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Apr. 15th, 2005 04:55 pmNapa was fun. The conference went well and I think I did a good job, so, all's good. I was listed on the paperwork as a VIP, so ended up with gifts in my hotel room from the hotel managers, FUN! I never did spend any time in the spa; a smaller heated pool was near my room, so I swam there in the AM. When I finally saw the spa lap pool, I kind of wished I'd gone there, but it was on the other side of the campus, so to speak. Huge place, that resort.
So! The fun part was taking the rest of yesterday off and going winetasting with my good friend, S, whose boyfriend is a small-scale Sonoma winemaker. I've spent more time tasting in Sonoma than Napa because the best whites (what I like) come from Sonoma. Napa has whites, but is known more for their reds. We went to Goosecross, Cakebread, and Peju Province. Peju has been advertising up a storm lately, and they are a FUN place. Alan is their main pourer in the tasting room. He's worked as a standup comic and musician, and did both while pouring and telling us about Peju's wines. They have a great set up, too. I didn't take a camera and don't want to describe it, but you can take my word on this: when winetasting in Napa, Peju is a MUST-STOP. Ask for pourer Alan.
Dinner at Mustard's, YUM!, and home in time to catch up on some more 2002 eps of Gilmore Girls and get in bed early enough to get a good night's sleep. Yay. Egad is it busy at work today. I'm glad I didn't take today off, too.
Oh! I almost forgot: during the conference, one of the local people has connections with, well, everyone in Napa, so he arranged for us to have a cave tasting at Del Dotto winery. It was barrel tasting, which I've never seen or done before. It was SO MUCH FUN. There are several long tunnels into the mountain where they are aging their wines in oak casks. The winery had tea light candles on every other wine cask, so the tunnels sparkled and glowed as you walked along them. The pourers had long curved glass siphons with a mechanical plunger on their end. If you wanted to try a particular wine, or they wanted to have you sample it, they'd pull the bung out of the top (really the side of the barrel that's up), stick in the siphon, and draw out a sample of wine that they could release into people's glasses. Oh wow, there was a cabernet that was really good (several people were just hyponotized by it), and several kinds of port that were fabulous (my faves). They can, if you want, bottle from the barrel for you (for $85), if you want something in particular, not just what they already have bottled. SO FUN. Really, Peju and barrel tasting: do it when you can.
The movie Sideways has been fabulous for the wine business, except for merlots. I was hearing that sales of pinots noir are up 30%, merlots are down, and tourism along the Central Coast has skyrocketing. Napa and Sonoma tourism has also jumped.
I've been to Napa several times but usually zip along 29 to get to where I want to go (wedding, meeting friends at the CIA, going to Calistoga, or whatnot). This time, we drove along the Silverado Trail as much as possible. It is GORGEOUS.
Okay, people not from around here, you should come visit me so I can take you winetasting. Bring enough money to taste (many places charge a fee), buy some wine, eat out, and stay up there, cuz it's so much more fun to do that. I know some good, not too expensive places that have hot springs, too.
So! The fun part was taking the rest of yesterday off and going winetasting with my good friend, S, whose boyfriend is a small-scale Sonoma winemaker. I've spent more time tasting in Sonoma than Napa because the best whites (what I like) come from Sonoma. Napa has whites, but is known more for their reds. We went to Goosecross, Cakebread, and Peju Province. Peju has been advertising up a storm lately, and they are a FUN place. Alan is their main pourer in the tasting room. He's worked as a standup comic and musician, and did both while pouring and telling us about Peju's wines. They have a great set up, too. I didn't take a camera and don't want to describe it, but you can take my word on this: when winetasting in Napa, Peju is a MUST-STOP. Ask for pourer Alan.
Dinner at Mustard's, YUM!, and home in time to catch up on some more 2002 eps of Gilmore Girls and get in bed early enough to get a good night's sleep. Yay. Egad is it busy at work today. I'm glad I didn't take today off, too.
Oh! I almost forgot: during the conference, one of the local people has connections with, well, everyone in Napa, so he arranged for us to have a cave tasting at Del Dotto winery. It was barrel tasting, which I've never seen or done before. It was SO MUCH FUN. There are several long tunnels into the mountain where they are aging their wines in oak casks. The winery had tea light candles on every other wine cask, so the tunnels sparkled and glowed as you walked along them. The pourers had long curved glass siphons with a mechanical plunger on their end. If you wanted to try a particular wine, or they wanted to have you sample it, they'd pull the bung out of the top (really the side of the barrel that's up), stick in the siphon, and draw out a sample of wine that they could release into people's glasses. Oh wow, there was a cabernet that was really good (several people were just hyponotized by it), and several kinds of port that were fabulous (my faves). They can, if you want, bottle from the barrel for you (for $85), if you want something in particular, not just what they already have bottled. SO FUN. Really, Peju and barrel tasting: do it when you can.
The movie Sideways has been fabulous for the wine business, except for merlots. I was hearing that sales of pinots noir are up 30%, merlots are down, and tourism along the Central Coast has skyrocketing. Napa and Sonoma tourism has also jumped.
I've been to Napa several times but usually zip along 29 to get to where I want to go (wedding, meeting friends at the CIA, going to Calistoga, or whatnot). This time, we drove along the Silverado Trail as much as possible. It is GORGEOUS.
Okay, people not from around here, you should come visit me so I can take you winetasting. Bring enough money to taste (many places charge a fee), buy some wine, eat out, and stay up there, cuz it's so much more fun to do that. I know some good, not too expensive places that have hot springs, too.