasting tables up and gave us some light pours of the cheap stuff. We stuck around afterwards and made them give us some of their reserves -- we especially liked their 50/50 Cab Sauv/Cab Franc blend. If this were our first stop we'd probably not have bought anything, but we were a bit light headed by this point, so we ordered a few bottles anyway.

Then it was back to Yountville. We hadn't gotten into the French Laundry (nearly impossible) so we "settled" for Bistro Jeanty down the street. The food was exceedingly good and surprisingly reasonable in price. It was a traditional bistro fare (boudin, steak fritte, etc.) which was a bit heavy on our stomachs after the wine tasting -- but the tastes were great. If I had to do it over again, I'd have skipped the Cassaoulet, not because of how it tasted but just because it was so heavy.

The next morning was wonderful. We got up early for a walk, bought a copy of the NY Times at stopped at Bouchon Bakery for some fresh baked croissants and coffee. Nothing beats sitting outside on a sunny day reading the paper and drinking coffee. We spent the remainder of the morning doing some light art shopping and then finished the day off with a wonderful lunch at Hurleys -- a patio eatery that serves organics. No better end to the visit than a fresh glass of Chardonnay and some crab cakes.

Alas, the trip was all too short. After lunch we headed back to the airport and were homeward bound. But we were certain of one thing -- this is the type of place we will try to get back to.